Think You Can't Write More? Think Again!

Many of you expressed interest in learning how to squeeze more writing out of each day. I had the extreme pleasure of sitting in Stephanie Bond's two-hour workshop on how to make a living writing romance novels. If you ever have the opportunity, take one of her workshops.

She's an amazing woman. Very classy, very professional, and very down-to-earth. Everything she said helped me. I took eight (eight!!) pages of notes! One of the topics--writing more pages each day--really struck home with me and I'm sharing it with you all.

She encouraged us to do the math with our writing. If we write one page a day, 350 days of the year, we will have one single title book at the end of the year. One page doesn't seem daunting, does it?

If we write five pages a day, 350 days of the year, we'll have 1750 pages. That's two single title books (700 pages), three category length books (650 pages), and two novellas (300 pages). Can you imagine producing two single titles, three categories, and two novellas in ONE year?

Okay, okay. But I take weekends off. And my life is very busy. Let's do the math. Five pages every weekday yields (5days/week x 50 weeks = 250 days) 1250 pages. That's still two single title books, two category length books, and one novella. Amazing!! And you have two weeks off for vacation with your weekends free.

But how do we write five pages every day? We're busy, right?

Ms. Bond gave tips on how to squeeze in extra pages. She highly recommends purchasing a keyboard simulator, such as the Alpha Smart (around $200). You can slip it in your purse and write on your lunch break. You can write in bed for twenty minutes. She said her Alpha Smart helped her squeeze one extra page out every day and that's one single title book. The great thing about keyboard simulators is you plug them into your computer with a USB port and they download directly to your word processor. How cool is that?

How long does it take you to write one page? You don't need to spend money on an Alpha Smart. Look for ways to sneak in an extra page of writing whenever and however you can.

She also said she writes her books in 20-30 minute chunks. She wrote while working full time until she had several books contracted. She would get up and write 20 minutes before work. Then she'd slip out to her car at lunchtime and write for another 20 minutes. She writes a page before she goes to bed at night. If you can write a page in 20-30 minutes, you can write three pages a day using this method. I'll bet many of you can write a page even faster.

For anyone interested, Stephanie Bond offers articles about writing, business plans, and career issues. You can find them at Amazon Shorts, and you'll receive 3-4 articles for the low price of 49 cents each. Talk about a steal!

Please feel free to ask any questions on this topic and I'll gladly share anything I know.

Happy Writing!

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