Considering writing a book. Any helpful hints?

Here is the number one thing you must do to be a writer.

Sit at your computer/typewriter, place your fingers on the keys and start writing. Keep writing until it starts making sense. Then write some more until it looks like it is going somewhere. Then write until it feels like it is complete.

Stop writing.

Start editing.

Start writing the edited version. Keep writing until you are satisfied.

Stop writing.

Go away for a month.

Read what you wrote. Does it look good?

No. Start editing...

Yes. Format the manuscript until it meets a publishers standard.

Send it in.

Any questions?
 
The most important thing you need to do is come up with an outline for your book. This will help you with staying focused with the subject matter and the flow of the book. Without an outline, you run the risk of being too verbose and fragmented.

The next important issue that needs addressing, is proof-reading. If at all possible, have a third party go over your work. When I say third party, I am referring to someone besides you and the person(s) involved in publishing your work.

In regards to publishing, you don't need a publishing agent. Having an agent is apropos, when you have already established yourself as a writer with more than one book. The most economical and practical route to take at this point in time, is self-publishing. There are several reputable self-publishing companies online. There are several different packages you can choose from. By availing yourself to self-publishing, you control every aspect and cost of your book. Depending on which package(s) you choose, your self-publishing cost can run from a few hundred dollars to fifteen hundred dollars and up.
Actually, if you don't love to write. Everything else is just a waste of time.

Writing is hard and lonely. Writing is one of the hardest things you will sit down and intentionally do. Often, you will never get recognition for your writing. Only the satisfaction that the damned story is finally out of your head!
 
I'm not a writer but I would like to share some things so I'm considering writing a book. A friend asked me to write a book about my life some years back. Actually several friends ask me to write it all down. So I did. Well actually I started. Almost four hundred pages into it something happened that changed the whole course of our lives. I was awakened in the middle of the night with nightmare, yet it was a real event that took place when I was five years old. Three fifteen in the morning I called Rod and he answered the phone with, "What's wrong". He sounded to me like he was wide awake sitting by the phone when he answered the call. He was in Iowa and I was in Florida in the Everglades. We had a disagreement before I had went to Florida, well actually more than one but that one in particular nearly caused the final straw for a full and complete divorce. We had previously signed the papers and our attorney had put them in a file all prepared to submit at a phone call to him to do so. The year before our attorney told us to wait and try to work things out because he really did not think we wanted a divorce. He was right but we were or seemed miserable around one another. That final argument was about trust. Even though I did and still do trust Rod more than any man on earth he was very jealous that God alone gets me absolute and total trust. Three months went by and he refused to go to Florida that year with me so I had packed the pickup with the computer, my stuff and the dogs, hooked to the boat and went by myself down there to our little spot. I was also very hurt and mad that Rod refused to go. I called and the attorney's secretary. She said she threw the divorce papers out. The divorce would have to wait until I got back from Florida and new papers could be filled out.

Several weeks of going through memories and events that shaped my life and the path that I have walked this dream/memory totaled it all. When Rod first came to stay at my home I would awake us both with terrible screams from the nightmares I had three to four nights out of every week. Back then Rod would just hold me in his arms and let me know I was safe until I fell back asleep. Over the years the nightmares subsided but had never fully gone away. When he asked that night I called him from Florida, "What's wrong?" I responded I think I have had the last nightmare I will ever have. Rod said, that's it you cannot do this by yourself. He flew down the next day. From that point onward everything changed. After few weeks were a roller coaster of recollections of events and emotions of the previous twenty years and beyond the time we had been together. A battle was on and it was a spiritual battle. Some will understand that some here will not. The Holy Spirit was with us for almost two months. The book I had been writing seemed so unimportant at that point. The precepts that men have proclaimed and taught melted away at that point for us. I know some will understand what I am speaking about and others here will not.

We learned at that point in our lives that although we may perceive something one way we really have no clue what is happening in the spiritual realm. We also learned the most precious things in this life are stored in a place the flesh is not allowed to go. It is hidden from us and kept in a safe place. A lock box that God Himself keeps. Truly a treasure beyond what people of living on earth can imagine.


So any helpful hints on how to write a book?
It should be about us. You have all the information on all of us and you can use our names. Or just the most interesting ones like me.
 
I'm not a writer but I would like to share some things so I'm considering writing a book. A friend asked me to write a book about my life some years back. Actually several friends ask me to write it all down. So I did. Well actually I started. Almost four hundred pages into it something happened that changed the whole course of our lives. I was awakened in the middle of the night with nightmare, yet it was a real event that took place when I was five years old. Three fifteen in the morning I called Rod and he answered the phone with, "What's wrong". He sounded to me like he was wide awake sitting by the phone when he answered the call. He was in Iowa and I was in Florida in the Everglades. We had a disagreement before I had went to Florida, well actually more than one but that one in particular nearly caused the final straw for a full and complete divorce. We had previously signed the papers and our attorney had put them in a file all prepared to submit at a phone call to him to do so. The year before our attorney told us to wait and try to work things out because he really did not think we wanted a divorce. He was right but we were or seemed miserable around one another. That final argument was about trust. Even though I did and still do trust Rod more than any man on earth he was very jealous that God alone gets me absolute and total trust. Three months went by and he refused to go to Florida that year with me so I had packed the pickup with the computer, my stuff and the dogs, hooked to the boat and went by myself down there to our little spot. I was also very hurt and mad that Rod refused to go. I called and the attorney's secretary. She said she threw the divorce papers out. The divorce would have to wait until I got back from Florida and new papers could be filled out.

Several weeks of going through memories and events that shaped my life and the path that I have walked this dream/memory totaled it all. When Rod first came to stay at my home I would awake us both with terrible screams from the nightmares I had three to four nights out of every week. Back then Rod would just hold me in his arms and let me know I was safe until I fell back asleep. Over the years the nightmares subsided but had never fully gone away. When he asked that night I called him from Florida, "What's wrong?" I responded I think I have had the last nightmare I will ever have. Rod said, that's it you cannot do this by yourself. He flew down the next day. From that point onward everything changed. After few weeks were a roller coaster of recollections of events and emotions of the previous twenty years and beyond the time we had been together. A battle was on and it was a spiritual battle. Some will understand that some here will not. The Holy Spirit was with us for almost two months. The book I had been writing seemed so unimportant at that point. The precepts that men have proclaimed and taught melted away at that point for us. I know some will understand what I am speaking about and others here will not.

We learned at that point in our lives that although we may perceive something one way we really have no clue what is happening in the spiritual realm. We also learned the most precious things in this life are stored in a place the flesh is not allowed to go. It is hidden from us and kept in a safe place. A lock box that God Himself keeps. Truly a treasure beyond what people of living on earth can imagine.


So any helpful hints on how to write a book?
It should be about us. You have all the information on all of us and you can use our names. Or just the most interesting ones like me.
I am thinking about writing about 'karma' she really was a bitch. She worked for us for awhile but got to thinking she was really hot shit. I cut her hours back and eventually she quit and when I took back control of the books I learned she was going to give herself a huge raise. Crafty thing, well she thought she was.
 

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