How to Start Your Book
You want to write a book but somehow you never get started. Why not?
There's a good chance it's perfectionism, in which case you should read my last post, There is No Perfect Book.
However, it may also be that you just don't know how to start. You may have asked yourself questions like:
Let's make this easy. Just follow these steps:
Don't worry about formatting, spelling, grammar. Don't even worry about writing full sentences. This isn't writing, this is just making notes.
Your book parking lot may contain:
In other words, literally anything can go in this doc. The only rule is that it needs to have something to do with your book. Park those ideas in your parking lot doc and come back for them when you need them.
I'm working on a book right now and have a parking lot for it that is 36 pages long. It started with just a few ideas on one page, then I started adding quotes, writing bits of prose, adding chapter ideas, and over time my parking lot turned into a rough outline and now there are even entire chapters that have been written and revised.
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Because I have a quick link to the doc on my phone, I can easily pull my phone out and add ideas whenever they occur to me, which happens several times a day. I tend to come up with a lot of ideas while I'm out jogging (which is great for my book although tends to mean my runs have lots of interruptions).
A parking lot doc takes a lot of pressure off when starting your book. It gives you permission to start with the most rudimentary structure possible—a mess of notes, and work from there. Try it out. Let me know how it goes.
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Grants Specialist at Let's Be Ready
1 年This is incredibly helpful, since I wasn't sure where to start. I've been wanting to write a memoir or autobiography on my life for my children to read. The Google doc parking lot is where I'm starting and jotting down ideas every day.
Helping small business owners identify and position their business’s unique value with clarity and confidence | Brand Positioning Specialist | Fractional Chief Content Officer
1 年A parking lot is a great idea. I tend to put them in different areas - hard copy, notepaper, scrap of paper and phone depending on where I am. Having ONE place is brilliant. Thanks Josh Steimle
I teach The Stewardship Way to deliver transformational results for individuals, teams, and organisations.
1 年Love the concept of the book parking lot – very simple and will be really useful. Thanks!