Diary of a First-Time Author

I just realized … I’m two weeks into working on the book and my experience may be of vague interest to someone out there–even if it’s only me, five years from now.

20 Apr 2008

Ok, another week has gone by and I haven’t written a word. This week, I gathered more thoughts into my TiddlyWiki notes, talked with lots of folks on Twitter, and the overarching structure for the book is coming to mind. I find I work much better with lots of conversation and interaction; it stimulates my thinking and really gets me going.

This week I’d like to end the week with a detailed outline written or dictated. As much as the talking-into-the-microphone appeals to me, I’m not sure I can hold the whole book framework in mind the whole time. But then, according to my friend Marc, that’s kind of the point… my unconscious mind can do it all and my conscious mind need only be the editor.

Perhaps insanely, I’m also about to hire a full-time summer intern to help me do some serious product development and help kick-start my information products business. I’m hoping that after getting her up to speed, she can take over that whole part of the business and my mind will feel a lot freer at that point.

13 Apr 2008

Skip directly to what I’ve learned in the last two weeks.

My supposed start date for the book was 1 April 2008. I sat down that day and promptly … did nothing. In fact, I just sat around doing nothing for quite some time. During the nothingness, I obsessed about doing nothing, thinking I should be doing something. Was this “writer’s block?” Whatever it was, it wasn’t pleasant.

My big strategy in life has been to find an expert, apprentice myself, and learn from them. Starting something with no idea of the steps to take or the process I’ll use is paralyzing for me.

I asked Marc, Richard, Thom, Michael, Jack, and Marci. Between them, several hundred million book sold. A dozen best-sellers. The consensus? No consensus. Some dictate then transcribe. Some write two hours a day. Some stress about not writing, then do the entire book in two weeks. Thom switches off, using different processes for different books. Marc used hypnosis and meditation to dictate his best seller in two weeks and finish the editing in two months.

Marc’s strategy seemed like the least work. I grabbed a handheld recorder, practiced up on my self-hypnosis, and … promptly noticed it wasn’t happening. So perhaps outlining’s the answer? I tried. I could get a Very High Level outline, and then had about 250 individual tips and topics in a huge list to include. Overwhelm! Overwhelm!

Rats.

During my overwhelm, I noticed that GrammarGirl and Laura Fitton would use Twitter to get ideas from people. It seemed like an interesting idea. I’m not a Web 2.0 guy but … announced my Twitter handle on the podcast. Within a few days, I had a couple of hundred followers. We chatted.

I asked a question. They responded. Too may responses to track, so I set up this blog to centralize the responses.

One question was about brainstorming and writing tools. Someone suggested TiddlyWiki, a free-form
Wiki. “Trying it out” quickly became pages of notes, outlines, and other material cross indexed a dozen ways.

Then I asked a question about Failure to my twitter friends. A few responses and blog discussions later, the ideas started flowing fast and furious. Typing into the Wiki, bits and pieces of the outline are taking shape.

Here’s what I’m learning so far. These may be universal, or they may apply only to me:

1. There’s no “right way” to write a book. I can try many different processes and notice that some work for me, others don’t.
2. Anxiety over not-having-started is useless. It neither motivates nor helps me create.
3. When writing a 3000-word essay, I hold the whole thing in my head at once. An 80,000-word book is another matter. Can’t be done, no use getting upset about it.
4. My writing evolves non-linearly. Insights about structure mixed with specific tips, anecdotes, points, and style ideas. The wiki has been excellent for helping sort all these thoughts out. (Though not as excellent as the long-defunct Lotus Agenda, the most excellent information organizing product in history.)
5. A book is like a jigsaw puzzle with a bunch of pieces and, er, I lost the picture of what it’s supposed to look like. I just know it’s a lighthouse or a seascape or something.
6. Writing two blogs (this one and Business Explained), a podcast, a book, and working on developing my audio cd products is too much. My brain can’t generate so much content so regularly. Gotta pare back. Not yet sure how.
7. Most surprising so far: Using Twitter, my blog, and the social media is getting me into conversations. The conversations spark ideas and concepts that then go into shaping the jigsaw. We’ll see whether that effect changes over time, but for the last week, all this social media stuff has produced what’s felt like progress.