On Writing Fast by Maddie Day (Edith Maxwell)

My name is Maddie (and Edith), and I write fast. There, I’ve said it! But it’s true. Why do I write fast, and how can I?

Long ago I read Anne Lamott’s well-known and oft-quoted book, Bird by Bird. I became a firm believer in the sh***y first draft. I am under contract to write three-plus books a year. 200,000 to  225,000 words is a heck of a lot of words, and when I hit Submit they have to be as beautifully written as I can make them, but only in the service of a well-plotted and compellingly told mystery.

I also write the occasional novella and two or three short stories in that same year. So I have to crank out that first draft straight through and get the bones of the story in place. That way I have time to polish, revise, get the manuscript independently edited, and revise some more before I have to send it to my editor.

Death Over Easy, out July 31, is my fifth Country Store Mystery, and I wrote the first draft in seven weeks flat. I started writing it at an away-from-home writing retreat at author Tiger Wiseman’s Vermont getaway and got a great head start. I treat my writing as my day job – because it is – and after I returned home I just kept cranking on the book every day but Sunday.

I get asked many of the same questions over and over: how do I keep three series straight, what do I do for writer’s block, and how can I be so prolific?

For the first, my characters and settings are so real to me I simply don’t confuse them. Add to the mix that one series is set in the late 1880s, and another in southern Indiana, and that further distinguishes them.

Writer’s block? I have deadlines. I can’t get blocked. I might be temporarily out of ideas, but when that happens changing venues really helps. I go for one of my plotting walks and talk out loud to myself about my story. Or sit in the rocking chair behind my desk chair and brainstorm with pen and notebook. Either of those never fails to dislodge the next scene I need to write. Exercising the mantra of “butt in chair, fingers on keyboard” also works every time. The simple act of typing “I don’t know what comes next” brings – you got it – what comes next.

And finally, keeping a disciplined schedule is key. I check in with Ramona DeFelice Long’s sprint thread on Facebook every day by seven AM, then I turn off distractions and write all morning. 1500 words/day (or more) produces a slim first draft in forty days. That’s all I need, because I know my revision phase will plump it up to my contracted 65,000-75,000 words.

I know I’m blessed with a vivid imagination as well as the willingness and ability to live on a budget for now, and not everyone can ditch the daytime situation, as Dru Ann Love calls it. But frankly, I’m living my dream and would never go back.

Readers: What are you disciplined about? What do you find it hard to stick to?



Agatha- and Macavity-nominated author Edith Maxwell writes the Local Foods Mysteries, the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries, and award-winning short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the popular Country Store Mysteries and the new Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. She is president of Sisters in Crime New England and lives north of Boston with her beau and two elderly cats. She blogs at WickedCozyAuthors.com, KillerCharacters.com, and at Under Cover of Darkness. Read about all her personalities and her work at edithmaxwell.com, and please find her on social media – she loves to talk to readers.

Death Over Easy--Restaurateur Robbie Jordan is ready for the boost in business a local bluegrass festival brings to South Lick, Indiana, but the beloved event strikes a sour note. The celebration is cut short when a performer is found choked to death by a banjo string. Now all the banjo players are featured in a different kind of lineup. To clear their names, Robbie must pair up with an unexpected partner to pick at the clues and find the plucky killer before he – or she – can conduct an encore performance.