How to Finish Writing Your Book in Record Time | Live Stream Recording

Hello and welcome. I'm Julie the Book Broad and this is the live that is actually pre recorded. Normally every other Tuesday we do a live stream at 2pm Pacific Standard Time. However, this Tuesday I'm actually traveling back to the United States from Canada where we have been hiding somewhat stranded due to Covid but we're finally heading back so we're super excited about that. But we are on the road today so I'm unable to be here live with you but I didn't want you to miss out. So everybody who has commented the day a video has been released in the last two weeks, I've put your name into the Random Name Picker and I have selected two fabulous winners and I have some excellent content for you. I gave a talk last week on the three T's of spirit speedy writing and I am going to share a little bit of that with you today so that you can get your book written in record time. Now the good news is that the reasons that you probably are struggling to get your book written are completely under your control. But you're busy and you don't have time to waste. So it's really, really important that you know these strategies and tactics that I'm going to talk about. But it's also important to know the things that often hold people back and to know that they are things that are under your control. Usually. And again, we're talking nonfiction here, but usually if you're struggling to write your book, it's one of three things. It's you're lacking material, you're lacking clarity, or your monsters have come out and they're attacking you. I'll introduce you to my monsters shortly. But, but I just want to introduce you, or if you already know, remind you of what Steven Pressfield calls the resistance. Because that is something that might have popped up and said, well, no, none of those things are holding me back. My kid came home sick from school when I was supposed to write. I got sick. Work has just been crazy busy. There's no time. And the list goes on and on. And that is why the the resistance, as Steven Pressfield calls it, is so powerful because it disguises itself as things that seem like totally legitimate reasons to not get writing when in fact they're actually excuses. So let me just bring up Mr. Pressfield's quote right here and share a few slides with you. All right, so there it is. Resistance is fear. But resistance is too cunning to show itself in its naked form. So your resistance is going to pop up with all kinds of legitimate Looking reasons which ultimately are excuses. When you decide to get your book done, that is exactly what you must do. So it's pretty, pretty powerful. So, yeah, today's talk is about strategies and tactics. So if you're just tuning in, this is not live today. It is a recorded live for you. But I still have the draw, as always. And if you're new to the scene here, just so you know, we always play along. So comment as you're watching. Let me know you're here, where you're listening from, and we'll still have fun as though we were live. And I will reply to every single comment, I promise. So let's just dive into the content, and then I'll tell you our first draw winner. Okay, so with this, we're going to first hit the topic of how. Of what I think gets a lot of people hung up, right? The monsters in your closet. Okay, so I had to make myself smaller so you could see the slide. So how many authors approach writing is actually the very thing that brings your monsters out. Now, my monsters are primarily fear of judgment and imposter syndrome. There's definitely an element of fear of failure to a degree. But my main monsters are fear of judgment and imposter syndrome. But there's four monsters that I find almost everybody has. They're just some are bigger than others, and that's fear of success, fear of failure, imposter syndrome, and of course, fear of judgment. And they rear their ugly head when you approach writing a book in this way. So if you approach writing a book focused on becoming a bestseller and all of the glorious things that come with becoming a bestseller or even just writing a book, you know, as I have here, speaking engagements with people who want to take pictures with you and get you to sign the book, and media appearances where you're on TV news shows, and of course, media attention where, you know, your picture is the COVID of the business section. So this is all the stuff that you can focus on and, you know, making money and being on the bestseller list and all those things. And some of this is driven by, if you're working with a publisher of the publisher expectations and of course, you know, thinking about your friends and family and their admiration and how impressed they'll be with you. The problem with all of this and the goal of being a bestseller and all these kind of goals for your book is it puts your ego in your driver's seat. And the ego is the gateway for all of those monsters. So if your ego is driving your bus, then you're Going to be facing head on, fear of failure, fear of success, imposter syndrome and fear of judgment. Those monsters are going to be loud and in your face and it is going to be really, really hard to get that book done. You are fighting against four very large monsters and it's a challenge. So my suggestion first and foremost is to change up how you're looking at this and put that reader at the center. So everything you're doing is to help that reader achieve an outcome, to help that reader become something new, change something in their life. And really, really, you know, especially if you're thinking inspiration, what do you want them to be inspired to become or do or change in their life after you, after you write your book and they read it. So put your reader at the middle and focus on the outcome. When you share your perspective, it's solely for the purpose of your reader achieving their outcome. When you share your stories, it's solely for the illustrative purpose of the reader achieving that outcome. And everything in your book is about how they're going to achieve that outcome and why it's important. And this puts the reader at the center. And your monsters are still going to be there, but they're much quieter, they're much less involved because your single focus is on serving that reader and it really helps clear the way. So the resistance is much less in your face and obvious because you're dedicating this time, this energy, this effort to serving someone else. So that's the first real solution to, I think, getting your book written. And for me, I'll tell you one of the stories ultimately that helped me with more than cash flow. So with more than cash flow, my first book, after I was rejected by Wiley and had gone through quite an extensive process before that rejection came, I really, my ego was quite frankly crushed. And I had this very strong feeling the book wouldn't sell because I had been told it wouldn't. And yet I simultaneously really believed I had to write this book. And what happened was I was, my husband actually, when Wiley had turned me down, told me I should self publish, but I was kind of like, no, like, you know, that's not, that's not real publishing. Like, I really had this belief that if I didn't get published by a publishing company that it wasn't legitimate and I just kind of brushed it aside like, you know, I can't write a book if I'm not chosen. But months later, after the rejection, a couple came to us for coaching and we had a real estate training and Education company at the time. A couple came to us and they had done a lot of the things that we had done, but they had gotten so far in over their head that they, like our coaching, couldn't help them. They needed litigators, they needed lawyers. They were in such hot water following the same kind of practices and advice that we had followed that had created a bunch of messes for us, too. And it was in that moment of realizing that we couldn't help them, that they were so far beyond what we could do and how horrible this nice couple's life had become. It was kind of in that moment that I realized my book was needed. And even if I only helped one couple like them avoid the trauma that we had created in our lives through buying the wrong properties and following a lot of this get rich quick type process and strategies that worked. You could buy properties for no money down and use other people's money to get properties, but, man, the life it created for you was one you really had to have a strong stomach for. And it was fraught with challenges. So I knew in my heart that if I could just help one person like this couple, that my book would be worth it. And so I sat down and I wrote the book for that couple and for anybody else like them. And that was all I thought of. And I shared stories I had not told anybody about our. Our crack house, about being fined for fire code violations, about a property manager robbing rent money from us because I was embarrassed I was coaching people. We had investors investing, you know, a lot of money with us, and I didn't think any of them would want to know or would feel good about working with us once they knew some of these epic mistakes that we made. But I knew in order for the reader to get the outcome they needed and to believe what I was saying and avoid the problems that I knew they should be avoiding, I had to share them. And so that cleared the way, and I wrote the book. I wouldn't say quickly, but it didn't feel quickly at the time, but it cleared the way, and I ultimately was able to write the book the readers needed. And the secret to this, which should not be any surprise to Anyone viewing the YouTube, is that your reader is not a demographic, and it's definitely, definitely not everybody. Again, I had a very specific person, well, in this case, couple in mind. I knew where they had been trying to solve the problems. I knew what was going to go wrong. I knew exactly the mindset, and so I knew the places they were already looking for information. I knew how to talk to them, I knew how to meet them, where their mind was at right now. And that's really important. And so if you're not super clear on who this person, if you're saying, oh, they're women between the ages of 30 to 50 and you know they're unhappy in their life and they just need a new way of solving their problem that's too generic, you got to get deeper or you're not going to find them when it comes time to market to them. And you're also not going to write a book that's really going to compel them to change something in their life to achieve that outcome you desire for them. So get deep. And so here's three questions to help you with that. What problem are they trying to solve and where are they looking for solutions now? Why do they need your story, solution or message? And here's the one that got me off my butt. What will happen if they don't get it? What will happen if they don't get your solution? Your outcome, whatever you're offering, that's really, really, really important. So make sure that you have that covered and that's ingrained in you so that when those monsters come out, you refocus on your reader. And what will happen if you don't get this book done? Okay, time for a draw. So if you're new here, every Tuesday and Friday we have new videos come out. Every other Tuesday. It's a live stream usually, except for the rare occasion where I have to pre record it like I've done today. And when you comment the day a video is released, you get entered to win some sweet book launcher swag like our no Boringbooks mug and our oh so soft journal, which I don't have handy. And also I have copies of my new book, Self Publish and Succeed. So if you haven't already bought this and written a review, please write a review. Please, please, please write a review and email me@teamoklaunchers.com and let me know that the review is live. Because we do have a reviewer party planned and we're just waiting to hit the milestone of 50 reviews and then 100 reviews and we're having a party and I have new hoodies and all kinds of fun stuff that I want to share with you during that party. Regardless, you have those three prizes to choose from, the book, the mug, or the journal. So all you need to do, if your name is chosen during these draws, you just email us@teamoklaunchers.com with your mailing address and your prize choice. And Angela, my fabulous operator at Book Launchers, will get them mailed out to you. So the first winner is Jean De or Gen Day. Or Jean Day. I don't know. I'm so sorry. I don't know how to say your name. There's many ways I could pronounce it, depending on if we're going French or if we're going English or what version. But congratulations, you are the first winner today. Please email us@teamoklaunchers.com okay, so tactics. Let's get into the tactics, what I call the three T's of speedy writing. And I'll just relocate myself to make some room over here. And oh, wait, I forgot, there's one other piece to this. So if I can, if I can offer one suggestion, it is changing a single word and removing it from your vocabulary. This will also help you with writing your book and it will change the ability of I can't write a book to be I can. But that's not actually the word that I want you to change. It's removing one single word. It's got three letters. And if this was live, I would be saying tell me what it is. So in the comments right now, post your guess. Tell me what you think is this three little three letter word that I want you to not use ever, ever again. Okay? Never use it again. So I'm giving you a second before I give you the answer so you can type it in the comments. Okay, you done? The word is try. You're not trying to write a book, you're writing a book. You're not trying to get fit, you're getting fit. You're not trying to build your business, you're building your business. You remove that word from your vocabulary. Because what the word try does is it gives your mind wiggle room. It allows your mind to think, well, you know, I don't have to do this. I don't have to do this. If you are building your business, you have to build your business. You will, you must. If you have to write a book, you have to write a book. So it really puts it a certainty in there, which I think is really important. So you're not trying to write a book, you are writing a book. And that's going to change it from I can't to I can. And in fact, I believe it changes it to I will and I must. So, and again, if you're feeling a little weight, a little wobbly on the whole thing, go back to that thing I just said about why your reader needs this, what's going to happen if they don't get your book? And if that doesn't motivate you, I don't know what. I don't know what else I could tell you. But assuming you are motivated, the next thing you need are the three T's to speedy writing. Now, the first thing is I'm just checking my notes to make sure I didn't miss anything here before I dive into that, because I got lots of things I want to share today. Okay, so we got the mindset. Now I'm going to give you tactics. And the one thing is, you can write your book from anywhere. So. So that's. Let's eliminate those excuses. You can write it from the doctor's office. You can write it while your kids are in swimming lessons or while your car is getting an oil change. And in fact, you have a powerful piece of equipment, hopefully not in your hands right now unless you're using it to watch this video. But this old. Your, Your. Your little cell phone is a perfect writing device. You can pull out voice note and record a voice note. You can type. You know, maybe you're not going to have 120 words per minute, but you can still type out notes and ideas and get some work done whenever you have a moment. And one of my favorite stories was romance writer Amy Dawes. I think that's her name. Let me just check my notes. Yes, it was Amy Dawes. She was having trouble writing her book, and one day her tires were getting. She was getting new tires on her vehicle. So she pulled out her laptop and she started typing. And voila. It turns out tires, tires, tires was her happy place for writing. And she started to go there on a regular basis, taking friends cars in. And soon they done designated a spot for her. And when her book came out, they actually celebrated it on the sign out front. So where there's a will, there's a way. And sometimes you just got to find your happy place for writing. All right, so the first T is your topic for tomorrow. Never, ever sit down to write without knowing what you're going to write. And in order for that to happen, you have to prepare from the session before with what you're going to write. Now, all this assumes you've created an outline and a writing plan and you know exactly what you're writing about, which is the first essential piece. Knowing what you're writing and who you're writing for, it's what you need before these tactics work. But assuming you do, you now need to prep your topic. So what I do is I usually write the first sentence of what I'm going to start writing about and a couple of bullets so that when I sit down, I don't have to reread what I just wrote in order to know what I'm writing. Then you just start writing. And this is vital. Do not reread what you wrote the day before. Just start writing. Rereading what you've written before takes a lot of time, can make self doubt brew. And ultimately your first draft doesn't have to be a good draft. You just have to get the content out of your head so editors can work with you to work their magic. The second T is to know your target. So I find that most people perform better with a target. So one of our clients has set a target of 1,000 words every writing session. And by golly, some of the some weeks he's actually hitting it. He might, he might come up a little shy, but you know, he's writing roughly 5,000 words a week. It does not take you very long to write a book when you're writing 5,000 words a week. And he just gets up early in the morning and writes for just under an hour and he's hammering out about a thousand words. But he knows exactly what he's writing about, he knows what he's got, his plan and he's got that time set aside to write, which is the third point you need to have that time. For him, it's the hour before his kids get up, before his emails go nuts. And you know, I find myself that unfortunately 5:30 to 6:30am is when I can get my, when I got my book written too. So depending on your life and what's going on, what I don't recommend is leaving it to the end of the day. Unless you're one of those people who picks up steam at the end of the day. My mom does her best work from 9pm on. Always has been that way my entire life. You know, she's always been one of those people who does her best work between 9 and 2 a 9pm and 2am but most people, I would not recommend waiting till 9pm because all kinds of things can get in the way of you doing the writing. So set aside the time and start writing. All right, so that's the three T's of speedy writing. It's essential. Let me just see if I missed anything here. And then I'm going to do our final draw and then I have One more tip for you to help you write your book in record time. That's it. Okay, that was great. I covered all of that. Perfect. So our final draw winner of the day is James Dillon. Congratulations, James. Please email us@teamoklaunchers.com to collect either the mug, the book, or the oh so soft journal for writing down all your fabulous book ideas. Your writing plan, for example, and make sure you include your mailing address. Because we're not mind readers, we do not know where you live or where you would like us to mail things. So my last thing for you today in this pre recorded not live session for you is what I call the ultimate speed writing tip. This is something that we do when we've had writers retreats, which we will have again someday. And it's also something I've used repeatedly just to get a lot of content down in a very short period of time. It is a writing sprint, and if you've never done them, I highly recommend it because it also trains you to just write faster. Now here's how. Here's the rules of the writing sprint, so you might want to get a pen and paper out. Number one, all you need is 20 minutes. 20 minutes is all you need for a writing sprint for this to work. And you can write a lot of words. In fact, when we did this at one of our writing retreats, we did 15 minute writing sprints, and most authors reported writing up to 600 words in 15 minutes. Now, those words needed a lot of editing, but that's a lot of words to write in 15 minutes. So we were just talking about our client who's writing a thousand words in an hour. So 15 minutes, 600 words. How many times do you have to do that in a week before you get your book done? Not that many. So it's worth doing two or three or four or five of these a week just to get some content out. Now, the first thing is you cannot be connected to the Internet. That is a rule. No phones, no Internet, no WI fi. You're not researching, you're not doing anything but writing. So that's rule number one. No interruptions. It's 15 minutes of pure writing. And if you have to add something, Just a quick tip on that. If you have to add something while you're writing, just. I usually just use the highlighter function on Microsoft Word and make a note. If I need to add a quote or I need to add some research or something, I just highlight it so then I can go back over it later. Rule number two, or tip number two for doing this or step number two is you have to know what you're going to write about. And sprints work best for capturing those stories, those steps, those the content that you say all the time that you know well. So it's not a good time for those moments where you have to pontificate over something they are good for. You know, when you want to share the, you know, the five. For me it might be the five most the five things that make a book marketable or the three T's of speedy writing or a story that you have told many times that you know, you can just hammer out the details really quickly. That's what's great for a sprint. It's really good for that content that you've got on the top of your head and you just got to get out. And it's a fast way to just dump it out onto the page. But the key is to know what you're going to write about before the sprint starts. That's why I think 20 minutes is a good time because you spend the first couple of minutes thinking about what you're going to write about, prepping yourself, even putting bullet points down. And then once the timer goes, you're just going to write. And so that's step three is turn on that timer. And the whole time that timer is to going, going, you're typing. And when the timer stops, you stop. Period. Now the thing with typing is you might find yourself hesitating. You keep going. And sometimes what you might have to do is go, I'm stuck. I don't know what to write. But you keep typing and imagine Pac man is coming for your words. And so if you stop typing, Pac man actually starts chomping. But as long as you're typing, Pac man just sits here. So you just keep typing. And again, this is training yourself to keep writing. And after you do a couple of them, you'll find you don't actually have to start typing nonsensical things to keep going because your mind will just keep writing sentences and you'll end up with run on sentences. Things are going to need to be edited. But you're getting that content out of your head in a fast, fast manner. Now my recommendation is to take a five minute break and then reset and do it again. So if you can do two writing sprints back to back, it's a really, really great way to get a lot done in a very, very short period of time. And I'm just checking my notes, but I think that's it, you're not editing, you're typing. And the minute you pause, Pac Man's coming, so you gotta keep typing. If you've never done anything like this before, 15 minutes might be too long. You might want to start with eight or nine minutes and work your way up. But try it. And let me know in the comments below how many words you managed to write and how long your writing sprint was for. So I think that'll be pretty awesome. All right, so that is today's session. We'll be back here in two weeks for another live stream. And every Tuesday and Friday when you comment the day a video is released, you get entered to win some sweet book launcher swag. So that includes today. So make sure you've commented played along in this session and I can't wait to see you again next time.