Lots of people say they’d love to write a book, but they’re not sure how to start or they simply haven’t gotten around to trying. In all the years I’ve been writing, I’ve never found any special secret to writing a book. The truth is it takes time and dedication, but that doesn’t mean you have to barricade yourself in a room and have no life outside of writing. In an hour or less a day, you can complete your story, but the most important part of the process is sitting down and doing it. In this post, I’m sharing five practices that have helped me finish my books. I hope you find them helpful too.
1. Get started! Don’t procrastinate writing that first sentence. Once you put it down on paper, you’ll be on your way to completing the story.
2. Set a daily word count goal. Whether you’re writing a 5000-word short story or a full length novel, setting a daily word count goal will help in getting the job done. By breaking down the total into daily goals, the process is less intimidating. It’s impossible to finish 70,000 words in a single day, but 1000 words is easy to handle. Once you start on that 1000 words, you’ll often find that you don’t want to stop and will surpass your daily goal.
3. Use an outline. This isn’t for everyone. Some people don’t like to use an outline, so do whatever works for you. I’ve included it in this list because it’s a habit that has worked for me. Usually I have a loose outline so that I know where the story starts and where it ends. I’ve found that outlining each chapter or section, even if it’s just a sentence or a phrase or two, helps me complete my daily goals.
4. Break up your writing sessions. If you find you can’t complete your daily goal in a single session, spread it throughout the day. You might like to write a page or two during your lunch break and then finish your goal after dinner. If you’re a morning person, maybe you like to get up early and do some writing, then do a bit more later in the day. Do whatever works best for you, whether it’s a single session each day or several shorter ones.
5. Change your tools. Though it’s usually faster to type your story on a keyboard, sometimes you need a change of pace. If you’d rather leave your desk for a while and write longhand in a notebook, you should go for it. Personally, I like to write my love scenes longhand and I prefer to type most other scenes.
I hope you find some of these practices helpful. If you do, please let me know and if you have writing practices not mentioned here that work for you, please share them in the comments.
Happy writing!
Kate
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