Finding Time to Write

Being a writer isn't hard.

But being a working writer who earns all their income from their writing is hard.

And one of the reasons it's hard is because it requires a lot of uninterrupted hours of work.

Unlike other careers, writing requires 100% focus and concentration. I can do other jobs while being somewhat distracted, but when I write, I need to give it my full attention.

Every day I feel like I'm bombarded with the desire to do anything but write and this is because of the deep attention I have to give my writing, so it can feel much easier to do other things.

So I have to make sure that I sit down and write every day, even though I don't always feel like doing it.

One of the ways to find time to write every day is to figure out what approach is the best way for me.

Different people work in different ways, depending on their life, job and other life commitments.

But the 5 best known ways of finding time to write are:

Monastic. This means totally cutting yourself off from everything while you write, including no phone calls, no texts, no internet and not even allowing others to speak to you at all while you're working. And if necessary, go away from home to write like Maya Angelou did. She always rented a hotel room for a few weeks and would go there every day to do nothing but lay on the bed and write. Many other writers have also hidden themselves away at hotels so that they can write including Tennessee Williams, Charles Dickens and Stephen King.

Split times. This means having some times when you write and the rest of the time for more shallow (or other) jobs. This works well for those who have family and other commitments who can't shut themselves off completely like a monastic. So you might carve out one part of the day, or the week or the month, that you use only for writing.

Set times. This means that you set aside a certain amount of time for writing and never waiver from it, like say, you write from 5am to 7am before you go to work every day.

Journalistic. This is how many writers work and it means grabbing whatever time you can for writing whenever you find a free slot in your day/evening. It's a moment to moment approach but sometimes it's all you can do if, for instance, you have young children.

So what this all means is that you need to find out which approach to writing works best for you rather than try and live your ideal.

In other words,  you may want to shut yourself off like a monastic and go to a luxury hotel and write every day, but your job, your kids and your spouse, means you can't do it and so the journalistic approach to writing is all that you can do.

But whatever your situation, make sure it works and that you get your writing done.

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Write Any Book in 28 Days or Less.
Laid out in an easy to follow style and suitable for writing fiction and non-fiction. Just follow the advice as you go through the course, just one hour a day, and by the end, you’ll have your manuscript written.

http://ruthiswriting.com/links/writequickly.html

Do You Need a Dedicated Writing Place

I'm currently reading a book called Deep Work, by Cal Newport.

In it, he discusses the need for having a place where you go to do your deep work.

The argument for having such a space is that going to it puts you into the 'zone' for the work you have to do.

Many writers are the same. They have a space or a room where they work and they find that it instantly puts them into work-mode.

And it got me to thinking about whether it really is necessary to have a dedicated writing space.

From my own experience, I do tend to start the day sitting at my writing desk.

And I do indeed find it helps to get me instantly into writing mode.

I sit down, check my emails, then open my diary to see what I have on the writing agenda for the day.

But the thing is that I don't always stay at my desk.

Sometimes, it gets really hot inside so if there's a breeze (and there often is because I live on a mountain), I go and sit outside on the veranda.

Or if I want to get immersed in some offline work, then I'll sometimes venture out to the park or the library because I find that I have fewer distractions when I'm not at home. And because I have nothing else to do, I get plenty of writing done.

So while I find it really useful to have a dedicated writing space, I also like to move around, depending on what I'm working on and other factors (like the hot weather).

I think the answer then, is that it all depends on how your mind is wired as to whether you can work anywhere or only in one place.

Everyone is different, as is every day when you want to write but other things keep coming up and getting in the way.

So I'd say, have a dedicated writing space, but at the same time, be flexible.

Today I'm at my desk because it's a bit cooler outside due to recent heavy rains and a looming cyclone off the coast. Fingers crossed that it doesn't hit land.

And in the meantime, I'll stay inside at my dedicated place, and get more writing done.

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The Math Of Earning an Income From Writing & Publishing Books

So...the other day I was thinking about earning money from writing books.

I was thinking about it because I'm about to embark on using a new distribution and POD channel for my books and ebooks.

And it got me to thinking about earning a full-time income from writing and publishing books which is what I get asked about a lot.

So here is the math that I was thinking about:

If you write and publish books and ebooks and earn $2 royalty for each copy sold, then to earn a decent income, which in my humble yet extremely accurate opinion is $100,000, you'd have to sell a lot of books.

So a $2 royalty per book/ebook means that you'd have to sell 50,000 copies of your book every year which is about 4,167 copies per month.

Hmmm...that's a lot.

But look at it another way.

If you've written 50 book/ebooks and you earn $2 per copy, then you'd only need to sell 1,000 copies of EACH book per year which is around a mere 83 copies of each book every month.

So isn't it a lot more do-able to sell 83 copies of a book every month instead of 4,167?

Not only that but if you've written and published 50 books and someone reads one of your books and likes it, chances are that they'll buy more books from you.

But if you have only one book to sell, once someone reads it, you have nothing more to offer them so you have to find new customers.

Of course, there is another way to look at it and that is to consider earning more than $2 per copy sold.

You could always charge more for your books and earn $5 per copy which would mean that to earn $100,000, if you've written 50 books you only need to sell 400 copies of each book every year which is about 33 copies a month of each book.

But to charge more, you have to write really good books that hook your reader in so that they not only want to keep reading the book they already have, but it also makes them want to read more of your books.

Selling 33 copies of each book every month shouldn't be too hard, especially if you've got 49 more books to offer.

But first, you have to write and publish 50 books or ebooks.

Which is why I always try and tell people to write quickly.

Don't get it right, get it written.

You can always go back later and edit your work. But you can't edit a blank page.

You just start by having a really good system for writing and publishing fast.

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Write Any Book in 28 Days or Less.
Laid out in an easy to follow style and suitable for writing fiction and non-fiction. Just follow the advice as you go through the course and by the end, you’ll have your manuscript written, working just 1 hour a day.

http://ruthiswriting.com/links/writequickly.html

THIS is How You Make Money as a Writer

Have you ever bought a book about writing?

And if you did, did you use it?

Well, let me tell you a secret about how to make an unlimited amount of money from your writing.

Take the book (or ebook, or audiobook or writing course...etc) that you bought, and use it over and over again.

You see, when you bought the book, you must have bought it for a reason. And that reason was because you wanted to learn how to do something.

So look at your purchase this way:

The cost of the book is a one-off payment. You bought it and now it's yours to keep.

But the value you can get from it is unlimited.

This means that you pay for it once and then use it over and over again until you can do whatever it is without having to use the book every time.

And it works with anything.

For instance,  if you bought a gardening book, you can use it over and over until your garden looks like the one in the pictures.

If you bought a diet and fitness book, read it several times and follow the advice until you have the body of your dreams.

If you bought a writing/marketing book, the earnings you can make by following the advice in the book are only limited by how many times you do it.

Make this the year that you unlock the potential of all the how-to books, ebooks, audios and seminar recordings that you already own.

And if you don't have any, buy some and go deep with them.

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Money-Making Books From Cheriton House Publishing
http://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/make-money.html