How I Plan to Become a World-Class Fiction Writer in the Next 7 Years

I have an hour a day, and a plan

I’m not known for my fiction, because so far I’ve written very little of it. I’ve had a few short stories published in (very) small press publications and anthologies. One even won an award. I’ve started a few novels and finished exactly none of them. But I want to make writing fiction part of my one-year plan, writing good fiction part of my five-year plan, and writing world-class fiction part of my seven-year plan.

So now I just need a plan for the plan, so to speak.

Enter this quote, which just happened to fall into my feed this week,

“One hour per day of study in your chosen field is all it takes. One hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years. Within five years you’ll be a national authority. In seven years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do” — Earl Nightingale

Now I’m not standing behind the quote when it comes to everything in life. (Seven years of even full-time study would make you a pretty average doctor, veterinarian or physicist, surely?) But when it comes to fiction writing I’m willing to at least test the theory.

As some of my followers know, I’m a fan of Robin Sharma (though not of his recommended wake-up schedule) who advocates for a similar concept he refers to as being a “60-minute student”. That is, spending just 60 minutes a day in deep learning.

So that’s the plan. One hour a day, for the next seven years, studying fiction writing. What could go wrong? (Plenty will. And I’ll learn from it, and share those lessons, so feel free to follow along if you’re not already.)

I’ll be spending my hour a day studying Masterclass courses, reading books about fiction, and taking notes. I’ll also be reading great fiction, but that’s something I do anyway and won’t be part of my hour-a-day plan.

I’ve started with a good look at my Kindle, where I seem to have around 12 books about writing fiction (a lot, for someone who writes non-fiction almost exclusively), and my bookshelf, where I have a few more.

The ones I’m starting with are:

• Creating Character Arcs by K M Welland

• On Writing and World Building by Timothy Hickson

• Nail Your Novel by Roz Morris

Because they were all already on my bookshelf, and have now been moved to my bedside table (as you can see, there’s a certain amount of randomness and serendipity to the plan).

A real time view of my bedside table

Don’t forget to check back in seven years (or just follow me on Substack and Medium, where I’ll definitely be posting updates).

Now for some of the writing advice impacting me this week:

• This Writer Made $100,000 Last Year in Her Spare Time (a profile of the awesome Eve Arnold) by

  David McIlroy

• 2024 Book Marketing Forecast: The Top 10 Trends to Watch by

  BadRedheadMedia, LLC

• 15 overlooked reasons people quickly get bored with your online writing by

  Alex Mathers

• Confessions of a self-help author (Part Three) by

  Beth Kempton

• Attention Has a Cost by

  Chris Guillebeau

• Lessons From My First Year on Substack by

  Dan Blank

• Substackers Are Using Notes to Grow Twice As Fast: 7 Smart Ways by

  Veronica Llorca-Smith

What else I’ve been up to this week

Reading: Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg (Fun fact: this was the first ever Kindle book I downloaded when I got my first Kindle back in 2012 - and my first re-read as part of my new seven-year plan.)

Listening to: The Fiscal Feminist podcast

Enjoying: Long walks on the beach

Not enjoying: How much sand I drag back into my house

My recent Medium posts

(Friend links, of course, so you can read for free):

• I Quit My Blogs and Replaced Them with Three Simple, Free, Writing Platforms

• Steps I’m Taking Now to Keep My Small Business Profitable

• It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who Knows You - And What They Think of You

• Five Great Places To Find More Revenue as a Small Business Owner

That’s all for this week. If you’re reading this online, feel free to subscribe to get future posts straight to your inbox.

If you’re reading in your inbox and want to read this and previous posts online, go here.