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That book inside you is trying to get out. "Book inside me!" you exclaim. "Are you serious?" I am. Inside every one of us is a book that wants to be written, needs to be written-and, yes, is already partially drafted, if only in our minds.

Ah, now you're listening, aren't you, because now you know I'm onto you. You know very well the book that's been incubating in your brain, nourished by your need for self-expression, but kept under wraps by a lack of self-confidence. You can't imagine yourself a published author. Although you know you have a message-something new and insightful and creative-you just can't envision the process by which you'll get it on paper and out to your target audience. And so it percolates beneath the surface of your subconscious, coming into fuzzy focus now and then as you're mowing the lawn or driving down the interstate... You know exactly what I mean.

Your book might be fiction or nonfiction, possibly a stage play or screenplay, maybe even (dare we say it?) poetry! Sub-Mariner you've accrued a wealth of knowledge through a lifetime of work experience and you're eager to share it. Perhaps you've been developing a clever plot and cast of characters for an intriguing or poignant novel. Whatever the message, whatever the literary genre, every single adult (and lot of youngsters) has a book inside just waiting to get out. And, because I believe your book is worth writing, I'd like to give you a few tips on how to make that happen.

Getting Started

The first step is to accept that you'll never get finished until you start. Sounds simple, but isn't getting started often the hardest step? And I know why: Because most of us believe the following myths about writing a book:

• You have to start at the beginning and work your way through to the end.
• You can't start until you've got it all planned out.
• Writing a book has to take at least a year-maybe several.

The truth is that you can start anywhere at all on your book. In fact, probably the best way to get started is simply to start-anywhere at all. Just sit down at the computer or grab a notebook and pen, whichever works for you (or even speak into a tape recorder) and start drafting the part of the book that comes most easily to you. Don't even give a thought to whether you're writing the beginning, middle or end. It doesn't matter.

The First Writing Session

In your first writing session, I suggest you push yourself to write nonstop for a minimum of 15 minutes. Set a timer and then start writing. Don't pick up your pen from the paper or your fingers from the keyboard until the timer sounds. If you get stuck and can't think of anything new to write, just keep rewriting the same Golden Age Comicshlhnmxdqi or phrase over and over until something comes to you. When the timer sounds, you may give yourself permission to stop, or you can just keep going. Your goal is to get some material on paper, and the more the better. So don't worry about grammar, punctuation or spelling. Do not stop to self-edit or self-critique. Write in sentences if sentences come to mind; if not, write in phrases or word lists or bullet points. Pour the words out on paper.

When you run out of gas, sit back and reread what you have. Underline or highlight words and phrases you think might provide the key to where you really want to go. Then start again, writing nonstop for another 15 minutes. Again give yourself permission to write in any way you wish; just keep going and don't criticize. When you are finished, again underline or highlight key words and phrases.

Now go back and read only the underlined/highlighted passages from your two writing experiences. What conclusions can you draw about your writing purpose and your central message? Consider who your target audience might be by asking yourself this question: If I really wrote this book, who do I hope would really read it? That's close enough for now. Make some notes about purpose, message and audience, and then put it all aside for a day or more.

The Evolution of the Book

In most cases the best communication, written or spoken, evolves over time. I do know one man who wrote his first book in three weeks, and it was very good and sold fairly well, but that's the exception, not the rule. Happy Days who knows how long the book had been incubating in his mind before he finally sat down to write?) The key to successful composition is to write a little bit-any little bit, not necessarily the beginning-and then ponder and ruminate for a while.

How do you know when to stop and ponder? Whenever the writing becomes onerous. Whenever you're stuck for what to write next. Any time the words stop flowing (except for those first two forced writings detailed above, because they prime the pump) that is the time to put it aside and let your mind turn things over for a while.

These ruminating sessions can happen any time and any place: Sitting in an airport, waiting for a flight, for example. An even better place to ponder your book is riding on an airplane. There's usually some white noise created by the engines, and the people around you are generally strangers who don't need your attention, so airplane travel works well for book pondering. But so do lawn mowing, dog walking, Gummi vacuuming, interstate driving, hedge trimming, berry picking and countless other activities that involve your body but not your brain.

Establish a rhythm of writing one day, pondering the next. And don't worry about starting back up where you left off. If you want to review your most recent passages and continue from that point, fine. If not, start today wherever you wish, with no concern for where you left off yesterday or the day before. Most would-be-writers paralyze themselves with preconceived notions about how it is to be done, the correct format, the most effective procedure... and I understand that. We pick up those notions in school. Now it's time to find your own way and give yourself permission to do what works for you. So alternate between writing and pondering as long as you feel good about what you're producing.

Making Sense of the Whole

The point will come (and you'll recognize it) when it's time to get the big picture. This is the time when you feel satisfied that you've poured out onto paper or into your hard drive pretty much everything that was just below the surface, trying to get out. Now you will have to change direction slightly. Now it's time to review what you've written over the weeks, again underlining or highlighting. Once again go back and read only the underlined/highlighted passages, and then rethink your original notion of core purpose and message and target audience. Tweak those plans if necessary.

Now you should have a fairly good idea of where you want your reader to end up at the end of your book, even if you haven't written that far yet. So now you can imagine the steps you want that reader to take, from beginning to end, and that forms the framework of your book. If it's fiction, you now have the outline of your plot. If it's nonfiction, you have your chapter topics in order. If it's poetry, you recognize what emotional or psychological change you wish to make in your reader and the steps to move the reader in that direction. In other words, you now have a plan. Write it down. Review it and ponder it for a few days. Tweak it and perfect it and then let it lie as you continue writing, but always remember that the plan is fluid and can change. Nothing is carved in stone; nothing is final until the book comes off the printing press.

Work your Plan

You've been free writing and ruminating happily for some time now. It's time to impose a little order on your writing, but don't let that worry you. At this point, you're ready for some order. Now it's time to go back to the plan and match the material you've written to the plan you've decided upon. You might rearrange events or ideas now, and that's just fine. Some passages might no longer fit, and that's also fine. Don't destroy them; just file them away for now.

Imposing your plan, now go through in order, writing what you can of each section, giving yourself time to ruminate when the words dry up, and cheerfully leaving that section or scene undone when you just can't take it any further. As you flesh out a section, using what you've already composed and adding to it at will, ideas might come to you faster than your fingers can incorporate them into the chapter or scene or stanza. Do this: Jump down to the bottom of the page and jot down a new idea as it comes to you. When another idea comes, add it to the list. Pretty soon you'll have a list of ideas about how to develop this section fully. As you wonder where to go next, consult your list at the bottom of the page and use the ideas wherever they best fit, deleting them as you go.

And so continue until you have worked through each chapter or scene of your book. When you have been through the entire book from start to finish one time, put it aside for some wonderful pondering. Then approach it again, completing unfinished sections and improving the material you've drafted. Go through the entire book like this a second time, still leaving unfinished any really difficult areas. Don't beat yourself up over them; write, ponder, write and move on.

Seek Help

At some point in the process you'll want to consult another individual to refresh your creative thinking and support your efforts. If you need substantial help developing the book from an early point, you might wish to get some writing coaching. A coach will jump in and help at whatever stage of development your book is. If you feel you've drafted a complete book but you need someone else to read it and evaluate the big picture, you might want to seek content editing. An editor will help you decide whether you've achieved your purpose, whether your message is clear, and what sections need further development or reorganization. The editor can also help you with the voice and tone of the book at this point.

Once you have reworked and refined the manuscript to the extent you feel capable, it's time for the next level of editing. Now your editor will look a little more closely at your style because the big picture has already been taken care of. Editing at this level will involve sentence structure and style, word choice, paragraph development, and even grammar, usage and writing mechanics. When the editor has finished, you will need to consider every line and every word carefully if you really want to produce a quality, publishable product. If you have a good editor, you will probably agree with nearly every suggestion made, but it's your responsibility and right as an author to make all the decisions.

Finally, when you've tinkered and tweaked and perfected and had the manuscript read by a few trusted individuals, you will come to the point that you feel the book is finished. Your final editing step now is copy editing, ensuring your work is mistake-free and ready to be looked at by a literary agent or publisher's acquisitions editor. Or, if you plan to self-publish, your editor will perform the final copy editing required to ready your book for the printer. Now you move on, presenting your book to the world. How long has it taken Marvelcomicbooksqedqic Maybe weeks, maybe months, maybe years-it's anyone's guess. Circumstances and lifestyle often dictate our routines and schedules; no two authors work in the same way or at the same pace. The important point is that you have started your book and you have finished it. Congratulations!

Lynn Gerlach is a communication consultant with 30+ years' experience. As the president of All Write! she facilitates the communication efforts of writers and speakers all over the country, helping them express their messages to audiences of all kinds. Lynn's expertise includes speech and writing coaching, workshops and presentations on communication, writing, editing and ghostwriting. You may contact her at Lynn@allwriteonline.com or visit her at her web site: http://www.allwriteonline.com">http://www.allwriteonline.com View Lynn's video business card at http://www.northfloridabusinessnetwork.com/members/10008_lynn_gerlach.html">http://www.northfloridabusinessnetwork.com/members/10008_lynn_gerlach.html

posted by marvel-comic-bookswzxdmtx  # 7:47 AM