This is a very personal post, but I wanted to put it on the blog because I have gotten a few questions from lovely readers wanting to write their own books, memoirs and guides. I am by no means an expert in authoring but I have written six books – three self-published and two traditionally published with major publishers. My latest ones have been the most fun—Cues and Captivate and I am thrilled to share some secrets of the writing process!
I am happy to share my experience if it helps you! I decided to do this by questions I regularly get from you and see if I could place them into a coherent and helpful structure. I also filmed a video for you with some writing hacks:
I have an idea for a book—how do I get started?
I read somewhere that 86% of people feel they want to write a book. So I get this question a lot. In fact, when I tell people I am an author this question comes up about 80% of the time! (or they ask for their husband / daughter / brother). The first thing you want to think about is what kind of book you want to write. They are very different—and have different paths:
- Memoir: Do you want to tell your story?
- Non-Fiction: Do you want to give advice?
- Fiction: Do you have a story you want to tell?
- Poetry / Short Story: Do you have lots of little stories to tell?
You must fit into one of these categories—there are more sub categories like Sci Fi and historical, but it is really hard when you are trying to write a memoir/fiction. Pick one if you can.
Should I self-publish or traditionally publish my book?
To answer this question, I must ask you three questions:
- Are you in a rush? Traditionally published books take a minimum of 18 months—typically closer to two to three years. Yes, years.
- Do you care about being in book stores? It is very hard to get a self-published book on shelves. If you plan on printing some and giving them to friends or having a kindle version then you might stick to self-publishing.
- Do you want to make money? Unless you have a massive platform or following, you will likely make more money self-publishing. It’s true that self-publishing requires some money up front, but you make far more for each sale.
I have so many ideas, how do I start writing?
This is a big question for you to tackle right away:
Who are you writing for?
Are you writing for yourself—to express yourself, to get something out into the world, to check off a bucket list goal? Then you should just start writing because the process itself will inspire you.
Are you writing for others—do you have something you must share to the world and a specific reader in mind? Then you should talk to your ideal reader before writing.
Most likely, you will say you are writing for both you AND your readers. This is fine, but think about who comes first.
How do I organize a book?
I highly recommend two books to read before you start writing.
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
- Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark
For me personally I write in this process:
- 1 Big Document. I take every idea in my head and write it down on a document that ends up being 50-100 pages of notes.
- 10 Mini Documents. Then I go through and see if I can lump things together into 10 to 20 smaller documents.
- Order the Documents. Once I have them all split into buckets I put them in a logical order. This is the start of my outline.
- Master Outline. Once I can see the basic chronology I make a master outline—1 long list of all the topics in the right order.
- Outline within Outlines. After I have my master outline I go back into the smaller documents and make small outlines of them—these become my chapter outlines.
- Start Writing. I try not to waste too much more time before writing. Because I have learned as soon as you start writing your voice solidifies, your outline becomes more clear and you feel less fear of blank pages (starting is the hardest).
Of course. Here are a few new sections for your blog post, “Writing Process Tips: 6 Steps to Nail Your Book,” written in the same personal, encouraging, and step-by-step style.
How do I stay motivated when I’m in the middle of my first draft and want to quit?
This is, in my opinion, the single hardest part of writing a book. Starting is exciting, and finishing is a relief, but the middle? The middle is a long, lonely slog where every ounce of your self-doubt comes out to play. I call this “The Marathon of Doubt.” The initial inspiration has worn off, the end is nowhere in sight, and you start to wonder if any of this is even any good.
When you hit this wall, here’s what has helped me push through:
- Embrace the “Unpolished First Draft.” I mentioned Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird, and this is her most famous piece of advice. You must give yourself permission to write a truly terrible first draft. Its only job is to exist. It’s not supposed to be polished or profound. It’s the block of marble you will later carve into a sculpture. If you try to edit while you write, you will paralyze yourself.
- Track Your Progress Visibly. When you’re in the thick of it, it feels like you’re getting nowhere. You need a visual reminder of how far you’ve come. This can be a simple word count tracker in a spreadsheet, moving a marble from one jar to another for every 1,000 words written, or printing your outline and physically highlighting each section you complete. That visual cue of progress is incredibly motivating.
- Write Out of Order. Does the thought of writing Chapter 7 make you want to hide under your desk? Fine. Skip it. Jump to Chapter 12, the one you’ve been daydreaming about. The chapters are not your boss. Give yourself the freedom to work on whichever part of the book excites you most on any given day. The goal is to keep the momentum going. You can stitch it all together later.
If You Want to Start…
Someone can kick their writing into gear by outsmarting the empty-screen stare-down—no wishy-washy “wait for inspiration” here. Step one: they set a five-minute timer, grab a junky pen, and scribble the dumbest, wildest version of their idea—like, “Hero fights a toaster that’s secretly a spy.” No editing, just vomit words.
Step two: they pick one line that doesn’t suck—say, “The toaster zapped him with rye bread”—and rewrite it five ways: “Toaster shot rye like a cannon,” “Rye bread ambushed him,” etc. Real trick: a blogger stalled on a post tried this, landed on “My cat’s a furry dictator,” and cranked out 500 words in an hour. Step three: they glue that gem to their outline and sprint-write off it for 10 minutes—rough, messy, done.
They pull this stunt three days running—timer on, trash draft, pick a winner. It’s not about perfection; it’s a slap to shake loose the brain freeze and get ink flowing. They’ll ditch the blank-page dread and stack pages fast.