Writing your book: going from first idea to first draft
Richard Hagen
Helping speakers, coaches, trainers, consultants and entrepreneurs stand out, scale up and storysell more profitably and save time through workshops, product creation and publishing. | Coach | Consultant | Publisher
Taking the first step with your book is the step that most people never take. They ruminate for ever on the book they could or should write but leave it purely as an idea that remains in a limbo-like state. Your book, however, begins with the decision to write and then getting it out onto paper or screen.
This step from fanciful idea to action seems to be the most challenging hurdle that prospective authors face. Your decision to move from inaction to action will generate enormous energy and raise many unfamiliar challenges as you step forward.
The desire to create something perfectly formed at this stage can kill the project whilst it is still learning to amble around and explore its environment. A preoccupation with less significant areas such as spelling or grammar can stifle the flow of creativity and risk-taking that is required for an engaging title. A lack of time to write when swallowed up in a hectic family or a demanding business can turn the enthusiasm around the idea into dread when the lack of progress is recognised. So how can the infancy of your book be a healthy, positive and creative experience?
You have three main options when you decide to get the ideas in your head out as words on paper.
The single parent: The most common route is to simply sit down and start to write. You may plan extensively beforehand, or not, as your personality dictates. You let the story or information flow out and take its own shape as you see fit.
The companion: An alternative route is to work with a coach. The coach’s role is to both build your confidence in your ability to write engagingly and to help structure and guide the evolution of the first draft.
The nanny: For those who perhaps are time-starved but cash-rich the third way is to employ the services of a ghost-writer. This is someone with whom you discuss your ideas, your experience and your insight, who then applies their professional writing skills to the project. They work in tandem with you throughout the process ensuring that your voice is clear in the finished text.
At the end of this period, no matter the route you have travelled, you have a first draft of your work. This may not be a beautifully crafted or polished piece of work, it may not be accurate in the secretarial dimensions of spelling or grammar, it may not be the book you set out to write. This is natural and is an essential element in the lifecycle of your book.
THINK NOW: Look at your lifestyle, your skills and confidence in writing, your resources (both time and money)—which route seems to be the most viable for your own book project?