Before you write your first draft, make sure you’ve chosen a great topic, researched, organized your research and thoughts, and have created your outline. Have you done all that? Great!
You’ve done the preliminary work, so pat yourself on the back. You are now ready to go ahead and write your first draft. There are no excuses. Now that you’ve created your outline and done your research, the book is practically going to write itself. Seriously – it’s super easy to write the book at this point.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve never written a book before in your life. You absolutely can and will succeed with writing your own Kindle book. Not only that, but it will be well organized and very valuable to your audience if you take the time to organize and outline.
Now, you just have to decide how many words you plan to write each day as you work on your first draft. Don’t think of it in terms of writing a huge “book.” Think of it in terms of easily managed daily word counts. Break big tasks down and make them laughably easy to achieve each day. Small things add up to big things.
There are several options that will help you reach the proposed 10,000-word count. Adjust these numbers according to how many days you want it to take you to complete your book, and how many words you plan for your book to be at the end.
I highly suggest you write your assigned word count each day when you’re at your freshest and most motivated. For some people, this means waking up early and getting their word counts in. If you do best in the morning, this is the plan for you. Other people work best at night. Maybe you like to work after everyone else in your household has gone to sleep for the night. In that case, save your word counts for the nighttime.
I want to make it clear, though, that you have to do whatever you have to do to get your word counts done even if it means writing in non-optimal times. Maybe that means writing for 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes on your lunch break, and an hour at night time. You might have to make some sacrifices in the beginning until you get into the flow of things.
Make a plan. Remember that you have to treat this like a business. You have to make writing your book a priority in your life. That means making it a firm part of your schedule. Don’t save it for “when you have time.” You’ll never have the time! You have to make the time and set the time in stone.
If you’re having trouble deciding how many words you should write each day, then I suggest you write at least 1430 words a day. This is the perfect number for a daily word count if you want to write a Kindle book in seven days.
Does 1430 words a day intimidate you? It shouldn’t. Now that you’ve already outlined and researched your book, it should seem really easy to write. Writer’s block? It’s impossible when you set yourself up this way. All you have to do is sit down, look at your outline, and put your fingers to the keyboard—no excuses.
You could write 500 words in the morning, 500 words at lunchtime, and 500 words at nighttime. Or, you could write 1000 words in the morning and 500 words at nighttime. Or, you could do it all in a burst.
Note that there are many, many writers who can write 1430 words in one hour. This is something you should strive for. With the right tools and practice, you absolutely can write at least 1430 words in an hour. That means you can definitely find a way to write 1430 words in a day – even if it takes you a few hours at first while you’re trying to get the hang of it.
Do you still think you can’t do it? You have to toss that kind of thinking out the window. You absolutely can do this. You’re so organized now and so ready at this point that the book will practically write itself. There are no excuses. By following the method I’ve outlined for you so far, all of the old excuses are out the window. You can and will do this in just seven days.
As a special note, try not to correct yourself as you write. Remember that this is a first draft. You have to give yourself permission to make mistakes and ignore those mistakes while you’re writing at first. That will help you get into the flow of following your outline quickly and efficiently, and it will open up your mind for creativity.
Every time you’re interrupted, either by something in your external environment, your internal mindset, or something like correcting your mistakes, it takes you that much longer to get back into the flow. Stay in the flow. Make sure your family knows that you are writing and working. Eliminate all outside distractions – wear noise-canceling headphones if you need to. Don’t allow yourself to correct mistakes along the way. Turn off the Internet while you write. Do whatever you need to do to focus and get it done every single day.
If you write a little each day and keep at it, your book will be written before you know it. 1430 words a day is not that much. You might even want to bump it up to 2000 words a day once you get into the habit. Then you’ll be super prolific and high producing.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download