15. On Writing, Practice, and Discipline

This book is worth reading for anyone who has to write a book length manuscript.  A lot of books get started and never finished.  Not that I have all that much experience with this, but having written one, I can tell you that it is as easy to procrastinate as it is to utterly exhaust yourself with marathon writing sessions.  It takes discipline to write every day.  It also takes discipline to STOP, even when things are going well.

One of the best things I learned from this book was this: park on the downslope.  Stop before you've exhausted what you have to say, so that you have some momentum for tomorrow.

No, you won't write your book or your dissertation in only 15 minutes a day.  But try writing for 15 minutes and only 15 minutes for a week, and see what happens. What I found is that I began to develop a writing habit, and in week two I gave myself permission some of those days to write for more then fifteen minutes.

Now I'm thinking about writing a book (in 15 minutes a day) called "Write Your Blog in 15 Minutes a Day."