The idea of sitting down at your computer and writing the first draft of a novel—an entire 80,000 word (or more) novel—can be daunting. An obstacle so tall and formidable that you might be dissuaded from even starting. But I’ve got an easy-to-implement method that will help you get that draft written with a minimum of pain and suffering (oh, there will be pain and suffering, but this method will help keep you from pulling out all of your hair).
Just sit back and rely on the quota.
Here’s how it works. Take your end goal, say 80,000 words, and divide it by the number of days you have until your deadline. If you don’t have any kind of firm deadline, pick a number, like three months (sixty days—you get your weekends off!). Dividing 80,000 by 60 results in a daily quota of 1333 words per day. Why, you can knock that off in an hour and a half! (Okay, two hours, tops.) As a reward, once your goal is reached, you’re free to do whatever else you want that day (yes, even Facebook)!
If you hit your daily quota, then in three short months, you’ll have an 80,000-word draft of a novel.
Of course, then comes the fun part.
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