Hello and welcome back.

I’ve written a few times about time management for authors, one on finding time to write, also did a Youtube video on that which you can watch here. Some tips for that include writing on breaks at work or writing when you’re waiting for the doctor to call you – after all has any doctor had their appointments run on time?

This time management is about how you can possibly save time with writing. One way I found helpful is to begin with the end in mind. That’s something I picked up from Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The gist of it is to know what you want to accomplish when you start your book. This can be used for every part of the book – each chapter, scene, etc.

So in starting a book do you want the hero to get the girl in the end? Or is it a tragic romance and one of them dies?

Another great idea is from the book Write Your Novel From The Middle by James Scott Bell. What this book advises is to think about the middle of your book – a mirror scene. A lot of great books and movies in the middle of them where a character looks back on their life.

Buy and read both those books, they are truly great.

So this gives you a couple ideas. And like I advise in many of my other posts write down ten ideas for the way you want it to end, what the mirror scene would be and another ten for how you’d like to start your story. Then when you sit down at your keyboard to start writing you can hit the ground – or keys – running/typing.

This is what works for me, I tried a couple stories using the pantster approach and I found I would have several times throughout where I’d be staring at the page – if I was writing it out on paper while on break or eslewhere – or staring blankly at the computer screen no knowing where to take the story.

I hope these tips help you. Make it a great day.