I’m always asked how to write a book.  I always say, to sit down and write.  It’s easy to say you want to write a book, the hard part is writing the book.  Many people will leave this earth because they want make time to write the book that’s in there heart.  They’d rather talk about it.

I was that way for many years.  I loved talking about writing, but I wasn’t doing much writing.  I realized that I needed to sit my butt down and write if I wanted to ever see a book with my name on it.

Here are a few tips that helped me to complete my books.

15 Minutes

Before children I would spend the whole weekend or most nights writing.  If you are a parent you know you can’t dedicate that many hours to writing and be a parent, so I had to figure out a way that worked for me.  I’m not a morning person so getting up early didn’t help.  My evenings most times were reserved for doing SORMAG stuff, so when could I write?

At work we get 15 minutes breaks.  This is when I chose to write.  You’d be surprised how much work you can get done in 15 minutes.  For years this was how I wrote my books.  It takes a little longer, but I was being consistent which means I was completing the books vs. talking about them.

You can do the same thing.

FIRST 15 Minutes

Take your first 15 minutes and write out your idea.  What will your book be about? What genre will it be?  How long will your book be?

SECOND 15 Minutes

Write out an outline, or plot out the story.  Break down your chapters or, write descriptions about your characters.

THIRD 15 Minutes

Do your research.   Is this a contemporary or historical book? What is the setting for your book?  Who is your audience for this book?

FOURTH 15 Minutes

WRITE, WRITE, WRITE

Repeat the fourth step until you complete your book.

Now you are ready to get started.  Get those ideas on paper or on your laptop.