4 Rules to Help You Write Every Single Day
My battle-tested approach to writing every single day.
As a ghostwriter, I’ve written about a dozen books.
Everything from Western fiction to wealth in real estate to how to start a food truck to erotic romance for a Canadian dating site.
And, the surprising thing about these, even though most of them were business books, is that they’re all quite different.
Not just the material, but the process.
We like to think there are simple plug-and-play formulas, but that’s simply not the case.
Every project should be a little different from the last one and that’s actually a good thing.
It means you’re growing as a writer.
I’m currently working with half a dozen writers in a non-fiction writer’s group and this has made me re-shape my process even more.
Just because something works for me, doesn’t mean it’s going to work for everyone else.
That said, here are four rules to help you create powerful writing sessions.
1. Your Writing Session Should Be Long Enough For You to Be Productive
If I write an hour every single day, I can finish a draft of a book in a little over two months.
Telling you that you should write an hour each day won’t fit every single person, even though it generally works for me.
But if you’re just starting out — or if I’m addressing myself ten years ago — this wouldn’t have been the case.
So whether it’s 20 minutes, 60 minutes, or 240 minutes for you to be productive (aka, get words on the page in a consistent manner), then that’s the amount of time you need to block out each day.
This should also include the amount of time it takes you to get started, even if you find yourself staring at the blank page for the first 20 minutes.
2. Schedule Writing Blocks That Are Easy to Keep Open
I’ve done over 400 interviews with writers, authors, and screenwriters and one thing is clear:
You have to make time to write.
Whenever I try to write during the day, I find it’s more difficult because work, obligations, family, knocks at the door, phone calls…
…all constantly try to pull me away from the task at hand.
Most writers will eventually come to the same conclusion, that they either need to write in the morning or at night.
You need to make time when the world sleeps to get your best work done.
This is what makes success inevitable.
3. Schedule Writing Blocks When You Are Most Productive
This is somewhat of a caveat of number 2, but if you are most productive in the morning, don’t try to write at night. And vice versa.
Brand new writers may not know when they’re most productive, so in this case, it’s a good idea to experiment with a handful of writing blocks.
But don’t be too random about it. Choose a time you think you are productive and write at that same time everyday for a week.
For me, personally, writing from 5–7am everyday allows me to get more done in those two hours than most people do all day (before I had kids, I wrote late at night).
Today, for instance, I wrote 1,000 words on a ghostwriting assignment, pitched a client a full treatment, and am almost finished with this post while my family sleeps in.
Getting your work done early also means it doesn‘t loom over you the rest of the day. You’re done and you’re mentally free until tomorrow.
4. Schedule Your Writing Blocks in a Consistent Manner
To reinforce this idea a little more, you need to set up an environment and a schedule to write.
There are countless productivity apps and tactics you can implement, but writing at the same time in the same place trumps all of them.
If, for example, you always get up early and write first thing in the morning, and listen to the same playlist, and maybe even burn the same candle, you have set up an environment for creative flow.
Like Kobe Bryant shooting free throws or Michael Phelps approaching the block, it’s a ritual to start your writing process.
These rules are simple, but so is writing.
We often overcomplicate the process by trying to take on too much at once or getting overwhelmed with the idea of finishing a book or writing a full screenplay.
The process, no matter what results you are aiming for, begins when you break up the larger project into smaller tasks and execute on those tasks.
No matter how complex we want to think of this process, in the end, it’s how Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird and how the Epstein Brothers wrote Casablanca.
Small attainable goals, within creative constraints, is how you create your most ambitious work.
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