Got an email the other day from a writer I met at Bouchercon. We’d chatted a bit about the craft, and he wanted to thank me. He’d just completed his first novel and was raring to go on his second. He wrote, “I’m amazed at how prolific you are.”
That was nice to hear, because when I started out that’s what I wanted to be—prolific. I was 34 years old and hadn’t written much of anything for ten years (I’d been told in college that you can’t learn how to write fiction, and since I couldn’t write fiction—fiction that was any good, anyway––I figured I just didn’t have it). So when I made the decision to finally go for it, even if I failed, I wanted to make up for lost time.
Now, according to traditional standards of the writing life, I am prolific. I’ve produced around fifty books, hundreds of articles, several stories and novellas. I’m happy with my output.
But I’m no Nora Roberts! Seriously, she is amazing. She may not be your cup o’ noodles, but as a highly successful professional writer, there is something awe inspiring about her production. And there are many other writers out there I could point to with the same wonder.
We all have our floors and our ceilings. The trick to the writing life is to get yourself up to the ceiling and stay there. Stay there long enough, and maybe you can blow out that ceiling and put in another story (wordplay intended).
I heard from a young writer recently who said he was having trouble getting started. He has a wife and young child at home, is working long hours, and when he gets some time to himself he is easily distracted by social media, and is too much of a perfectionist to get many words done.
For those who have these sorts of constraints, let me offer some advice on becoming more prolific, for it can be done!
1. Commit to a quota
Nothing has been as beneficial to me as a professional writer than writing to a quota. In the early part of my career it was a thousand words a day. Later on I made it a weekly quota: six thousand words a week, with one day off, usually Sunday, to recharge. I still aim for a thousand words a day, but I make it a weekly quota because if life intrudes one day, I can make up those words by upping my output on the other days.
I’ve heard some writers say they just can’t write to a quota, that it’s too much pressure, that it squeezes the creative juices right out of them. Look, if you want to be a pro, you produce like a pro. That means writing even when you don’t feel like it. Imagine a brain surgeon muttering, “I’m just not into my operation today. I can only operate when I’m inspired! Besides, this guy’s a lawyer. I don’t even want to operate.”
If you want to be prolific, you need a quota.
My advice for years has been this: figure out how many words you can comfortably write in a standard week. Maybe, because of job or other duties, you can only squeeze in half an hour a day during the week, with a two-hour chunk on Saturday. Whatever. How many words can you do without much effort?
Now, up that total by 10%. You need some slight pressure to become a prolific author. And ten percent more ain’t that much pressure!
Keep track of your word count on a spreadsheet. I can tell you how many words I wrote every day and week and year, and on what projects, since 2000.
I’ve not always hit my mark, but I’m batting about .880. If you don’t make your quota one week, forget about it. Just start the new week fresh.
Periodically review your weekly quota and see if you can adjust it up. Only adjust it down if you have another child or join the Marine Corps.
2. Commit yourself to a Nifty 250 every morning
For most of my career I’ve used the Nifty 350 or Furious 500 as my standard morning practice. That is, before I do anything else (except make the coffee) I tap out 350 or 500 words of my daily goal. It’s amazing how much easier the writing day gets after that.
I’m going easy on you here in suggesting you aim for 250 words. Why? Because a Ficus tree can write 250 words in the morning. Do you want to be outclassed by a Ficus tree?
“But I’m just not a morning person!”
Oh really? You’re a person, right? And you get up in the morning, yes? And you find a way to get some coffee and hop on Facebook, don’t you?
I don’t want to hear that morning person jazz anymore. DO NOT OPEN ANY SOCIAL MEDIA, INTERNET BROWSER, OR EMAIL until you have written 250 words!
“But I’m so foggy, I just can’t think…”
Good! Don’t think at all. Just write! The discipline of writing your 250 will train your brain to get up and at ‘em.
This is where my young perfectionist will learn to let go. Don’t get it right, get it written is sage advice. Do not edit, spell check, correct, or otherwise stop your flow until the 250 is done. (Here’s a little secret. When you get to 250 you’re going to want to keep going. So go!)
You can also help your writing brain along by doing this:
3. Leave off your day’s writing mid-scene
This lets your subconscious cook during the night, and when you sit down to write on your WIP you’ll be back in the flow immediately. Hemingway even used to stop mid-sentence. I can imagine him writing:
He saw the fish and the fish was good. It was a good fish. It was a fish like the good bull in Spain that summer with Stein. Yes, and the beer was warm that summer, but it was good beer, it was
How easily he could continue the next day: beer that was brave and true.
4. Plan five or six projects ahead
Be like a movie studio. Have one greenlighted project going (your WIP) and have two or three “in development” and two or three “optioned.”
In development means you’re doing some planning, some notes, some character backstory, some plotting. If you’re a pure pantser, at least take some random notes about the plot and keep them in a file or notebook. If you’re wise, you’ll develop your idea into an elevator pitch that would make a reader lust after your book. That’s right, lust. See my post on that topic.
By optioned I mean having a simple What if premise that seems promising to you. I have a file with about 100 of these, and periodically I look them over and re-prioritize them. If one keeps sticking to the top of the heap, that’s the one I will move into development.
5. Don’t ever let rejection stop you
Not everything you write is going to turn out great. If you’re submitting to agents and editors, you’ll get the cold shoulder often. If you’re self-publishing, you’ll get the 1-star reviews. You may even give your first draft to your significant other and then endure a blank-eyed stare and the words, “I love you, but I just don’t get this.”
Know that this will happen.
But don’t ever let it stop you from producing more words.
When a rejection hurts—and it will—try my sixty-minute-comeback.
Take thirty minutes to completely feel what you’re feeling––shout, talk to yourself, cry if you must, splash water on your face, eat a large bowl of ice cream, or shoot a pillow like Robert De Niro in Analyze This. Whatever it is, let yourself feel the feelings for thirty minutes.
Set a timer for this.
When the timer beeps, set it for another thirty minutes. During this second thirty minutes, you write. I mean it. Write! Write anything.
• Write the next scene of your WIP.
• Write in your journal.
• Write a song.
• Write something random.
• Write a letter to your future self explaining what just happened.
• Start an entirely new story or novel, not knowing what it will be (IOW, be a thirty-minute pantser!)
Whatever it is, give yourself fully to it. Write. Don’t stop, except to take a few breaths or refill the coffee.
After this writing stint, something interesting will happen. The rejection will still hurt, but it won’t be as bad. I guarantee you it won’t.
And tomorrow, if it tries to come back in full force, head it off with more writing. Five, ten, thirty minutes.
Writing, you see, is the best medicine.
Always.
The most wonderful thing of all is this. A year from now you’ll look back at your production and be amazed at what’s there. Do this for ten years and you’ll be blown away.
You will be a prolific writer.
So how about you? Are you happy with your output? How have you gotten around the obstacles to continuous production?
Jim, this one was of the best blog posts I’ve read for years, maybe ever.
Write in the morning? I used to wait 90 minutes, check email (not Facebook, I hate Facebook, but I use it for business and my pen names), and wake up. I’ll try your advice tomorrow and write foggy brained. 250 words. I can do that.
My daily word count goal is 8,000. I haven’t reached it yet, but I’m over half way there. I started writing fiction at a much older age than you (I published my first novella ever in January this year), so I have to write more words daily. I’ve only kept track of my word count since October 22, but it motivates me to write at least a little every day. Even Saturday night I write a little to not get out of the good habit.
But back to your blog post – you should expand a little on each point and wrap it into a book 😀 Plus add how to be funny in “normal” fiction that’s not necessarily a comedy. How about that?
Did you just say 8k words a DAY? Wow! That would be amazing. Even 8k a WEEK would be a great output.
As to being funny in “normal” fiction, I do love comic relief (a la Hitchcock). The key is putting it inside a character that is truly unique and motivated. Then let the humor happen naturally.
Thanks for the tip.
Yes, let the characters communicate freely and let them be funny. Thanks 🙂
Wow. 8k a day–even half that. WOW. My hat is off to you.
Jim. Thank you so much for this post. I have been dealing with writing production for years. Four years ago, I finished the rough draft of a novel. I had worked on it almost daily up till then. In your book on Revision and Editing, you advised putting it aside for a few weeks before jumping in to the edit.
During that few weeks (actually a week after) I had a heart attack and needed open heart surgery. I had a difficult recovery, kidney failure, and other complications. My recovery stretched into several months.
I never got back to my novel draft. I read it several times, found enough plot holes to use it as a fish net, and grew more embarrassed each time I looked at it.
Whoever said “the first draft of anything is crap” (Hemingway?) probably looked in the dictionary for the word crap and saw a picture of my manuscript.
I have gone back to it a few times lately, but just get discouraged. This post is what I needed today. Its time to kick the depression out the door and put my professional writier’s pants on. Today is Sunday, so after church I plan to play with the grandkids for a while, then clean off my writing desk to get ready for tomorrow. Then I will write to a weekly quota.
Thank you, Jim.
Good for you, Dave. And I”m so sorry to hear about your heart attack shortly after reading my book. Perhaps it needs a health warning?
Seriously, glad you’re back among ’em and ready to write. Good luck!
I love being on the East coast for a change (at a writing workshop in North Carolina for the weekend), so I can get in early on the comment thread.
Just to say… thanks for this. As usual your coaching is excellent, I particularly like the notion of writing ANYTHING, in another form, when we feel stuck or down. Creativity is a muscle, it atrophies without use, and it gets stronger when you push it. I also love the notion of leaving the day’s work mid-scene… though that might not contribute to a good night’s sleep. Both of these are new to me, even to this old lit dog.
You continue to inspire. Thanks Jim.
That’s a good and crucial reminder, Larry. Our writing mind is indeed a “muscle” and it gets stronger (and stays limber) with practice.
I could have mentioned, once again, the cool little program called WriteorDie.com. It’s self-explanatory and a fun way to get in some early writing.
I’m glad I read this excellent post this morning. Much helpful and clear advice that Jim has done and can attest to in real life as being effective. As Larry says, creativity is a muscle and must be exercised. So is the act of ‘doing’–it’s a muscle that as it’s exercised can lead to a lot of discomfort at first, but eventually the repeated act of doing can become almost automatic. I’ve noticed this with many things in life, from training in sports to doing homework to helping others as they try to reach their dreams, something I think this blogs seeks to do and accomplishes.
Right, John. And it’s also said that if you do something for 30 days in a row, it becomes a habit. If writers would wake up and get some writing done, and do that every day for a month, it will be ingrained. You’ll know that when you miss a day and feel it!
I’ve never kept a word count journal, but I love your ability to look back at your output. By nature I tend to be disciplined. I read for a few hours until 7ish, then get to work–write, promote, and yes, “engage” (aka for play) on SM–until 7p.m. Although I do take breaks to eat with my husband and exercise. With this schedule I have nine projects in various stages and the novel I’m polishing now. Unless we have plans (like visiting my grandbabies!), I keep to this schedule seven days a week. But I LOVE to write. It’s my favorite thing to do. What I find difficult is taking time from writing to promote. It’s a balancing act I haven’t quite got the hang of yet. Perhaps if I keep a word count I won’t feel so guilty about leaving my projects to promote my work that’s out there. I’ll try it today. Thanks, Jim!
Sue, you sure don’t have a discipline problem. And I’m glad you have included your husband….our spouses are the longsuffering yet understanding ones who put up with our glazed stares. A regular date night is a good antidote (except when I get to a restaurant I immediately start people watching…Mrs. B is a saint).
Thanks for the great advice, Jim.
Just what I needed. I’ve taken too much time away from my second novel to write short stories for charity anthologies and short stories for grandchildren. I just talked a good friend into getting back to work on a novel she had set aside. I realized I needed to take my own advice. So your post this morning is great.
I saw that Rome’s Rules is out in print. I’m looking forward to reading it. My wife told me specifically to tell you how much she enjoyed Glimpses of Paradise.
Thanks for the post.
Thank you, Steve. And thank your wife for me.
Love the idea of short stories for the grandchildren. That’s a legacy every bit as important as your next sale on Amazon.
Excellent advice and very timely for me. Just moving into my next project. The Nifty 250 will be my first goal. Then, I hope to up it. Thank you.
That’s the ticket, Lance. Get your feet wet with 250, but I do think you’ll write more when you hit the mark!
James,
I’ve read your book “How to Make a Living as a Writer.” This post reinforces that book’s message very well.
Thank you for the kick in the butt.
In number 5 here, do you mean to write “ever”?
Thanks, Joseph. Yes, typo fixed. Thanks!
Jim,
Excellent advice, I especially like your advice to plan five or six projects ahead (works well with a series) and allowing a thirty minute funk after a rejection, followed with burst-writing for thirty minutes. Great way to change up. The big challenge I have is keeping moving when the current W.I.P. is *not* in draft mode, so daily and weekly word count quotas don’t really apply.
Tracking progress when in revision, like I am now with the current novel-in-progress. Count plot points reoutlined? Scenes? Words revised?
A similar challenge for when planning/brainstorming/outlining my upcoming novel: how to keep my research, brainstorming, white-hot documenting (love your advice on this) so I can be more prolific before and after drafting. Any suggestions will be cheerfully accepted 🙂
As always, thanks for another great column!
Dale, when I’m revising a project, I’m always working on a new WIP. But I do count any words I add to the revision draft. They all add up!
Not entirely sure I understand your ending question. Here’s a shot, though: I do love to give myself at least an hour per week of pure creativity time. Making stuff up, doing first lines, writing bits and pieces, coming up with random scene ideas.
As for research, unless I’m doing a historical, I try to do as little as possible when writing the first draft. I make my best guess about things, then mark it to fill in later. When I can possibly make something up out of whole cloth and make it sound like it’s real, I go for that.
Jim,
I meant to write “how to keep my research, brainstorming, white-hot documenting and outlining to a certain limited amount of time, and track my progress.” This assumes I don’t begin said research, brainstorming, white-hot documenting and outlining before completing the previous novel’s final draft. Any thoughts on tracking all that pre-writing? And, as it so happens, my next novel will be historical, so I’ll need to handle research without it lasting forever 😉
Like your approach to be working on a new WIP while revising the old. For you, does working on a new WIP mean prewriting/brainstorming, or also outlining, or even drafting? Thanks again!
Yes, absolutely. I work on several projects at a time, with my fiction WIP as top priority. I find that going from my novel to a non-fiction project is a good way to yo-yo my brain.
The truth of your post is inescapable. This may sound weird, but I recently took all the novel ideas I wanted to write (about 16 of them) and put them in landscape format in an Excel spreadsheet with just the title or potential title (in sideways print), my name, and drew lines around them & color coded them by series or project so that the spreadsheet looks like an image of a row of books on the shelf—a fantastic visual to inspire you to keep going.
But as I looked at that image of my books on a shelf, I was thinking two things:
1. It will be a shame if I die and never produce these books, because I have a unique slant on the type of story I’m looking for and if I don’t write them, who will? The ideas will die, forgotten and abandoned and just become dumpster trash when they clear out my place.
2. I’m never going to see this bookshelf of my books for real if I don’t change the way I’m working (or not working, more accurately).
I have been writing for 10 years. In 10 years I have one technically complete manuscript that needs revision, 1 very rough first draft, and very limited partial drafts of 2 others.
My writing life has definitely gone through fits and starts—a writing machine some of the time, but more often than not, completely unproductive while life drags me through the mud (you know those images in the western where the guy is lassoed and dragged behind a horse through the desert).
Also, I tend to pick story ideas that require gargantuan amounts of research for me to have the understanding to write the story in question. And that takes up time and affects what my first draft looks like if I don’t have enough information. My rough first draft novel is riddled with holes and things that need to be revised due to lack of research (I’m likely going to have to change parts of the story to adapt to what comes to light in research). BUT, the point is, I was still able to do a first draft, messy though it may be. It may not be how I’d LIKE to do it in an ideal world, but it can be done.
I don’t think aiming for 1750 words a week (250/day) is asking too much, even working as I do for the employer from hell and going to school 4 nights a week. There is still down time, even if its only a few minutes.
I guess I need to keep asking myself: “Forgotten dumpster trash or finished books?” and remind myself of that question every day.
It’s even more important to be prolific considering that many times when I research, I get NEW story ideas! LOL!
I like that spreadsheet idea, BK. It’s the “mountain.” The trick is to hike up the path a bit each day. It may not seem like much progress, but in a year? You’ll look back and see how far you’ve come.
Just. Keep. Doing. That.
“All you can do is all you can do, but all you can do is enough.”
I quote you on a regular basis to my writing buddies and today’s post is no exception. This – “Don’t get it right, get it written” – is my mantra for the rest of the month as I plow through NaNoWriMo. I’m our region’s ML and am heading over to our Facebook page (Northern AZ Wrimos) to share these wise words with my fellow Wrimos.
Thanks for continuing to inspire me with your tips and hints. As the young ones on campus are wont to say: I totally fangirl you.
I’m flattered, Jeannie (being so far removed from any campus!) Glad to give a boost in November.
(This not a hit. I’m not enough of an authority to write a hit on anyone.)
3. Leave off your day’s writing mid-scene
I was going to say simply that this is a valuable piece of advice that I frequently employ. It is. I do. I like it.
Then I ran across this:
• Start an entirely new story or novel, not knowing what it will be (IOW, be a thirty-minute pantser!)
I don’t know what IOW means. But what it as well as other other abbreviations or other esoteric letter combinations–LMAOTTD, KMP, IDK, ITIK, and so forth–mean, I probably will never know. Because they slow me down trying to understand what they are trying to communicate to me. I can’t spend time goggling meanings of abbreviations, anagrams, acronyms, and other such combinations. I can write entire paragraphs or pages in the time it takes me to understand what WITH means. To me, it means accompanied by other persons or things. According to a guy with whom I corresponds who is much, much cooler and hip than I am, it means “what in the hell.”
If I have to choose between between being hip and cool and not communicating to someone else, and writing additional content, I guess I will always have to be the geek who writes in my bathrobe, blue shorts, and bedroom shoes.
ROFLOL
Seriously, I get it. I’m guilty. What I use in emails is slipping through. I don’t like it either!
HTHHope that helps!You’re the best, Jim.
Great post! Some of this–in particular quitting mid-scene and having a weekly quota–I do already, but I hadn’t heard the Nifty 250 trick before. I’ll be trying that one. As for multiple projects…I will die before I get through all my “option” ideas. My “In development” file is huge in itself.
As for greenlighted…um, three at once? (whose idea was THAT??) Fortunately they’re very different, making the mind-shift easier. And a very different sound track for each helps. Oh, and deadlines. Great motivators, those.
I love a blog post where I both nod in agreement/understanding and go “Oh, I have to try that.” Thanks!
Glad to lend a bit of both to you, Justine. Thanks for stopping by TKZ.
Excellent pep talk! I do write to a quota of five pages a day or 25 pages a week. As for bad reviews, rejections, etc. I allow two days to wallow in self-pity, and then it’s over. One must cast the doubt demon aside and get back to work.
Good work on both counts, Nancy.
A couple years ago, I wanted to get in shape. Not lose weight, although that isn’t a bad thing. I just wanted to get in shape and stave off my osteoporosis without drugs. It took hiring a personal trainer to get me in gear because I had every excuse in the world NOT to go run or lift weights or whatever. I’m tired. I’m busy. My back hurts. My trainer would say, “So? Get off your butt and do it.”
It started to click that if I just did SOMETHING every single day, it created momentum and built confidence and maybe most important — it became HABITUAL. I don’t go to the trainer anymore but his lesson of consistency above all has stuck with me.
Writing is using your muscles. If you don’t do it every day you rust.
(off to do my run and then rewrite chapter 22). Thanks for the butt kick.
An you look mahvelous, Kris!
Well in honor of today’s kick in the pants I finally got off my butt and did something that will help with my creativity. I had a small laptop that I purchased at Christmas last year but then forgot my stinkin’ password (you know, one of a million we have to have). Then I lost my power adaptor & couldn’t find it anywhere. I just didn’t feel like dealing with it so I quit toting around my laptop & threw it on a shelf.
So today I got off my keister and went to the store and found a matching adapter, then contacted Microsoft to get my password reset. So I have no excuse for not being able to find a few minutes in my day to write because I have a beautiful, lightweight, portable laptop that’s ready to go where I go.
I also found that I’m more productive with my writing when I’m trying to avoid studying for an exam in one of my college classes (even though I love the class very much). So maybe I need to sign up for even more classes per semester as that will incrementally up my writing work. LOL!
Hey, BK, whatever works!
I had the same excuse BK! I forgot my laptop password after vacation (that’s what happens when you don’t write for a month) and it was the BEST excuse not to get back to work for days! But like you, I manned up and emailed Microsoft. Puter problems are the best excuse ever.
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I really love this. I agree with your points. Right now, I’m starting to learn how to better predict how long it takes me for each stage of the projects (writing, editing, etc.) I work on, and then figure out my “production schedule.”
Generally I have a story or two in outlining stage, one in editing, and anywhere from 1-5 in writing stage (my goal is 1K a day M-F, but sometimes hit 3K on a good writing day). I find it helps me to keep boredom at bay which for me leads to writer’s block too, and I seem to get more done and focus better when I DO have more going on. And yes, I do also manage to spend time on social media, but my biggest suggestion for strugglers is “moderation.” I have learned my limits and love to pop on and off during editing (NEVER during writing) because for me, I avoid headaches a bit easier when I do. I guess it’s a focus thing too.
Sounds to me like you’ve thought it all out well, Kim, resulting in the main thing: production. Well done!
James Scott Bell has a troubled and beautiful soul.
Thank you for the title of my autobiography! 🙂
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Thank you for the post. This is what I needed to get started on writing. Family, friends, and professors have told me that I have the talent to write and publish. I have pushed it off to the side for almost 20 years. Now time to getting started on this dream.
Glad to hear it, Erwin. Welcome to our world. Carpe Typem!
Great article. My major hurdle is my work schedule, which includes different shift changes and extra hours. Nevertheless, I’ve managed to retain a decent output the last couple of years. I do need to work on a quota, though. Thanks for the tips!
That’s the key, Bard–output. Good on you for setting a quota.
Good morning, Jim. All the above posts have pretty much said it all. Great advice. I truly like the part about writing first thing in the morning (after coffee of course) Thanks so much for the pep talk!
You are quite welcome, Penny. Wishing you some nifty mornings.
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