In my previous article "Getting Started" How to Plan & Organize Your Writing ... I went over a couple of simple ways to approach a writing project to help you get it kick-started and rolling. But as I mentioned at the close of that article; there is a universal problem that almost all new writers/authors encounter, that can disrupt their plan, slow down their progress or even prevent them from getting started on their project.

The problem?  The belief that you have to sit down and write perfectly ... and get it all done in one pass.

That is a misconception and just not true!

Ernest Hemingway famously said (and please pardon the vulgarity it is not meant to be gratuitous—but it is absolutely accurate): "First drafts are shit."

He's right.  I know it from my own experience; most of my first drafts are cow-pies. 99.9% of successful writers out there know that from their experience and would agree with me (about their own writing, though if I let them read my first drafts they would undoubtedly feel they "stepped in one" and agree even more strongly with me).

So thinking that you shouldn't start until you can write it all out ... with perfect prose ... is wrong—and creates an obstacle for you that is not really there.

That belief is the single largest reason why would be-writers/authors don't get started.

When writing a book or working with a client on their project, it goes through a writing, editing and re-writing process that makes the prose much smoother and comes out as correct copy/content. 

It takes an iterative process to achieve a polished look and to create a finished work.

If you are reading this and, even in the most fleeting of thoughts, believe that you cannot begin your writing project until you can do it perfectly ... then I'm going to try to eliminate that mindset.

If you believe (or come to believe), as do I and thousands of other successful writers, that its all about writing in chunks, creating rough drafts, re-writing, editing, re-writing to a final version—then you can start now to write the book, essay, article or op-ed piece you've wanted to write.

I want those of you reading this article that want to write or undertake a writing project, but have not pulled the starting gun trigger, to know this (and it is an absolute truth when it comes to writing). As someone else famously said:

"Writing is re-writing."

You have to view your writing project as a sculptor views a block of stone or a pile of clay to carve and mold.

Here's my own personal methodology; one I usedfor a writing project with our client, Major General Irene Trowell-Harris. After a 38-year career in the military, even in retirement she doesn't rest on her laurels. She continues to serve, has held and currently holds a senior executive-level position with the Department of Veterans Affairs. To say she has a demanding schedule and a full plate of activities would be an understatement. But she also has a powerful story to tell. We helped her work out how to fit a writing project into her life and her book has now been published. To give you a rough idea, this is how we accomplished it:

1.  We gather information that is already on hand that documented her military and civilian career
2.  A rough outline of key events is developed (it gets refined throughout the writing process to ensure the events are fully detailed satisfactorily)
3.  A list of colleagues, friends and family is created for interviews to gather additional info and insights
4.  A series of Questions & Answers are created that help draw out the framework and create the essence of the story and the message the writer/author wants to convey
5.  Interviews are conducted and transcribed
6.  A life timeline is developed so the story arc has fixed milestones to key off to drive the actual writing
7.  Using this timeline, each key event is written about in a block of text (each block becomes a module that will be further edited/polished into chapters or sections)
8.  Once all the blocks have been crafted, they are sequenced/fitted together to create a rough draft
9.  The rough draft is reviewed for scope and content—additional material is added as applicable and needed to create the second draft
10.  The second draft is edited (the smoothing and polishing effort begins) and transition wording added as needed to segue from chapter to chapter
11.  The edited second draft is reviewed for final additions and a final editing pass
12.  The final draft manuscript is proofread for any final changes

And so the book gets done.

To give you the short version:

We’re taking info, thoughts and observations she currently has and are putting them to paper.  We’ll add to it as we gather additional info from different sources and write basic blocks of content on the key events we’ve identified for her story.  Those rough blocks will be added to, then smoothed/polished to fit together into a cohesive story arc. We’ll then take our rough drafts, edit and polish them … steadily working them into a final version for publication.

You can do this too.

Take what I've outlined above, and if you are serious about your own desire to get your story (or a story) told ... then turn to and begin taking steps to make it happen.  It just takes a bit of organizing, planning …, and most importantly the understanding that it is OK to start out rough, working with chunks of info and content, knowing that you are following a process (like I outlined above) and that your story will get better as you work at it.

Feel free to email me to set up a date/tme to talk if you just need someone to brainstorm with you or to help nudge you in the right direction.