The 8-Minute Writing Habit: Create a Consistent Writing Habit That Works With Your Busy Lifestyle

73 Pages·2015·0.5 MB·English

Contents
The 8Minute Writing Habit
Get on the ARC List!
Introduction
Part 1: Bust Through the Author Blocks That Are Keeping You From Writing
Blocker #1: Writing Might Not Pay Off
Blocker #2: Writing is a Lottery That I'm Unlikely To Win
Blocker #3: I'm Not Good Enough To Be a Writer
Blocker #4: I'm Distracted By Life/Family/Work
Blocker #5: I'm Stuck in the Planning/Writing/Editing Phase
Part 2: Nine Strategies the Pros Use To Write Consistently
Strategy #1: Write For an 8Minute Timed Session
Strategy #2: Write In the Morning
Strategy #3: Take Your Writing Mobile
Strategy #4: Embrace New Input Devices
Strategy #5: Use the Plan C Method
Strategy #6: Use the Method of Descent
Strategy #7: Collaborate With a Fellow Writer
Strategy #8: Get Your Family Involved
Strategy #9: Set Public Deadlines
Part 3: The 8 x 8 Challenge
Day 1: 8Minute Sprints
Day 2: 8Minute Switchup
Day 3: 8Minute Mobile
Day 4: 8Minute Morning
Day 5: 8Minute Increase
Day 6: 8Minute Accountability
Day 7: 8Minute Planning
Day 8: 8Minute Results
Additional Resources
Remember!
About the Author
Copyright
The 8Minute Writing Habit
Create a Consistent Writing Habit That Works With Your Busy Lifestyle
Get on the ARC List!
If you're interested in getting Advanced Reading Copies (ARCs) of upcoming
books in the Growth Hacking For Storytellers series, please go here for
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have to get the word out. Your review will encourage others to grab the book.
Go to ProseOnFire.com/pof8 if you want to leave a review of The 8Minute
Writing Habit and help others discover a new way to write!
Introduction
Do you ever wonder what it would really take to get your project or book done,
finally? To not only get your book done, but to do so amidst all the commitments
that you've already made—your full-time job, your spouse, your children, your
friends and family, your continuing education, and all the other commitments
you've made to your church or community?
My name is Monica Leonelle, and when I published my first book on
writing productivity, Write Better, Faster, I didn't expect it to be so popular
among people who hadn't yet published books. Because I am a full-time author, I
figured it would be more helpful to other authors who already had a solid system
for writing, but were just looking to tweak their processes and find optimizations
that would help them write faster than they currently were.
What I found, however, is that the people who needed the book most were
struggling writers. They were people who had full-time jobs but lots of side
projects, people who had families but a small bit of free time, and people who
had big dreams to publish either their first book or series in the next year.
Most of my readers were at the beginning of their writing journeys, where
they were trying to figure out how to sit down and write a book. For some of
those readers, Write Better, Faster helped things "click" for them. I started
hearing stories from hundreds of people who had unlocked their writing
potential using Write Better, Faster:
"Even though I'd been aware of how beats work, I didn't fully get it until this book, and then went on
to churn out a novel in 5 weeks instead of my usual 12 - 18 months."
~ Sable Jordan, author of the Kizzie Baldwin thriller series
"Even with these hacks and as a pantser (a seat-of-the-pants writer who uses only a minimal outline)
—I'm hitting 2400 words per hour. I've written over 20K words in about eight days, and that with a
day or two off."
~ Numinous Dreamer, an Amazon reviewer
"I've already begun putting some of these ideas into practice, and with very little effort have raised
my writing speed dramatically... After a little trial-and-error I'm already averaging at 1,500 words per
hour—which is a lot faster than before!"
~ Edison T. Crux, author of The Enoc Tales series
"Some great tips from Monica, and every writer, no matter where on the journey, can learn
something new."
~ Joanna Penn, NYT and USA Today bestselling author of thriller under J.F. Penn, author of How To
Market a Book and founder of TheCreativePenn.com
"One of the best how-to-be-a-writer books I've read in the last year. Worth 10 times the price."
~ Kevin Kruse, NY Times bestselling author, Forbes columnist and serial entrepreneur
"Record today: 538 words, 8 min. Thanks Monica, you've really inspired me to write more better
faster."
~ Honorée Corder, Executive coach and bestselling author of Prosperity For Writers, Vision to
Reality and the Successful Single Mom series
"Although I'm nowhere near 4000 words an hour, I do see a tangible improvement. Pomodoros, in
particular, have worked very well for me, as I'm the kind of person who gets easily distracted."
~ G. M. Giudicelli, author of Le premier homme sur Mars sera une blonde
"The information about the Pomodoro Method alone helped me to triple my writing speed."
~ M. Barstow, Amazon reviewer
"Just did 20 mins of writing new fiction words. 2613 word count in 20 mins! Yup, saw that right."
~ Winter Bayne, author of the Hawkhurst Saga
"I felt like I was reading a book I wrote—without having to do all the work…Reading the journal
section was like reading thoughts that I have on a daily basis and I found it helpful that she did all the
legwork in self-discovery."
~ Plume33, Amazon reviewer
"I've always avoided spreadsheets for tracking my work, but I started doing it after reading this and it
helped tremendously."
~ Michael La Ronn, author of the Android X series
"Since I've started reading this book, I was able to triple my weekly word count."
~ Julia Mayer, author of the Old Souls series
Despite all this amazing feedback and these fantastic testimonials for how
the Write Better, Faster framework could truly work for others, I also started
hearing feedback from people who loved the book but weren't necessarily seeing
a ton of progress in their current writing habits.
Hold up! For those of you who don't know me very well yet, I'll be honest
—I'm not the type of person who gives up easily when I set my mind to
something. When I wrote Write Better, Faster, I wanted to show people that
writing didn't have to be hard, time-consuming, painful, or something you do
only once in awhile.
That's why it KILLED me to see people who had so much potential but who
were still struggling to create a consistent writing habit, even after reading Write
Better, Faster.
So, I surveyed past readers of the book to get to the bottom of this and
uncover what gaps I had left in my original book that could be addressed going
forward. I was flooded with some surprising insights that I didn't expect.
Do you see yourself in any of the following?
"I have a hard time keeping myself writing daily. There are times when I think to myself, 'Would I be
better off getting a second job?'"
"What if I write what I'm passionate about and it doesn't sell?"
"Not sure I should allow myself to expel the effort in a potentially high risk/low return field."
"I'm stuck in a place where I'm just not sure what the next steps are to building my career, so I will
just keep creating more work and hoping that sooner or later something gives."
"I keep trying to find ways to make money, because I don't have the confidence I can make a living
off my books. When I sit down and tell myself to just write, my anxiety level goes through the roof."
"I don't think I'm particularly good at doing more than one thing. For example, I can write or I can
market, but doing one drains me of the will to do the other."
"How do I get buy-in from my family?"
"Actually sitting down and doing the work is my biggest obstacle."
"I don't have a clear workspace of my own it can be hard to stop others from (unintentionally)
interrupting me."
"The big hurdle, I think, is keeping myself focused."
"My day job sucks up my creativity and energy."
"My struggle is limited time (I have a full-time day job) and limited energy."
"I work full time, I get very tired. I know if I prioritise it, I can find time, but it's hard to keep track.
Work drains my creativity too."
"I have a full-time job and take care of 2 awesome kids—leaving me with little time and energy to
write what I want to write."
"Need to hack my way out of my current schedule somehow will maintaining my commitments to
my priorities (job, family)"
"I have a day job and I fell that it's taking most of my time and energy. So usually, when I get home
at night, I can't write anymore."
"Fighting my Internal Perfectionist. It's hard for me to see where there really is a problem, and where
it's just my Inner P being critical."
"I am totally stuck and in my head."
"I'm stuck in research mode."
"I need to focus better on the writing at hand. As it is, I have been spending writing time for
research."
"I'm not confident in my planning process."
"I'm blocked on rewrites!"
"My first draft is a holy mess & facing it in all its ugliness feels overwhelming."
I realized quickly that my first book had made a terribly incorrect
assumption. I assumed that most people who wanted to write were looking for
how to get it done faster. When in fact, in looking at the feedback, it became
clear that many people were struggling to write at all or consistently.
That's when I decided to write a brand new book aimed at busy people who
needed help integrating writing itself—not necessarily fast writing, not even
necessarily better writing—into their daily, already-bursting-at-the-seams
lifestyles.
The 8Minute Writing Habit doesn't necessarily have completely new
insights and ideas, though I guarantee the words themselves are fresh and have
never been published elsewhere.
This book is all about integrating the very best ideas from Write Better,
Faster into your daily life—even if you have a day job, even if you have a
family, even if you're a full time student, and even if you don't have a ton of time
to spend on tracking and experimenting with your writing habits.
There are three steps involved:
First, we're going to break down all the blocks that are holding you back
from sitting down and writing more often. This is something I didn't spend
nearly enough time discussing in the first book I wrote, but when I looked at the
feedback I received, it was clear that so many writers had Author Blocks that
were holding them back.
I remember two years ago when I myself was struggling with this and had
that perseverant internal drama of, "I desperately want to write this but I'm not
writing it. Why am I not writing it? Why am I procrastinating/lazy/not working
hard enough/not doing what I know I need to do?"
If you are stuck in this cycle of self-talk, don't skip past the first part of this
book. We'll be doing some important work to reengineer your mindset about
sitting down and writing, so you can do it more often, with less internal drama.
Next, I'm going to give you the nine best strategies that professional authors
are using to get their writing done each and every day. These strategies are taken
directly from studying the habits of authors who do this full-time and
documenting their patterns. Each of these strategies alone could give you a boost
in word count per week or month, but when you start stacking them on top of
each other, you'll find yourself making massive progress toward your writing
goals.
If you've ever wondered how the authors who eat continue to produce book
after book—especially if you are still struggling to get your first book or series
done—this is the section that reveals all their best secrets and tricks.
And if you've ever thought these people are superhuman, I'm going to do
my best to convince you that they are 100% ordinary, just like you—and that
you can get the exact same or better results than they are with just a few simple
changes.
Finally, I'm going to give you a super simple plan to start writing faster and
more consistently—even if you have a million other things going on in your life.
The 8x8 Challenge only requires your commitment for eight days, eight minutes
per day, to see results! If you are interested in building your muscle for writing
daily, you'll love how easy this challenge is to start, continue, and finish.
What this book does not contain: my full backstory and how I got into
writing productivity in the first place. If you want to learn a ton of background
on how I came to these conclusions and where I learned everything I know about
writing productivity, plus learn how I increased my writing speed dramatically
over just a few short months, you can read about my entire 2013 journey in
Write Better, Faster.
However, if you haven't yet had the chance to pick up Write Better, Faster,
you can still use The 8Minute Writing Habit to start a consistent writing routine
that will help propel you into a new phase of your creative life. The 8Minute
Writing Habit is meant to give you all the goods with no fluff. This book is for
people who need a cheat sheet—people who are looking for the top major
changes they can make in their writing habits (or non-habits) to get results right
now—even with all the other things they have going on in their lives.
Ready to get started?
Part 1: Bust Through the Author Blocks That Are
Keeping You From Writing
I used to think that "butt-in-chair" was the answer to writing more words on a
consistent basis.
I even (stupidly) repeated this phrase on podcasts, in books, in blog posts
and more as sage advice for new or upcoming writers.
Now, however, "butt-in-chair" is one of my banished phrases when talking
to people struggling with their writing habits. Oooh, I bristle at this phrase these
days. Like, shut up, right? And also, if writing was as easy as "butt-in-chair,"
everyone would be a writer!
Why this 180-degree turnaround, you might wonder? I like to think it's
because I've matured in my understanding of writing productivity over the years.
I know from:

Five years of pain and struggle with the "butt-in-chair" myth and everything
that came with it (the inadequacy, the procrastination, the self-loathing, and
most importantly, the lack of writing progress)
One year of learning to solve my writing habit for good (not necessarily
with my butt in a chair the whole time)
Two years of hearing hundreds of writers' personal stories about what
worked for them
… that this is officially the worst advice ever unleashed on poor,
unsuspecting hoping-to-be writers.
Ever.
Here's why.
Imagine you are trying to navigate a minefield. You have two choices:
Scenario A: You start walking a path that seems good and hope you don't
step on a mine.
Scenario B: You take a few extra days to identify the mines and avoid them
or remove them from your path. Then you walk across the field.
Which did you choose?
Now, imagine you are navigating your fears, questions, negative self-talk,
limiting beliefs, and blockers toward sitting down to write. You have two
choices:
Scenario A: You put "butt-in-chair" to write and hope you don't get stuck.