I’ve read so much of your website in the last two days and I am to say the least, excited and inspired by your writing style and the way in which you communicate. I am and have been for years contemplating writing a book, if not more. I have just recently enrolled in college. However, I’m not sure I can wait two, three or four years to write a book..and so on. I’ve never written a book, but I have a very strong desire to do so, now. Having read “How a book gets made” was very enlightening for me. Thank you for sharing your deep thoughts, it’s as if you carry a pen and paper every spot you go and you just write down your thoughts so methodically, as if journaling your thought in every moment. This is fascinating. Thank you for your inspiring words and thoughts.
Sincerely, Michelle

2. Combo of which one best represents the ideas of the book and makes for a good read for someone who doesn’t know anything about me and will give up easily if bored. So far it’s always the first chapter but this might be a mistake.

3. Sure. I’d say I have strong opinions and I’m confident I can make a go of it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve studied the subject much. I’d like to think I can write a good book about anything because of my ability to think and communicate, but I haven’t proven that yet.

To sell books is helped tremendously by having expertise on the subject – my first book, about architecture, failed to find a publisher in part because I’m not an architect.

1. Would you ever be willing to share one of your proposals? I’d be very interested to see what they look like. I’m not personally thinking of writing a book any time soon, but I’m fascinated by the process. And I’m sure there are many aspiring authors who would love to see how you’ve done it.

2. How do you choose which chapter to write as a sample (and how similar does that tend to be to the final version of that chapter)?

3. Do you feel like you already have a really good handle on the topics of your books before doing your research? In other words, do you feel like your subject matter is limited to subjects you already know really well?

The first book I wrote>when I quit never found a publisher, and the 60% completed draft is still waiting for me to get back to it.

I take notes on every book I read – sometimes it’s just a few lines, sometimes a few pages, but I’m always refining my ideas for future books well in advance of writing them. I actually have a long list of book ideas, a list much longer than I will ever complete. And when I flesh out an idea from the list I a lot of rough thinking in notes, rough sketches of chapters, or just lists of ideas for chapter titles/major points before I officially start “writing the book”.

But who knows. The next book might come about very differently than these have, or might demand a different way of writing because of how I want the book to be different than the previous.