In this post, I offer 10 steps for writing a book plus 10 bonus steps. To download all of them for free,.
As the bestselling author of five published books, I can tell you without hesitation that the hardest part of this life is sitting down and doing the work. Books don’t just write themselves.
You have to invest everything you are into creating an important piece of work, and this requires discipline. For years, I dreamed of writing. I believed I had important things to say, things the world needed to hear.
The Ultimate Guide to Publishing Your eBook on Amazon. I have begun writing my first e-book. Writing burst on my ebook to see this post, Copyblogger needs to. Read How Not to Write a Novel Confessions of a Midlist Author by David Armstrong with Rakuten Kobo. Every week, agents and publishers in this country receive hundreds.
But as I look back on what it took to actually become an author, I realize how different the process was from my expectations. To begin with, you don’t just sit down to write a book.
That’s not how writing works. You write a sentence, then a paragraph, then maybe if you’re lucky, an entire chapter. Writing happens in fits and starts, in bits and pieces. It’s a process. The way you get the work done is not complicated. You take one step at a time, then another and another. As I look back on the books I’ve written, I can see how the way these works were made was not as glamorous or as mysterious as I once thought.
How to really write a book (what’s in this article) In this post, I’ll teach you the fundamental steps you need to write a book. I’ve worked hard to make this easy to digest and super practical, so you can start making progress. And just a heads up: if you dream of authoring a bestselling book like I have and you’re looking for a structured plan to guide you through the writing process, I have a special opportunity for you at the end of this post where I break the process down. But first, let’s look at the big picture. What does it take to write a book? It happens in three phases: • Beginning: You have to start writing.
This sounds obvious, but it may be the most overlooked step in the process. You write a book by deciding first what you’re going to write and how you’re going to write it. • Staying motivated: Once you start writing, you will face self-doubt and overwhelm and a hundred other adversaries. Planning ahead for those obstacles ensures you won’t quit when they come. • Finishing: Nobody cares about the book that you almost wrote.
We want to read the one you actually finished, which means no matter what, the thing that makes you a writer is your ability not to start a project, but to complete one. Below are 10 ridiculously tips that fall under each of these three major phases plus an additional 10 bonus tips. I hope they help you tackle and finish the book you dream of writing. BONUS: Download a quick reference guide for all 20 writing tips.. Phase 1: Getting started 1. Decide what the book is about Good writing is always about something.
Write the argument of your book in a sentence, then stretch that out to a paragraph, and then to a one-page outline. After that, write a table of contents to help guide you as you write, then break each chapter into a few sections. Think of your book in terms of beginning, middle, and end. Anything more complicated will get you lost. Set a daily word count goal John Grisham began his writing career as a lawyer and new dad — in other words, he was really busy. Nonetheless, he got up an hour or two early every morning and wrote a page a day. After a couple of years, he had a novel.
A page a day is only about 300 words. You don’t need to write a lot. You just need to write often. Setting a daily goal will give you something to aim for. Make it small and attainable so that you can hit your goal each day and start building momentum. Have a set time to work on your book every day Consistency makes creativity easier.
You need a daily deadline to do your work — that’s how you’ll finish writing a book. Feel free to take a day off, if you want, but schedule that ahead of time. Never let a deadline pass; don’t let yourself off the hook so easily. Setting a daily deadline and regular writing time will ensure that you don’t have to think about when you will write. When it’s time to write, it’s time to write. Write in the same place every time It doesn’t matter if it’s a desk or a restaurant or the kitchen table.
It just needs to be different from where you do other activities. Make your writing location a special space, so that when you enter it, you’re ready to work. It should remind you of your commitment to finish this book. Again, the goal here is to not think and just start writing. Phase 2: Do the work 5.
Set a total word count Once you’ve started writing, you need a total word count for your book. Think in terms of 10-thousand work increments and break each chapter into roughly equal lengths.