Cherry Picked Ideas

Steven Silberman has an interesting post today, entitled “Practical Tips on Writing a Book from 23 Brilliant Authors.” The authors are responding to Silberman’s prompt, “What do you wish you’d known about the process of writing a book that you didn’t know before you did it?”

While each author has their own great tips, here are the ones I liked best:

• Be ready to amputate entire chapters. It will be painful. – Carl Zimmer
• There’s no such thing as too many drafts. There’s no such thing as too much time spent. – David Shenk
• Obsessive-compulsive organizational habits are your bestfriend. – Geoff Manaugh
• Develop a very serious plan for dealing with internet distractions. – Ben Casnocha
• Develop a very, very, very serious plan for dealing with internet distractions. – Ben Casnocha
• This is your time to be completely and justifiably obsessed. So go ahead – bask in the madness. – Peter Conners
• Just start working and you keep working til it’s done. That’s all there is to it; no mystery. – Nancy Cooper
• Take the due date for the first draft EXTREMELY seriously, like everything depends on that day. – Sylvia Boorstein
• Have the courage to write badly. – Josh Shenk
• Be good to your spouse/partner and protect time for them. They’re in this with you, but unlike you, they didn’t choose it. – Maryn McKenna

You can read all of the tips (and get links to books by all these authors) on Steve’s original post. Find it here.