Quit Plotting and Write

Get out of your head and into your body and write.

Don't worry about being brilliant for now. Stay in the moment of writing the scene. Revel in the partnership with the muse. Writers often complain about how lonely writing is. You're never alone. You're being held up and supported. Let it come.

Create a writing goal. Make it specific and achievable. Write it in the present tense as if it has already happened.

How many pages today to achieve your writing goal?

To attain your goal, surround yourself with writers who are actively striving toward their goals.

• Mark on the calendar the day you plan to finish this draft of your story.

• Assess what you have accomplished thus far in your story and determine the total number of pages you need to finish (or start) in order to reach the end. Multiple by 250 for the total number of words necessary to tell your story (250 words
per page). Divide that by the number of writing days between your goal date and today.

• Work your way backward on the calendar to determine how many words you need to write every writing day and approximately how much time you need to allocate to each session. You may find that to accomplish your goal you have to wake an hour earlier or stay up an hour later than you currently do. You might have to limit commitments and daily-life obligations in order to put yourself and your writing first.

• Schedule your writing days and times in pen on your calendar.

Dreams never leave. They hound, haunt, whisper, and beckon you nearer to that which you most fear. It is easy to quit. To reach that which you long for most, the treasure you seek, you first must write the story...

To familiarize yourself with the Universal Story and the basic plot terms in the above blog post:

1) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master (Now also as a Kindle edition)

2) Watch the Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? on YouTube. A directory of all the steps to the series is to the right of this post. 27-step tutorial on Youtube

3 Watch the Monday Morning Plot Book Group Series on YouTube. A directory the book examples and plot elements discussed is to the left of this post.

For additional tips and information about the Universal Story and plotting a novel, memoir or screenplay, visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter