Avoiding Common Mistakes New Authors Make

Let's explore three common mistakes new authors make and offer solutions to avoid them.

Mistake #1: Insufficient Planning

New authors often underestimate the importance of planning. Unlike a short report or business plan, a book requires a comprehensive roadmap. Without a clear structure, your book can meander and lack focus, making it difficult for readers to follow your argument or narrative.

This lack of planning can also lead to inconsistencies. As you write, new ideas may emerge, forcing you to revisit earlier sections to incorporate them. This can disrupt the flow of your writing and create plot holes.

Solution: The Power of Separation

To avoid these issues, separate the writing process into three distinct stages: Plan, Pen, and Perfect.

Plan: This is the most crucial stage. Here, you'll develop a detailed outline using mind maps or similar tools. Include everything from key ideas and phrases to chapter breakdowns, references, and planned visuals. The more detailed your plan, the smoother your writing process will be.

Pen: With a roadmap in place, you can focus on writing your book instead of having one foot still in the planning stage.

Perfect: Once you have a complete draft dictated, you can move to editing and polishing. This is where you address grammar, typos, and sentence structure. Here, you can also refine your content to ensure clarity and flow.

Mistake #2: Writing Instead of Dictating

Many new authors believe they need to type their books. However, typing is significantly slower than speaking. This can hinder your momentum and lead to writer's block. Additionally, the act of typing itself can introduce a layer of self-consciousness, making your writing sound overly formal or academic.

Solution: Embrace Dictation

Dictation allows you to express your ideas freely and capture them at the speed of speech. It will also help maintain a natural, conversational tone in your writing.

Mistake #3: Editing While Writing

The desire to fix typos and grammatical errors as you write is understandable. However, this constant editing disrupts your flow and slows down the writing process. Here's why separating editing from writing is crucial, particularly when combined with dictation:

Solution: Separate Editing from Writing

By separating editing from writing, you can focus on getting your ideas down first (the 'Pen' stage). Once you have a complete draft, now you can polish your work and ensure it is error-free (the 'Perfect' stage).

Once again, dictation is the saviour. Dictating removes the visual feedback loop that occurs when you type. You're not constantly seeing the words on the screen, tempting you to stop and fix minor errors or rephrase sentences. This allows your thoughts to flow freely without getting caught up in the mechanics of writing. You can focus on expressing your ideas and building your narrative momentum.

This is why I don't recommend you use the speech-to-text functions on Word, Google Docs, etc. You can still see the words forming, and it will take huge willpower not to stop and go back to change a misunderstood word or errant punctuation mark.

Think of it like this: Imagine yourself giving a presentation. You wouldn't stop mid-sentence to correct your grammar or phrasing. You'd focus on delivering your message clearly and engagingly. Dictation replicates this experience in the writing world. You speak your ideas freely, capturing the raw essence of your thoughts. Then, later, you can return to the transcript with fresh eyes, ready to polish and refine your work.

This separation allows you to write with greater speed and confidence. You'll get your ideas down quickly while maintaining a natural flow and avoiding the self-consciousness that can creep in during the typing process.

Conclusion

By avoiding these common mistakes and embracing the power of separation—Plan, Pen, Perfect—aspiring authors can write a more focused, engaging, and well-structured book. Remember, the key is to plan extensively, dictate your draft to capture your ideas quickly, and then edit and polish your work in a separate stage. Separating the three stages, especially when combined with dictation, allows you to overcome the urge to constantly fix minor errors and keeps you focused on the bigger picture: getting your ideas down and crafting a compelling book.