How to Astonish Yourself into Writing More Often

I’ve had a lot to say about prolificacy and writing more. That’s because one of the primary keys to quitting the day job is to build a readership that will buy any book you publish…and to get that readership, you have to keep publishing book after book of the sorts of books they want from you.

Writing more books a year is certainly a part of that.

A couple of years ago, I had reason to figure out how many books a year I could write. I started working things out, then switched to a semi-permanent spreadsheet to do the calculations.

That proved to be a truly eye-opening exercise.

Once the formulas were plugged in, I had a books-a-year calculator into which I could plug any sort of figure, and see what I got at the other end (that is, numbers of books I could write in a year).

I’ve spruced up that spreadsheet and made it more user friendly. You can download it by clicking here. The spreadsheet is set for Microsoft Excel 2003, although it was built in Excel 2007.

Save the sheet to your hard drive, and every few months or so, tweak your daily writing schedules, and see what a difference you can make.

Remember me saying that this is a game of increments, and that small difference can add up to huge impact? My post on writing during your work hours (“Write During Your Lunch Breaks – It’s Worth It”) underlines this theory, and so does the Books-A-Year calculator.

It’s Deceptively Simple

You could build your own tailored calculator with a teeny bit of spreadsheet expertise, if mine doesn’t suit you.

The real value of the spreadsheet is that it allows you to plug in different figures and see the impact they have on the bottom line.

For instance, put in your usual writing schedule and numbers (or guess, for now). Check the bottom of the sheet to see how many books a year you could produce at this rate. You’ll be surprised, by the way.

Next, look at some of the factors that go into that figure. Try upping your morning writing count by 30 minutes a day, then look at the bottom figure, and be amazed at the difference it makes.

Then decrease a few numbers, and see the bottom line impact.

Now…adjust your per-hour word rate (#1). Inflate it by a mere 250 words (that’s a single page of standard manuscript). Scroll down to the bottom.

Are you freaked right out yet?

Such simple, small adjustments have a major impact on the number of books you write every year.

Remember, this is all theory…and will stay that way unless you do something about it.

The calculator shows you only what is possible. Once you have made decision about when and how long you will write, the next step is actually writing when you say you will.

But that’s the other brilliant side-benefit of the calculator. Just knowing how many books you can produce even on your limited, anchored author schedule, is a powerful motivator to make you put fingers to keyboard.

It’s Sunday. Are you writing today?

Why not?

Just an couple of hours on Sunday alone will produce 2 really big books over the course of a year. Download the calculator and figure it out for yourself.

First appeared on Anchored Authors, July 27, 2008

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