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Write Better, Faster: How To Triple Your Writing Speed and Write More Every Day
In 2012, fiction author Monica Leonelle made a life-changing decision to learn to write faster. Through months of trial-and-error, hundreds of hours of experimentation, and dozens of manuscripts, she tweaked and honed until she could easily write 10,000 words in a day, at speeds over 3500+ words per hour!
She shares all her insights, secrets, hacks, and data in this tome dedicated to improving your writing speeds, skyrocketing your monthly word count, and publishing more books. You'll learn:
- The 4-step framework that Monica used to reach speeds of 3500+ new fiction words per hour
- The tracking systems you need to double or triple your writing speed in the next couple months
- The killer 4-step pre-production method Monica uses to combat writer's block, no matter what the project is!
- The secrets to developing a daily writing habit that other authors don't talk about enough
- How Monica went from publishing only one book per year from 2009-2013, to publishing 8 books in a single year in 2014
For serious authors, both beginner and advanced, who want to improve their output this year!
Write Better, Faster: How To Triple Your Writing Speed and Write More Every Day will help you kick your excuses and get more writing done. As part of the Growth Hacking For Storytellers series, it explores how to hack your writing routine to be more efficient, more productive, and have a ton of fun in the process!
She shares all her insights, secrets, hacks, and data in this tome dedicated to improving your writing speeds, skyrocketing your monthly word count, and publishing more books. You'll learn:
- The 4-step framework that Monica used to reach speeds of 3500+ new fiction words per hour
- The tracking systems you need to double or triple your writing speed in the next couple months
- The killer 4-step pre-production method Monica uses to combat writer's block, no matter what the project is!
- The secrets to developing a daily writing habit that other authors don't talk about enough
- How Monica went from publishing only one book per year from 2009-2013, to publishing 8 books in a single year in 2014
For serious authors, both beginner and advanced, who want to improve their output this year!
Write Better, Faster: How To Triple Your Writing Speed and Write More Every Day will help you kick your excuses and get more writing done. As part of the Growth Hacking For Storytellers series, it explores how to hack your writing routine to be more efficient, more productive, and have a ton of fun in the process!
321 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 5, 2015
108 people are currently reading
534 people want to read
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April 4, 2015
Where I got the book: free download offered, I think, by a writers’ blog.
This book promises to:
1. Increase your writing speed (number of words per hour)
2. Increase your writing stamina (number of hours you can write in a day)
3. Improve your book production process
It’s in two parts—first, Leonelle talks in a structured way about her own journey to hit the above goals, and second, she includes her online writing diary from the months where she was publicly tracking her progress, or lack thereof.
If something about the title sounds familiar, it’s because it closely resembles the subtitle of Rachel Aaron’s 2012 how-to, 2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love—although a quick look on Amazon produced the surprising insight that there are a dozen books with similar titles. It seems like writing faster is something we’d all like to do, and that there are quite a few people willing to tell us how to do it. Personally, I’m fairly happy with my writing speed (1,600 words/hour when I’m in what Leonelle calls ‘flow’) and how much I get to write each day depends more on how much time I can fit round my other responsibilities than on how much stamina I’ve got for writing (although see below).
I found some of the first part resonated with me, although there wasn’t much I didn’t already know. Track your work—yep, I already do that, although Leonelle’s screenshots of her own methods gave me some new ideas for reassessing mine. In particular, it had never occurred to me to use RescueTime, which I’ve had installed on my computer for years as a way of reminding myself to stay off social media, as a tool for closer study of productivity. Use the Pomodoro Technique—yep, I do that from time to time, although I find I only go there when I’m really crunched nowadays. I’ve become pretty good at focusing on tasks for that 25-40 minute slice of time that seems to be most people’s optimum.
She also emphasizes outlining your work, and gives examples of her own methods. I always hate it when writers do that, as I never like their examples! But she’s convinced me I should read Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction, however annoying its reviews make me think I’d find it. The methods Leonelle demonstrates somewhat resemble the Snowflake Method, going from short point to paragraph, and I’ll agree that if you don’t count those early stages when you’re still thinking out the plot, your writing speed by the time you get to the final stage of actually writing the novel should fly along. I’ve been doing a rewrite in the last few weeks, so I know how fast I type when I’ve figured out the characters and the story.
And yet, there’s something disingenuous about the boosting of what I’d call heavy outlining methods as a solution for writing faster, pouring scorn on “pantsers” who write first and basically plot after. Since really good pantsers rewrite anyway, their first draft serves many of the same purposes as heavy outlining and can throw up some very keepable bits of prose that can later be worked back into the final rewrite. Perhaps I need to write a book about that :D
Leonelle then covers distractions, and if you’ve been around writing circles for long enough you’ll know all about the perils of social media and TV (and yet, see below), and then moves on to some standards such as editing etc.
If I’d stopped at the end of the first section, I think I’d have described the book as a competent, if not particularly original, roundup of methods a writer needs to try to increase his or her productivity, useful perhaps for writers who’ve written their first novel and are starting to realize that this is hard work.
But it’s when I got to the somewhat overlong second section—the diary—that I started to get really fascinated. I got to sit on the shoulder of a writer who has a very different lifestyle to mine (far fewer responsibilities, more pressure to make money) and watch as she practised what she preached. And what did I find out?
- That those tripled writing speeds mostly came from using a complicated setup of dictation software, which she carried around with her during long walks around Chicago. The point being, of course, that you can dictate much faster than you type, as well as saving your wrists and fingers from all the mechanical problems that can arise from too much typing or poor ergonomics. Well, that isn’t going to work for me—the expense and fiddling about of buying and learning the technology and fixing it when it glitched (which seemed to be often) lacked the simplicity that, for me, is the key to productivity, and being a caregiver I don’t have the uninterrupted blocks of time Leonelle had.
- That she failed more often than she succeeded. She spent many days not writing at all; or she wrote loads of fiction but failed to do any of that freelance work to pay the bills (she eventually gave up on freelancing); or she put down plenty of words than then sat, unedited, on her computer.
- That she watched a LOT of TV. Holy cow. I never even think of turning on the TV till after dinner and, seriously, you should NOT have the TV on while editing. From the sprinkling of mistakes (it’s per se not per say, wean not ween, eke not eek) I deduce that Leonelle is more of a watcher than a reader, and good writers are avid readers. Telling your readers to turn off the TV and then implicitly giving them permission to turn it back on isn’t a great message.
- That a successful day of writing would inevitably be followed by days of exhaustion. These solutions don’t work for me unless they’re sustainable, so showing me ways I can bust a gut on the occasional day (which I already know I can do) isn’t particularly helpful.
- That being an indie writer also means editing, producing and marketing, and that’s bloody hard. Well, I already knew that, and one of my biggest problems to date has been working out systems for handling all of those parts of the indie life. If you lean too heavily on one of the four corners of your indie table you unbalance the other three legs, every single time. The one good solution I got from Leonelle was to do the editing during the first writing session, which I now do, and just accept that word count for that day’s going to be low.
- That in the end Leonelle actually found a slightly different path to success than what she described in her book. She alludes to what she’s doing at the end and I was able to put two and two together to figure out how she’s making money from writing (not saying what in case I’m wrong, but I think I’m right)—and let’s say it’s a path I’m not going to take.
Verdict: an interesting little book from which I derived some elucidation but no real delivery—none that would be practical for me—on its promises. I don’t know whether the download I received was a draft, but I think the second section could do with some editing to make it read better, and it needs to have its links put back in.
This book promises to:
1. Increase your writing speed (number of words per hour)
2. Increase your writing stamina (number of hours you can write in a day)
3. Improve your book production process
It’s in two parts—first, Leonelle talks in a structured way about her own journey to hit the above goals, and second, she includes her online writing diary from the months where she was publicly tracking her progress, or lack thereof.
If something about the title sounds familiar, it’s because it closely resembles the subtitle of Rachel Aaron’s 2012 how-to, 2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love—although a quick look on Amazon produced the surprising insight that there are a dozen books with similar titles. It seems like writing faster is something we’d all like to do, and that there are quite a few people willing to tell us how to do it. Personally, I’m fairly happy with my writing speed (1,600 words/hour when I’m in what Leonelle calls ‘flow’) and how much I get to write each day depends more on how much time I can fit round my other responsibilities than on how much stamina I’ve got for writing (although see below).
I found some of the first part resonated with me, although there wasn’t much I didn’t already know. Track your work—yep, I already do that, although Leonelle’s screenshots of her own methods gave me some new ideas for reassessing mine. In particular, it had never occurred to me to use RescueTime, which I’ve had installed on my computer for years as a way of reminding myself to stay off social media, as a tool for closer study of productivity. Use the Pomodoro Technique—yep, I do that from time to time, although I find I only go there when I’m really crunched nowadays. I’ve become pretty good at focusing on tasks for that 25-40 minute slice of time that seems to be most people’s optimum.
She also emphasizes outlining your work, and gives examples of her own methods. I always hate it when writers do that, as I never like their examples! But she’s convinced me I should read Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction, however annoying its reviews make me think I’d find it. The methods Leonelle demonstrates somewhat resemble the Snowflake Method, going from short point to paragraph, and I’ll agree that if you don’t count those early stages when you’re still thinking out the plot, your writing speed by the time you get to the final stage of actually writing the novel should fly along. I’ve been doing a rewrite in the last few weeks, so I know how fast I type when I’ve figured out the characters and the story.
And yet, there’s something disingenuous about the boosting of what I’d call heavy outlining methods as a solution for writing faster, pouring scorn on “pantsers” who write first and basically plot after. Since really good pantsers rewrite anyway, their first draft serves many of the same purposes as heavy outlining and can throw up some very keepable bits of prose that can later be worked back into the final rewrite. Perhaps I need to write a book about that :D
Leonelle then covers distractions, and if you’ve been around writing circles for long enough you’ll know all about the perils of social media and TV (and yet, see below), and then moves on to some standards such as editing etc.
If I’d stopped at the end of the first section, I think I’d have described the book as a competent, if not particularly original, roundup of methods a writer needs to try to increase his or her productivity, useful perhaps for writers who’ve written their first novel and are starting to realize that this is hard work.
But it’s when I got to the somewhat overlong second section—the diary—that I started to get really fascinated. I got to sit on the shoulder of a writer who has a very different lifestyle to mine (far fewer responsibilities, more pressure to make money) and watch as she practised what she preached. And what did I find out?
- That those tripled writing speeds mostly came from using a complicated setup of dictation software, which she carried around with her during long walks around Chicago. The point being, of course, that you can dictate much faster than you type, as well as saving your wrists and fingers from all the mechanical problems that can arise from too much typing or poor ergonomics. Well, that isn’t going to work for me—the expense and fiddling about of buying and learning the technology and fixing it when it glitched (which seemed to be often) lacked the simplicity that, for me, is the key to productivity, and being a caregiver I don’t have the uninterrupted blocks of time Leonelle had.
- That she failed more often than she succeeded. She spent many days not writing at all; or she wrote loads of fiction but failed to do any of that freelance work to pay the bills (she eventually gave up on freelancing); or she put down plenty of words than then sat, unedited, on her computer.
- That she watched a LOT of TV. Holy cow. I never even think of turning on the TV till after dinner and, seriously, you should NOT have the TV on while editing. From the sprinkling of mistakes (it’s per se not per say, wean not ween, eke not eek) I deduce that Leonelle is more of a watcher than a reader, and good writers are avid readers. Telling your readers to turn off the TV and then implicitly giving them permission to turn it back on isn’t a great message.
- That a successful day of writing would inevitably be followed by days of exhaustion. These solutions don’t work for me unless they’re sustainable, so showing me ways I can bust a gut on the occasional day (which I already know I can do) isn’t particularly helpful.
- That being an indie writer also means editing, producing and marketing, and that’s bloody hard. Well, I already knew that, and one of my biggest problems to date has been working out systems for handling all of those parts of the indie life. If you lean too heavily on one of the four corners of your indie table you unbalance the other three legs, every single time. The one good solution I got from Leonelle was to do the editing during the first writing session, which I now do, and just accept that word count for that day’s going to be low.
- That in the end Leonelle actually found a slightly different path to success than what she described in her book. She alludes to what she’s doing at the end and I was able to put two and two together to figure out how she’s making money from writing (not saying what in case I’m wrong, but I think I’m right)—and let’s say it’s a path I’m not going to take.
Verdict: an interesting little book from which I derived some elucidation but no real delivery—none that would be practical for me—on its promises. I don’t know whether the download I received was a draft, but I think the second section could do with some editing to make it read better, and it needs to have its links put back in.
April 12, 2015
Some great tips from Monica, and every writer, no matter where on the journey, can learn something new.
April 8, 2015
Found some awesome tips to incorporate into my writing process.
July 28, 2015
I loved this book. I already write pretty fast and use many of the same techniques as Monica, so a lot of this was preaching to the choir, but I enjoyed the way Monica presented the topic. I've always avoided spreadsheets for tracking my work, but I started doing it after reading this and it helped tremendously. I think this book has value just as much for full-time authors as it does for part time authors like me.
This book is very similar to 2K to 10K by Rachel Aaron, but in many ways, it's an extension of that book because it goes much, much deeper into the topics that Aaron presents in her book.
One of my favorite parts of the book was seeing the beats. I always enjoy seeing how other authors outline, since so few people release their pre-production documents.
My only criticism was that the Appendix section was huge---maybe too huge for its own good, especially since it was mostly previously published content. Some of it was interesting, but I could have done without it. It also distorted the length of the book a bit. This doesn't take away from the book in any way, though. Just personal preference.
Highly recommended.
This book is very similar to 2K to 10K by Rachel Aaron, but in many ways, it's an extension of that book because it goes much, much deeper into the topics that Aaron presents in her book.
One of my favorite parts of the book was seeing the beats. I always enjoy seeing how other authors outline, since so few people release their pre-production documents.
My only criticism was that the Appendix section was huge---maybe too huge for its own good, especially since it was mostly previously published content. Some of it was interesting, but I could have done without it. It also distorted the length of the book a bit. This doesn't take away from the book in any way, though. Just personal preference.
Highly recommended.
July 4, 2015
Write Better, Faster really resonated with me as a writer. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to figure out their own writing process or make improvements to the process they have.
August 25, 2019
I listened to this on audio and found myself hitting the 30 second skip button a lot. Repetitive and spent a weirdly large amount of time rehashing the same scene in one of her books. I get what she was trying to show, but it didn't work. Felt like a lot filler.
I've read better, more comprehensive books on the subject.
Of the three books I've read of hers this week, 8 Minute Writing Habit was the only one that resonated with me.
I've read better, more comprehensive books on the subject.
Of the three books I've read of hers this week, 8 Minute Writing Habit was the only one that resonated with me.
April 12, 2016
If your goal is writing faster, particularly if you're an indie author, and if you are into gimmicks in your writing, then this book is a must. As a traditional fiction writer, I still found tips to help me focus on productivity and eliminating distractions. Her writing style is oddly motivating. I highly recommend reading the entire book before taking any steps.
The first half of the book (much less than half, actually) is a concisely laid out plan for increasing your writing speed, setting goals toward greater productivity, and ways to "show up" more often. While this first section includes examples, the second portion of the book is one big example in the form of transcripts from the writer's online diary.
The author definitely makes her point of writing more words per hour, but in the long run, it seems almost counterproductive. Often the higher the word count / the harder she works, the more time she needs to recover. Only in the last few pages of the appendix does she seem to communicate to the reader that this may not be the most efficient plan for drafting.
Points to keep in mind:
Following the author's methods can lead to higher word counts per writing session, but her method involves extensive pre-writing, outlining, and planning.
The author focuses solely on the speed of her first drafts, again contingent on outlines and beat sheets. What she calls first drafts would be considered third drafts for many writers.
The book does not include tips to speed the pre-planning stages.
The book does not address revision.
The first half of the book (much less than half, actually) is a concisely laid out plan for increasing your writing speed, setting goals toward greater productivity, and ways to "show up" more often. While this first section includes examples, the second portion of the book is one big example in the form of transcripts from the writer's online diary.
The author definitely makes her point of writing more words per hour, but in the long run, it seems almost counterproductive. Often the higher the word count / the harder she works, the more time she needs to recover. Only in the last few pages of the appendix does she seem to communicate to the reader that this may not be the most efficient plan for drafting.
Points to keep in mind:
Following the author's methods can lead to higher word counts per writing session, but her method involves extensive pre-writing, outlining, and planning.
The author focuses solely on the speed of her first drafts, again contingent on outlines and beat sheets. What she calls first drafts would be considered third drafts for many writers.
The book does not include tips to speed the pre-planning stages.
The book does not address revision.
March 15, 2015
Every author looks for ways to not only write better, but to write more, in a shorter amount of time with less stress. But how?
Monica Leonelle comes to the rescue, giving you practical, actionable tips on how to write more words in an hour, how to write more hours in a day, and how to make sure those words won't have to be discarded in editing.
In the first half of the book, she discusses her tools and methods, including outlining, using beats, the Pomodoro Technique, voice recognition software, and much more. More importantly, she encourages you to closely track your own writing results in order to discover what works for you.
In the second half of the book, she presents her two month diary of developing her technique, including her ups and downs and struggles to balance her fiction writing, copywriting, weight loss program, and personal life. It was refreshing to hear from a writer who doesn't present themselves as a super hero, but rather another writer with the same challenges as you.
Also included are resources for further study. All in all, a terrific resource with fresh advice you haven't heard a million times before.
I am looking forward to the other books in this series as well.
Monica Leonelle comes to the rescue, giving you practical, actionable tips on how to write more words in an hour, how to write more hours in a day, and how to make sure those words won't have to be discarded in editing.
In the first half of the book, she discusses her tools and methods, including outlining, using beats, the Pomodoro Technique, voice recognition software, and much more. More importantly, she encourages you to closely track your own writing results in order to discover what works for you.
In the second half of the book, she presents her two month diary of developing her technique, including her ups and downs and struggles to balance her fiction writing, copywriting, weight loss program, and personal life. It was refreshing to hear from a writer who doesn't present themselves as a super hero, but rather another writer with the same challenges as you.
Also included are resources for further study. All in all, a terrific resource with fresh advice you haven't heard a million times before.
I am looking forward to the other books in this series as well.
September 2, 2015
I got a lot out of this book, possibly because the author shares her struggles and imperfections. It's not a perfect book, but it was helpful. Here are some of the things I highlighted or noted as I read through it, most of of these points are not entirely new, but I found them helpful.
Lessons from Monica Leonelle's How to Write Better, Faster:
1. “An Urge to Procrastinate Means You've Taken a Wrong Turn in the Story Itself.”
2. For her, the easiest way to get into the flow was to use the Pomodoro method… but it wasn't sustainable.
3. Go beyond tracking quantitative data. Track how you feel about your writing.
4. Words per hour is a popular metric, but, “Word count does not equal published books.”
5. “I… decided to focus on making writing more fun for myself.”
6. Emphasize your “areas of genius.” (Not exactly what she said, but what I got out of it.)
One problem I had with this book was that the high word counts came mostly from using dictation software, which is one of those things I'm just not willing to try yet, so I'll be stuck with whatever word count I can get out of my sluggish typing. Oh well!
Lessons from Monica Leonelle's How to Write Better, Faster:
1. “An Urge to Procrastinate Means You've Taken a Wrong Turn in the Story Itself.”
2. For her, the easiest way to get into the flow was to use the Pomodoro method… but it wasn't sustainable.
3. Go beyond tracking quantitative data. Track how you feel about your writing.
4. Words per hour is a popular metric, but, “Word count does not equal published books.”
5. “I… decided to focus on making writing more fun for myself.”
6. Emphasize your “areas of genius.” (Not exactly what she said, but what I got out of it.)
One problem I had with this book was that the high word counts came mostly from using dictation software, which is one of those things I'm just not willing to try yet, so I'll be stuck with whatever word count I can get out of my sluggish typing. Oh well!
April 13, 2015
A valuable resource for any writer who wants to increase productivity and get organized. I'm a lifelong pantser, but these tips may convert me yet! Okay, maybe not, but they definitely inspired me to work harder and more effectively. I particularly like the author's outline/beats method (which has brought me success already) and her thorough examples. This book isn't a cure-all, but it's an awesome start.
Read
March 15, 2015I loved it. As someone who really enjoys reading informational books on different subjects, i found Write Better, Faster to be an intriguing look into Monica's writing process. Her tips are useful and have inspired me to work on my own writing process to see if I can increase my production rate. This book also inspired me to check out Monica's other books.
April 7, 2015
Monica Leonelle inspires authors and helps break down the steps to writing faster and better by sharing her discoveries over time and detailing ways to improve writing while maintaining sanity. Loved this!!!
May 9, 2018
Only half of what it says it is
The best thing I garnered from this book was eggtimer.com
That's pretty much it. The rest was peppered with duh stuff like this:
You don't want to write faster if the quality of your work is subpar to begin with. (This will only create more subpar work in less time.) Really?
And contradictions:
THIS: You MUST track your word counts THEN: but I don't do this anymore because I have a good handle on what works for me and I've internalized a lot of it) Huh?
THIS: If you have to push yourself in any way—then something is wrong. THEN: There are a few occasions when I've felt like I had to push myself.
Lots of love for herself:
I wrote the 24,000 word novella under a brand new pen name. That book is published in the marketplace right now, almost verbatim, and was my most popular book when it first came out (since then, I've had another series hit larger, so now it is only my second most popular).
AND: Right now, I'm probably writing closer to 2,200-2,500 words per hour. It's 11:21am and I've added about 1,500 new words since...
Enough examples. She has so many in this book that they feel like we're being forced to read some of her other stuff.
I skimmed a LOT of this after slogging through the first two chapters. Still looking for that nugget I like to take away from any book I pick up. Unfortunately, that nugget was in the introduction and that was as previously mentioned, Eggtimer.com.
Half of the book was what the title said it was and the other half is her writing diary. She takes her word counts so seriously that this must have become a necessity to get this book out FAST!
I dunno, someone brand new to writing might find more help here than I did, so I'm giving it two stars.
The best thing I garnered from this book was eggtimer.com
That's pretty much it. The rest was peppered with duh stuff like this:
You don't want to write faster if the quality of your work is subpar to begin with. (This will only create more subpar work in less time.) Really?
And contradictions:
THIS: You MUST track your word counts THEN: but I don't do this anymore because I have a good handle on what works for me and I've internalized a lot of it) Huh?
THIS: If you have to push yourself in any way—then something is wrong. THEN: There are a few occasions when I've felt like I had to push myself.
Lots of love for herself:
I wrote the 24,000 word novella under a brand new pen name. That book is published in the marketplace right now, almost verbatim, and was my most popular book when it first came out (since then, I've had another series hit larger, so now it is only my second most popular).
AND: Right now, I'm probably writing closer to 2,200-2,500 words per hour. It's 11:21am and I've added about 1,500 new words since...
Enough examples. She has so many in this book that they feel like we're being forced to read some of her other stuff.
I skimmed a LOT of this after slogging through the first two chapters. Still looking for that nugget I like to take away from any book I pick up. Unfortunately, that nugget was in the introduction and that was as previously mentioned, Eggtimer.com.
Half of the book was what the title said it was and the other half is her writing diary. She takes her word counts so seriously that this must have become a necessity to get this book out FAST!
I dunno, someone brand new to writing might find more help here than I did, so I'm giving it two stars.
October 23, 2016
I have to say, Monica's nonfiction voice is very engaging. For someone who tends to steer away from nonfiction books because she'd rather be reading fiction, this is huge.
Write Better, Faster is an amazing bit of information and inspiration to help you find the techniques that will help you do just as the title suggests. As an author, I know how important it is to get new works out quickly, especially if you want to appease the search engine gods, attract the attention of readers, and *fingers crossed* make any sort of living writing. You hear stories of people slaving away at a single book for decades. I, myself, took three years to write my first book, and another three to write my second.
I've been looking at plotting to help speed that process and avoid missteps (for which I've also found her book Nail Your Story: Add Tension, Build Emotion, and Keep Your Readers Addicted to be incredibly helpful - again, that voice), but this book takes that one step further. Instead of just plotting and planning, her means of keeping metrics on your writing, testing different times of day and even keeping stock of your emotional state are sure to help you optimize your writing speed. I mean, seriously, at about 2000 words per hour, you could write a book in a month, no problem. (She actually talks about topping out around 4,000 words per hour, but recognizes that it's not exactly sustainable, though quite helpful for meeting deadlines).
All this to say, wow! Read the book. It will inspire you and give you incredible direction to help you increase your writing speed. Because you're not a writer if you're not writing, and you won't make a living if you don't publish, and the more books, the better. And really, how else are you going to get all those amazing stories out of your head? I know I'm backlogged. :)
Write Better, Faster is an amazing bit of information and inspiration to help you find the techniques that will help you do just as the title suggests. As an author, I know how important it is to get new works out quickly, especially if you want to appease the search engine gods, attract the attention of readers, and *fingers crossed* make any sort of living writing. You hear stories of people slaving away at a single book for decades. I, myself, took three years to write my first book, and another three to write my second.
I've been looking at plotting to help speed that process and avoid missteps (for which I've also found her book Nail Your Story: Add Tension, Build Emotion, and Keep Your Readers Addicted to be incredibly helpful - again, that voice), but this book takes that one step further. Instead of just plotting and planning, her means of keeping metrics on your writing, testing different times of day and even keeping stock of your emotional state are sure to help you optimize your writing speed. I mean, seriously, at about 2000 words per hour, you could write a book in a month, no problem. (She actually talks about topping out around 4,000 words per hour, but recognizes that it's not exactly sustainable, though quite helpful for meeting deadlines).
All this to say, wow! Read the book. It will inspire you and give you incredible direction to help you increase your writing speed. Because you're not a writer if you're not writing, and you won't make a living if you don't publish, and the more books, the better. And really, how else are you going to get all those amazing stories out of your head? I know I'm backlogged. :)
April 12, 2015
This is a "how to write faster" book in two parts: the first part, which details the author's methods and recommends an approach to analysing writing habits in order to eliminate the unnecessary and improve productivity, is useful on its own merits. However I personally found Rachel Aaron's "2K to 10K" book more practical in its advice. Possibly Leonelle's heavy reliance on voice dictation is the critical factor - dictation doesn't work for me so I may have a more negative response to the advice around that than others would. I suspect that if I had read this book before the Aaron one, I might have rated it higher.
The second half of the book, in which the author provides her diary of her months-long experimentation to improve her wordcount, is far more interesting. Her attempts to establish good writing habits, to analyse her mistakes and her own blocking behaviours, and her self-recrimination as she fails to meet her (usually challenging) goals is a good warning against expecting quick-fix miracles and dramatic improvements. Nothing beats actually sitting down (or walking and talking) and doing the writing.
The second half of the book, in which the author provides her diary of her months-long experimentation to improve her wordcount, is far more interesting. Her attempts to establish good writing habits, to analyse her mistakes and her own blocking behaviours, and her self-recrimination as she fails to meet her (usually challenging) goals is a good warning against expecting quick-fix miracles and dramatic improvements. Nothing beats actually sitting down (or walking and talking) and doing the writing.
February 18, 2016
This was one of those books that was helpful but not as helpful as it could have been -- but only Leonelle freely makes the main points of her advice available and I was already on board and implementing that advice. It is very similar to Rachel Aaron's From 2k to 10k which Leonelle recommends, but she does go into a lot more detail not only of her writing processes but how she figured out what works and doesn't work for her. The most helpful things for me were Leonelle's breakdown of her tracking process, the more detailed explanation she gave of her outlining/beats system, and her system for organising her time -- we're dissimilar enough that what she does won't work for me, but at least I know how I might discover what does/optimise what I'm already doing. The diary entries at the end provide a really interesting look into the processes of another writer which is always interesting, and while I was initially disappointed that I couldn't just copy and replicate, I think the reminder that we're all different and need to work out what suits us will be more useful to me in the long run.
March 17, 2015
I found this book through the Selfpublishing Podcast and I've never been happier to have found a new book to read. This one was a total surprise for me. Mostly because I wasn't really sure about the simple cover choice nor if it would be better than the books about writing faster that I've already read.
But this book is an absolute gem! Somehow most authors seem to be reluctant about really revealing their writing process - but not Monica. She knows what she is doing because she's been optimizing her writing process for years and it has really paid off! Some of the things she wrote I already knew, but many were new to me and some even changed my view on writing, which is absolutely astounding!
I feel like this book needs to be read, because it contains so much knowledge and I strongly believe that every author can find something within this book that will help them with their process. Since I've started reading this book, I was able to triple my weekly wordcount. I am sure that I will pick up this book once more, because it was THAT helpful.
READ IT!
But this book is an absolute gem! Somehow most authors seem to be reluctant about really revealing their writing process - but not Monica. She knows what she is doing because she's been optimizing her writing process for years and it has really paid off! Some of the things she wrote I already knew, but many were new to me and some even changed my view on writing, which is absolutely astounding!
I feel like this book needs to be read, because it contains so much knowledge and I strongly believe that every author can find something within this book that will help them with their process. Since I've started reading this book, I was able to triple my weekly wordcount. I am sure that I will pick up this book once more, because it was THAT helpful.
READ IT!
April 5, 2015
You can see my entire review on my blog http://winterbayne.com/2015/04/05/wri...
In a nutshell:
Even if you will never track a single bit of your writing data, I’d still recommend her book above all the others. She has some good ideas and other tactics a writer can use. It is the most complete, well rounded, and detailed book on the subject that includes examples. She is very transparent and holds nothing back.
I am sure I’ll go back to it over time. Furthermore, I am eagerly waiting for her other writing craft books. That is about the highest praise I can give an author or book in general along with I’d verbally recommend this to friends and I’m re-reading it with a prediction that I’ll do so again in the future.
In a nutshell:
Even if you will never track a single bit of your writing data, I’d still recommend her book above all the others. She has some good ideas and other tactics a writer can use. It is the most complete, well rounded, and detailed book on the subject that includes examples. She is very transparent and holds nothing back.
I am sure I’ll go back to it over time. Furthermore, I am eagerly waiting for her other writing craft books. That is about the highest praise I can give an author or book in general along with I’d verbally recommend this to friends and I’m re-reading it with a prediction that I’ll do so again in the future.
April 2, 2015
recommended for writers who want to take production to next level
This book was full of very helpful nuggets of information an tips on how to become a faster writer. The key is tracking so you know how and when you work best and wether you're improving. It's hard just sitting down and doing it but this writer is a huge inspiration. She put out a crazy number books but at the same time she's human and she works on what she needs to improve on. I want to take my production as a writer to the next level and this books is definitely helping me do that. Right now I put out a book every 9 months. I'm confident I can double or triple my rate. My quality of writing won't suffer but I'll learn faster. I'm interested in her other books for sure!
This book was full of very helpful nuggets of information an tips on how to become a faster writer. The key is tracking so you know how and when you work best and wether you're improving. It's hard just sitting down and doing it but this writer is a huge inspiration. She put out a crazy number books but at the same time she's human and she works on what she needs to improve on. I want to take my production as a writer to the next level and this books is definitely helping me do that. Right now I put out a book every 9 months. I'm confident I can double or triple my rate. My quality of writing won't suffer but I'll learn faster. I'm interested in her other books for sure!
March 21, 2015
Packed with more helpful content than the title suggests.
I learned a ton of techniques and ideas on writing from this book, many great tips on workflow and techniques that I am implementing for my writing.
The author’s genuine and down to earth passion on writing, techniques, ideas, and resources shines through.
Highly recommend.
I learned a ton of techniques and ideas on writing from this book, many great tips on workflow and techniques that I am implementing for my writing.
The author’s genuine and down to earth passion on writing, techniques, ideas, and resources shines through.
Highly recommend.
June 6, 2015
A useful book with good advice on writing productivity and efficiency which I'll be interested to try out. The second half of the book is a two month writing diary which I found fascinating for the open and vulnerable insight into a writer's life. It's good to know I'm not alone in bad days, comparisonitis and crazy-person thoughts and feelings!
August 28, 2015
Review coming soon.
March 5, 2023
Somewhat helpful
June 26, 2016
Nothing entirely new here for me, but this should be helpful to those who don't write daily and such.
May 12, 2020
Wow... talk about inspiration!
I am so glad I read this book when I did! I originally got the book ages ago... I don’t even remember when... but I let it gather dust on my digital bookshelf. I came across this title again in my kindle library just when I needed it.
I decided I wanted to start writing again in the middle of April 2020 and with that I wanted to start developing new skills. I know I am a decent writer but I can only pop out scenes and have only once completed 50k words and didn’t even finish the story.
I know this book is about writing better faster, but I really enjoyed the writing better portion. I have heard so many times about the importance of outlining and how to do it... but I would get intimidated and go into full panic mode that I was doing it wrong which would halt my writing progress... sometimes years at a time... However the way she describes outlining and beats just clicked for me in a way that no other description has.
I have now finished an outline for an entire book and have started on the beats process which does an amazing job of bridging the gap for me between a few sentences of what needs to happen in a tell formation and adding more detailed telling in a beat which helps generate mor room for showing because there is more there for me to work with.
I’m already pretty quick at writing, hitting on average 1800 words an hour but this includes all the thinking time associated with writing, or rather all the decision making. I’ll eventually focus my skill on writing faster but I appreciate how this book encourages writing better first which then translates into writing faster.
I look forward to reading more books by Monica Leonelle since her writing style, strategies, and thinking style mesh really well with me.
I am so glad I read this book when I did! I originally got the book ages ago... I don’t even remember when... but I let it gather dust on my digital bookshelf. I came across this title again in my kindle library just when I needed it.
I decided I wanted to start writing again in the middle of April 2020 and with that I wanted to start developing new skills. I know I am a decent writer but I can only pop out scenes and have only once completed 50k words and didn’t even finish the story.
I know this book is about writing better faster, but I really enjoyed the writing better portion. I have heard so many times about the importance of outlining and how to do it... but I would get intimidated and go into full panic mode that I was doing it wrong which would halt my writing progress... sometimes years at a time... However the way she describes outlining and beats just clicked for me in a way that no other description has.
I have now finished an outline for an entire book and have started on the beats process which does an amazing job of bridging the gap for me between a few sentences of what needs to happen in a tell formation and adding more detailed telling in a beat which helps generate mor room for showing because there is more there for me to work with.
I’m already pretty quick at writing, hitting on average 1800 words an hour but this includes all the thinking time associated with writing, or rather all the decision making. I’ll eventually focus my skill on writing faster but I appreciate how this book encourages writing better first which then translates into writing faster.
I look forward to reading more books by Monica Leonelle since her writing style, strategies, and thinking style mesh really well with me.
January 6, 2018
Productivity and writing in one book? I'm in.
I read 2000 to 10000 by Rachel Aaron a couple of months ago and got hooked on the concept of getting more writing done. Right now I'm pretty slow at writing and my first draft took me something like six months to finish, so this kind of books are useful for me.
Much like Rachel Aaron's book, this book talks about the importance of planning before getting to writing. However, I liked better how the idea was presented in 2000 to 10000. In Aaron's book it was treated as something we all do but not with enough detail to avoid stopping in the middle of a scene because we haven't decided how to get from point A to point B (a problem I used to have).
On the other hand, in this book it is presented as something new, some kind of revolutionary concept. "Structuring your novel before sitting down to write? witchcraft!". It made me imagine Ms Leonelle typing like a madwoman without knowing where she was getting at in her first books.
More than half the book is dedicated to diary entries about the two months she managed to write 100k words, a feat she had already talked about in the first half of the book with enough detail to make her point clear. I skimmed / half read that part of the book as I didn't find any useful advice that hadn't been said before.
I personally recommend this book or 2000 to 10000 without any preference for any of them over the other (ok, maybe I liked 2000 to 10000 better...), but both of them might be overkill as both are so similar that they don't have any additional knowledge that couldn't be found in the other.
I read 2000 to 10000 by Rachel Aaron a couple of months ago and got hooked on the concept of getting more writing done. Right now I'm pretty slow at writing and my first draft took me something like six months to finish, so this kind of books are useful for me.
Much like Rachel Aaron's book, this book talks about the importance of planning before getting to writing. However, I liked better how the idea was presented in 2000 to 10000. In Aaron's book it was treated as something we all do but not with enough detail to avoid stopping in the middle of a scene because we haven't decided how to get from point A to point B (a problem I used to have).
On the other hand, in this book it is presented as something new, some kind of revolutionary concept. "Structuring your novel before sitting down to write? witchcraft!". It made me imagine Ms Leonelle typing like a madwoman without knowing where she was getting at in her first books.
More than half the book is dedicated to diary entries about the two months she managed to write 100k words, a feat she had already talked about in the first half of the book with enough detail to make her point clear. I skimmed / half read that part of the book as I didn't find any useful advice that hadn't been said before.
I personally recommend this book or 2000 to 10000 without any preference for any of them over the other (ok, maybe I liked 2000 to 10000 better...), but both of them might be overkill as both are so similar that they don't have any additional knowledge that couldn't be found in the other.
July 13, 2017
This is one of her best non-fiction books...if not the best - As a writer who has to adjust for eye strain, hand cramps, and stiffness, I truly appreciate her tips and real-life examples on how she personally dealt with these issues while trying to increase her words per hour. She also stresses the differences between writing time and editing time and why words per hour is just one metric to track. Her detailed examples of outlining her books is brilliant and step-by-step. That alone is worth your reading time. BUT, she also shares her 3-month journal of how she increased her writing speed and dealt with setbacks, fears, and multiple projects. I thought I would skim this section, yet ended up reading it through. This is one of her best non-fiction books. I highly recommend it. Note: it's written for fiction writers (story-tellers) yet I walked away with practical ideas and inspiration that I've applied to my non-fiction book writing, article writing, and my course creation.
November 21, 2024
Despite it is good when it comes to achieving high amounts of word counts,
the author does not consider that the problem we get stuck writing a book is not the activity itself of writing, but finding ourselves to be unable to continue what we write.
Speech to text may at first sound like a great way to improve our word count, because we get less to the point when we talk than we write. But honestly, this approach generally seems like a how-to guide to write a overfilled book with bluff that doesn't like to get to the point.
Almost all parts of the book could be shortened, but had a pleasant way of writing nonetheless, because of how directly it communicates with the reader.
the author does not consider that the problem we get stuck writing a book is not the activity itself of writing, but finding ourselves to be unable to continue what we write.
Speech to text may at first sound like a great way to improve our word count, because we get less to the point when we talk than we write. But honestly, this approach generally seems like a how-to guide to write a overfilled book with bluff that doesn't like to get to the point.
Almost all parts of the book could be shortened, but had a pleasant way of writing nonetheless, because of how directly it communicates with the reader.
April 5, 2019
Are you a fledgling writer? Are you looking for a process that will help you? Are you looking for some referrals to other books and websites that can improve your craft? If so, look no further. I ripped through this book in a few days and found other books that Monica recommended. This is a good book to help you develop processes, procedures, and automate book writing steps. I really enjoyed this one and look forward to her other works.
November 1, 2019
I really could have spent my time better, instead of reading someone’s journal on weight loss, writing and a bucketload of other hopes that weren’t achieved.
This was basically a bundle of blog posts thrown together to make it seem like a book, when in reality it wasn’t. Isn’t writing supposed to be enjoyable? I’ve never read a book that has been able to dry up all my writing inspiration... until now.
This was basically a bundle of blog posts thrown together to make it seem like a book, when in reality it wasn’t. Isn’t writing supposed to be enjoyable? I’ve never read a book that has been able to dry up all my writing inspiration... until now.
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