Do you have a writing dream you’ve been putting off for years?

Do you have worlds of ideas and thoughts lurking inside, aching to get out?

When people ask: “how’s your screenplay/novel/script/blog?” do you always say “It’s good—I’m still working on it!” year after year with no progress?

If so, you are a writer in the rough, a budding creator, an almost-artist.

But “almost” is not enough.

The halls of history are littered with the bodies of creative people who never created anything, because they were too busy pleasing their bosses, pacifying their peers, watching too much TV, and taking care of everyone and everything instead of using their time to develop their unique gifts.

Now, I have some hard questions for you:

• How long are you going to continue to doubt yourself?
• How long are you going to put off finishing that article, book, project that you KNOW only YOU can write?
• How long are you going to deny readers the benefit of learning from your experience, wisdom, and imagination?

The truth is, everyone has the same amount of time every day. 24 hours, no more, no less. Take some time to sleep, to eat, to work, to hang out with family and friends, and you still have discretionary time to do with as you wish.

What are you doing with that time?

Real-life writing MACHINES

Did you know that…

• Romance novelist Barbara Cartland wrote 723 novels in her lifetime. That’s approximately 9 NOVELS A YEAR
• Stephen King writes 2,000 words a day, every day.
• The annual National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Challenge includes a group of ultra-writers who write up to 1,000,000 words IN 30 DAYS!

If they can do it, why can’t you?

Granted, you may not want to write 700+ novels, 2,000 words every day, or a million words in a month.

But you DO want to finish your novel, write your poems and short stories, become a dependable blogger…in other words, you want to be a real writer.

And you know what?

Your writing goals are TOTALLY within your reach.

So why haven’t you achieved them yet?

The thing is, it’s not your fault

Most people don’t achieve great goals because they don’t have the structure and support they need.

Let’s face it, we all get discouraged sometimes. We all have moments when the self-doubt and temptation to be lazy feels overwhelming. And not everyone has the inner willpower to pull themselves out of the hole alone.

That’s why you need 2 things: 1) a plan or strategy and 2) an outside force, pushing you, encouraging you when you feel like giving up, getting you through the dip and back on track.

Who am I?

By this time, you’re probably wondering who I am and why I’m saying all this.

Hi! I’m Sarah of beabrilliantwriter.com, and I’m a writing coach, blogger, and ghost-copywriter, living the (writing) dream, as they say.

But it didn’t all start out rainbows and butterflies.

I’ve always been a voracious reader and writer, but in the past I was far too undisciplined. I wrote whenever I felt like it, quit whenever I felt like it and never finished anything bigger than a five-page short story.

And then, I changed. In (far) less than a year, I wrote:

• a 75,000-word novel
• 60+ short stories
• 53 poems and songs
• A 4-act 16,000-word musical
• 500+ articles
• 30+ detailed book notes
• …Oh, and I read more than 144 books while I was at it.

In other words, I learned to sidestep self-doubt, crush writer’s block, and become a writing machine.

But I’ll tell you more about how I did all of that in a bit.

First, let me share with you why most aspiring writers fail to complete their Great Projects, and what YOU can do to avoid being one of them:

The Science of Dream Achievement Part 1: Crafting A Plan 

In his book Give and Take, author Adam Grant mentions an experiment in which people were asked to perform 5 random acts of kindness per week.

One group was told to do all of their acts of kindnesses in ONE day, the other group told to spread them out–perform one act per day.

Guess which group benefited most from the experiment?

The answer might surprise you:

It was the first group.

Apparently, people who spread out their acts of kindness did not feel the power of generosity as strongly as those who performed 5 acts of kindness in one day. Clustering their behaviors somehow elevated the effect of giving and made people feel more happy with themselves and their lives.

Similarly, Tim Ferris, bestselling author and human guinea pig extraordinaire, advocates the idea of “dreamlining.” That is, applying 3-6 month timelines to what most people would consider crazy dreams.

It’s like goal setting, except the goals have to be a bit unrealistic:

'Doing the unrealistic is easier than doing the realistic.'—Tim Ferriss Click To Tweet

The idea is, when people have a relatively short period of time to do something they’ve never done before, something crazy (write a novel, travel the world, become fluent in another language) they’re more likely to achieve their goal than if they give themselves years (or the rest of their lives) to do it.

Because they are CLUSTERING their actions, concentrating them into a small period of time, they FEEL more productive, and they ARE more productive.

Unfocused light only casts a fuzzy glow on whatever it hits. But laser-focused light can burn a hole through paper and start a bonfire!

If you want to write a novel, it’s better sit down and make yourself DO IT in 3 months or less, than allow yourself to dabble on and off for the next 30+ years.

If you do the former, you’ll have your first draft finished in 90 days. If you do the latter, you may die before you finish writing and NEVER complete your book. Ever.

Tim Ferris, for instance, likes to treat his life as “six month projects,” experimenting with different project-achieving methods every 2 weeks.

But, okay. Not everyone is a Tim Ferriss. 3-6 months might be a bit too long for you. And 2 weeks is much too short. One unexpected event and you’re thrown off forever.

Well then, how about ONE month? ANYBODY can persist in doing something crazy every day for ONE MONTH, can’t they?

Sure they can.

Make that: Sure YOU can.

The Science of Dream Achievement Pt. 2: Finding Your Source of Power

Some people are willpower wizards. Self-discipline superheroes. They can make themselves do anything, anytime, for as long as it takes.

Sadly, I am not one of those people.

And if you’re reading this, chances are, neither are you.

For folks like us, another source of power is needed, an external force.

For some, this outside force takes the form of inspirational material and practical how-to guides. For others, the outside force involves other people—supportive partners keeping you accountable for what you said you’d do through positive or negative reinforcement.

But where are YOU going to find the support and strategies you need?

Keep reading:

The Batch Method to Insane Writing Productivity

Remember how I told you earlier that I’ve written a novel, a musical, 50+ songs, 400+ articles, and read 144 books? You might be wondering: How long did it take me to do all this?

Answer: I did ALL of the above in less than one year.

• I wrote the novel in 10 weeks
• I wrote the 60 short stories in 2 months.
• I wrote the 50+ poem/songs in one month, and completed the subsequent musical in two weeks.
• Of those 540+ articles I wrote, approximately 100 of them were written in one month, when I challenged myself to complete 3-6 articles PER DAY.
• And in July 2018, I read 19 books in 31 days, turning 9 of those books into detailed book notes.

The key is, I achieved all of these things in short, sustained bursts, with deep rest periods in between. I call it the “batch method.”

And let me tell you, the batch method works.

Having experimented with the best time frame for accomplishing “unrealistic” writing projects, I’ve found that one month, 30-31 days, works pretty well for accomplish medium-length projects. And that’s why I decided to share my specific system with you:

Introducing Writers, Ignited

I’ve designed a program just for people like you and me—people who work best in short, intense bursts with long periods of rest and reflection in between.

Here’s how it works:

• Writers, Ignited includes 6 sprints throughout the year during the odd-numbered months.
• Writers take 1 month to sprint-work on a major writing project, then take 1 month off for rest and recovery.
• You will set your own daily goal (1,000 words per day? One short story per day? One new chapter per day? Read one book per week?), publicly commit to it, and update your progress regularly.
• To make sure you don’t break your promise to yourself, you will commit to your chosen Project of the Month with an up-front investment.
• For your first month in the program: If you follow through on your goal, you will get your investment refunded OR you can choose from a limited edition special gift designed especially for you.
• After your first month, if you decide to join the program for the long term, you will receive a special prize for every month that you meet your goal.

As a member of Writers, Ignited, you will also have access to:

• Daily or weekly check-in emails with short tips, tricks, advice, and inspiration.
• Tools you can use to track and report your progress.
• A growing library of resources, including book notes and articles, organized by theme (fiction, nonfiction, beginner, etc)
• The camaraderie of other like-minded writers who are also working on powering through major writinng goals.

And that’s it! Now, I know what you’re thinking…

Enough Chit-Chat. How Do I Sign Up?!

Glad you asked. There are two ways to benefit from Writers, Ignited:

Monthly subscription

You can join for a month or two or five, or whenever you have a particular project in mind. You will have access to all the benefits listed above for the duration of your subscription, and you are welcome to re-join the waiting list if you choose to leave the community for a while.

Annual subscription

Aside from a hefty discount, you will also get access to recovery-and-planning strategies email updates during Rest Months, keep up-to-date with the library of resources, have unbroken access to the community, receive special gifts and presents personally designed for Ignited Writers, and more.

Got it. Can I join now?

Unfortunately, Writers, Ignited is only open during limited windows of time. The limited registration periods are designed to keep things organized and make sure the community doesn’t get overwhelmed by too many people jumping in and out at random.

To be notified when the next window opens, join the waiting list HERE*.

*When you join the waiting list, you will be gifted the Brilliant Writer Checklist and receive free articles and book recommendations to hone your writing skills.