Writing - How Do You Keep Your Train of Thought?

[AustinS28]

I'm writing a book and so far it's been fairly easy for me to add content (non-fiction). I have a goal of 500 words per day. I'm not a writer in the sense of what my current business is, but I am doing this to add something else I am passionate about to my current business. I'm writing a book on a fitness topic that isn't discussed often to engage the audience of people that cannot afford my personal training services. So with the book I also have my training business that I need to cater to and often can't complete a chapter everyday because of my other business needing tending to.

I was going to make a blog after I completed my new website (completed all the content after my last thread and the rest is in the developers hands), but the book sounded better and would be something a blog could be created about after it is written.

I find when I come back from work, I start writing and wind up going in a completely different direction then where the chapter was originally being taken. Often having transitions poor transitions paragraph to paragraph.

I decided I am going to just start a new section each time this happens and then go back when I am ready to continue on the previous topic.

Just wondering what you Authors do to remain focused on each section of your book before completely switching gears on a new subject that is relatable, but doesn't quite fit what you were writing about before.

I'm thinking I need a better outline to not only detail the book itself, but what each chapter needs to cover.

And I also think I am realizing why books need many revisions. I think writing the first draft is going to be a lot easier then all the time I'll probably spend revising.

 

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[Funke]

Let me answer that for you:

start a new section each time this happens and then go back when I am ready to continue on the previous topic.

need a better outline to not only detail the book itself, but what each chapter needs to cover

books need many revisions. I think writing the first draft is going to be a lot easier then all the time I'll probably spend revising.

 

[AustinS28]

Let me answer that for you:

Damn it! I knew it.

 

[Funke]

Haha, this is how coaching works, people usually know what's best for them more than the others.

Work on a good plan, set boundaries for each chapter like you said. If you think something is not going as intended, sit with the plan again. Transitions does not really matter that much in first drafts, because you may want to move the content around later. Produce those words and you will bring all the puzzle together later on.

This may help https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php
AppSumo gives away a Free course for Scrivener right now http://www.appsumo.com/scrivener-freebie/

 

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[AustinS28]

Haha, this is how coaching works, people usually know what's best for them more than the others.

Work on a good plan, set boundaries for each chapter like you said. If you think something is not going as intended, sit with the plan again. Transitions does not really matter that much in first drafts, because you may want to move the content around later. Produce those words and you will bring all the puzzle together later on.

This may help https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php
AppSumo gives away a Free course for Scrivener right now http://www.appsumo.com/scrivener-freebie/

Thank you, I just read an article yesterday unrelated, but by the creator of AppSumo, Noah Kagan "How To Create a Million Dollar Business This Weekend," was pretty solid.

 

[Mattie]

I think naturally when you're writing it triggers something else to write about. I've done it many times. I just keep writing, and than go back and use it somewhere else in a blog or different book. I think it just is a skill you learn after awhile, sure you can use outlines, sometimes works, but most of the time I find I have so much coming, and if I disregard it, I lose it.

So as in my novel, I use a writing program or note cards online to pass them in different areas. I'm a stickler to write everything. lol Because I find when you don't write it down, you lose it, and can't remember it later.

If you're writing a particular topic it will be revised because you only write what you know or learning at the moment in your experience. I find what I wrote three years ago is irrelevant to what I would write today. It's a process like anything else, and most people write blogs and books of what they're learning and have experienced, or try to convey something they haven't learned or don't know by reading and then putting in own words.

I suppose this why you will find authorities revising and new editions coming out, because they have found other things, or see where they were wrong, or what people don't agree with, or argue about.

What you're focused on now, you will be focused on something different later.

The more you write, the more you learn to be more organized. You learn to be more clear and deliberate.