Getting Into a Routine

Commitment is the cornerstone of a successful writing career.  Getting a story from just an idea all the way to a published novel takes time and a heck of a lot of hard work.  You might be shocked if you added up all of the time that it takes to plan, outline, research and write a novel, as well as the man hours you will put into marketing and promotion later.  Of course, writers do this because  that is what they love to do!  And learning to be disciplined and committed to the task is just as important as learning the ins and outs of grammar and characterisation!

Setting up Your Writing Space

The first thing you will need to do is to set up a space in which you can write.  If you have room to have a separate study, this is ideal, however it is not mandatory.  Many people will need to write in their bedroom or lounge, and in this case it all comes down to how you utilise your space.  You should set up a separate desk and ergonomic chair that you use only for writing.  This helps to separate your writing world from the real world!  Try to have a clutter-free desk and workspace, as this helps you to concentrate, and have your dictionary and other reference materials close to hand.

Setting Goals

When you sit down in front of your computer (or notepad and pen), what you will probably find is that it is very easy to become distracted.  If you are just beginning as an author and you have no publisher to answer to or deadlines to meet, the problem is that there is no sense of urgency to what you are doing.  If you don’t write a word today, what are the consequences?  Generally, none!  So what you need to do is to set your own goals and be your own taskmaster.  Having goals to work towards will help you to stay on track much more easily than if you simply try to wing it!

Motivation

Motivation with writing is a tricky thing because it generally comes from within.  You can help things along by setting up reward and penalty systems.  For example, if you meet your word count goal for the week, you can treat yourself to that new book or shirt that you wanted.  If you don’t meet your word goal, then you have to go without.  Setting rewards and penalties, and having the willpower to stick to them, should give you that push forward that you need to get into a routine and to get your novel written!

Try to work out a good word count goal for yourself.

The first step is to time how long it takes you to write 500 words of your novel.  Next, work out how much time you can set aside for writing every day.  Now, say it takes you an hour to write 500 words and you can set aside two hours for writing every day.  That makes 1000 words that you can easily write in a day.

However, you don’t want your goals to be too easy to reach!  If you can easily write 1000 words per day, then set your goal at 1200 or 1500.  Make yourself work harder to get to where you want to be.

If, after a while, you find that you are reaching your goals easily, raise them again!  Push for 1800 words or 2000 words!  Having something to work towards is a great way of staying motivated, and the more words you write per day, the faster you will get your first draft finished!