The Fastest I’ve Ever Written a Book

We are well into 2025, and I’m happy to say it’s been a very productive start to the writing year. If you watch my videos on YouTube, you know I’ve set a very ambitious goal for myself. Complete the first draft of my 12th book by the end of the first quarter.

There are plenty of writers who write a whole book in three months. Hell, some writers write one book a month. But for me, it usually takes me at least a year…sometimes longer.

But…I’ve long suspected I CAN write faster even though I NEVER have. So, the beginning of 2025 has been all about giving it a go. Making writing the #1 priority each day. Committing to getting the words done like it’s my only job, and consistently showing up to my book every day that I’m scheduled to, Monday-Friday.

Today is Thursday of my fourth week. So how’s it going, you may wonder. Well, honestly, I’m behind where I need to be. There have been days I didn’t hit the goal that will keep me on track (1500 words per day) and there have been days that I had planned to write and didn’t write at all. Those have added up to keep me below the goal mark. If I were on track, I would have at least 28,500 words by the end of today and 30,000 by the end of this week.

I’m not there.

But, as of right now, I’m currently just over 23,000 words. I’ll do a bit more writing today. Hardly any tomorrow because I’m working a flight to Hawaii. And I’ll get some more done on my layover on Saturday. So that you know, it’s unlikely I’ll make up the difference.

BUT.

Oh my god…I still feel like a huge success and like this is the most I’ve ever written in this short of a time frame. There have definitely been some tricks and tips I’ve learned about how to better optimize my working hours, and I’ll be sharing those both here and on YouTube in the coming weeks, but I want to get a few more weeks under my belt to make sure this hasn’t been a fluke.

So, if you’re a writer too, and you’re curious about how I’m getting more writing done than ever before, stay tuned for my future posts here and my videos over on YouTube.

However, if you don’t want to wait for me to keep running my little personal experiment, here are the books I’ve read over the past 6 months that I feel have literally changed my life:

The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran

Start with Why by Simon Sinek

The One Thing by Gary Keller

Deep Work by Cal Newport

The DOSE Effect by TJ Powers

So far, this has been a game-changer for me.

Five Days Off…but not from writing

I have five whole days off. Monday through Friday and I’m so excited. If you follow me on social media, you likely know I’ve had a few changes these last two weeks. I posted a short video on TikTok about quitting my job as a school psychologist.

https://www.tiktok.com/@rebeccataylorbooks/video/7372238225336700202?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7324567724565857834

And since then I have been busy working my flight attendant job, working back to back to back trips to Maui and twice to Lihue. It’s been nice to jump back into flying, especially since I was lucky enough to have such great trips! Rod even came with me on the last one since we’ll be celebrating our 26th anniversary tomorrow. Here are a few videos and pictures.

@rebeccataylorbooks

Walk on the beach this morning in Maui. Thinking about my new book, The Last Nanny, and getting back to my writing life after quitting my job as a school psycholigist. #booktok #writertok #maui #flightattendant

♬ original sound – Rebecca Taylor

So yes, a lot has been going on, and it’s all good stuff, but I’m staring down these next five days and feeling enormously grateful to have some time off–but it won’t be from writing. The funny thing about deciding to be a writer is that you never, not really, have time off from it. Because even if you’re not actively typing away, you always seem to be thinking about writing. Every day is the question: Will I write today?

I never have a day where I’m not either thinking about my current project, next projects, or the logistics of getting my writing done that day. I once read that someone somewhere said that being a writer was like having homework every day for the rest of your life–it’s the most true statement I’ve heard about this life.

Not to say it’s a bad thing, necessarily. Only that it never seems to matter if you’re on vacation, or watching television, or reading someone else’s book…the thoughts, obsessions really, about writing are obtrusive and always there. It’s the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing at night. Every day. I have no idea if that’s normal, but it is true.

Anyway, I’ll be at home catching up with friends and enjoying my anniversary for the next five days.

And writing, always the writing.

You Won’t Escape Critique, So Don’t Worry About It

Once you decide to create something, anything, and send it into the world it will be judged.

There will only be a handful of responses to your efforts.

People will either love it, hate it, or feel completely indifferent.

Of course, we always hope that our work will be enjoyed and appreciated. And if we’ve done our best, and ensured we’ve sent out the very best we were capable of at the time, we can at least stand beside and feel proud of that work. When we’ve done all we can, the chances are good that at least some people will resonate and love it.

But that’s only some people.

Which means, other people will not love it. Other people will hate what you’ve done.

It’s okay, I promise. Remember the old adage, you can only ever hope to please some people some of the time anyway.

I actually think there is something worse than those other people hating your work. At least you made them feel something! And with those feelings, they may my inclined to leave you a terrible one-star review.

Other people read one-star reviews. They are curious about those strong feelings of hate. So curious, one-star reviews can lead a new reader to investigate for themselves what all the fuss was about.

I’d argue there is something much worse than single stars and hatred when it comes to our creative works.

It’s indifference. When a reader either didn’t engage with the work at all, or if they did, they came away feeling nothing.

When a book or movie or any form of art makes you feel nothing, you never bother to say anything at all about it. Why would you? You barely even remember the experience.

No matter who you are, or how amazing your work is, once you put it out into the world it will be criticized and critiqued by others.

Accept that this is true, there is no escaping it, and that it will absolutely happen. Then, do whatever you have to to release any worry fear, or care about it. You can’t control or avoid it, and it happens to everyone brave enough to put their work out into the world.

You Can’t Accomplish What You Don’t Show Up For

It’s easier to imagine what we want and what we’d like to do than to physically do it.

Imagining, visualizing, can be fun and it’s an important step in the creation process.

But it’s only a first step.

If we want our thoughts to eventually become our reality, imagination will require the follow-through of physical acts. You can dream about yourself winning a race all day long but if you don’t actually do the running, you’ll never cross any finish line ever.

And you can’t start running if you don’t first show up to run with your shoes laced up.

Do you imagine yourself accomplishing your goals? Yes? Great!

Now show up for them and take action.

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