Article Time
I attended college to earn a degree in electrical engineering and worked in the industry for several years. A significant part of my job involves analysis, and I have created hundreds of reports. So… What does this have to do with writing. I am glad you asked.
As I write these articles, I have often wondered how much time they require. So, I decided to conduct a detailed analysis of my time. Microsoft Word tracks the number of minutes spent on each document, and I began a new article in a separate file.
This thorough approach allowed me to collect the data and enter it into Excel. This article was first published in 2020, and I have been gradually updating it over the past five years. Thus, I am updating my original analysis and was surprised by the results.
Why I write 182
Living in a Dystopian Present 319
My Eternal Struggle With Grammar 275
The Tom Clancy Universe 156
Lifetime Goals 128
Bill’s Guide to Writing a Book 100
Bill’s guide to Self-Publishing 163
Bill’s Guild to Self-Publishing Marketing 135
My Eternal Struggle With Grammar Continues 118
Pen Names 156
Writing an Intimate Scene 89
Overcoming Critics 228
The People We Want to Read About 268
Confusing Characters With Real Life 133
Inventing A Plot 259
Writing About a Controversial Topic 115
Why I Blog 136
Technical Writing (By a Fiction Author) 208
When I Realized I Had Become An Author 95
How Writing Has Affected My Family Life 142
Creative Writing in College 197
Writing Became Difficult 224
My Favorite Books 284
Writing Has Changed Me 239
My Female Characters 314
Writing for Maximum Length 221
Contractions 210
Powerful Villains 169
It’s Easier to Publish Fiction 168
Full Time to Part Time Author 169
Developing a Solid Main Character 129
My Computer Isn’t a Typewriter 154
Working With An Editor 107
My Russian Characters 102
I Enjoy Self-Editing 178
Are Ghosts Real? 64
I Don’t Understand Existential 83
Books I Didn’t Enjoy 50
Translating Books to Film 177
Creating A Book Outline 200
Developing A Character Biography 155
If Aliens Arrive, Fiction Must Change 109
Most Authors Are Goodhearted People 109
Using Grammarly and ProWritingAid 160
Ethics Hinder My Writing 167
Character Attachment 139
When Your Best Isn’t Good Enough 171
Where my Ideas Come From 204
Writing Radical Fiction 203
Defining Evil 328
I No Longer Use Writers Helping Writers 81
How’s That Marketing Going? 162
What the World Owes Me 161
I Watched the Move Freejack 141
Good Writers Are Philosophers 183
Food is Difficult to Write About 187
The Lies We Tell 111
The Title is Everything 73
Fan Fiction 224
When Intelligent People Disagree 144
Do I Complain Too Much? 116
The Worst Thing I Almost Did 108
In the Mood to Write 168
Book Covers 120
Writers and Reality 120
My Editing Method 80
Integrating Dialogue 142
Reflecting on My First Book 103
I Used to Write Many Letters 153
The Motive Behind Revenge 114
Writing on Prednisone 194
I Don’t Want to Write an Autobiography 176
An Update to My Writing Process 111
Ageing 109
Becoming Successful Will Take a Long Time 130
My Computer is a Dear Friend 133
Book Descriptions Are a Pain 92
Karma Is Difficult to Write For 146
Banning Media 128
Being a Perfectionist 134
The Subject of Death 118
Fearful Writing 154
Predicting the Future 155
Emotional Writing 90
Life is Always More Complicated 205
Numbers 113
Writing Humor 62
I Wish I Read More 100
Men in Black International 151
Why I Continue to Blog 110
Mean/Evil Characters 149
A Writing Setback 137
I Created an Arrogant Character 113
My Writing Improved 69
It’s Difficult to Create a New Story 134
Blog Rules 176
Creating Amazing Book Descriptions 110
It’s Difficult Keeping Things Strait 115
Four Years Ago, I Lost a Friend 143
Writing About My Personal Life 97
An Important Blog Topic 112
Spotting Bad Grammar 152
Another Writing Setback 146
Fictional Ethics 106
Writing Quirks 344
Bad Book Reviews 328
My Legacy 276
Raising Awareness 209
Don’t Use Did 107
Trying to Be Offensive 270
Writing in Lockdown 145
Superheroes 125
Still Enjoying My Stories 177
A Crack of Information 108
I Told You So 156
My Daughter Kim 55
Negative Blogs 432
The Great Motivator Shrek 276
Writing for Me 79
Changing Gears 141
Writers Failed to Predict Covid 102
Character Character Flaws 220
My Favorite Quotes 173
Throwing Characters Into a Plot 203
Lonely Writing 420
The Back of My Head 95
Uninventing 197
Dialogue Is Easy; Scripts Are Difficult 170
DIKW Pyramid 132
The Line Between Fiction and Reality 173
My Story Is Not Real 236
Editing Effectiveness 177
Defending My Work 219
Characters Behaving Badly 293
Group Editing 285
Quack Villain 65
Editing Block 136
Article Time 177
My Comfort Zone 153
My Best and Worst Blogs 210
A Blog Not Far Enough 222
Book Trends 121
Generators 151
My Message 105
What Makes Me Unique 159
When Plots Go Bad 114
Improving the Book Market 153
Changing My First Book 85
Four Blog Ideas 226
My First Interview 22
Cursing 122
Choose Your Own Adventure 147
Therapeutic Writing 193
Ultimate Weapon 182
Conspiracy Theories 245
The Disappearing Car 85
All Books Are Autobiographies 139
Carl and Jerry 415
Adrenalin 222
Back to the Basics 151
The Con 89
Forced Fiction 123
Is This Real? 62
I Don't Understand Cliché 99
1+1+1 = 10 85
You Know You 37
A Minor Win 72
A Dear Friend Is Sick 73
Symbolism Is Dead 73
Superior Beings 79
Common Writing Themes 163
Going To Disneyland 82
When It Matters 148
Favorite Characters 67
My Dear Friend is Better 119
Steampunk 65
When Worlds Collide 133
Why Is the Future So Bad? 108
Bill, the Philosopher 143
It's Not Magic 86
My Dirty Laundry 115
BIG NEWS 5
My First Second Edition 115
That Editing Feel 103
Double/Single Space 87
Mistakes Are the Plot 116
My Favorite Books 88
My Dear Friend 130
Pontificate 135
Prologs 70
Writing Again! 161
Pre-Outlines 108
Tope 146
New Author Advice 99
Capacitor (noun) 57
Perfect Characters 120
Deleted Material 223
Drive 13
The Best Setting 222
Running Commentary in a Book 75
Our First Steps 233
Inspirational Outlines 88
Non-Bloggable Topics 122
Mellowed Out 91
Audiobooks 189
Muntzing 159
Too Fast 129
Three Weeks Later 120
Ockham's Razor 144
Parker 73
A Day to Die 102
Will Writing Ever Rule the World? 129
It’s Difficult to Be an Author 97
Perspective 161
Do I Want to Be My Character? 202
Red Editing 173
My Themes (Oops!) 125
Writing Is Supposed to Be Fun 101
Tongue and Cheek 120
Pride in a Bad Design 122
I Thought I Would Be Further Ahead 183
Acronyms 160
Write Angry 77
My Greatest Stories 104
Overengineering 199
Puzzle Stories 133
All In 123
Interviewing Bill 131
Plot Holes 101
Pride Is Bad 94
Dual Themes 188
Excellent Review 75
The Best Way to Write Is to Read 113
Warm Fuzzy 178
Peanuts 93
Lofty Audio 212
Too Smart for Ourselves 52
Used To Be Acceptable 224
This Was Important 90
Light Touch 138
Why I Publish 117
Oxford Commas 151
Last Laugh 103
Press Release 77
Consistency 239
Keeping Up 77
My Yearbook 145
Different Values 100
Healthy Writing 116
Autotune 234
Putting In My Time 119
Future Grammar Checkers 291
Future Word Processors 248
The Test 195
First To Final 163
Putting Forth Rubbish 79
My New Comma 101
Am I An Expert? 306
Laugh Tracks 268
Did Not Age Well 178
Who’s Who 212
Embedded Promotions 164
Believing The Lie 234
Good or Lucky 158
ChatGPT Fiction 201
Critical Decision 142
The Final Result 255
Roman Numerals 200
How Covid Effected Books 120
Is Fake News Fiction? 201
Riding A Bike Helps Everything 295
The Van of Death 126
Was Fast X Good? 183
The All-Digital Recording Studio 112
We’re Friends. Right? 129
ABC Afterschool Special 214
Banning AI 164
Entering The Metaverse 183
The Story Quality Scale 213
Thinking Like a Kid 197
Rewriting Books 145
Perfect Words 119
Cult of Personality 166
Chekhov’s Gun 282
We Don’t Have to Write About It 78
Changing People 56
Marco Zirino 108
Improving The Little Things 266
Because Of The Story 93
Don’t Get Mad 236
My Plan for Success 162
The World Changed When I Was Not Looking 110
Writing Saved My Writing 115
Pet Names 148
The Crazy’s Come Out During a Full Moon 220
Living Rent Free in My Head 192
We Live Like Kings and That’s Hard to Write About 98
The Butterfly Effect 232
Unassailable 245
How Writing Affected My Life 236
I’m Responsible for Everything 165
Writing An Exchange Book Review 221
Self-Plugging 154
Cleopatra 228
Rabinow’s Laws 122
Coin-Operated 236
Dictated But Not Read 196
Banned YouTube Topics 186
Shall 130
Aquaman’s Explosions 161
Social Media Eliminated Christmas Cards 332
The Great Material Continuum 260
Try Not to Write Like Hemingway 256
The Balls of Christmas 306
The French Paradox 171
Overrated 274
When In Doubt, Delete 305
The Emotion Thesaurus 149
She Would Not Do That 137
I Don’t Do Politics 561
Go Where the Ball Will Be 299
My 19.5 Worst Interviews 401
Long Book Titles 161
ALL CAPITAL TITLES 120
The Bradley Bridge Exchange 55
Anger Inspires, Exercise Expands, Sleep Mulls, and Writing Vets 422
My Writer’s Block Solution 260
Company Fires 60 Strong Writing Team 203
Ignoring How the World Works 224
Pain Is Temporary 293
Bait Car 246
Based On a True Story 249
Desiring Fame 121
My DNA 365
Alternate Reality 276
Is Proper English Still necessary? 246
Use My Power for Good or for Awesome? 265
Reagan: The Movie 249
Brian’s Big Mistake 167
Evil Richard 227
One For the Road 281
“I Don’t Believe What I Write” 390
The Corn Syrup Droughts 227
This Is Working 163
The Phantom Edit 201
The Smart Rats 406
Are Today’s Writers Spoiled? 418
118 Lessons My First Book Taught Me 347
My Writing Space 236
My First Book’s Main Characters 841
The Problem with Dialog 466
My 30+1 Writing Resources 276
My Five-Year Writing Plan 589
Whom Does the World Belong? 412
My Writing Brain 282
Legacy Writing Junk 232
The Ten Awful Book Publishing Truths 284
Play Stupid Games, Don’t Win Stupid Prizes 221
Me in My Writing or My Writing in Me? 319
Run What You Brung 175
My Writing Aspirations 90
Writers Cannot Make an Honest Mistake 287
Ad Reporter (A Failed Startup) 555
Cleaning Out the Condo 294
Alternative Book Endings 254
Disliking Your Creation 94
When Your Heros Fall 118
How Dan Harmon Writes Rick and Morty 194
Covid: The Story 241
My Doddering Deposition Dialogue 137
The Heroic Journey 265
Pantsing Versus Plotting 226
Do I Encourage People to Write a Book? 548
AI Writing Improvement Shootout 361
The Dramatic Semicolon Decline 58
On average, I spend three hours per week creating each article. The shortest time was five minutes (for a new book announcement), and the longest was fifteen hours. My total blogging time is 690 hours, equivalent to 11.5 days.
From the graph, we can see that weekly times were all over the place, but there is a pattern. This increase likely resulted from the additional time during COVID-19. I suspect that the extra time has improved the quality of my writing. Perhaps a future blog could analyze each blog entry for quality and compare it to the time spent writing. Nah, that would be too geeky.
You’re the best -Bill
November 18, 2020 Updated January 19, 2025
As I write these articles, I have often wondered how much time they require. So, I decided to conduct a detailed analysis of my time. Microsoft Word tracks the number of minutes spent on each document, and I began a new article in a separate file.
This thorough approach allowed me to collect the data and enter it into Excel. This article was first published in 2020, and I have been gradually updating it over the past five years. Thus, I am updating my original analysis and was surprised by the results.
Why I write 182
Living in a Dystopian Present 319
My Eternal Struggle With Grammar 275
The Tom Clancy Universe 156
Lifetime Goals 128
Bill’s Guide to Writing a Book 100
Bill’s guide to Self-Publishing 163
Bill’s Guild to Self-Publishing Marketing 135
My Eternal Struggle With Grammar Continues 118
Pen Names 156
Writing an Intimate Scene 89
Overcoming Critics 228
The People We Want to Read About 268
Confusing Characters With Real Life 133
Inventing A Plot 259
Writing About a Controversial Topic 115
Why I Blog 136
Technical Writing (By a Fiction Author) 208
When I Realized I Had Become An Author 95
How Writing Has Affected My Family Life 142
Creative Writing in College 197
Writing Became Difficult 224
My Favorite Books 284
Writing Has Changed Me 239
My Female Characters 314
Writing for Maximum Length 221
Contractions 210
Powerful Villains 169
It’s Easier to Publish Fiction 168
Full Time to Part Time Author 169
Developing a Solid Main Character 129
My Computer Isn’t a Typewriter 154
Working With An Editor 107
My Russian Characters 102
I Enjoy Self-Editing 178
Are Ghosts Real? 64
I Don’t Understand Existential 83
Books I Didn’t Enjoy 50
Translating Books to Film 177
Creating A Book Outline 200
Developing A Character Biography 155
If Aliens Arrive, Fiction Must Change 109
Most Authors Are Goodhearted People 109
Using Grammarly and ProWritingAid 160
Ethics Hinder My Writing 167
Character Attachment 139
When Your Best Isn’t Good Enough 171
Where my Ideas Come From 204
Writing Radical Fiction 203
Defining Evil 328
I No Longer Use Writers Helping Writers 81
How’s That Marketing Going? 162
What the World Owes Me 161
I Watched the Move Freejack 141
Good Writers Are Philosophers 183
Food is Difficult to Write About 187
The Lies We Tell 111
The Title is Everything 73
Fan Fiction 224
When Intelligent People Disagree 144
Do I Complain Too Much? 116
The Worst Thing I Almost Did 108
In the Mood to Write 168
Book Covers 120
Writers and Reality 120
My Editing Method 80
Integrating Dialogue 142
Reflecting on My First Book 103
I Used to Write Many Letters 153
The Motive Behind Revenge 114
Writing on Prednisone 194
I Don’t Want to Write an Autobiography 176
An Update to My Writing Process 111
Ageing 109
Becoming Successful Will Take a Long Time 130
My Computer is a Dear Friend 133
Book Descriptions Are a Pain 92
Karma Is Difficult to Write For 146
Banning Media 128
Being a Perfectionist 134
The Subject of Death 118
Fearful Writing 154
Predicting the Future 155
Emotional Writing 90
Life is Always More Complicated 205
Numbers 113
Writing Humor 62
I Wish I Read More 100
Men in Black International 151
Why I Continue to Blog 110
Mean/Evil Characters 149
A Writing Setback 137
I Created an Arrogant Character 113
My Writing Improved 69
It’s Difficult to Create a New Story 134
Blog Rules 176
Creating Amazing Book Descriptions 110
It’s Difficult Keeping Things Strait 115
Four Years Ago, I Lost a Friend 143
Writing About My Personal Life 97
An Important Blog Topic 112
Spotting Bad Grammar 152
Another Writing Setback 146
Fictional Ethics 106
Writing Quirks 344
Bad Book Reviews 328
My Legacy 276
Raising Awareness 209
Don’t Use Did 107
Trying to Be Offensive 270
Writing in Lockdown 145
Superheroes 125
Still Enjoying My Stories 177
A Crack of Information 108
I Told You So 156
My Daughter Kim 55
Negative Blogs 432
The Great Motivator Shrek 276
Writing for Me 79
Changing Gears 141
Writers Failed to Predict Covid 102
Character Character Flaws 220
My Favorite Quotes 173
Throwing Characters Into a Plot 203
Lonely Writing 420
The Back of My Head 95
Uninventing 197
Dialogue Is Easy; Scripts Are Difficult 170
DIKW Pyramid 132
The Line Between Fiction and Reality 173
My Story Is Not Real 236
Editing Effectiveness 177
Defending My Work 219
Characters Behaving Badly 293
Group Editing 285
Quack Villain 65
Editing Block 136
Article Time 177
My Comfort Zone 153
My Best and Worst Blogs 210
A Blog Not Far Enough 222
Book Trends 121
Generators 151
My Message 105
What Makes Me Unique 159
When Plots Go Bad 114
Improving the Book Market 153
Changing My First Book 85
Four Blog Ideas 226
My First Interview 22
Cursing 122
Choose Your Own Adventure 147
Therapeutic Writing 193
Ultimate Weapon 182
Conspiracy Theories 245
The Disappearing Car 85
All Books Are Autobiographies 139
Carl and Jerry 415
Adrenalin 222
Back to the Basics 151
The Con 89
Forced Fiction 123
Is This Real? 62
I Don't Understand Cliché 99
1+1+1 = 10 85
You Know You 37
A Minor Win 72
A Dear Friend Is Sick 73
Symbolism Is Dead 73
Superior Beings 79
Common Writing Themes 163
Going To Disneyland 82
When It Matters 148
Favorite Characters 67
My Dear Friend is Better 119
Steampunk 65
When Worlds Collide 133
Why Is the Future So Bad? 108
Bill, the Philosopher 143
It's Not Magic 86
My Dirty Laundry 115
BIG NEWS 5
My First Second Edition 115
That Editing Feel 103
Double/Single Space 87
Mistakes Are the Plot 116
My Favorite Books 88
My Dear Friend 130
Pontificate 135
Prologs 70
Writing Again! 161
Pre-Outlines 108
Tope 146
New Author Advice 99
Capacitor (noun) 57
Perfect Characters 120
Deleted Material 223
Drive 13
The Best Setting 222
Running Commentary in a Book 75
Our First Steps 233
Inspirational Outlines 88
Non-Bloggable Topics 122
Mellowed Out 91
Audiobooks 189
Muntzing 159
Too Fast 129
Three Weeks Later 120
Ockham's Razor 144
Parker 73
A Day to Die 102
Will Writing Ever Rule the World? 129
It’s Difficult to Be an Author 97
Perspective 161
Do I Want to Be My Character? 202
Red Editing 173
My Themes (Oops!) 125
Writing Is Supposed to Be Fun 101
Tongue and Cheek 120
Pride in a Bad Design 122
I Thought I Would Be Further Ahead 183
Acronyms 160
Write Angry 77
My Greatest Stories 104
Overengineering 199
Puzzle Stories 133
All In 123
Interviewing Bill 131
Plot Holes 101
Pride Is Bad 94
Dual Themes 188
Excellent Review 75
The Best Way to Write Is to Read 113
Warm Fuzzy 178
Peanuts 93
Lofty Audio 212
Too Smart for Ourselves 52
Used To Be Acceptable 224
This Was Important 90
Light Touch 138
Why I Publish 117
Oxford Commas 151
Last Laugh 103
Press Release 77
Consistency 239
Keeping Up 77
My Yearbook 145
Different Values 100
Healthy Writing 116
Autotune 234
Putting In My Time 119
Future Grammar Checkers 291
Future Word Processors 248
The Test 195
First To Final 163
Putting Forth Rubbish 79
My New Comma 101
Am I An Expert? 306
Laugh Tracks 268
Did Not Age Well 178
Who’s Who 212
Embedded Promotions 164
Believing The Lie 234
Good or Lucky 158
ChatGPT Fiction 201
Critical Decision 142
The Final Result 255
Roman Numerals 200
How Covid Effected Books 120
Is Fake News Fiction? 201
Riding A Bike Helps Everything 295
The Van of Death 126
Was Fast X Good? 183
The All-Digital Recording Studio 112
We’re Friends. Right? 129
ABC Afterschool Special 214
Banning AI 164
Entering The Metaverse 183
The Story Quality Scale 213
Thinking Like a Kid 197
Rewriting Books 145
Perfect Words 119
Cult of Personality 166
Chekhov’s Gun 282
We Don’t Have to Write About It 78
Changing People 56
Marco Zirino 108
Improving The Little Things 266
Because Of The Story 93
Don’t Get Mad 236
My Plan for Success 162
The World Changed When I Was Not Looking 110
Writing Saved My Writing 115
Pet Names 148
The Crazy’s Come Out During a Full Moon 220
Living Rent Free in My Head 192
We Live Like Kings and That’s Hard to Write About 98
The Butterfly Effect 232
Unassailable 245
How Writing Affected My Life 236
I’m Responsible for Everything 165
Writing An Exchange Book Review 221
Self-Plugging 154
Cleopatra 228
Rabinow’s Laws 122
Coin-Operated 236
Dictated But Not Read 196
Banned YouTube Topics 186
Shall 130
Aquaman’s Explosions 161
Social Media Eliminated Christmas Cards 332
The Great Material Continuum 260
Try Not to Write Like Hemingway 256
The Balls of Christmas 306
The French Paradox 171
Overrated 274
When In Doubt, Delete 305
The Emotion Thesaurus 149
She Would Not Do That 137
I Don’t Do Politics 561
Go Where the Ball Will Be 299
My 19.5 Worst Interviews 401
Long Book Titles 161
ALL CAPITAL TITLES 120
The Bradley Bridge Exchange 55
Anger Inspires, Exercise Expands, Sleep Mulls, and Writing Vets 422
My Writer’s Block Solution 260
Company Fires 60 Strong Writing Team 203
Ignoring How the World Works 224
Pain Is Temporary 293
Bait Car 246
Based On a True Story 249
Desiring Fame 121
My DNA 365
Alternate Reality 276
Is Proper English Still necessary? 246
Use My Power for Good or for Awesome? 265
Reagan: The Movie 249
Brian’s Big Mistake 167
Evil Richard 227
One For the Road 281
“I Don’t Believe What I Write” 390
The Corn Syrup Droughts 227
This Is Working 163
The Phantom Edit 201
The Smart Rats 406
Are Today’s Writers Spoiled? 418
118 Lessons My First Book Taught Me 347
My Writing Space 236
My First Book’s Main Characters 841
The Problem with Dialog 466
My 30+1 Writing Resources 276
My Five-Year Writing Plan 589
Whom Does the World Belong? 412
My Writing Brain 282
Legacy Writing Junk 232
The Ten Awful Book Publishing Truths 284
Play Stupid Games, Don’t Win Stupid Prizes 221
Me in My Writing or My Writing in Me? 319
Run What You Brung 175
My Writing Aspirations 90
Writers Cannot Make an Honest Mistake 287
Ad Reporter (A Failed Startup) 555
Cleaning Out the Condo 294
Alternative Book Endings 254
Disliking Your Creation 94
When Your Heros Fall 118
How Dan Harmon Writes Rick and Morty 194
Covid: The Story 241
My Doddering Deposition Dialogue 137
The Heroic Journey 265
Pantsing Versus Plotting 226
Do I Encourage People to Write a Book? 548
AI Writing Improvement Shootout 361
The Dramatic Semicolon Decline 58
On average, I spend three hours per week creating each article. The shortest time was five minutes (for a new book announcement), and the longest was fifteen hours. My total blogging time is 690 hours, equivalent to 11.5 days.
From the graph, we can see that weekly times were all over the place, but there is a pattern. This increase likely resulted from the additional time during COVID-19. I suspect that the extra time has improved the quality of my writing. Perhaps a future blog could analyze each blog entry for quality and compare it to the time spent writing. Nah, that would be too geeky.You’re the best -Bill
November 18, 2020 Updated January 19, 2025
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