Things You Should Know About Writing a Book - Our Journey (Part 1)

By: Stan Washington
Date: February 16, 2015

Last year if you said to me I would write a book I would have told you these exact words "You are crazy!." Just the mention of writing a book left me in the land of procrastination. Where do I start? What do I say? Is the process hard? I think one of my main problems I ran into was I was trying to write a book versus telling people what I had to say.

Writing a book can be daunting task when writing without a purpose. The old saying goes, "If you aim for nothing, you get that in return." So last summer the purpose hit me like a ton of bricks. My clients asked me for tips on Marketing. It wasn't just one who asked. After hearing the question several times, I finally caved in. I will write a book! But how?

I on put my methodology hat... I come from a huge process background, and I wrote out plan.

This is what worked for me.

Find an accountability partner. Do not write your book by yourself first time out of the door. I don't mean you have to run out and find a book partner, even though I did. I mean, get a person or people around you who will truly hold you accountable. For me, I had to first pray for "who" would help me and three people came to mind, a peer from a previous company, Victoria Cook who I worked with on a board and Dan Duster who I've known for years.

Start with a purpose. Please do not write a book just to be writing one. Write with a purpose. I had a cause. I was tired of people struggling trying to get a business started, I was also tired of seeing people, who didn't have many resources, get discouraged because there were not many affordable resources.

Victoria and I discussed this and came up with a flurry of ideas. Dan and I met together to do the same. We asked ourselves "What problems have we heard the most?' We wrote these ideas down and reached back into our experiences to develop the most optimal way to address these issues.

Develop a project plan. Your plan will keep you sane! Yes, I know you are busy, but you still have plenty of time in your schedule to write a book if you can put your mind to the be dedicated to the plan. Our plan was pretty aggressive, but your's doesn't have to be.

We decided to meet twice a week. Once to turn in work and review, the other to plan and address any changes in direction that may have come up!

More to come in part 2!

Our books have been featured in Small Business Trends!

Blessings to you!