Creative Impressions Press » Writing

Writing a Book in 6 Weeks

Sharyn — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 06:29:00 +0000

Almost every I talk with is astonished to think they could have their book in their hands in six weeks or less.

Most think it’s impossible. I actually took a class in the mid-90′s that taught how to write a book in two weeks or less. It is possible, and I have indeed met several authors who crank out a book in a week.

That’s not my style and I don’t think it sounds like much fun to have that type of writing monotony. So I came up with a formula that is very simple. Write for one hour a day, it takes about an hour to write four pages. There are an average of ten pages per chapter and the average book is 200 pages with the 20 pages of introduction to the book. It takes 2 1/2 hours to write a chapter and 37-38 hours to write 15 chapters. Then it takes about a week to have the book edited.

We’re up to 45 days and still have time to run the book by a couple of friends while the professiohal editor is carching the typosk inconsistencies and fluidity issues.

So that’s it! Merely 45 days start to finish and the book is done. The the printing will take about two to three weeks and I always recommend Print On Demand (POD) for the first two or three runs. You will always find thig you want to change along to way, but the important issue is to get the book out there and start marketing it.

That’s where the fun begins.

Discipline of Writing

Sharyn — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 05:23:33 +0000

Most people I talk with who have a desire to write their first book feel like it’s too overwhelming. They look at the book as a monumental project.
What I do is to share my concept of how to write a book in 6 weeks, with one hour a day. It takes about three hours to write the outline which consists of 15-18 topics (chapters), 10-15 talking points (paragraphs) and 5-8 points for each paragraph. Once you’ve written your outline, you can write four pages an hour, 2 ½ hours per chapter, 25 hours to write ten chapters. After two edits, you will have your book completed in just four to six weeks.
It really is that simple!
Now for those of you who don’t enjoy sitting down at the computer everyday, and there are truly more of you than those of us who enjoy doing so, the easiest method of getting your book done in the same amount of time is to buy a digital recorder. Carry your outline with you everywhere you go. I have some clients who have put their outline on their cell phones so they are never without it.
You can talk your book into existence and when you get back to your computer, you will be able to transfer the audio files to text files. Then you simply massage the text to become the chapters.
Now, even those who don’t enjoy typing can create their book in 4-6 weeks and become an author in less than two months.

Writer’s Block

Sharyn — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:28:13 +0000

Have you ever cleared your schedule and sat down for a planned session of writing only to find you had writer’s block? It happens to everyone and it’s very challenging. What do you suppose stops someone from being able to write when they want to write? Is it the pressure of having a deadline or having to perform?
The reason isn’t as important as the solution, but when you know the reason, you are able to find a solution to overcome it and not have it stopping you when you’re all primed to write!
I am the quintessential info junkie and consummate knowledge seeker!
I took a few Akihito classes over the years and in one of the classes the instructor talked about reversing the control of the left or right brain. Typically every reverses which side of their brain is dominant about every 90 minutes. But if you’re writing a creative piece and you’re in your left brain, you can’t write creatively when your in your left brain.
As well as, you can’t write a logical piece if you are in your right brain.
So the way you can control this is first, hold your index finger against the right nostril. Then blow out freely. Make a note as to the amount of air that is flowing. Then, hold index finger against the left nostril. Whichever has the most free air is the opposite side of the brain that is dominant at the moment. If the right nostril has more free air, you are now in your left brain or analytical brain. If the left nostril has more free air, you are now in your right brain or creative brain.
To switch to the other side, locate the gland about halfway across your collar bone, you’ll recognize it when you apply pressure and feel slight discomfort or tenderness. It doesn’t matter which side you use, but apply your thumb and in a circular motion starting at 12 o’clock or straight up, rotate towards your left shoulder, then down and then towards the right shoulder. Continue for about a minute.
Then recheck to see if the airflow has switched to the other side. Now you know how to control which side of your brain is dominant.
Of course if you have a cold, sinuses or need to have nose surgery, this won’t work but maybe you could try it on someone else! LOL

Writing Techniques

Sharyn — Wed, 05 May 2010 20:52:28 +0000

I talked about writing a book for more than two years but it was when I approached an event planner in Sacramento to be one of his keynote speakers that I had to face the challenge.

He agreed my working with entrepreneurs for ten years at that time (2000) was noteworthy enough to be one of his speakers but wouldn’t have a speaker unless they had a book.

That was January 15th and the event was June 3rd. So of course I said “No problem!” I’ll have the book!

How hard could it be? I’d been talking to entrepreneurs for ten plus years and I had a great track record with them. I knew what they needed to be more successful and I had developed several programs to help them get to their desired success level faster than they thought possible.

So I sat down that Saturday morning and sorted out my seven years of newsletters. What had I said that had the flavor of being astute wisdom? What concepts did I cover and how could I create a book out of all the concepts.

About six hours later, I had the makings of a fairly solid outline to follow and the newsletters I had written to guide me. It couldn’t be that hard.
I backed out the time I had and gave myself 3 1/2 months to write and the month of May for editing. I lined up an editor in Oakland who I had met in a networking group. I had a graphic artist in my Elite Leads group so I had Alice work on taking my business card design and recreating a book cover. Book covers can be a major challenge so I was very pleased with how easily Alice created the book cover and I loved it.
The average book is 200 pages, 20 pages prior to the first chapter and about 10 reference pages at the end. That left 170 pages to write in 90 days or less than 2 pages a day and with being able to write 4 pages an hour I could write an hour a day and have time to do the fist edit as well.

I always recommend authors write for 90-120 minutes non stop and never read what you’re writing until you’re done with that. The pitfall most authors fall into is they keep editing what they’re writing making it better each time, but never finishing their work.

I had written 72 pages and fortunately printed them out to edit away from the computer (it’s much easier for me to edit the printed form) when my computer got a virus and crashed and everything on my hard drive was wiped out.

Already into my second month, I now had to re-type the book, which was easier than writing it in the first place and much faster too! I also decided to reformat the book to the then standard 5 x 8 size. So instead of 72 pages it became 88 pages. That was a bonus.

I sent the chapters to the editor as soon as I had read them at least three times and incorporated about 50% of the changes she recommended. It’s important to remember it is your book and your voice. If you don’t speak the Queen’s English and the editor does, you will never match your manuscript by incorporating their proper English structure. There is a fine line however, you want the book to appeal to those who are intelligent enough to want to read your book.

Miraculously I picked up Mixing it UP! The Entrepreneur’s New Testament from the bindery on the way to the speaking engagement in Sacramento. Whew!

I started my second book on November 14th because I had a speaking engagement on December 9th. I took the basic outline from a series I had done and I pulled it off, writing and editing the book in three weeks and getting it printed and bound as well.
What I learned from that experience is it was much easier for me to write a book from an outline rather than piecing it together from previous material. It was about a month later when I had three people ask me to coach them so they could get their books published and so I created the course “Your Right to Write.”

I created an outline format for them to follow, when you break your book into 15 to 18 chapters, create 15 talking points for each chapter and three points per talking point, the book will write itself.

When following this outline procedure, the typical 200 page book takes 75 hours to write. If you write an hour a day you can have your book finished in two months including editing.

This process works for fiction as well as non-fiction. The pressure to write is minimized and the work flows naturally.