If you want to write a book but feel like you have a ton of ideas swirling around in your head, then there’s a good chance that the book isn’t going to get written, right?

How long have you been thinking about it? Coming up with ideas? And keeping them in your head?

That book isn’t going to do anyone any good if you keep it in your head. You need to get it out. And you don’t need to wait for clarity to start. And it doesn’t have to be perfect.

In fact, the beginning writing stages are pretty messy! But it’s supposed to be! It’s like BBQ chicken. Or nachos. Or a chocolate fountain. You might get it all over the place, but it’s so good!

Also, remember that your writing doesn’t need to be perfect when you start. If you don’t write something down, then you have nothing to work with, so perfection is definitely not your friend. Get rid of all those preconceived notions about how books are written because it takes more than just one night during a long thunderstorm, and it’s not magic.

Start with a piece of paper or your laptop. You’ll need 2 separate documents/pages for this.

On one of them, free your mind from all that clutter and write down all the ideas you’ve had for a book. Don’t worry if they are ridiculous. You aren’t judging right now. Just writing. They can be pictures, single words, sentence fragments, or a vague combination of the three. Just get it all out so you can use that mental space for more important things!

On the other sheet of paper, write about your audience. It may be a specific demographic, but if you can’t pin that down, don’t sweat it. Typically, you are writing to a problem anyway. So start with the issues that your ideal client may have. Write down the names of people who you’ve worked with who were ideal clients.

Once you have a solid idea of who you’re writing to and what problem(s) they need to solve, you can see where the two lists intersect. What ideas in your brain dump would be ideal for your reader? How can you help them? What do they need most?

When you discover the intersection, you’ve uncovered gold! Focus on those things to figure out what to write for your book. Uncovering your client’s needs and coupling them with what you feel driven to write about is ideal for creating a book that connects and, most importantly, that your client enjoys reading!

Note: if you look through the list of topics you’ve been thinking about and none of them are appealing, then there’s a chance you shouldn’t be writing about them. There’s also a chance that you aren’t approaching from the right angle, considering client or personal stories that would spice up the book for you and the reader, or maybe it’s too broad for you to feel comfortable tackling it. Always ask “why?” when you run into blocks and frustration.

Why does this not feel like a good topic?

Why do I not feel comfortable writing about this?

Why is this helpful to my audience?

You’ll find that the answers help guide you toward your ideal book and actually completing it!