I got some interesting responses to yesterday’s list of what tasks to do for your book and in what order. One editor’s response on LinkedIn was typical: I’m fascinated by this list. It seems incredibly counterintuitive to me. Spending time on a title, subtitle, marketing copy, and worrying about who your editor might be before…
I use a variety of tools to plan writing projects. These are usually based on intermediate deliverables and milestones, like plans and treatments. They’re great tools — but they’re only tools. Optimizing the intermediate deliverables is a wasteful fetish. Useful planning tools It’s a big mistake to begin a book without careful planning. Here’s a…
The typical business writing process is a disaster. I’ve seen it; I’ve lived it; I’ve picked up the pieces afterwards. And bad process creates bad results. For better quality with less angst, you need the discipline to work in three distinct stages. The 3 P’s will mess you up This advice is for writing projects that take a…