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

Writer's Goals Summer Solstice Check-In

June 21st marks the beginning of summer and is the longest day of the year. After tomorrow, the days shorten until the longest night of the year on December 21st.

Where are you on your journey toward accomplishing the writing goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year? 

How many pages, scenes or words are left to reach the end of this draft of your novel, memoir, screenplay? 

Divide that number by the 182 days left until the 21st of Dec. The final number represents the pages, scenes or words needed per day to reach your goal. 

Doable?

Revise it until it works. 

To celebrate the turning of the seasons and in honor of the Universal Story:

1) Recommit to your goals. 

2) Speak your goals out loud.

3) Mark the time needed to accomplish the page, scene or word count on your calendar. 

Everyday, focus only on what you intend to accomplish that day. Forget the big picture for now. Concentrate on getting the words on the page.

Do not assume the journey turns effortless because of your recommitment. Expect it to become way worse. Keep writing anyway.

For tips about the Universal Story and writing a novel, memoir or screenplay, visit 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. Enjoy!

Plot Your Writing Schedule

1) Give yourself a deadline for your writing project where ever you are in your writing life right now today:

• Finish the first draft
  
• Write the final draft
  
• Submitting the completed manuscript

2) Mark a big red X on your deadline day and write in your concrete long-term goal. Example: by June 1st, I hold in my hands the completed first draft of my manuscript 

(NOTE: best if written in present tense. The mystics say time is non-linear. If that's true, it means your goal has already been accomplished and you have only to catch up in real time.)

3) Work backwards on the calendar. Count the number of days between today and your deadline that you can realistically write. Example: 61 days total

4) Ask yourself how many words, pages you can write in a day. Example: 5 pages

5) Estimate how many pages your entire first draft. Example: 320 pages total

6) Where are you now? Example: Page 100

7) How many pages left? 230 total

8) Calculate how many days total needed to write the pages left at the rate you currently write. Example: 46 days total needed to write 230 pages at 5 pages per day. 

9) Subtract the number of total days needed from the total number of days between now and your deadline. Example: 46 from the total number of days between now and your deadline 61 = 16 extra days. 

(NOTE: with appropriately 8 weeks between now and the deadline of June 1st, you have a safety net of 1.8 days. In other words if you can't write one day, you can still make your deadline.)

10) Mark a daily schedule on your calendar not taking into account the extra days.

The concrete task of scheduling times and goals for each writing day makes you more realistic about your writing goals, allows you to visualize your writing life, gives you the short-term goals necessary to achieve your long term goal.

Now, the question is, what's your writing dream?