Writing a Book: Beware the “When I” excuse

Mar 31, 2014 | Writing A Book

When are you going to write your book?

My mother set two criteria to define whether a woman was engaged to be married. Mom said the woman had to have a ring and a specific date. It turns out that writing a book is a lot like that.

The “When I” excuse

Have you heard or said anything like this. “I’m going to write my book when I can take a month off and do it right.” If you don’t have a specific writing plan with a specific date for that month off, you’re fooling yourself with the “When I” excuse.

The “When I” excuse assigns your book writing project to a vague, uncertain date in the future. There’s no specific plan. There’s no specific date.

Life will never give you time to do nothing but write your book. You have to take control. That starts with a plan.

Make a plan

Make a plan. Do it in any way that works for you. Start with your goals or the steps you need to take or with a zero draft. Just make certain that an outside observer can tell at a glance whether you’ve started to put you plan into practice.

Set a start date

Without a start date, your plan is just wishful thinking. Your plan should tell you what to do first. Your start date tells you when.

Get serious about writing your book

When you make a plan and set a date, you get serious about writing that book. You can always change the plan or shift the date. That happens. But if you start with a firm plan you’ll have to make a conscious decision to change it.