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This is a tip that many people have given me and yet just now I'm actually doing it: When writing a book just sit down and start writing the story and correct and revise it after it is finished. It really does (I'm finding) speed up the process.

This tip I have always followed: You don't have to begin at the beginning. If the middle or the end pops into your head first, begin there. Later you'll figure out how the character got to that point.

One thing that really helped me on writing my story, Cutter's Landing. I made what I simply called a timeline color coded sheet. As I finished each chapter, I put the day, date, AM, PM, etc. when the chapter began and the same when it ended. I put new characters introduced in that chap. - important things I knew I would have to remember later on - I also color coded. If I highlighted someone on the timeline in red, that meant there was something to do later on in the book with that. Another example - in my book notes were sent. I color coded them gray. Later if I was trying to remember what note #3 said, I skimmed down the timeline sheet with anything highlighted in gray. This prevented me from going back chapter after chapter in the book searching for the info I needed. This really helped me in saving time. As I began each new chapter, first I quickly scanned my timeline sheet.

I just got my fourth straight writing award for completing a 50,000 page novel in less than 30 days. The National Writing Month Contest challenges amateur to this feat each year. Some 12,000 novels get completed among the 90,000 who sign up. We even had a writers club in my home town. If you don't have the discipline to do it you probably are not a writer. Just imagine Dickens, Tolstoy, etc who wrote serials for newspapers and had to turn out copy every edition. They never suffered writers block.

I do find the more I write, the easier it is. If I can't write for awhile, it is harder to get into it. So NEVER stop writing!
Write SOMETHING EVERYDAY. Even if it is a reply to someone's writing, you have written a review!

I try and write for a hour each day! I write best in the evenings, so before I go to be, I write, until mid-night.

wish i was as disciplined as some of you. i do have a few writing tips that i've learned through attending (and putting on) conferences, reading writing books and having been an active member of critique groups for the last decade. Here are a few:

Use adverbs (mainly 'ly' words) very sparingly; instead use stronger verbs.
Limit sentences that begin with an 'ing' word; it weakens the sentence.
Be careful with tense and POV. Shifting POV in the middle of a paragraph is confusing and a 'no, no'--unless you have multiple POV or an omniscient 'narrator', then one has to be very skillful.
Be careful not to repeat words over and over.
Those are the only ones I can think of right now.

And, of course the one that has already been posted: write, write, write. Also, know what works for you. Some writers just go with it and others are better with more structure. Hopefully I'll take my own advice. LOL

Keep a notebook or pad by your bed in case you think of something after you're in bed. Or, a tape recorder. Carry a small note pad in your purse or pocket when you go out. You may see someone that you can pattern a character after. You may visit a store, restaurant or office that gives you an idea for describing some place you are writing about.

ChelseaLad said it, it takes discipline to be a writer. You have to write and re-write. You have to be willing to be alone. You have to have sticktoitiveness! Oh...and talent.

Thank you all for those great tips. I do have to discipline myself to do that. I've come to be with my daughter during the Holiday Season and it gets pretty hard for me to sit at my computer when she is always saying that she doesn't get to talk with me too much because I'm writing all the time. I don't know what to do because when I get and idea I want to put it down but I get those guilty pangs. It was a miracle that I finished the contest of 50,000 words in a month. I was so proud of myself. Now she wants me to bake for the Holidays and go out with her because she said she gave me a whole month to write. Woe is me!!

Whenever you have the urge to write about something ...JUST start writing...If you are at a restuarant and don't have paper, then start writing on a napkin......I always write now when I think of anything I want to write about....Even if its a short article(which it usually is)..If its going to be sent somewhere to be published then you can follow the guidlines and expand and change the article later....
Yes I get writers block...Too often... and I don't write for weeks!!!!I have not figured how to get out of that yet.