How to Earn Money Writing Stories You Love to Write

I’ve recently started spending more time writing short stories, and what I’m finding is that the more I write them, the easier and faster it seems, which makes them a lot more fun to write. And that got me thinking about all the erroneous advice out there about writing, which makes it seem that there are too many rules.  

I sometimes feel that writers put too much effort into writing the “right thing”  or writing “the right way.” It’s no fun trying to write while sticking to rules, especially someone else’s rules. The thing about great stories is just that. They are great stories. You need to be a great storyteller, not a grammatical genius.

The most important thing is to enjoy what you write about. So if you want to make money writing short stories, write the stories you love to write. Forget about the current styles and character bios and whatever else is the latest fad way to write. Just write.

This isn’t just my advice. It’s also the advice of the mighty Stephen King, who said (and I paraphrase), write the stories you love to write and find somewhere to sell them later.

First and foremost, writing must be enjoyable. If you don’t enjoy writing and you hardly ever do it, then perhaps you’re not a writer at all.

The great sci-fi writer, Ray Bradbury, put it best when he said, “Fall in love and stay in love. Do what you love, don’t do anything else.” 

I know that writing isn’t just something I do, it’s something I HAVE  to do. I can’t imagine living a life where I don’t write. Even when I’m not doing my own writing, I’m studying and taking plenty of notes, or I’m journaling or creating a list of ideas for future writing projects. I’m always learning something new and writing something new.

So, if you want to write stories or articles, write about what you enjoy and find a market for it later. Research potential markets and tailor your work accordingly. It’s surprising how many markets there are once you start looking. Begin with a Google search for “write for us” or  “short story submissions” or something similar. 

Or start your own blog about a subject you’re passionate about, or blog about your writing, or collate a book of your own short stories.

Eventually, you’ll know what to do with all the stories you’ve filed away.

And when you do find a market for your work, remember that they like to receive work earlier rather than later in the submission window, so it helps to have a stockpile of stories. Plus, you’ll have a better chance of acceptance if you submit early while there are still plenty of open slots to fill.

But you can’t sell your stories if you haven’t written them.

So relax and enjoy writing stories.

And I’ll leave you with one more quote from the man who loved writing more than anything else in his life, Ray Bradbury:

“For the first thing a writer should be is — excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigour, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it’d be better for his health.” 

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCFL.html 

The Controversial Decent of NaNoWriMo

 

I’ve always loved the idea of National Novel Writing Month, which occurs in November every year. During this month, millions of writers worldwide write a fifty-thousand-word novel and upload it to NaNoWriMo to earn a certificate of achievement. In its early days, I signed up for two years running to write a novel. 

I finished my first novel (Playing For Real) in the 30-day window, but sadly, the second one I only half finished and cheated by copying and pasting it all back in so that I reached the required 50K word count. But I did finish it after that.

So it’s sad that after more than 20 years, NaNoWriMo is closing down and that the whole thing is shrouded in controversy. 

They began in 1999 and in 2006 became a non-profit. The closure is said to be for  “financial” reasons, according to the interim executive director, Kilby Blades.

In November 2023 complaints from members were made that a NaNo forum moderator was grooming children on a different website. The moderator was eventually removed a few weeks later for what was said to be an unrelated code of conduct violation. But the whole thing left a bad taste with many writers who questioned NaNo’s capability of keeping children safe on their site.

Then in 2024, when that year’s November novel writing month was announced, NaNo said that they would accept entries from novels written using AI. They were immediately criticised for it but they didn’t back down and stated that “condemnation of Artificial Intelligence has classist and ableist undertones.”

At the time, fantasy writer, C L Polk responded that “NaNo is basically asserting that disabled people don’t have what it takes to create art when they trot out the lie that scorning AI is ableist.”

The AI controversy received wide press coverage with NaNo standing their ground. Two authors stepped down from the NaNo board while many other writers spoke out against using bots in novel writing.

NaNo’s continual endorsement of AI in writing led to one of the world’s biggest backlashes against a non-profit.

Writers swiftly began to distance themselves from NaNo en-mass. Author Daniel José Older released a statement on his website stating that NaNo’s “position on AI is vile, craven, and unconscionable.”

Writers took to social media in droves, expressing their disgust at NaNo for endorsing AI software that is well-known for plagiarising authors’ work for training purposes, and that AI also spreads misinformation.

Many writers then began closing their accounts with NaNo to the point that the non-profit could no longer sustain itself and announced that it would close its website once all writers have had a chance to remove their work. To date, NaNo has not announced exactly when the closure will be.

The whole thing is sad because millions of writers have been able to get their novels written every November thanks to NaNoWriMo.

But that doesn’t have to stop. Any month can be the month that you get your book written. Just begin at midnight on the first of the month, and complete your first draft by midnight on the 30th.

And if you need help getting started, download The One Month Author and write your novel in a month, writing for just one hour a day.

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCWS4.html 

The 2 Hour eBook Writing Challenge

 There’s a buzzword that writers like to talk about when it comes to writing and that word is procrastination.

    Oh yes, writers love to go on and on about procrastination and how it holds them back and how much they have to fight it every day.

    But it’s not procrastination.

    It’s laziness.

    Writing is a scary thing to think about doing because it’s something that can’t be done fast and that’s why many don’t want to start, because they know it will take ages to get a significant amount of writing done.

    Or will it…?

    What if you knew that getting a large amount of writing done wouldn’t take that long at all?

    Then how about taking a 2 hour writing challenge?

What does it involve?

    It involves sitting down and writing in a distraction-less 2 hour window of time.

    You may be wondering how writing for 2 hours will prove anything, but don’t doubt it till you’ve tried it.

    It’s actually possible to write a short report or ebook in 2 hours and many writers have done it.

    So how about you? How much can you write?

    You really should try it because not only will you be able to get a surprising amount of writing done, it also gives you a small thrill just to complete it.

    Sitting and writing solidly for just 2 hours also gives you a great feeling of accomplishment which motivates you to do it again.

    Just try it to see if I’m right.

    And even if I’m wrong and you don’t feel motivated to do it again, at least you will have achieved 2 hours of uninterrupted writing.

So what exactly should you do?

    First you need a 2 hour window of uninterrupted time. It doesn’t have to be a quiet place (a busy coffee shop is fine), it just has to be 2 hours where no one needs your attention.

    Turn off your phone and get rid of any other distractions like your internet browser.

    Before you begin make sure you’re able to focus. Don’t let your mind wander to thoughts about chores that need doing or bills that need paying. Set a timer so that you don’t get distracted by watching the clock.

    I use audios to help me focus when I’m writing. They help cut out the background noise as well as help me to concentrate. Make sure you know exactly what you’re going to be writing about.

    This is where a detailed outline is a must.

    If you know your topic, make a list of 10 main points you want to cover. Break each main point into 3 sub-points and have an opening and closing statement ready.

    Then get to work. Start writing and don’t stop till the 2 hours is up.

    No excuses. No toilet breaks. Just write.

    At the end of the 2 hours you’ll probably be impressed with how much you’ve written.

    After this you can arrange a 2 hour writing session every day so that no matter what else is on your agenda, you’ll get plenty of writing done.

    And even if you can’t manage it every day, do it often.

    Giving yourself 2 hour writing challenges will quickly help you to build a strong writing habit.

    You’ll also achieve much more because you’ll be writing consistently and consistency breeds success.

    And ultimately it will enable you to earn more money from your writing, especially when you can write short reports or ebooks in 2 hours.

    This is an old article that I wrote and published it on my website in 2014. I've republished it here because the information is still relevant and it can still help you to write more and earn more. You can see the article in all its original glory at https://ruthiswriting.com/articles/2014/2-hour-challenge.html

The One Habit That Transforms Writers’ Block Into a Book

  

 I’ve recently been working daily on my latest horror novel, trying to get it ready for publication later this year. I’d slacked off on it for quite a while, so now it has been a race to get it ready for publishing.

But it wasn’t easy. I had to coerce myself to sit in my writing chair consistently every day and work on my manuscript, no matter what mood I was in or how much I wanted to go and do something else.

And that was the ‘secret’ to getting my book finished. Consistency. It’s not big bursts of energy and motivation that get writing done, it’s the consistency of showing up and doing the writing every day. Consistent progress over time compounds into something greater.

It’s too easy to fall into the trap of thinking that those who have success in life are the ones with lucky breaks or who work 80 hours or more a week. But the truth is that those who keep showing up every day are the ones who have success. It’s the same compounding effect that got my book manuscript written, edited and proofread. I took action on it daily, no matter what.

And this compounding effort works for anything you want to do in life, no matter how big or small, like finally getting around to cleaning your car or to starting your own business. Consistent effort will get you everywhere. 

To be more successful than others all you need is consistent, compounding effort. While I was working away on my manuscript, I also kept reading about other writers who were complaining that they just didn’t have time to write and so weren’t currently working on anything.

I also found some bad habits I knew nothing about that I had to eradicate. It seems I am an incredibly distracted person and would stop and look up things or I’d want to go and watch TV or think that I’d rather be doing my sewing or going for a walk. But I didn’t I used strenuous amounts of discipline to stay in my writing chair. And once I did, I found it easier than I thought to let these distractions go.

I also learnt that I was a lot more disciplined than I ever thought I was once I was motivated enough to get my book written. And the word ‘motivation’ has the word motive written right in there, which is the real meaning. To be motivated you need a big enough reason to do something. My motive wasn’t to finish my book but to prove to myself that I could be disciplined if I tried. And I did try and I was right (because I didn’t want to be wrong).

One big takeaway from my recent efforts is that I realised that people who we think of as super achievers, when you look at their efforts, the one thing that stands out is that they are consistent with what they do.

There’s a book I recently came across on this subject that I recommend to any of you who want to do more and achieve more. It’s called, “The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success” by Darren Hardy. 

Don’t let your big writing dreams escape any more. If what you want to do is be a super-achieving author, the time to start is now. All it takes is daily consistency to create a compounding effect.

https://amzn.to/4lqrtce 

 

The Time-Saving Writer: Boosting Speed and Earnings

If you’ve been following me for a long or even a short time, you’ll know that I have always promoted speed when it comes to writing.

You cannot sell what you don’t have, so the more you write, the more you can earn. Put simply, more products means more money.

Don’t fall for the old wive’s tale that says if you write quickly, you’ll write badly. I’ve always found that the opposite is true. When I write fast, I write more like I speak, which makes it easier to read, plus I don’t have time to second-guess myself, which not only makes writing easier, but it also makes it more enjoyable too, which means I’m more likely to want to do it.

Not only that, but when I don’t second-guess myself, I find that my first instincts were right, which they always are, no matter what the situation.

Writing speed is important which is why my books talk about it —

How to Write an Article in 15 Minutes or Less: Including Research, Writing and Proof Reading

7 Day Ebook Writing and Publishing System: How to Write and Publish an ebook and Start Getting Sales in Just One Week

The 12 Month Writing Challenge: Write and Publish 12 Books in a Year

Can you imagine how much more money you could earn if you wrote an ebook in 7 days, a book in a month, and wrote a series of articles in 15 minutes to promote the heck out of them?

But don’t get me wrong. Writing fast doesn’t mean writing at a break-neck speed. When I say you should write fast, I mean write without stopping. Turn off your internal critic and don’t try to edit as you write. Just start writing and keep going. I discovered early on that the more I wrote, the faster I naturally got, without even trying at all.

I find that if I keep writing, even if I think I’m going wrong or think I’ve gotten off-topic a bit too much, when I read my work back, it’s actually OK. It was just my inner critic trying to stop me. And I usually put my work away for at least a day or two after I’ve finished writing it so that I can read it with ‘fresh eyes.’

At first it can seem hard to quiet your inner critic and not stop to edit because it takes confidence to keep writing no matter what. But confidence comes with practice, which is the same with everything we do. It’s just like when you first learn to drive and it seems so hard because not only do you have to control the car, but you also have to watch out for everything else like pedestrians, other cars, traffic lights, road signs and lane markings. It seems impossible at first because there’s so much to concentrate on. Then when you get your driving license and drive more, driving becomes easier and your confidence grows.

And it’s the same with writing. The more you do it, the faster you get, the easier it becomes, and the more money you start earning.

And it all starts by simply writing and not letting anything distract you. Not even your own lack of confidence, otherwise known as your inner critic.

Find all my books to help you writer better, write faster, earn more and have a ton of fun doing it, at

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/on-writing.html

Planning VS Pantsing. Which Writing Method Suits You?

    I’m a dedicated plotter and planner when it comes to writing books, but I always think how great it would be to be able to sit down and write a book, just like that! No idea of what I was going to write about. Just sit down, open a note pad (I always write by hand) and start writing - any time, any where.

    How amazing would that be?

    This probably explains why I’ve read so many books by Dean Wesley Smith, because he’s a life-long pantser and has written several books about how he writes books, and writes them fast. He can write a novel in as little as five days - a perfect first draft too. Damn, I’d love to be able to do that.

    And if that’s not amazing enough, his wife, Kristine Rusch, set up a challenge recently with a bunch of writers to each write three stories each in a month. But she lost the challenge because her first story turned into 43,000-word ‘surprise’ novel. Damn! So impressive.

    I sometimes write without an outline but only for short stories, https://writeaholic-inspiration.blogspot.com/2019/08/debunking-myths-of-writing-fast-or-slow.html and even then there’s a couple I never finished because I couldn’t think of an ending. Even now when I read those unfinished stories again I still have no idea where the story was going, and I think to myself, what if that happened when I was writing a book?

    I always use and extensive outline for book-length projects whether fiction or non-fiction. I find it makes for a clean first draft, and even if I stop and start writing, with my detailed outline I always know where I’m up to.

    With short stories it’s fun to write into the dark (as they call pantsing), but only if I’m writing just for fun and the stories may or may not be published one day.

I’d love to dark write a book, just sit and start writing, not knowing what’s going to happen next until I write it.

    But I’m an aggressive plotter, which is probably something to do with  my personality type. I alway need to be in control and I don’t like surprises. I clean my house routinely and prep meals. I wake up every day, at the same time, with a plan already in place for my mornings and afternoons, as well as a plan of what to make for every meal that day.

    And that is probably why I prefer to plot my books first. I find writing easy and enjoyable when I know where I’m going.

    But I still dream of sitting and writing with a blank page and writing off into the dark  for  a few days and creating a whole first draft of a book.

    Now THAT would be amazing. And intense and fun.

Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline
https://amzn.to/3EKs1Vl

Putting an End to My Lack of Writing

"Suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret."

    ~ Success Minded

2024, as I’ve already talked about, has been a bad year for me. So many bad things happened that I had to deal with which resulted in me getting little writing done.

The result of it all is that I still feel bad about not writing. But I am determined to make the next 12 months my best in writing.

Part of what went wrong last year (and there were SO many things) was that my husband and I were forced to move. We desperately looked for a new place to buy but found nowhere suitable.

But, I feel, or rather, I am determined, that the bad things are over. 

Although we didn’t find a property to buy, we have landed a one year lease in a nice 3-bed rental property in a quiet area and within walking distance of the local shopping centre, so all is pretty good at the moment. And renting means we don’t have to do anything to the house (in Australia, rental properties are not allowed to be changed in anyway whatsoever without the landlords permission) which means I’ll have more time to write.

We have also been moving some of our furniture around, including my writing bureau which was in the dining area next to the breakfast bar. I don’t know why I put in the middle of the house, but it was probably because that’s where it was in our previous unit for the past year. Anyway, I wasn’t happy with it there so we moved it into the spare bedroom. We sleep in one bedroom, my husband has the second bedroom as his study, and the third room is where our daughter sleeps when she comes over to stay now and again. So I thought, why waste that room most of the time? So far I’m loving having my own space again (except when said daughter comes to stay again, but that’s never for longer than a night or two).

I also have a plan (which I’ve already started) to write for at least 2 hours a day. 2 hours isn’t too much, and when I get back into the swing of writing every day, I’ll be able to increase it. But, even at 2 hours a day, that’s a lot of writing. The 2 hours is only for writing new words, not doing other writing related work. And if I write at 1,000 words an hour, which is my usual writing speed, even if I only manage 5 days a week, that’s 10 thousand words a week or 520 thousand words a year, which is pretty prolific for such a short amount of time each week.

And I’m determined to stick to my writing plan, especially now that I have my own writing place again. I’d forgotten how much I missed it.

The problem with not writing when other things get in the way, is that it’s important to find out what exactly the problem is and then it can be fixed. A writing schedule (plan) of how much you can reasonably achieve every day is also important.

Now that I’ve sorted out what was stopping me, I’m already writing more and it feels good to be back in my writing chair. And it doesn’t even matter what happens with my writing, whether it gets published, is appreciated, or earns a lot of money. I just want to write, so that is what I’m doing.

How to Write More in 15 Minutes Than in The Last 15 Days
https://ruthiswriting.com/articles/2025/15-minutes.html

How I Write Books Quickly

I’m currently working on my next book which will be out next month in time for Halloween.

I’ve written dozens of books (I really should count how many) and that doesn’t include all the free ebooks I’ve written over the years, plus the books I’ve previously written that are no longer on the market.

The way I organise things to get all my writing done is probably different to many other writers because we all write differently. Some writers are happy working on their books for just an hour a day for several months or a year. Others shut themselves away for a few days and do nothing but work on their book, and by nothing I mean absolutely nothing. They don’t even communicate with the outside world.

Then there are others who write their books quickly, say in a month or less, while still being somewhat present in the world.

I’m one of the latter. I write my books quickly, usually in a month, while still engaging in life, although not as much because I spend most of the day writing - 10 pages is my minimum goal every day.

I’ve found this to be the ideal way for me to work. I need to write a book all at once so that I don’t lose the thread of what I’m doing and I don’t lose my ideas.

Blog posts and articles are fast to write, but when I’m writing a book I need a large block of time to get it done to keep me in the creative ‘flow.’ Plus the quicker I write it, the easier it is to do.

I usually get a head start on my other writing projects (blog posts, articles, emails, freelance work) and write them all up in advance, putting somethings on automatic scheduling because I need large amounts of time every day for book writing plus blocks of several weeks to get it done.

I know working this way wouldn’t suit everyone nor does everyone have that amount of time to write every day (I didn’t used to when I still had a day  job) but it’s how I work and I can’t imagine doing it another way.

Maybe it’s because I’m a bit of a control freak and when I start something I like to get it finished. Or perhaps it’s because I’m easily bored so if it took me year to write a book, I’d quit after the first few weeks because I’d lose interest in doing it.

Whatever the reason, we’re all different, and working fast, furious and focused works for me.

If you haven’t tried it yourself, write your next book quickly and see how easy and fun it is.

The 12 Month Challenge: Write and Publish 12 Books in a Year

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/12MTH.html 

The Simple Little Tip To Writing More and Writing Better

If you want to earn money from writing, you need to write fast because you’re paid for what you do. You’ll earn the same amount of money for an article regardless of whether it took you 2 hours or 2 days to write it. So the faster you write, the more money you’ll earn.

Never make the mistake of thinking that writing fast means writing badly. In fact the opposite is true. The faster you write, the better you’ll write.

No doubt you’ve heard of the writing acronym, WAYS, Write As You Speak.

When you do this, it makes writing faster to do, and easier for the reader to understand. We’re always better understood when we’re explaining something in spoken words rather than writing it out in long convoluted words, which is why using WAYS works.

Readers aren’t looking for technical articles full of big words. They want fast information and an entertaining read.

In my book, How To Write An Article In 15 Minutes or Less, I show you how to quickly write short 300-500 word articles in 15 minutes or less, including research and proofing. It really can be done that fast.

Of course, speed comes with practice so the more articles you write, the faster and better you’ll get, plus you’ll be producing so much more work.

Short articles are always popular, but longer articles often earn more, especially if you’re paid by the word count.

To write an article quickly it’s good to have a simple outline containing an introduction, 3 points to cover and a conclusion. To expand it, each of the 3 points can have 3 sub-topics.

It can also be faster to turn each point or sub-topic into a question so that when you write your article you’re simply answering questions which is easier than justifying a statement. For instance if you were writing about a daily routine and you say, “I brush my teeth every morning.” You’d change that to, “Why do I brush my teeth every morning?” or “How do I brush my teeth?”

But no matter how you write your articles, it needs to be easy and enjoyable because if you don’t enjoy it, it won’t be sustainable. You won’t keep doing something you don’t enjoy.

Writing fast is enjoyable. It’s much more fun than writing slowly and trying to edit as you write and second guessing yourself all the time. Writing fast means there’s no time for any of that, and you’ll get a lot more writing done.

One of the most prolific authors was, Isaac Asimov, who wrote over 400 novels plus hundreds of scientific papers.

When asked about his amazing output he said, “I guess I’m prolific because I have a simple and straightforward style.”

This was a man who wrote fast, and he wrote for hours every day. And as he said, he kept his writing simple and straightforward which means he used WAYS, and you should too.

Handwriting or Keyboard?

There is always the age-old question of whether it’s better to write by hand or type everything straight on the keyboard.

There is no one-answer-fits-all to this because it all depends on what you’re most comfortable with.

Personally, I prefer to write by hand, and I always do, which means I have to type it all up later.

This may seem like a slow way to work, but for me it’s actually faster.

I’m far more creative when I write by hand so when I sit down with my notebook and pen I can write for hours and the ideas flow.

But when I try to write at the keyboard, the ideas don’t come as easily and my writing doesn’t flow as well. Even having a detailed outline doesn’t help. I end up using any excuse to get up and walk away for a while, but it’s no better when I sit back down again.

So while handwriting is slower than typing, it’s faster for me because it keeps me in the writing flow. I’m also a fast typist when I’m copying something that I’ve already handwritten.

I use the free grammar and spelling apps, Grammarly and Hemmingway to go over my work and check for typos, and ‘passive voice’ amongst other things.

Auto-correct also helps me to keep up with typing errors, although it doesn’t get everything right.

Once, when I bought a new computer, auto-correct kept changing my husband’s name, Dean, to Dead. It took me a few weeks to convince it that my husband wasn’t Dead. Shortly afterwards I was writing an article for someone about Ocean Dead Zones. But when I finished it I realized that auto-correct had changed it all to Ocean Dean Zones. This is why it’s important to check every word of your articles because even when you spell things correctly, it can be sabotaged.

Handwriting works for me because it helps me to stay in the zone and keep writing, and sticking with writing is THE most important thing. It’s so easy to get distracted and forget where you were up to, which is what happens when you’re not loving what you do.

So write your preferred way (handwriting or typing) and keep going. Once you start writing, don’t stop.

Using an outline is essential so that you can stay on topic, and when you finish writing for the day, it’s easy to pick up where you left off because all your outlines are ready and waiting to go.

When you’re writing, if you misspell something, leave it, you’ll pick it up in the edit. And if you can’t think of a word, leave a blank space and keep going. Once you start writing you must keep going.

And don’t worry if you think you’re going wrong, just keep writing.

I find that no matter how many errors I think I’m making, or if I think I’m not saying something the right way, I can easily pick up mistakes later and there’s never any need for much editing because I was always on track thanks to writing fast and staying in the writing zone.

And one last thing to remember is to always keep your reader in mind because as they read your articles, they’ll be asking themselves So what? Who cares? What’s in it for me? So make sure your articles always answer this.

But before you can do any of this, you’ll first have to know what to write about.

This is a short extact from The Monthly Challenge Writing Series:
Book 3 - Fast & Profitable Article Writing

Grab a copy now at:
https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCWS3.html 

The 5 Minute Antidote to Writing More, Writing Faster, And Writing Better.

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

How much can you write in 5 minutes?

You probably think, “not much.”

But if you’ve ever done a speed writing exercise, you’ll know that you can easily write 2/3 pages in 5 minutes.

Doing speed writing exercises is easy. You just use 3 random words (easy to find online from a random word generator page), set a timer for 5 minutes, and start writing. You can write whatever you want but those 3 words must be included in your opening paragraph.

These exercises are fun to do and a simple antidote on days when you don’t feel like writing because they help get you into the writing “zone” quickly, in just 5 minutes (unsurprisingly).

So if you can write 2/3 page in 5 minutes, you should be able to write 8 to 10 pages in an hour (1 hour ÷ 5 minutes = 12 x 2/3page = 8) depending on your own personal typing/writing speed.

Once you know how much you can write in an hour, imagine how much you can write in a week. And that’s if you’re only writing for one hour a day.

This is the power of not procrastinating.

It’s sitting down and writing without giving yourself excuses to stop.

And all it takes is 5 minutes to write 2/3 of a page.

When the 5 minutes is up, you won’t want to stop.

Why Aren't I Writing? And What I'm Doing About It

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

At the beginning of this year, 2022, I stated that I was going to write and publish a book a month.

I was all hyped and ready back in December 2021, sure that I could fulfill my mission. I had it all planned so what could go wrong?

Life, is what could go wrong.

It's not that I haven't written any books. I've written and published 4 books so far with another almost finished.

My writing plan began to unravel early when, at the beginning of the year, without knowing it was even going to happen, I moved home. 

I originally had no intention of moving, but then property prices skyrocketed, and we stumbled upon a better place to live. So we took advantage of the price increases, put our place on the market, sold it in 3 weeks, and moved. And as we all know, moving can suck your life away in the time spent to organise it all, do the actual move, and then settle into our new place and find our way around the new neighbourhood.

Also a few family issues came up that I had to deal with.

But that's still no excuse for not getting my writing done. I keep telling myself that if I had to go out to work (which I'm SO GRATEFUL that I don't have to) I wouldn't be using all these things as an excuse not to go to work. I'd deal with them and still get to work on time every day.

The problem with working at home, is that I'm at home, so I constantly get distracted. But again, that's no excuse not to get my writing done.

Another thing that happened is that I downloaded a fascinating eBook called "Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline," by one of my favourite authors on writing, Dean Wesley Smith. https://amzn.to/3EKs1Vl.

I usually always write with an extensive outline, but after reading his book I decided to try writing without one. DWS said that all you need to know before you start writing, is what genre you're writing in, and have a character and a setting in mind, and then start writing.

I began with one short story and then moved on to do more. At first it felt really strange to not have an outline and to not know what I was going to write until I wrote it.

But do you know what? It's fun. I've been writing quite a few short horror stories with no outline and no idea of what's going to happen in the story until I start writing. Not only is it fun, but it also makes me write fast because I can't afford to stop writing in case I lose the flow of ideas.

I'm not sure if I'd write a whole novel this way, but it sure is fun doing it with short stories. It also taught me that horror stories are my favourite to write. 

Who knows where this will lead me, but I'm having a ball doing it. I should have known that I'd enjoy it because I always love doing those 5-minute writing exercises, where you're given 3 words and you write for 5 minutes without stopping AND use those 3 words in the opening paragraph.

If you want to try it yourself, download your own copy of "Writing into the Dark" and give it a go.

But I digress. I was talking about why I haven't written as many books as I planned to.

The good news is that I'm planning to get back on track. No, I'm GOING to get back on track. I have a new plan and I'm going to work it.

At the same time, I'll still be uploading articles to my website and posts to this blog, and sending out my monthly writing newsletter, which will be hitting my subscribers' inboxes next week. So, if you're not a subscriber, now would be the perfect time to sign up, plus you'll receive a free eBook to help you write more and earn more.

On another positive note, my latest book, "How To Have More Money Now, Even If You’re Struggling To Pay The Rent" is already selling well. Read more about it and grab yourself a copy at https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/hthmm.html.

And you should see another book from me soon.

Here's hoping you're getting plenty of your own writing done.

How to Write 10,000 Words a Day

 

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

A few weeks ago I was reading an article about how it’s possible to write a million words a years, and I thought, “That’s crazy.”

But it turns out it’s not as crazy say you think. Not only is it quite sane, it’s also quite do-able.

The author also said that we all write at the same pace, which is around 1,000 words/hour, which is only 16.6666 words per minute.

I pondered this, did a little math, and worked out that one million words divided by 365 days is 2,739 words a day. So if you wrote 2,739 words a day for a whole year, you’d have written a million words.

Hmmm. It doesn’t seem too unreasonable when you look at it like that.

So then I went back to the 1,000 words/hour. To write a million words at that speed, you’d have to write for 1,000 hours (1,000 x 1,000 = 1,000,000).

This means that if you wrote 1,000 wph for 2 hours a day, that’s 2,000 words a day which isn’t far off the 2,739 words a day needed to write a million words a year. In fact, 2,000 words a day is 730,000 words a year.

But what if you upped the ante and wrote 10,000 words a day? Even working a 5 day week you could achieve 50,000 words a week. That’s a whole book written in a week.

But is it possible to write 10,000 words a day?

According to the book, “2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love” By Rachel Aaron (https://amzn.to/3ruC0bd) it’s more than possible.

At 1,000 word/hour you’d have to write for 10 hours a day. That’s a lot of hours.

But look at it a different way.

If you’ve ever tried speed writing you’ll know that it’s possible to write ¾ of a page in 5 minutes. Speed writing is where you’re given a writing prompt, or 3 words, you set a timer for 5 minutes and start writing. If you’ve never done it, you should. It’s really eye-opening to see just how much you’re capable for writing in such a short time.

Speed writing proves that it’s easily possible to write ¾ of a page in 5 minutes. So assuming a full page of writing is 300 words (it’s usually more), this means that you can write 2,700 words in an hour (¾ of a page in 5 minutes  x 12 lots of 5 minutes = 1 hour).

If you write like this for 5 hours a day, even if you drop the speed down to 2,000 words an hour, that’s still 10,000 words a day.

But the real question is whether or not it’s possible to write at this fast pace.

It is if you’re prepared. This means having a complete outline for your book so that you know exactly what you’ll be covering in each chapter.

Having a detailed outline leaves you free to write without stopping, just like speed writing. 

An outline means you don’t need thinking time, just writing time.

I work this way with all my books. Lately I’ve begun using shorter outlines, and while it’s possible to write a book this way, it slows me down because it means I need to have time to think while I’m writing.

But with a detailed outline, I can sit down and start writing straight away. Even if it’s been a day or two since I last wrote, I can look at my outline and see exactly where I finished and where I need to go.

Outlines make the writing process so much easier and faster.

And it only takes 2 to 3 days to go from idea to outline to detailed outline, and then you’re ready to start writing.

And even if you want to slow it down to just 10,000 words a week, you can still get your book finished in a month.

I wrote about this in the 4th book of my Monthly Challenge Writing Series, “The One Month Author: How to Write a Book Faster & Better.”

A simple step-by-step manual that leads you through finding an idea for a book, creating an outline, and turning it into a finished manuscript - in just one month.

Check it out now at:

https://ruthiswriting.com/books/MCWS4.html