In a couple of the Discord groups I’m a member of, I’m said to be a prolific author. I do release quite a few books a year. I do tend to write a lot. So I thought I’d tell you about how I go about that.
Important note: not everyone has the time I do. Not everyone has the spoons to work at my pace. So not everyone can write at the pace I can. But I do hope you can look at my methods and either find things to try, especially if you find yourself struggling, or you find things to avoid to allow you to be creative.
My schedule is that I plan to write 4 pages (or 1000 words) per session, 3 sessions a day, 5 days a week (M-F). That means that if I hit my goals I’d be writing about 15,000 words a week. In the course of a month I could get a short novel written (40-60,000 words).
I do have the time to write much more. I could easily fit in 4 sessions a day. I could write on weekends. But I don’t. Why not?
I tried writing all day a few decades ago as I was trying to finishing what ended up being my second published novel. I was also at the time writing short stories. I could write and finish the short stories in a couple of days, but then would I need a break. I worked all day solid on the novel for a week or two before burnout struck me. I also had to stop because I had events for the nonfiction books I had published at the time.
What I learned from that experience was that I need to pace out my creativity. I need to write in small bursts with time in between to do other things and to keep my creative batteries charged. And I also have to build in time for buying groceries, doing laundry, reading, and other activities I need and want to do.
All that said, I do tend to stick to my schedule. Why? Aside from having a deep desire to be organized, I’ve also discovered that a schedule keeps me writing. Rather than relying on when I “feel” creative, I’ve “trained” myself to be creative. Yet I’m not writing so much that I often drain myself over the course of a day, a week, or a month. I make steady progress on my projects. I complete the projects I start. And yes, I do care about what I write.
So, what does all this mean for you?
There are methods for improving your productivity. Which methods might work for you will be up to you to try. Reasonable goals might help. Carving out “writing time” might help. Finding the best balance between writing and everything else in your life almost certainly will help.
The key will be experimentation. When you find the method or methods that work for you, you should be able to increase your output. You’ll tell more stories and finish the stories you start.
That’s how you might be able to write a lot.
Writing Update: I have all but one of my 2024 releases edited. I should have the last one done this week. I’m trying to bank up some content here and elsewhere, so I don’t think I’ll start any new writing until next week.
Find all of my books here. Thanks for reading!