Dang, Theo! How do you write so friggin’ fast?

This might be the most common question I'm asked by my readers. I usually release at least one book and sometimes as many as three every month. If you're the sort of reader who finds an author's "behind the scenes" processes interesting then this e-mail is for you. If not, well, scroll past the text and check out the deals below.

Feel free to steal some of these ideas and apply them to whatever it is that you're passionate about.

I realize I'm not like most authors. And I wasn't always this fast. My first book, Druid's Dace, actually took me three years to write! Now, I wasn't working on it every day. I had weeks and sometimes months when I didn't touch it at all. By the time I wrote the Voodoo Academy series I was writing one book a month (with the books in that series 40k-65k words). Now, I write almost four times faster than that. Last month, I churned out about 160,000 words.

So what changed? I know I have a few fellow authors and aspiring authors following my blogs, so, feel free to steal any of these ideas. Or, apply some of these principles to whatever it is that you do and are passionate about. Most of these ideas apply to any hobby, any passion, whether it be form of art, playing/writing music, or even just doing your job.

First, it was a question of mindset. A little known fact is that I'm also something of an amateur bodybuilder. One thing that I learned from Arnold--not personally, but from listening to him talk about how he became Mr. Olympia, a headlining actor, and even a governor--was the power of visualizing your future. This meant establishing a clear goal. Not just in words, but in images. I have three kids. I started visualizing the future I wanted for my family. I started visualizing my name on bestseller lists. Again, I didn't just write out the goal. I developed a clear mental picture of seeing my books with that #1 Bestseller banner and #1 rank next to the titles. Human beings tend to find images more powerful than concepts. Yes, I'm a writer. I don't do visual media. But the ability to paint a picture, to create an image in the theater of the reader's mind is probably one of the most important features of good novels.

What did this have to do with speed? Well, when I visualized where I wanted to go it was easier to motivate myself to follow the path it would take to get there. When we have a clear vision, the subconscious mind gets to work to help you get there. For Indie authors, one major theme amongst those who have had success is that they just keep writing. So, that's what I did.

A subset of mindset was belief in myself and my abilities. I shut out criticism and didn't take it personally. I embraced positive feedback. I accepted the fact that my books weren't going to appeal to everyone. That's fine! I was looking for people who would like my books! Confidence in one's abilities is huge when trying to become more efficient or proficient at what one does. So, I embraced the positive, took what I could to learn from criticism (a positive spin rather than a an "OMG they hate me!" approach to critics), and ignored they nay-sayers. The more positive feedback I received from my readers, the more I believed in myself. I stopped second-guessing every word choice and phrase as I wrote and started to rely more and more on my instincts. That meant I could write a sentence and keep moving. I can always polish things up later, or trust my editor to make suggestions to spiff up the prose.

In addition, I studied my craft. Between Druid's Dance and when I launched Voodoo Academy I probably read (or listened to) more than a hundred books on writing. I studied story structure and character development. I found an approach to plotting stories/structuring my novels that resonated with me (thank you Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody) and learned what's common to every good story and where I am free to fiddle with the structure to make my books unique. This way, since I know the basic structure my story needs to take, when I sit down to write I can write to each "plot point" and I know approximately how many words I need to get to each turn in the story. This principle almost completely overcame the problem of writer's block. A good story structure fuels my creativity. It gives me a skeleton that I can hang my ideas on. Working with no structure or learning structure as I went (as when I first wrote Druid's Dance--it's been revised since the original version) is why it took three years and now I can write books in a fraction of the time.

Finally, I eliminated distractions. I know a lot of authors who are very active on social media. For me, I can't log in to the Bookface without getting sucked into a rabbit hole. Heck, any time I have an internet connection I tend to get distracted by random stuff. There are a thousand ways that authors can choose to engage their readers. I chose to focus on e-mail rather than social media. Now, you can follow my author page on the social media site that shall not be named. I'm not totally absent. This was just a personal choice because I know myself. I know the things that tend to be a time-suck for me. If you're more disciplined and can shut off the social media platforms without the temptation to go back to them, that's great for you!

Another component of eliminating distractions was creating my own writing space. A place where my three rug-rats (and my significant other, God Bless her) couldn't bother an interrupt me. Some studies show that when one's creative processes are interrupted it can take twenty minutes to get back to the same flow. So, I actually built my own writing studio. Yes, pretty much all by myself! I'm proud if it. This is where all the magic happens!

Excuse the mess under/around. I took this photo right after I finished it a couple years ago).

Now, I don't technically write much at all on a computer at all. Wait... if you don't use a computer, what do you write on? Well, I use a distraction-free writing device. I actually have a few of them. First, I started with a dinosaur, an Alphasmart NEO2. Picked up a used one on Amazon. After I started selling more books, I snagged a Freewrite (which I'm totally in love with). I have the Limited-Edition Hemingwrite and the Traveler. Between the two of them, I can churn out about 10K words/day.

These devices allow me to write without the temptation to click a browser or a social media icon. One principle that I've learned (thank you Dani Johnson) through the years is focus. Now, multitasking is a skill that I admire. My wife is a multitasker. But when you need to focus on something, you need to be able to focus on one thing at a time. If I'm writing, I need to focus 100% on writing. When I'm not writing and I'm with family I need to focus 100% on my wife and kids. Now, I struggle with this to a point. I find myself, often, in my head since ideas about whatever books I'm writing tend to come to me at any moment. This is a work in progress. To prove the point--just look at the coffee cup my wife had made for me a year or so ago! Ha!!!

Still, the notion of giving each activity in your life the focus it deserves is a concept that can be revolutionary. By learning to embrace the moment, I think, rather than thinking about what comes next, is a recipe for a happier life.

I know this was a long one! But, I figured, since I'd received the "how do you write so many books so quickly" question so often I'd go ahead and give you the long more than the short of it! Now, to brace myself for another 100 degree day in the heartland!

Best!