First round of edits on my book “A Forever Love”
When you set out to accomplish a goal there are many steps you need to take to make it happen. I have been faithfully scheduling time each week towards my goal of writing a book. The process is first planning the book, at least enough to know where you start and where you end, along with a few nuggets of where you are going in the middle. The next step was to sit down and write on this plan for my book each evening as much as I could, until I had to get some sleep.
As time passes and you stick to that schedule you created and you plant your butt in the chair and write, the words to a book begin to form. Yes, it’s rough and it will need some going over later, but the idea is to get all your thoughts down no matter how choppy or clumsy it may be, just so you don’t lose where you want your book to go.
Once the rough draft was completed it was then time to read over it and see what you left out, how you want to reword things, add some descriptions, add some feeling, make the dialogue better and so forth. This is called a re-write of your rough draft.
After I was finished with my re-write it was then time to print it out and edit it. How many times did you use look on that page? Did you put words in that you didn’t need? Your main character’s name was Eric on one page and Erik on another, so you have to fix that. I went through my book, “A Forever Love,” with a red pen and marked it up trying to fix everything I found in the first pass. The next step was back to the computer to put in those changes, print it once again to go over it with a red pen to catch what I missed the first time.
You may choose to do this process two to five times. Various writers have said the number of times you feel you need to go through your own book and try to catch everything in your power to make the book better is up to you.
As a writer I like to focus on the next step in front of me. I set some deadlines for myself to push me with how much I wrote each day, how quickly I went over the edits each time, so that I would remain focused on my goal. Currently, Beta-Readers have the book in their hands reading through it to find anything that I need to address to make it better. While this step is taking place, I begin the next one, book cover design. When you break down a goal like writing a book into achievable sections you can reach that goal.
I’m excited to share with you my book, “A Forever Love” later this year. All I did was take the next step. What dream do you have in mind to accomplish? Have you set a deadline to help push you to do it? Do you have a plan to reach that goal?
I can tell you now that every dream can be accomplished if you set a goal and a date to make it happen. Then work backwards with your plan so that you know exactly what you need to do to make it happen. Once you have your plan figured out, focus on the next step and only that step until you get it completed. Only then think of the next step after that. Be all in, give 100% to that step you are working on, stay focused and make it happen one step at a time.
I would love to hear your comments on how you achieve goals and what steps you take to make them happen. Please share this post with others you feel it would benefit. Thank you for reading and have a blessed day!
