The Quick and Easy Way to Do Just About Anything

If there’s something that you want to do, but you think you can’t do it, then you need to read on.

As writers we know it’s always easy to say we want to write something (a book, a short story, do freelance work, a blog) but then not do it.

Why is that? Why is it that we say we want to do something, or want to start something but then we don’t do it. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Nothing. We do absolutely nothing. 

And we’re all guilty of this.

I’ve been studying this for a lot of years now, especially about why we procrastinate, why we resist doing things we know we should be doing, and why we resist doing things we WANT to do.

The answer is because we don’t know how to do it, or where to start. So as usual, we revert to doing the easiest thing that we know how to do, which is to watch TV instead or get our phones out and scroll through a load of time-wasting nonsense.

Sound familiar?

If you want to get on in life and do all the things you want to do (or you want to stop doing the things you know you shouldn’t be doing), then what you need, is to not only know what you want to do, but HOW you’re going to do it.

And this involves making a list (I love lists and use them for so many things). Your list needs to contain every step of what you need to do. You see, it’s not enough to know that you want to do something, you also need to know how to do it. And most importantly, where to start. And writing a list of all the steps you need to take, is usually the best (and easiest) way to start. If nothing else it gets you thinking about what you need to do and once you have your list of steps you can put them in the right order.

Once you have your list, it’s easy to working on the first step and keep referring to your list to make sure you’re completing all the steps.

A list like this can help you achieve just about anything you want to do.

Want to lose weight? That’s great but how are you going to do it? What will you be eating? What will you avoid eating? What sort of exercise are you going to do? When are you going to do it?

Want to quit smoking? How? Are you going to cut down how much you smoke? Are you going to do a quit-smoking course? Go do hypnotherapy?

Want to save for a new car? How? Are you going to re-budget your money? What are you going to stop wasting money on? Are you going to earn more money to help save?

Want to spend less money and save more? How? Are you going to draw up a list of what you spend your money on? Open a savings account? Have a no-spend month?

Want to be more assertive? How? Are you going to take a course? Buy a book? Practice?

Want to have more time? How? Going to keep a time management diary? Going to get a book on how to do it? What are the unnecessary things that you do every day?

Want to write more? How? Going to carve out more time to write? Going to do a specific daily word count? Going to have a set writing routine? Want to change to writing in a different, and more enjoyable, genre?

Want to write a book? How? Are you going to write it into the dark? Are you going to use an outline? How are you going to write an outline? How detailed do you need to make your outline? How many words/hours a day are you going to write? What do you need to do first? How are you going to create a cover? How are you going to publish it?

These are just a quick off-the-top-of-my-head examples of how writing out a list of what you need to do can help with anything you want to do to improve your life.

But it doesn’t stop at just writing a list. You need to be proactive. Don’t want till situations crop up. Even if you only take baby steps to start with like cut out one of your usual cigarettes every day, eat one less snack, save one more dollar. It doesn’t matter how little you do, but it does matter that you do something. As long as your heading in the right direction, you’re moving closer to your goal.

And it all starts with knowing what you want, and, more importantly, knowing why you want it.

It’s important to know how a change will help you, and then you can work out how to achieve it.

And it all starts with a list.

Mission Critical For Life: Start Living Life On Your Terms By Pursuing Your True Life Mission
Ten simple steps to living the life of your dreams
https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCFL.html

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

Horror Markets for February 2025

 I just have a quick one for you today for all the fans of horror writing.

I have two lists of multiple horror markets with openings or deadlines for next month, February 2025.

Writing short stories is a lot of fun. 

If you read my previous post, Planning VS Pantsing, you'll know that I enjoy writing short stories 'into the dark' as it's called, which is writing with no idea where the story is going and having a heck of a lot of fun doing it.

Anyway, take a look through the list below and then start writing.

Good luck.

February's 10 Fiendishly Fabulous Open Submission Calls
https://angeliquemfawns.substack.com/p/februarys-10-fiendishly-fabulous

February, 2025 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets
https://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/2025/01/february-2025-dark-fiction-short-story.html

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

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