I was recently honored that my recording artist/speaker/minister/author friend Naima Johnston Bush invited me to join her Facebook group and share about motivation to write your book.

I wanted to give you the tips I shared in the forum this morning:

How many people have you heard say, “I want to write a book” (including yourself)?
How many of those people actually write a book? Very few, if any, right?

It’s not because they have nothing to say. I believe everyone has an exciting story inside
of him or her, just bursting to come forth! Your story matters!

One way to do that is to write a book.
You can write a book about your life story or anything, on any topic you desire.

The book can be fiction or non-fiction. It can be short (a 20-page ebook, which only
takes a few weekends to write) or it can be a novel (at least 50,000 words that takes a year to write).

The book can be traditionally published (like with Thomas Nelson Publishers) or
self-published, which is a rapidly growing industry that is changing the face of publishing.

Your book can be a printed book (there’s nothing more exciting than holding your “baby” in your own 2 hands!)
or a downloadable ebook which people can view on their Kindle Fire, Ipad, smart phone, or laptop.

You have many options to get your important message out there and for your unique voice to be heard.
But that will never happen unless you actually WRITE YOUR BOOK!

Naima asked me to share about motivating the people in this forum to write his or her book.
I’m honored she invited me to be here and thought it was a great idea, to motivate myself, too! 🙂

How do you get started to write a book? Recently I hosted a webinar on this topic. First, you get
a vision for your book.

Ask yourself – and answer – these questions:

*Did God tell you to write this book? What is your motive for writing it? If you want to write
a book to get rich and famous, then choose another career! :O There *are* some writers who
become rich and famous, but overnight successes are rare. It can take years to build a
successful writing career.

*What do you want to write about? The story of your childhood abuse, and how God has used it
to minister to many women? Your family’s history? A fiction story about a girl who’s a drug
addict and prostitute, who becomes saved and rescues drug addicts? An ebook for event planners?

*Will the book be fiction or non-fiction?

*Will the book be printed or in a downloadable ebook format?

*Who is the book for – your audience?

*Maybe you are a very creative type or extremely busy.
Do you want to write the book yourself or have a VA or other assistant write (type) it for you?

Now you can get started. Just start braindumping! JUST WRITE. As Nike says, JUST DO IT!

Write down ideas about your book – thoughts swooping at you like a hawk with sharp eyes.
Character names. That intriguing comment you heard at the coffee shop that struck you and you knew you
had to use it in your book. Descriptions of the ocean waves, salt smell, and warm sun on your face the
summer you were 15. The smell of bacon and coffee in the morning when you had breakfast with
your husband. The terrible fight you had with an in-law. An amazing quote. Ideas, like chocolate in your mouth.

Just write and don’t edit it.

Use a journal, cute stationery, Hello Kitty sticky notes, a napkin at a restaurant, the back of a bill’s
envelope, anything to just jot down those creative ideas brewing in your mind. Braindump. Yes, dump it all out
until you’re empty and spent. Keep pen and paper by your bed, when the ideas suddenly wake you up at 3 a.m.
Use your smart phone’s recorder to record your thoughts as you’re running errands or driving somewhere.

You can use bullet points, lists, mind maps. Just keep writing ideas for your book. These will form the
skeleton, or framework, of your outline later.

This should get you started.

 

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