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Baby Steps Every Week, A Finished Book A Year Later
by Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

The thought of writing a book is usually daunting for many writers. After all, how and where do you begin writing a book that's anywhere from 25,000 to 100,000 words?

Big numbers can be pretty intimidating. But there's a way to get around this. And it's by taking baby steps -- writing one chapter or even 300-500 words at a time.

This is how I wrote my book, WEEKLY WRITES: 52 Weeks of Writing Bliss! Every week for one whole year, I wrote one chapter or module. Each module was only 250 to 500 words. It helped too that as I wrote each module, writers were "testing" it. They did the activities in the module I sent out to them every week.

When I started, I began with an outline for Weekly Writes. This was just so I could see what I was supposed to do every week. An outline doesn't have to be set in stone. Think of an outline as a frame, a guide. It can be modified as you go along. So by the time I'd written chapter/module 52, I realized I had a book ready to show to a publisher or one that I could self-publish and sell the next day.

I didn't intend for Weekly Writes to be a book. I created it as an e-mail course. But when week #52 came around, I knew Weekly Writes could be a book too. I sent a proposal to a publisher and a week later received a note that she wished to review the manuscript. A couple of weeks later, I was offered a contract and given a deadline for submitting the final draft.

It took about 6 weeks to edit and rewrite some chapters. And to make the book even more useful to readers, I invited writers who had taken the e-mail course version to contribute creative pieces they've written as a direct result of doing the writing activities in the course modules.

The result? A writer-tested book.

On top of that, I had fun writing it because when I wrote a chapter, I simply wrote. I stuck to writing 250-500 words once a week. One baby step at a time. It was certainly easier to write when I worked with smaller goals (word quota every week).

Perhaps you can try it too. You may have a book 52 weeks from now, even sooner!

NB: My book, WEEKLY WRITES: 52 Weeks of Writing Bliss! was released last March 15 and is now available on Amazon.com and other online and offline bookstores.

Kick start your imagination, ignite your creativity, and begin your journey towards becoming an outstanding writer with the help of the Weekly Writes book.

Get your copy of Weekly Writes from Amazon.com and have free unlimited access to the WeeklyWrites.com Exclusive Members Area that features over $250 worth of goodies! Read excerpts, reviews and details about the exclusive members area by visiting the WeeklyWrites.com site.

Copyright © 2004 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

Kick start your imagination, ignite your creativity, and begin your journey towards becoming an outstanding writer. Grab a copy of WEEKLY WRITES: 52 Weeks of Writing Bliss! from Amazon.com and receive 2 free e-books to encourage and nurture the writer in you. You'll also receive Write Memories, a journaling workbook available for free only to WEEKLY WRITES book owners. And finally, as a WEEKLY WRITES book owner, you'll have free access to e-mail courses such as JOYFUL WRITES: Celebrate Your Life through Writing For excerpts, reviews and what you need to do to receive the 2 free e-books, Write Memories and sign up for free e-mail courses, just head on to the Weekly Writes Book Official Site. (Clicking on the link will open a new window.)