Writing Your First Book? 5 Steps To Get Started
I believe that everyone has a book that they want to write. Whether it is to capture tacit knowledge, share a personal experience or journey, or simply to write down in words a book idea that has been knocking in your head all this while. Writing a book is a labour of love. It involves committing yourself to writing and putting your thoughts down to words for the next few weeks or months until everything has been adequately captured.
For first-time writers, the idea of starting on a book can be daunting. It’s possible you have never written anything so extensive like a book before. Trust me, however, when I say that having the product in your hands will give you a satisfaction that cannot be achieved with almost anything else. If you’re ready to finally write that book, here are some tips to get you started.
# 1
Find Your Productive Time
Everyone has their own productive time. This is the time where you feel most motivated to just sit down and get work done. For me, this starts just before dawn, and continues until around 9AM in the morning. I am most productive in these hours, so I guard these hours ruthlessly. This is the time where I tiptoe around my sleeping husband and son, to work on my laptop with my phone set to airplane mode, and get the most important tasks done. For you, if you want to start writing, try to identify your most productive time.
Now notice that I didn’t ask you to look for creative time. Rather, I asked you to look for productive time. Writing is mainly about being productive enough to put your creative ideas down into words. If both happen at the same time (which does for me), then you’re extremely lucky. Which goes on to the next point…
# 2
Set Aside Time Everyday to Write
If the reason why you have been delaying writing your book is due to lack of time, then trust me when I say that setting aside time each day to write is the most important step to have your book written. By this, I don’t even mean setting aside an hour or two, especially during your most productive hours. Write for just five minutes every day, at least. You can manage five minutes. You can write using your phone as you wait for a meeting to start. Or you can write as you’re having your breakfast in the morning. Whatever it takes, set aside at least five minutes a day to work on the book.
Now you may be wondering, “Why five minutes?”
In the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, researchers have proven that achieving a goal is dependent on the habits that you have put down to achieve it. The idea is not to have cramming sessions. Rather, the idea is to get into the habit, because we all know how busy your schedule is to be able to spend two or three hours a day “cramming”. Just set aside five minutes – make it easy, because once you get started, there will be days, more often than not, where you will find yourself extending those five minutes unintentionally with productive writing.
# 3
Find Your Favourite Platform to Write
The idea of sitting down at your laptop and opening up a Word document may seem a little daunting. Believe it or not though, many great books never started on a blank Word file. Instead, they were written using blog posts, or Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, even Twitter. Remember the first tip to set aside five minutes to write? Those five minutes could be used to write a blog post, or a quick Facebook post. Write until you have written everything you wanted, and the book will finally become a compilation of all the posts that you have written. It’s much easier when you plan to write it this way, isn’t it?
If you’re not ready to have your audience read your thoughts yet, then you can always set your platform to private so that only you can read what you have written. Again, the idea is to write consistently, even if it’s a little. Facebook is a good way of having a book written. Either use your own personal profile, or create a secret group with only you as the member as you continue to write daily in your posts to the group. Once you have enough material, then you can finally compile, and before you know it, your daily posts will have been enough to make a complete book.
# 4
Find Your Favourite “Voice”
If you are writing a memoir, the “voice” that you use to write is going to be much different than the voice you use to write a guidebook, or a book to share your theory on something. A good way to find a voice is for you to identify your favourite books in terms of how it is written. There are some books that have phenomenal content, but not an enjoyable voice, and vice versa. You already have phenomenal content. It’s now time for you to find the right “voice” to deliver that content.
You only really need one or two books that are written in a voice and style that you like. Once you have that, then you can brainstorm what you like about this style of writing, and copy that style when you write your own book. Discovering your own voice is an important part of becoming a writer, so it’s helpful for you to establish this early. If you find yourself struggling, working with an editor is a good way to start. Which leads me to my next point…
# 5
Find an Editor
While you are writing, it’s good for you to have an editor to work with. Your editor will be the most important person in your writing journey. The editor is there to structure your thoughts. S/he’s there to make you accountable to write every day, or every week, and give you milestones to hit depending on how soon you want your entire book to be written. S/he is the person you trust to show your raw work, and is the person you’d bounce your ideas with to see what works best with the audience that you’re writing for.
MMW has its own editor that goes beyond just checking grammar. You can inquire more regarding this service here. Having helped others through book publishing processes before, I can become a strategic partner for you to work with during your whole writing journey. In fact, once you identify your voice, I can also help you style your content, through a content styling service that I offer for budding writers.
From experience, I can tell you now that writing and completing a book is one of the most amazing things you could ever accomplish. There are many who have wonderful book ideas in their head, but the problem is – it just stays in their heads! So if you’re planning to take the initiative to finally work on your own book, then I applaud you. Use these tips to help you get started, or, better yet, let’s talk on how we can work together to bring your work to fruition!
