The #1 Reason Why You’ll Fail to Write Your Book in a Month

You’ve made the decision. You’re going to write a book in a month by participating in the Write Nonfiction in November (WNFIN) Challenge. Congratulations.

But I hope you don’t follow in the footsteps of many writers who make the same decision…but do not write their book in those 30 days.

They sign up for the challenge, and, on November 1st, sit down to write. Then they spend the majority of their time staring at the screen, writing in fits and starts, and turning out unusable work—if they produce any words or pages at all.

The reason they struggle to get started on their nonfiction book project—and continue to feel challenged the entire month of the challenge—is simple. These writers failed to prepare.

If you want to succeed at the WNFIN Challenge—or any other book-in-a-month event, you need to prepare in advance. In fact, if you want to write a book during any period—maybe over six-months—you need to prepare…if you want to meet your deadline.

Know What You Need to Write

So how do you prepare for a book-in-a-month challenge? You do so in the same way you prepare to write anything and meet a deadline. You decide:

• for whom you are writing.
• the benefit your work will provide to your ideal reader.
• how your premise will differ from similar work already in the marketplace.
• the structure of your project, even if it’s a blog post or article rather than a book.
• the specific content you need to produce in each section, or chapter, of the project.

Once you’ve gotten clarity on these five essential bits of information, you can sit down to write. And you will be able to write. Why? Because you will:

• know what your readers want and need most.
• understand what you need to deliver in your book to make them feel they have received value.
• have clarity on how to write a book that provides a unique take on the topic and information not yet available in the marketplace.
• know how to get from the first chapter to the final one in a logical and efficient way—and take the reader on the same journey.
• what to write.

With this information, you will never stare at the blank screen. You will sit down to write with confidence and clarity, which means you will be productive. If you aren’t consistently productive, you won’t finish your book in a month.

Start with the End in Mind

If you are taking the WNFIN Challenge and want to complete your nonfiction book or other nonfiction writing project by November 30, start with the end in mind. To do so, answer these two questions:

1. What do I want to accomplish with this project?
2. How will I achieve that goal?

Your answers to these questions will provide the information you need. They will help you determine your ideal reader and market, the benefit your work will provide, how your book will fill a gap on the bookstore shelf, your table of contents, and what goes into every chapter. In the process, of answering these questions and accummulating this information, you’ll create a roadmap to get your from the start of the book project to the end—in a month or any length of time you set as your goal.

As you prepare, you might find these two posts helpful:
How to Prepare for a 30-Day Writing Challenge
4 Ways to Prepare for a 30-day Writing Challenge

Copyright: ocusfocus / 123RF Stock Photo