Working on a book is exciting but also time-consuming, which is why you should know some effective methods to speed up the writing process and to get published faster. Now, if you are looking to complete your book quickly, you might want to see yourself as a factory that pints words.
You might have watched the process of how factories work and how they stamp out products, which is exactly what you want to do. Yes – you read this right – you might want to think of yourself as a manufacturing plant.
Here are some effective strategies that will help you reach the finish line quickly.
Develop the Right Mindset
As you already know, you need to get into the right mindset – if you want to succeed at anything, including writing. This aspect indicates that you need to get into the writer’s mindset. The writer’s mindset is essentially about how you think about writing. If you are working on your first manuscript, there is a good chance that you started writing as your passion.
Now, you might start losing your passion when you get to the middle of your manuscript – however – the key is to keep going and to keep looking at the bigger picture. The thing is that you won’t feel motivated or inspired every day to write – but – you should write nonetheless, even if you don’t feel like it.
The only way you can do the thing that you know you are supposed to do but don’t want to do is to do it anyway.
Create the Perfect Writing Spot
Your surroundings impact your motivation directly, which is why you should be mindful about how you set up your workstation. On that note, you might want to reconsider writing in your bedroom or on the same sofa that you sit on to watch your favorite shows or play games.
To move swiftly forward with your writing project, you should be mindful of the place that you choose to work on your project. We recommend setting up a table and chair that you exclusively use for writing only.
This way, you will train your mind to see that place as “work” and not “entertainment,” which will further help you get into the right mindset.
Focus on Output
When you shift your mindset and start seeing yourself as the producer, you have a few options that can help you speed up productivity. For instance, you might want to speed up the machine and the process that the machine has to go through to stamp out the words on the page.
You can also equip yourself with the right tool or app, such as chrome writing apps, to streamline your writing project. If you are typing and your typing is quite slow, you can get dictation software and dictate a few chunks of your book, especially on the days when you don’t feel like typing or writing.
You can also speak into a microphone, record the audio, and have a transcriptionist write it down for you. Subsequently, you can go back and make the edits and corrections – if needed.
Get the Outline Right
Now, unless you are writing a short story – you need an outline. The thing about having an outline is that it helps with speeding up the entire writing process. If you keep staring at a blank page, hoping that you will catch on to an idea – you will literally get nowhere. If you are writing without pen and paper, you are aiming for nothing and only hoping to fill the pages with something about the subject. You will take longer later to make sense of the first draft if you proceed to craft it without an outline.
Treat the Outline as A Roadmap
On the other hand, if you start with a solid outline, you will be doing yourself a great favor. It doesn’t matter how long it takes for you to draft the outline; we recommend making it as detailed as possible. What this will do for you is speed up the writing process, especially when you are working on a novel that has a certain number of chapters.
By having a detailed outline, you will break the goal of writing a book into sections, such as chapters. Resultantly, it will remove an enormous amount of stress, and you will find it so much easier to tackle one milestone after the other.
Don’t Get Ruled by Emotions
To speed up the entire writing project, you should craft a writing plan so that you can see writing as a serious job and not as something that you do when you feel like it. If you give in to your emotions and only write when you feel like it – you will be moving super-slow. Not to mention that you will also lose your motivation to write anyway.
On that note, if you are waiting for inspiration to strike you so that you can finally pick up pen and paper or open your laptop to write down the amazing book idea that you have – you are only setting yourself up for failure.
The raw truth is that completing your book successfully has absolutely nothing to do with your feelings. Of course, you may take a break if you feel exhausted, as listening to your mind and body is incredibly important – but you will be fooling yourself if you write for inspiration to strike you.
Don’t Worry About Perfection
When you start your writing journey, you shouldn’t worry about being perfect. You will have plenty of time to polish your draft later. At this stage of your book, focus on getting everything out on paper first. You might want to refer to this aspect as vomiting your draft, which is all about writing your first draft.
Allow yourself to be imperfect. Even on those days when you know that you aren’t enjoying the writing process – keep writing anyway. What is the worst thing that can happen? The worst thing that can happen is you might have to spend more time editing. But – you will be editing your first draft anyway.
So, the only thing you need to focus on is to keep writing until you complete your first draft.
