The right book writing software can make all the difference in the world.

With the right software you can write faster and more effectively. You’ll be more focused, with fewer distractions. And just as importantly, you’ll have an easier time keeping your outline and notes better organized.

But to get there, you’ll have to make some choices. Authors have all kinds of options when looking for the best book writing software.

Should you stick with tried-and-true Microsoft Word? Move to Scrivener, the software of choice for many professional authors? Or maybe it’s worth giving Google Docs a try, so you can easily share and co-edit your book with an editor?

We’ll cover the best options in this article. For a quick overview, here are the 11 best book writing software options for writers:

• Microsoft Word – Word Processor, $79.99
• Scrivener – Word Processor, $45
• Pages – Word Processor, $28
• Google Docs – Online Word Processor, Free
• Evernote – Note-Taking Software, Free
• FocusWriter – Word Processor, Free
• FastPencil – Word Processor, Free
• yWriter – Word Processor, Free
• Freedom – Productivity Software, $2.42/month
• Hemingway App – Style & Grammar Checker, Free

Let’s get started by comparing the 3 book writing software “giants,” and then I’ll share some less well-known tools that might help improve your writing process even more.

First, though, there’s one thing you should spend some time thinking about:

Which Book Writing Software Features Are Most Important to YOU?

I’m not trying to sell you on any particular book writing software in this article. Instead my goal is to give you an idea of what’s out there so you can weigh the options for yourself. Who knows—you may even discover a brand-new tool you absolutely love.

There are 9 things to consider when deciding which program to use for your book. Depending on your needs, some of these questions may be more or less important to you:

1. How easy is it to format text the way you want?
2. Does it have templates available? How many?
3. How much does it cost?
4. Is the program simple & easy to use?
5. Does it offer any extra features or other bells & whistles?
6. How about a distraction-free writing experience?
7. Is the program user-friendly?
8. Can you access your files no matter where you are?
9. How easy is it to collaborate with editors & team members?

In the end, the truth is that there are many great writing tools out there. It isn’t really a question of which tool is BEST. What it comes down to is: which tool works best with YOUR unique writing process?

The Big 3, #1: Microsoft Word Review

Before any other tools came along, Microsoft Word was the only option available. Everyone used it.

Today, even though there are many other word processors out there, Word is still the most widely used book writing software in the U.S. Millions of people continue to use it for their writing needs.

And it’s easy to see why. Word has a lot going for it!

It’s been around a long time. It’s trusty and reliable.

It also provides a relatively distraction-free writing experience. (Much better than working on Google Docs in your browser, for example, where you’re only an errant mouse-click away from the entire internet.)

If you just need to wake up in the morning and meet your word-count goals by keeping your head down and getting those words pounded out onto the page, then Word is a good choice. No fuss, no muss. It’s about as simple as it gets.

Word also offers some simple organization. Using headers, you can organize your book into chapters—and then you can navigate through them quickly using the Navigation pane:

You can create your own free book writing template using Word. And if you start writing your book in Word and don’t begin with the correct formatting, it’s pretty easy to clean up your formatting to make it “book ready” with a few simple steps.

If you’re a Word user and you’ve got your own system in place for writing books, then perhaps you need to look no further.

But Word does have some downsides.

For starters, it doesn’t always play well with Macs. If you use a Mac, then Word might cause you a lot of frustration with crashes and formatting. (Luckily, Apple offers a comparable program—scroll down to the “Pages Review” to learn more.)

Word is also pretty vanilla. That’s part of its appeal, sure, but it also means Word lacks some of the more advanced features you get with other programs like Scrivener and Google Docs.

(For example, Scrivener offers more advanced outlining functionality. And Google Docs makes it easier to share and collaborate on your files.)

All in all, Word is a solid contender for best book writing software. But there are many other choices out there.

Cost: $79.99 if purchased separately.

The Big 3, #2: Scrivener Review

You just learned that Microsoft Word is the most widely used word processor in the world. But does that mean it’s the best?

Think about it this way. The fact that Word is so prevalent means that it has to cater to all sorts of users—students, businesspeople, writers, teachers, marketers, lawyers, the list goes on and on and on.

But Scrivener was created for one type of person only:

Writers.

And if you’re a writer, chances are you’ve heard of Scrivener. A lot of writers absolutely love this program, with its advanced features and distraction-free writing experience.

This 6-minute video gives you quick overview of Scrivener along with some highlights and screenshots:

In short, Scrivener gives you an insane amount of flexibility for writing, formatting, and organizing your book.

Blogger and author Jeff Goins swears by Scrivener after giving up Word. He says: “I wasted years of my life doing all my writing on Microsoft Word. But that’s all over now. I have finally seen the light.”

Entrepreneur Michael Hyatt says about Scrivener: “I now begin every piece of content—no matter what it is—with this tool. It has simplified my life and enabled me to focus on the most important aspect of my job—creating new content. I am more productive than ever.”

Scrivener has a ton of benefits for authors that we could fill up dozens of pages discussing. I’ll keep it simple and give you the top benefits here:

• Helps with plotting for fiction authors
• Easily export your data to other digital platforms such as Kobo, ibooks, etc. (this is one of the best features)
• Provides outlining functionality that keeps your content organized
• Powerful composition mode with distraction-free writing environment
• Easily drag and drop to move sections around
• Provides a collection of robust templates
• Supports MultiMarkdown for bullets and numbers

Because Scrivener was designed for writers, it’s super easy to lay out scenes, move content around, and outline your story, article, or manuscript. Instead of keeping all your content in one big file, Scrivener allows you to create multiple sub-files to make it easier to organize and outline your project:

Scrivener is a fabulous tool for plotting out storylines. Using the corkboard view, for instance, you can recreate the popular “notecard method” for outlining your project:

But as awesome as Scrivener is, it’s not perfect.

And the biggest downside to using Scrivener is the steep learning curve involved. You aren’t going to master this program overnight.

But if you’re serious about your writing career, then investing the time to learn this program will be worth it. You’ll save time and energy in the long run.

And if you want to learn how to use Scrivener as quickly & easily as possible, we can help!

We offer a free training called Learn Scrivener Fast, where we teach you how to use all the most powerful features in Scrivener to supercharge your writing process…all in just an hour. To watch that free training, just click this image (it will take you to a separate page with the video training):

If you want to dig even deeper, you can also download the Scrivener Manual (550 pages), or watch the Scrivener YouTube tutorials they’ve put together at Literature & Latte.

Long story short: Scrivener is an investment. It will take some time to master. But once you do, you’ll never go back—it’s the single most powerful book writing software out there.

If you like what you see from Scrivener, you can buy it here:

Buy Scrivener 3 for macOS (Regular License)

Buy Scrivener for Windows (Regular License)

Cost: $45

The Big 3, #3: Google Docs Review

We’ve looked at the appealing simplicity of Word and the in-depth power of Scrivener, but there’s another writing software that more and more people are starting to use: Google Docs.

Essentially, Google Docs is a stripped-down version of Word that you can only use online through a Chrome browser. It’s a simple yet effective word processor.

The beauty of this program (and Google Drive in general) comes in the ability to share content, files, and documents among your team. You can easily communicate via comments, for example:

This program keeps a complete history of all changes made to a document, so if you accidentally delete something you wanted to keep, simply click the link at the top of the screen that says “All changes saved in drive.” That will bring up the version history, where you can review all the changes that have been made to your book file and revert to a previous version if you so choose.

Google Docs doesn’t require any installation and can be accessed anywhere via your browser (or an app on your phone).

And here’s one of the best features: everything is saved on the server frequently and automatically, so you never have to fret about losing a version or draft of your work.

(Anyone who has ever lost a draft of a book understands how valuable this feature is!)

Plus you can access your work when you move from one location or another—no carrying a laptop or thumb drive around with you. When you share a book draft with others, like test readers or your editor, they can comment directly on the draft using the built-in comment functionality.

Out of the “big 3” book writing software tools, Google Docs is probably the least sophisticated when it comes to formatting and outlining tools. But it makes up for that with easy collaboration, sharing, and online access.

Cost: Free

Pages Review

Think of Pages as the Mac alternative to Microsoft Word.

It has a variety of beautiful templates to choose from, has a simple design, and syncs with all devices from within iCloud.

Personally I love the ease of Pages. It works great for creating ebooks or manuscripts with a variety of tools you can get creative with.

Cost: $28

FastPencil Review

FastPencil is a nice little platform with lots of tools. You can also use it for distributing your ebook. It is free to start writing with, but they offer paid services as well.

Everything happens online in your browser, which means you can access your files from any computer (as long as you’re connected to the Internet). Here’s what the word processor looks like:

Cost: Free (or you can pay for more extensive features)

FocusWriter Review

FocusWriter is word processor for writers that is intended to eliminate distractions to help you get your book written quicker. It is a basic, lightweight text writer that was designed to to be completely free of the distractions.

In its fullscreen mode, there are no toolbars or additional windows, just a background and your text so that you can concentrate solely on writing your draft.

Here’s an example:

Source: https://focuswriter.en.softonic.com

You can customize the image in the background to suit your project to help inspire your writing.

Not much more to say about FocusWriter. It’s simple and effective. If you need a lot of features, it probably won’t work for you. But if simplicity is your thing, then you may have found your perfect writing tool.

Cost: Free

yWriter Review

yWriter is a really popular word processor (intended mainly for novelists) with some impressive features (especially for a program that’s completely free).

It helps keep your project organized by giving you space to include notes on all sorts of things, like character notes, scene notes, scene goals, etc. You can specify whose point of view each scene will be written in, and you can see the word count of your entire novel broken out by chapter—all at a quick glance:

Source: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5_Screens.html

One thing that yWriter does differently than a lot of other programs is focus on scenes, rather than on chapters. A lot of writers prefer this, since scenes are usually fun chunks of story to work on. And using yWriter, you can rearrange all those scenes to compose a compelling novel.

I’d call it a Scrivener alternative that is free to use. But one downside is that it only works for Windows (at least, for now—an iOs version is currently in beta).

Cost: Free

Evernote Review

Evernote is a note-taking app. It’s a great way to keep track of your thoughts—like brainstorming ideas, outlining chapters, and jotting down inspiration when it strikes.

The mobile app is particularly useful for capturing new ideas when they strike, since most people have their phone with them 24/7. Here’s what Evernote looks like on a phone:

While you can use Evernote to write content—I’ve used it for writing blogs and other small sections of books—you wouldn’t want to use it as your main word processor. Its functionality is a bit too limited.

But as a way of keeping track of ideas, it’s a great find.

Cost: Free, but there is a cool upgrade for $5 a month that gets you Evernote Premium

Freedom Review

Freedom isn’t technically a writing tool, but it sure can help improve your writing. It’s a productivity app designed to help eliminate distractions by blocking certain websites.

For example: let’s say you have a tendency to get distracted by social media sites. All you have to do us start a Freedom session that blocks all your social media sites—and then you won’t be able to visit them even if you wanted to.

Here’s what it looks like when you schedule a session:

Notice that you have a lot of options. You can schedule one-time sessions (starting now or later), or you can set up recurring sessions (for example, to block distracting sites every day when it’s time to write).

When you try to visit a site that’s being blocked, you’ll get this message:

This is a really liberating tool. Once you know you don’t have the option of visiting those distracting sites, you’ll find it easier to keep focused on your writing and you’ll be able to get a lot more done.

Cost: $2.42/month and up, or $129 for lifetime access. (Sometimes they offer discounts, so look around for a coupon code.)

Hemingway Editor Review

The Hemingway Editor is a unique kind of writing tool. It’s a style checker that’s designed to help tighten up your prose and make your writing clear and bold.

Simply paste your writing into the editor and scroll through. You’ll notice that the program highlights certain words & passages—like long, hard-to-read sentences, passive verbs, and phrases with simpler alternatives.

Here’s an example of what it looks like:

(Yikes. Too bad Dickens didn’t have this app.)

What I love about this tool is how easy it is to use. Everything is color-coded and super easy to understand, so you can see at a glance where your writing could use a little elbow grease.

Cost: Free, or you can purchase the desktop version for $19.99.

Dropbox Review

Reading this, you may be wondering:

Dropbox? How is that a writing tool?

Trust me—it is!

While it’s true that Dropbox isn’t a word processor like Scrivener or yWriter, it is a very helpful tool for writers. Especially writers who write on more than one computer, who need to collaborate with other writers or editors, or who want an easy way to back up their work.

Here’s how it works.

When you set up Dropbox and install it on your computer, it will create a new “Dropbox” folder on your machine.

Any files that you save in this folder will be automatically backed up to Dropbox’s servers in the cloud, and will be automatically downloaded to any other computers that are synced to that same Dropbox account.

A lot of writers choose to save their book on Dropbox, so that it will be automatically backed up. And as you can see, it looks the same as any other folder on your computer:

Using this strategy, you can make it easier to share and collaborate on your files—even if you aren’t using Google Docs.

Cost: Free for a basic plan, or $9.99/month for extra storage.

Pricing: How Much Do These Book Writing Software Programs Cost?

I would recommend not worrying too much about the cost of these programs. After all, dropping $100 or less on a program is not that big a deal if it is going to help improve your writing for years to come.

That said, I know you work hard for your money—and you want to get the best deal you can! Here are the most recent prices for all of the tools in this article:

• Scrivener costs about $45.
• Word costs $79.99 US.
• Google Docs is free, but you have the option to pay for more storage in Google Drive.
• Evernote is free, but there is a cool upgrade for $5 a month that gets you Evernote Premium.
• Pages costs about $28 for Mac.
• FocusWriter is free to download.
• FastPencil is free, or you can pay for more extensive features.
• yWriter is also free to download.
• Freedom costs $2.42/month and up, or $129 for lifetime access. (Sometimes they offer discounts, so look around for a coupon code.)
• Hemingway App is free to use online, or you can purchase the desktop version for $19.99.
• Dropbox is free for a basic plan, or you can pay $9.99/month for extra storage.

What’s Your Favorite Tool?

Take some time to check out each of these tools if you aren’t already using them. Stay focused on crafting your next book and stick with the book writing software that gives you the best results in terms of saving you money, time, and frustration.

Keep writing. Keep it simple. Best of all, enjoy the creative process!

Now that you have these awesome tools at your disposal, what is your favorite writing tool? What best suits your needs as an author? Can you speed up the writing process with any particular tool?

Like what you read and want to learn more? We’re holding a FREE online workshop where Chandler is revealing the exact tactics and strategies he used to write and publish 6 bestselling books in a row… and how he used them to build a 7-figure business in less than 2 years. Click here to save your spot now!

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in June of 2016. It was most recently updated for accuracy in April of 2018.

Are you a plotter or a pantzer?

If you’re new to writing fiction, I may have just offended the pantz off of you — but hear me out!

Fiction authors tend to fall into one of two buckets when writing their books:

Bucket One: Pantzers are writers who basically only have a few vague elements about the story in mind when they start writing, but nothing else.

Armed with almost no details, they hit the keyboard, banging out a magnificent novel in no time. One of the most famous pantzers is Stephen King. In interviews, Stephen King has said that he often has an idea of the beginning, the premise, and a vague idea how it’s all going to end – and that’s all he needs to start writing his book.

Bucket Two: Plotters are writers who need to know every piece of their story, down to the minute detail, before they will write a single word.

They will know who each and every one of their characters are, what their motivations are, the chapters needed for the book, chapter sections, and in some cases, even paragraphs. Probably the most famous plotter out there is James Patterson.

Clearly, it’s possible to be successful whether you’re a plotter or pantzer. But here’s the harsh reality: whereas Stephen King and James Patterson sit on opposite extremes of the ‘Outline Spectrum’, most of us fall somewhere in between.

If you are a new author who has never written a piece of fiction before, how can you know if you are a pantzers or a plotter?

The answer is unfortunately you don’t. And the deeper answer is, the more you write, the more you will tend to go to one end of the spectrum or the other. I started out my writing career as a pantzer, but the more I write, the more novels I publish, the more and more I’m becoming a plotter.

So, who you are as an author changes.

But that still doesn’t answer the question: Are you a pantzer or a plotter?

My best advice is to be something in between. Someone who looks beyond the “outline” of a novel, and identifies something much more important in their story…

The 5 Key Milestones.

How you outline your novel is absolutely moot if you can’t identify these five critical milestones in your story — and that’s what we’ll be discussing today.

Got your pen and paper ready? This guide will not only cover the milestones but challenge you to start documenting your own. Once you’re done, you’ll be ready to get down and dirty with your novel’s outline… pantz or plot style.

How to Write a Novel: The 5 Key Milestones of Every Successful Novel

Most novels and movies have five key points that make up the core of their story.

What’s more, these milestones are something that readers have subconsciously been trained to look for when digesting a piece of fiction. In other words, if you don’t have these five key moments, your reader is likely to turned off of your story because it didn’t meet expectations set by the hundreds (if not thousands) of stories they have already digested before yours.

Let’s take a look at the milestones:

How to Write a Novel – Key Milestone #1: The Setup

This is where you make your story promise.

You tell your reader what kind of story it will be – a comedy drama, mystery, fantasy, sci-fi – and you give a few clues as to what they can expect. Whatever you said in these initial pages must be followed to the end of your story.

A stone-cold drama cannot turn into a slapstick comedy by the end of the story. That doesn’t mean a stone-cold drama can’t have humor in it, it just means that you can suddenly pivot and become an Adam Sandler movie.

Also, during the setup, we learn a little bit about…

• The characters
• Their challenges
• The world they live in

We get a sense of where the story is heading.

One mistake made by first-time fiction authors is that they do not properly set up the story expectations and the reader goes in expecting one thing, only to get another.

Nothing annoys readers more and so it is essential that during the setup phase of your novel, you set the expectations that you will meet during the book.

(RELATED: How to Get Amazon Reviews For Your Book: Top Strategies for Targeting Quality Reviewers)

Example: In the Hunger Games, we meet Katniss. From her surroundings, it is obvious that she is poor, and as soon as she steps outside of her wooden shack we see hovering drones.

• Within the first few pages of this book, we have learned three essential things:
• This book is a drama
• Katniss is our heroine and she has a miserable life
• SURPRISE! There are drones and other technologies that indicate this to be a sci-fi
• We are about to read a dystopia set sometime in the future

Challenge:

• What does your story’s setup look like?
• What happens?
• What story promises do you make?

Create a list of everything your reader needs to learn in order to enter your story’s world.

How to Write a Novel – Key Milestone #2: The Inciting Incident

The inciting incident is the moment in your story when your hero’s life changes forever. It is the ‘no-going back’ moment, where nothing that happens afterwards will return your heroes world back to normal.

Katniss volunteers, Neo takes the blue pill, Dorothy lands in OZ … the aliens are here!

As soon as your inciting incident happens, your story should be full throttle towards the climax.

The most common mistake first-time authors make is that their inciting incident is reversible. That means that something could happen that would return the hero’s life back to normal.

No, no, no!

Your inciting incident should as final as the severing of a limb or a death of a loved one. Nothing should be able to reverse the effects of your inciting incident has on your hero.

Example: Katniss volunteers! In the Hunger Games, the inciting incident is irreversible because – quite literally – soldiers grab Katniss, whisk her away from her world, and into the world of the games.

There is no escape.

And even if she could get away, she would be hunted by the Capital for the rest of her life. With those two simple words, “I volunteer!” her life has changed forever.

Challenge:

• What is your inciting incident?
• Is it strong enough?
• Are there ways you could up the stakes or shorten the timeline?
• How can you make it your inciting incident as impactful and irreversible as possible?

Brainstorm several inciting incidents… Don’t settle for one. Take a look at your inciting incidents and ask yourself this: Which one of these is the harshest, deadliest inciting incident of the bunch. Then pick that one.

Note: There is an exception to this rule when it comes to romances.

With romances, the inciting incident is almost always win the two lovebirds meet. (Not always, but for the vast majority of romances, this is the case.) With romances, try to create an inciting incident that simultaneously shows how perfect these two people are for each other while setting up the numerous reasons why they can’t be together.

How to Write a Novel – Key Milestone #3: The First Slap

Now, we are away to the races!

Over the next few chapters, your character should be making a series of gains and losses, where the aggregate result is that their situation is slightly better than what it was at the moment of the inciting incident.

The reason why we need this upward trajectory is because we are setting up the reader for the first slap.

The first slap is the moment when everything that our hero has gained is lost in fell swoop. Your hero is brought down to zero. In other words, all gains are lost, and your hero’s situation has never been bleaker.

The greater the fall, the more engaged your reader will be.

Example: In the Hunger Games, Katniss’s world is brought down to 0 when she actually enters the Games.

Between the inciting incident on the first slap, Katniss has made several gains, garnering the attention of the Capital and making some friends along the way. But none of that matters the moment she enters the Games – and what a moment it is.

Challenge: Brainstorm what your first slap can be. Like with the inciting incident, try to come up with 3-5 scenarios and pick the one that is harshest.

Take a look at all the events that could potentially happen between the inciting incident and the first slap. This is a loose mind map as you are not committing to anything at this point, but do try to get a sense of whether or not your hero will be making gains and losses (with a net value of gains) and try to assess whether or not the first slap is harsh enough to truly wow your reader.

Remember, you want your readers to hate you for what you’ve done to the characters they love.

How to Write a Novel – Key Milestone #4: The Second Slap

Your hero has rose to the challenge! She has successfully thwarted the big evil that has been thrusted upon her by the first slap and she is doing well.

…Now it is time to bring her back to 0 again.

The second slap should be as harsh, if not harsher, than the first slap. This is the moment when the reader should be looking at your book and thinking, “Wow, this author is mean. Diabolical villain mean!”

But there are two essential differences between the second slap and the first. In the second slap we are setting up for the climax, which means that the hero needs to have an out. In other words, there should be some semblance of hope.

Example: In the Hunger Games, the second slap is when the Game Masters announce that two tributes can survive the Games should they both be from the same district.

Katniss goes looking for Peeta, only to find him mortally wounded – he is bleeding to death and won’t survive the next few hours, let alone the rest of the Games. We know enough about Katniss to realize that Peeta dying is the worst thing that could happen to her (besides her own death).

But there is hope!

An announcement is made that there is something at the cornucopia that the Tributes need, and Katniss just knows that there is medicine there for Peeta.

Challenge: Brainstorm several seconds slaps and pick the harshest one. Then ask yourself – where is the hope and how will it lead into the climax?

(RELATED: How to Get an ISBN: Cracking the Code for Self-Publishers)

How to Write a Novel – Key Milestone #5: The Climax

The rollercoaster that you’ve put your reader on is almost over.

The reader has gone from an engaging setup where they get to learn about your characters and world to the inciting incident where everything is turned on its head. Then they are subjected to the first and second slaps where you embrace your inner sadomasochist in order to punish your hero and give the readers the thrills they so richly deserve.

Now it is time to wrap it all up with the climax.

There is only one rule to the climax. A rule that must be adhered to, no matter what genre you are writing in…

Make it amazing! The climax should be the moment where your reader puts down the book and goes, “Holy S&*%! That was awesome!”

Example: The climax in the Hunger Games is the final confrontation between Katniss and the remaining Tributes, as well as the monsters that the Game Masters send after her. It is wrought with danger and excitement. But what makes the climax truly kickass is the poisonous berries at the end.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, pick up a copy of Hunger Games today and read it! You’ll immediately get why this scene is so amazing.

Challenge: Brainstorm your kickass climactic scene! Show us how amazing, smart, resourceful, powerful your hero is when overcoming their final obstacles.

There you have it, the framework to creating a kickass story. This method is particularly effective for first-time authors who are still finding their writing feet (or should I say typing fingers) and is an awesome resource that experienced writers can rely on time and again when planning their stories.

The 5 Key Milestones combined with a spot-on Premise and A-Story will tell you where your story starts, where it is headed and how it will end. In other words, if you do the exercises above, you should have everything you need to get your novel to the finish line.

(If you haven’t planned your Premise and A-Story, do so using these guidelines.)

And with those elements in place, there’s nothing stopping you hitting that keyboard.

Before we go, I’d like to leave you with one last piece of advice. All of the above are guidelines … a roadmap, if you will, to help your story stay on track and get you to the finish line. But be warned, your characters will surprise you, your plot will take unexpected twists – don’t worry, that’s where the magic is.

If your character does something that you didn’t expect, then your reader will most likely be blown away by their actions.

If your plot has a twist worthy of Six Sense or Fight Club that wasn’t in your outline, then your reader will walk away, entranced by your writing skills.

Go with it, enjoy the process, because your readers certainly will enjoy what you produce.

[READ NEXT: The Story Foundation Trifecta: 3 Critical Elements Every Novel Needs to Succeed]

That said, do pause for a moment to take a look at the unexpected elements and see if they affect your 5 Key Milestones. If something unexpected happened somewhere in between Key Milestone 2 and 3, for example, then see how, or even if, it will affect Key Milestones 4 and 5. Adjust accordingly – then write boldly.

And if you need a bit of extra help, I’m going through these 5 Key Milestones in a lot more detail in an upcoming webinar I’m going to conduct with Chandler Bolt. Get the full scoop and register to join us (before we fill up!) here.

Want to write a compelling, dramatic story?

One that draws readers in, takes them on a roller-coaster ride of emotions and thrills, then leaves them hungry to devour your next book, and your next, and your next?

If so, then I have good news:

With the right understanding of story structure, I believe anyone is capable of writing an amazing story.

Yes, that includes you.

And the key to making this process as easy and natural as possible is to start every novel with a good story foundation.

This is where most new writers struggle. Either they have trouble getting their story off the ground, or they can get it off the ground, but it nosedives partway through the book.

Either way, the cause is the same: they didn’t start their book from a good story foundation.

In other words, they were missing one or more of the three critical elements that every novel needs to succeed. I call these foundational elements, “The Story Foundation Trifecta.”

Let’s talk about it…

The Story Foundation Trifecta

First off, what IS the Story Foundation Trifecta? It’s a combination of three things:

1. An interesting premise
2. A sympathetic hero
3. A clear & compelling “A-story”

As you’re about to learn, these are the most critical and fundamental pieces to any successful story. As long as you have these three things in place, your story is bound to be engaging and entertaining. 

In the rest of this post, I’ll explain what these things are and how you can improve these elements in your story idea. And to help you understand, I’ll be using examples from well-known stories such as The Hunger Games, The Matrix, and my own series GoneGod World.

Foundation #1: An Interesting Premise

Your premise is the foundation of your plot. The collection of situations or presuppositions that make up your story world.

That sounds complicated, so let’s put it in simpler terms:

Your premise consists of 2-3 seemingly unconnected ideas that have been meshed together to make something truly unique.

If you analyze really popular stories like The Hunger Games and The Matrix, you’ll realize they have great premises. And that’s a big part of the reason why they were so successful.

So how do you come up with an awesome premise of your own?

One common method is to use the “What If” technique. Here’s how that might look using The Hunger Games as an example:

The Hunger Games: What if, sometime in the future, there is a society which demands children must fight to the death once a year?

Immediately, the premise opens up a hundred other questions that your story may or may not answer.

• What happened to create this world and contest?
• Why children?
• What happens to the victors?

Your story may not answer all of these questions, and certainly Suzanne Collins – the author of The Hunger Games – doesn’t answer all of them. See how that works? You take a few different ideas and combine them. See how they might fit together.

In this case the premise is using the familiar idea of a gladiator story…but it’s mish-mashing that concept by having the gladiators be children.

Then when you throw in a couple extra elements, like…

• Setting the story in the future
• Including a love-triangle with the main character
• Having a power struggle behind the scenes only the audience knows about

…you end up with a really great premise for a story.

Here’s another example:

The Matrix: What if reality isn’t what we think it is, and in fact we’re all connected to computers as human batteries for the robot world?

Here we’re taking the idea “reality isn’t what you think it is” and mashing it together with “we’re human batteries connected to computers.”

These are cool ideas on their own. But when you put them together, they become something really fascinating. With a premise like this, is it any wonder why The Matrix was so successful?

And here’s one more example, from my series of books:

GoneGod World: What if all the gods are gone, and when they leave they force all their denizens to go to earth?

Here I’ve combined the ideas of “divine creatures” and “refugees” to create a unique story premise out of two familiar ideas.

In this story, every sort of magical creature you can think of—dragons, faeries, etc.—is forced to become a refugee on earth. As you can imagine, this opens up all kinds of possibilities for interesting storylines and conflicts.

So that’s foundation #1 of the Story Foundation Trifecta: create an interesting premise. Now it’s your turn:

• Exercise: Take a look at your favorite stories and identify their premise. Turn those premises into “What if” statements.
• Bonus: Among the premises that you have identified, see if you can alter them slightly to turn them into something completely unique.
• Challenge: Create 3 to 5 premise statements of your own, statements that ultimately create world, you’d love to write in.

You’ll be surprised at how quickly you start cranking out really unique story premises.

Foundation #2: A Sympathetic Hero

Foundation #1 focuses on your plot. It’s a big-picture statement of what happens in your story.

But remember, stories don’t just happen by themselves. They happen to characters—to people. To human beings. (And sometimes, to elves and aliens.)

At the heart of every story is a hero who strives to meet an important goal. And the more your audience can understand and identify with that hero, the more likely they are to become engrossed by your story.

Now when you’re creating your hero, the three most important things to figure out are your hero’s…

• Key traits
• Outer journey
• Inner journey

“Key traits” refer to your character’s distinguishing features. Is your hero…

• Brave?
• Intelligent?
• Beautiful?
• Charming?
• Underhanded?
• Strong as an ox?

Your character’s journey refers to the challenges they will be forced to overcome throughout the story. And we break that journey up into inner and outer journeys. 

A few examples:

The Hunger Games: Katniss’s outer journey is to survive the games. Her inner journey is to mature as an individual, to let other people in, and to learn to accept help from others.

The Matrix: Neo’s outer journey is to defeat Agent Smith and the robot forces enslaving humanity inside the Matrix. His inner journey is to believe in himself and accept that he’s the only one capable of saving the human race.

Make sense? Great. Now go figure out who your hero is, give them a few key traits, and most importantly decide on their inner and outer journey. Then when you’ve completed that, you’re ready to move for…

Foundation #3: A Clear & Compelling “A-Story”

Once you know your story’s premise and have identified your hero, your next step is to use those 2 elements to create your “A-story.”

Loosely defined, your A-story is the main storyline in your novel. It’s the one story we need to see resolved in order for us to put down your book and feel satisfied at the end.

Your book can have multiple storylines—maybe you have a romance subplot, for example—but your A-story is the main story. The big problem that gets resolved at the end.

In most cases, your A-story is going to be the same as your hero’s outer journey. In The Hunger Games, for example, the A-story is Katniss’ trial to survive the games. 

But your A-story can also tie into your hero’s inner journey. In The Matrix, the A-story deals in part with Neo’s struggle to believe in himself and become “the one.”

Here are some common A-stories for different genres:

• Sci-fi: Repel the alien invasion
• Action: Get revenge on the bad guys
• Romance: Finally succumb to the love of your life

It’s important to know your A-story. This is the storyline that you need to focus on, to keep coming back to. This is the major conflict of your story, so don’t lose sight of it.

Exercise: Identify two or three unique A-stories that fit could each premise. Spend a few minutes contemplating how the premise and the A-story work together. (And also relish is how your A-story is better than the original 😊.)

Bonus: Could you alter one of the premises to fit with your own unique A-story? If so, you very well may have the a kickass story on your hands!

Challenge: Now that you have defined your premise in step one, identify 2-3 A-stories that could work within that premise statement.

You Know Your A-Story…Now, What’s Next?

OK, so you’ve gone through the Story Foundation Trifecta and figured out your premise, hero, and A-story. What should you do next?

In a word, you need to start outlining.

Now this does NOT mean you have to go through every single part of your story and create a step-by-step outline of everything that will happen.

You can do that, but you don’t have to.

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of writers out there:

• Plotters (like James Patterson)
• Pantzers (like Stephen King)

Plotters are people who like to plot their stories in advance, while pantzers are people who don’t—they “fly by the seat of their pants,” coming up with their story ideas on the fly.

You might think that outlining is only important for plotters…but actually, that’s not the case. EVERY writer needs to come up with at least a basic outline before they start writing.

Even Stephen King, the most well-known pantzer out there, has admitted that he writes his stories with an end in mind.

So whether you want to write an in-depth, blow-by-blow treatment, or just a general outline to help give some direction to your pantzing, there are 5 Key Milestones that you’ll need to include in your story outline.

These are the 5 Key Milestones that every story has to hit in order to reach a satisfying conclusion. Luckily, I’m hosting a new (free) workshop where I’ll teach you what the 5 story milestones are and how to work them into your story.

Once you know the 5 Key Milestones you need to include in your story, you’ll NEVER again feel lost while you’re writing. You’ll always know where to go next to keep your story moving in the right direction.

As a result, you’ll find it much easier to guide your readers through a story that feels complete and satisfying. So that when they finish reading the last page of your book, they’ll feel like they went on a meaningful journey with your hero—and that nothing was missing or incomplete.

Click here to learn more and register for the free webinar now, before you forget.

If you’ve ever tried to write a book, you know how it goes:

You stare at a blank page for 5 minutes, but it feels like hours. To combat boredom, you stand, stretch, and brew another pot of coffee. While you wait, you do some stretches, look outside and daydream about mowing the lawn. But then you stop yourself. You told yourself today is the day you’ll finally start writing your book.

You take your cup of coffee back to your desk. You now feel refreshed, you’re certain the words will flow and you’ll write that perfect book your audience will love. But first, you quickly check Facebook. You tell yourself you’ll only take five minutes…

The following week, a friend asks how your book is coming, and you think, “Book? What book?”

There are plenty of reasons why writing a book, whether fiction or nonfiction, puts most writers directly into procrastination mode. Maybe you’re just not sure how to get started. Perhaps spilling your guts onto the page for the world to see makes you want to run far away from the nearest computer. Or maybe you’re insecure about the quality of your writing, and you’re afraid of getting slammed by negative review after negative review.

Or even worse: what if once you do publish your book, nobody ever buys it and all that effort goes to waste?

How to Write a Book in 30 Days.

Take a deep breath (but no more coffee, you’ve had enough.) Remember that all authors have been exactly where you are right now. All successful writers—from William Shakespeare to Walt Whitman to Stephen King—began by staring at a blank page. You’re in illustrious company!

I’m here to help. This IS something you can do, you just need to know the steps to get there. You can—and will—write your book in 30 days. I’ve got you covered on all aspects of getting started. Read on and crush your fear of writing and publishing your book.

The More You Write, the Better You Get.

From the terror of the white screen to a completed book in 30 days—how is that even possible?

You’re probably thinking, “I’m not a good enough writer. I need to do_____ before I start writing.”

Well I’m here to tell you that:

• You don’t need a creative writing class.
• You don’t need a good writing mentor (though it does help).
• You don’t need to read thousands of good books.

You only need one thing. You need a system.

Practice is not only how you get an entire book written. Practice is how you get a good book written.

As with anything we learn, writing is a skill. And as a skill it is to be honed over time, because it requires practice to master. Letting go of the idea that you’re not good enough will help you make the mindset switch from “I Can’t!” to “Let’s Get This Done!”

When it comes to good writing, the more you do it, the better you’ll get.

Purpose Driven Writing: What’s Your WHY?

Before you open your laptop and start daydreaming about which photographer should take your best-selling author headshot, or about getting interviewed on Oprah, you need to answer one question:

Why do you want to write a book?

It’s not enough to have an inspiring book idea. Before you put pen to paper, you need to know your purpose.

I won’t lie, writing a book is rewarding, but it requires hard work. It requires emotional labor, long nights (or early mornings), and facing a constant self-critical process that is unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Solidifying the purpose fueling your book will carry you through this difficult process, and ultimately, the publishing and marketing process.

Ok, you’re thinking—“Don’t worry, I know why I want to write a book. I want to write to feel important!” That’s an interesting thought, and feeling important may be a byproduct of becoming a published author.

However, feeling important isn’t the same as your purpose—your WHY. Feelings are fleeting, whereas a purpose is a deeper, intrinsic motivator which will keep you burning the midnight oil to power through Chapter 23 when the rush of feelings have long dissipated.

While thinking of your own purpose, you may consider why other published authors have taken the leap to write their own books:

• Authority: To build credibility.
• Money: For financial gain or business success.
• Grow a network: To meet and connect with others in the industry.
• Passion project: To share an empowering story for the greater good.

Authority, money, networking, and passion may resonate with you; one of those might be your purpose. Or, your purpose may be something completely independent from this list. There are no wrong or right purposes for writing a book. Your WHY will be unique to you.

Sandra Bass Joines, a member of the Self-Publishing School community, wrote on Facebook about finding the WHY behind her book, and how it helped to fuel her creative process.

Sandra writes:

Having just gone through a pretty nasty spine surgery, I decided to write about that topic, although I questioned what I had to offer. After struggling through mind mapping and outlining and writing about 10,000 words, I still did not know why I was writing the darn book.

I am a person who needs to know not only the what but also the why, how, when, where… all of it. Drove my teachers and parents crazy. Sitting in the waiting room before a follow-up appointment with my surgeon, I overheard two women talking. It was apparent that both of the women were recovering from surgery. One woman had legs and feet that pretty much resembled those of an alligator. She was telling the other woman how she had asked her husband to put lotion on her feet and legs, but he never got around to it, and she was so tired of not being able to do things for herself. The other woman agreed.

Having discovered a method of putting lotion on my feet and legs without bending and therefore preventing pain, I asked the women if I could share something with them. So, sitting in the waiting room, I began to show these two women my method. Soon, there were others who were standing around. When I saw the surgeon, he smiled and said that he understood I was conducting classes in his waiting room.

Well, the light went off. I could help people. I could write a book. I could share how I prepared my home and found efficient ways to take care of myself that helped relieve my caregivers of their duties and reduced my pain and stress.

I went home, tossed my 10,000 words and started over. I had a why to my what. I had a purpose. And I think that is the secret. If there is a purpose, there is a book.

Now, I have a book that has been through the formatting stage and it is almost ready to start its life, and I feel it will actually help many people.

SPS [Self-Publishing School] works. It is an awesome program. My comments to you new folks, find your why and follow the program. The rest will come. Best of luck to all of you.

Once you’ve honed in on your WHY and your purpose, let your purpose help focus your writing. By keeping your purpose at the forefront of your creative process, you’ll make the writing process quicker and smoother than you thought possible.

Excuses Be Gone.

You’ve figured out your WHY and articulated your unique purpose for your book. And right on cue, something is going to begin: your excuses.

When there’s nothing standing in your way, it’s sadly typical to start letting excuses become the obstacle to your success. It’s perfectly natural, and it’s part of being human.

But you can overcome it.

It’s worthwhile to spend a little time addressing some common excuses many of us make to prevent us from writing. Once you’ve cleared out the cobwebs and smashed those mental roadblocks, you’ll be better prepared for the writing process ahead. Getting your mind ready is one of the first steps to producing valuable work.

Excuse #1: I don’t know what to write.

You have a story. In fact, you may be pleasantly surprised to find as you write that you have more than one story and you’re having a tough time narrowing down the content.

Your first book should be about a topic you’re comfortable with. You can literally write a book about anything, so go with what you know. Start by brainstorming and let your thoughts run free.

Excuse #2: I don’t have enough time.

Today, we’re all busy. Writing a book takes less time than you think. Find an hour a day you devote to something mindless—social media, video games, internet, or TV—and start writing.

And if you don’t have an hour, try 30 minutes. Even 5 minutes 3 times a day can be a source of massive productivity. Think about it. The average person can type 60 words a minute. 60 words x 5 minutes = 300 words. Do that 3 times a day and you’ll produce close to 1000 words a day.

You’ll amaze yourself at how an hour per day adds up to something productive!

Excuse #3: Good writers spend all their free time reading.

You might actually need to cut down on reading, at least temporarily, in order to give yourself time to write.

Besides, you don’t need to be a literary connoisseur to write. Your writing style is your own. As you write, you’ll find your natural voice, in fact, trying to emulate another’s style or tone will stifle your own process.

Excuse #4: I’m not an expert.

According to Google, the definition of an expert is “a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of, or skill, in a particular area.” An expert can also simply be someone who knows more about a subject than someone else.

Do you know a lot about a certain topic? Congrats, per the above definition, you’re an expert!

Excuse #5: The first draft must be perfect.

A draft is a work-in-progress, and the goal is simply to get it on paper. A draft will have mistakes and that’s okay—that’s what the editing process is for.

As Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said, “Done is better than perfect.” If it works for a multi-billion-dollar company, it should work for your first self-published book.

Don’t get me wrong, as I’ve already said, writing is hard work. But shedding these excuses should help get you into a positive frame of mind for the writing process.

Once you’ve got the right mindset to write, it’s time to start thinking and planning about how to carry out the physical process of writing your book.

Setting the Stage: Get Ready to Write.

The day is here, the day that sets you on the path to becoming a published author. How exciting!

We’ve talked about the WHY and obliterated your excuses. It’s time to start your prep work. Before words make it onto the page, you need to focus on three prep elements: planning, time, and environment.

Plan When You’ll Write.

Without a plan, it’s too easy to let your book writing goals get pushed to the background, eventually fading into the soft mist of someday. Don’t let your book end up in the graveyard of dreams. In order to realize your end goal, you need actionable steps to follow. Here are three things you can do to create your own customized book writing plan:

1. Plan writing sessions using your calendar
2. Choose the time of day you plan to write
3. Set a schedule for your book-writing project

1. Plan writing sessions using your calendar.

Assess what’s going on in your life in the next 30 days, then block out when you can write, and when you can’t. It’s common for new writers to set unrealistic time goals, which in turn generates stress when it’s impossible to meet those arbitrary deadlines. Avoid this and stay realistic. Thirty minutes (or even 5 minutes) spent writing is better than nothing, so resolve to make it happen and find the time.

Look at Laura Bennett, a Self-Publishing School student. She was working full-time, running a business, and working on her Master’s degree—busier than most people—yet she found the time to write her book Live Your Dream: How to Cut the Crap and Prioritize Your Purpose in two months! If Laura could make it happen, then writing your book is certainly an attainable dream.

2. Choose the time of day you plan to write.

You might decide to get up early and write before the obligations of your day crowd out your writing time. But if you’d win the gold medal in the Olympic Sport of snooze-button slapping, then choose a different time or make sure you get to bed earlier so you’re fresh in the morning.

If your evenings are free, but your brain is mush and you’re only good for sinking deep into the couch cushions, then choose a different time or rearrange your schedule so you aren’t so burned out in the evenings.

Alternatively, you can grab some time on your lunch break, or sneak small blocks of time into your workday, such as when you’re transitioning between activities, or waiting for a meeting to start.

Whatever time of day is convenient for you, stick with it so that it becomes a predictable part of your day. This will establish a writing habit.

3. Set a deadline for your book-writing project.

Setting an end date forces you to stay on schedule and keep the forward momentum going. How do you choose a deadline when you have no idea how long the book-writing process will take? Writing a book takes far less time than you might think!

Self-Publishing School recommends writing until you hit a daily word count of 500-1,000 words. As long as you commit to one hour (or less!) each day, you should be able to reach that goal. After 30 days of daily writing sessions, you will have completed a 30,000-word draft. Consistency is key. Small, consistent actions towards writing your book is how it comes to life.

If that schedule doesn’t work, then commit to a time period and a daily word count which does. It’s okay if that’s 15 minutes per day. The ultimate goal is your rear end in the writing seat for that allocated period of time each day.

Share the end date of your first completed draft with others so you have extrinsic motivation to keep moving toward that finish line. It’s a good idea to choose an editor for your book (before you finish your first draft) and schedule when you’ll have the completed first draft of the manuscript in that person’s hands. That way, if you’re tempted to flake out and put off a writing session, that looming deadline can help keep you going.

Create Your Writing Environment.

The “best” writing environment is going to be personal to you. We all work well in different settings, so with that in mind, consider these general guidelines to boost your productivity.

1. Minimize distractions. Laundry, kids, the dog that wants to go for a walk, email—nope, not during your writing time. Focus on your writing, and the rest can wait. Some like to escape to a coffee shop because the buzz from the crowd and the caffeine keeps their fingers flying across the keyboard.
2. Choose a comfortable work space. Once your tush is planted firmly in your seat, you don’t want your physical discomfort to detract from your creativity. Pick a spot that’s not so comfortable you’ll fall asleep, but comfy enough to keep you typing for the duration of your allotted writing time.
3. Pick your favorite background noise. Find your happy ambient background. Whether that’s total silence or Pandora’s Party Music, we each know what background noise keeps us focused. Consider some meditation music with binaural beats to get you in the zone. Again, some people find heaven while writing at a coffee shop, while others find the chatter distracting.

You might need to experiment to find the writing environment that allows you to focus and write freely. Bottom line: Find the writing environment that makes you comfortable and go with it. Once you find the best creative process for you, you’ll even look forward to writing!

Strategic Writing Methods.

Now we’re on to the actual writing (finally!) Without further ado, let’s look at four detailed strategies to make writing your book as productive and painless as possible!

1. The Mind Map Method: From Brain Dump to Book.

First, create a mind map—basically, a brain dump—on your book’s topic. Start your mind map by writing your intended topic in the center of a blank sheet of paper. From there, use lines and words to draw as many connections from that one topic as you can. Your mind map gives you the benefits of writing in free-form and creating structure from all the connections you make.

Once you’ve exhausted the number of topics in your mind map, it’s time to outline. Use the ideas and connections generated in your mind map to create a clear outline for your writing, chapter by chapter.

And finally, start writing. It’s that simple!

This method works if you’re the sort that likes to plan ahead. It may also appeal if you’re not tech-savvy, as the “old-fashioned” free-hand mapping concept might allow more creative freedom than if you were behind a keyboard. The ultimate outcome of using this method is the generation of lots of topics and free-form thoughts.

2. The Sticky Note Method: Collect Your Thoughts.

Instead of using the mind mapping structure, this method uses sticky notes to form an outline. For about a week, carry around sticky notes and write down anything and everything that crosses your mind regarding possible book topics.

When the week is up, organize all of your sticky notes into sections and themes. Then, organize these themes into the patterns that would make sense in the context of chapters of your book. You can then elaborate in areas where you notice missing pieces to the puzzle, and use all of the material you’ve gathered and organized to create an outline.

This method may be helpful if you’re struggling with the notion of committing to writing a whole book, since it lets you break down the process into manageable pieces. The ultimate outcome of using this method is deeper thinking, clarity, and concise organization of thoughts and patterns.

3. The Speaker Method: Write a Book Without Actually Writing.

This method gives you two options to start your outline process: either mind map or use sticky notes. Once you’ve organized these thoughts into an outline, you’ll then use a transcription app or device to record your spoken words to create your book draft.

This method works if you’re a strong speaker, and you prefer speaking to writing. The ultimate outcome is that you can create your book draft as quickly as possible, with no actual writing on your part. Writing a book without writing—clever!

4. The Transcription Method: Record, Then Write.

The first step to this method is to organize your brainstorming and outline using, again, either mind mapping or sticky notes. Then you’ll speak your first draft aloud into a recording app or device, which you’ll then transcribe into writing. This differs from “The Speaker” method because, instead of using an app or service to transcribe your words, you’re the one transcribing and typing the written draft.

Why would you bother taking that extra step? For those of us who have tons of ideas but can’t winnow them down or organize them cohesively by speaking alone, this method can help us get the words out, and then decide what to toss once we hear it played back.

This is also a method to consider if you’re struggling with having stagnant writing and need a fresh way to spice things up.

Pick the strategic method that speaks to you and your process, and get started on that book!

Overcoming Writing Challenges: Solutions to Common Problems.

It’s not a matter of if, but when, you’ll face adversity during your book writing process. Most commonly, writers struggle with getting a manuscript finished in a reasonable length of time; or they’re making no progress whatsoever when faced with a dreadful case of writer’s block. Here are cures for both issues.

How to Write Faster.

Writing faster means getting to publication—and to profits—that much sooner. Try these pro tips to maximize your daily word count.

• Flex your writing muscles each day. The more you work, the more efficient you’ll get. Create your writing routine and stick to it!
• If you get stuck on a particular section and stop making progress, find a different part of the book that appeals to you today and write that section.
• Planning and research can be necessary—or a method of procrastination. Limit your prep work to a reasonable timeframe so it won’t preclude you from writing. Use a timer if it helps you stay on track.
• A partner to hold you accountable to the goals you’ve set for yourself can keep you on track. Set up weekly meetings to review work and cheer each other on.

How to Beat Writer’s Block.

Writer’s block can rear its ugly head in many ways. For some, being blocked means no words at all, while for others, it means trying to nail down a functional draft in the midst of a tornado of swirling ideas. Most of the time, writer’s block is a symptom of a paralyzing fear of others’ opinions.

The harsh reality is, if you write, at some point you’ll be on a first-name basis with a bout of the block. The only way to deal with it is to beat it. Here are eight methods I’ve found personally useful to defeat writer’s block.

1. Circle back to your mind map or outline and see if there’s useful info that sparks fresh inspiration. Sometimes it just takes looking back at the bigger picture to remind you where you’re going with your draft.
2. Change up the physical way you’re writing; sometimes a simple shift can boost creativity. If you use a laptop, put pen to pad. Try some new music, a new location, or new beverage to sip at your desk.
3. If you find you start writing slowly and warm up as time goes on, allow adequate time during your writing sessions to get the creative juices flowing.
4. Review what you wrote the day prior to refresh your memory.
5. Talk it out. Sometimes a quick conversation with yourself is enough to work through writer’s block. Or call a friend and bounce some ideas off them if you’re truly stuck.
6. Remember that what you’re writing doesn’t need to be perfect—you’re writing a first draft. If you have a case of perfectionist syndrome, tell yourself it’s okay to write something you’ll think is terrible. Making something good is what second drafts and the editing process is for. “Done is better than perfect.”
7. Go for a walk. You might be surprised at how a walk outside, or a brief bit of exercise, helps refresh and recharge your creative juices.
8. Read another author who has a style you like. Read their book for 10 minutes and then start typing, holding their voice in your head.

Now that you know ways to work around common writing challenges, there’s no excuse for throwing in the towel when the going gets tough. Keep pushing forward and you’ll be printing out the last page of your book before you know it.

Keep Going: You’re Almost There!

Now you know not only how to get started writing your book, but how to complete your book project in a mere 30 days! Remember to keep your WHY at the forefront of your mind, and you’ll be able to crush any and all obstacles that get in your way. If any of the common challenges or obstacles we’ve mentioned rear their ugly head, you’ll know how to deal with them. With just a little bit of time and a lot of determination, you are on your way to officially calling yourself an author.

The biggest question new writers ask is “How long does it take to write a book?” And the common answer normally is: “It depends”.

According to this article that interviewed famous authors, when asked how long it took to produce their debut novels, the answers ranged from four years to a decade. In other words, a very long time.

While it’s nice to be able to take your time honing and polishing your new book, a rough draft sitting on your hard drive isn’t doing anything for you. It’s not building your author name, spreading your message, or growing your audience. Moreover, it’s not earning you a single cent.

But there is amazing news: Writing your book can take far less time than you think. You just need to have the right mindset and stay motivated.

Here at Self-Publishing School, our goal is to improve this arduous writing process. Right now, we coach our students to routinely complete a new book in just 90 days, finishing their first draft in as little as 30 days! They are able to accomplish this by following a simple step-by-step guideline that we’re going to share with you today.

This guideline covers:

1. Establishing a Strategic Deadline
2. Prioritizing Your Writing Into Tasks
3. Creating Word Count Goals
4. Finding Your Accountability Partner
5. Setting Challenges for Yourself

Follow these guidelines to supercharge your own writing process, and you’ll become a published author faster before you know it.

1. Establishing a Strategic Deadline

Deadlines are designed to help you inch closer to completing your book. It also encourages you to work everyday hitting both short term and long term goals. However, you won’t find success by setting arbitrary due dates. They must be set up for your book’s success.

Here’s 3 ways to establish strategic deadlines:

1. Define realistic deadlines. Set short term and long term deadlines for each portion of your draft that breaks down your entire book.
2. Set honest expectations. If you’re only able to write 500 words a day, so be it. Don’t push yourself into thinking that you can complete an unrealistic task. Be honest with your abilities and align it with your deadline.
3. Implement rewards. Don’t make writing a book feel like a tedious job. Reward yourself for achieving your goals! Attaching rewards to each accomplishment will make finishing your book much more aspiring to complete.

Action Plan: Before writing, set your first draft time frame between 30-90 days and set target dates that tackle both short term and long term goals for your first draft.

2. Prioritizing Your Writing Into Tasks

What separates those who can write multiple books to those who can barely write a page is the ability to prioritize. Because there are so many competing factors that pull away our time and energy, prioritizing is actually a very hard concept to implement.

But in order to write your book, you need to establish clear priorities to get anything done.

Here are some ways to prioritize your work:

• List out every detail of your book and turn them into tasks
• Assess each task to identify what carries the biggest value to completing your book
• Order tasks by its immediate priority and length of time to complete
• Anticipate unexpected changes to your schedule, and plan an alternative schedule to stay on track

Action Plan: Make the effort and spend a few hours prioritizing your writing process. You will be surprised with how much writing you can accomplish with a well thought out task plan.

3. Creating Word Count Goals

One of the best ways to accelerate the writing process is to set word count goals. Like training intervals, setting up word count goals will pace how many words to write a day. By establishing these parameters for your own success, not only will you be more likely to accomplish these goals, you will also notice improvements to your writing.

We recommend writing down your daily, weekly, and monthly word count goals to not only show your current progress, but to keep you motivated until you reach the end. It also helps to include rewards for every new milestone!

Action Plan: Start your daily word count goal to 500-1,000 words per day. By completing 1,000 words per day, you’ll be looking at your completed 30,000 word first draft in one month!

4. Finding Your Accountability Partner

A supportive partner can be a great sound board, a first pair of eyes, and a protector of your sanity. They can also be the extrinsic motivation you need to meet your own deadlines and word counts.

When you have an accountability partner backing you up, it makes it harder to procrastinate because they expect great results from you!

At Self-Publishing School, we believe in the accountability system and pair our students up with other like-minded students to encourage one another and hold each other accountable for reaching goals and deadlines. It’s a great motivating tactic and helps our students complete their books on time.

Action Plan: Find an accountability partner who is willing to encourage and hold you accountable to meet your deadlines!

5. Setting Challenges for Yourself

Following the same routine can get old quickly especially for something lengthy like writing the first draft of your book. To combat the fear of boredom and add more spark to your writing project, we encourage you to set challenges for yourself!

Here are some simple challenges to set:

• Double the word count you’ve originally set daily, monthly, yearly
• Purposely tighten deadlines to increase pressure
• Ban the use of your phone or all forms of distractions until you’ve completed your task
• Read your unfinished draft out loud to someone new for feedback

Action Plan: Include a few of these challenges every so often to increase the intensity of your writing. You may tack on even better rewards for each successful challenge you’ve completed.

If you ever dream of becoming a self publisher, now is the time to finally make it a reality. By following these guidelines on how to develop a robust writing process, you will have your first book ready to publish in no time.

Like what you read and want to learn more? We’re holding a FREE online workshop where Chandler is revealing the exact tactics and strategies he used to write and publish 6 bestselling books in a row… and use them to build a 7-figure business in less than 2 years. Click here to save your spot now!

Beginning the process of writing your book and presenting it to a worldwide audience is very exciting. You have amazing ideas that you want to share with the world, and you’re more motivated than ever to educate your readers about them!

But once you begin, you may realize that writing a book is hard work. There are many obstacles that can prevent you from writing and can create stress leading to anxiety. For example, you may find yourself in front of a blank page unable to type and thinking of stressful questions like: “How do I write this entire book?”, “Do I need to blog first?”, or “Should I start without an outline”?

Writing a book shouldn’t be this hard! But many get overwhelmed because they lack a writing process.

If you’re feeling demotivated when it comes to starting your book, you’re not alone. Writing can still be one of the hardest parts for most authors even if they have been writing for a long time!

Fortunately, there are some extremely effective techniques for how to start writing a book and overcome these hurdles.

Here are seven effective strategies you can put into action to assure you show up with a game plan to get your thoughts out of your head, down on paper, and into the minds of your readers.

1. Set Up Your Creative Environment

Create an environment that is designed to help you stay focused. Whether you prefer noisy environments or absolute solitude, it’s up to you to determine which will get you into the writer’s flow.

Here are a few ideas to create your ideal space for writing:

• Have collections of inspiration. Decorate your work area with inspiring quotes or pictures that house references to deep work.
• Unclutter your space. Create an uncluttered open space to help organize not only what you need, but also your thoughts.
• Be Flexible. Your creative space doesn’t need to be one spot, it can be anywhere. Even your favorite authors have discovered their best ideas in the most unexpected places.
• Buy a calendar: Your book will get written faster if you have set goals for the week/day. The best way to manage this is by scheduling your time on a calendar. Schedule every hour that you commit to your author business. What gets scheduled, gets done.
• Create a music playlist for inspiration: Many authors can write to the sound of their favorite tunes. Is there anything that gets you working faster? Do you write better with deeper focus when listening to rock music or classical? Set up several playlists that you can use to get into the flow of writing.
• Try Multiple Locations. You won’t know how creative you can be if you don’t try different spots to write. Maybe writing from your bed is your ideal creative space. What about working in a noisy cafe? Change up your location frequently particularly if you feel creatively spent.

Action Step: Spend 30 minutes to create your ideal space for writing. You will feel more inspired to show up and write.

2. Develop a Writing Habit

The number one reason authors fail to publish a book is because they never finish the book they intend to write. Why? Because they didn’t form a good writing habit.

Feeling overwhelmed when writing is natural, but you must remember that the journey of writing a book always begins with the first page. And in order to write your first page, you must take action. This is why having a writing habit will develop your writer’s flow.

Your writing habit can start small. Don’t overwhelm yourself thinking that you must write your every thought on the page. You can start with a few paragraphs, a sentence, or even just a word. The purpose of this exercise is to commit to your writing session everyday until it has become second nature.

Action Step: If you don’t have a writing routine already, get one started! Momentum begins by taking that first action.

3. Create an Outline

A clear outline provides clarity and direction to your story. It is also the road map for your book that keeps you on track and makes sure you have all your ideas organized in a natural flow. When you get stuck, you can always go back to your outline to find what comes next regardless of whether the book is 100 pages or 300 pages long. It will help you see the overall picture.

Before you write, spend some time creating your outline with these steps:

1. Brainstorm: List every thought and story idea you want in your book.
2. Organize: Combine all related ideas together.
3. Order: Arrange ideas into subsections from general to specific.
4. Label: Create main and sub headings that will eventually be your chapters.

Action Step: Spend a good portion of your time constructing an outline. If you want more on creating it, be sure to check out our guide.

4. Work Only on One Project

One challenge many authors experience is taking on multiple new projects when they should be focused on one. Although enticing, the division of attention can spread your energy thin producing bad writing or worse, failure to complete your book.

There’s only one clear solution to this problem: Cut the clutter and focus on one project until it’s finished.

Be fully committed to your project by doing the following:

• Create an action plan that breaks down the entire project into realistic portions to complete.
• Set hard deadlines for each and every phase of your book.
• Learn to say “NO” to any additional projects no matter how intriguing they appear.

Action Step: Create an action plan and commit to it. Learn to be selfish and practice saying “NO” often. It’s better to complete one book and get it right than to write two books with poor results.

5. Maintain Your Focus

Once you get into the flow of writing, you want to remain focused through the duration of your writing session. Any break to your concentration can set you back 20-30 minutes and disrupt your flow. We become less efficient when we are distracted, and it can end up taking twice as long to complete our writing.

Thankfully, there are very effective techniques that can help you remain centered in the moment.

 Leave the distractions behind by doing the following:

• Create a writing schedule.  Schedule your writing for the same time each day. This conditioning will develop your writing habit until it becomes as natural as knowing when to brush your teeth.
• Use the Pomodoro Technique. This is a time management strategy that breaks down work into intervals separated by short breaks. With a clock ticking, you will less likely be distracted by email or social media.
• Turn off your phone. Your phone is the most addicting device that steals your precious attention. Don’t let it take that from you, turn it off.
• Have a Task Management app. Task Manager apps, like Todoist, helps you organize your tasks by their time and priority, so you know exactly what to do in what order the next day.
• Disconnect from the Internet. Want to ensure you don’t get distracted by email notifications, Facebook notifications etc? Disconnect your computer from the Internet and enjoy distraction-free writing time.

Action Plan: Experiment with each of these productivity techniques and optimize your writer’s flow. By becoming a productivity expert, you will easily double your output and complete your book in no time.

6. Stay Accountable with the “Calendar” Strategy

Jerry Seinfeld is one of the most popular comedians of all time, and he attributes his success to his unbelievably strong writing habits. In the early days of his career, Seinfeld was asked how he managed to have such great content. He said, “The way to be a better comic is to create better jokes, and the way to create better jokes was to write every day.”

Seinfeld used the “Calendar Method”, otherwise known as the “Don’t Break the Chain” method, and it worked like this:

1. Get yourself a calendar, and hang it on the wall.
2. For each day you write, draw an X on the calendar for that day. By the end of the week, you should have a row of Xs at the end.
3. If you miss a day, start over and see how long you can go before breaking the chain.

If you can keep this chain going, you will have your book written faster than you can imagine.

Action Plan: Buy yourself a calendar and get started on the “Calendar Method”! Being held accountable will keep you motivated and not “Break the Chain”.

7. Deal With Resistance

Resistance is a common obstacle that holds us back from creating. It is a form of fear that intimidates you from writing and can throw you off your writer’s flow. Everyone has encountered this awful feeling, but it doesn’t have to defeat you.

Here are a few ways to deal with resistance:

• Read morning affirmations. Affirmations are powerful snippets of positive words that set the tone and atmosphere for writing. An affirmation could be a quote from a writer, a motivational speech from a public figure, or an inspirational video.
• Free Flow for 10 Minutes. Julia Cameron, the bestselling author of The Artist’s Way, called these morning pages, and its purpose is to clear your mind of all the anxiety and junk rolling around in your head onto a piece of paper. Write anything. You don’t have to edit, publish, or have a word count, it’s simply a 10 minute exercise to clear out heavy thoughts and prepare you for a more productive day. This is best done with pen and paper vs. typing into a document on your digital device.
• Exercise. Exercising is not only good for your health, but will help keep you mentally sharp. Working out will increase the blood flow to the brain which will sharpen your awareness and give you the energy you need to tackle your book.

Action Plan: Create a resistance plan! Figure out which methods best filter out negative noise and get you to prepared to write.

If you want to become a published author, you must take ownership of your writing habits. By following these seven strategies, you can have a completed book within months and be on your way to becoming a successful writer.

Your next bestseller is closer than you think.

When it comes to writing a book, we need three things; time, imagination, and a system to be productive during our peak moments of the day. But to get more done in less time, you have to know what is getting in the way of your most productive blocks of time. Are you trying to work in an environment that is cluttered, noisy, and constantly screaming for your attention? Do you set daily word goals and fail to meet them? Is writing an activity you do when everything else is finished?

If yes, then you need to read the rest of this post. I’ll show you how to get your book written without giving up large amounts of time and leaving you stressed with nothing to show for it.

If you are one of those writers that wants more time to be creative, get more written, and create a productivity funnel that gets the work done on time, you are in the right place.

Identify Your Best Hours of Writing Productivity

Your productive hours should be protected. You MUST know when you are operating at your best and then, schedule your writing into this time. You have to schedule it in every day, just like you would an important meeting that you can’t miss.

This comes down to your personal schedule, and for many, a preference. Many people wake up early and are most productive in the day. This won’t work if you have odd working hours [meaning anything out of the 9-5], so determine the time of day that you are most alert, energetic and creative. This is the time you will block off for writing. This is your peak moment of writing productivity.

Remember: “What gets scheduled gets done.”

In other words, if you schedule your writing time for one hour a day targeting 1000 words each session, you get your book finished in 30 days or less.

Writing productivity isn’t difficult. The problem isn’t that we don’t have the time to write; the issue lies in our inability to make writing a priority. To do this, we have to schedule it in like anything else. Being a productive writer is about protecting your time. That can be hard to do when you have so many time villains knocking on your door wanting to come in and play.

Now, here is a question for you: “How committed are you to writing a book?” on a scale of one to ten, ask yourself if you are all in for getting this done. If the answer is yes, then read on and you will have the strategies needed to be a productive writer that gets those words written.

In this post, I’ll share with you the strategies you can implement to get your book written without forcing yourself to give up the things you love. Yes, you can still enjoy Netflix and surf on Facebook, but before that, we have to set ourselves up for success.

The Struggle With Distractions

You can probably relate to this scenario.

You have scheduled the ideal writing time to start on your book. It could be early in the morning or late at night when everyone in your home has gone to bed. You show up at your keyboard, outline in hand, ready to get those words out of your head and down on paper.

But then something happens. Bing. Notification. You just got an email.

You decide to take a moment to check it out. What could that hurt? Seeing that it is an urgent message, you decide to reply. That takes ten minutes. Back to your writing. You are ready to get started again.

Ping.

Again.

Facebook notification. Quick check. No harm done. Someone liked your recent post. Comments were made. You feel your heart quickening. Someone likes what you wrote. Now twenty minutes is gone.

You now have less then 30 minutes for getting your writing done.

Ping. Again. Check. 30 Minutes gone.

Game over. Your one hour writing window just closed.

If this drama sounds like you, your case is not unusual. In the age of social media, email, notifications, and every other form of digital media that is wrapped up in shiny armor to attract users, we all fall into the trap of instant urgency. When it comes to time management, that is right out the window when it comes to our need to feed the instant gratification addiction.

But dealing with the online digital warfare is not the only obstacle. Many writers, either just starting out or who write for a living, have to navigate around family obligations, work schedules, and the multiple barrage of ‘life events’ that hold us back from working on our writing.

I know what it is like to waste time drifting down the river of endless distractions, feeling as if your limited time to write is being stolen from you every time you sit down to get to work. If you follow the strategies and key suggestion in this post, not only will you get your book written in 30 days but, you will create the productive habit of daily writing. But this isn’t just about being a productive typist. We will look at the tools to simplify and organize your work. You will be able to cancel out the time thieves coming for your valuable time over and over again.

Distractions are everywhere. We can’t avoid them, but we can limit the amount of influence they have in our lives. The good news is, you can control most of the devices and systems set up to pull you into a time-suck oblivion.

Let’s start with one of my favorite [and simple] strategies for getting writing done…

The ‘Block Your Time’ Strategy for Writing Productivity

“When asked, “How do you write?” I invariably answer, “One word at a time,” and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time, man. That’s all. One stone at a time.”

— Stephen King

You can only be productive if you are committed to a course of action for finishing your project. When asked, “How do you write so many books?” Stephen King replied: “One word at a time.” Sounds too simple but, when we narrow it down, there is no other way.

Here is what you do: Block in your time.

Set up a 30-minute block of time to write. I would recommend not using your phone for this. I used to do that and what happened is, I continuously checked it for messages. If I had one, I got sucked into responding. So the first thing is, phone off. Non-negotiable. You might think you need it for using some fancy app but actually, people have been writing and publishing books for thousands of years. They had nothing but basic tools. We can do the same.

Buy an alarm clock. Use your watch. Whatever it takes, but use something not connected to the Net. isolate your writing time at all costs. Now, you might not be using the Wordstar 4.0 like George R.R. Martin, and that is okay, you don’t have to.

So the next step is to disengage from the internet. Turn off the wifi. Pull out the hardline. Disconnect from that monster. You can still write your book offline. Later I’ll introduce you to my favorite distraction free apps.

You might be asking, “But what if I need to research or check something while I am writing?”

There will be no research while writing. You are writing one word at a time until you hit 1000 words. Research comes later. Make a notation in your book that you have to check something. Then, when you have several items that need to be researched, block in a time for that.

I know what you are thinking. This system is too easy, it can’t work. There must be a trick. The only trick is to isolate yourself for a very limited time from the world that is robbing you of your one precious resource: Time. Yes, it is being taken from you, and now, you are claiming it back. That’s it.

Don’t allow anything to dictate your schedule during this valuable block of time. Treat it like real estate. Mark it into your calendar. Be diligent with this habit and you will stop the excuses for why you didn’t get your work done today.

The Best Strategies of 2 Influential Writers: Wordstar 4.0 vs. Don’t Break the Chain

in the mega-popular fantasy series Game of Thrones, bestselling author George R.R. Martin has sold over 60 million books published in 47 languages. His latest book A Dance With Dragons averages around 1040 pages. In fact, all of his books combined are nearly two million words in length. How does he write so much material?

George R.R. Martin and Wordstar 4.0

First of all, George doesn’t use the same computer for writing that he does for checking email or web surfing. He isn’t using Scrivener or Google Docs, either. How did one of the best selling authors of the past two decades manage to write 5 mega-bestselling books with a word count close to two million words?

For writing, George R.R. Martin is using an ancient system known as Wordstar 4.0, an old DOS machine that, for all intensive purposes is good for just one thing: writing. George isn’t connected to social media, he doesn’t use distraction free apps, and he works on a machine that doesn’t send email.

George R.R. Martin has created an environment that, instead of trying to manage his writing productivity and work around the various distractions that are pulling many off course, simply set himself up with a system that eliminates the need to worry about pings and notifications. He writes in isolation an he gets the work done.

So, this brings us to the question: How much technology do I need to write? How many apps must I download? What is the best environment I need to create to stay focused and get the work done?

But first of all, let’s be honest with ourselves. Most people will not be buying a Wordstar 4.0 even if it is the ultimate solution to writing massive amount of material. So, how do we manage our day to day productivity without isolating ourselves totally from the internet?

The Best Apps for Distraction Free Writing

We know that George R.R. Martin uses an old system for isolating his writing time, and while that works for him, it isn’t something most people can do. So, we need to work from a platform that can help us to isolate from the distractions that threaten to steal our time and focus.

Here are 7 of the best productivity tools you can use to boost your word count and stay focused on the work. These apps, by stripping down the word processor to its bare essentials, puts your eyes on the screen and focus on the words, instead of chasing ‘digital rabbits’ leading nowhere.

3 Distraction-Free Writing Apps

The Hemingway Editor is a simple word processor that is ideal with a distraction-free place to compose. Conveniently placed at the top of the screen are the formatting tools for HTML. The real advantage to this app is the editor function displayed on the right side of the program. It provides you with a readability score and a breakdown of the grammar structures in the composition.

Byword for Mac is a markdown app for writing in plain text. It works best for writing blog posts, writing a short story or daily journaling. The easy-to-use format menu has options for lists, quote level, and paragraph indents. Another solid feature is you can preview your documents in app, export to HTML, PDF, rich text, or publish directly to Medium, WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr and Evernote.

Trello is a cork-board like structure that is excellent at organizing ideas and outlining your book. Its main function isn’t for writing a book but rather, plan out the chapters or scenes of your novel.

Jerry Seinfeld’s “Don’t Break the Chain” Strategy

Jerry Seinfeld is one of the most successful comedians of all time. The Seinfeld show that ran from 1989 to 1998 has earned a whopping 3.1 billion dollars to date. There is no arguing that the show was one of the most watched shows on television. In fact, it was so popular in its final season that Seinfeld was offered $110 million for a tenth season. Seinfeld turned it down.

One of the key strategies to Jerry Seinfeld’s success can be niched down to a simple productivity habit. By repeating this habit consistently he was able to come up with the material that made him one of the top comedians in the industry. Seinfeld called it the “Don’t Break the Chain” strategy.

Jerry used a calendar system to write his jokes everyday. He said that the best way to be a better comic was to write every day. Well, the best way for you to become a better writer [and publish books] is to write every day.

This is how it works. Buy a big wall calendar with the whole year on it. If you can’t find one, buy a large monthly calendar. Anything is better than nothing. Get a big red marker. Hang the calendar up in a place where you will see it.

Schedule your writing blocks and, for every day that you meet your daily word count, with your marker put an X on the calendar for that day. The idea is to not break the chain. This builds the daily writing habit and, if you continue this for thirty days without breaking the chain, you have just completed your book.

If you skip a day, be sure to take action the next day. Too many misses feeds into procrastination. By building this habit consistently over the long-term, how many words could you write in a week? A month? How about the year?

Creating a Clutter Free Writing Environment

How about the environment you are working in? If you are surrounded by clutter — loose papers, stationery supplies scattered about, or clothes laying around — you are working in an environment that is begging for your attention. Your writing environment has a big impact on how your emotional state. If you are living in a clutter free zone, you have less to focus on. Surround yourself with stuff and every time you look at it, you feel stressed.

Part of being a productive writer is identifying the areas in our mental and physical spaces that is pulling our attention away from the habit of writing. How do we take care of the clutter that has piled its way into our lives? Here are 4 simple strategies to get working on right away.

Within a week you’ll have a clutter free space, or, at the very least, you won’t be fighting for space with the things that belong filed away, either in a box or a closet.

Decide what to keep. When it comes to decluttering, the difficulty lies in what to keep and what to throw away. For this you will need two boxes. Then, go through the room and, when you come to an object, make a decision: keep it or toss it. Mark one box “Keepers” and the other “Toss it.” You either need it or you don’t.

Then, with the box of keepers, go through your stuff again and decide if you need it now or later? If the answer is later, it gets boxed up and put away. Don’t leave it hanging around where it becomes a distraction.

This could be for notebooks you aren’t using now, DVDs that you don’t plan to watch anytime soon, or things that you consider valuable but can be stored away safely for when you need it.

For items that are old, broken, or simply are no longer being used, you can consider the best way to remove them from your space.

Living clutter free will not only make you feel better mentally but, you’ll have a stronger sense of focus and be less anxious surrounded by non-essentials.

5 Daily Practical Productivity Tips

It is the little habits that steal away our time. These are so natural to our routine that most of them go unnoticed. By working to eliminate these mini habits from our system, we can give back the time that is taken from else.

It is time to stop giving up your time to lesser habits.

1. Check email after writing. One of the worst habits that I struggled to break was checking email first thing in the morning, just before I was committed to start writing. This trapped me into spending the morning responding right away to people who could have waited a couple hours for a response. Action: schedule your email time, like you do your writing time. Responding to mail is a massive time waster in many cases. Keep your responses short and to the point when you can.
2. Internet Off. This is simple. You either turn off your Wifi, or you unplug from the hard line. There is nothing to negotiate here.
3. Set your word count and schedule accordingly. If you are targeting 1000 words a day, set up your time block to cover the amount of time needed to hit your target. If you can write 500 words in 30 minutes, do two time blocks of 30 minutes each with a short 5 minute break in between if needed.
4. Boost your energy. There is more to writing than just showing up and sitting down at a computer. If you are tired, fatigued, or lacking mental stimulus, you’ll struggle to start the words flowing. Before you write, spend ten minutes: 1. Reading a passage from a good book. Reading stimulates your mind and gets you thinking about your topic. 2. Brief exercise session. This can be 5 minutes stretching, push ups, or jump rope. There are a lot of at-home exercises you can do without a gym. Boost your energy by stimulating your mind and body before writing.
5. Visualize the completed draft of your book. Visual imagery is a powerful tool that you can implement to achieve any goal and turn a dream into reality. When it comes to book writing, you can put yourself into a positive, productive state by visualizing yourself actually sitting down and writing. Take it a step further and imagine what it would be like showing up at a book fair or a signing of your latest book. Then, start to work backwards and create all of the steps needed to take you there.

Wrapping It Up

Let’s quickly recap the action plan for becoming a productive writer.

1. Declutter your working environment. This reduces stress and increases focus. You will get more writing done and increase your creative energy.
2. Schedule in your writing time with time blocking. Set a timer for 30 minutes and for this time, focus only on your writing.
3. Turn off the internet and all digital distractions during this time. Protect your time block.
4. Challenge the Don’t Break the Chain strategy. Buy a wall calendar and for every day you hit your word count, mark it down.
5. Write with a distraction free app. These apps are designed to get you focused on one thing: Writing. Try out one of the apps and increase your writing output right away.
6. Follow the daily productivity habits and visualize the action steps for getting your book done.