I've tried writing in a variety of different ways over the years. First by having no outline at all, and just going for it. I'd read about authors who just let the 'story tell itself.' Sadly, my stories refused to do so.

Second, I tried a method where I wrote a series of outlines. Each one more detailed than the last, until the book was essentially complete. I found that to be boring and never got past outline 1.5.

I took a hybrid approach for Don't Look In and I wrote it more efficiently than any other book and it was also the most enjoyable, so I thought I would share.

(1) I began with a reasonably detailed outline (about six pages).

(2) I kept track of how much I wrote each day on a spreadsheet, calculating my words per hour.

(3) From this exercise I learned that the longer my writing session were, the faster I wrote. So, I got away from the 'write an hour a day no matter what' approach and instead, wrote once or twice a week for 5-7 hours each time. My productivity increased. I also found it less stressful, because on those days I had only one item on my to-do list: write.

(4) I wrote longhand. This helped because it makes it difficult to go back to what I had written the previous day and edit. On a computer, I found this impulse to edit far too tempting.

This is the approach I am taking for Believe In Me, the sequel to Don't Look In and I find it to be a good fit for me.