by James L. Rubart, @jameslrubart
“Complete an entire novel? In a year? We’re talking 85 thousand words, right? Pretty intimidating.”
That’s the comment I got the other day from an aspiring writer when I suggested she could easily take her first novel from idea to completed manuscript in 2022. While I agree the thought might be intimidating, the reality isn’t. Let me explain:
Let’s say you wanted to write THREE novels in 2022. Now I’m not a math guy (wasn’t ever my strong suit or even t-shirt) but these figures are important:
- An average novel is 85,000 words in length.
- Let’s say you can write 2,000 words an hour (just 33 words a minute)
- And say you write one hour a day, six days a week. (I know, I know, your Netflix binging will take a serious hit, I feel your pain.)
- That’s 12,000 words a week.
- That’s 48,000 words a month
- That’s 96,000 words every two months, far more than enough words!
What about editing, and rewriting, rewriting, rewriting? Yes. Critical. So let’s add another month for the above requirements.
End result: Three months. Completed novel.
But let’s add another month for the complications of life and those unexpected emergencies.
Four months and your book is finished — and there are eight months left in the year!But hang on a second, Jim you might be saying, I write only 1,000 words an hour. Fine. Your book is done in eight months. You still have four months left!
It’s all a matter of perspective.
Still intimidated? It’s because you’re looking at the top of Everest from sea level. Stop. Look at only the step ahead. When you get there, look at the next, but not until your foot has moved forward.
How To Execute
- Block out one hour per day to write. Think about that for a moment. There are 168 hours in a week. You only need 3.6 percent of those hours for your writing.
- Sit down
- Write
What I’m trying to say is time is not the issue holding you back. It’s the emotion that comes when you’re staring at the top of the mountain. So it helps to look at the facts. Maybe even print the above out and paste them next to your computer.
One hour. Six days a week. That’s all. One hundred and sixty two hours left over to get the other stuff done.
See, if we love writing, we don’t find the time, we make it. Finding something is accidental, without purpose, meandering and wandering. Making something requires intentionality and commitment.
You have the time. I have the time. Even if it’s 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening — it’s there.
In 2022, it’s time to grab hold and fly.
How Do You Stand Up for Yourself When It Means Losing Everything? Allison Moore is making it. Barely. The Seattle architecture firm she started with her best friend is struggling, but at least they’re free from the games played by the corporate world. She’s gotten over her divorce. And while her dad’s recent passing is tough, their relationship had never been easy.
Then the bomb drops. Her dad was living a secret life and left her mom in massive debt.
As Allison scrambles to help her mom find a way out, she’s given a journal, anonymously, during a visit to her favorite coffee shop. The pressure to rescue her mom mounts, and Allison pours her fears and heartache into the journal.
But then the unexplainable happens. The words in the journal, her words, begin to disappear. And new ones fill the empty spaces—words that force her to look at everything she knows about herself in a new light.
Ignoring those words could cost her everything . . . but so could embracing them.
James L. Rubart is 28 years old, but lives trapped inside an older man’s body. He thinks he’s still young enough to water ski like a madman and dirt bike with his two grown sons. He’s the best-selling, Christy BOOK of the YEAR, CAROL, INSPY, and RT Book Reviews award winning author of ten novels and loves to send readers on journeys they’ll remember months after they finish one of his stories. He’s also a branding expert, audiobook narrator, co-host of the Novel Marketing podcast, and co-founder with his son, Taylor, of the Rubart Writing Academy. He lives with his amazing wife on a small lake in Washington state.
Comments 3
Great article. Inch by inch, it’s a cinch.
Yard by Yard, it’s hard.
This makes so much sense when you think about it this way. Thank you!
Deadline is very important while writing a novel and if you don’t do so then you will not be able to complete your novel on time. To overcome this set your daily target and try to complete that target. You will be able to do it on time.