With 81% of the population in North America saying at one time or
another that they would like to write a book why are so few doing it?

Anyone that has taken my course ‘How to Write & Publish Your Own Book
in 40 Days’ knows I talk a lot about mindset at the beginning of the
class. I talk about mindset because it is the key to whether you
realize your goal to writing and publishing your own book.

I cover this all important topic of mindset because the fact of the
matter is anyone I teach my strategies to can become a published
author and even a best selling one. The only thing that can stop
them is their own mindset.

You see we all have the same 24 hours per day and we all have the
same information available to us for success but it is only
ourselves who can stop us. We are stopped by our ‘ANTs’ Automatic
Negative Thoughts.

You know the ones:

Where will I get the time?
I can’t write a book!
I don’t have any money to publish a book!!!
My spouse will not support me!

and on and on go the army of ANTs

So how come some of us succeed and some of us get stopped in the
starting gate? Some students leave my classes and have their books
finished in a very short time and some never take the first step.
Of course it is my passion that they all finish their books because
I know what a difference it can make in their lives.

You see when we ask questions of ourselves like; Where will I find
the time to write my book? That question is not intended to stop
us, but rather it is a good question that needs an answer so we can
move on with our book projects.

The answer might be to wake up a half an hour earlier or go to
sleep a half an hour later. There are many answers to that
question, the students who find the answer to that question and
many others are the ones that have Focus, Persistence and Passion.

You must have the Focus to stay on task and also to see the final
result of your completed and published book.

You must have the Persistence to keep moving forward on your book
each and every day to know you are heading toward completion.

Lastly you must have the Passion that will keep you motivated no
matter how many obstacles real or imagined try to take you off
course from you realizing your dream of becoming a published author.

It may help to know that with writing and publishing your own book
you will put in the work once but it is a process that can pay dividends
for the rest of your life.

I am just beginning to teach my course ‘How to Write And Publish Your Book In 40 Days’ for the winter semester in many schools throughout the lower mainland in and around Vancouver BC.

One of the points I always stress to my students is to use a simple template to write their books. I teach them to write 10 to 25 chapter topics for their book depending on the size of the book they wish to write. Then for each chapter topic I have them come up with 10 points they will cover about that topic.
 
They now have only to write a page or two about each point and they will soon magically have their book written. This way when they have mapped out their book from front to back they know what is going to be written on each page.

A little bit of up front time spent mapping out your book will save you a ton of time in the long run. This technique keeps my students from drifting and getting lost in a sea of words and ideas. You would not drive to a new distant destination without a map so why would you write a book with out a template?

Once you get used to this technique you will find it to be a very valuable tool. You can literally start writing your book on any page you wish. You can start on the last chapter then go to the middle chapter and then the first and it will still fit perfectly together.

Don’t get lost on a dark deserted road to nowhere with your book and then think you are suffering from writers block. Take this simple template idea and make your writing career that much easier.

The fall season night school classes have started and I am busy teaching lots of eager new authors how to write and publish their own books. I get so pumped about letting my students know the opportunities they have in their lives by becoming a published author. Many have already been working on their books and some for several years.

When I ask why they have been working so long on their books and haven’t gotten them out yet it always comes down to the same answer. Although it’s usually a convoluted answer the answer is they just don’t think their book is good enough to publish. It is not perfect yet so they just keep stalling and tell themselves as long as they’re still writing the dream is still on the way.

But you see here is the big point for all us would be authors to ponder. Your book will never be perfect because there is no such thing as a perfect book. A mediocre published book will always outsell a book that never gets published because the author is waiting for perfection.

Of course we want a well written book with good content but it is not the most important thing you need to be a published author. You need to finish it and get over yourself. Just say enough is enough and get the book published and out into the world. Nothing is going to happen to you as an author until your book is published because until it’s published you are just another wanna be author.

If writing the perfect book was the criteria for being a published author we would all have nothing to read. Noting bad is going to happen to you if your book is not perfect. I will tell you this. If I can write a best selling book then anyone can.

You are going to get good and bad comments whether or not your book is the best written book in history so you may as well get used to it. As a matter of fact, the very few derogatory comments you may get are usually from a people who has never written a book and the nice ones are from most of the rest of the population and often from authors.

So I say as a teacher and author to all my students to just get your book out there and watch your world change.

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