Finish Your Book Faster With A Routine

My dog, Bugsy insists on routines. Most of them revolve around food. He is a pug after all and they are very food motivated. His morning routine includes a walk, then breakfast. His afternoon routine includes getting a treat when I fix my lunch, and his evening routine includes dinner and another walk. If his dinner doesn't appear promptly at 6:30, he starts to pace back and forth, stares at me to get my attention, and if that doesn't work, he will come and sit on my feet. You read that correctly - not at my feet, on my feet!

You may be wondering what the shenanigans of my dog have to do with finishing your book. Instead of working on your book when you feel the inspiration, or when you have some non-existent free time, creating a routine will make you more productive.

Creating routines with specific repeatable actions will propel you towards the goal of finishing your first draft! The traditional advice given to writers is to set a goal of writing a certain number of words each day. I work with nonfiction authors and we typically have a goal of writing 40,000 words in their first draft. If they’re able to average writing 600 words per day, they can complete their first draft in 90 days.

That works really well for authors who have a deadline such as an event or conference where they want to sell their book. There is an outside motivation for them to stick to the daily writing goal. If they don’t have an industry event, I encourage them to announce and schedule a date for their book launch. That’s another way to make the writing goal a priority. But many times there isn’t an outside event scheduled or the client isn’t willing to make a commitment to a book launch date so there’s no pressure to stick to a daily word count target. All of a sudden, several days, weeks, or months have passed and they haven’t written a word!

That’s where having a writing routine comes into play. Even the most successful writers can be derailed. When you study how they can consistently finish their book projects, you’ll find they almost always follow one or more routines to help them complete their book. Here's one for you to try:

1. Set an appointment on your calendar at the same time each day to block out time to write. You'll want to experiment first to determine the best time of day when you're at your most creative with the least opportunity for interruptions.
2. Designate a writing space. Move your laptop or notepad to a location where you're not tempted to handle other tasks.
3. Write for a specific amount of time, whether that's thirty minutes or two hours. Don't worry about whether you have the inspiration to write. One tip I give my clients is to write from a mind map as opposed to a chapter outline. That way, if you're stuck on one section, you can move to a different section and write that one.
4. Don't edit while writing. It's important to get all of the ideas out of your head first. Editing comes later.

If you practice the routine consistently, I know you will get your first draft finished in record time.