Here’s what I did before starting to write my book. Step by step

Here’s what I did before starting to write my book. 

Step by step. 

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Step 1. I started with a workshop on book writing

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It helped me a lot.

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I reached out to a friend - Charlie Hoen. 

He is a book marketing wizard.

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Charlie recommended a 2-day workshop.

Which went through the entire book process.

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This helped me a lot to see the path forward.

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With the learnings I headed to Step 2.

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Step 2. I answered the CORE questions

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- Who am I writing for?

- Why do I want to do this?

- What do I want to accomplish?

- How much time am I willing to commit?

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In my case the answers were the following:

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- I am writing for myself - a challenged founder

- It’s an emotional companion for this founder

- I want to help founders navigate the rollercoaster

- I commit to writing 400 words each day

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Step 3. I defined my chapter structure

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Here I focused on the book structure.

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I wrote down what each chapter will be about.

What is the core message in each one.

One idea, story, experience, lesson per chapter.

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This step brought clarity.

Step 4. I accepted that my first draft will be bad.

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This is definitely a part of the preparation.

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The initial version will be trash, but it’s important to finish your first draft, no matter how bad it is. 

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Always continue writing. 

Don’t start editing while writing. 

It activates two opposing parts of the brain.

That’s like accelerating and braking simultaneously..

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You’ll question yourself.

You’ll try to get everything perfect.

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You don’t need a perfect draft. 

That’s why it’s a draft.

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These were my four steps of preparation.

Curious about any of them? Drop me a line. 😊

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P.S. If you're considering writing a book, remember that the process is just as important as the final product.