by James L. Rubart, @jameslrubart
A million years ago when I stepped into the world of corporate sales I took part in training that explained a simple principle called Reduction to the Ridiculous.
Essentially, if you want to sell something to someone, you reduce the price to a ridiculous level.
“No, that magazine subscription isn’t $29.95 a year, it’s only 8 pennies a day! You probably have way more than that in your couch cushions alone.”
Now let’s apply it to our writing.
I have a talented friend who is working on completing a series and she told me her goal is to complete the saga in five years. I suggested she look at reducing the task to the ridiculous and by doing so she might be inspired to finish in far less time.
Here’s how you can do the same:
First, figure out how many words you can write per hour. I’m right at the 1,000 words an hour mark, so we’ll use me as an example.
Second, make a guesstimate on how many words you have left in your current WIP. I’m just starting work on a new story and—based on my previous tales—I’m guessing it will end up around 90,000 words.
Third, determine when you want to have your rough draft finished. I want to finish by September 27th of this year. It’s March 21st as I type these words so I have 189 days to reach my goal.
Fourth, divide 90,000 by 189 days = 476.
That’s my number, 476. I need to write 476 words per day to reach my goal.
Thinking about ninety thousand words could overwhelm me. Four hundred seventy-six words? Not so much.
Now I go back to my words per hour and meditate on the fact that to complete my novel by September 27th I need to write only fifteen minutes a day!
Finally, I give myself a little tough love talk and say, “Uh, Jim, if you can’t carve out a little less than fifteen minutes a day working on your story, I’m guessing it’s not really that important to you.”
Then I get a bit nicer and say, “And if it’s not that important, that’s okay!”
I get tough again and conclude with, “But if you decide not to take those fifteen minutes, stop whining that you’re too busy to get your novel done.”
Your turn. Do the math. Put that number of words per day up on your bathroom mirror and get to work. We’re looking forward to reading your achingly beautiful novel.
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.