Feeling a bit overwhelmed lately, haven’t ya? Don’t fret, it happens to the best of us. I know you have a million and a half things to juggle each day but stick with me for a second because recently I had one simple idea that instantly doubled my productivity and so I thought you could use a little kick-in-the-ass…
The Fundamental Shift in My Mindset
You probably know that I’ve been working diligently on my blog, products and balancing every other aspect of online business (even the failing part). I missed the deadline of the 30 Day Product Challenge because I couldn’t get down and dirty to finish my three products I planned to create.
I wasn’t sure why I couldn’t write; it wasn’t writer’s block, it was something … else.
I can write anywhere from 10k – 20k words a day, no problem. So then why were the eBooks taking so long to get on to paper? It hit me: Because of I was approaching it as if I were writing a book.
Stay with me for a second.
When I approached the eBooks with the thought that I’d be creating a book, it started to get me caught up in formatting, dividing the chapters, design elements and so forth. It took me out of what I’m able to naturally do: just sit down and write.
And then something changed. I began writing the Content Domination outline as a regular post; I wanted to introduce the concept. I poured myself for a solid hour into the post and easily wrote nearly 3,000 words – it just few across the screen.
As I sat back for a second, it hit me: Maybe the best approach, for bloggers, is to treat each of their products like a very, very long blog post.
It’s such a simple idea that I feel stupid for saying it.
Let’s think about it: We’re used to writing blog posts that stretch on and on; that’s no problem. But when we’re ready to put together a book we freeze up – we’re still writing but the new approach just overloads us.
What I need to do (and maybe you can do this too) is the following approach:
- Go into your product creation with the intent to write a series of blog posts.
- Break up those eBook chapters into separate “posts”.
- Trick yourself into thinking you’ll be publishing them across a time period.
- Save them and set it aside; sleep on it and move onto the next.
By the time you’re done writing all of your posts, you have your book!
Dammit, why didn’t I think of this earlier…
lol..makes sense to me bro….write first, format later. Right on
Dino Dogan´s last [type] ..Content Is King My Ass
Yeah man, it’s such a simple fix in mindset but completely changed how I got into the writing. I broke down some of my projects from being this huuuuge word file into individual chapters and look at them as if they were posts. I try to work on one at least once a night and it’s chugging along now
Hey Murray,
Great point! I do have to slap my hands when they start reaching for the formatting keys. My hands argue that it’s an ebook they’re writing and they want it to look like an ebook from the start. But I explain that we can get it done much faster if we treat each chapter like it’s nothing more than an article, and do the formatting after the words are written.
P.S. I’m impressed you can write 10 – 20k words a day!
Peggy Baron´s last [type] ..5 Methods For Setting Up Your Social Networking System
Awesome to hear your input Peggy – gah, should have talked to you about this kind of thing months ago; I look at all the time that I’ve wasted because I haven’t been able to jump into my work – at least it happened though.
Breaking things down into manageable chunks have really been key – also, I’m learning to let go a bit more – I realize I have plenty of time to get things done so I don’t need to overstress myself with work day in and day out – I’m trying to be more efficient at what I do; this was one of those things that helped immensely.
P.S. I’m sure, if I focused hard enough, I could probably bang out a rough draft of a book in a single day haha – well, at least a 50k word one – that would be intense, maybe one day haha.
There is nothing wrong with brainstorming, especially after a round of triple shot expresso, the life’s blood of Murlu.
Personally, you should start hawking coffee making devices and beans on your site for bloggers.
Coffee Beans for Bloggers – get the job done right with a good cup o’ joe!
Interesting to note that I’ve stumbled upon a similar discovery myself lately.
When I sit down to write with a large goal in mind – to write a new book or to write a lengthy article – the results are often subpar at best. However, when I sit down to just write (not surprisingly as part of my daily routine at 750words.com) the things I write often surprise even myself.
Focus on writing first, then formatting, graphics, and everything else later.
It’s about getting those ideas out ya know? When you stop to edit something or add a graphic, you completely lose focus, you’re breaking up the flow of it all so it makes perfect sense that you’re able to work so great doing your daily challenge because it forces you to stay on track – try to pull that over into your other writing activities and you’ll be spot on!
Besides the challenge, has there been any other methods that you approach writing that have helped you out overall? Would be interested to learn a bit from others.
Yeah, but you’re a machine though man.
Still – great idea though.
Skynet yo! Replicants!
I try my best but I think I could do better haha – we’ll see how productive I’ll be in 6 months time because I can admit that I was pretty lazy before starting Murlu.
I see what you mean, Murray.
Simply write the long blog post then weave them together. I have so much to do that I need every advantage I can locate.
Thanks for the tip.
Jimi Jones´s last [type] ..How to Improve Your Creativity
Glad you enjoyed it Jimi – and, if you think about it – you write one of these sections a day, you figure in 2 weeks you’re pretty much done with the rough copy of your book if you figure it’ll be about 10 – 12 chapters, ya know?
Hi Murray:
After a long time today I came to your site and I am not the last one to comment, though not the first one even today.
You seem to be too busy, I have been watching you indirectly being a part of the process you are going through.
Now the idea about creating posts with the product creation and turning it into a book is not so new, I have seen some bloggers doing it.
Why didn’t you do it. Yo can do it for the next product now. Or may be you are working on all products at the same time.
However, you are getting great credibility in the blogosphere, and that is good for you and your conversion.
Make it great for yourself
Fran A
Fran Aslam´s last [type] ..Writing For Money As Freelance Writers
Thanks Fran
I think one of the reasons why I’ve taken so long with my own ebook here are all the big projects I’m working on elsewhere – Murlu is much more of an outlet of what I’m learning in my other businesses and blogs which is why I think I’m able to deliver some quality posts
With that being said, I’ve been biding my time because I want to make sure that I’m going to release something that the community will enjoy; something that’ll blow everyone’s socks off – not the cut-of-the-mill content that you find in a lot of ebooks out there, ya know? Gotta find that edge. I think the SEED book that I’m working on is going to change up a lot of things.
It all takes a bit of time – something I can’t seem to find enough of with all these projects haha.
When I sit down to write a short post, it usually gets totally out of control, and I end up with something much longer.
But yesterday I sat down to write something long, and it hit me, that I would not be able to complete it in one day.
But I actually had up to a dozen smaller posts in that one idea.
Maybe the secret is to take your idea and just simply write.
By the time you’re finished you might have a post, or an article, or a Massive Value Post (as Steve Scott would say), or you may even have an ebook on your hands.
Just sit down and write and see if you get a box of chocolates
Great post, Murray! I need to work on my book too
Rick
Rick LaPoint @ Internet Marketing´s last [type] ..How to Make Your Graphics Load 6 Times Faster
Rick, that’s exactly right man
Sometimes I’ll find myself sitting down to write a post and before I know it, it’s nearly 3k words even though I may have only meant it to be 600 or so; it just keeps going and going, you might as well go with the flow. Who knows, it could easily become an entire work that you could sell or use as a freebie by the time you get done with it. I’ve had a few people say that some of my posts could easily be turned into an eBook because of their length – add in a few extra graphics, maybe package a video and boom, you’ve got yourself a product!
Good stuff Murray! I never really thought of *how* I think of different writing tasks, but looking back on my eBooks I approached it slightly different than I do my articles. I actually created an outline and it grew into chapters from there….
Keith´s last [type] ..Why You Are Stuck In A Rut
Still not sure what’s going on with your comments stripping out my url LOL?
It’s a bug here on Murlu that seems to happen too frequently :/
That’s the easiest way for sure Keith – mindmapping is amazing for this; once you mull over the chapters that you want to write, you can easily start knocking them down and then all you’d need to do is create bridges between each chapter and mash em up.
Don’t you just love how we complicate things!
I understand how you feel. I’ve been working on a project for a LONG time 
and it was only recently when I decided to break it up into baby projects that actually get scheduled into my calendar that I was able to really start getting some momentum with it! Crazy, I know.
Well, sounds like you have a fantastic project in the works. Look forward to hearing more about it. Good luck.
Michele Welch´s last [type] ..Your About Page Is NOT About You!
What’s also cool about breaking it up into smaller projects, Michele, is that you can figure out where your best time could be spent. If you find out that an entire section could be delegated to someone like a VA, you just saved yourself a ton of time; your free time, now, could go toward those big win actions and before you know it, your job is done
Make sure the ebook is quality, lots of “how to” steps with images etc after all the ebook is about teaching, text only in most cases just doesn’t cut it, good luck!
Dan Lew´s last [type] ..Hostgator Discount – 001 Cent Trial
Definitely Dan
I don’t want to pad the ebook with just pictures which is why I want to make sure that I can give as much information through the text as possible but I’m definitely going to create it in a fashion where if someone wants to just look at pictures, they’d be able to understand the entire thing as well.
Hey Murlu,
Thanks for the article my dude!
You have a great point here. In fact it is exactly what I have been doing to write my book that I have been working on probably around a year now. When I first started I created an outline of the topics I was going to cover then each on of those topics I tackle down the list just as if I were tackling a blog post. I write more though, because I let it all loose. On blog post I can’t let it all loose then I would be going on forever so I keep them concise you know?
My book is really turning into what I knew it would if I took my time. ( :
Thanks again!
God bless,
William Veasley
William Tha Great´s last [type] ..Learning the Meaning of Progression
Great job William!
That little shift in mindset goes a long way. I know a TON of people that say they can’t write for shit because all they really see is that there’s this super long post ahead of them but when you tell them to “look, just figure out the outline and do one section every few hours” they breathe with a sigh of releif; they’re able to tackle it no problem because they’re not getting caught up on the little things because the inherent restrictions on working in small batches keeps you laser focused
I think the main thing was the information overload and the daunting task of actually writing an ebook.
And breaking thinks into smaller bits always makes a bigger task seem manageable.
Anyway, like Alex said, you really are a writing machine I can’t write half of what you can
Alex´s last [type] ..Lupte samurai ninja
Sure ya can Alex, it all really comes down to time management.
I’ve been using a little tool called ‘Focus Booster’ lately which delegates 25 minutes at a time to get a task done. For some reason, because you have this restriction of time, you really get down to work and get the job done. You then take a five minute breather, turn it back on and start working again. In an hour, using Focus Booster, I can bang out about 7 short articles for my article marketing projects and various freelance writing gigs.
It also comes down to being able to easily convey the information you know without restricting yourself; I always write in a stream of conscious style which may come across as sloppy but it’s pretty much how I’d talk which, subliminally, adds a whole new layer of voice to my articles, ya know? Definitely try that, write like you were talking directly to a friend, don’t worry about formatting and just get all those ideas down as if they were going to disappear.
Awesome sets of ideas Murray. I definitely need a lot of those right now (O:
Adam Paudyal´s last [type] ..Categories- Tags And A Full Course Nepalese Meal
Take em and run with em Adam, don’t lose that moment!
Great points here. It’s amazing what you can accomplish by breaking down your goals into smaller ones.
Break down your book into posts. Then its easier to tackle those one by one.
Eugene Farber´s last [type] ..Infectious Reality- 5 Ways to Spread Your Influence and Get Your Blog Noticed
Ya yaaaaa
It’s such a simple (and almost stupid) idea; wish I thought of it earlier haha. Hell, if you figure on a Sunday or something, you write 3 blog posts for the week, that could be 3 chapters right there – a month later and you’ve got yourself a book!
You know, it’s one of those simple-but-brilliant ideas that is *so* simple, it’s been overlooked for way too long! I’ve run into the very same problem, only I’ve been too intimidated to even begin writing my eBook.
I can definitely approach writing it as if I were writing a blog series. That seems not only much more doable, but much less like a behemoth of a project!
Thanks for the idea!
Delena
Delena Silverfox@Modern Aboriginal Mama´s last [type] ..22 Words every Natural Parent should know
Perfect way to look at it Delena
Wow, 10k to 20k words a day – no problem? That’s some massive output, Murray. I like the way Wayne Dyer approaches writing a new book. He has a cover mocked up, and then he puts it around an existing book. From that point he tells himself the book is already written, and that he just needs to fill in the center.
I’m not sure how practical that is, but it sounds great in theory. I like your idea of just breaking it up into a series of blog posts. Once you’re done then go back to format and edit them into one book. Perhaps, they’re both the same concept from a different angle?
Good luck finishing the rest of your ebooks. I still can’t get over the 10k – 20k words per day.
Brad Harmon @ Big Feet Marketing´s last [type] ..21 Resources for Writing Guest Posts that Kick Some Serious Butt
They are very much alike Brad – thanks for bringing up Wayne’s example.
An example I often here is to go into a book shop and just look at the chapters; see what your competition is going, see how they break up their own book. If you figure you’re going to need X amount of chapters than just work on each as if they were their own entities – during the editing phase, you can bridge them together with intro’s and outro’s.
I think visualizing the book being complete does help too; like Wayne does. Sometimes I’ll build a landing page for something I’m working on and say – okay, it’s ready to rock – wait, time to actually do the work; so I end up getting down and banging it out – it reinforces that you need to get the job done sort of like how people will sell something ever before completing the project; it puts the fire under their ass to get the ball moving.
Thanks for the comment Brad, hope to have ya around more often (love your blog, nice change up from the norm)