Writing is like any skill – it improves only with practice. The more you write, the better your chances of improvement. Be intentional with planning times for your writing – don’t try to just cram it in “when it suits” or when you are all caught up on everything else you need to do. Make it a priority.

The secret that most people don’t know is if you write just one page a day, in one year you will have a book.

I’m a big supporter of the “zero-based time planning” and encourage people to start with that, especially when they say, “I don’t have the time”. You have 168 hours in a week.

Start with 168 hours. Simply deduct the time you commit to other things such as work, sleep, eating, church, community, mom or dad. Figure out whatever those things take and carve out of the remaining time, those precious minutes, for four or five hours a week. You can accomplish a lot as a writer, but you have to do that consistently.

This is one of those things that people seem to throw in along with art or music. They think you just wait for the inspiration to come. If it comes and then it doesn’t reappear for six months, you don’t write anything.

That’s a dreadful method to approach writing. You need to approach it confident that the inspiration will come and assist you while you’re doing it. Don’t just wait until it suits. Otherwise, manuscripts don’t get done.

Patrick McFadden is a marketing expert, teacher, blogger, and coach. He has been featured on web portals and has also been a guest on radio programs across the United States. You can find his blog by typing “indispensable marketing” into Google.