If I broke down what I do in a sentence, I’d say that I help you break down your book-writing process in steps.
I sit at the table (and it might be imaginary if we’re in different locations) and tell the person across from me to lay out their ideas. So they tell me everything they know about the direction or the concept of their book.
I used to follow that up by asking what challenges they were having when it comes to writing. I cut that out though because it doesn’t matter, I’ve realized, because the way we break that thang down together…. all the issues you had either immediately evaporate or we resolve them when they come up.
I’m in a really juicy space right now of working with FOUR women who are at the exact same place in their story: the beginning. One is writing a children’s book, another is writing a memoir, the third is writing a self-help, and the fourth is turning her Facebook posts into a book. The fourth agreed to let me publicize her process once we’re finished (exciting, right?!).
The first few steps for all of them was pretty much the same. It works for fiction too:
1. Start a list of everything you want to add, or may want to add, in the book.
And keep a separate notebook for this to dodge my issue of having to later figure out which of my 999 notebooks it could be in. Digital notebooks like Evernote is a great idea too.
2. Go back and expound on that list.
Three or four sentences is good. If you’re motivated to keep writing, then by all means, let it flow. But if you can’t think of anything beyond a few sentences to say about it, then that’s okay too. Also consider audio recording yourself.
3. Don’t forget your dates.
I have this listed as step three, but it’s really step two (kinda). Set a date when to have your list done. You can always add more later, but don’t get stuck in step one waiting on everything to come to you. Then set a date to have your expounding done.
You could break it down and give yourself, for instance, a week to expound on 1 or 2 things on the list and then another week for another 1 or 2 things. Afterwards you should have a final date to have all of your initial expounding done. This is a milestone. When you’re done, celebrate!
P.S: Feel free to use these steps for your own book. If you need further guidance after you’ve completed them, here’s a list of ways I can help you to the finish line.