The Ten Day Draft by Lewis Jorstad - Book Review

As the second book in the series, Lewis takes readers through the process of writing a fifty thousand word first draft in just ten days.

It’s recommended that writers begin this task after developing some kind of outline—preferably an extensive, scene-by-scene outline such as the one writers can create using his first book in the series, The Ten Day Outline.

Using his own experiences and the introduction of NaNoWriMo, a yearly writing challenge to write fifty thousand words in the month of November, Lewis explains how writing such a large amount of words in a little over a week is very possible.

Like in the first book, Lewis takes writers step-by-step through each day of the challenge. He outlines the tasks needed to be completed but also summarizes what writers should have that day and at that point in the challenge.

Additionally, Lewis includes a detailed summary of the entire challenge at the end of the book for writers who benefit from seeing everything laid out in a simpler form.

 The way Lewis breaks down each day, the terminology he refers to, and the examples he uses make the drafting process easy enough to where even beginning writers can understand this book.

Writing the first draft of a book is easily considered one of the most difficult things a writer can do, however, Lewis does an excellent job of guiding writers through a challenge of this magnitude. Initially, the idea of writing fifty thousand words in ten days seems impossible.

After reading The Ten Day Draft, the only a writer should need—something Lewis even mentions multiple times throughout the book—is the determination and passion to finish the challenge. Lewis an editor and writer himself, which adds to the credibility and validity of this challenge’s success.

It is recommended that writers who seek to take on The Ten Day Draft challenge should have a fully-constructed outline as it will make the drafting process much simpler.

Getting to the end of the challenge using an outline and this book means the writer has all the tools he or she needs to have a complete draft in their hands by the end of the ten days.