You have the perfect story idea, and now you're excited to share it with the world.
Then one day, you're scrolling on social media; and you see an ad that catches your eye.
"How to become a bestselling author."
"Make ten thousand dollars in your first month of publishing."
Those are just a few headlines we see every day but trust me; there are many more just like them. The wording caught your eye, and now you're hooked. You know you have a story idea, and you just learned you could become a bestseller with your book, or even better, you could make a lot of money with that one book.
So now you're more focused on what happens after you publish, and haven't even finished writing the book.
Back in 2014, the year I published my first book. Here's what happened before I published:
I had to research how to publish a book since I decided to self-publish. I spent most of my time on Amazon reading the KDP direct publishing help section.
Oh, while learning what to do, I got distracted by those flashy headlines on social media.
At one point, all thanks to a headline, I remember doing some figures and trying to see how much I could make if I sold x amount of books in a month.
Just because I read those articles, I had in my head that it was easy to publish, and it was also easy to make a good income with even just one book.
Yet, I had not even finished writing my book.
When I published my book in November, I was telling my husband crazy numbers I planned to make. I was even thinking about how amazing it would be to be a bestselling author.
Then I published, and guess what?
None of that happened.
Just like anything in life, our minds get easily distracted by the things we want.
Would it be awesome to be a bestselling author?
Of course.
Would it be amazing to make five, six, or even seven figures with your books?
Um, heck yeah.
Here's an important question: What do you need to become a bestselling author or make a good income?
Ding, Ding, Ding!
Yup, it would help if you had a finished book.
Writing the book is your biggest challenge.
At this point, you know what you're going to write about, but then you sit down to start, and you're distracted. Instead of writing, you're on social media or texting someone.
So basically, you plan to make a lot of money with a book you're struggling to finish.
Here are three easy ways to find time to write so you'll finish your book:
1. Carve out 15-30 minutes in your day to write:
Are you in writing groups, or do you have friends that talk about writing for one or two hours a day? When you hear one or two hours, I bet you figure you'll never be able to finish your book. Who has that kind of time in a day, right?
Can I tell you a secret? The average person doesn't have one to two hours to set aside. Our lives are busy. We have work, family, and everything else that is also a priority.
Plus, you're not writing for anyone else. It's your story. So what kind of time can you set aside in a day? Do you have 10 or 15 minutes available? Or maybe you could write for a full 30 minutes. That's all you need.
Just imagine if you set aside 10-30 minutes to write. Then you wrote 150 to 500 words. After a couple of months, you'll have a great start to your book.
2. Create a recurring writing schedule:
Do you look at your schedule and figure out what you're doing for the day? It's the perfect opportunity to add a weekly recurring writing schedule to your calendar. It's something you know is there, and you'll look forward to it every week.
It's easy to say I'm too busy and don't have time to write. We all do it.
Now, add a recurring writing time to your calendar. There shouldn't be excuses now because you set time aside and planned for it each week.
3. Don't do it alone:
We all need an accountability partner to help us stay on target because writing can be lonely.
When I say accountability partner, that means someone who will support YOU. So that can be as simple as just giving words of encouragement. It can also be your writing partner and the person you write with, so you get the thing done.
Just like anything we do in life, it's easy to put it off if you don't have someone right beside you pushing you to the finish line. Instead of trying to convince yourself and everyone around you that you got this, find a partner so you will finally finish your book.
When I started writing, I didn't know what accountability partner meant. Then I met some authors who were working on their books, too.
One day someone said, let's virtually sprint to get our word count in for the day.
Virtually sprint? What does that even mean?
It's you sitting at your computer and connecting with the other authors via text message or FB Messenger. Then you write.
They could be in Germany or Australia. It doesn't matter. You'll connect via messaging to get your words in for the day.
Guess what happened when you agreed to sprint virtually with your fellow author?
You just found yourself an accountability partner. So you're not writing alone.
You also carved out 15, 30, or 60 minutes to write.
And you could potentially make the virtual sprinting time a weekly thing. So it's a recurring time on your schedule now.
You don't need to overthink the process. Just start doing the thing so that you can have a finished book. Then you can think about the next steps because you started and completed that story.
Have you let yourself get distracted by some of those headlines on social media?
If you're still unsure about writing your beautiful story, you can grab my 7-Step Guide for Starting Your Story PDF here. The truth is, your story was meant to be told, and someone does need to read it.
AND if you're ready to dive in and start your story, you can grab my course that shows you how to use the best all-in-one writing tool. Grab Get Started with Scrivener here.
