How to speed up your writing

Writing Styles 

We all have a different style of writing. What works for one person might not work for everyone, but it's always worth a try to see if it is something new can be helpful.

This week I was asked the question how can I speed up my writing. I put some thought into this and decided to do a blog post. This way I can share with others and then you can also share with your writer friends, so they can try out some of the things that works for me.

Time with God

First thing I would tell anyone is to pray. Ask the Lord to bless your brain your time anything to do with your writing and not just one day try to pray this at some point every day.

Putting the Lord first is a blessing. It can make the rest of your day go smoothly. Even if it's just a morning prayer, or a verse you read.  The Bible says to seek first the Kingdom of God and all things will be added to you. We all need a blessing over our work, sales, brain, and definitely our time.


Everyone can do a basic outline

I always try to outline a book. Even if the characters don't follow every line it's a help on when to know I'm getting close to the end of the book.

I also find this is a good way to try and keep my books shorter. I like to do a 225 pages so my books are cheaper to print. If I know what page I'm on it helps to try and pull in the muse. :)

I love Work flowy it's a great way to outline. You can easily make a free account. Here I have all of the lines open so you can see them all but when you're inside the app, they are all closed unless you mark them to be open. It's a great writers tool. I use it daily, for prayer, keeping up with yearly tasks you should try it out.

Early Morning Writing 

I think every author should have one day or two during the week (or month) that you sit down and write first thing, well just after prayer of your verse reading.

Have two hours blocked off. Turn the phone off, turn off notifications.  I've read we have a couple of hours that we do our very best work, so when I can I write in the mornings, but most of the time it's later for me. I'm not a morning person but I do try to write in the morning at least once a month. Gauge yourself and try it out, see if you're more productive in the morning?

Place your writing in God's hands 

Another thing is put your writing in God's hand. Write it out there no matter if it makes sense. Trust God to help you with your work. For him to get you off that limb that you write yourself out on.

I never know what the crime is going to be it just comes to me, or the plot. I just start writing and give the rest to God. We can do too much thinking and worrying . . . try turning the book over to God. Ask Him to guide your story line.


Trouble Shooting 

If you're having trouble finding something to write about, watch a movie or read a book in the same genre you're writing in. I always get some kind of an idea when I do this.

Take notes all the time, keep up with calendars if you do a series. Make a list of names you've used before so you don't use the same names in your books. Also it's a good thing to have a story board, be it on paper or on your wall. Anything that helps inspire your writing is a good thing!  Just don't spend too much time in the planning stages get in that chair and write!

Save time with your book covers too

The best way to save time here is find the couple or image you're going to use first, then write the book around
the image.

Sometimes if you're doing a Series with other authors you may have to use an image they've chosen, but please don't spend hours and hours looking for the perfect image that matches the characters in your mind. Find a good image that suits the book. Some thing that is eye catching. Every time a reader reads a book they use their own imagination to figure out what the character look like, so in the end it's a huge waste of time to spend weeks or days trying to find an image of the guy or gal in your head. PLEASE just find a good image that will suit your characters and then write the story around them. It will save you a lot of time that you can spend with your children, pets, or writing!!

Genres: Write what you know

To save time write books in a topic/ genre or area that you know a lot about. This will hold down the amount of research you have to do.

Research takes a lot of time. I know now and then you'll have to look something up but if you stay in an area that you're familiar with that is a huge help.


Distractions 

Also, when you sit down to write, Turn the TV and or radio off. Get
something to drink so you don't have to stop your train of thought. If you can turn the phone off or write at a time when no one will call that is a huge help.

Though I would like to write in the morning. My best writing is late at night when everyone is gone to bed and no one calling. If you have kids or pets, try and find them a sitter so you don't have to worry about what they are into, or keep getting up and down to let your pets in and out.  I know not all of this is possible all the time but we need to look at our writing as a business not just a hobby.


A few more thoughts 

Keep your writing area clean and free of clutter, If your desk looks neat and has some appealing flowers it will make you want to sit down more often and it will help you get more writing done.

Another thing that helps greatly is to use a word file that is all ready formatted just the way it's going to look in the book be it paperback or e book.   I have the spacing - font - formatting - everything exactly as it will print out in a paperback book. I want all of my chapters to start on the right side so each page I turn I know where I'm at, how many  pages I have written and how many words. It's a great help to pace you correctly and so you'll know at what part of the book you're in at the moment.


Another time saver is like today with this blog. An author asked me a question and I give her a very detailed answer so I turned it into a blog post. I always tell author so blog.  I don't think it matters how often, or on what topic but you need to blog.

I'll do another post soon on Blogging and why authors should blog!!
I hope that you have found this helpful!!

Blessings
Samantha

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Samantha Fury is the author of  the Street Justice Series.  
She's written many articles on book covers, for Indie Authors.
She operates several Indie Groups. Editing Services, Cover
Artist, Helpful Indie Facebook Groups.