In my study of prolific book-writers, I noticed that most of them create the structure of the book first, then fill in the content. So I have incorporated that approach into my teaching, as well as into my book-writing.
Here’s what I mean: Instead of starting off by just writing, I
- decide on a book length;
- start by creating my table of contents;
- proceed by making lists of subchapters — roughly 12-15 concepts per chapter;
- create lists of 3 scintillating verbs or nouns for each subchapter; I start the subchapter with one of the 3, then use the other two in the first paragraph.
I call this my BookProgram™. Only when all this is in place do I start to write.
