Unlocking Productivity: The 6-Step Ivy Lee Method

"Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on."

      ~ Louis L’Amour

There’s no question about it. If you want to have success as a writer, you have to keep writing.

That sounds simple enough, but it’s not the whole issue. For instance, you have to know what you’re going to write, and have a system of working so that you can get straight down to work as soon as you sit down.

Productivity is always a hot topic, especially for writers.

One of the best known productivity hacks was Ivy Lee’s Success 6 method of getting more done.

The story goes that in 1918, Charles Schwab was one of the richest men in the world. He was the president of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation which was one of the largest ship builders and the second-largest steel producers in America at the time. Schwab was known as a master hustler who was constantly looking for ways to have an edge over his competition.

In 1918 he was looking for a way to increase efficiency of his team and find better ways to get things done. To this end, he arranged a meeting with Ivy Lee who was a respected productivity consultant.

Ivy Lee told Charles Schwab that all he was going to do was talk for 15 minutes to each executive of the company and give them simple instructions. Charles Schwab asked how much this was going to cost him. Ivy Lee said it would cost nothing in the beginning but that if his method worked, then Schwab could pay him whatever he thought it was worth.

What Was The Method?

Ivy Lee then met with each of the company executives and told them a simple daily routine that they had to follow.

He told them, that at the end of each day they were to write down the 6 most important things they needed to accomplish the next day. But only 6 and no more. Once they had their list they were to number them in order of importance. He said, tomorrow, do the first thing, number one on the list, then work through the list in order. At the end of each day, move any unfinished tasks to a new list of 6 for the next day, and repeat this every working day.

After three months, Charles Schwab gave Ivy Lee a cheque for $25,000, which was a lot of money in 1918.

Why Did This Method Work?

Ivy Lee’s method of prioritising was simple yet effective, and made it easy with a short list of only 6 priorities each day.

Warren Buffett had a similar method which he called his 5/25 Rule for achieving success in life. His rule was to list 25 life priorities. They could be anything you want to achieve in life, including career, personal growth, relationships, health, or financial prosperity or anything else you want to do.

You then go through your list and pick out THE 5 most important things you want to achieve first, and concentrate only on them and forget about the other 20 completely until you had fulfilled your first 5.

Both these productivity methods remove the friction of starting. It lets you know what you have to do first, which means you can get straight down to work by minimises what you need to concentrate on.

Fewer priorities leads to doing better work because it enables you to focus, knowing that everything important will get done.

And doing the most important thing first every day is all you need towards consistency and focus.

What are your six important things to do today?

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

Why You’re Not Writing and How to Fix it

 

I recently admitted to you all (to my subscribers) that I haven’t been doing much writing lately.

I’ve had a lot going on in my life for the past several months, and most of it was not good and was either emotionally or physically demanding. But it was still no excuse for not writing. Sometimes a week or more would go by without me writing a word. And it bothered me. I wanted to write, so why wasn’t I writing? I didn’t understand it.

Then one day I was reading a book by Kristine Kathryn Rusch called, How Writers Fail: Analysis and Solutions.[This book can only be bought as part of a series https://amzn.to/426rfQ9] It was fascinating (and I read it several times), and one thing in particular struck me.

Kristine is married to author, Dean Wesley Smith, and she said that he cannot write without a deadline, even if it’s just a self-imposed deadline. And I realised that was my problem too. I had no deadlines.

I was overwhelmingly busy with so many other things going on, including selling our apartment, packing up everything we own, looking for another property to buy and finding nothing suitable so having to quickly rent a house and unpack everything we own. So I’d jettisoned my writing because other things seemed more important, like being days away from being homeless. But I still should have sat down every day, at least for an hour, and written. But instead I did nothing. No writing.

The problem with being human is that when faced with a choice, we default to the easiest thing to do, with is usually watching TV or playing a computer game, while telling ourselves that we deserve a rest.

When you have a job to go to every day it gives you a deadline to work to. It always gives you deadlines at home too because your time is limited.

But it’s too easy to put things off if there are no deadlines looming. When I put off my writing, it felt like there was little consequence because no one knew I hadn't done it and I still got plenty of other things done.

We always put off doing things we know we have to do if there isn’t a deadline, even things like washing the car, exercise, cooking, and even going for days out. It’s always easier to do nothing. Yet we always feel better if we do what we’re supposed to do.

It’s also a matter of priorities, the things you deem important enough that you’ll do them no matter what.

Some people aren’t even aware of their own priorities. It see parents at the park staring at their phones instead of interacting with their kids. Dogs not walked, dirty homes, unmade beds. All of it leads to depression.

Many studies show that productive people are happy people. They have a sense of achievement and have everything they want because they get things done. And it works the other way around too. Not only are productive people happy, but happy people are said to be 13% more productive. But productivity shouldn’t be confused with being busy. People who are busy all day, are said to be miserable. There is also a correlation between happiness and having a job. According to the World Happiness Report (WHR), having a job is a major step towards happiness.

So your writing has to be a priority or it won’t get done, and you’ll be unhappy. To get it done you need a schedule and deadlines.

I organise my days for everything I want to get done that day, and I do it whether I want to or not. If I didn’t, I’d be miserable, just like I have been these last few months when I wasn’t writing.

I have a publishing schedule for everything I write, including blog posts and books. Freelance work always comes with deadlines so that always gets done on time. I already know that I have to finish my latest book by the end of this month. I also have other writing projects to do, as well as all my chores and obligations in my personal life.

And deadlines, like having to finish my book in three weeks, keeps me on track every day.

I definitely need deadlines, as I proved to myself recently.

And having a schedule and deadlines means I know what I’ll be working on every day, meaning I can get straight down to work with no time to procrastinate.

Now that’s what I call a win-win.

Cheriton House Publishing
https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com
Books on writing and self-help

Knowing When I’m Too Ill To Write

 I’ve been ill with a flu-type of virus that’s been going around. Nearly everyone I know has caught it in one level of severity or another. I guess it’s just part of winter flu season.

I rarely get ill, and even when I do it’s only just a bit of a touch of whatever dreaded lergy is doing the rounds at the time.

The reason I rarely get ill is because I pay attention to my health. I have a vegan (or plant based as they now call it) diet which means I don’t consume dead body parts or any animal products. When I was younger I ate meat like most people, but as an adult I looked into the logic and cruelty of slaughter houses and animal “farms” and how bad eating these animals is for our health, and decided it was a bad idea.

So I transitioned to being a vegetarian for many years and then cut animals out of my diet completely. And I’ve never looked back. In fact, I found that some of the things I was eating were making me ill. For example, I’ve always suffered from headaches. It didn’t take much to give me a headache and they were painful and long-lasting. I also constantly came down with colds. If someone had a cold, I knew I’d catch it because I always did.

Once I gave up dairy and eggs, my colds and headaches disappeared. Gone! Just like that. All my life I’d thought it was just my bad luck that I was susceptible to head colds and bad headaches, but it turned out to be my diet. For the last 3+ years I haven’t even been to see my GP at all because I’ve never had anything medically wrong with me. My health has been great. The last time I saw my GP was because I’d hurt my foot.

My usual good health is probably why, when I caught this flu bug, it took me completely by surprise. The worst thing about it is that it’s so long lasting and has been driving me crazy because I’m so used to being healthy.

It started three weeks ago. I woke up one day with an incredibly sore throat. It hurt so much I could barely swallow and my head hurt and my nose wouldn’t stop running. 

I suffered through it for 7 days. It did start easing after the first 3 days but I felt miserable the whole time. The first day I thought I’d be ill for just that day. But nope. I spent the whole week laid on the couch, watching TV, napping, and feeling downright sorry for myself.

I even thought I’d try and get some writing done during that first week, but I found that I was too ill to think and I didn’t really want to sit up for too long either. 

I thought about it while I was laid there wallowing in self-pity, trying to figure out how being ill meant that thinking was hard, after all, it wasn’t a physical thing. Thinking was just thinking. But even trying to concentrate on something on TV felt taxing and I kept nodding off.

I thought about reading instead, but just the thought of picking up a book felt like too much hard work, which didn’t make sense to me because I love to read.

After 5 days of kidding myself that I wasn’t really THAT ill and if I put my mind to it I’d be able to write, I gave in. I figured that when I had a regular job and I had a boss and had to go out to work every day, when I was too ill to work, I’d take a few days off to rest and get better so that I could go back to work as soon as possible.

That being the case, I figured that working at home shouldn't be any different and if I rested, I’d get better faster. After all, it worked when I had a regular job. I never thought of doing anything but getting better when I wasn’t working so that I wouldn’t miss too many days away from my job.

So that’s what I did. I laid down and did nothing but rest and nap, even though I didn’t want to, and it worked. By the eighth day, I was not only sitting up but moving around a little and I was back in my writing chair. But I still had to be careful not to overdo anything because even though I was up and about, everything I did, even mental things like reading and writing, felt exhausting.

And now it’s 3 weeks later and I still haven’t shifted the virus completely. To anyone looking at me I look fine and I’m living my usual life. But I still don’t feel 100% well and I’m not doing as much in a day as I usually do and I’ve been avoiding socialising because that seems way too hard right now, even short conversations seem hard. I’m not comfortable with socialising anyway, but now it feels harder than ever. It’s easier to stay at home and write and not talk to anyone, except Dean of course, who caught the same illness I did but only mildly for a couple of days and then he was okay again, although even he isn’t 100% yet either.

But what this whole experience has taught me is that (and it was a hard lesson because I’m not used to being ill anymore) is that I need to treat my writing as a job and if I’m ill it’s okay to take some time off to get better and not feel guilty about not getting my writing done.

And treating my writing as a job isn’t just good advice for when I’m ill, but for always.

That’s why I have set writing times every week to make sure I get to work and get my writing done.

Mission Critical For Life

Start Living Life On Your Terms By Pursuing Your True Life Mission

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

Why Most Writers Are 100% Wrong In The Way They Use Their Time

One thing writers often talk about is time. They think it’s all about working out how many words they can write in an hour, multiplied by how many hours they set aside for writing every day. 

They think that this alone will tell them how much writing they can do, how many articles they can write, and even how many books they can write in a week/month/year.

But they are completely wrong for looking at their time this way.

I’ve been a writer for over 20 years, and I earn all my income from my writing, so I know what I’m talking about.

Don’t get me wrong, knowing how fast you can write is important, but there’s one thing that’s crucial.

If you want to get more writing done in the time that’s available to you, you must protect your time. You must preserve your time. And you must not, under any circumstances, let anyone steal your time.

Let me explain what I mean.

When I first began writing, I had a full-time job and a family to look after, so I had to squeeze my writing in whenever I could, which usually meant writing in the evenings or at weekends.

Eventually, I managed to earn enough money from my writing so that I could change to a part-time job, and when I was earning enough from my writing, I quit my job altogether.

It was a long and laborious process, and the hardest thing was protecting my writing time.

It seemed like every time I wanted to write, the universe had other ideas. One of the kids would get sick or an emergency home repair needed doing, or the dog had to go to the vet, or a friend or family member would need my help with something.

There always seemed to be something to interrupt my writing time. And let me tell you, if you try and say to someone that you’re too busy writing to help them, they do NOT like it.

Friends and family were quite scornful and mocking about my wanting to be a writer. Even now, so many years later, no one ever wants to talk about my writing, and if I mention it, they quickly change the subject. It’s as though it’s taboo to mention my writing.

One day, when I was visiting my father, I saw a magazine on the coffee table. I opened it to one of the feature articles and said, “Look. That’s my article. I wrote that and it was published this week. See?”

My father’s wife leaned forward, closed the magazine, and said, “Right, who wants coffee?”

I was so hurt (and confused). I thought surely when I pointed out one of my published articles in a magazine they might have at least been interested or maybe even smiled. Instead they gave each other a quick sideways glance and pretended I hadn’t said anything.

And it’s this attitude that other people always seem to have and they think that your writing time isn’t important. So they think nothing of taking it from you and using it for their own gain. For a long time, people that I knew thought my writing was a joke, even though I was being published regularly, had set up and was running a writing website, and had thousands of subscribers. Try telling your friends you don’t want to go out drinking with them because you want to go home and write a short story and see what happens. They won’t like it at all.

This is why it’s important to train your friends and family to respect your writing time, and don’t be afraid to tell them that you’re too busy to talk on the phone, or to go for a coffee or to go to lunch. Once you start saying no to them it’s amazing how quickly they stop asking.

And when you’ve trained them to leave you alone, and you get to write more, the most amazing thing happens.

As you write more, it gets easier and faster. It’s just like anything we do repeatedly. It takes far less effort, and becomes quicker.

Having a strict writing schedule helps too because it not only makes sure that you have time to write, but once others know it’s your writing time and that it’s off-limits to them, they’ll leave you alone.

Don’t let others steal your writing time. They’ll never give it back. And it’s far too precious and important to lose.

P.S. Don’t let emails and social media steal your writing time either.

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCWS1.html

This Simple Little Tip Will Get You Writing Like A Pro - Instantly

Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay

Do you know how people become top athletes?

Practice.

They become great at what they do through practice, and they practice all the time.

They usually need a coach to become great at what they do, to show them how it’s done.

Likewise, professionals need a university degree to be able to do what they do, or a business course.

In the same way, writers need to learn from the best, and it’s easy to do, and free.

Whatever type of writer you want to be, find some great writing in your preferred genre/field, and practice writing it out.

Copy out passages from their books, ads, join their email list and copy out their emails too.

We all know that writers are readers, and we learn a lot about writing from what we read. But what works even better is copying it out by hand. This gives us a good feel for the tempo, the words, and the flow.

Don’t plagiarize their work, just learn how it’s done. Have fun writing like your favourite authors. Spend as much time as you want writing like a pro till it feels natural and you have a good understanding of their writing style and how they tell a great story.

Athletes don’t go straight out and compete without years of practice. Professionals study hard and do work experience to get a thorough understanding of what they need to do and how to be good at it.

As a writer you need to do the same.

Study writing by copying the great writers, then go out and write as much of your own words as you can.

Never stop writing. 

Write every day. 

And this consistent practice will help you to become great at what you do.

 

How To Make Yourself Procrastination Proof

Procrastination is a dirty word, especially to writers, so why do we do it so often?

It’s easy to think that it’s something only unknown writers suffer from, but it’s not.

Even the most prolific writers find it hard to sit down and write when they don’t feel like it.

Stephen King, who is considered a prolific writer, in his book, On Writing, said that he writes a minimum of 2,000 words a day, which for him is 10 handwritten pages. But even he suffers from procrastination some days.

“On some days those ten pages come easily; I’m up and out doing errands by eleven thirty in the morning, perky as a rat in liverwurst.  More frequently, as I grow older, I find myself eating lunch at my desk and finishing the work around one-thirty in the afternoon. Sometimes, when the words come hard, I’m still fiddling around at teatime. Either way is fine with me but only under dire circumstances do I allow myself to shut down before I get my 2,000 words,”

And in those words of wisdom lies the “secret” of how to procrastination proof yourself.

And just in case you missed it, the “secret” is to sit down and write, and don’t get up until you’ve finished, no matter what.

In fact, if you did the same with anything you have to do that you don’t feel like doing – household chores, shopping, washing the car, doing laundry – you’d have what author Don Aslett calls a “48-Hour Day.”

They say that how you do anything is how you do everything.

So quit procrastinating about everything.

Turn off Netflix, put down your phone, stop reading this, and get your writing done, whether you feel like it or not, and no matter how long it takes, even if you’re “still fiddling around at teatime.”

There’s no excuses for procrastinating.

None.

Stop Letting Yourself Down

Photo courtesy of kaboompics.com

Do you know what the worst kind of decision is?

Surprisingly, it’s not a bad decision.

It’s indecision.

That’s because when you’re indecisive about something you end up doing nothing.

To quote Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With The Wind: -

“I don’t want to think about that right now. I’ll think about it tomorrow.”

That is blatant procrastination. Putting off doing something, not because you can’t do it, because you just can’t be bothered.

And as we all know, once we put off doing something, we usually never do it.’

Just think what your life would be like if you hadn’t procrastinated: -

    - How many books would you have written?

    - How many blogs would you have?

    - How many blog posts would you have written?

    - How many emails would you have sent?

    - How many subscribers would you have?

    - How many books would you have sold?

    - How wealthy would you be right now?

    - How great would you feel?

How amazing and different would it be if you just got up and got on with things every day?

And I don’t mean only about writing, but about everything in your life. About replacing all the timewasting things you do with productive things that improve your life and move it forward.

That’s what my latest eBook is all about.

It’s about why you waste time and, most importantly, how easy it is to stop procrastinating and take back control of your life in every way.

I Don’t Want to Write, I HAVE to Write

Image by Jon Hoefer from Pixabay

For the past couple of weeks I haven’t done any writing at all. Nada. Zilch. Zero. The only exception has been writing shopping lists and writing in my journal a couple of times.

My lack of writing was due to moving and trying settle into my new home which has included finding new places to store things, getting new daily routines, having new curtains and an awning installed and finding my way around the new area where I now live.

But now I’m pretty sure that everything that needs to be done has been done so I’m now back in my writing chair.

Since  I moved, my books sales have been doing well and I sold more books than usual, including my latest novel, What Goes Around Comes Around, which is a romantic story of how one bad deed had a devastating effect on a young guy’s life and created a chain reaction of events that he could never have foreseen. Through it all he meets a young woman who helps him through the darkest period of his life. But he worries that when he does’t need her any more will he still want her? She wonders the same thing too. 

You can read more at https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/wgaca.html. 

This was such a fun book to write and it’s proving to be a popular book to read too. 

Book sales are a big part of how I earn money writing and they can go on even when I’m busy with other life-changing events, like moving home.

And throughout this past couple of weeks when I wasn’t writing, it felt weird, like something was missing from my life. I felt somewhat lost, even though I was so busy sorting everything out.

That’s when it hit me. I don’t write because I need to, and I don’t do it because I want to. I write because I HAVE  to. I can’t NOT write.

Writing is the way that I earn all my income, but even years ago when it wasn’t, I still used to write all the time.

I think it must be in my DNA. Everywhere I go I usually have a notebook and pen with me. A few weeks ago I was at the beach and later sat in the park near the beach and I went to a nearby newsagent and bought a notebook and pen and spent the afternoon sitting at a covered picnic table, writing.

Even on days when I don’t feel like writing, it feels wrong not to, so I usually end up curled up on the couch with my everyday notebook which is the one I write in when ideas strike me, or when I want to map out a writing plan, or when I don’t feel like writing so I write about it in my everyday notebook, and before I know it, ideas start to come and I start taking notes and start writing.

How about you?

How much writing have you done lately? How much more could yo have done if you’d just sat down and started?

Do you write because you need to? Because you want to? Or because you have to?

Right now I’m catching up with two weeks of non-writing time, and it already feels good.

I hope you get plenty of writing done too.

If you’re stuck, try my Monthly Challenge Writing Series. It’s guaranteed to get you writing and earning.

https://ruthiswriting.com/books/MCWS1.html 

Writing and Moving

Image by Nina Garman from Pixabay 

Last March (2021, over a year ago) I moved from a house up a mountain to an apartment at the coast. Although I liked having a garden at our old place and growing fruit and vegetables, I wanted to live in somewhere with less to do so that I could write more. 

Unfortunately, while I do like living in an apartment (here in Australia, called a unit), I don’t like the complex where I am so I’m moving again next week.

What I don’t like about living here is that for some reason I don’t like sitting in the study. We use the spare bedroom as an office but for some unknown reason I can’t settle in there, so I don’t sit at my desk any more. Even right now I’m sat on the couch in the living room.

I did think I could sit on the balcony and write instead, but it’s East-facing and has the sun on it most of the morning so it’s too hot and burning.

There are also over 150 apartments here with over 90 more currently being built (6 buildings altogether) so it’s noisy here through the day time with so many people around, plus all the construction going on here at the moment (from 6.30am to 6.30pm six days a week) is not conducive to my writing either.

There are also ongoing problems with the caretakers who are not doing their jobs, so the common areas (car parks, pool areas, corridors, etc) are looking pretty icky, in fact it’s getting quite disgusting.

As you can imagine, I’m fed up with everything here and so is Dean, so we’ve sold up and we’re shipping out.

Next week we’ll start moving our possessions box by box over to our new place and then the removalists can move our furniture a few days later.

This is going to be a huge disruption, but it won’t stop me writing. No doubt it will slow me down though.

In the meantime we’re busy sorting out electric and internet accounts, mail redirection, and eating up all the food in the fridge freezer before we switch it off for a couple of days before we move it. If nothing else, it will be entertaining. Though it’s all somewhat stressful.

Also, my book, the 12 Month Writing Challenge, which was only available as a PDF, is now available as a print book and an eBook and both are available from online bookstores.

Grab yourself a copy now.

Happy reading and writing.

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

Choosing The Best Time To Write

Image by Yerson Retamal from Pixabay

There’s a lot been written about when is the best time to write. It’s always a hot topic for writers.

Many swear by getting their best writing done early in the morning. Others swear that it’s better to write late at night when it’s quiet. They love to burn the proverbial midnight oil.

I’m not a person who can get up and write straight away in the morning. I need to have breakfast, do the dishes and clean up before I can sit down and write. I need to clear other jobs away first before my mind is free. It’s just how I am, so I go with it.

As to staying up late to write, it’s not something I regularly do. But sometimes when I’m in the flow state, I write till it’s late, then stay up really late watching a movie to refocus my mind so that I can sleep.

The thing is, we are all different so we all have different times that are best for us to write. We also have different states of mind on different days. Some days I’m waiting for the bell to ring so that I can stop writing, and others days, it’s hard to stop.

I think that the problem is that it’s easy to confuse your ideal time to write with your best time to write. And what we’d like it be and what it actually is are usually two different things.

It also depends on life’s other commitments too. If you have small children running around all day, you’ll probably be a midnight oil writer.

Do what’s best for you, not what you think would be best.

I’ve always found that I can write anytime. That’s because I’m a writer, not a dreamer.

“Your job is to make sure the muse knows where you're going to be every day from nine 'til noon. or seven 'til three. If he does know, I assure you that sooner or later he'll start showing up.”

~ Stephen King

Why I Hated Writing And What I Did About It

A terrible thing happened when I was writing my latest book. 

I hated writing it.

 

I kept going and finished the first draft, but I wasn’t enjoying the process at all.

 

And as we all know, if you don’t enjoy writing it will always result in bad writing.

 

We can’t hide our feelings from our writing.

 

I sat there dumbfounded, staring at all the useless garbage I’d just written. No matter how many different ways I looked at it there was no way I could save any of it.

 

So what had gone wrong?

 

I realised that I’d written it from the vaguest of outlines and I’d forgotten where I was going with it, so I’d simply ‘winged’ most of it, not even knowing what points I was trying to make along the way.

 

So I scrapped the whole thing, thousands of words and hours of time lost. But it had to be done.

 

I then planned it out, outlined it thoroughly so I’d know exactly what I wanted to say, and rewrote the whole thing.

 

And this time I enjoyed writing it and I managed to finish it in just one week. In fact, I was enjoying working on it so much, I was disappointed when it was finished.

 

No doubt the same thing happens to you sometimes too. You start writing a new book, but you’re not enjoying it and it’s not your best work. Something is wrong and you need to figure out what that is.

 

It may be that you simply need a better plan, a better outline, and clearer direction of what you need to do.

 

Take the time to figure out where you’re going wrong, and get a clear plan of action.

 

 

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

Use the introductory discount code ‘12mthpromo.’

BONUS copy of The One Month Author

https://cheritonhousepublishing/books/12MTH.hml

 

Writer Without A Clue

I bought an eBook a few weeks ago and it was fascinating to read.

It’s called “Writing Into The Dark” and it’s written by prolific author, Dean Wesley Smith.

He has written hundreds of books and short stories and this book is all about his writing process.

He calls what he does “Writing Into The Dark” because he begins all his novels and short stories (which are not so short because they’re all thousands of words long) and he has no clue how the story will start or end.

He begins with just a few words, or an incomplete idea in his head, and then he just starts writing with no idea as to how the story will develop or end. He doesn’t even know who the characters are until he makes them up as he goes along.

Writing this way would scare the pants off me. I can’t imagine sitting down to write a novel and not even know what it’s going to be about.

I have done free-writing exercises before where I’m given 3 random words and I have to write about them, or write a story that includes them, for 5 minutes without stopping.

I can actually write ¾ page this way, but it feels weird to have no direction with what I’m writing. Yet strangely enough, what I write in those 5 minutes without any forethought, is quite good. In fact I’ve expanded some of them into published articles and stories.

So maybe ‘Writing Into The Dark’ is a creative way to do things.

After all, it’s the way Dean Wesley Smith has been writing novels for years.

Either way, it was fascinating to read his book about his whole writing process.

https://amzn.to/3pYpS2B

Why Willpower Won’t Help You Write

We’ve all heard of the word Willpower and we’re told that if you can’t achieve something, or can’t get enough writing done, it’s because you don’t have enough willpower.

But what is willpower?

Many believe that it’s some kind of separate entity. It’s something you can invoke to help you. All you have to do is believe in it enough and it will magically appear and you can latch onto it and become a writing marvel.

Some people believe that having will power is not to help you to do something, but it’s a way to help you restrain from doing bad habits like over-eating, gambling, smoking, and excessive alcohol consumption, rather than helping you engage in new habits.

If you want to write more and write better what you need is determination, not willpower. This is what drives people to do what needs to be done, despite emotional and physical opposition.

Determination gives you a can-do attitude to stick with something and see it through to the end.
And you already have determination within you. It’s not an outside thing, separate from yourself. It’s already yours. You just have to use it.

And to be honest, if you love to write, then you really don’t need much determination. You only need to be in the right determined mindset to sit down and start writing, because as we all know, starting is the hardest thing.

But once you sit down and start writing, the rest is easy.

So don’t think you need willpower to write.

Just have the determination to sit in your writing chair for an hour or two every day.

The writer in you will take it from there.

The One Month Author
How to Write a Book Faster & Better
https://ruthiswriting.com/books/MCWS4.html

Download a copy for only 99c till the end of November 2021.

Keep Writing Even If You Don’t Feel Like It

Photo by Magnet.me on Unsplash

All writers (even the best of the best) face the challenging situation of writing when they really don’t feel like it. It happens to us all. You’re just not in the mood to sit down and write, but you have a deadline looming or a book to finish, and you need to get back to your writing spot, but the motivation just isn’t there.

So what can you do about it?

Well, I don’t know about you, but one thing that “Lockdowns” taught me was that when all distractions are removed (constitutional rights, going outside, living my life) I was much more motivated to sit down and write.

A couple of years ago I cracked a rib and couldn’t move much for a couple of weeks, and this week I had a minor operation on my back, which again has physically incapacitated me or a short while.

And during all these times, I wrote more because I was forced to sit down because there was nothing else I could do. Also because I decided myself to use these times to increase my writing output.

It was also during these times that the more I wrote every day, the easier and better it got.

So just think about that the next time you know you should be writing, but you just don’t feel like it.

And remember that the world’s most successful authors didn’t get to where they are because they gave in every time they didn’t feel like writing. They often felt that way too but they sat down and wrote despite not feeling like it.

And to be honest, even though I love to write, not wanting to do it happens almost every day. Until, that is, I sit in my chair and start writing.

Then it’s amazing how much writing I can do, even though I didn’t feel like it at first.

The One Month Author

How to Write a Book Faster & Better

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