Want to write a book? Want to blog? Want to express yourself better and clear mental clutter?

The answer is to start writing. And keep writing.

I was going through some old files recently and came across a checklist I wrote for myself when I started writing my book. I’d forgotten about the list and looking back on it with the book published I realised how much that list helped me to stay on track. So I thought I’d publish it on this blog – let me know what you think – all I know is it worked for me and I wrote my book in about 4 months working 3 – 4 hours a day maximum. Sure, there was lots of editing and refining after that but the entire book got written. I’m now convinced of the merits of “front loading” when writing non-fiction.

Write the book you want to read–  Make it great, the best you can offer and let some of yourself come through too – the world you see, the way you think, the experiences you have or have had with people relating to the things you want to write about.
Write every day – anything you do every day gets easier. If you’re insanely busy, make the amount you write every day small – 100 words, 250 words – does not matter – just do it EVERY DAY!
Follow a plan– right down to word count and outline. If you stick to a blueprint for writing – a formula for each chapter of what you intend to cover in each section of that chapter your book will virtually write itself!
Forget linear– the trouble with writing using Word is that it follows a linear process – i.e. “chapter 1” followed by “chapter 2”. The only way you can take notes and be creative is in long hand and a cluttered desk and keeping all of that organised is hard work too. I was lucky enough to come across some great writing software early on –Scrivener which is like a virtual writing studio and has got even better now. With this you can do all that research, note-taking, ordering fragmented ideas and project manage yourself – it just brings all of that together into one tool and allows you to work on more than one chapter at a time. I found it invaluable and it only cost about $40.
Do your research – with non-fiction you need to use a range of research methods and be good at it too – get this from reading widely around your topic from many different sources and then thinking about your own take on things. Then link with personal experiences, interesting people, extraordinary events or provide a unique perspective.

Be concrete – use evidence, facts, examples and quotations to illustrate a point. Never invent or change facts – that’s called fiction. Just write honestly and truthfully. Information should be verifiable. You can reference what you write and on a tablet or Kindle, readers can click on your footnote, get straight to the back of the book and get online to read the piece of research or article themselves if they want to.
Be creative – you can still be creative with non-fiction and you need to be! That means choosing language that stimulates and entertains the reader such as simile, metaphor or imagery. At the beginning of the book you need to grab the reader’s attention and compel them to read further – you can do this through story-telling technique, setting the scene with thought-provoking facts or questions. Often that is the first bit of the book they see with Amazon’s “look inside” feature or sample chapters.  End the book with a final important point. Otherwise the reader will think, “So what!” “What was the point? It was an interesting story, but how does it apply to me or my life?”

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