• By Winston Kuwada
• Published 01/26/2012
• Writing

If you are planning on writing an novel or any other kind of book, then you should be very proud of yourself. Plenty of people would love to do something like this, but never get around to getting started. Because you are sitting there reading this and making those plans, you are definitely going to be successful. Because you have taken a dream or vision and are now taking concrete steps to making it a reality, you can be assured that your dedication will pay off someday. However, writing a book of any kind isn’t easy. You are basically creating a product that you hope you will sell some day. The problem is that “some day” is way off in the distance, and you’ve got to keep your spirits up. Otherwise, you might not make it. In this article, you’ll learn how to stay focused when writing your masterpiece. First of all, you need to come up with a detailed plan. If you sit down and just start writing, you might have trouble coming up with stuff. However, if you write out a detailed outline first, it will be much easier to write on a daily basis. That way, instead of staring at a blank screen every day wondering what in the heck you are supposed to write, you’ll have a detailed outline guiding you along the way. This will make it much easier.

You definitely need to treat this like a job. Start at the same time every day, and write for

the same amount of time. Don’t wait until you feel inspired, or when you’ve got nothing else to do. Get up, stretch, get something to eat and some coffee, and start writing. And don’t stop until it’s quitting time. If you work a regular job, then you’re going to have to either get up earlier, stay up later, or stop doing something else like watching TV. Either way, you’ve got to make writing every day a priority. And when you do write, wear some professional clothes. Don’t sit around in your underwear trying to write a book that you hope to sell to millions of people. Be professional. Wear comfortable clothes, but make sure that if anybody sees you, they will immediately assume you are working on something important and not just goofing around. Time management is something very important that you might need to learn. Especially if you are working a regular job, and you’ve also got a family. You are going to have a lot on your plate, and you will need to balance all the important things. You can’t really ignore your family for the six months to a year it’s going to take you to write your book, so you’ve got to stay on top of things. There are plenty of time management books and self study courses available. Make use of them.

When you treat your writing like a business, and stay professional, you have a much better chance of being successful. Just keep at it, and never give up. Pretty soon you’ll be rich and famous. Good luck.