Do you ever feel like your book is taking forever to write? Maybe you have been working on the same manuscript for years, but you see other authors publishing a book a year, sometimes multiple bestsellers every year.
And you wonder, “How does someone like Jerry Jenkins write three books a year, books that go on to sell millions of copies?”
Well, I recently asked him.
Jerry B. Jenkins has sold more than 73 million books, including his mega-bestselling Left Behind series.
How do you plan your writing schedule?
Jerry: I do not want to sound self-possessed, but I have averaged four books a year for about half a century, and it wears me out just thinking about it.
Thomas: That works out to about one book every three months. If you have a three-month window to write a book, how do you approach your time?
Jerry: I am a very disciplined writer, but the irony is that I am also a procrastinator. People find that hard to believe.
I do not write four books a year anymore. That was in my prime. Now I am writing about one and a half books a year, which is a better pace for me and this old brain.
Thomas: A book and a half per year is his slow pace, ladies and gentlemen. If you are complaining that you cannot write a book every year, realize that Jerry Jenkins is still writing about a book and a half a year. Are you willing to tell everyone how old you are?
Jerry: I recently turned 76. My first book came out in 1973, and I just finished my 215th book.
I do not want to sound falsely modest, but I am mono-gifted. I have one gift. I do not sing or dance or preach. This is what I do, and I feel obligated to exercise that gift.
I emphasize to my students that quality, not speed, is the point. If anything I write looks like it was done too fast, I redo it. If it takes you a year or two to write a book, take that time and do it right.
How do you deal with procrastination?
Jerry: I am very religious about my calendar. I schedule procrastination. I accept the fact that I am going to procrastinate.
When I was a publisher, I learned that only one out of a hundred writers actually meets deadlines. I wanted to be the one who met deadlines.
To accommodate my procrastination and my deadlines, I calculate the number of pages per day I need to finish to make my deadline. Deadlines are sacrosanct. I also build in days off. You cannot schedule procrastination for a specific day, but when you wake up and do not want to write, you do something else. The danger is procrastinating too long, because then your daily page count has to increase.
In my prime, I could write ten finished pages per day. These days, I am closer to five or six. When my required page count creeps up near my limit, it is time to get my seat in the chair and get to work.
Thomas: There is a joke that goes around every January. Someone says, “I set a goal to exercise for thirty minutes every day. If I miss a day, I just add it to tomorrow. According to the plan, tomorrow they will be exercising for three months.”
You can only procrastinate so much. Sometimes procrastination is a form of prioritization. Multitasking does not work, especially for creative work.
When you are writing, you need an enclosed zone. Chris Fox calls it a tortoise enclosure. No email dings, no constant interruptions.
How do you control distractions while writing?
Jerry: I am strict about that. I have a horseshoe-shaped desk made just for me, with everything I need within arm’s reach. I am not getting up to grab things.
I do not listen to music, not even instrumentals. I love music, but not while working, because I am an inveterate hummer and I end up humming along. I prefer quiet, solitude, where I can focus on one thing at a time.
Thomas: Silence and solitude scare a lot of people. Often, we look for distractions because we are afraid of the writing. We tell ourselves we need to do more research, because you can always do more research.
Being alone with no distractions forces you to write. What separates real writers from wannabe writers is whether you can sit and write when you need to.
Jerry: The real question is, “Can you finish?” One of my lines is, “Dreamers talk about writing. Writers write.”
One of my favorite cartoons shows a woman opening the door to her husband’s writing studio. He is surrounded by wadded-up paper and says, “Just because I am not writing does not mean I am not writing.”
Dreamers talk about writing.
Jerry B. Jenkins
Writers write.
Thomas: Thinking can be writing, but if you are falling asleep, maybe not. For me, writing is like turning on the shower. The cold, uncomfortable water runs out before the nice warm water. In writing, I have to let the bad writing flow out before the good writing shows up.
Staring at a blank page waiting for good writing to flow is like standing in front of a shower with the water turned off. The only way it warms up is to start writing.
You can always go back and fix it.
Jerry: I love that metaphor. I often tell my students that if you enjoy the writing process, you are probably not doing it right. Writing is grueling. It does not get easier. Your standards get higher. You have to buckle down and do it.
Do you write every day?
Jerry: I plan to write six days a week. I do not write on Sundays. As a Christian, I observe the Sabbath, but even if you are not religious, rest is a good practice. Every writer needs a break. Your writing will be fresher the next day.
I schedule pages per day and assume at least one day a week will be lost to procrastination. During that time, my subconscious is still working. I used to agonize over it, but now I expect it. When I return, I am often surprised by what is there.
How do you rest without losing momentum?
Thomas: I like the metaphor of crop rotation for writing, where you rest your mind by working on something different.
In traditional four-crop rotation, dating back to the Middle Ages, each crop replenishes what the previous crop depleted in the soil. You might start with wheat, which depletes nitrogen and attracts pests that feed on tall, stalked plants.
Next, you plant turnips that grow underground. Insects that climb stalks do not thrive on root crops, so their populations decline. After that, you plant legumes, which restore nitrogen to the soil.
You are still growing crops and using the land, but at the same time you are restoring its health.
The same principle applies to creative work. You are still using your time productively, but in a way that refreshes your mind. When you return to the original task, you are fresher and have new ideas, because the mental “nitrogen” has been replenished by a different kind of work.
Jerry: I like that metaphor too. When I take a break at night, I read the opposite of what I am writing. If I am writing fiction, I read nonfiction, and vice versa.
About two-thirds of my work is fiction, which means fiction is probably my favorite. But honestly, whatever I am not writing at the moment feels like my favorite.
Thomas: It is like asking someone their favorite exercise at the gym. Usually it is the one they are not using at that moment.
It is easy for podcasters to make writing sound easy. It is not. Writing is work. We live in a world cursed with thorns and thistles, and the only way through them is by the sweat of our brow.
Anyone promising good results without hard work is lying. If writing is your job, then writing becomes work. You may not feel like writing today, but if you do not get your ten pages done today, you will need twenty tomorrow. Knowing you cannot do twenty tomorrow motivates you to complete ten today, even when you do not feel like it.
Jerry: There are many things I love about the writing life. When I say I do not love the writing itself, I mean the act of drafting, because it is hard, grueling work. But I love being a writer, being known as a writer, and having success as a writer.
I compare it to marathon running, which is something I do not do. Ask a marathon runner at the twenty-mile mark, “Do you just love running?” You might get a reaction you did not expect. They love the accomplishment, the training, the ability to do it, and being known for running. If you are doing it right, the act itself is hard.
What good is rest when you are on deadline?
Thomas: I was reading an old diary entry by a woman traveling on the Oregon Trail. Their wagon train captain insisted on resting one day a week. She and her husband did not like it and thought it was a bad idea. Another family ignored the recommendation and went ahead.
Later, they caught up to that family, because it turns out resting one day out of seven actually got you there faster, especially if you wanted everyone to survive the journey.
If you ever played the game Oregon Trail, you may remember that resting once a week reduced deaths from dysentery and injuries to animals. There is a lot to be said for maintaining a sustainable pace instead of forcing a constant sprint.
How do you structure your writing day?
Jerry: Every writer needs to figure out their pace, capacity, and best time of day. We all have different internal clocks. I am a morning person.
When my wife and I were raising three young boys, I made a vow not to write during the day while they were home and awake. That meant writing between nine at night and midnight. Even though I am a morning person, I forced myself to do it.
Now that my kids are grown and I am working full time, I get up at dawn. The writing I do before noon is the best writing I do all day.
The first thing I do each morning is a heavy edit and rewrite of what I wrote the day before. Not everyone does it that way. Some may write for several days or complete several chapters before editing.
For me, drafting and editing are separate disciplines. When I am drafting, I take off my perfectionist hat and tell my inner critic to shut up. I do not worry about clichés, redundancies, or misspellings. I am just getting the story or ideas down.
The next day, I put the perfectionist hat on and give my inner critic free rein. That is where the work really starts to sing. I study every word and do not move on until I am satisfied. Then I shut the critic up again and move into that day’s draft.
How much should you write before you edit?
Jerry: People have different rhythms for how much they write before editing. However, I do not recommend writing an entire first draft before revising, because if you discover a fundamental problem in the first quarter of the book, you may need to rewrite the entire thing.
By the time I finish what sounds like my first draft, it is really a second draft, because I have gone back to edit each day.
I often reread the first thirty or forty pages so many times that I get bored and think no one will care. That is when I read it to my wife or one of my kids. They usually tell me it is good and I should keep going, but I get bored because I know it too well.
Thomas: Editing is another discipline in the crop rotation method for writing. It uses a different mental muscle.
For beginners, writing and editing can feel like the same thing. You are sitting at a keyboard, so how different can it be? But learning to turn off your internal editor while drafting is a crucial skill.
Most beginners try to write and edit at the same time. Some successful authors still work that way, slowly polishing as they go. If that works for you, great. But most people need to tell their internal editor, “I love you, but be quiet for now. I need to write something new.” Later, you wake the editor up and let it help you fix the draft.
Jerry: I need momentum. I need to see progress. Back when we used paper, I loved watching the stack of finished pages grow.
I started on a manual typewriter, then moved to electric typewriters, then correcting electrics. As a magazine editor, I saw early computers in typesetting offices that could move paragraphs around. They cost about $15,000 at the time, which was the cost of a new car. When the price dropped to $5,000, I bought one immediately. It changed my life.
The danger is that it is so easy to change things that some writers never stop changing them. You have to trust your gut, decide what works, and move on. Otherwise, you never finish.
How much editing is too much?
Thomas: There is a lot of concern right now about AI slop, and that concern is valid. But there is also corporate slop, art designed by committee until all personality and risk are edited out.
I saw a video comparing Grammy-winning songs today to those from decades ago. Many modern songs reused identical backing tracks and listed ten writers. The music sounded generic and forgettable.
Overediting can remove nuance and voice. Knowing when to say, “This is good enough, and more editing will make it worse,” is critical.
Jerry: I have seen that corporate language firsthand. Instead of saying, “We had a party Friday night, and everyone had a great time,” a memo will say, “A good time was had by all.” That passive, written language drains the life out of the message.
Just say it plainly. Use real verbs. Write like a human.
How do you silence your inner editor while drafting?
Thomas: Editing what you wrote the day before also reminds you where you are in the story, which matters when you write fast-paced fiction. But switching from editing back to drafting can be hard. Many writers say they cannot turn off their internal editor. Fear stops them after a few words.
Jerry: I face that battle every day. I am drafting and telling myself to move on, but my inner editor keeps interrupting.
I have to keep saying, “Not today. Tomorrow you get free rein.” I wish I could say it becomes second nature, but it does not. Creatives are self-critics by nature.
Some writers polish every line before moving on. I would never finish a book that way.
Thomas: One thing that helps is knowing you will work on it tomorrow. You are not refusing to edit, you are just procrastinating the editing.
Jerry: It concerns me when writers say they love drafting but hate revision. Drafting is hard because you are creating something from nothing. Editing uses skills you have honed, and that is where the magic happens. You cut needless words. You see the work tighten and improve. You think, “I would keep reading this.”
All writing is rewriting.
How do you know when your manuscript is ready to send to an editor?
Jerry: After my drafting and editing, I do another pass. I want to be happy with every word before I submit it.
A common mistake is saying, “This is the best I could do. The editor will fix it.” In today’s market, an editor may not read past the first two pages if it is not your best work.
If you abdicate all creative decisions to an editor who does not share your vision, your voice will be lost. You have to suffer in revision. If you did not suffer while drafting, you will suffer while editing.
Thomas: I actually enjoy editing. I like watching something improve. Drafting from a blank page is harder for me.
Embracing difficulty matters, especially now. If what you create is corporate slop, you will be the first replaced by AI, because AI can produce slop faster and cheaper than you can.
Jerry: My second draft is actually more like a third draft because I have edited so heavily each day. Even then, I always find something I missed. In my first draft and my revision, I tend to forget to add sensory details. Sight and sound are there, but I often forget taste, touch, and smell.
On the third draft, I slow down and ask, “If they are having a meal, what does it taste like? What does the tablecloth feel like? What does the room smell like?” I do not want two paragraphs of description, but I want a detail or two in there. For some reason, the third draft is where I catch it.
Thomas: Writers often overlook smell, taste, and touch.
Suzanne Collins does a great job with sensory writing in The Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen often goes without meals, and she notices everything. You experience hunger through her senses, and it adds realism. When you are hungry, especially if you have fasted, your sense of smell can get sharper.
Those kinds of details often get added later.
When do you add foreshadowing or metaphors?
Jerry: One reason I have been successful as a pantser is that I am an intuitive plotter. I do not necessarily plan foreshadowing, but I will drop a detail early without knowing why, and later it becomes important.
I might mention on page forty that a guy is wearing a red shirt. Two hundred pages later, someone remembers the guy in the red shirt. Or I will mention he is left-handed, and later that matters.
In one book, a character had to throw a grenade a long way and accurately. I did not know I was heading there, but earlier I established that he was athletic and had a good throwing arm. Later I thought, “I am glad I did that.”
Sometimes I have to go back and plant something deliberately. That is tricky, because you do not want it to look obvious or clunky. I try to be subtle about where I place it.
Continuity is a real issue. I am a pantser, but as I have gotten older and my memory has gotten worse, I write reminders like, “He is in Cleveland now,” so I do not lose track.
I had an experience in the Left Behind series. One prophecy involves the sun losing two-thirds of its power. I wrote a scene where people fled to the desert and bundled up in sweaters, coats, boots, and hats.
Then I wrote the next book and kept everyone bundled up. Halfway through, I wondered, “Did that curse end in the previous book?” It had. I had to go back and undress all my characters, taking off the sweaters and hats, and make them hot again because they were in the desert.
When do you send it to your editor?
Jerry: When I finish the third draft, I love hitting send. I email the manuscript and copy my agent and a few people who like to see what I am submitting.
If I do not hear back in the amount of time I expect, I think, “They discovered I cannot write. They are going to say, ‘Who wrote this? This will not work.’”
When I get the editorial letter, I wait twenty-four hours before responding. My defenses always rise at first. After a day, I can read it calmly and remember we are on the same team.
If there is something I truly disagree with, I will hold firm and explain why. I do not want an editor or AI to write for me. I want guidance like, “I need more of this or less of that,” and then I will do the fix.
I love that part of the process. I am in the middle of it right now on a current novel, and it is a lot of fun.
How do you manage defensiveness when you get criticism?
Thomas: Defensiveness is a trigger for all of us. I built a Patron Toolbox tool that uses AI to generate brutal one-star and two-star reviews. I call it the Roast Engine.
Jerry: The best editors encourage pushback. The editor I am working with right now said, “Here are my thoughts. Push back where you want, and let’s talk it through.”
Thomas: Learning is another form of crop rotation. Education can reset your mind and inspire your writing.
You can learn by listening to this podcast or attending a transformative conference that breaks your routine.
Tell us about your writers conference.
What can writers expect from the Pinnacle Christian Writers Conference?
Jerry: The Pinnacle Christian Writers Conference runs April 17-19, 2026 at Colorado Christian University. It is going to be spectacular.
They have a brand-new building with a magnificent performance hall that seats 498 people, and we want to fill it. More than 100 people have already registered.
We have outstanding speakers, including Eva Marie Everson, Angela Hunt, James Scott Bell, and Chris Fabry, DiAnn Mills, and several others. It’s a great lineup.
I cannot wait. I have not hosted a conference in many years, and we hope this becomes an annual event.
Thomas: I strongly encourage writers to attend. Writers conferences are overwhelming in a good way and offer a reset.
Events like conferences are novel and sometimes intimidating, which is what makes them memorable and life changing.
Jerry: One final thought about time compressing as we age. When I went from age nine to ten, that year was one-tenth of my life. When I went from seventy-five to seventy-six, that year was one seventy-fifth of my life. It goes faster.
## What final tips or encouragement do you have for writers who want to start writing faster?
Jerry: Write out of the overflow of your passions. Do not write just to be a writer. Write because you have something to say.
Then stay with it until it is done. Jot new ideas down on the side, but finish the project you have chosen.
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