I like Leo and Mary’s Write to Done blog. Here’s a recent post:

“Habits are first cobwebs, then cables.” - Spanish proverb
This, friends, is the linchpin: if you can create the habit of writing, you’ve got a wonderful foundation as a writer.
If you struggle to get in enough time for writing, or keep putting it off, or can never seem to write when you planned to write … you need to work on creating the habit of writing. More

The diamond is your friend

As more and more people are using Joel’s BookProgram to quickly write their non-fiction books, new questions arise every day. A recurring one: How can I approach the structuring phase for my book? For some, just knowing about the Title->Chapters->Subchapters is enough. They cluster, then outline.

• Think of the “shape” of your book as a simple diamond. The question that your book answers is at the top point; the support for the answer is in the wide part in the middle; and the answer is the bottom point.
• Think of each chapter in the same way–and then, each subchapter.
• Start with the question. Add the questions that need to be answered to answer the bigger question. Then conclude with the answer. Do this at each level.

Kelly Sonora of OnlineUniversities.com wrote me: “…We just posted an article, “100 Free Lectures That Will Make You a Better Writer” (http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2009/03/100-free-lectures-that-will-make-you-a-better-writer/). I thought I’d bring it to your attention in case you think your readers would find it interesting.”

Your book will differentiate you. It will open doors for you that now stand closed before you.

Whether you are applying for work at a corporation or seeking clients for your professional practice, having a book with your name on it is the most powerful investment you can make in marketing your services.

For one thing, a book is a cultural artifact with disproportionate “weight.” Its significance as a marketing tool does not depend on its content, but rather on the simple fact of its existence. Of course yours will spell out your “special sauce,” and what makes you different from others. But don’t obsess about producing perfect prose.

For another, brochures are thrown away, but books are kept. The recipient may not read the book the day she receives it — or ever. But the book is there, on her desk, reminding her of her discussion with you.

Yet another point: If you write a book, you are an author. It is not a perversion of English to state that being an author gives you authority.

Picture coming to an interview and handing the interviewer a copy of your book. Won’t that get more attention than Yet Another Resume?

You probably have more time on your hands right now than you’d like to. Put it to work for you! You can write a book in a very short period of time. Let it have at least 48 pages, so that it will have a spine when you publish it; that distinguishes a book from a pamphlet or booklet. If you’d like my help, check out several offerings I have for you.

Go to this page to learn all about my 90-minute webinar, “The Simple Secret To Writing A Non-Fiction Book!” – to be held 6 PM PST/9 PM EST this Thursday, 2/26. After the webinar, you will be able to:

* Name your book so that people will want to pick it up
* Create a complete plan for your book—much more than an outline—in just a few hours
* Write astonishingly quickly and well—completing a book in 90, 60, 30 days, or even less!
* Get your cover designed — inexpensively and quickly
* Get your book published — inexpensively and quickly!

Attendees will receive a free copy of my latest book. Join me!

Have you seen PersonalBrain? It’s a fascinating application that runs under Windows, OS X, and Linux. It lets you organize “thoughts” — and a “thought” can be a file, a shortcut, a copy of a file, a link to a website, or its own entity — into an unlimited network.

What makes PersonalBrain (PB) different from, say, a file manager, is that a thought can be connected to any number of other thoughts. So you can connect people to other people from the same company, but also connect the same people to other people in their family, as well as to clubs or sports teams to which they may belong.

Everything can be labeled. Everything can be tagged. Links can also be labeled, tagged, and customized in terms of thickness and color.

You can drag pictures into your Brain(s).

There is a fast and powerful search function, that can reach out beyond PB to find stuff on the web.

You can export Brains as functional html pages. You can zip them up and move them around. You can have enterprise-level Brains that interact with personal Brains.

I’ve been tracking the unfolding of this product for many years. It has now reached a point of maturity where I think it will add a lot to my personal organization toolkit.

There is nothing like it for organizing information for your book. You can actually do clustering/mindmapping within it, and link to sources and other stuff.

An amazing product. Check it out at thebrain.com.

Social networks give you access to everyone, and that includes your target audience — even if you are not sure exactly who they are. What’s special about Twitter is that results are just about instantaneous.

Here are a couple of ways to use Twitter to help you get focus on your book topic:

• Monitor the Twitter stream. What are people tweeting about, especially in areas that are of interest to you?
• Ask! Tweeps tend to be wonderfully responsive to honest and authentic questions. The more specific you are, the better your answers will be. If you want responses that are more than 140 characters long, tell people how to reach you.
• Remember: This is not oracular. It’s just a useful source of ideas and information. But a great one!

Your thoughts?

Sometimes you get stuck. Even using my BookProgram approach, you may find yourself without a clue as to how to write this next segment.

Peter Elbow, in “Writing With Power,” offers a number of excellent techniques.

But here’s one that is so obvious you may not have thought of it: Read some good writing, and use its patterns to say what you want to say.

Pick up any well-written magazine — I like Sports Illustrated, The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Field & Stream — and read a couple of articles. Ask yourself: “What would it sound like if this author wrote my opening paragraph?” Then do it. Emulate. Model. (Don’t plagiarize, of course.)

Pattern imitation is a time-honored training approach; watch student painters copying paintings in museums. It’ll work for you, too.