29: Chris Fox Shows You How to Write Faster and Smarter

Chris Fox is an indie author who has in just the past few years built a successful career as a novelist. He’s also recently begun to publish books on the craft of writing. 

This is impressive enough, but what’s amazing is that he does this all while holding down a full-time job as a mobile app developer in San Francisco.

Because of his busy work schedule, Chris has figured out a system for concentrating his writing time into a very short window during his morning commute to work. He only has about an hour and a half to write each day. This means he not only needs to maintain a consistent, daily writing habit, he’s also developed a system for writing really really fast.  

He recently codified what he has learned about writing fast in a new book, 5,000 Words Per Hour: A Guide to Writing Faster, Better & Smarter. The book has gone on to sell thousands of copies.

Since Chris is a coder, he developed a new iPhone app that accompanies the book. It allows you to track your writing sessions so you can measure your progress. And it gives you some encouragement along the way. 

In our conversation, we dive deep into some of the key elements of the system he shares in his book, like timed writing sprints that enable you to put yourself into a state of flow on command.

He shares how he plans his book before he starts writing, which includes what he calls “turning on the movie projector in his mind” so he can visualize the scenes that he’s about to write.

He talks about the mindset shifts you need to make that will allow you to maximize your writing productivity.

Since NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month - is coming up in a few weeks, Chris also shares a few tips for aspiring novelists who plan to take up the challenge. Chris told me he plans to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, but with his own twist on the challenge. What’s that? Well, just listen to the podcast and find out!  

If you head over to the show notes to this episode, you’ll find links to Chris’ books on Amazon, as well as a link to his new app over on the App Store. Just head over to writewithimpact.com/episode29. 

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