OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
In the last 3 years, I've written 3 novels. On one hand, this is fantastic and I am celebrating my achievements. But on the other hand, it just isn't good enough if I want to make it as a successful fiction author.
Before you all start shouting, check out this post on the myth that writing fast means skimping on quality.
Also consider the list of the most prolific authors. Isaac Asimov wrote over 500 books in his life, Enid Blyton 600+. I'd better get cracking if I want to join them 🙂
Now watch the video below, or here on YouTube, about how I have increased my writing output.
In the video I discuss:
- How I’ve always been more of a binge writer, prefering batches of bigger word count and days set aside for fiction and other days for marketing, speaking and the rest of the entrepreneurial stuff. But this doesn't cut it if I want to focus on fiction as my primary income (it's about 50% right now and I am NOT earning like Nora!)
- It’s important to learn from the pros who are actually doing this, so when I read a post by Dean Wesley Smith on production schedules, I listened up! Dean and his wife, author Kris Rusch have some fantastic advices on their sites so I absolutely recommend you go check them out.
- Basically you need to decide how much you want to write e.g. 3 x 80,000 word books in a year = 240,000 words . Obviously there’s an editing cycle but the first thing is to get the rough draft done and Dean advocates a regular amount of new fiction writing in order to meet production schedules – so to meet that, I need to write ~666 words per day, every day of the year. That’s not actually too much as it takes me about 30-45 mins to write 500 words (if I know what I want to write about).
- Then decide how you will accomplish that word count e.g. weekly or daily goals. I decided to break out of binge writing and make writing a daily habit, and through that to up my monthly output of words. But I have never managed this – until now!
- Yes, it is really hard every day to get this done and I don’t think writing gets any easier, but I definitely feel the need to do it every day now. I also have a sign by my desk “Have you made art today?” which challenges me. Read The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin and you will get your ass kicked too! Stop watching TV and write something!
Do you write every day? Or do you have weekly writing goals? What kinds of writing habits do you have? Please do share your thoughts in the comments below.
View Comments (70)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1 2 3 … 8 Next »Great post, Joanna! I've been dealing with the same desire to increase productivity. Watching this has inspired me to try what you're doing. (It's also inspired me to move THE ICARUS DECEPTION to the top of my reading pile!) Thank you! See you at the top!
A really inspiring post/video! I was surprised to hear that the word count is below 700 words a day, to complete 3 first drafts in a year. It makes it sound achievable. I need to buckle down and attempt two this year.
Great post as always Joanna! I've been thinking about this a lot recently myself( got a blog post coming up - will make sure I link here!) and reading a bunch of Dean Wesley Smiths posts - an inspiring fellow!
I know I can increase my wordcount, and I write almost every day (not Sundays at the mo), but I completely stall on new writing when I have to edit something. Editing and rewriting takes me a while, and the time I've carved out for writing is limited which means I feel I have to be doing one or the other, because sharing time between them (and don't even get me started on planning) means I'm not doing either properly (or at least that's how it feels).
Any tips on getting through an editing stage without slowing your production of new words?
I'm about to get into this Matt - I start editing Hunterian tomorrow. What I'm doing it starting on a non-fiction project so I can keep the same 'fiction' head on. Dean does suggest writing more fiction words but my head gets confused. So I will continue with 1500 words of non-fiction a day, as I have a number of other projects on the go, and do the fiction editing. There's also freewriting, which you could use to just generate ideas, or short stories, or anything you could use as source material for the next book. But I know exactly what you mean!
I will wait with baited breath for anything you have to say on the subject!
For me, I'm writing short stories at the moment, so perhaps several passes on the editing is not as important as writing new material - I need to get a rhythm going and get stuff out there!
In the mean time, here is the post I mentioned for anyone who's interested:
http://www.getmewriting.com/techniques-and-tips/how-to-write-every-day-11-tips/
I'll likely have a follow-up post on speed and production next week as it's on my mind at the moment, and I need to make some decisions.
Wow, this is inspiring. Work could even let me do that. Its just the continuing education that seems to get in the way. However, I think I just need to get my butt in gear. Question though: Do you count the editing/revising in those 240000 words? I need to rewrite my NaNo from a couple of years ago (and I mean doing a serious rewrite). Would that count?
as above Heather, I'm not counting revision in the word count at the moment, but am alternating with some other projects. But of course, there are no rules :) Anything you can do towards your goals is better than nothing!
You are an inspiration Joanna! It's great to see the calendar with all those amazing numbers and checks on them. I love that photo!
Thanks Julie :) now I just need to get some more calendars and use them for more behaviour modification!
I'm committed to writing and publishing more this year. I published several shorts last year (mostly under my pen name, C.R. Byron), but it's time to put on my big girl pants and get a novel out into the world.
Thanks for the motivation and practical suggestions.
This is some exciting stuff! I am very interested in your book.... I will read it and review it on my site too. I think you are right about productivity. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Oh I like how you make the gears in my brain move! ;-)
I'm glad you're inspired Marla and I hope you enjoy the ARKANE books if you give them a try :)
As a poet, I tend to phrase my writing goal in terms of "poems per day," rather than word counts, but the same principles apply. I love the idea of marking off a calendar for each day you hit the goal, and I'm totally going to write "Have you made art today?" on my whiteboard.
wow! poems per day is pretty amazing. The few poems I have written have taken a lot longer than fiction writing :) Happy art creation!
Hi Joanna, thanks for sharing this. I'm in the "same shoes", I write 1000 words per day (having a day job). I participated in the last NaNo, now I'm waiting with the editing to have some distance from the draft. I just kept writing after the NaNo month finished. I set the 1000 word target, because it seemed like a magic number. I wrote ~35,000 words in January, and still keep the momentum. There are some days when I cannot write - as you wrote, there are other obligations -, but on other days I write more. I want to keep this momentum, because I realized that if I want to be a writer, I have to write a lot. I encourage every aspiring writer to set a word count goal, even it's 300 words per day. Writing 300 words it's possible to write a novel in a year.
Congrats on 1000 words per day - that's awesome :) Between us, we'll have a stack of words by year's end.
Timely post for me. I, too, am a recovering binge writer. The opportunity arose late last year for me to take some time off from paid work and devote myself full-time to writing after around 10 years of fiddling around the edges. It's an exciting prospect and one that I never thought I'd get. At the moment, I'm not taking full advantage (I've only been at it since the middle of January) which is a little frustrating, but I AM getting into the swing of things.
I do the calendar thing as well, but at the moment, it doesn't reflect word count. I cross off the day if I write new fiction, whether that's a scene, chapter or couple of sentences, but building up to a word count by the end of this month. I started this after reading somewhere that Stephen King does the same thing, and since I'm such a visual person, I thought I'd give it a go. So far, it seems to be working.
I've also started to get myself into a routine where I write fiction first up in the morning before I do anything else. Afternoons are for plotting and researching, though I am finding I'm getting straight back to writing whenever I'm on a roll.
I also read that post by Dean Wesley Smith on creating a production schedule, and since this year I am focusing on shorter fiction (novellas and short stories for anthologies) I should be able to get at least a full series done in a year, with a few shorts thrown in.
Having said all of that, it can be a grind when things aren't happening, but looking up and seeing all those crosses on my calendar for the days that I've written proves to me that I can do it no matter what.
Yes, apparently Stephen King writes every day including birthday and Christmas :) He never misses a day. That's a serious production schedule! All the best Selena.