How to keep focused enough to write the book I've always wanted to write!

Look at yourself at the mirror. For every line in your skin, write what caused it, what pain, what striving you did. A sense of accomplishment? Try it. It works for me.

I'm far from being published, but I am a writer too. For me, I don't use outlines. When I get an idea I just sit with the keyboard and type whatever comes into my head untill I have a picture of the characters and what is going on in their lives. I like the idea of looking at the lines on your face and writing short stories about them. Start with that then try to sit (without distractions) for an hour and write about it. Books take years, usually, to be written so don't get discouraged. What kind of book are you wanting to write? fiction? Non-fiction? Your life story? It really helps if you can get into your book. I know I do. At times it seems as though the characters that I made up are real. A little creepy I know, but it helps me keep interested in what I am writing and wanting to know what they are going to have to go through next.

It's a tough job to say the least. I have been working on my life story for years it seems. I have to take short breaks from it every now and then, because I get so bogged down by the details or flooded by recollections, that it's just too overwhelming. I love the advice above, about examining the lines in your face. I write on other projects when it gets too much, or work on a different novel. I too do what you thought of above, and break it down into smaller short stories. It does help. There are a couple of sites that I use too to help me out when I get stuck. http://www.memoriesandmemoirs.com/ http://www.memoircafe.com/pages.php?which_page=home http://www.thescriptorium.net/toolbox.html I wish you all the luck in the world on your journey to publication. If I can help let me know.

I used to think the outline thing was very important in writing a book. Then a friend mentioned a book called No Plot No Problem that is about writing a rough draft for a novel in thirty days. The author of the book Chris Baty challenges his readers to write 50,000 words in a months time. The friend who suggested this book to me challenged me to take the challenge as did he. Now we both have rough drafts of 50,000 words. One of my biggest challenges in accomplishing this was not to edit each sentence I wrote. This can be done later. Chris Baty refers to this as turning off our inner editor.