If you want to write a book should it be planned out or just written!? How long does a book take to write?

Good stories take time and love. Don't expect to have a masterpiece worthy of highest reverence done in a few months.

People write differently. Some like to plan them out first, some like to write them and then come back later and see if it all works out. It depends on how you think best. I like to know where I'm going before I start putting stuff down, but my friend just writes and has never outlined. So, that depends on you. I've been writing on mine for six years and haven't finished. She finished hers after two years. People, and their stories, are different.

Don't even worry about publishing until you are happy with your story. That is a whole other grievous matter entirely, so one thing at a time.

To answer all your questions in a nutshell:

Planned or Go-With-The-Flow?

It's up to you whether you'd like to plan it out or just write it. Often, writers will have a general outline of the plot: the main character, the conflict, and the resolution. Then, as they're writing, the story seems to unfold and the characters start taking on a life of their own. Or, you might have nothing to go on other than a name and a certain scene in your head. Then take it from there. As long as you write. Just write. Then go back later and edit, delete, rewrite entire scenes and chapters if you have to.

Word Count:

Although everyone will tell you "It will be as long as it needs to be," most agents get worried if the word count is excessive (think 200,000+) or too short (-50k). My best advice would be to look at the other books in your genre. You can google how many words there are in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, for example (99,750).

It tends to vary by genre too. Young Adult fiction tend to be in the 70,000-100,000 word range, while adult sci-fi/fantasy can sometimes double that! For your first book, however, I would aim for the 70k-100k range.

Time Management:

How long it takes to write totally depends on you. I wrote the first draft of my first book in about 3 months, but it took longer to go back, edit it and polish it up.

Publishing:

Once you've written and edited and polished your manuscript, let friends/family/peers read it and give you feedback, etc... and you've put your heart and soul into making it publish-ready... Then you need to find an agent. http://querytracker.net/ is a great site to join. And it's free!

You'll need to write a synopsis and a query of your work. Check out the QT forum and blog for help in that department too! Then, you'll send your queries out to agents, and if you land an agent, he/she will help get your work published! Sure, there's more to the whole publishing process than that, but getting an agent--in my opinion--is the hardest part.

Hope I answered all your questions as concisely as possible. Good Luck!! :)

Publishing shouldn't be thought about until you've finished the story and it's polished enough to be submitted. As for the story itself, the process you use is up to you. Some people like to outline their work before getting started, some just write. I usually only have a few characters when I start a story then I just let the "plot" as such unfold as I go along. How long it takes you to finish it depends on how much time you actually spend on your writing on any given day. I have been known to finish three hundred pages within a space of about six months. Other times it might take me four months just to get a hundred pages written.

I can help you with that. I have a lot of author friends using this Trafford Book Publishing. They provide a good service and superior book quality.Trafford came up with a formidable set of top-notch publishing packages.