Fiction writing brings me an extra 10-20 K a year. Most writers teach writing classes and hope Hollywood stops making dumb comic book films sometime this century.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2286362&forum_id=2#23428652)

By far, the longest one was my first. That took five years. Most of the time was lost procrastinating. You want to match the writers who've inspired you, and you end up setting your lousy drafts against their finest work, and it paralyzes you. That was my experience at least.

Then I just got over being Shakespeare and wrote three pages a day, rain or shine. Sometimes they sucked. Sometimes you hit something pretty neat. After three months, you have a manuscript.

This last book took me about six months. But look, if you're Shakespeare, take your time and get it right.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2286362&forum_id=2#23428684)

I took about a month to edit it, then spent another three months agonizing over a query letter (it's not that hard). You send the letter with maybe the first ten pages to an agent.

After a few tries, I found someone. That turned into a six month hunt for a publisher, an almost book deal that fell through, and then a last-minute reprieve from another publisher. Nine months later, they printed it. It sold decently, but not spectacularly.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2286362&forum_id=2#23428729)

As a share of my writing income, online sales are an increasing part, but you can't beat shelf space. I'm guessing most of these are people who bought a previous book. Nobody's going to find me on Amazon by accident, and promoting online is tough. My agent will sometimes pitch ideas for a website or a blog, but I need a certain level of privacy and remove from readers to write.

I do a good trade at writing conferences.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2286362&forum_id=2#23434892)

The publishing company does that.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2286362&forum_id=2#23428718)

I'm not with a big agency, but she doesn't work out of a motel either.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2286362&forum_id=2#23434963)