1. Pick a topic you already know well. You won’t have time to do much research and you should already have most of the book in your head or at least within reach. Writing is hard work and it is unlikely that you can produce more than 4 typed pages day after day, especially if you put in hours of research.

2. Clear your life of other distractions. You probably have a day job you can’t quit yet, but for the next 100 days put off everything else you can. Don’t plan a vacation, party, or spring cleaning. You don’t want to lose your momentum once you start.

3. Make an outline. Decide on chapter titles and a logical sequence of information. It is more efficient to think this through in advance than to go back and rewrite it later.

4. Decide how long your book will be, then divide the task into 80 smaller units. This gives you a little leeway and also time for one day off per week. With 3-4 pages a day, you can produce a 240-320 page book. Don’t plan to write a 500 page textbook in this limited time. It just won’t work.

5. If you’re looking to write fiction, keep the overall story in mind and just get started. The story will undoubtedly have twists and turns along the way, so don’t worry too much at first if you don’t know where you’re going, just go for it.

6. Don’t worry about perfection. Keep writing. You willpower you need to do some rewriting no matter how perfect you think your writing is. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Mensa member, you and any other writer should expect the need for at least minor revisions. You may not believe it at first, but when you finally complete your manuscript and put it aside for a few weeks, you’ll discover that you’ve written things that require clarification, summarizing, or restructuring. Passages of a conversation that once seemed natural to you may later feel forced. But don’t worry about this while you write. Just keep going.

7. Plan a weekly day off. Why are you writing, anyway? Surely not just for the sake of it. You want to improve the life of your family or share something with the world. Don’t forget to connect with the people you care about or they might start to feel your writing.

8. Realize that writing the book is just the beginning. Publishing it will take at least as long as the first draft of your manuscript, probably longer. Don’t let this discourage you. Just keep it up, a little at a time.

9. Reward yourself when you’re done. You should put your manuscript aside for a few weeks anyway. Even Stephen King follows this practice. So have a party or take a vacation. Freshen up before the real work, the rewriting, begins.

How do I know this will work? Because I did it myself. The original version of 101 Ways to Save Money on Health Care it was written in 100 days and on the market another 100 days later. I must have done a reasonably decent job of writing because a major publisher found the book and hired me for a reprint. I hope this works just as well for you.

Copyright 2010 Cynthia J. Koelker, MD