Create something today and quit worrying about it

As of 2014, the population of the United States was 318.9 million. Well, I know it’s gone up and down since then but for illustration purposes, we are going to say there are at least 319 million people in JUST the US right now.

That’s a lot of people.

And every time my sales slump on my books, I remember that I might have touched a few thousand of that big number. So, there are still a lot of people out there who have never heard of me, or my books. If you are an author, you would do well to remember that. You are not a failure just because your books are slumping in sales.

So, last time, I talked about e-books versus paper versions.

I have thought of a few other good reasons to go digital. Like, buying an e-book is instantaneous. You click the buy/download button and voila! In a matter of moments, it is on your e-reader. You never have to get dressed, drive to a store, walk the aisles, and stand in line to purchase. It’s so simple, it’s a no-brainer. Everybody likes it when we create ebooks.

One of my earlier posts on the blog was about concept maps and how they help you organize ideas. It’s useful also for making e-books. You use the concept map to help build the outline, which I discussed also and you can read that here.

An outline can be considered as a sort of table of contents for the book to come. For my Ten Tips For Getting That Book Written, it was broken down into parts. You can use sections, parts, chapters, etc.- whatever works for you. When you create sections or parts, it makes it much simpler to see the direction the book wants to go in. The good thing is, you can change it around to different positions as appropriate as well.

For example: (this is not my outline, but it could have been!)

Introduction to Writing

Section 1: What is motivation?

Section 2: What about inspiration?

Section 3: How to write from a position of inspiration

Part 1: What is writing a book like?

Part 2: Which format is best?

Part 3: Is there a right or wrong way?

Section 4: Editing, your new friend

Part 1: Is there a right way?

Part 2: Should you work in drafts?

There is nothing that says you couldn’t turn that all around. Talk about writing first, then editing, then motivation. There is no perfect outline.

How Can I Get Started Writing My Book?

All you need is a word processor, like Word, or TextEdit on Mac. TextEdit is open source software, meaning FREE. And don’t worry about your writing skills, instead, get started! Just write. Someone will help you later to get it into the proper format. I know what you are thinking, you are saying, “but where do I begin?”

First, decide if you want to write FICTION or NON-FICTION. That simple difference will determine a lot of decisions. If you are writing a memoir for example, that might just be free-writing for a while until a form takes shape. But if you are wanting to write a non-fic about how to do something, that will be a different form.

The most important thing is: GET STARTED! – and if you have questions, I am here to help! I love answering questions. There is nothing too big or small for me to answer for you.

This is going to be a sort of series, I think. so…check back!