What is considered a good days output (# words) for a professional novelist?
This is definitely difficult to pin down — to a certain extent, the only consensus is that it is subjective. Stephen King’s suggestion in /On Writing/ seems to be t he only direct recommendation, which is a MINIMUM of 1,000 word/day, 6 days/week, along with 4-6 hours of reading each day. He also suggests setting your own goals (at least that’s what this blogger implied: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/stephen-king%E2%80%99s-on-writing/). King also recommends that the first draft of a novel, whatever the length of the novel, be finished within 3 months, so that it stays fresh. That might be helpful in setting goals. (http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/322-excerpts-from-stephen-kings-on-writing). No one else pins it down as directly. The other two famous career novelists you mentioned show a more varied regimen and offer less specific numbers. J.K. Rowling says that she was the most productive in the time she had when she only had her daughter’s nap times – at least if you count words/h
