How To Go From Rough Idea To Completed Book In 6 Easy Steps

Writing a book is a dream many people have entertained at one time or another. Unfortunately for most, that dream never materializes. Years later, it's still as distant as ever. It's an unfortunate situation and one that is all too common. But it need not be that way.



Many people want to enjoy the rewards of a book of their own, but they don't how to get there. Getting it done seems like such a huge task. They don't know where to begin or what step to take next and so the cherished dream of book writing success remains a puzzle.

Take it one step at a time and you make steady progress. Take action everyday and your book will eventually be completed. Following are 6 steps to help you advance from rough idea to completed book in the shortest possible timeframe.

1. Develop your idea. Take hold of your concept and determine the angle you'll take. Narrow it down. Transform this idea into a working title. The best approach targets your market and offers solutions to problems experienced by your prospective readers.

2. Create a mind map.This is where you flesh out the main ideas to be presented in your book. On a clear sheet, write down your working title in the center and circle it.

Next, ponder the most significant sub-topics related to your title and write those down in clockwise fashion, surrounding your title. Brainstorm the major areas of your book and jot them down. Circle each main idea and draw a connecting line from it to the title in the center of the page.

3. Begin your outline. Take those key subject ideas from your mind map and organize them in linear fashion on a separate sheet. List these important topics in logical sequence. Think of your reader and how the material can best be presented in way that's easy to understand.

This listing of main topics forms the structure of your outline. It will also eventually become the foundation of your table of contents.

4. Expand your basic outline into a detailed blueprint. Take each proposed chapter and list it at the top of a page. Next, consider the most important details, keywords, concepts and examples you want to use for each chapter and jot them down. Finish one chapter outline and then move onto the next.

This is the most important step in writing a book. It's where you fill in vitally important details as you think things through. The better your outline, the easier and faster it will be to write each chapter.

5. Write the book. With your completed outline in hand, writing is swift and easy. Simply move from point to point... segment to segment... chapter to chapter. You've already done the heavy lifting. Now it's simply a matter of composing your ideas into sentences and paragraphs.

6. Polish it up. Here's where you take your completed draft and make it even better. Correct glaring areas. Improve readability by smoothing over the rough patches. Add any missing details you overlooked at the outlining stage.

Don't edit your work until you finish your draft. Get it done and then make it better. If you stop to edit as you go, writing becomes a much more arduous task. It interrupts the magical state of flow you'll achieve as you write your content freely within the framework of your outline. 

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