Before I started writing a book, I already wrote blog posts and became a co-author for a prestigious publishing company.
But writing a book and becoming a self-published author is a different story.
So here’s what I learned while writing my book “Soul-Led: How to Follow Your Inner Compass to an Incredibly Fulfilling and Happy Life”:
While I wrote the first draft of my book, I kept a journal to note down what I learned about the writing process, how I felt, and what to remember for the next book project.
Here is what I want to share with you:
What I learned about writing and publishing my first book
Starting to write a book feels extremely overwhelming and confusing at first. You have no idea how it will make any sense or if it ever will turn into something.
You need to have faith and trust in the process. Simply start writing and taking notes and see where it takes you.
The ideas will come if you trust in the process. It may not look like it, but there comes a point when you have a lightbulb moment, and your ideas take up form and turn into a first outline or the first chapter.
During the whole writing process, you need to stop the inner critic. Trust me, he has a lot to say.
Don’t listen to him.
Keep going.
Let everything out. If you have thoughts like “This is stupid! I will never finish this book!”, let them pass through and continue writing.
Let it all out. If your mind wanders, don’t stop writing. You can include your thoughts, and later you can cross them out. It’s essential keep writing.
Don’t let your negative thoughts stop you during your writing session.
Create an outline so you know what you’re working on. It helps you to not repeat yourself and your thoughts.
Don’t do it all at once = don’t reread what you wrote and put it aside instead.
Don’t edit and rewrite when you’re in the writing process. Trying to do it all at once sets you up for failure.
When I was in the writing process I wrote down bullet points aka talking points. When I wrote the next chapter I was looking at my notes and the bullet points and started to write. I was getting in the flow of writing and I didn’t stop myself = no overthinking. It was freeing to know that I could write down whatever came to my mind and deal with the “is it good enough; does it make sense” later when I would start editing.
You can do it!
I also recommend you read my article How To Write Your First Book With Ease. It goes more into detail about the actual writing process and gives you the best tips if you want to become an author.
If you are interested in creating an ebook in minutes from your current content, you might want to check out this article: How To Create and Sell eBooks
