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After my first NaNoWriMo, and experiencing first-hand how motivating it was to see my daily progress, I was desperate to find a good way to keep track of my writing once November was over. First, I printed a calendar and kept track through that, but I soon forgot to write down my word count, especially on those nights I stayed up late, had to walk over to my bookcase, grab the calendar…

Once I realised an actual calendar wasn’t working for me, I tried to create my own Excel sheet, and while I was trying to get those formulas right (Excel isn’t really my forte), John Robin, the author of the Your Daily Journal: 100 Day Starter, mentioned his Awesome Daily Writers Spreadsheet in our NaNoWriMo accountability group, and did I want to join that perhaps? I’ll admit I still don’t understand the way the Spreadsheet keeps score, but I always add my word count at the end of a writing session now! I do still struggle with writing every day, which you will see if you join us, and which John never fails to remind me of 😉

Awesome Daily Writers Spreadsheet

Welcome back, John! Tell us, what is the Awesome Daily Writers Spreadsheet?

The Awesome Daily Writers Spreadsheet is an alternative to NaNoWriMo for writers who want to write a bit every day and not stress over word count. It helps writers see the big picture and seed a habit that defines a career, not just get through a novel.

In a D&D-style scoring system, you’re rewarded experience points based on what you write each day, which add up to raise your level over time. You can see what other writers on the sheet are doing, which often gives you that added motivation to spend more time writing than you’d otherwise think to.

How is the Awesome Daily Writers Spreadsheet different from everything else out there?

Most competitive spreadsheets involve minimum word counts. For example, the Magic Spreadsheet requires a minimum quota of 250 words / day, which increases every time you ‘level up’ (inevitable as you keep writing). In many writers, this creates a sense of guilt or competitiveness that throws the whole balance of life out of whack.Read More →

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Remember that crazy time I posted a Dutch interview… The horror, right?! Lucky for us, Maria Staal, together with Eva Kattz, has another book out, and this one’s in English!

So who are Eva Kattz and Maria Staal, authors of Fiction Builder! Outlining and Plotting your Novel in Three Constructive steps?

Eva and Maria are two friends who, unknown to each other, both set out to write fiction. Eva wrote a number of short stories and novelettes and became reasonably comfortable playing around with words. However, any attempts beyond 30K words inevitably fell apart. Maria at least managed to make it to a 50K words first draft, but without the help of a decent outline, her story became hopelessly stranded in a curiously plot-less world.

While Eva went looking for a How To book or course to help her finish her more extensive outlines, Maria realised she was so new to fiction that she still adhered to the Greatest Myth in Writer’s Land, otherwise known as ‘a magnificent story will come to you if you just sit down behind the keyboard and write!’ They decided to throw their resources together and soon discovered they could have been far more creative and productive years before, if they just had known how to outline properly.

Together they developed a new writing technique that starts where all the other How To Write books stop. Eva’s intuitive approach and vast knowledge of writing techniques perfectly combined with Maria’s practical, pioneering spirit. Now, they both use their own Fiction Builder method to write successful genre fiction.

Fiction Builder!

What is Fiction Builder! about?

Our book is a guide for every author with loads of good story ideas, but who struggles with completing an actual first draft. They end up thinking they are ‘bad’ writers, or, worse, that they lack talent. Fiction Builder! is meant to show these authors that there’s no such thing as a ‘bad’ writer. Anyone can develop their writing skills, and plotting is a vital part of that.Read More →

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In the following weeks, I’ll be shining a light on the idea of being a “prolific” writer. Today, I will share the second question I ask when trying to figure out what my clients want from their writing – What does “making a living” mean to  you?

Figure out YOUR financial goal

There are so so many articles out there that will tell you about writers who managed to start earning a 6-figure income through their writing, and how you yourself can become as successful within the next 2 to 5 years. Earning that much money through your writing sounds absolutely fabulous, but do you really need that kind of money? Is that truly a goal you have to set for yourself? Or is it far from what you need?

We all know that there are particular standards that differ per country/culture as to what making a living amounts to. There are numbers we look up to, numbers we look down upon, and numbers we would be ok with. Often, however, the numbers we would be ok with are higher than we would need to live our lives comfortably enough (which is the basic meaning of making a living, after all).

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If you want to become a writer and make a living as a writer, it is important to write more than one book. It’s also considered an absolute necessity to write these books at a certain interval, so that your readers don’t forget about your very existence. I bet this doesn’t come as a surprise.

However, if you’re new to the playing field and go online, searching for keywords such as ‘how to become a writer?’, ‘writing tips and tricks’, and ‘how to make a living as a writer?’, you might notice (actually, it’s quite hard not to notice) how much emphasis there is these days on being prolific— especially so if you find yourself in the world of self- or Indie publishing.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve fallen in love with Indie publishing a long time ago and there’s no community I’d rather be in, but that doesn’t take away the fact that there is enormous emphasis on how many words you write each day, how many novels you intend to publish in the next year, whether you made it through NaNoWriMo, and so on.Read More →