Full transcript
0:00Hello everyone. Welcome to this
0:01incredibly important video. You guys
0:03probably don't understand how important
0:05this step is because what I'm going to
0:06teach you today is probably the number
0:08one thing that separates
0:11uh successful writers in the long term
0:13from unsuccessful writers. And it's it's
0:17essentially creating a steady writing
0:19habit. And in this video, we're going to
0:21walk through how to do that and what to
0:24do because a lot of people have very bad
0:27ideas of what writing should look like.
0:30Ideas that if you continue with that
0:33mindset, you are not going to succeed as
0:36a writer. So, let's dive in and get into
0:38this presentation. All right. So, the
0:40this is uh just a very quick
0:44presentation that I put together about
0:45how writing habits equals success. And I
0:49want to start with this quote that I
0:51absolutely love. It's attributed to
0:52Peter Dere, but I really like if you if
0:56you look this up, he's definitely not
0:58the first person to have said it. Lots
0:59of other people have said it, but
1:01there's kind of some confusion about who
1:02said it first. U so uh but this
1:05particular quote is attributed to him,
1:07this uh this iteration of it where he
1:09said, "I only write when I'm inspired,
1:11and I see to it that I'm inspired at
1:139:00 every morning." And I just love
1:15that uh because a lot of authors had
1:17this really erroneous idea that they can
1:22only write when the muse strikes, right?
1:25And
1:26that is completely untrue. Getting
1:29creative is a habit that can be trained
1:32and can be learned and can be improved.
1:34It's not something that just comes. I
1:36mean, sometimes it does. Sometimes
1:38you're in the shower and you get this
1:39like lightning bolt of inspiration and
1:42you need to go like, you know, get out
1:44of the shower, write it down somewhere
1:45that, you know, those things happen of
1:47course, but you can also train yourself
1:49to get into that flow state at any time.
1:53Uh, but you're not going to do it unless
1:55you start setting some significant
1:56habits. So, uh, people often get into
2:00writing just in their free time. And I
2:02get this like if if you've got a day
2:04job, if you've got um you know, maybe
2:07you're a mother with kids and you've got
2:09all this stuff, you don't have a lot of
2:11time. And so it's just, you know,
2:14writing a book just becomes this thing
2:16that you do in your free time or on the
2:18side when you get around to it, right?
2:20And that's fine if if that works for
2:22you. If it's just a little bit of a
2:24hobby, a creative outlet, like you can
2:25just stick with that and that that'll be
2:27fine. But if you want to succeed as an
2:31author, meaning like financially or
2:33critically, you know, whatever your
2:35definition of success is, you're going
2:37to need to start thinking about writing
2:39and uh your author business a little bit
2:41differently. First of all, you need to
2:43take your work seriously. This is not
2:45just something that you get around to
2:46when you can. This is something that you
2:49need to spend a lot of time on. And
2:52second, you need to work on mastering
2:54your craft, right? Nobody comes out of
2:56the gate writing well. Nobody is born as
3:00an expert writer. All of the best
3:02writers out there were once horrible at
3:04it. And that's going to be the case for
3:05you, too. The first stuff that you write
3:07is not going to be the best stuff. So,
3:09that means that you need to spend
3:12regular amounts of time getting the
3:14hours and the reps in so that you
3:16eventually improve as a writer. The best
3:18way to do that is through actual
3:20writing. But there's also learning that
3:21needs to happen. There is practice.
3:23There is feedback from an editor, all
3:26sorts of different ways that you can
3:28improve your craft. But this is
3:30ultimately going to be the most
3:31important reason why you need to set a
3:33habit is to improve your own craft as a
3:36writer. Because if you don't do that,
3:38then your writing is just going to suck.
3:40And uh even if you're using AI to help
3:42you, AI in the hands of a skilled writer
3:47is always going to be better than AI in
3:49the hands of a non-skilled writer. You
3:51know, that's just how it works. So, you
3:53have to put in some effort and some
3:55reps. You also need to focus on learning
3:58new skills because uh in this day and
4:00age, you need to be more than just a
4:03good writer to succeed as a writer. And
4:05that's an unfortunate reality that we
4:07live in right now. Even if you got
4:09traditionally published by Random House
4:11or whoever, they don't do a lot of the
4:13work that they used to. and they kind of
4:15expect you to do a lot of marketing and
4:17and and uh they often pick authors who
4:20already have large followings. So, if
4:22you want to succeed as an author, you
4:24are likely going to have to develop some
4:26new skills like marketing, like learning
4:29what branding is, uh your book cover,
4:32your book description, making sure those
4:33things match the genres and all of that
4:35genre research. There's all kinds of
4:37things that an author needs to learn.
4:39And this is actually why in my group I
4:41kind of have this laid out in in a sort
4:44of steady breadcrumbs path to not just
4:48learning how to write with AI ethically
4:50in a way that doesn't interfere with
4:52your creativity, but in uh I also we go
4:56through some of the basics of marketing
4:57and getting it started and all of that.
5:00And so if you're interested in that, go
5:01check out the link down below. But
5:03unfortunately, there is no
5:04one-sizefits-all when it comes to
5:07writing habits that I can prescribe for
5:09everyone. That's just not the way it
5:10works. But there are a few, I would call
5:13them keystone habits that you do
5:15probably want to focus on. And uh and
5:18I'll give you some ways of adapting
5:19those as as you need to. Uh so the first
5:23is just marking a regular time on your
5:26calendar to write. And when you're doing
5:29this, you want to make sure that you are
5:31marking down a specific time and have
5:35specific goals in mind for what you're
5:36going to accomplish in that time.
5:38Because I know for myself, I have had
5:40many instances where I've gotten, you
5:43know, I've sat down at the time
5:44appointed and I just sort of like spend
5:48too much time figuring out what I want
5:49to do.
5:51Instead, you should probably have a
5:52specific goal like uh writing one
5:55chapter or writing a thousand words or
5:58whatever your goal may be. Um, and
6:02having that as a regular goal uh each
6:05day, ideally, each time you sit down to
6:08write. Um, but you might also have
6:10specific goals for specific days. Um,
6:14this also I'm not one of those people
6:15that says you need to write every single
6:17day because I don't think that is
6:19necessarily
6:21possible for a lot of beginner writers
6:23and it can be more discouraging than it
6:25is helpful. But I do think that your
6:28time that you schedule in your calendar
6:31for writing should be regular. Uh, I
6:34have a favorite author named Jeff
6:35Wheeler, and I read his memoir about
6:37when before he was a successful
6:38full-time writer. He would just have
6:41like a three-hour block on Wednesday.
6:43That that was his writing time. But, and
6:46he was very consistent with that
6:48three-hour block just on Wednesday. He
6:50unfortunately he had like a really
6:52demanding job and uh he was involved in
6:54his church and with his family and
6:56everything. So, that was the only time
6:57he could carve out. If that's all you
6:59can do, do that, right? Find a time
7:02weekly, maybe on weekends, maybe on a
7:04Wednesday, you know, whenever works for
7:05you, and just stick to it. The most
7:07important thing that you do can do is
7:09stick to it. Um, two,
7:12uh, you're going to need to set some
7:13time aside for things other than
7:16writing. You'll probably want to set
7:18some time around for reading a book, uh,
7:20or learn, you know, taking a course or
7:23something like that. So, we're we're
7:25going beyond writing. Uh, and also like
7:27if you finished a book, you you also
7:29want to put some time aside to market
7:31that book and everything effectively.
7:33Otherwise, you're going to lose track of
7:35what needs to be done because there's
7:37always a balance between writing more
7:40but also promoting what you have and all
7:42of that. So, all of that needs to be uh
7:45set aside if you want to be successful
7:47and treat your author business like a
7:49business, right? Um, the third tip I
7:53have here is to find a good setting. And
7:55this can vary wildly depending on the
7:56different person. Uh some people need
7:58complete silence, in which case you
8:00might want to be getting up super early
8:02if you have like kids or or people that
8:05might bother you. Um I know I know
8:08people that get up at 4:00 a.m. to do
8:09their writing, which to me is kind of
8:11like crazy because uh for me to get up
8:14at 4:00 a.m. I need to go to bed at like
8:167 to get enough sleep because that's
8:19just uh sleep is a huge priority for me.
8:23But if you're one of those people that
8:25really needs everything silent and
8:27still, getting up that early might be
8:29helpful for you. Or alternatively,
8:31waiting until everybody's gone to sleep.
8:33It really depends on the person. Uh some
8:36people like music or they might like
8:38going to a coffee shop. I actually find
8:40that, you know, the coffee shop can be a
8:41good thing if you don't mind the
8:43distractions around you because it can
8:45be helpful to actually have a separate
8:48place to go where like what you do is
8:52right. And that's like your time for it.
8:54Um it's like going to an office except
8:57it's going to a coffee shop, right? Uh
8:59and then music, if you like music, music
9:01can be really helpful as well for some
9:03people. U for others less so. I find
9:05it's really helpful for myself because
9:06I'm like mildly ADHD. And so
9:10having music kind of occupies a little
9:12bit of of that uh busy part of my brain
9:15so that I can actually focus better. Uh
9:17it's kind it's kind of weird how that
9:19works. Um anyway, step four is to just
9:22do it right. I don't really have to say
9:24anything more about that. You need to
9:26actually stick to the schedule and the
9:28setting that you've outlined for
9:30yourself. And you may find that not
9:31everything works perfectly and you can
9:32adjust the schedule and everything.
9:34That's all fine. But the important thing
9:36with all this is we can't just be stuck
9:38in a planning phase. We actually have to
9:40take action. And so that is the fourth
9:43step. And that's really all I have to
9:44share with you today. This is a really
9:46important topic and so that's why I
9:48wanted to cover it in a dedicated video.
9:49I know some people are not going to be
9:51taking this seriously, but if you want
9:53to learn more about the writing process
9:55and everything that goes into it, as
9:56well as how to write books with AI
9:59without sacrificing your creativity, go
10:01ahead and check out my link to the
10:02StoryHacker Gold program down below. and
10:05I will hopefully see you