How To Become A Better Writer
So you want to write a book?
This is seriously fantastic news!! I can’t wait to see you come across the Author finish line and I want to help you get there faster…
This is an excerpt from my latest book which will be available on Amazon October 31st, 2023. My book is going to walk you through How To Write A Book in Four Months or Less:
What I have loved most about writing a new book every other year and revising my past books is seeing the improvements in my writing. As time goes on I am learning how to be a more descriptive writer, finding more interesting ways to describe my thoughts. I am learning how to say more with fewer words by choosing words that pack more punch.
However, this is your first book, so give your sentence composition and word choices VERY LITTLE THOUGHT. Just get the thoughts on the page.
When I was almost done writing my first book, I was shocked when I went back and read the first chapter I had written a few months ago. My writing improved so much in those few months!! I was excited, but also frustrated because I ended up re-writing the entire first chapter, which was time I wanted to put into layout and formatting. I felt like I had fallen behind because the two days it took me to update the first chapter turned into four when I saw the second chapter also needed more work!
Thank God for the Tim Ferriss Show Podcast episode I heard around that time: Tim said I needed to STOP. Just stop reading my book and hand it over to the editors. Let them have their say, implement their changes, and then once again - STOP! Tim said we will make changes to every paragraph every time we read it, so we need to decide to stop making changes and just be done with the project. Will it get better each time we re-read and make edits to a chapter? Perhaps. But perhaps not. One thing is for sure: deciding our book is DONE means our precious time is invested in getting the book noticed by those who need it rather than nit-picking it to death!!
The Shopping Cart Approach
You don’t have to WOW your readers on every single page. And besides, every reader will be WOWed by different parts of your book. We’re all different.
Each reader is unique and therefore will find value in different pages than the next reader. Your readers will take the shopping cart approach as they read, just like we all do when we’re grocery shopping. They will read each page/walk down each aisle, taking what they need and leaving what they don’t need.
So like I said, just get your thoughts on the page. Don’t try to write a bestseller or allow yourself to believe it’s even possible for your first book to be a bestseller. The pressure that comes with such thoughts will crush your dream to write your book. Avoid the pressure by staying focused on the fact that writing this book will boost your confidence and allow you to serve more of the right people.
How to become a more descriptive writer: Keep writing.
Is your spelling and grammar at a grade four level? It doesn’t matter as long as you can speak into the voice recorder on your phone and upload the audio files to a transcription app like podse.io. Then you ask five or six people who have better spelling and grammar than you to edit your transcribed audio.
Do you find yourself using plain, boring words like “nice” and “good” too often? For Heaven's sake, mix it up! Find more exciting words to describe your thoughts, feelings and the outcomes your ideal clients are trusting you to help them achieve.
If you find yourself using the same word over and over again to describe something, pop it into a Google search.
For example, I’ve been using the word “interesting” too often lately:
How To “Mix It Up” while maintaining the “Flow”
Huh? These sound like opposing themes: mix it up, but also maintain the flow. What do I mean by this?
When you are copying and pasting your writing from Docs into the KDP template, this step is called “formatting”: changing the format of the book to one that can be printed. If the format of your book is not printable for any reason, KDP will let you know. That’s why they have formatting templates you can download to your computer - Mac or PC to ensure your final book manuscript is in the correct format.
***A video showing you how to download and use the KDP template is at yycfempreneurs.com/author.
As you copy and paste chapters of your book into the KDP format template, you will also be designing the “layout”: the way your writing looks on the pages of your book. When we are designing a book’s layout, we want to mix it up rather than see page after page of writing in the exact same font with zero pictures or headings or tables/graphs.
Here are examples of ways to mix up your layout:
Choose one font for headings, another font for quotes, and a third font for chapter titles. And one of these fonts can also be the main font.
Add photos from your life to the stories you share.
Use checklists and bullet points to present information rather than in paragraphs. And title some of your lists, when appropriate, using your heading font.
You’ll notice I’ve done this in these pages. I don’t want you, my precious reader, getting bored with page after page that all look the same!
When it comes to maintaining the flow, I’m talking about the flow from one topic to the next. Don’t be too picky, as this will get easier the more you write, but try to segue into the next topic by sharing a personal story that connects the dots for your readers.
How to write a “Segue”
“Segue” is Italian for “it follows”. It was originally used to describe a seamless transition between pieces of music.
Here’s an example of a “Segue”: Right now I want to move on from sharing writing tips to the mindset of becoming an Author. This is the segue I have written to connect the topics:
When your book is complete, it won’t matter how many more descriptive words you could have chosen, or that a few topics could have flowed better. All that will matter is your book is complete and you can take a selfie with it and post it all over social media with the link on Amazon to buy it!!
The Letters Beside Your Name
The success you desire is to have these six letters beside your name:
A U T H O R.
There is only one way to get these six letters beside your name:
WRITE YOUR DAMN BOOK, WOMAN!
Success is yours when your first book is available on Amazon. That’s it. That’s when you get to add “Author” to your name, and it stays there forevermore.
Success does NOT come from having 10/10 of your closest friends and family read and give you an A+ on your manuscript.
Success does NOT come from having the prettiest book cover or website.
Success does NOT come from having a book that has more words than what’s-her-face’s book who’s in your industry.
Success DOES come to those who complete the steps in the next chapter, and if you’re as impatient as I am, feel free to see how fast you can complete them!
