Hi friends,
If I could go back in time and give the new author me advice, I would say this:
Learn how to write faster.
I did, eventually, and it has helped my career in ways that I couldn’t have even imagined.
For one, the more I’ve written, the more confidence it’s built. I’ve written over 1,000 stories for publications in 80+ countries. I’ve written nine nonfiction books and finished three novels.
Do I even need to talk about what this has done for my confidence in my ability to not only finish a book, but to deliver it at the highest quality?
I know I can write good quality words, on deadline, because I’ve done it. I’ve done it multiple times. When an agent asks, as happened recently, if I’d be available to ghostwrite books on fast, three-month deadlines, I can not only say yes, but I can say yes knowing that I’ll deliver a high-quality manuscript on time, and it won’t even impact the rest of the work I do, including this business.
Of course, the more you write, the more you make. None of my books individually makes enough to pay me a full-time living yet, but I’ve been earning money consistently from my books for years now, and as I write more books and release them in different formats, that income continues to grow.
When you write fast, complete projects, and not just finish a book, but build a body of work, you give yourself room for experimentation.
Not only do you take away the extreme emotional attachment to a single piece of work, but you open yourself up to opportunities. The only writers who are currently able to take advantage of serialization options, Kindle Vella, crowdfunding, indie publishing, and more, are writers who aren’t stuck on one book.
The only reason I’m able to explore traditional and indie publishing simultaneously is because I have multiple projects on the go. I have two literary agents in two countries for two different books. I have given myself options. I can allow experimentation because I am not stuck on writing or publishing a single piece of work.
But most importantly, and really, the only reason I suggest writers learn how to write fast is because it makes you a happier, more fulfilled, more contented writer.
For creative professionals, getting stuck on a project can be the worst feeling in the world. Going at a slower pace than you like or are comfortable with, messes with your confidence. Not being able to write and release is painful.
Not having finished work to show for years of effort is a struggle many of us are familiar with, but one that is entirely unnecessary.
I love writing fiction. I love telling stories. I like being completely enmeshed in a world of my own making, an escape for not only my readers, but for me.
I want to live in the worlds I create, I want to tell those stories, and then I want to finish them up, and move on to something else.
I don’t want to get stuck in those worlds for years.
I want to play in that world for a while, and then I want to go play somewhere else.
But when it takes three, five, or in my case, seven years to finish a novel, you stop playing in the world and get stuck in there instead, with no escape route. It’s like going on holiday and finding that you can’t return.
You stop enjoying where you are, you can’t move on.
What was a process you once enjoyed turns into something that creates anxiety and panic and lack of confidence.
I was stuck on a novel for seven years once. It was hell.
So, I learned a better way.
I studied other writers, I read their books, I listened to how they worked and what made them write faster or slower. I practiced. I learned how to get out of my own way.
Now when I write a book, I don’t struggle with it.
I enjoy the process, I spend the sixty or seventy or eighty hours that it will take to write this book immersing myself in the world I’ve created, and then I say my goodbyes and leave.
I write more. I feel better. And I have more to show for it.
If you’d like to learn how to do the same, then I have something special for you.
Introducing: The Write 5K Every Day Bundle.
Write 5K Every Day is an 8-video bundle that will give you the mindset, the strategy, and the kick up the ass you need to start writing, and writing fast.
These trainings will walk you through some of the common struggles of time, focus, and limited attention, and show you that none of those things need to get in your way.
Starting with as little as 10 minutes a day, I’ll show you how to work your way up so that you can write 5k (or more) in two to three hours a day.
I wouldn’t wait.
Cheers,
Natasha