Creative · 13 recordsWrite a book

Books are abandoned in the middle, not at the start. This settles the shape first so the middle has a map, sets a daily count small enough to hit on a bad day, and forbids editing until the draft is done — which is the rule that gets it finished.

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Goal

A finished first draft Month 7

Finished, not good. Editing is a separate job with its own dates.

Work out the shape Week 4

Enough of a map that the middle is not a void.

  • Write what the book is about in one sentenceDo firstDay 5
  • Sketch the chapters, however roughlyDo firstWeek 3
  • Set the daily word count I can hit on a bad dayDo firstWeek 4

Write the draft Month 7

No editing until it is finished.

  • Finish the first three chaptersMonth 2
  • Reach the halfway pointMonth 4
  • Finish the draftDo firstMonth 7

Routines

  • Write the daily wordsdaily
  • Note where I stopped and what comes nextdaily
Skills
  • WritingIntermediate → Advanced

    Log the drafting hours. A book is nine months in which nothing looks like progress, and the log is the only thing that shows otherwise.

✦ It comes with a note

Do not edit until it is done

Editing while drafting is the most reliable way to spend two years on the first three chapters. The draft is the goal; the editing has its own dates afterwards.\n\nPick a daily count you can hit on a bad day. Five hundred every day finishes a book and two thousand when you feel like it does not.

Questions

Write a book, answered.

Enough to know the shape, even if you depart from it. Books are abandoned in the middle rather than at the start, and the middle is exactly where having some idea of what happens next does the most work.
A number you can hit on a bad day rather than a good one. Five hundred every day finishes a book; two thousand on the days you feel like it does not, and the difference is entirely in the bad weeks.
After the draft is finished, not during. Editing while drafting is the most reliable way to spend two years on the first three chapters, which is why this plan makes finishing the draft the goal and dates the editing separately.
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