This 1-Minute Habit Helped Me Write 1 Million Words
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- čas přidán 11. 06. 2024
- You can use the principles in the video to make your own writing tracker, or you can get the one I've spent 6+ years refining here: jedherne.com/tracker
⏲️ TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Introduction
00:37 - The psychology of motivation
02:17 - Gamify your writing
03:42 - The Seinfeld Rule
05:14 - The One-Up Principle
07:16 - The Belief Booster
✏️ WORK WITH ME TO PLAN YOUR NOVEL:
Apply for my 7-week Fantasy Outlining Bootcamp: jedherne.com/outline
🚀 BECOME A FASTER WRITER:
Join my Easy Writing Habits course: easywritinghabits.com/
📙 MY BOOKS:
Across the Broken Stars: jedherne.com/acrossthebrokens...
The Thunder Heist: jedherne.com/thethunderheist/
Fires of the Dead: jedherne.com/firesofthedead
Kingdom of Dragons: www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
🎮 MY VIDEO GAME:
Siege of Treboulain: jedherne.com/siege-of-treboul...
🔨 MY FAVOURITE WRITING TOOLS:
Freewrite Traveller (distraction-free writing laptop): getfreewrite.com/?rstr=6485 - use my affiliate link for a 5% discount.
ProWritingAid (great editing software): jedherne.com/prowritingaid - 10% discount with my affiliate link.
Scene Structure Template: jedherne.gumroad.com/l/scene - Jak na to + styl
Just downloaded your tracker and super excited to jump in! Thanks for the extra boost of motivation!! Love your vids!
I've been writing in a serious sense for seven years. My method is simple: Be your first customer. Even if you never sell a book, have fun with your own stories. I write and rewrite my own stories as I make them better. Word count doesn't matter. Time writing doesn't matter. All that matters is I manage to write some.
I would be curious to see a video like: A Day in the Life of a Professional Author. How do you budget your time between writing, CZcams videos, helping clients, and your own free time. Could be fun
That last point was the best: build belief on facts and results.
Wow, you too wrote Pokémon fanfiction? I started writing seriously with Pokémon fanfiction: three novel-length stories, a playscript, and a slew of short stories. Now I have a 165k manuscript for an original novel and currently looking for a literary agent, and I started a second book yesterday!
Keep up the good work, and thanks for this handy advice. I haven't needed a tracker so far, but if I ever lose motivation, I'll keep this in mind. Happy writing!
I can say that just starting can work. I doubt I will ever break my record, but I'd like to share it just to show how much can be done. In college I was writing my 2nd book, one day I woke up and just started writing, I kept writing until it got dark. By the time I finished, I wrote 50 pages! out of a 400 by the time I was done. I was proud of it and got a lot of good reviews when I had paperbacks made and sold them in my hometown (I wasn't 100% confident if my story was good and be liked.) I haven't broken my record since, but I still try everyone now and then and it keeps me motivated, so this trick of keeping track is golden!
For any that were curious, I did self-publish the book a couple years ago but decided to take that book down from amazon recently so I could rewrite it as I feel like I'm a much more skilled writer after creating more stories. I just need to get better at getting my books out there as I am horrible at marketing myself, lol.
I had not written properly for my main project in years, just constantly starting up side projects and abandoning them. But in the last month I have written over thirteen thousand words for my main project and 100% I wouldn't have if I hadn't found this video and the tracker. Thank god for you.
I'm a stats guy. I haven't implemented this yet (just finished the video), but I can tell this is one of the best pieces of advice / methodologies I could have seen to get me jumpstarted and improving. Thank you for this!
What really pushes me to write is having to produce chapters for my critique group to read.
Thank you! I'm going to try that calendar thing! It's much more productive than day-dreaming!
It's crazy, I'm already doing the spreadsheet thing ! I love it when some of my instincts happens to be right. I did it just out of self discipline, but I didn't know how much motivation it gave me, until I saw your video. I thought It only kept me in check, but now that I think about it. Those numbers do make me feel like I'm winning against the mountain of word count that is tower over me as a goal, one pickax blow at the time.
I have a spreadsheet like this already. It isn't just for writing: there's one sheet for physical (exercises) and one for mental (craft (writing, drawing, coding, etc), meditation, socialising, etc). It didn't go down into what the specific craft or activity was, or the quality of it, so it was just tracking time (it's hard to put a word count on a drawing). It's been very useful for keeping me honest... Except where it made me dishonest. Those days where, as you described, you get to the end of the day and haven't done anything yet: I've had days when I've very much gone "I can't do more than five minutes, and I know I won't do it properly/ seriously" and I've done a very dutiful and half-hearted five minutes, that wouldn't count under other circumstances, just so that I don't break the chain. Being honest with yourself about the effort and intent is important, as is being willing to admit that sometimes you just don't get the chance that day.
Bro, I’ve watched so many Find Your Writing Motivation videos on CZcams but this one just SPEAKS to me. I will definitely start tracking my writing like this. Thank you, Jed!
Needed this one, Jed. I ha e a tracker for all my writing-related things, and I'm just getting back into my writing groove, but I'm dangerously close to falling into a state of apathy with it bc I'm giving myself too much credit for non-writing activities. Time to amend it and get back to writing actual words!
That is super helpful, thanks Jed!! I love this idea and it makes a whole lot of sense!
This is a great concept Jed!
Your videos and podcast have helped me a lot! thank you.
Main thing I’m struggling with right now is finishing some sort of outline. I’ve tried to just write a little bit of it then start writing, but it always ends up feeling aimless. The few days I spend an hour or so writing I normally can come away with around 2000 words. Just need to be more consistent with it.
I really hope this will help me! I struggle with writing anything to the end so maybe the gamification will break the streak of failure. Thank you Jed!
Gonna fix up my writing tracker now, I should probably touch it up anyways lol. Once again a great video 👍
Webnovel authors already up millions and millions
great advise
Thanks Jed! Love the "don't break the chain" concept. I find that if I just sit down to put 2 minutes into writing, it easily turns into much more (most of the time) because I enjoy it so much.
If you're a young person, I also encourage you to set some physical goal like "run a marathon" or "bench my weight" or "reach 10% body fat." I learned early on in life that if I put in the hard work, the results follow, and I learned it through physical fitness. Writing a book is intangible--and such a long-term goal--I can see how people get lost and give up. However, even the most epic fantasy novel begins with one word.
I have been writing my story before knowing you, when I started to know about you I decided to watch some of your videos and you content is really great and I have been wondering on how much the course is and on how you get to help people in their own fantasies.
You convinced me. I’ll set up a spreadsheet right meow.
Hah, I never even thought about writing something, but after I accidentally watched some of your videos, I decided to do it right now 😂. There is sooo much helpful and interesting information on your channel! Thanks for work!)
Thank you very much Jed. I really think I needed this video and it's very kind for you to share the tracker freely. Will try to make out the most of it 🙃👎
Writing a novel is like care of a plant. You can take 1-3 days off once in a while if you need to but ignore it too long and it will wither and die in your mind.
I was 12 or 13 when Pong came out. I never saw or felt the draw of video games (though I would occasionally play asteroids & defender), preferring hiking, camping, sailing. Also, even to this day, my first draft of everything I write is in longhand script. I feel that the movement of my hand & arm while writing gives me a better connection to the words than the staccato of typing. (Plus, when you finish there is an actual manuscript sitting on the desk.) Still, analog entries on my calendar does sound like a good idea, though I would probably go with Seinfeld's Xs. Another good video. Keep it up.
Thanks Jed! I started this around a week ago and it's very helpful for forcing me to write as I don't want to see '0' words. I haven't managed to hit 4k though as other things in my life exist annoyingly...
I've been keeping track of my word count for a few months now, and it has been great! Personally, I haven't been trying to 1-up myself. For me, when I get tired and lose motivation, I look at the word count. If it's close to a number dividable by 500, or if it's just low, I usually decide to keep going. I've had a really good average # count so far by using this method and am getting very close to finishing the 1st draft of my newest novel - which I started back in March.
I actually did this exactly thing with an analogue calendar for two years, and it really helped as a beginner! I did stop this last summer because I was adding in analogue writing to my process (my trapper keeper is another good tool that boosted creativity!) and when you’re handwriting your outline or bits of research or even whole scenes (when I get stuck and need a change of environment:) along side computer writing, it’s a little hard to find your word count😂 but I still have the progress of those early years to look back on, mainly to remember that writers block with never last forever, no matter how stuck you feel in the moment! Which is why I had started the log to begin with:) the aspects I still use, no matter what form I’m writing in at the time, is to “not break the chain” no matter how small my progress is that day and to just do the best that I can for the time I sit down to write!
273 words a day, did I do the math right? But if you missed a day the next day is 550, then 820...
Not a slight against the million words crafted to a purpose, just proof anything done repeatedly over a long period of time adds up.
Now I want to know how many left clicks my mouse has on it.
I'm going to offer one how to write more tip.
Overall I write faster by writing poorly, then editing it into something acceptable. So I'd suggest to people trying to buff a daily word count to try going fast, then go back to edit it after. I believe it is faster for me because I have all the words after what I'm currently editing to help frame what I should be writing at my current point. I don't need to split my attention between thinking about what I'm currently writing and how it will change what I'm going to write directly after.
An innovation made vastly easier by the computer word processor and why I hated one and done hand written testing in school.
This suggestion might be terrible for you, but if you haven't tried it you might be missing out on an easy way to boost your count. In the end it's really about getting those numbers up right? After all, if you can't beat a man to death with your book is it really worth reading?
Oh men, I really wanted to get the tracker, but being form a non-dollar based country, is just too expensive for me. 10 dollars is more than R$50,00 reais (brazilian money) wich is like... all my bus tikets for this month
My very first story: a the legend of zelda fanfic
My trick that I learned a little time ago is : the power of mantra as a psychology trick to stress my brain into wanting to do it.
because this is my problem: after I get a reward of my writing, then I lose a little bit of interest in continuing writing
by stressing my brain and avoiding getting the reward, I feel like craving to continue writing.
currently my writing is about 6,000 words a week
but the more I put into practice my mantra, that original 6,000 words keeps increasing and increasing.
originally I was about like 1,500 but over time it got better
now my current drawback is : I CANNOT STOP GOING BACK OVER AND OVER to polish those previous chapters and test them
test what I wrote if its coherent, if its engaging, if its rewarding, if its authentic.
so I'm battling between a week of writing and a week of polishing, while what most people tell is not to do that....
1:40 I have been learning how to drive for quite a while (a couple years), I understand and accept the patient that comes with writing and publishing a novel and I will always keep that in mind whether I’m driving or writing a novel😂❤
I appreciate you sharing your happy with us and will be sure to use it in my future as a writer
Great advice, now I just need to know how to get out of writer's block
I fully embrace the idea of building consistency, but as someone who just is not in any way motivated by calendars or check boxes, I have to take a different approach. Still good advice.
Hi Jed. Recently I’ve been rereading Cal Newport’s “So good they can’t ignore you”. He talks about Deliberate Practice and how one must constantly “Strain” at stretching their skills. He downright rejects Flow state , as if antithetical to improvement.
Can you talk about this? How do you “stretch” your skills as a writer? How do you dissect your favourite authors and emulate their style? Thanks. The writers I want to emulate are GRRM and Robert Greene (author of 48 laws of power)
Hi Jed! This is quite often a method… but what should I do if it doesn't work for me? I am not satisfied just by looking at my progress. I need something more. Another reward. Actually, I have another problem: when I invent the story, key points, development of the plot and ending it is enough for me. I already know the most interesting part of the story and just rewriting it again is just wasting time. I think I am not alone, but I never found a cure for my disease.
Hey guys, here's how I stay on track. I linked it in the description below. JK, you have to pay for the tracker.
You can use NanoWrimo to track your writing for free and they make graphs for you to see!! It works for me
Hey Jed, I would love to hear your opinion on this thought I had about my story.
Throughout the entirety of it, the 3rd person all-knowing narrator is present, as this is a very common and unsuspecting thing.
I wanted to put a twist on it, by making this narrator an actual antagonist later on down the story.
Of course this character will have foreshadowing, especially at the end of some important events.
I also wanted to make this narrator question the readers trust in him, by questioning the person reading and the overall idea of a narrator.
Whenever this plot-twist is revealed, I planed on making the pov change from him to the actual main character.
I am unsure if this is a good idea, but I must say that soon after the twist the book is supposed to end, and the last parts of it are mostly dialogue with a fight.
Sorry to bother you man, but you are one of the people whos advice truly always helps, so I trust in your knowledge/skills.
To you and whoever reads this, I wish you all the best in life, God bless.
I wish I could write a novel adaptation of the Monster Hunter video games. If i was asked to do that, it would be a dream come true
How long will it take, roughly, to write a 30,000 word novella? I tend to write around 500 to 800 words a day of new prose.
Hi Jed! I just wanna ask if you can help me with the novel im making...i always feel like there is lacking everytime i get done with something....
hello dear Jed. Its been a while since I join your channel, can you please tell me how to join the community of writers who are in touch with you online?
Does the template work on excel office online? I don’t have regular excel as I didn’t wanna pay like $350 for something I can get for free…
Hello!
Question: will the thunder heist ever become an audiobook? Id love to "read" it but i just dont read. Im a very busy mother of 4, homeschooling 2 of them so far 😂 i enjoy listening to books instead. I really like the idea of your book and would love to listen sometime. I may have to just buy it and read it this summer instead 🤔 😉 lol
I need to know what story of egg hunters.
That’s just 1/2 book for George rr Martin.
ASoIaF books are between 300-400 thousand words. So it's more akin to 2 1/2 GRRM books which is quite respectable.
yeah but georgie hasnt written anything since 2011 lol
@@okayibelieveyou9330 True. Both my parents died before GRRM released the next book, which he hasn't yet. A Dance with Dragons totally destroyed my love of reading for the longest time it was sooooo bad!
I’m a fourteen year old aspiring young author, and I have been using your tips for the book that I have been working on and developing over the past four years. (I have been busy with school so I have not been able to get that much free time to work on it) But I have found that I have only ran into a couple of problems with my book, such as excessive violence, and filler content. (I am not saying this to brag 😬) Everything else seems to fit and my story seems good. I just have to ask, do you think that you could address some more of the harder problems authors face when writing fantasy novels that even the best of authors face? It would be really helpful. 😅
Which is more important on the tracker, word count or time? Also how do you handle it in the sheet if you work on multiple projects in the same day? I've been known to work on up to 7 projects a day before.
I personally like tracking time over words at least initially because then you can get in the habit of showing up each day with the intention to write for a certain amount of time. Once you've established a solid writing routine you can also start focusing on reaching certain word count goals but don't beat yourself up if you don't reach them sometimes. The most important thing is doing it consistently.
Also I would try to focus on one or at maximum two projects at a time. With 7 projects you're probably spreading your creative energy really thin and not giving any individual project the attention and care it deserves. But it doesn't really matter for tracking because time spent writing and words written count the same regardless of project, no?
@@amysteriousviewer3772 - Well, the 7 projects was an example. I was cranking out a couple pages for each when I worked on those. Right now I'm down to two. As for word counts, I'm used to being able to crank out 1500+ words, though more steadily at around 400-500 in a single go/sprint. I've had plenty of 10,000 word days.
Chris Fox has a similar tracker I've used for years, but the format is a bit different. This one is cool because .... Oh. I know how to solve the multi-project problem. I can just include them all in the same box like Project 1/Project 2/Project.. so like Shadows of Verrhaven/Crossfire/Enemy Lines. So I can at least track progress on each one, though the words written portion just would track sprints and not be for specific projects. Unless I did it that way. But progress is progress. And that's the important part.
Have you considered toning down on the abrasive keyboard clicking sounds for your viewers with misophonia?
hey
when are you ready to start writting?
I am a young author and watch all your vids, I am having trouble figuring out the setting for my novel, being an author well on your way, how would you get out of the rut of not being confident in your world building
Hey! Young author here too, I’ve recently finished the second draft of my 500 page book, so I might be able to offer some help. I find what helps me worldbuild is taking up my pen and drawing a map of a fantasy word, fully colored and labeled. When I make new locations, I think, “Oh, this could be a cool story to write about this place,” and slowly and steadily, a world is formed from these little stories. I’d love to learn more about your world, and if there’s any other way I can help please reach out. Hope this helps!
for me i have no problem in writing characters and their philosophy and getting new unique ideas is easy for me even the world building/history/lore and stuff rn i have over 75 pages of ideas/characters and their effect of the world and each other/the world itself
but when i start i get stuck yeah here's the idea but when i start writing in order like page 1 to 2 to 3 i can't do that at all
i could be wrong in this but for me i think it's the lack of experience bc i don't read much and i haven't wrote any story as a teacher what do you think my problem is is it the lack of experience or something else and how o fix it
and thank you
$10 for an Excel spreadsheet file is way too cash-grabby for my tastes. Not saying it's wrong to charge something, but $10 is pretty steep for what's on offer here. This felt more like a commercial than a genuine attempt to be helpful. Very disappointing.
Agreed, spiderman feels like $5 at most is acceptable, but frankly a spreadsheet should be a small free gift to the writing community. I am spiserman
Dude this is a spreadsheet he paid the subscription fee for Excel to have access even to make(at least $60/month), then developed and perfected for fantasy writing for 6 YEARS. You're just sore he's living the dream with his writing while you can't spare $10 to invest in yours.
Excel's not the only spreadsheet program out there, dudes.
There's free and low cost options out there just do a web search for them. I've used a couple different ones before and it's not much different than Excel if you just want something simple.
Do some research and make your own if you don't want to pay someone for work they did already for you.
You can find a similar one for free by googling around. I found a similar one to his on google sheets as well. Sidenote, I used to be an exchange admin before becoming a full time author. How are they paying 60 a month for excel? Basics is 5 a month or 20 a year. E5 email sub with domain management and encryption is only 40/m.
I'm sure you have wasted 10 bucks multiple times in your lifetime. Buying a spreadsheet that might help you to finish your novel is NOT one of these occasions. And you can also support Jed for his work he is doing for the writing community. 😉
Holy crap I'm early
I'm currently writing a story... it's amateur work and it's actually meant to turn into an anime and I have no way of appraising it so any ideas will be appreciated
0:54 kid logic xD
What’s your lifetime sales?
So we just gonna ignore taking that direct quote from Alex Hormozi as his own? 0 problems if he gives credit for the amazing quote, just didn’t expect plagiarism from one of my favorite writing CZcamsrs
Wouldn't be the first time.
You know, I sampled several of your videos to see what's what, not only with whether my writing skills as a fantasy author measure up (they do 100% so far), but also to see what's up with you and who the hell you are. I find it interesting how much time you spend self-praising the wonders of you as the Oracle of All Fantasy Writing Knowledge. But I'm sure your tenure as a CZcams expert has been a nice supplement to your royalty income from your own books. Someone whose name I'd never even heard of until CZcams shoved your videos in my face, and still shoves them even though I've satiated my curiosity on who you are.
Granted, I haven't been keeping up on the cutting edge of the printed fantasy genre for about a decade now since I gravitated toward and focused on filmmaking for the last decade or so, but still. I've never read word one of Brandon Sanderson's work, but I sure as shit am aware of his prominence in the business. He's got the street creds to validate his standing as a sage for aspiring writers to learn from. But who the hell is Jed Herne?
Just wondering. It's not like you don't dispense some pretty decent insight into what constitutes quality fantasy writing. But then, the advice should speak for itself and not require a constant stream of self-admiration.
By the way, a message to your fans and students: you know 98% of you are never going to achieve the status of a successful fantasy author, right? If you need the assistance of a structured study program and motivation nudge external to your own internal passion to become a successful artist, you simply don't have what it takes to succeed. Unless you're counting on a lottery-winning level of luck doing it for you. Which is the equivalent of saying you won't make it.
Like one comment in this video I happened to glance at that asks how one finds the time to write. Successful authors don't ask other people how to "find" the time to write. There ain't no more time to "find" beyond the 24 hours every human being has in a day. Successful authors MAKE the time to write, come hell or high water, because they have the drive. It's called setting priorities. There are no easy gimmicks to success. Only determination and commitment prevail.
I wrote 1,008 words between February 28th to March 29th 2024. This is a science fiction/ fantasy project that’s going to be at least a six book-series. I take a screenshot of my draft every last day of a month I think that’s what keeps me motivated to write. So this is my method Jed I want to know what you think Jed . So what do you think Jed about my words written for February 28th to March 29th?
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