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Writers’ Block: Kidnap Yourself and Make More Money From Your Writing

Posted on August 29th, 2010 in Writing by Jimmy Shilaho
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Don’t bother about those who tell you how to make more money from this or that. You simply must sweat for every penny, you simply must work for every cent. If teachers can teach for ten hours a day, if nurses can care for patients for more than 12 hours, writers shouldn’t moan about writing, they should write to earn from writing. Kidnap yourself and demand a ransom from your efforts – The success that comes from a job well done, a writing project well completed.

How can a writer kidnap himself?

I know you must be wondering how a writer can kidnap himself and thinking Shilaho must be nuts or something. Think about those foul smelling, gun trotting psychos who kidnap men, women and children to earn millions as ransom. They make their victims do all manner of things to increase their chances of earning that ransom. You can easily do the same to cure your writer’s block and earn more money from your writing! You don’t have to love your writing but if you want to earn from writing, you have to write whether you love it or not!

Writing is big business

I have argued in the past that writing, particularly online writing is big business. I have admonished fellow writers to stop thinking like amateurs and start writing professionally. A few of them disregard this counsel and instead moan endlessly about the writing process. When they aren’t moaning, they cry of a writer’s block. What is my answer to this? Kidnap yourself! Kidnapping isn’t great news, but it surely pays and it pays handsomely. How can you do this?

Have realistic writing goals

What are your goals as a writer? It is time you set some realistic goals about your writing process. Make your goals measurable and device a plan as to how you can achieve these goals. You can not say you want to finish your novel by the end of the year and fail to suggest to your lazy brain how to do that! State the goal, set the deadline, and divide this goal into numerous sub goals that make it even more achievable.

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Divide your goal into smaller goals

When am working on a novel for example, I have a rough estimate of the number of pages and number of words the novel should contain, after which I determine the length of time it should take to research and write and divide the project into miniature goals like 1000 words per day. If the novel should be 200,000 words long, it should take 200 days to complete. How can I make myself accomplish that? I kidnap myself!

What do you do when the block sets in?

A writer’s block results more often from doing the same thing over and over again. When you kidnap yourself, you make sure that you work on several projects at the same time so that when one isn’t moving, you can work on the other. When I am not working on something serious like a book, I make sure I fill in the void by reading great stuff and writing online articles. Reading great writers has a way of inspiring even the most reluctant of minds. Writing online articles on the other hand is simpler and requires less energy than that required when writing a book. If a day passes without writing the mandatory number of words for my book, I must ensure that I double the number when the craving strikes.

Kidnap yourself till you are through

In simpler terms, if I was to write 2000 words daily for 100 days and miss writing for two days, when creativity returns, I must write 6000 words before breaking and doing anything else. This is where the self kidnapping comes in. You have to promise yourself not to have that lunch until 3000 words have been written and not to sleep until another 3000 words have gone by. Will this make you happy? Of course not, sadness begets better writing!

Have some discipline

It is with such discipline that your writing moves forward. When it comes to online entries, I must post two good quality articles everyday. When I can’t for one reason or another, I find a way of writing 4 or 6 when I get the time and won’t reward myself until the work is done. If teachers can teach for 10 hours a day, if doctors can surgically operate on a patient for 22 hours, writers can read and write for 10 or 22 hours!

Where will sleeping time come from?

A day has 24 hours. If you deduct the time spend on reading lousy articles on how to make more money online and get down to writing instead, and deduct that spend tossing and turning in bed like an injured animal, you can’t fail to get between 4 – 6 hours of quality sleep. Think again and you will get the point. Majority of people I know work for eight hours a day. Either 8.00 – 4.00 or 9.00 – 5.00 leaving a whopping 16 hours in a day of which sleeping should take a maximum 6 for men and 7 for our women and children. If you set aside 2 hours for meals and a cold bath, you can’t fail to get 2 hours for writing and another 2 for reading.

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