Your writing space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the ultimate writer. Your continuing mission to explore strange new words, to seek out new characters and new plot lines, to boldly go where no writer has gone before!

Yes, you know where I’m talking about-that final frontier you have avoided all day. Your story, or that great idea you have for a book. When was the last time you went there? How many weeks ago? Do you even know how to get there? As the “Starship” commander of your own writing destiny, it is your mission to save the lives of those characters, inform those greatly in need of your expertise, and get your great ideas onto paper. Those great story lines and expert opinions you have running around in your head are trapped on the planet “In-Your-Head” until you put that writing “ship” in gear. And that planet is light-years away from would-be agents, editors, and readers.

So, how do we get that ship started? I once read a quote from Tim LaHaye, the famed co-writer of the Left Behind series, that said, “The only way to write a book is with seat in chair.” Even Captain Kirk had a chair! So where’s your chair?

1. The Chair - It begins with a chair. Where is that chair found? You need to establish where your writing space is located. It should be a room of limited distractions. Beware of rooms with TV’s, video games, or other mind-numbing devices (Klingons). Rooms with doors that close are helpful if life partners, housemates, or mini reproduced humans exist. Finding that chair in a coffee shop establishment is fine provided you are not easily bothered by crowd noises or shelves of books or magazines.

Now that you have found your assigned seat on the deck of your writing “Enterprise,” look around you. Captain Kirk’s bridge was specifically designed for the overall mission. Each piece of equipment, every screen, every surface had a purpose and function. As the captain sat in his chair, you could see his deck encompassed everything the Enterprise was destined to be.

2. The Bridge – This is your environment. What surrounds you? What is within reach of your hand? Just as the Enterprise was set up to meet every need of the captain, is your writing “Enterprise” set up to meet your every need? Is your desk or table surface cluttered? Captain Kirk never had to push aside bills, stacks of papers, stray pens, or pencils to complete his mission. What do you have to push aside to complete yours? Have in reach everything you need and nothing you don’t.

(Side note: Use your control panels for their intended purpose only! Distant galaxies were not discovered via web surfing expeditions.)

And now it’s time to begin your journey. Now that you are seated in your chair distraction free, it’s time to engage the engines. The good news, your writing “enterprise” is actually much easier to activate than you think!

3. The Button – It really is that simple as pushing a button, just as the Enterprise was started with a single button and a joystick, so does your writing expedition. Open your current file or favorite word processing program, place fingers on key board and begin typing. Honest. Captain Kirk didn’t have to think about where he was going-it was already programmed into the systems, just as your next point, or that fabulous plot line is already in your head. It might take a few minutes to get your mind and keys on the same page, but don’t pause. Just begin and see where those words take you.

(Side note: turn off the “spell check” on your word processing program and write without fear of errors. Write first-edit later!)

And finally, as you begin your journey as the captain of your own writing “enterprise,” the leader of the ultimate writing “expedition,” as you travel into the unknown worlds of your amazing writing talents, make sure you surround yourself with the best from the Academy!

4. The Crew – Captain Kirk did not man the ship alone. Mr. Spock, Bones, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov were all high ranking lieutenants, chosen specifically to assist Captain Kirk. Who have you chosen to assist you? Get involved in writing groups, hang out with other writers, and seek those out who will encourage you and your talent. Beware of those wearing the same “uniform” but who have no purpose on your ship. Is there someone aboard who is sucking the life out of you? If they are not encouraging your talents, it’s time to beam them off into space! Choose your crew wisely and keep them close when needed.

Your writing space, your final frontier, this is your voyage-the voyage of ultimate writer-you! It is up to you to continue your mission, to explore strange new words, to seek out new characters and new plot lines, to boldly go where no writer has gone before! Begin your journey today, right now. Write now!

Use this comprehensive checklist to ensure you’re ready to write your book.

Are you clear about your motivation for writing a book? Money, fame, reputation, legacy, sharing what you know?

• My motivation is:

Do you know who your competition is? Have you read those books, decided what works and what doesn’t and checked out their Amazon rating?

• Competitor A is:
• And I like:
• And I dislike:

• Competitor B is:
• And I like:
• And I dislike:

• Competitor C is:
• And I like:
• And I dislike:

• Competitor D is:
• And I like:
• And I dislike:

Does your book idea have a wow factor, something different, a Unique Selling Proposition?

• My USP is:

Do you already have some fans, a following and a Google-rating? A blog, a website and a direct route to market?

• My fans find me here:
• My route to market is here:

Do you have a support group, mentor, coach, writing buddies and trusted readers who can give you feedback every step of the way?

• My supporters are:

Are you prepared to write in your natural voice, simply, easily, accessibly and aim for a Shitty First Draft?

• Yes
• No
• Yes, but I need to practise and get feedback first

Have you chosen the ingredients for your book and decided on your recipe?

• Personal anecdote
• Case study
• Illustrations
• Tips
• Tasks
• Summaries
• Expert opinions
• Quotations
• Resources
• Bulleted lists, like this one
• Subheads

Have you mind-mapped your book?

See this article for more on how to use Mind Maps

Have you mind-mapped a chapter?

See this article for more on how to use Mind Maps

Have you written a contents list, complete with foreword, acknowledgements, title page, resource section and so on and received feedback on it?

Have you written a sample chapter, using your mind-map, ingredients and recipe and received feedback on it?

Have you explored the options available for publication?

• agent
• publisher
• paid-for-publishing aka vanity presses
• self publishing your own book
• ebook publishing

This article is a round up of some quick ways of getting your book written down. Before you get to this stage you should have a detailed contents page that includes all the subsections of each chapter and the key points for each subsection. All of this should be in the order of the book. If you don’t know how to get to this stage there3 are several articles, videos and audios on this site that will give you detailed instructions to get to this point.

So you have your whole book in note form either as mind maps or on as notes on address cards. Now the task is to write the words in between that will mean it makes sense to the reader. Here are three ways alternatives to choose from.

Type it Yourself

This might be quicker, simpler and easier than you think. Remember all the hard work has already been done. Once you have your contents ordered and sequenced with all the key points down all you need do it type. Here are some key tips to getting this done well.

The most important thing is to type only for short lengths of time (I use five minute chunks) and type as fast as you can. Doing it this way you can’t edit as you go, you have no room for self doubt and you write more naturally.

I usually do about four or five chunks of five minutes an hour and this equates to about 1000 words. I can keep this up all day and really enjoy it. If you do the maths you might notice I can have 40 000 done in less than a fortnight. I think with a little practice that this is achievable for most people and some will be considerably faster.

The benefit of this system is that you get lots done quickly but there is much more benefit. I have found with myself and several others that the faster you write the more natural the words are and the easier it is to read. I have found doing things this way you might need more proof reading for spelling but you need less editing.

Voice Recognition Software

There are lots of great voice recognition programmes out there. I personally use Dragon and absolutely love it. Even after only 20 minutes of training it to recognise my voice it was immensely accurate and has got even better since.

I have found if I am writing short pieces, less than about two or three thousand words I am better off just typing it. Anything more than that this piece of software comes into its own. I have written upwards of 10 000 words in a day using Dragon. Think about this, those 40 000 words will take you less than a week using this approach.

Again there is nothing new to add here, the hard work was done creating your notes, now all you have to do is speak it into the software and it automatically writes it down for you.

Using Someone Else

I am not necessarily talking about an audio typist although this is a valid approach. I believe Barbara Cartland, who is in the Guinness Book of Records for writing the most number of novels in a year used this type of approach. Barbara, used three stenographers in twenty minute shifts, she would dictate to one for twenty minutes, they would go off to type up their notes as she started dictating to the second and then the third. By the time Barbara had finished with the third the first would be back and they could do any edits and revisions before starting the process again.

You might consider recording yourself reading your notes and give it to someone to write up. You might just hand your notes over to a ghost writer with some additional comments on tape and let them get on with it. In any case most books are far less than six hours long if spoken. Even if it takes you twice as long to record it your book is complete in less than two days.

Remember the issue is not writing your book but having a great idea and being able to sequence it into something that is meaningful for the reader. If you can do that bit then writing it down is the easy bit. In the third and final part of this series we will look at how you can cash in on your book.

Do you have a level of skill, experience or expertise in a particular field? If you do then here is a quick format to start thinking about how you can use that to become a best selling author in that area.
Read the full story

Writer’s block has affected all of us at one time or another but it needn’t get in the way of your success. Following these psychological and practical solutions from the Rintu Basu should help you get un-stuck in no time.

Read the full story