Challenge your writing routine and discover new methods

Challenge.

Does that word strike fear and trembling into you or get you pumped?

Perhaps it’s my Marine Corps training or just part of my DNA, but I love learning. And I challenge myself to continually improve professionally and personally.

A few weeks ago I was listening to the Novel Marketing Podcast episode “How to Write 5000 Words an Hour with Chris Fox.”

Five thousand words an hour! Yeah, right, I thought. But I listened anyway. Something productive while I was washing dishes.

What’s This Challenge All About?

It’s about focused writing, training yourself to write with greater speed, but also, learning to write better even as you increase your speed. Chris does 5000 and more on a regular basis. Sounds impossible, but …

One thing led to another, and when I next sat down at my computer I visited Chris Fox’s website. I was fully prepared to buy his book 5000 Words an Hour. Who doesn’t want to write faster and get more books out there on the market quicker?

But—hallelujah!—he offers the book as a freebie. Go download it; you can’t lose, even if you decide his method doesn’t work for you.

I haven’t finished reading the book (love his sense of humor), but I decided to challenge myself with his microsprints—writing for 5 minutes every day.

Chris recommends the same time every day to develop the habit and train your brain. I’ve worked at that, but haven’t hit it. Nonetheless, I’ve done seven 5-minute writing sessions this past week. The caveat: don’t stop for anything. No distractions like social media, the phone, email. And no editing or fixing errors (typos or otherwise).

Guess what? I added 914 words to my fiction work in progress (WIP). It would have been more, but that first time I worked harder at not fixing typos than writing. For you math lovers, I averaged 130 words every time I sat down. My minimum was 89 and my maximum was 179.

Maybe that doesn’t sound so awesome to you, but that’s 914 words I didn’t have a week ago, and I did it 5 minutes at a time!

Yes, there are words in there that will end up on the cutting floor (to use a film analogy). But that happens with every draft and nearly every revision.

What Did I Learn?

I’ve got some ba—aa—aad habits.

• I waste too much time correcting typos. I can fix those on my first swipe at revision.
• I waste time struggling for just the right word. Again, I can find those perfect words during revisions.
• I let email distract me and throw off my creative momentum.

I like writing this way and am looking forward to increasing my time. Chris explains everything in his book and offers a tracking app for those with an iPad or iPhone, but also a downloadable Excel file.

I am EXCITED about finishing my books much quicker than I have been.

If I hadn’t challenged myself to try this, I wouldn’t have discovered how much fixing typos hinders productivity and hampers creativity. I also wouldn’t have realized that I let email distract me as much as I do (all day long).

Stepping outside your comfort zone can help you root out bad habits, but can also open the door to a better way of working.

I’m encouraged! What can I accomplish in 10 minutes every day? I’ll have that WIP finished before I know it. This will make NaNoWriMo a cinch.

What do you think? Sound like a challenge you’d like to try? Why don’t you try right now. Stop reading and go write for 5 minutes. Then come back and put in the comments how many words you got written.

Thanks, Chris Fox, and thanks, Novel Marketing Podcast for putting me onto 5000 Words an Hour.