How to write your book in three easy pieces.
I came across an article from Writers Digest in March 2012, which I had saved among my favourites – and never looked at since. Do you do that too?
The article says: “If ‘Start a book’ was on your January to-do list, how’s it coming? If you hit the ground running and are well into your first draft, congratulations! But if you feel overwhelmed by the scope of the project, consider this …”
And the article gives some writing tips, derived from Crafting Novels & Short Stories, published by
Writer’s Digest Books.
Being an editor I have condensed their ‘5 Easy Steps’ into …
3 Easy Steps
Set Reasonable, Measurable Goals.
As a journalist and editor I couldn’t do without a deadline. As I started my book on 1 January 2018, or thereabouts -- probably not New Year’s Day, come to think of it – my target deadline was 23 April. That is Shakespeare’s birthday and St George’s Day.
And I delivered my manuscript to Panoma Press on that day. Hurrah!
Divide and conquer
Break your writing into a “compilation of many smaller items… Focus on smaller tasks to do today, tomorrow, this week, and this month to help you reach that goal”.
Good plan, say I.
Create a Plan of Ordered Tasks.
This exercise keeps you focused, and helps you to concentrate on the important things.
* Break the task down into manageable steps
* Put a “workable schedule on your calendar”
* "Enlist other people to hold you accountable”.
In setting up your calendar, you are advised to work backwards: “figure out when each of the specific items, in reverse order, must be completed if you are to meet that deadline”.
Decide what you can reasonably expect to accomplish in a day, a week, a month. Allow for events outside your control, such as illness, extra work, computer failure.
The article has a quote from William James, who once wrote, “Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.”
So, there you have it. These tips can work just as well for your non-fiction masterpiece as for a novel.
Let’s get going and I urge you once again to ‘Enlist other people to hold you accountable”. That could be a writing pal, or even an Editor. That's me. Your Editor can become your friend and help you from the start, so please contact me for a free discussion.