How to Write A Book in 10 Days
Everyone has a story they are meant to share.
‘You did what?!?!’
That was my precise reaction when I interviewed Nicole Bremner, millionaire property developer, when she informed me that she wrote her best-selling book over the course of 11 days. I’m sure it was your reaction reading the headline of this article, too.
It seemed implausible to me that anyone could work so efficiently as to detail their entire career to paper over the course of a month, never mind during winter vacation just shy of a fortnight with time to spare.
Aren’t books meant to take months, nay years to write?
George R.R Martin has been writing the latest instalment of the A Song of Ice and Fire series (Game of Thrones for you TV nerds out there) for nigh on 10 years! And you’re telling me I can write one in 10 days?
Luckily for you, not every book needs to arduously describe every nuance, flavour and spice of the King’s Birthday Banquet over the space of an entire chapter (no wonder it’s taken him 10 years!).
Buoyed by Nicole’s affirmation, during Lockdown 1.0 back in April 2020, I set myself the unenviable task of putting pen to paper and letting my imagination run wild with the goal of having a book in my hands within 10 days. After all, Nicole’s ‘I wrote a book in 11 days’ tale, although extremely impressive, just didn’t have the same ring to it as ‘I wrote a book in 10 days.’ You can probably tell I like even numbers.
Although initially skeptical, before long I had seamlessly eased into the flow of writing every day. The book came together quickly and before I knew it, Day 10 had arrived and I was finished. 43,273 words over the course of 10 days meant that I had completed draft one of my self proclaimed how to guide for starting a business as a young entrepreneur with no start up funds or experience.
Boom.
And you know what? It was a relatively fun and, more importantly, stress free process.
Here are my golden tips for getting pen to paper and completing the book you were always meant to write within the space of 10 days.
Set The Time Aside
Let’s face facts straight off the bat, here.
You won’t be able to write a book in amidst the weekly grind. You might think you can work 9–5 then come home and churn out a few thousand words per night, but you won’t be doing your physical well being or the end product of your book any favours.
If you’re honest with yourself, your work would probably suffer as a consequence of burnout if you were to take on the challenge without setting the time aside.
You have to schedule time off from work and social commitments — basically, you need to escape your life for the duration of the writing period.
Checking into a hotel is the ideal option, but if you can’t schedule and budget for an actual break, block out 8 hours a day for 10 days in a quiet, private environment.
Develop A Clear Plan
Just like before you undertake any project, you need to get organised before you begin the writing process.
The idea is to start on Day 1 with a clear table of contents, so you can ‘time block’ your week. As the old adage goes, fail to prepare, prepare to fail. If you can schedule and time map your week, you will be in a good position to finish your book in the desired period.
The average manuscript is 30,000–50,000 words non-fiction, or 50,000–90,000 words fiction. Have a look at other books in your genre to gauge the volume of output that will be required for you book. If your aim is to produce a 40,000 word book, then you’ll need to be hitting 4,000 words per day for 10 days to reach that target.
It might appear daunting once your plan is laid out in front of you, but you won’t be able to hit those targets unless you hold yourself accountable to them.
Find Yourself An Accountability Partner
Speaking of accountability, you’ll need to find yourself a special someone.
No, I don’t mean a special someone, just a person that can hold you accountable.
Writing a book is intimidating, and when you have something on your to-do list that intimidates you, it’s very easy to allow yourself to get distracted.
The whole process of book writing could very much be described as an ‘eat the frog process’ (check out my article here and you’ll know what I mean). You’ll put off undertaking that activity by any means necessary, and you’ll tick of every menial task that enters your imagination until the time comes to ‘eat the frog.’
This is where an accountability partner makes all the difference.
An accountability partner is someone who can ask prompting questions, take notes of references to follow up, ensure you stick to your agenda and keep you on purpose. A work colleague, family member or friend will do. They don’t have to be qualified either, their only remit is ensuring that you don’t get too distracted, so as long as they have shown they care for you then they are more than up to the task.
Keep in mind that at this early stage, it’s all about quantity, not quality. You can always edit your words and ideas later — right now, the focus is on getting content on the page.
The ‘Post It Note Method’
It is so much easier to write a book when you know what is going to happen in it.
Whether it be a memoir of your life, a self-help book or a fiction novel, if you know the outline of the book and where the key moments are going to occur, you will embark on a far more enjoyable writing process.
That’s where the post it note method comes in.
Post it notes are incredibly handy tools to have at your disposal. Co-ordinated in the right manner, they empower you with a visual representation of the structure of your book that you can use as your compass to navigate the rigours of putting your thoughts on paper.
Take the above lay out, for example.
Let’s say that you’ve set yourself a 30 chapter target. Now, that’s a whole lot of chapters in which you could get yourself lost in if you don’t plan correctly.
The above writer split his post it notes into 3 groups of 10 (3x10=30) and colour co-ordinated those groups to create the impression of the classic ‘beginning, middle, end’ story breakdown.
On each note he wrote a summary of what would happen in the corresponding chapter, and before you know it, he had the spine of a book laid out before him visually.
I used the exact same method to write my book and I cannot overstate the benefits of being this organised.
If you want to get that long overdue book finished in 10 days, then these tips will set you on the path to success!
