We are really beginning at the beginning, although I'm assuming that you do have a basic idea for a book. The first thing I want you to do is a brain dump around that basic idea. Note: This works for non-fiction. I'm not sure you could write a novel like this. Maybe?

You've done mind mapping at some point right? Mind mapping is great because it tends to pull a little more of your right brain (the creative side) into action, rather than linearly listing out the things you want to cover.

To do this, write your book concept in the middle of a blank page and draw a circle around it. Then write and circle some main subjects you want to address orbiting around it. Add in every point you want to make, story to include, myth you want to bust and question you want to answer by sticking it on the page with a line connecting to the appropriate area. You just keeping bubbling and connecting each thought that stemmed from a prior circled concept. No censoring, just get all the thoughts, everything you might want to put in the book down. Done right, you'll have a big fat mess. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Stay at this for at least half an hour.

Now we move to an outline. Wrangle your mind map into chapters and keep all your relevant concepts as temporary subheads under your chapter headings so you know what things to cover in each chapter. You might want to break it into several sections before breaking down to chapters if that helps. Find things that go together and group them, then start to break them down further, until you get to chapters. This is an unruly process, but it's a way to write fast and have your book seem well organized later.

Ok, outline done? All you gotta do is fill it all in! Now my goal for you is to have this up for pre-order in 6 weeks. That means you need to have a rough draft done by then. You can get there by writing at least 1,000 words or about an hour a day.

Some of you might be better off speaking your book into a program like Dragon. I had a dream that people were writing entire books this way. I'm not a verbal processor, so it's not for me, but it may be the perfect solution for you.

Consistency is a big deal. If you stay on this daily, it will be easier for you to stay in the flow of things than if you start, then put it down for a while, and then try to come back to it. Your tone will be more consistent, you'll remember what you've already said, and your subconscious will be engaged and working on it while you do other things, because it knows you're coming right back to work.

You're a professional now. You don't need inspiration. Yes it makes things easier and better, but you have an outline to follow. Just keep chugging away. Inspiration will take you years.

Inspiration literally means "breathed upon" and has Hebraic roots. If this is so, I'm not sure God breathes upon our books once in a while and leaves us for the rest of the time. I'm more inclined to think inspiration becomes blocked by fear of failure, perfectionism, exhaustion or most commonly, distraction. Battle through.

Ok, so you need to make deal with yourself about how much you can consistently show up for each day. If an hour is too much, then make it half an hour. Start tomorrow. I'll talk to you next week about your title.

Getting it Going

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