Finishing a manuscript isn’t an easy task. I’ll be the first to tell you that sitting in your chair and writing for hours and hours can be tiring when you think about it. And that’s just the writing part! Then there’s editing! All of it’s enough to make any writer run screaming away from their desk.

For me, it’s all about finishing that first draft. With no manuscript, I have nothing to edit. But reaching that first draft for me is hard as hell. First of all, I’m a plotster. (I’m a plotter who goes by the seat of my pants between major plot points.) When I’m writing, I need that goal point or I’ll just sit there and write in circles. Or if I know too much about the story is going, I’ll be bored and write crap. (Or, as crit partners have told me, I’ll focus on something that has nothing to do with the plot.) Second, I can be easily distracted by shiny things if I’m not in the zone. Especially during slower scenes. As an adrenaline junkie, I fly through action scenes or anything with high emotional conflict. Everything else just rolls on by and take times to get them out.

So, how do I combat these problems and write a first draft in 3-4 months? (My average time to finish a book.) I sprint! Sprinting out a book is part of my writing process, but it’s not for everyone. I know some writers that will cringe by the time they finish reading this blog post. They need to perfect each page as it comes out. Their internal editor would drive them personally to the nut house if they wrote how I do. But for me, I would let a manuscript sit and sit if I didn’t just get the words on the page. This isn’t a great use of my time since I have kiddos and other things to worry about.

What’s my process? I thought you’d never ask.

My Process:

1. Open Write or Die by Dr. Wicked. Turn off the backspace key. (Nope, not kidding.)

2. Set the timer for 1000 words in 30 minutes or 1500 words in 45 minutes. (Depends on my mood. Sustaining my speed for an hour is very hard.)

3. Tell the internal editor to go to hell. I write with a part of my mind spitting out words, another part to trying keep me on task. What should ultimately happen in this scene? What motivates so-and-so to do what they just did? I don’t care if the following happens.

a. Misspelled words

b. Repeated words

c. Poorly constructed phrases

4. When I get stuck or slowed down, I put that scene into brackets so I can come back later. It also works with scenery and descriptions of people. Why spend time thinking up the color of someone’s hair? I got a first draft to finish!

[Nat argues with a harpy.]

[Describe the shop.]

[Go deeper with the feelings here.]

[Scene is boring. Come back to add conflict.]

5. Write or Die eventually tells me I’m done. I copy my words into Microsoft Notepad to remove any formatting. Then I paste the results into Word. To clean up the commas and quotes, I do a search and replace for them. It cleans them up and makes them pretty.

6. I add my word count into my accountability chart in Microsoft Excel where I track my word count every day.

That’s it. Yes, it’s insane. The end results are atrocious. But it works for me since I spend a lot of time editing anyway. I’ve learned and accepted my writing process. (And what happens to my house when this happens as well…) I need that ticking clock to be an incessant bitch forcing me to get those words out. Yes, I written crap that had to be scrapped or great words I loved. But to keep me working and using my time effectively this method works for me.  I wish I had the focus and the time to make each page perfect. Hell, I’d pay money for that kind of patience.

My tips:

- Take breaks after each sprint. Take a walk or do a chore. Your eyes and hands will get tired first so be nice to them.

- When you really get stuck, skip the whole scene until you get to a point where your brain is ready to work. If you write dialogue for the sprint, then you’ve still written something. (You’ll be editing that sucker, but hey, you’ve got something!)

- Clean up your work, but don’t trash it. You’d be surprised what you thought was trash could be golden trash in another part of your book. Start up that chapter where homeless sections go and stick it in there.

So, am I the only one who writes like this? Anyone else sprint to finish their first drafts?