1. Pick a topic that you already know well. You won’t have time to do much research and you should already have most of the book in your head or at least on your fingertips. Writing is hard work and it is unlikely that you will be able to produce more than 4 typescript pages day after day, especially if you spend hours researching.
2. Clear your life of other distractions. You probably have a day job that you can’t quit yet, but for the next 100 days put off everything else you can. Don’t plan a vacation, party, or spring cleaning. You don’t want to lose momentum once you start.
3. Make an outline. Decide on chapter titles and a logical sequence of information. It is more efficient to think about this in advance than to go back and rewrite it later.
4. Decide how old your book will be, then divide the assignment into 80 smaller units. This gives you a bit of headroom and also time for one day off a week. At 3-4 pages a day, it can produce a 240 to 320 page book. Don’t plan on writing a 500-page textbook in this limited time. It just won’t work.
5. If you are looking to write fiction, have the general story in your head and just get started. The story will undoubtedly twist and turn along the way, so don’t worry too much at first if you don’t know where you’re going, just do it.
6. Don’t worry about perfection. Keep writing. you Will I need to rewrite a bit no matter how perfect you think your writing is. It doesn’t matter if you are a member of Mensa, you and all other writers should count on the need for at least small revisions. You may not believe it at first, but when you finally complete your manuscript and put it aside for a few weeks, you will find that you have written things that require clarification, summary, or restructuring. Conversation passages that once seemed natural to you can feel forced later. But don’t worry about this as you type. Just keep going.
7. Plan a weekly day off. Why are you writing, anyway? Surely not just for the simple fact of doing it. You want to improve the life of your family or share something with the world. Don’t forget to connect with people who matter to you or may start to resent your writing.
8. Realize that writing the book is just the beginning. Publishing it will take at least as long as the first draft of your manuscript, probably longer. Don’t let this put you off. Just keep it up, little by little.
9. Reward yourself when you’re done. Regardless, you should put your manuscript aside for a few weeks. Even Stephen King follows this practice. So throw a party or take a vacation. Refresh yourself before the real work begins, the rewriting.
How do I know this will work? Because I did it myself. The original version of 101 ways to save money on healthcare it was written in 100 days and on the market another 100 days later. I must have done a reasonably decent job of writing because a major publisher found the book and hired me to republish it. Hope this works equally well for you.
Copyright 2010 Cynthia J. Koelker, MD