Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

  • home
  • Bio
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Anthologies
    • Blue Birds
    • The Burning Season
    • Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine
    • May B.
    • Miraculous
    • Over in the Wetlands
    • A Race Around the World
    • Ride On, Will Cody!
  • Author Visits
  • Virtual Visits
  • Events
  • Teacher Resources
  • Contact
  • Writing One to One

BLUE BIRDS by the Numbers

10 Comments

Writing is such a piecemeal process. It’s always kind of fun for me to think about a book in the big picture sense of things.

Here’s the (numerical) story of BLUE BIRDS so far:

first idea: 2008
research began: 2010
writing began: 2011
book sold: 2013
publication: 2015

number of research books read completely: 9 (reading some several times)
number of research books read partially: 4
number of websites visited: 1 zillion
number of months researching: approximately 9
number of printed / partially printed copies: 7
number of early readers: 13
number of drafts before selling: 1 zillion + 2
number of editor rejections: 7
number of poems in sold manuscript: 224
number of words in sold manuscript (excluding the author’s note): 18,125

number of weeks to work on first-round edits: 10*
number of hours worked on first-round edits: 141.5
number of poems after first-round edits: 207
number of words after first-round edits (excluding author’s note): 19,632
number of words added the first 8 weeks of first-round edits (excluding author’s note): 3,551
number of words cut the last two weeks of first-round edits (excluding author’s note): 2,044

*during these ten weeks, I also worked on the following:

  • fiction and non-fiction pieces to accompany an anthology proposal: 5 hours
  • “back matter” for my 2015 picture book, OVER IN THE WETLANDS : 10 hours

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Filed Under: Blue Birds, publication, the writing life

Comments

  1. Julie Musil says

    October 23, 2013 at 1:17 pm

    Wow. When you really break it down like that, it’s amazing how much time and effort goes into each project. Love the “zillion +” !!!

    Reply
    • Caroline Starr Rose says

      October 23, 2013 at 2:03 pm

      I know. And it’s so helpful for me to see the big picture — that initial ideas and hours of work here and there can add up to big things (or one final thing, which I suppose is the same!).

      Reply
  2. Valerie Geary says

    October 23, 2013 at 3:15 pm

    Hmmm….1 zillion + 2? Yeah. That sounds about right. πŸ˜‰

    Reply
    • Caroline Starr Rose says

      October 23, 2013 at 4:03 pm

      You would know, you good sport, you!

      Reply
  3. Faith E. Hough says

    October 23, 2013 at 7:31 pm

    Wow, I’m impressed that you kept track of all that, let alone did the work! I often recycle old printed drafts, in an effort to embrace poverty and reduce clutter. (The “embrace poverty” bit makes it sound good, but I’m actually just terrified of becoming cluttered as I do tend to emotionally hold on to things.) So I probably wouldn’t remember by the end how many times I’d printed something…
    I am so excited to read BLUE BIRDS, Caroline! Every time you write about it I get a tingly “I can’t wait!!!) feeling. πŸ™‚

    Reply
  4. Tracy Holczer says

    October 23, 2013 at 9:00 pm

    I can’t imagine how hard it must be to tell a story in poems. In a novel, you get all the words! I am a terrible condenser. I can’t wait for Blue Birds! And I so love the title.

    Reply
    • Caroline Starr Rose says

      October 23, 2013 at 9:29 pm

      And I’m not fully sure what to do with prose! But I’m trying to make my way through with this new one…

      Reply
    • Becky says

      October 23, 2013 at 11:07 pm

      This is such an interesting breakdown of the whole process. Thanks for keeping good notes- and sharing them!

      Reply
    • Caroline Starr Rose says

      October 24, 2013 at 7:00 pm

      Thanks, Becky! It’s fun to realize that first “I’m going to write a book about the Lost Colony” idea will actually become a real book seven years later.

      Reply
  5. Kimberley Griffiths Little says

    October 26, 2013 at 1:31 am

    Love this, Caroline! Can I steal and do this with FORBIDDEN? πŸ™‚ The journey of a book IS an amazing thing and I think it’s a good thing we DON’T know how long and how hard it’s going to be because we may give up early on. But when it’s a time period and characters you adore the journey is also VERY satisfying (even when publishing it is uncertain the entire path).

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Meet Caroline Starr Rose
  • Email
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter

my books

Subscribe to my newsletter + to receive regular blog posts

categories

  • A Race Around the World
  • authors
  • Blue Birds
  • books and reading
  • classroom connections
  • encouragement
  • faith
  • family
  • historical fiction
  • home
  • Jasper and the Riddle of Riley's Mine
  • May B.
  • Miraculous
  • non-fiction
  • Over in the Wetlands
  • poetry
  • publication
  • Ride On, Will Cody!
  • teaching
  • The Burning Season
  • The Notebook Series
  • the writing life
  • this and that

Copyright © 2022 · Caroline Starr Rose · Site by Design by Insight

I participate in Amazon Services LLC Associates and Bookshop.org, affiliate programs that allow me to make a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Thank you for supporting this site!

Sign up for biweekly blog posts + my quarterly author newsletter and receive a printable quote from my novel, Blue Birds.