“How to Make Writing Your Book a Competition --An Expert's Step-by-Step Guide”
Here's the secret to non-stop, book-writing motivation!
by Steve Manning
One of the biggest challenges you’ll face when you write your book is gathering enough motivation to actually write your book. You see, it’s fine for all the writing masters to say that writing your book is simply the process of writing, daily, a set number of words. But if you don’t have the motivation to do that, then you’ve got a real problem on your hands.
So I set to work to create a solution for you. If you follow this, you’ll be amply rewarded, and you’ll get your book written in very short order. If you’re successful, it won’t cost you a single dime, and you might even make some money from it.
Ready? Okay, first you join a writer’s group. At the very first meeting you attend, stand up and announce that you need some help writing your book. You have a problem with actually getting yourself to write the pages, but you’ve come up with a solution if anyone wants to help.
Here’s what you say to the group, “I need someone who has yet to start their book, but wants to very much to do so. I haven’t started mine yet either, but I’m hoping this will work for both of us.
“I’m going to write 7,000 words per week, every week, without exception. (You can choose whatever quota you’re comfortable with, but, actually, it should be an amount that you’re a little uncomfortable with. Afterwards you should be wondering if it was really you who made that commitment.50,000 words for the week isn’t unreasonable.)
“If I fail to make that quota,” you say, “I’ll pay that other person $1,000.
Time for a little unabashed, self promotion: If you haven’t asked for my Free CD, “How to Write a Book On Anything in 14 Days Guaranteed!” then you’re just plain nuts! It’s free, no charge, but you can bet this $100 CD will be carrying that price tag very shortly. How do you get it? Just email me at Free CD, Please, or CD_please@writeabooknow.com and make sure you include your name, your mailing address and your telephone number in the email. Now, back to the article…
“All I ask is that the other person, whoever you are, also makes a commitment. You can choose your own number of words and your own dollar amount. Whatever makes you comfortable. We’re not even going to read each other’s work. Just look at the word count. “The alliance will go on for eight weeks, or until the first person fails to make their word-count commitment. If, after eight weeks (you can pick your own length of time) we’re both still producing what we said we would produce, then we stop and no one owes anyone anything except our thanks.”
To answer your first two questions, no, they don’t have to write the same number of words you do. They choose their own word count for the time period. And, no, they don’t have to pay $1,000 if their fail. They can choose their own dollar amount to pay if they fail, just as long as everyone knows that you’re going to pay $1,000 if you fail, even if the other person will be paying only $300 if they fail.
Now, if they’re going to risk only $10, forget it. The amount should be large enough to make them wince if they have to pay it, and salivate if they’re going to win it. This isn’t the time to be playing games.
Similarly, you don’t want to say you’re going to write 35,000 words a week if the other person says they’ll write only 500 words a week. Let’s try to make this fair.
Do you see the simplicity and the power of this strategy? You’ll have a significant reason for writing your book, or at least a substantial amount of your book, each week. The loss of that money. And, you’ve also introduced an element of competition into the situation, which is always welcome.
Note also that you’re not going to be judging each other’s work. That’s the job of the agent, editor or publisher. Your job is simply to get the manuscript produced. And, perhaps for the first time in their life, that other writer is now writing under the glorious influence of deadline and repercussions. Anyway you create it, this is a dynamite strategy for ensuring that you write your book… now!
While we're on the topic of strategies, and if you haven't already done so, feel free to
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Time for a little unabashed, self promotion: If you haven’t asked for my Free CD, “How to Write a Book On Anything in 14 Days Guaranteed!” then you’re just plain nuts! It’s free, no charge, but you can bet this $100 CD will be carrying that price tag very shortly. How do you get it? Just email me at Free CD, Please, or CD_please@writeabooknow.com and make sure you include your name, your mailing address and your telephone number in the email.
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