What does it take to write a book?
DON’T talk about your project too much. Write it.
DO follow your book proposal’s chapter outline. It will keep you on task.
DON’T put off the project. To craft 60,000 words on contracted deadline – often a year’s time – you have to write more than 1,000 words a week, every week.
DO keep a three-ring binder of printed chapters as you complete them, and refer to this as reference material.
DON’T put off shooting photos to support your text. Think ahead.
DO assign target dates for monthly word counts and chapter completion.
DON’T think a book project will let you rest. It won’t.
DO relax once the copyedited manuscript is completed, and the project is in production. Then again, that’s the time to work on your next book’s proposal. ◊
Steve Hickoff, of Kittery, Maine, is a book author/contributor and has been an OWAA active member since 1993. He’s also had his writings and photographs featured in Outdoor Life, Turkey Call, Turkey & Turkey Hunting, Realtree.com, New Hampshire Wildlife Journal, Foster’s Sunday Citizen, others.
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The do's and don'ts of writing a book
