Writing – Page 30

How to Start a Book Using a Mind Map

September 1, 2015 by Lorna Faith

Have you struggled to get your book started?

There’s many people who don’t write their book, simply because they don’t know where to start. Many people have an idea for a book, but they don’t know how to get it going.

That’s how it was for me when I started to write my first non-fiction book Write and Publish Your First Book. The whole process of seemed a little overwhelming to me. I’d never written a non-fiction book before, and didn’t really know where to start.

However when I read, James Roper and Chandler Bolt’s book Book Launch: How to Write, Market & Publish Your First Bestseller in Three Months or Less AND Use it to Start and Grow a Six Figure Business it really helped me see how mind mapping could help simplify how I wrote my next book.

I began writing down ideas in outline form, but discovered I was missing ideas until I finally did a brain dump using mind mapping.

*This pic is a mind map of the first half of the book.

What is a Mind Map?

A mind map is a simply a writing down all the information you know around a subject. The difference is, you start with the central topic in the middle of the page and then the spokes become the key points on that topic and growing out of those spokes, more detail pops up as you keep writing.

The wonderful thing about mind maps, is that they can be words, pictures or phrases. You can add colour too. There’s software you can use or you can draw your mind map by hand. It can be done in a short time(it took me 30 minutes to do mine) or you can work on it over a few weeks or months.

Mind Maps are an amazing tool for you to use to organize your thoughts and get your book ideas started. If you did a bunch of brain dumping as you mind mapped, then it will be simple to organize detailed chapter outlines. More than likely, you’ll even know what subjects to cover in each chapter.

3 Simple Steps to go from Mind Map to Outline

The drawing above is where I dumped my ideas for my upcoming non-fiction book Write and Publish Your First Book. It’s not something I did when I wrote my first fiction book, and I really found mind mapping for this new book, really made the process much simpler so that I could get all my ideas down quickly.

For some writers, going from mind map to outline might be confusing. It can feel like all your thoughts are jumbled around as you put them into a mind map. Then to transfer those cluttered ideas into a clear outline, can seem overwhelming.

The biggest thing to remember, is it’s okay to make it a rough outline. Don’t try to make it perfect. It might seem a little tough to start, but as you work at it, it will become easier and more natural.

So, here’s the steps to mind map your book & transition to your outline.

Organize your mind map into sections or branches. First, write your main topic in the middle. Then write out everything you can think of on that topic onto little branches that reach out from the main topic. After you finish one section or branch, you repeat this process until your entire mind map is in the form of an outline. When I did the above mind map, this one had six branches. However this was only the first half of the mind map, the second mind map also had 6 branches.
After you organize the mind map into sections, create the order for your book. Once you get your thoughts organized into groups, you’ll be able to see with more clarity how it all flows together. There might be seven, or ten groups. Once that’s done, you can begin to order the groups in the sequence of how you want to bring it all together in the book.
Next, divide the sections into individualized chapters. This is really the end goal. You are taking the mess you created in your mind map and organizing it in a way that will make it simple for you to write your book.

This whole process might seem a little tough to navigate at first, but as you keep going, you’ll get a feel for where you’re headed with your book and organizing all your ideas into chapter will become more natural.

By the time you are finished with these steps you’ll have a solid outline. This is a great place to start when you begin setting your goals and writing your book.

Have you tried creating a mind map for your book? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

*Some of the above links are affiliate links and help to support this blog

How to Handle Uncertainty and Criticism as a Author

August 27, 2015 by Lorna Faith

“Uncertainty is about what goes on in your head, your heart, and your gut as you strive to create anything truly extraordinary. It’s about the nutty things we do, the gremlins we battle, the decisions we make and actions we take in the pursuit of long-term, large-scale creative, artistic, entrepreneurial, and organizational greatness.” Jonathan Fields Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance

A little while ago, I made the decision to go all in – to become a full-time author entrepreneur.

I’ve felt like I jumped off a cliff, without knowing how to swim.

I’ve also had a lot of sleepless nights wondering about a lot of what ifs: What if what my gut – which is telling me to do this thing – is wrong? What if this ends in a big failure – both creatively and financially?

Diving into what feels like the scary unknown is what uncertainty is all about.

As I’ve been reading from Jonathan Fields’ book Uncertainty, I’ve gleaned some wisdom on how others deal with these moments of what feels like leaping into midair.

*Photo Created with Canva

4 Keys to Help Authors & Creatives Deal with Uncertainty

1. To have success as a innovator or creator of anything, includes high levels of uncertainty.

Since being a author or creating anything new, doesn’t come with a map or blueprint, there is naturally a ton of uncertainty that we have to deal with. Jonathan Fields puts it this way,

“Success as an innovator is partly determined by the ability to manage and at times even seek out sustained high levels of uncertainty, bundled lovingly with risk of loss and exposure to criticism.”

As writers, this risk of loss and learning to handle criticism is something we have to deal with all the time. I don’t believe this risk goes away. There will always be risk and possibility of failure when you put something of yourself out into the world. Many times you spend months or years writing your book or creating your class and then you ship it to a market that may or may not want it.

There is real risk not only to your self esteem, but also financially when you choose go all in. I’ve struggled with learning how to handle criticism – something which every author faces at some point. Also, even with a safety net in place, I worry over lack of money. My husband is supportive and tells me regularly to keep creating and stop thinking the worst. In Jonathan’s book, he tells readers to write out what you fear the most. That way its’ out there and you’ve faced it. When I thought about it, I realized my worst fear would be that I would need to go back to a regular paycheck – and therefore not write as much as I love to do – if this doesn’t work out. But, I can’t let that fear of failure or any other looming beast, stop me from trying to do this. You shouldn’t either.

2. Learn how to harness and ride the butterflies.

Fear, for most of us, really wants to take over our life, not matter what new thing we’re trying. It’s what Steven Pressfield calls resistance and how as creatives we need to slay the dragon of resistance.

As writers, we need to not only realize that fear is entirely normal, but to begin to think of these feelings as butterflies which are not a threat to us, but instead are beautiful. In his amazing book, The War of Art, Steven Pressfield says: Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.

So, I’m learning to harness the butterflies – or nerves – to help bring to life the authentic expression of who I am. Try it for yourself the next time you feel fear over writing something.

3. Certainty anchors help create structure around the process.

When you are living an uncertain life, with no specific structure or job-like rhythms, you have to create your own ritual or rhythm. As a author entrepreneur, I am learning to make my own routine and to stick with doing a task until it is finished. Then I take a little break and start on the new project. I’ve learned how to do this better as I’ve been finishing my first online class on how to Write and Publish Your First Book. There’s been days when I’ve got more writing done than other days, but I’ve been learning how to structure my time better.

I use a Count Down Timer, set it for 25 minutes at a time and write focussed for that amount of time. It’s been unbelievable how much that has helped me to get done. Seriously, you should try it. You’ll be amazed at how many words you can get written with a set, focussed time.

I also have a set amount of time that I meditate first thing in the morning. I feel more peaceful and it also is a way to train your brain to be more receptive to creativity and new ideas.

4. Find your optimal Creative Windows.

As writers, we constantly have new ideas for books and other things we’re working on. I know I have ideas for fiction, for non-fiction books, blog ideas and podcasts all the time. It’s something that never ends, but that’s where my energy comes alive.

Jonathan Field’s take on this is that balance is a myth, because life is messy and it’s supposed to be. However, he says, an important part of the creative process of any individual or team is the ability to step out of the process on a regular basis and ask the big questions, to see the forest beyond the trees.

I’m learning to find the windows when I’m most creative and to jot down notes of ideas I have throughout the day. Also, I have a family that pulls me out of the ‘abyss’ if I get too immersed in my writing world:)

This was a great book, and just what I needed to inspire me and give me the insight I needed about dealing with uncertainty, risk of loss and criticism. I hope you get a chance to read this book. You never know, it might help you gain a new understanding of yourself and how to deal with your life as a writer.

Have you gone through moments of uncertainty as a writer? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

*Some of the above links are affiliate links and help to support this blog

5 Reasons to Use Scrivener to Write Your Book

August 25, 2015 by Lorna Faith

Writing my books using Scrivener has made the whole writing experience much more straightforward, without the panic of losing the work I’d already done.

Here’s what happened in my first novel, Answering Annaveta. I used MS Word and so many things went horribly wrong. I would try to write the name of my main character and MS Word thought it was smarter than me, so it always gave Annaveta a different name than what I wanted. Then, during the process of writing the first draft, I lost an entire scene I was try to fix, because it crashed on me for some unknown reason one day. Also rearranging scenes meant I needed to copy and paste and put it on a separate page in google docs, so that scene wouldn’t suddenly disappear on me one day in MS Word.

The day I discovered Scrivener a little more than a year ago, changed my whole writing process. But it wasn’t until I took the Learn Scrivener Fast online course that I realized how much Scrivener could do for my writing process.

5 Reasons You Should Use Scrivener

Since I began using Scrivener as I wrote the first draft of Book #2 in my Historical Romantic Suspense series, I was hooked. This software was one of the least costly software to purchase and was so much easier to use than MS Word. You can check out Scrivener here.

There are 5 important reasons why I use Scrivener everyday for writing books, blogging or research.

1. It Never Loses Anything

Scrivener, rapid-saves your draft every few seconds and you can then save your backup copy whenever you want. I save my files to a free Dropbox account. It automatically saves when I close a file too.

When you delete something in Scrivener, it goes into the trash. If you never empty the trash, then that’s also another layer of protection for all your old files. With so much protection for your writing, it would be really difficult to lose your Scrivener files.

2. You Just Write Words and Don’t Worry About Formatting

You can sort your text files in into Binders on the left hand side of the Scrivener screen. You don’t need to think about formatting, all you need to do is think about how you want to group your files, kind of like you’re organizing a filing cabinet. Name your documents what you want. It’s only when you get to the compiling stage that you should think bout the font and size of chapter titles.

3. You Can Shuffle Your Scenes and Drag and Drop and Re-Order Them

This is such a practical part of using Scrivener, that is specific for writers who don’t always start at the beginning when they write their book. You can write the final scene of your book and if you write it first, that’s okay. Because Scrivener makes it easy to switch around the order of the scenes you’ve written. You don’t have to cut and paste or worry about huge Word files to try to manage.

You can also use a cork-board view of your scenes. If you’re a writer that likes to sort or outline your book using index cards, you’ll love this feature.

4. The Binders can hold your research, pictures and more.

This means that you can have everything you need for your book right in front of you in your Scrivener file.

I write story beats – or a brief outline- and put it into a document in the research folder. for a quick reference. If you’ve written your outline or any other information you need for your book, you can upload it to the Research file and then you can look at it quickly and easily.

You can also make character profile sheets and sheets for tracking places. Also, if you want to keep notes on your story’s world, you can put it into your project notes. I know I’ve uploaded pictures of actors and actresses that represent my main characters and I make a separate folder in project for those pictures and descriptions so I can refer back to it while I’m writing.

As I write non-fiction, I also put links in my Research file so I have easy access to information I need.

5. Scrivener Lets You Create Your Own Kindle and ePub Files

If this was all Scrivener did, I would get it for this reason alone. The fact that you can create your own ebooks by compiling and exporting from Scrivener, is incredible. And the amazing thing is, that once you get Scrivener – under $50US – you can use this software over and over again for as many plain text novels or books you want to write.

If you have books with a lot of images, you’ll most likely want to use a professional formatter, but for basic books you can use Scrivener. This also helps to provide files to Beta Readers and for readers who want to review your book.

After listening to the Learn Scrivener Fast videos and checking out Gwen Hernandez’s very detailed book Scrivener For Dummies I’ve been figuring out what Scrivener can actually do for writers.

This is the process I followed for my own novel.

Write the first scenes in Scrivener. Adding research links to images or character descriptions as I needed them.
After the end of each writing session, it automatically saved to my free dropbox account. So I had a backup.
After I finished the 1st draft, I printed off the full document. I like the printed version of the book to self-edit and write in the margins and rework scenes and characters.
Went back into Scrivener to make the changes and to the extra edits required.

That’s where I’m at right now with Book #2 in the series.

My next steps to take, after I’m happy with the edits:

I’ll send a file to my editor to give me feedback, make changes and then send to beta readers for their comments and thoughts.
Then I’ll make the changes on Scrivener and compile for the last time. And I’ll upload the book to Kindle and make an epub version for Smashwords so they can distribute to other digital retailers like ibookstore, Kobo, Sony, etc.

So that’s my process. Oh and one more thing, once you’ve saved your Final Master Copy, since you compiled it yourself on Scrivener, you can go back and make any changes you need to – if you catch typos or mistakes – after you’ve published it.

Needless to say, I’m quite happy with what I’ve been able to do with Scrivener so far. And I’ll be happy to use it for more books in the future.

How about you – have you tried using Scrivener? I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions in the comments.

*Some of the above links are affiliate links and help to support this blog

3 Tips on How To Grow Meaningful Online Relationships As A Writer

August 20, 2015 by Lorna Faith

There are people waiting to read what you have to say. You might doubt that, but it’s true.

With over 7 billion people in the world, there will be a segment of the population who will really connect with your words and your worldview.

But, before you can offer them anything, you must find them. And before you can do that, you must create a place where they can gather around you. If you never build that place, they’ll never even know you exist.

So how do you grow meaningful online relationships as a writer?

*Created with Canva

Building Connections That Last

As a writer, you have a personal brand. And because it’s a personal brand, it’s based on connection and relationships with people on a personal level.

Social media urges us to grow the largest followings, but building a writing business that lasts, isn’t about rounding up the most people. It’s about connecting and building relationships.

As you find and start to connect with contacts, it takes your acquaintance to a new level. You go from simply being a name on a friends social media following or email list, to a real relationship. It’s when you grow that relationship that makes things really happen. When you have a good relationship with someone, it means you help them and when you need help, they help you too. They’ll even do favors for you and who knows, you might even develop a partnership or collaboration on some writing projects.

For authors, it also means that you can help each other as your promote new books or other products.

For content producers – bloggers, freelance writers, podcasters, vloggers, etc. – these relationships can help you grow your business. It means your efforts are boosted because it means you can ask for the support of others who also want you to succeed.

3 Tips On How to Grow Meaningful Online Relationships

1. Be You. It sounds really simple, but I’ve learned that somedays its hard to do. I think most of us have days when we’d rather hide who we really are; maybe to blend in or so we don’t make anyone around us mad. But staying hidden in our own invisible cave, won’t help your message and the value you bring to others to stand out.

So It’s important you are real. Show your true colors. Be your wonderful self in blog posts, social media updates and other places where you hang out. It doesn’t mean you have to tell all the embarrassing things you’ve done in your lifetime, but it does mean you speak from your authentic voice in whatever way you communicate.

As you begin to speak from your heart and let people see the real you, your voice will resonate with your connections and they will start to remember you. The people who really identify with what you’re saying, your story and the way you tell it, will connect deeper with you. They’ll begin to do stuff like retweet and like your posts, visit your blog and reply to your emails.

They will start to look for you wherever you are, because your voice resonates with something inside of them.

2. Share Your Story. Take a deeper look at your own story and see how it can connect you to your readers – and to your bigger audience. Did you decide to start writing because of a past experience? Do you write certain types of books because of something that happened to you in the past? What have you learned about what you went through that can help others?

When you share you authentic self and your story with others, it’s really about sharing your heart – your hopes and dreams – in relation to you as a writer and your message. There’s many different ways and mediums to get this message across. You can share your story through blog posts, speaking on podcasts, videos, periscope or even through quote graphics you create(one of my favourite things:).

When you share your compelling story, there will be people who identify with your words. Its those shared experiences that is where your relationship with people begins. Sometimes, people who read your blogposts or listen to your podcasts can connect with you in such a powerful way that they will start to promote you and your message because they believe so strongly in your work and message. That’s pretty powerful.

3. Start By Being Helpful to Others First. If you see someone on Facebook or Twitter or wherever else you hangout that has a question you can answer, respond. If authors around you on social media are working hard to promote their books, offer to help out. Retweet the link to your followers and share in your other social media feeds.

I’ve made a lot of friends this way, and it’s kind of cool because they offer to help me out too, when I have something new going on. I love that as writers, we can help each other out.

Sometimes, one writer might connect with another and they might decide to write a book together. It’s great when you turn a person from a contact into a connection and develop a relationship as you grow to trust each other more.

I hope these tips help you as you grow your audience and turn connections into meaningful online relationships.

What has helped you the most to grow meaningful relationships with others online? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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