Do you have a writing dream you’ve been putting off for years?

Do you ache to let out the story ideas swirling in your soul?

When people ask: “how’s your screenplay/novel/script/blog coming along?” do you always say “I’m still working on it!” year after year with no progress?

If so, you are a writer in the rough, a budding creator, an almost-artist.

But “almost” is not enough.

The compost heap of history is littered with the moldering bodies of “creative” people who never created anything, because they were too busy pleasing their bosses, pacifying their peers, and taking care of everyone and everything instead of developing their talents.

Are you about to become one of them?

The truth is, everyone has the same amount of time every day.

24 hours, no more, no less. Take some time to sleep, to eat, to work, to hang out with family and friends, and you still have discretionary time to do with as you wish.

What are you doing with that time?

Real-Life Writing MACHINES

Did you know that…

• Romance novelist Barbara Cartland wrote 723 novels in her lifetime. That’s approximately 9 NOVELS A YEAR
• Stephen King writes 2,000 words a day, every day.
• The annual National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Challenge includes a group of ultra-writers who write up to 1,000,000 words IN 30 DAYS!

If they can do it, why can’t you?

Granted, you may not want to write 700+ novels, 2,000 words every day, or a million words in a month.

But you DO want to finish your novel, write your poems and short stories, become a dependable blogger…in other words, you want to be a real writer.

And you know what?

Your writing goals are TOTALLY within your reach.

So why haven’t you achieved them yet?

The thing is, it’s not your fault

Most people don’t achieve great goals because they don’t have the structure and support they need.

Let’s face it, we all get discouraged sometimes. We all have moments when the self-doubt and temptation to be lazy feels overwhelming. And not everyone has the inner willpower to pull themselves out of the hole alone.

That’s why you need 2 things: 1) a plan or strategy and 2) an outside force, pushing you, encouraging you when you feel like giving up, getting you through the dip and back on track.

How I Went From Unaccomplished Dabbler to Writing MACHINE

I am a writer. Not only do I create multiple types of written projects (nonfiction and fiction, short pieces and longer ones), I also earn money from it.

But it didn’t all start out rainbows and butterflies.

In the past, I wrote whenever I felt like it, quit whenever I felt like it and never finished anything bigger than a five-page short story.

And then, I changed. In less than a year, I wrote:

• a 75,000-word novel
• 60+ short stories
• 53 poems and songs
• A 4-act 16,000-word musical
• 500+ articles
• 30+ detailed book notes
• …Oh, and I read more than 144 books while I was at it.

In other words, I learned to sidestep self-doubt, crush writer’s block, and become a writing machine.

But I’ll tell you more about how I did all of that in a bit.

First, let me share with you why most aspiring writers fail to complete their Great Projects, and what YOU can do to avoid being one of them:

The Science of Dream Achievement Part 1: Dreamline Your Future

In his book Give and Take, author Adam Grant mentions an experiment in which people were asked to perform 5 random acts of kindness per week.

One group was told to do all of their acts of kindnesses in ONE day, the other group told to spread them out  and  perform one act per day.

Guess which group benefited most from the experiment?

The answer might surprise you:

It was the first group.

Apparently, people who spread out their acts of kindness did not feel the power of generosity as strongly as those who performed 5 acts of kindness in one day. Clustering their behaviors somehow elevated the effect of giving and made people feel happier with themselves and their lives.

Similarly, Tim Ferris, bestselling author and human guinea pig extraordinaire, advocates the idea of “dreamlining.” That is, applying 3-6 month timelines to what most people would consider crazy dreams.

It’s like goal setting, except the goals have to be a bit unrealistic:

“Doing the unrealistic is easier than doing the realistic.”— Tim Ferris

The idea is, when people have a relatively short period of time to do something they’ve never done before, something crazy (write a novel, travel the world, become fluent in another language) they’re more likely to achieve their goal than if they give themselves years (or the rest of their lives) to do it.

Because they are CLUSTERING their actions, concentrating them into a small period of time, they FEEL more productive, and they ARE more productive.

Unfocused light only casts a fuzzy glow on whatever it hits. But laser-focused light can burn a hole through paper and start a bonfire!

If you want to write a novel, it’s better sit down and make yourself DO IT in 3 months or less, than allow yourself to dabble on and off for the next 30+ years.

If you do the former, you’ll have your first draft finished in 90 days. If you do the latter, you may die before you finish writing and NEVER complete your book. Ever.

Tim Ferris, for instance, likes to treat his life as “six-month projects,” experimenting with different project-achieving methods every 2 weeks.

But, okay. Not everyone is a Tim Ferriss. 3–6 months might be a bit too long for you. And 2 weeks is much too short. One unexpected event and you’re thrown off forever.

Well then, how about ONE month? ANYBODY can persist in doing something crazy every day for ONE MONTH, can’t they?

Sure they can.

Make that: Sure YOU can.

The Science of Dream Achievement Pt. 2: Finding Your Source of Power

Some people are willpower wizards. Self-discipline superheroes. They can make themselves do anything, anytime, for as long as it takes.

Sadly, I am not one of those people.

And if you’re reading this, chances are, neither are you.

For folks like us, another source of power is needed, an external force.

For some, this outside force takes the form of inspirational material and practical how-to guides.

For others, the outside force involves other people — supportive partners keeping you accountable for what you said you’d do through positive or negative reinforcement.

But where are YOU going to find the support and strategies you need?

Keep reading:

The Batch Method to Insane Writing Productivity

Remember how I told you earlier that I’ve written a novel, a musical, 50+ songs, 400+ articles, and read 144 books? You might be wondering: How long did it take me to do all this?

Answer: I did ALL of the above in less than one year.

• I wrote the novel in 10 weeks
• I wrote the 60 short stories in 2 months.
• I wrote the 50+ poem/songs in one month, and completed the subsequent musical in two weeks.
• Of those 540+ articles I wrote, approximately 100 of them were written in one month, when I challenged myself to complete 3–6 articles PER DAY.
• And in July 2018, I read 19 books in 31 days, turning 9 of those books into detailed book notes.

The key is, I achieved all of these things in short, sustained bursts, with deep rest periods in between. I call it the “batch method.”

And let me tell you, the batch method works.

Having experimented with the best time frame for accomplishing “unrealistic” writing projects, I’ve found that one month, 30–31 days, works pretty well for accomplish medium-length projects.

And that’s why I decided to share my specific system with you:

Ignite Your Writing Fire!

This is the simple but powerful system for writers who want to be insanely productive:

• You complete 6 writing sprints throughout the year (say, during the odd-numbered months: Jan/March/May/July/Sept/Nov).
• During the “sprint” month, you set your own daily goal (Write 1,000 words per day? Write 1 short story per day? Read/write one new chapter per day? Read one book per week?), publicly commit to it, and record your progress regularly.
• During the “off” months, you take time to rest and recover, then edit and plan for the next sprint.
• To make sure you don’t break your promise to yourself, gamify the process by linking up with accountability partners, rewards, and penalties.

(Think about it: If you write a story or article or 100 words a day starting today, in 30 days, you’ll have 30 stories, 30 articles or 3,000 words!

But if you don’t, you’ll be 30 days older and STILL have nothing to show for it. Zero stories. Zero articles. Zero words.)

The system is simple, but not many use it. Now, I know what you’re thinking…

That Sounds Great! But Can I Do it All Alone?

Implementing such a system alone is possible, but over time, it’s easy to lose motivation, get lazy, fall off the wagon and never climb back on.

To counteract this, you need other people to encourage, push, and propel you forward when you don’t feel like moving.

You need someone to hold you accountable, to remind you of your goal on a regular basis.

If you’re looking for something like that, check this out:

Writers, Ignited includes accountability, gamification, rewards and penalties to keep writers on their toes.

Unfortunately, this program is only open during limited windows of time. The limited registration periods are designed to keep things organized and make sure the community doesn’t get overwhelmed by too many people jumping in and out at random.

To be notified when the next window opens, join the waiting list HERE*

One Question Remains…

You are a writer. You know that deep inside.

So are you going to delay your writing goals for another day, another year, another decade?

Are you going to keep putting off the stories and articles clamoring inside your head, just because you’re too busy or too tired or too scared?

Are you going to deny your readers the chance to benefit from your writing?

Don’t wait another day to realize your dream. Don’t shortchange yourself or your audience. Stop putting off your project, or one day you may turn around and find that you’ve run out of time.

It’s time to ignite your writing dreams, and make them a reality.

You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.