Writing Non-Fiction Blog Series - 6

Last Saturday afternoon - with its non-stop rain - proved to be a productive day to write. I focused on Chapter One work and was able to bang out another 1200 words or so in a few hours. Then I reached the point where I felt I had done about as much as I could do in a first pass on Chapter One. The first Chapter of this book is designed to lay the case out for the necessity for more enterprise focus on sales analytics. So when are you done with a Chapter? When you reach the point I did - were I just couldn't find anything else to add.

Am I done with Chapter One? Only for now. Surely after I finish off all the other remaining six or so chapters, I'll go back and revise/add/delete as I see fit. Often times I'll be researching and writing for another chapter and find something that would fit well into the another chapter. After a while, you get so familiar with your own work that you know where ideas can be added, moved or deleted. After the first draft, I create a working "parking lot" for extra copy that I want to move out of one chapter but not delete it until I'm at the point of sending the manuscript to my editor.

So, I'll start this holiday weekend by starting chapter two - which focuses on what the CSO needs to know and understand about sales and data analytics in order to be an effective executive in the analytics space. Nice to be working on another chapter on the road to a finished manuscript.

If you have a book in you, don't be one of those people who literally go to their graves without fulfilling the desire to share their minds, thoughts, ideas and emotions. Like Nike says, Just Do It.