20Books Vegas 2021 Day 2 - Steven Higgs - Writing for Maximum Productivity

[@KJKP]

“I write murder mysteries and I don’t generally know who the murderer is until the murderer shows up.” That’s a good way to keep the reader guessing.

[@livmilesparanormalromanceb6891]

Sleep deprivation correlates strongly with alzheimer’s disease, and I need my brain in order to write books. Otherwise, thank you the inspirational talk.

[@connieparrott6126]

Steve Higgs is amazingly prolific, and his readers love him. I still can't imagine how he does it but his tips here showcase how driven he is to write. Lucky us, as readers.

[@mtglen]

I love his advice to stop watching TV. :-) Two to three hours an evening to spend writing.

[@bowasmr]

I've seen so many finish their first book in a month or two. Seeing this talker have the same time fram for their first books just made me feel less like a failure. Really inspiring talk, especially for a slow writer like me. Thank you 🙏🏾

[@cgelmore488]

All speakers were great, this one was very authentic and I am older and don't have his stamina anymore, but I don't feel pushed to "not get good sleep", but not to sleep in- just because I can. Don't waste time, steal all you can from waking hours (If Hustle is what you need or are after.)

[@DebzWa]

Great talk and very inspiring. I wonder how much Steve's military training has helped with the discipline of his schedule.

[@bigphilly7345]

Phenomenal presentation. Going to use his “stealing time” methodology.

[@angelcross1382]

You survived the stage and speaking event! High five! Job well done! Onwards and upwards! Take a bit of time to enjoy the getaway...relax, read, whatever strikes your fancy!

[@ACooperNorthwoodsWriter]

He's got a phenomenal memory.

[@nicksturgeonbooks]

I watched Steve Speak this week at the Self Publishing Show Live 2024 at London's South Bank. While his talk was fascinating it did not reveal much about how he achieves such significant output. I searched for other interviews or recorded talks by him and this one was much more useful because he shares that he does not write, he dictates. This was so useful to hear and understand why he is getting 6,000 to 10,000 words a day.

[@bigphilly7345]

His methods actually sound a lot like Dean Wesley Smith.

[@millstonepress2843]

I'm nowhere near as prolific as Steve (just did two novels this year for the first time and am working on a third). However, I take a similar approach in terms of editing. I do a major draft, go back and make revisions, submit to my beta readers (my wife and my 19-year-old daughterr), let it sit for a week or two, then do one more round of revisions, and then release. That said, I've worked as an editor for over two decades, so my writing is pretty tight as a result.

[@DNTCreativeMedia]

Great talk! Also, all Mac and iOS apps have built-in dictiation. Just hit the microphone button on the keyboard of your device and stop after every few sentences or a paragraph or so for it to catch up.

[@TheOpossumtx]

I'm getting very distorted audio, unintelligible actually.

[@johnreynolds4580]

Nicely done Steve. John Reynolds senior.

[@diannespencer1034]

Can't hear it.

[@nikkiguerlain]

Great talk!

[@geoffwalters5681]

Great talk and plenty of creative information there Steve. But hurry up and get home, your wife and children are missing you and so are we, your readers.

[@-Lulu-Loves-]

Am I the only one who can't hear a thing? The audio output is so poor😭

[@historybutbizarre]

Use headphones

[@-Lulu-Loves-]

@@historybutbizarre Oh, thanks! It works.

[@kokopoko2]

I think it's irresponsible and dangerous to repeatedly tell people to not sleep and that they don't need to sleep as much as they think they do. There are numerous medical studies showing the damage to our brains and bodies without enough sleep. For you to tell them to live on 26 hours of sleep a week is despicable.

[@harveythepooka]

IMO, this guy is extremely problematic. He repeatedly said you don't need to sleep as much as you get. He's telling you to sacrifice your health to write. It sounds like he has a system that really works for him, that that's great. But, he should NOT be sharing this as if this is a normal or sustainable system for the majority of people. This seems deeply irresponsible, and even listening to him feels like of time for the average person, who needs sleep and needs to edit. If I didn't edit my books I could publish once a month, but books need to be polished, or at least mine do.