Do you want to be a fast writer? Do you wonder how some writers manage to put out three, five or even ten books a year? What’s the secret to becoming a prolific writer?

We all have the same 24 hours in the day we simply choose to use them differently. We all have our own commitments, responsibilities and interests. Writing is not always on top of the priority list. Sometimes when the urge hits you just want to put your feet up and forget everything.

If you’re a writer with a full time job, family, friends, and a host of other responsibilities, finding the time to write doesn’t always top the priority list. You might be too tired after a long day in the office. Or maybe your kids are fighting for your attention. Or your husband wants you to cook dinner instead of hide away with your laptop in a dark corner of your home.

Whatever it is, it’s stopping you from becoming the writer you want to be.

Time. It’s a lacking commodity in most of our lives. After you account for sleep, work, eating, showering, commuting, the household chores, socialising and all the other little tasks that take up your day there’s very little time or energy left to do anything else. Writing becomes the last thing on your mind.

The truth is you’ve heard it all before. You need to make the time to write. If you want to be a writer, you have to write, and write everyday.

If you want to have been written. Well that’s another story, and you can keep dreaming while leaving room for all the writers who actually enjoy the act of putting words to paper including the mental strain and physical exhaustion that sometimes comes along with it.

I get most of my writing done on the train. A two-and-a-half hour daily commute to work gives me plenty of time to write. In the past six months I have written two novel drafts and two novellas as well as dozens of articles and blog posts. That’s not too bad given I don’t put in much time writing after work or on weekends. That time is taken up by other activities, mainly spending time with my twenty-two-month old son.

I don’t make excuses. I’ve realised I want to write for a living and I want to write books. That’s my dream and I want to make the dream a reality. Do you?

So how do you get that sort of output or better? It comes down to the following:

Organisation
Planning
Time Management

You need to know how to organise your time as a writer. Figure out what is taking up most of your day and find snippets of time where you can focus on writing. You don’t need massive chunks: there are writers who get novels written in small fifteen minute increments. That doesn’t mean they aren’t working on the story in their head during other times. Organise yourself so that you commit to at least thirty minutes of writing every day.

Look at your diary. List all the things that you have to do in a given week. The list might seem enormous but it doesn’t need to overwhelm you.

Planning is important. If your writing time is limited the last thing you want to be doing when you sit down is having to think about what to write. You want that part already all planned out and ready to go. You moments throughout the day to plan what you’re going to write when your writing session arrives.

You have your list, now spread the tasks out over the seven days. They don’t have to be even. Some days will be more demanding than others. That’s life.

Time management is your friend. The better you can manage your time the better off you will be. Write up an outline for each day of the week. What takes up the majority of your time? Where are you wasting time? Is there anything you can give up? Where are gaps that you can use for your writing?

Consider all the activities on your list every day. How long do they actually take to do? Sure you might have to do the washing, clean the house, pay the bills, meet a friend for coffee and pick up and drop off the kids to school, and make sure everyone is fed and the homework is done. The day is gone before you know it. But maybe you can cluster some activities or start the day with writing.

Where can you fit in the writing?

Put writing as the first thing you do in the morning even if it means losing a half hour of sleep. Prepare your writing materials the night before. Think about what you want to write about as you dose of to sleep. When you wake up the next morning, before doing anything else, go to your writing space and write for an uninterrupted half an hour. At first this may seem difficult but you’ll find that after a week or so, your muse will show up at the designated time.

If you’re a night owl, then swap watching reality tv for writing. On average, people watch about four hours of television per day. Halve your average and you’ll find a decent chunk of writing time every day.

What’s more important- watching The Desperate Real Housewives of New York or getting your novel written?

You’ll find that once you start organising, planning and becoming a pro at time management your writing will improve. Often people assume that in order to write well the process has to be slow and laborious. It doesn’t. But you have to decide whether you want to be a one-hit wonder or a long-term prolific writer earning a living from your books?

I know I’d prefer prolific.

I used to slave away at a piece of writing for hours. It didn’t do me or the writing any good. In fact it stalled my progress as a writer. I’d torture myself for years over one book that would never see the light of day. It was depressing and it would only lead to starving artist syndrome.

Thanks, but no thanks.

The moment it hit me that I didn’t have to write just one book per year; that I could churn out more than 2500 words per day; that I could follow my own plan and schedule, I became free to produce on my own timeline. It was liberating.

Indie publishing has given writers a sense of freedom. We can break the rules that traditional publishers have set and still produce quality work.

You no longer have to produce a 90,000-word novel. You can write three 30,000-word novellas and sell them individually or as a box-set. You don’t have to wait for eighteen months before your book hits the market. You can write it in January, edit and cover design in February and have it out for sale in March.

If you want to be a prolific writer the market is your oyster. You can do anything you want.

Here’s a little caveat for those who think they’ll produce publishing worthy material on a weekly basis. You could, anything is possible. But in order for it to be marketable and attract a readership you’re going to have to hire editors and cover designers, then proofread your work. So don’t sacrifice quality over quantity. Nora Roberts might write a book every forty-five days but she also has a team of editors and designers to do her work and a publisher and a following to take care of her marketing.

The more you write, the more you schedule, the more familiar you’ll be with your output and you will be able to plan accordingly. Over the past twelve months I’ve come to realise that if I write four days per week during my work commute I can get down around 3000 words per day. That’s 12,000 words per week. If I do that seven days per week, then that’s about 21,000 words.

I could write a novel a month or two novellas.

Funnily enough, the faster I write, the tighter my writing becomes and my editing process is much smoother. I still make a long of changes; my husband often asks do I really need to do that, and I always say yes, because you never write the book the first time around. You put down a skeleton, sometimes a lean one sometimes a chunky one. The editing is separating the fat from the muscle to create a story that the writer is happy with and hopefully the reader will enjoy.

I’m going to keep writing faster and increasing my output. With each book I hope to become a better writer. There’s no point in doing this if you don’t seek improvements. I’m in this for the long term so I’m going to organise, plan and manage my time accordingly so that one day, I too can be a prolific writer.

I’ve been writing for twenty years, blogging for eight, and dreaming of making a living as an author as I sit and pen my novels with a view of the beach (I’m actually writing this at a cafe across from the beach, it’s raining but still beautiful) ever since I can remember. I have a goal to publish six books in 2016 (three novellas and three novels). Four were drafted over the past six months which means all I have to do is edit. They are all in a series so adding another two shouldn’t be an issue as I already have my characters and my setting and I’ve almost figured out how the story is going to develop.

For the first time in a long time I am excited that I can be the author I’ve always dreamed of. This will be my business. My only regret is not starting sooner.

How are your organising, planning and managing your time?

Today’s Challenge

* Are you struggling to find the time to write? Take stock of all your activities. How long do you spend on the phone? Internet? Watching tv? Is there anything you can delegate to your family? Make an appointment with yourself and keep it. Start with ten minutes a day. Build it up to whatever works for you. Books, articles and blogs aren’t written overnight. They are the result of constant hard work, a little bit every day will make a significant difference twelve months down the track. (You can do this for any activity you want to start – just make the time!)

* Grab the book that you’re currently working on. What’s your premise? Is it a stand alone? Are you planning a sequel? Prequel? Anything is possible. Just because you’ve killed off a main character doesn’t mean you can’t go back in time and write their earlier stories? It’s up to you. You are the master of the universe you create in your books. Brainstorm a short story, novella, and novel for your idea. That’s three potential pieces you could put on the market. Think about your characters. What will interest your readers? What will strengthen your story?

Leave a comment, I’d love to hear what you’re doing to towards achieving your dream.