On the last day of the school year, I was able to present two of my students a signed copy of my latest book, Romancing Mr. All-Star. The first thing that they did was flip through the pages to find their names because I used their names as characters in the book. They asked me to, even when they didn’t know what the book would be about. But despite all of that, their biggest question was, “How do you write so fast?”
I had listened to co-workers discuss the fact that they worked better with a deadline, even though they did much of it last minute. For me, I gave myself a deadline. Usually, I give myself 30 days. I have a writing count spreadsheet that I use, and I give myself a set number of words I’d like to reach. For example, 50,000. If I go over, that’s good. If not, I look to see where I can add more detail. This gives me a deadline that I can see when I put in my daily word count.
To help with my writing, I also have a notebook that I carry around religiously. It’s a Mead Five Star Notebook that has two halves and some pockets in the middle. The first half I use for ideas and snippets to include. The second half is for my daily To Do Lists and important information that doesn’t relate to writing. With my ADHD, I’m screwed without it.
Each evening, I spend time writing. I flip through my notebook and add in any ideas, conversations, or writing that I may have started. Any bit of free time, I’m writing. I even spent time during my planning and lunch to write at work, so when I came home in the afternoons, I could easily transfer that to my document.
With writing, I have found that you have to be consistently working. You have to maintain your focus and keep up with your stamina. Case in point: my newest work that I’m writing. I haven’t been consistently writing due to so many other things going on, and I can tell the affect. I’m struggling to get back into writing the book. It’s difficult after taking such a huge break. My writing doesn’t flow the same. How will I fix it? Probably go back to reading books that are similar to what I was writing to get me back into the mode of writing I was working on. I mean reading paranormal wolf shifter romances is miles away from writing young adult and middle grader novels.
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