I want to let you in on a little secret…
I am a free-wheeling, creative type of gal. But deep down, I love a good system.
When I was in college, having never written a poem in my life, I was required to take a formal poetry class to obtain my creative writing minor. Yikes!
As scared as I was going in (because I had no idea what I was doing!), it actually turned out to be one of my favorite classes. Why? Because I was given a structure—a framework—within which I could get as creative as I wanted. I didn’t have to think about how to put the poem together—I just had to fit my ideas into the system to make it work.
Writing can be a very free and nebulous activity, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, it can end up like a bad poem. Which is why I’m so excited to be sharing my book-writing system (developed over my years working in the self-help/business book world) tomorrow night in my free teleseminar: “FINALLY Write Your Book—Six Steps to Getting it Done!”
If you’re not already signed up, you can do so here: http://www.writerssherpaprograms.com/freecall.html. And here’s a sneak preview of the steps in my system:
1. Prepare for Your Journey—address any mindset issues that might be holding you back, set your goals, and create a writing schedule that easily fits into your schedule, so finding the time to write won’t hold you back for one more day and your book will FINALLY get done!
2. Choose the Mountain You Want to Climb—determine what your book is REALLY about and whom it can REALLY help, and get to the heart of your passion and purpose for writing so you have fun writing it and your book connects with the readers who will love what you have to say and want more from you.
3. Plot Your Path—put all the pieces in place by organizing your material into a system, creating a working outline, and using a chapter template to simplify the writing process and get all your ideas together in a way that flows naturally.
4. Ready, Set, Put One Foot in Front of the Other—draft your book using techniques that help you stay on track and make it easy to write a compelling, reader-focused pages and chapters, so your readers get hooked from page one and don’t set your book aside.
5. Gain Altitude—use strategies that make everything you write exciting, fun, and interesting to read so your book (and you) is compelling and attractive to your prospects, the media, and broad audiences and you and your business stand out and get noticed.
6. Reach the Summit—add value to your book, give your ideal readers next steps, and polish your manuscript using a step-by-step self-editing system so your writing is tight, concise, clear, and ready for the reading world.
I hope to “see” you there!