I get that question a lot, and sometimes I'm not sure what it means. Do they mean how many months or years? If I say it takes me nine months to write a book, that's misleading, because I'm not working on it every day or sometimes even every week. And I don't work on the book for 8 hours a day, unless I'm near deadline. Some writers (very few) work on their books 8 hours a day, but most don't. Stephen King probably works on his for 18 hours a day, but he's a bit of a freak in that regard.

One thing that stops me from writing for 8 hours a day is that I don't outline my novels beforehand. I have a concept and some key storylines, but not much more than that. So I tend to like my chapters and scenes to percolate before I write them. If I wrote 8 hours a day, my books would be quite different than they are now. I'm not saying better or worse, just different.

Taking a wild guess, I'd say each book takes me 500 to 600 hours of total time, including percolating, research, rewriting, etc. So you can see that, in a full-time sense, I could possibly finish one in about three or four months. Some authors do that, and it must be grueling. I prefer slow and steady.

Also, I should mention that even though there are times when I'm not "working," my mind is still cogitating on the book, whether I want it to or not. This is true especially when I've got a lot of momentum going, or I've written a scene I particularly like, or I've just come up with a storyline or new hook that excites me.

If I was under a strict deadline, I could see writing a book in about four months. But since most publishers only want a book a year. I take nine to ten months. Could be done faster, but why? Why not let it build slowly, after I've explored a thousand different plot twists and possibilities? I'm convinced that makes for a better novel. It works for me, anyway.

The Texas Deer Hunt

1:00 am Alarm clock rings.
2:00 am Hunting partners arrive, drag ou out of bed.
2:30 am Throw everything except the kitchen sink into
the pickup.
3:00 am Leave for the Hill Country.
3:15 am Drive back home and pick up gun.
3:30 am Drive like hell to get to the lease before
daylight.
4:00 am Set up camp - forgot the damn tent.
4:30 am Head into the woods.
6:05 am See eight Deer.
6:06 am Take aim and squeeze trigger.
6:07 am "Click"
6:08 am Load gun while watching Deer go over hill.
8:00 am Head back to camp.
9:00 am Still looking for camp.
11:00 am Realize you don't know where camp is.
Noon Fire gun for help - eat wild berries.
1:15 pm Ran out of bullets - Eight Deer come back.
2:20 pm Strange feeling in stomach.
2:30 pm realize you ate poison berries.
2:45 pm RESCUED
2:55 pm Rushed to hospital to have stomach pumped.
4:00 pm Arrive back at camp.
4:15 pm Leave camp to kill deer.
4:30 pm Return to camp for bullets, see partners deer.
4:45 pm Load gun - leave camp again.
5:00pm Empty gun on squirrel that's bugging you.
6:00 pm Arrive at camp, see Deer grazing at camp.
6:01 pm Load gun.
6:02 pm Fire gun.
6:03 pm One dead pickup truck.
6:05 pm Hunting partner returns to camp dragging deer.
6:06 pm Repress strong desire to shoot hunting
partner.
6:07 pm Fall into fire.
6:10 pm Change clothes, throw burned ones into fire.
6:15 pm Take pickup, leave partner and his Deer in the
woods.
6:25 pm Pickup boils over - Hols shot in the block.
6:26 pm Start walking.
6:30 pm Stumble and fall - drop gun in the mud.
6:35 pm Meet "Wild boar".
6:36 pm Take aim.
6:37 pm Fire gun, Blow up barrel, plugged with mud.
6:38 pm Shit pants.
6:39 pm Climb tree.
9:00 pm Wild Boar, departs, wrap %@#!!%* gun around
tree.
Midnight HOME AT LAST!

Sunday Watch football game on TV, slowly tearing
liscense into little pieces. Place in envelope and
mail to Game Department with very clear instructions
where to place it.

Dead deer prank riles students at rival high school
10/18/2007 12:01 PM
By: Associated Press
BLANCO, Texas -- When fans of Blanco High School held signs reading "Slaughter the Deer," they apparently weren't just flush with team spirit.

The Comfort High School Deers volleyball team found a rotting, bloated carcass of a 90-pound doe in their bus before losing an important match Tuesday against Blanco.

Comfort team captain Maeghan Eckert said her squad couldn't focus after discovering the prank. She says she believes Blanco should forfeit its victory.

If the culprits impressed any fans, their cover-up probably didn't. One of the Comfort High parents, Brian Vaughan, is a law enforcement officer. He says he found a bloody trail leading from the bus to a nearby pickup.

There comes a time, when you have a new book on the horizon, that you have to start seeking blurbs from other authors. You know what blurbs are--those little cover quotes that say things like, “I couldn’t put it down!” or “A real page-turner!” or “Ben Rehder is sure to win the Nobel Prize!”

Nobody seems to know if blurbs have any influence on readers or not, but as most people in this industry say about most marketing efforts, “It can’t hurt.”

There are several schools of thought about getting blurbs. Many agents and editors think an author should get blurbs from authors who write similar material. That’s why, in the past, I’ve sought blurbs from writers like Tim Dorsey, Tim Cockey (whose name got printed on the paperback edition as Tom Cockey--I was very embarrassed), and Kinky Friedman. They all write humor, so it’s a natural fit. I’ve also sought blurbs from Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, and Dave Barry, to no avail. They probably get a dozen blurb requests a day, and I can’t blame them for saying no. Carl Hiaasen was kind enough to send me a nice note the three times I pestered him, as did Elmore Leonard when I asked for a blurb for Gun Shy.

One thing that’s a little irritating is when you ask a big-name author for a blurb, and they say they flat-out don’t do blurbs. Then you see a blurb from them on a recently released book. Come on, if you don’t want to blurb my book, just tell me so. Say you don’t have the time or interest. I can handle it.

I’ve also gotten blurbs from authors who don’t necessarily write humor, but they do write bestsellers. Jeff Abbott and Lee Child, for instance, were each very kind in giving me a blurb last time around. I know they’re both buried all the time, so it meant a lot that they were willing to help an author whose sales, uh, don’t quite match up to theirs. That’s pretty classy.

So, right now, I just began seeking blurbs for Holy Moly. I already got a yes from an author whom I’ve gotten to know well on the road. Great guy, and a terrific writer. I won’t give his name, in case he reads the manuscript and hates it. That’ll save him and me some embarrassment. I also sent an email to another author whose work I admire. I don’t know him--and it is a definite advantage to know the author to whom you’re making the request--so we’ll just have to wait and see.

There’s a story that goes around about a bestselling author and blurb requests: He supposedly says something like, “I can either read your book or blurb it. Your choice.” Kind of lowers the credibility of blurbs, if it’s true.

Oh, and by the way, if you are a big-time author and want to blurb my book, let me know.

Last year, I was asked if I'd like to be included in an anthology about Texas crime fiction, published by The University of Texas Press. Well, absolutely. I told them it would be an honor.

Check it out:

http://www.amazon.com/Lone-Star-Sleuths-Southwestern-Collection/dp/0292717377/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-9852514-0599112?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192045006&sr=1-1

The pub date is November 1, and it is available for pre-order on Amazon. Here's a description:

Texas has always staked a large claim on the nation's imagination, and its mystery literature is no exception. Hundreds of crime novels are set within the state, most of which have been published in the last twenty years. From the highest point atop the Guadalupe Mountains in West Texas to the Piney Woods of East Texas, from the High Plains of the Panhandle to the subtropical climate of the lower Rio Grande Valley, mystery writers have covered every aspect of Texas's extraordinarily diverse geography.

The first book to emphasize the wealth of Texas's mystery writers and the images they convey of the state's wide range of regions and cultures, Lone Star Sleuths is a noteworthy introduction not only to the literary genre but also to a sense of Texas as a place in fiction. Celebrating a genre that has expanded to include women and an increasing diversity of cultures, the book features selections from the works of such luminaries as Kinky Friedman and Mary Willis Walker, lesser-known stars in the making, and even some outsiders like Nevada Barr and Carolyn Hart who have succumbed to the allure of the state's weather, geography, and colorful history.

Lone Star Sleuths captures the sense of place that distinguishes much of the great literature set in Texas, and is a must-read for mystery lovers.

About the Authors
BILL CUNNINGHAM is a San Marcos, Texas, public relations consultant and former Chairman of the Texas State University System Board of Regents. STEVEN L. DAVIS is the Assistant Curator of the Southwestern Writers Collection Texas State University-San Marcos. ROLLO K. NEWSOM is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Folklore Emeritus at Texas State University-San Marcos.

And the cover is below. You are not a true Texan if you don't buy this book!