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One of the books I wrote was on how to write and self publish a book. Since this isn't a forum about that, I'll leave it to you to find that book if it really interests you, but a little advice for you on how to go about writing a book.

First, create an outline. Write down the gist of the overarching story plot. Then divide it up by books, and then by chapters per book, so each one has a chunk you think will produce a reasonable amount of words for said book/chapter.

Next, set aside a little time every day so that you can write, and then read the plot for the chapter you're working on and... write.

Keep in mind that the first draft is a first draft, so don't try to edit it until the whole thing is written. Write Now, Edit Later. First drafts are always crap, no matter who you are. That's why we call them first drafts, and why we have editors.

When I write books, I wrote them to a goal of 50,000 words, and with a format of 6 x 9, that comes out to about 300 pages if the font is reasonable. For the type of books I write (usually instructional), this works well. Novels are usually going to be around 80,000 to 150,000 words, with 80,000 being the preferred by publishers most of the time.

To keep from being overwhelmed, figure out what a reasonable amount for you to write per day is, and divide your goal word count by that to determine how long it will take to write your manuscript. Some of them take years to write, but as long as you are persistent, it'll get done.

Take it from me, though... that outline is the most important step.
Yes I want to write something and get it to Clickbank and find some affiliates to market it for me. But that may not happen for a while Wink

Ryan
(04-12-2012, 09:30 AM)Shannon Wrote: [ -> ]First, create an outline. Write down the gist of the overarching story plot. Then divide it up by books, and then by chapters per book, so each one has a chunk you think will produce a reasonable amount of words for said book/chapter.

Next, set aside a little time every day so that you can write, and then read the plot for the chapter you're working on and... write.

Thanks for the advice Shannon, but honestly outlines are not my problem. In the time it takes most people to go to the bathroom I can knock out an excruciatingly detailed 5 book series outline with chapter breakdowns. My problem is I only ever write outlines.

With my current writing project I'm intentionally avoiding outlines so I don't get caught up in that trap/avoidance behaviour of outlines. The point of this thing is just to get into the habit of getting the words out. Once I've got that habit set/that muscle wakened out of atrophy, I've got Steve Manning's How to write a book in 14 Days, which is prop full of really solid helpful information. Structurally I'm aiming for 3200 words a chapter, 20-24 chapters in total. I don't even have an eye on publishing this thing because I'm pretty sure that I'm going to cross a content line in about 5 chapters that would make it unpublishable.

But your writing sub's are on my wish list and I'll get them when the opportunity presents itself.

Day 11

Friday the 13th. What if today was the luckiest day of my life? Cool

Writing wise I finished Chapter 1 last night and noted all the beats I want to hit in Chapter 2.

I've increased the volume a little of the sub when played at night. Can't really think of anything else worth noting here.

Have a good weekend everybody. I'll be back (lurking in the background) on Monday.
Day 14
Nothing of significance to report at the moment.
Woke up with an idea on Sunday morning. Don't know if it came from the sub or somewhere else, how to make it happen or even if anyone would want to be involved in it but it's something to think about I guess. Maybe something shows up to help it along, maybe not.
Just like others, I'm not really a firm believer of luck. Though I am totally open and aware of its presence on our world. I enjoyed reading your whole thread or journal. I'm looking forward to your future journeys using the Luck Magnifier Sub. Hopefully one day I might use it also. Big Grin
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