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Now for practical ideas on how to write more.

First, write what you love. Everyone says write what you know. That’s really not important. Readers read fiction because of how it makes them feel. They want to take the emotional journey. Romantic suspense readers want the thrill of the chase, the near capture, the bad guys punished. Paranormal readers want the emotion of possibilities. Horror readers want to be scared. People read fiction for emotion and the best way to get emotion into your books is to feel passionate about the story.

The technical writing skills can be learned, but the passion comes from your heart. You can’t ignore craft or market, but the best way to sell is to write what you love. When you love your story, your writing will have a genuine quality that is the difference between a book that is just okay and a book that is a keeper.

Second, write consistently. I swear, this is the hardest one for writers. Write consistently. That means writing about the same number of pages on a very regular (daily…daily is a good word to insert here) basis. I can’t stress this enough. Writing steady means you will stay connected with the book. You will be into the characters and that will allow you to go to a depth slightly beyond your skill level. It also means you’ll improve. You’ll be able to take all the cool stuff you learn at workshops and meetings and in how-to-write books and apply it immediately. Write consistently. It is the single most important craft related tool you have.

Third, add a half page a day. That’s the big secret to writing more. Adding half a page. Just a half page.

Say you write 4 pages a day consistently. Add a half page. Now you write 4 1/2 pages a day. Easy, right? Well, not at first, but it will be. When the 4 1/2 is comfortable, add another half page. Write 5 pages a day until that is comfortable, then add another half page and so on.

The magic is all in the math. Going from 4 pages a day to 6 pages a day doesn’t seem like much at first. But let’s play with numbers. Four pages a day times five days a week is twenty pages. That’s about eighty pages a month. So, in theory, you’re doing about 960 pages a year. Basically two single titles or three or four series books. (Yes, I know you need time for proposals, vacation, etc. But this is just a demonstration.) If you went to six pages a day, slowly, adding a half page at a time, you would instead write thirty pages a week. That’s 120 pages a month or 1440 pages a year. Hmm, I believe that works out to about *three* single titles a year or about six or seven series books. Just from going from four to six pages a day.

It’s like compound interest…a little bit every day makes a huge difference over time.

The secret to writing more is writing what you love, consistently, and slowly, very slowly, adding a half page a day. Trust me, it will change your life!