Get a life if you want to write a novel. Keep a schedule and passionately participate in physical activities. Writing a novel is hard work and will take time and effort, but you can’t live in a bubble either. Your imaginative mind should have time to relax and getting your blood flowing is the way to do it.

I. GET A SCHEDULE

“I want to write a novel.” How many times have you said this to yourself or others in the last year? Have you been thinking about it for more than a decade? Be honest. When you turned 30, did you say, I’m really going to do it this time? But when you woke up hungover the morning after your 33rd birthday, you still had nothing to show for it. Sure you’ve read Twilight or The Lord of the Rings for the fiftieth time, but you haven’t put two words together in your novel.

It’s not going to write itself, believe me. You have to ask yourself, “How badly do I want to write a novel?” Are you willing to wake up at 4:30 am and write? Are you willing to just go to a coffee shop with your laptop instead of the gym for 6-9 months? Are you willing to stop drinking alcohol? Time to get serious! Make some sacrifices! Tell yourself you can do this! You can write a novel!

Of all the steps in Mimbrez How to Write a Novel, having a schedule may be the most important (after having a little nerve). So this is what you have to do:

1. STOP DRINKING ALCOHOL (AT LEAST UNTIL YOU FINISH THE BOOK)

If you don’t drink, skip this. But many of my manic intellectuals, book lovers, readers, and writers enjoy a glass of crystal or chardonnay or IPA from time to time. The problem with alcohol is that you’re pretty useless at writing as soon as you’ve had a drink, and you sure as hell aren’t going to be up before dawn to write after you’ve had a drink the night before. And don’t try to compare yourself to Hemingway. you’re not the one. And, frankly, it probably would have been better if he’d given up the wine.

2. TAKE AN INVENTORY OF YOUR SCHEDULE AND CUT SOMETHING

You may think that you are too busy to write a book, but the truth is that nobody is that important. Do you have time. You just need to remove a few things.

For example, cut some sleep. (Hello! We’re serious! Didn’t read Part 1? You’re participating in one of the most important efforts since the moon landing! So get really engaged!) YES, CUT DOWN A LITTLE TIME FROM YOUR SLEEP. One of the best ways to do this is to wake up around 4:00 am and drag your butt directly (ok, okay, you can make coffee first) to your desk. Once there, start typing right away. Do not check email or Instagram accounts. Do not feed the cat, do not look for the newspaper or look at your children while they sleep. This is the best time of all to write because most sane people are sleeping. They won’t bother you. So tap into this secret vortex of solitude and weave your tales of wonder.

Get ready for a fight. Unless you’re a Marine or possibly mentally deranged (in the latter case, let’s compare notes), waking up at 4:00 am is going to suck at first. Just do it, is all I can say. Once you do it a few times, you’ll realize how much time you’ve wasted on alcohol because there’s no way you could do it any other way.

Now you can be a postman or neurosurgeon on call at 4:00 am; writing before dawn may not be an option for you. However, take a look at your typical schedule. Do you go to the gym? Do you go to church? Do you cook at home? Give up something for 9 months. Stop going to the gym, stop cooking for your family, quit Sunday school, or cut out the Rotary Club for God’s sake. Go to a library and write instead of wasting time on the treadmill. Write a few paragraphs and take your family out to dinner. Just do whatever it takes to spend time writing and working on your book.

3. WRITE YOUR SCHEDULE AND STICK TO IT

Once you’ve figured out when you’re going to write, stick with it like a fan. Treat it like it’s something that needs to be done NO MATTER WHAT. Just like Pavlov’s dog, when it’s 4am, you should automatically wake up with a burning need to create!

II. DO EXERCISE

Now I know that you are already making some sacrifices just by setting aside some time. You may even be thinking, “What the hell? Didn’t you just tell me to quit the gym so I can write?” Yeah, and frankly, if you’re so busy that just having an extra hour is like pulling a tooth, then that’s fine, you can skip this part. But I still think it’s almost critical to keep your creative brain flexible and fit by moving your body.

Your brain is compressed when you engage in the creative process of writing. Your consciousness goes to another world, one that you are creating out of nothing. You are not a deity, but remember that even God rested after the sixth day of the creation of the universe and all that. You are also creating and you need to unzip. Get some space between you and the imaginary world that flows from you. When you do this, you will have a new perspective on your creative work. New ideas will come and you will also notice some things in the story that need to be fixed.

How do you decompress? Get a hobby. When I was writing The Morning Tree, the main characters were studying Kendo. I studied Muay Thai and Kali when I was younger, but never Kendo. So I joined a local dojo. Soon enough, I was attending regular classes and have now been studying Kendo for 3 and a half years at the time of writing this article. It has kept a fresh perspective for me and my mind has stayed engaged. You can do other things like take long walks, go to the gym, solve puzzles, ride a bike, do yoga, garden, repair a transmission, etc. Whatever it is, do something else besides writing that gets the blood flowing and the mind wandering.

3rd ALTERNATIVELY – GET A HOBBY

I realize that not everyone can make it to the gym. When I was 15 years old, I had Guillain-Barré Syndrome, which partially paralyzed me. After two years of physiotherapy and effort I recovered. Not everyone has the luxury (and it is a luxury) to run, lift weights, do martial arts, or even mow the lawn. But if you can’t get in a lot of physical activity, I suggest you unplug with something like sewing, drawing, model building, and the like. By the way, mindless activities like watching TV or playing on an iPad DO NOT count. We’re talking about using your mind here, just not creating through writing. You need to tune out your writing and let your mind wander to some other activity to allow space for the creative side of your brain to heal, like a runner needs time to recover after a marathon.

Whatever you do, STAY COMMITTED, FOLLOW YOUR SCHEDULE, DON’T GIVE UP AND VERY SOON YOU WILL HAVE THE FIRST DRAFT OF YOUR BOOK.

YOU CAN DO IT!