Summary

The article suggests that writing a book can be made manageable by adopting a habit of writing a small, achievable number of words daily, specifically recommending 200 words as a target to accumulate a novel-length manuscript over a year.

Abstract

The article "You’re Writing a Book Every Year — You Just Don’t Know It Yet" by an unspecified author provides a productivity hack for aspiring writers: instead of being daunted by the prospect of writing a full-length novel, one should focus on writing a mere 200 words per day. This approach is grounded in the idea that by setting a low daily word count goal, the task becomes less intimidating, making it easier to start and maintain the writing habit. The author argues that this method not only makes it possible to write a book in a year but also encourages writers to exceed the minimum once they get into the flow of writing. The article emphasizes that time is not a barrier but a matter of prioritization, and it reassures readers that they already write more than 200 words daily in other contexts, such as texting or emailing.

Opinions

Writing a book is presented as a simple yet challenging task that requires consistent effort over time.
The common excuse of not having enough time to write is dismissed; the author asserts that everyone can make time for writing if they prioritize it.
The article suggests that by breaking down the large goal of writing a book into smaller, daily tasks, the process becomes more manageable and less overwhelming.
The author believes that once a writer starts writing, they often continue beyond the initial 200-word goal, thus writing more than they initially intended.
The article posits that lowering the daily writing target can paradoxically lead to higher overall productivity by reducing the psychological barrier to starting.
The author encourages writers to leverage the fact that they already engage in daily writing activities, such as texting, to achieve their book-writing goals.

You’re Writing a Book Every Year — You Just Don’t Know It Yet

Unlock your writing habit with this subtle productivity hack

Writing a book is simple. That doesn’t mean it’s not hard. But it is simple. You just have to hit a writing target for long enough to meet your goal.

The problem is the average novel is around 75,000 words long. When you’re just starting out and have never tasted the sweet satisfaction of writing THE END, it can feel like an impossible task.

If you only see the project as a whole, you’re going to struggle to begin at all. One of the most common excuses I hear from aspiring writers is rooted in the myth that we have no time.

Oh, I’d love to write a book. I’m just so busy, I don’t have time.

Er, no. We’re all busy. Writers don’t have a magic doorway that opens in the middle of the day at 1pm, a glittering private Narnia where time stands still and you can write to your heart’s content. We just make time.

The key with any big goal is to train your mind to unsee the finished product

If your house is a dump and figuring out where to begin tidying sets your brain on fire, don’t picture the chaos in its entirety. Pick one corner, one object, and begin with that.

You don’t build a footpath by forging a perfect, interlocking network of stones in one go. You pick up a single stone, and you put it down. Then you do it again. And again.

Yes, your book is going to be somewhere in the region of 70,000 words or more. But if you can trick your mind into seeing the stones instead of the path, the task becomes a whole lot easier.

All very well, you might say. But how do you actually do it?

Building a writing habit is easier than you think

Since getting published in 2015 I’ve met dozens of writers, and have been amazed to see how their routines can be so different. Some people set themselves a strict word count target for the day and don’t stop until they hit it. Others work in allotments of time, or track 25-minute pomodoro chunks.

The average daily goal, I’ve found, tends to be in the region of 1,000–2,000 words. When the question was posed on Twitter recently, that range certainly seemed to be a popular reply.

It’s a target I’ve subscribed to in the past. Something about 1,000 words feels right and if you string together enough 1,000-word days you’re well on your way. I mean… 70 days of that and you have a book!

But what if you miss a day? When you’re feeling rough, you’ve had a bad day at work, or you just don’t feel up to writing, it becomes easy to think it’s just one day. I can catch up later.

That’s when the trouble starts. If you move the goalposts, resistance to the writing grows. You know there’s more work involved, so the urge to procrastinate creeps up to tap at the window. Thankfully there’s a simple productivity trick you can use to bypass resistance, obliterate procrastination and just write.

The solution is so achievable it feels wrong

If you want to write more, make your goal so easy that it’s almost impossible to fail. Don’t aim for 1,000 words in a day. Hit 200 words instead.

If you write 200 words for 365 days, that’s 73,000 words in a year. I did a double-take when I first heard about it on The Bestseller Experiment podcast. Everyone has it in them to write 200 words in a day.

In fact, you’re already doing it. The average person writes more than that on their phone. Every. Single. Day.

You probably write more than that in three emails. Think about that… Your outbox has a novel in it. Your phone could have twice that in the last year alone. So do yourself a favor and use this simple mindset hack. Make the challenge easier, and give yourself permission to get more done.

By lowering the bar to 200 words per day, you can write a book in a year. But that’s not where the real magic lies because in all likelihood, you’re not going to stop when you hit 200 words. You’re going to keep going. After 15 minutes of writing, you’ll be in flow and you won’t care that you’ve hit your target.

Aiming for less helps you to achieve more. But it also ensures you actually get going. Because you know it’s only going to take 15 minutes, you soon forget that you don’t have time to write. You make time.

So what are you waiting for? There’s still a good chunk of 2021 left. Commit to your craft for 200 words every day, and see where it takes you.