A plan for writing a book
Do you have a plan for writing a book?
As Benjamin Franklin supposedly once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
You’ll know this is true if you had a grand plan for writing a book this year, and it simply hasn’t happened.
There are all sorts of things that can get in the way – not enough time, not enough focus, lack of structure, overwhelm, or simply not making it a priority in your life. Writing a book is a big thing. And just like you (I hope) have a plan for building your business, you also need a plan for writing a book. Although the two are likely to go hand in hand if your book is supporting your business.
Having a plan will make your book feel achieveable. One of the things that I love to do with my clients is to work back from their launch date and put in some mini milestones. When you reach the smaller achievements, you can see your progress towards your bigger goal of writing and publishing your book.
How I like to plan
Like many people, I have some big projects (and goals) in 2017, and this year there seems to be 101 different planners around to help!
I like to start by having an A4 year planner. I mark in the notable dates so that I can see at a glance when I’m busy. This includes all of our events which we’ve planned for the whole year, my mastermind and marketing group, speaking engagements, writing challenges, my own books, and other events. I also include my holidays and travel.
Then I like to work to a more manageable 90 day plan. I set my high level tasks and things that I’d like to have happen. Then these are broken down into weekly and daily tasks.
It’s important to have time to celebrate your successes, measure your results and tweak things as necessary. I also believe it’s important to stretch yourself, have big goals and focus on achieving what you really want to have happen. And don’t forget your financial goals and consider how your plan will help you to reach them.
We all know that we probably won’t get everything done that we planned. Life can simply get in the way, priorities change and what was originally important may not be anymore. But if you don’t have a plan in the beginning, how will you ever know?!
Take writing a book for example. As I said in last week’s blog, you can’t write a book in a weekend. But if you have a really good plan, you can write and publish it in around 6-12 months.
Our plan for your book
One of the reasons why Sheryl Andrews and I have mapped out our events for 2017 is that you can plan them in your diary, work out when your book is going to happen, and let us know how we can help.
If you want to get started with your book, join us in Portsmouth or Edinburgh for the Book Planning and Writing Mini-retreat.
If you want some uninterrupted time to write, come to Spain. Enjoy our writing retreat in the beautiful Andalucian Mountains in September.
And if book marketing support is what you need, then come to Portsmouth in May for the Book Marketing weekend.
Keep an eye out for our online programmes too. Or drop me a line to chat about how we can support you one-to-one.
Let’s us help you to put writing a book onto your plan for 2017!