First Time Authors: Stop Procrastinating & Overcome Your Daily Writing Challenge Using This Simple No-Brainer Writing Technique

It's 9:10 PM on a Sunday and I just completed writing 991 words of my daily writing challenge.

Today's writing journey was a bit challenging. 

But challenges are something an author never gives into.
Here was the challenge I faced...

Today being Sunday, my brain decided to go on a holiday.

How much ever I tried I did not come up with any idea that I could write on to keep the momentum going in the writing challenge taken up by me.

Can any one of you relate to this?

What did I do?

I told my brain - 

'Nothing doing. I am your boss and you will have to do what I command.'

I created a question out of what I was experiencing...

"What should I do when I can't think of writing anything but MUST WRITE?"

I thought about it as I went ahead with my daily chores and finally, the answer struck me. 

I decided - 'My answer to this question is going to be the content of my daily writing challenge.'

I got all excited and started typing in the notepad on my smartphone. My finger ran over the keyboard on my smartphone punching in the words.

After I completed it and checked the word count, I found that I had written 991 words.

Not bad, on a day when I had nothing to write on! 

What do you think?

Here's what I wrote...

Have you ever experienced this on a Sunday or any holiday?

You have to write your daily quota of words and your mind goes - "What? Today is Sunday! C'mon, give me a break"

It refuses to support you and goes blank.

I am sure, if you are an aspiring Author you must have experienced this situation a lot.

How much ever you try, you hit a blank wall.

What do we do in such a situation where we don't have support from our brain? 

When our brain just refuses to help?

Do we give up and break our consistency?

Do we give up and give in to the challenge staring at us?

If we do that we will be risking our careers as an author.

We don't want that at any cost, do we?

Of course not!

We have been there - If we break our consistency one day it becomes harder to start the next day.

I also experienced the same feeling today, on a Sunday.
But I didn't want my brain to win. I wanted 'Me' to win.

I started thinking - what's the way out?

After giving it a lot of thought I got an idea! 

I don't know whether it's a brilliant idea, but the idea excited me. 

And I am going to share with you this very idea.
Here's how the idea developed...

If my mind is unwilling to help me create new ideas that I can write why not use this day to learn something that will help me in my Authorpreneur journey?

But the action has to be practical, not just watching a video or just reading a book.

If this has to be the case, what should I do?

Forcing my brain to think, I came up with the right action. I knew what I had to do!

I'll share it with you in just a second.

First I would like to share with you some advice that I got when I was in my early twenties.

A senior person told me that if you want to think like a 40-year-old person then read the books the 40-year-old person reads.

This lesson has stuck with me since then. I keep on modifying it in various situations.

The same advice I have modified and am presenting to you.
Here's what I decided to do and you too can follow...

If you want to write like a bestseller author or your favourite author, practice writing verbatim what your favourite author has already written and published.

Is it a bit confusing or foggy?

Let me explain it in detail so that you can start practising immediately.

Go to your bookshelf and pick up a book from your favourite author.

[Hope you have a collection of books from your favourite author.]

Open the first chapter of that book.

Now grab a notebook and a pen.

Start copying and writing in your notebook word by word whatever is written on the page.

You might find this strange...

You might be wondering - 

"But Rakesh, how will this help me become a better author?"

 I know this action sounds boring, uninspiring and very unromantic right now, but it will do a great deal to develop your brain.

How do I know?

I have tried it.

Let's go into a flashback...

When you first read that chapter, you might have skipped a few words and were happy just understanding the gist.

That time you were reading the book like a reader.

Now the role has reversed.

Now you want to be a bestseller author.

When you write, you will slow down because you are copying from the book. 

And also, you don't have a target to finish writing a page or chapter from the book in a stipulated time frame. 

Your brain might tell you to hurry and finish it off. But don't listen to your brain.

Command your brain that this is not something you want to get over with, fast.

You want to learn how your favourite author plays with the words to create a bestseller.

Tell your brain to slow down and enjoy the process.

So, let's get on with it...

How do you write it?

You read one line from the book and then write it in your notebook. Then you go to the second line and write it in your notebook. And you keep continuing till you have written the entire page or chapter.

You can also type it if you want but don't hurry the process. You are not doing a job of a typist.

Feel the emotion as you write the sentence. You are trying to understand what your favourite author was thinking when he was writing this line.

Here's how you will benefit as a writer by doing this activity:

1] You will learn how your favourite author begins the chapter.

2] You will learn the vocabulary used by the author.

3] You will learn how the author structures his thoughts in sentences and creates a flow that captures the reader's attention.

4] You will develop your muscle memory as you write the exact words from the book. This way when you write your original book, thoughts will flow from inside of you.

As I said earlier, don't hurry. If you want to stop after some time, just stop. You can continue later on.

Move ahead one paragraph at a time, if required. Focus on the transitions as the author goes to the next paragraph.

As you write, chew on each word. These are the words, maybe after many rewrites, the writer finally used to express his thoughts.

In Conclusion

If you follow this step you will shorten your learning curve as an author.

You will learn new words and develop a strong vocabulary.

Slowly and steadily your mind will start thinking like your favourite author.

It has worked for me and I am sure it will work for you.

I wish you all the best in your author journey.

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