What Happened to That Book You’ve Been Meaning To Write?

Four steps to making your book a reality.

Writing a book is a popular item on many people’s bucket lists. Lots of them start writing their book and then realize that it’s not that easy, so they move onto something easier like skydiving, running a marathon, or climbing a mountain. I’m kidding, of course.

On a personal note, I’ve been meaning to write a bunch of books. Everything from a compilation of humorous essays about life to a memoir to a children’s book: but, in keeping with my usual lack of follow through, I haven’t written any.

So, I sat down and gave some serious thought to what I need to do to change the current path of no progress that I’m on and accomplish something that I’m proud of and benefit others.

Here are the changes that I need to make to add “author” to my list of accomplishments. These changes will help you too if writing a book or books is on your to-do list.

I will deal with writing only, not publishing, marketing, and all of that other stuff. The goal is to get moving and get your book written.

First, define the book that you want to write. If you have multiple books that you want to write, pick one, just one, not more than that.

The reason for choosing only one book at a time is so that you don’t divide your focus. You have a finite amount of focus. Don’t divide it. Concentrate all of your focus on one book at a time.

Begin by describing the type of book you want to write, who the book is for, and the subject matter. Notice that I’m not getting into fancy terms like “genre” and “target reader.”

For example, let’s say I want to turn a story that my mom wrote when I was a little girl into a children’s book. The main character is a squirrel. It teaches a lesson about planning for the future. Very basic, yet specific.

You don’t need a lot of details to define what you will be working on. Less is more. Setting simple boundaries like this will keep you from being all over the place and reins in your focus.

Next, make a rough outline of your book. See if you can begin with a chapter approach and prepare a skeleton of your book.

You can start broader if that is easier for you and then fill in more details as you go. Don’t worry about being too broad; the details come when you are writing.

The goal is to make progress. There is no right or wrong way for you to write your book; it’s your book. You do you. You are in charge of your craft.

Third, set a deadline. Not everyone agrees with this part.

Some writers argue that constraints make you more productive; others say that constraints are a terrible idea.

I am not a fan of schedules, but I am a fan of deadlines. Here is why. I believe that deadlines create a sense of urgency and cause you to make your writing a priority.

I haven’t written any books at all because my life has little structure, and implementing a deadline will help remedy that. I think others can probably benefit from this as well.

Now, let’s talk science. Parkinson’s law deals with how we allot our time.

According to Parkinson’s law, the amount of time you have to perform a task is the amount of time it will end up taking you to complete the task. Work expands to fill the amount of time that we are given to complete it.

My non-scientific mind sees it this way: if I don’t have a deadline for writing a book, I will take forever to get around to writing it.

I will never write my book without a deadline because I have all the time in the world to complete it. That is why I believe it is imperative to set a firm and realistic deadline for completing your book.

Determine how much time you will have daily or weekly to put toward your book, whether that means writing in small increments of time throughout the day or week or following a specific writing schedule.

You can set additional mini-deadlines throughout writing your book to help you stay on track. You don’t have to do that initially; you can do that as your writing progresses if you want.

At last, the final step, start writing.

Refer to your skeleton outline to get started. You don’t have to start at the beginning of the outline if you don’t want to. Write whatever part gets you writing first.

For me, I will write the part that I feel like writing first, not necessarily the part that would be easiest or that would make the most sense.

I’m driven by my moods, which will dictate what I work on first to a large extent, but structure and boundaries can help keep me on track.

One word of caution, don’t create work for yourself, such as having to do “research” or “organizing” your outline. That is just busywork that you are making to avoid doing the actual work of writing.

I know because I do that all the time. I am guilty as charged.

I’m going to sit down now and follow these steps to get my first book written.

I have many books in my brain, and I want to get them out into the world.

I believe that writers are put on this planet to share their experiences and lessons. This is how they teach, help, and heal others.

I hope you will join me.

Writing isn’t easy. If it were, there wouldn’t be so many people jumping out of airplanes and training for triathlons instead. Just kidding. Sort of.

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Linda Kowalchek is a work in progress and a member of the typewriter generation. She spends her time with her husband and her rescue cats waiting for golf balls to crash through their windows. PSA: Don’t live next to a golf course.