My Approach To Writing Books
Like many people, I’ve daydreamed about writing books. For a long time I thought this might be something I would eventually get around to in retirement, over the last year though I’ve changed my mind. I’ve decided that writing a book is going to take too long to keep putting it off.
First I’ve got to learn how to write. Then I’ve got to figure out what to write about, decide on the scope and write a sketch of each topic. Then I’ve got to research each topic that I sketched out in depth, improve my sketched out content a lot and finally polish it. Hmm …
Maybe I need to get started now! So I’ve added writing a book to my Ten Year Plan, decided to make this list of the books I’d consider writing and got to work. The rough list I’ve come up with is included below:
- A Simple Guide to Health, a book that simplifies the basics of health, short chapters for each area of health presented in priority order, with each chapter containing simple steps, again in priority order.
- Reinventing The Workplace, a look at workplace design from the perspective of the user of the workplace, not the CEO, the Architect or the Interior Designer
- Enterprise Work Styles, a look into how to segment users in an enterprise and provide customised solutions and guidance to them, to help maximise their effectiveness
- Living Well With Chronic Illness, a book on how to live well within the constraints of a chronic illness. The focus will be chronic pain conditions, because that’s where my experience lies
- Living Well In Early Retirement, a short guide to early retirement
- Personal Knowledge Management, an attempt to distil what we mean by personal knowledge management and how to improve it, recognising different personalities, technologies and types of work
- Living Well With Technology, a book that addresses my concern that we are becoming servants of technology as it comes to dominate and complicate our lives. Even though we don’t see it that way due to it’s seductive/addictive nature.
I’ve made a good start on A Simple Guide To Health, having completed the outline scope and written a few rough sketches of some of the topics. Because I’m easily bored I’ve also started a very different book on Reinventing The Workplace which I’ve created an outline scope for.
Wish me luck!
The photo included at the top of this post is of Filey beach first thing in the morning, always a source of inspiration!
I don’t think you need luck Steve. My understanding of writing a book is that it is mainly about perseverance and hard work, things that you are very good at.