(And Actually Finish It This Time)
How many of you have been carrying a book idea around for more than a year?
It's that nobody told you what "starting" actually means.
32% idea · 48% middle · 20% publishing — we're hitting all three. In that order.
I still sometimes stare at a blank page wondering what I'm doing. But I've figured out what actually works — and that's what the next 45 minutes is about.
Before you write a word.
Same raw idea — four very different homes. Pick the one that fits.
A blog post crammed to 60,000 words is not a book. It's a tired blog post.
If you stalled on #3, that's the assignment.
Where are you right now with your book idea?
Fiction runs on vibes.
Nonfiction runs on structure.
If you do this part right, you always know what comes next.
Step-by-step transformation. The reader learns to do something.
Story-driven truth. The reader experiences something through the writing.
Story + instruction. The reader is moved AND equipped.
Show of hands: which one is yours?
Honest answer — what kind of book is yours?
In fiction, you can pants your way through. In nonfiction, the outline is the argument. If you don't know where you're going, somewhere around chapter 3 or 4 you'll wake up in the muddy middle with no idea what you were saying.
One paragraph per chapter. A page total. Enough to know where you're going, light enough to update.
Every section, every chapter, every sub-point. 20–40 pages of plan before you write a word of prose.
Both work. Halfway works too. Just have one.
Heads up: most traditional publishers want at least an outline before they'll commit to publishing you. So you'd need one anyway.
"Here's what I'm going to show you." Sets the reader's expectation.
Story, data, example, or demonstration. Delivered before the chapter ends.
We'll come back to this when we talk tools.
"After reading this, you will be able to ___."
"After reading this, you will understand ___ about ___."
And "the reader" is one specific person. Not "everyone who's stressed." Their age, their problem, their bookshelf.
Right now, how clearly can you picture your reader?
Don't just pick a word count. Decompose it. A whole book is one task; one chunk at a time is a hundred.
A book is a daunting thing. 22 sessions is a calendar block.
Where are you in the writing right now?
Where most books quietly die.
Welcome to the wall. Every nonfiction author hits it. Four tools coming up.
Big goals kill daily momentum. Nobody sits down and writes a book. They sit down and write 500 words. Then they do it again.
Where does the Proof come from?
Keep a Proof File: a running list of stories, data, examples. By the time you write the chapter, the proof is already there.
The authors who finish books aren't more disciplined. They've built external structures that make not writing more uncomfortable than writing.
Use it like a mirror — not a ghostwriter.
What's your biggest obstacle right now?
Before you leave this room.
Some of you raised your hand at the beginning.
You've been carrying this idea for a year. Maybe five years. Maybe longer.
It gets written by the person who decided today was the day.
Your poll answers. Your obstacles. Your book idea, your reader, your promise.
Pull up the site on your phone. Fill out three final fields. Watch what happens.
Don't refresh. We're writing about you, for you.
"Come find me after. I'm happy to tell you whether your idea is a blog post or a book."