eleven years to write a book

Today I read an article arguing that writers shouldn’t write more than four books a year. The idea is that the creative process suffers from haste, and a writer should spend time contemplating his work.

The article favorably cited one writer who had taken eleven years to write her book.

I dunno. Eleven years? Whenever I hear that a writer took eleven years to write a book, I wonder what they actually did with all that time.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT came out in 2004. That was eleven years ago, which I suppose might explain why it took so long to write that particular book.

Well, this year I’ve done six books, and I’m halfway through the seventh. If I get to eight like I plan, they’ll have to revise the article to warn against the dangers of writing eight books a year.

-JM