Keeping track of writing time

In interviews or when I talk to readers, I often get asked how long it takes me to write a novel. I usually answer things like, “About a year” or “It took eleven months to write Hidden Truths.”

But when it comes to actual writing time, I have no clue how many hours it takes to write a novel.

With the start of the new year, I thought that it would be interesting to see how much time a week/month/year I spend writing, so I decided to keep track of my writing time.

To help me do that, I’m using two types of software:

A stopwatch. Here’s a simple one online.

And I’m also trying out an automatic time management software called Slife. Slife tracks what applications, documents, and websites you use throughout the day and for how long.

Is anyone else keeping track of writing time? If yes, how do you do it?

And has anyone ever found out how many hours it takes to write a novel?

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