Should You Outline Your Book?: Why and How To Do It
It’s the classic feeling of dread from when you were in middle school. You were assigned this big essay that had to be researched, formatted, complete with an outline and a summary. I remember my English teacher drilling it into our heads that we have to create an outline before we can write our essay. At the time, it probably helped me get organized for the report. But do you need to create an outline before you write your book? There are many ways to write a book. You can wing it. You can sit down at your computer and just start writing. Many people take that approach. In the world of fiction writing they’re called “pantsters” because they write by the seat of their pants.…
Writing Exercises to Break Writer’s Block
Writing Exercises to Break Writer’s Block Writer’s block. It’s one of those things that happens to many writer’s when they least expect it. I know it’s happened to me. I can have dozens of story and blog post ideas floating around in my brain at almost a constant rate but then I sit down to write and not one single word will flow from my thoughts to my fingers. It’s like someone plugged the drain. I just can’t seem to get the story down. One way I have found to break the block is to do writing exercises. These are simple 5 minute writing drills to help you clear your mind. This is free-style writing. Don’t worry if the writing doesn’t make sense or if your…
Day One: Book Writing and Kindling Review
Well, I went through the newbies section on Geoff Shaw’s Kindling. Some great stuff to start my self-publishing career with. The first thing he tells me to do is to pick a type of book, either a short story fiction piece or a summary book. I will do the short story fiction. Already have a short outline done and started writing.This is in the contemporary romance genre. The next step is research. He suggests we check the bestseller’s in the category we have chosen to get an idea of what is selling. This is something I talked about in this post. Look at the covers, read the reviews and list the tags customers used to find the book. The third step is to choose a pen…
Kindle Publishing: Where Do You Begin?
Many of you know one of my goals this year is to get several books self published both in Kindle publishing format and through CreateSpace or some other self-publishing format. The writing and creation stage of this is the most fascinating part of the venture for me. But I am looking forward to the technical phase as well. The marketing and promotion, not so much. But I am going to persevere and face those demons when I get to that phase.
Determine the Type of Book: Fiction or Non-fiction
Maybe you want to write the next great fiction novel. Or you want to share your knowledge you’ve acquired in your life. Whatever your goal is, you will have to determine the type of book you want to write. Will it be a short story fiction piece about robots in the garden? Or are you writing a 400 page romance novel? Will it be a non-fiction how-to book about raising goats for their milk? There are many types of books and even more categories. One of the most common books is the recipe book. Considered a compiled book, it is one of the easiest to create online. A compiled book is simply a book created with a collection of information about a topic from different sources…
On The Road To Published Book
I have always wanted to be a published author. The idea of having my name attached to a published book is both thrilling and terrifying. Like many others, life and fear have held me back from pursuing the passion of publishing. Well no more, I say. With all the new technology in self-publishing from Kindle to Nook, publishing a book has never been easier. There are no query letters to write and no publishers to convince your book is the next best-seller. I have set up a challenge for myself. (and anyone who wants to follow along). I will write at least one page a day on a book to be published on Kindle at the end of 30 days. I will be reporting my progress…
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