How to Write a Book in a Hurry
Computers have made it so much easier to write a book! Gone are
the days of making an outline, then writing a rough draft, then
rewriting the book in full form. Gone are the days of having to
rewrite it completely each time you need to make corrections. It
is SO much easier with a computer!
A book can be written in three simple steps:
1.Write an outline. 2.Write a rough draft. 3.Write the final
version.
Wait! Didn't I say it had changed? It has! All that is now so
much easier, and no longer three separate tasks, but one fluid
evolution from outline to book.
1.Write your chapter headings in a new document. This is your
outline, and it consists of chapter heads. Simply break down
your topic into logical sections, and name each section. This
works for stories, instructions, or listings. Arrange those into
a logical order. Don't forget to save. You can take a break here
if you want, because your book is already well under way.
2.Create your title page if you want to, and then write Table of
Contents if your book needs one. Copy the list of chapters, and
then put a page break after it. Paste in the copy of the chapter
listing, and then put another page break after each chapter
title. You'll end up with a title page, a Table of Contents page
with full chapter listing, and then one page for each chapter.
Go back through, and make notes in each chapter about what you
want to include in it, and any other reminders that you need to
put in.
3.Your book is roughed out, and all you need to do now is go
through and expand each chapter. You can progress one chapter at
a time, in a logical and ordered manner. Once you have your
chapters sitting there ready to be filled in, you can see your
progress visibly as you progress through one by one. This method
also allows you to write "out of order" if you like. I do that a
lot when writing technical stuff. I'll come to a chapter I just
don't feel like writing yet, and I can skip over it temporarily
and write an easier one.
This process cuts the time for writing a book in half. Because
you never have to rewrite anything from scratch, you just expand
on what you have until it is finished.
I use a few other shortcuts to writing also:
1.I search through old articles and see which ones I have that I
can group together for most of a book. I then write an outline
which includes those articles as chapters (or sometimes more
than one chapter for an article), and then paste them in. I can
have a book half finished in a matter of minutes.
2.Keep it short if I have very little. I don't pressure myself
to write something long. I just write what I feel fits, and if
it is not long, so be it.
3.I write in the way that works best for me. I don't write
chronologically very well, so I write by topic instead. I can
gather my thoughts better that way, so my writing comes out
better that it would if I tried to write in someone else's style.
4.Write first, format last. When I write a chapter, I focus on
writing it. Don't get distracted by formatting. Come back later
when the chapters are finished, and go through the book again
and format the text, bold headings, indent sections, etc.
5.Use active spell checking. I use Open Office, and it
underlines spelling errors as I go so I see them and correct
them immediately. This saves me tons of editing time, and keeps
me from making some of the more obvious errors.
6.Use Autoformatting if it helps you. Sometimes it just does
things wrong and causes you more work, but if you are writing
instructional materials, it can make it very simple to put
together a numbered list, and saves you the trouble of
formatting later.
7.Make sure you type well enough to not peek. You'll get a
headache if you peek. Get a copy of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
and use it for about three weeks, and I guarantee you'll not
only stop peeking, but that your typing speed will quickly
double.
We have never had so many tools to produce higher quality
writing in a shorter amount of time. I tried writing years ago,
and failed. It was not until I got a computer that I ever
succeeded at finishing anything, and that was just a short
volume of verse. It took me another 5 years to develop a system
for finishing a book, and then it was only because I had already
written a great deal of preparatory information.
Because of the ease of writing using a computer, I have gone
from dabbling to producing vast volumes of instructional
materials. While the world may consider that to be no great
miracle, or indeed, no great contribution to the world, it has
been life-changing for me. It can be for you also.