WRITE VERB - Bill O'Hanlon

WRITEIs aVERB

WRITEIs aVERBSit Down.Start Writing.No Excuses.Bill O’HanlonCincinnati, Ohiowww.writersdigest.com

Write Is a Verb © 2007 by Bill O’Hanlon. Manufactured in theUnited States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this bookmay be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanicalmeans including information storage and retrieval systems withoutpermission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer,who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Writer’sDigest Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, Inc., 4700 East GalbraithRoad, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236. (800) 289-0963. First edition.Visit our Web sites at www.writersdigest.com and www.wdeditors.com for information on more resources for writers.To receive a free weekly e-mail newsletter delivering tips and updatesabout writing and about Writer’s Digest products, register directly atour Web site at http://newsletters.fwpublications.com.11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1Distributed in Canada by Fraser Direct, 100 Armstrong Avenue,Georgetown, Ontario, Canada L7G 5S4, Tel: (905) 877-4411; Distributedin the U.K. and Europe by David & Charles, Brunel House,Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 4PU, England, Tel: (+44) 1626 323200,Fax: (+44) 1626 323319, E-mail: postmaster@davidandcharles.co.uk;Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link, P.O. Box 704, Windsor,NSW 2756 Australia, Tel: (02) 4577-3555DedicationTo Steffanie and The Biscuit,who are my verbs, my nouns,and my plus perfects. To myson, Patrick, who has taughtme a lot about persistence andhanging in there.Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataO’Hanlon, William Hudson.Write is a verb : Sit down. Start writing. No excuses / By BillO’Hanlon.p. cm.Includes index.ISBN-13: 978-1-58297-459-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)ISBN-10: 1-58297-459-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)1. Authorship. I. Title.PN147O33 2007808.02--dc22 2007015564Edited by Jane FriedmanDesigned by Eric West and Grace RingCover designed by Eric WestDVD video by CineVision Productions & MediaDVD menus by Jen RizzoDVD music by Flying Hands MusicProduction coordinated by Mark Griffin

AcknowledgmentsThanks go to: Faith Hamlin, agent extraordinaire and kindsoul, for helping to bring this project to print; Jane Friedmanfor suggesting the project and shepherding it along tocompletion (and for letting me sit in on the title meeting—Ienjoyed it; great staff); all my writing students and clients,who taught me a lot about what works and what doesn’t andhow people write and get motivated in such diverse ways; allmy editors through the years, notably Susan Munro, formerlyof W.W. Norton, who taught me so much about writing withher gentle and effective editing with my first twelve books;and my wife Steffanie, who helped me curb my ADHD tendenciesand aim for something better than “good enough.”About the AuthorBill O’Hanlon, M.S., LMFT, has authored or coauthored twenty-eightbooks, including Change 101 (W.W. Norton, 2006),Pathways to Spirituality (W.W. Norton, 2006), and ThrivingThrough Crisis (Penguin/Perigee, 2005; winner of a Booksfor a Better Life Award, 2005).He has published fifty-four articles or book chapters. Hisbooks have been translated into sixteen languages: French,Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, German, Chinese,Bulgarian, Turkish, Korean, Indonesian, Italian, Croatian,Arabic, Polish, and Japanese. He has appeared on Oprah(with his book Do One Thing Different), The Today Show, anda variety of other TV and radio programs.Since 1977, Bill has given over two thousand talks aroundthe world. He has been a top-rated speaker at many internationalconferences and was awarded the Outstanding MentalHealth Educator of the Year award in 2001 by the New EnglandEducational Institute.Bill is a Licensed Mental Health Professional, CertifiedProfessional Counselor, and a Licensed Marriage and FamilyTherapist. He regularly speaks about writing and offersintensive seminars for people who want to write books andget them published.Visit Bill online at www.billohanlon.com or (for moreon his writing coaching and instruction) www.getyourbookwritten.com.

chapter 3Do One Thing Different 52Changing one small thing to get your writing done.Introduction 1chapter 1The Juice 6Finding the energy to write.• Show Me the Energy............................................................... 7• My Story.................................................................................... 9• The Four Writing Energies...................................................11• Motivational Patterns........................................................... 24• Fear as Blocked Energy and Fear as Clue.......................... 28• Key Points.............................................................................. 33chapter 2Writing Begets Writing 35Bum glue and moving fingers will get your writing done.• Walking the Marathon: PersistenceOften Tops Talent and Inspiration..................................... 39• Beware “Freewriting”........................................................... 43• Getting Ready, or Procrastinating and Avoiding? ........... 45• Identify Your Time-Wasters................................................ 47• Having Too Much Time to Write......................................... 49• Key Points...............................................................................51• Writing Patterns.................................................................... 53• Discovering What Works..................................................... 54• Experimenting: Discover and ImplementWhat Works (and Don’t Get Stuck in What Doesn’t)........ 61• Rituals..................................................................................... 65• Key Points.............................................................................. 73chapter 4Baby Steps,Baby Steps 74The small-steps method for getting your writing done.• Breaking Up the Task, Part I:Small Assignments............................................................... 75• Breaking Up the Task, Part II:Small Increments of Time.................................................... 80• Breaking the Mental Barrier................................................81• Developing an Identity as a Writer..................................... 84• Key Points.............................................................................. 88chapter 5The Promise Method 89Using commitments to get your writing done.• Promise Someone Else......................................................... 90

• Promise God or a Higher Power:Getting Motivated to Write by a Higher Calling............... 96• Contracts and Money Paid................................................. 100• Key Points.............................................................................101chapter 6The Solution-Oriented Method 103Revisiting what has worked to get your writing done.• Drawing on Your Strengths............................................... 104• Get Over Your Feelings...................................................... 108• Patterns of Completing Projects........................................ 108• Patterns of Not Finishing....................................................111• Modeling on Others............................................................ 114• Envisioning a Future as a Published Author...................116• Finding and Trusting Your Own Style............................. 118• Key Points............................................................................ 122chapter 7Anything Worth DoingIs Worth Doing Poorly 123Embracing mistakes, failure, andimperfection to get your writing done.• Dive In.................................................................................. 124• Writing Is Mostly Rewriting.............................................. 129• Key Points.............................................................................131chapter 8It’s Not About You, It’s All About You 132Taking the focus off yourself to overcome writer’sblock and other barriers to writing.• It’s Not About You: Discover YourAltruistic Motives for Writing.............................................133• It’s All About You:Care About What You Write................135• Key Points.............................................................................137chapter 9Clueless in Publishing Land 138Three crucial tips for getting published.• My, What a Big Platform You Have!................................. 140• Positioning........................................................................... 154• The Secret of Great Titles and Subtitles.......................... 169• Proposal.................................................................................175• What Now?............................................................................181chapter 10Common Writing Poisonsand Their Antidotes 184How to challenge unhelpful ideas or attitudes thatwill kill your writing dreams and ambitions.• Perfection............................................................................. 185• I Don’t Have Anything Original to Say............................ 187

• I Don’t Have Time to Write................................................ 188• This Will Never Get Published, So Why Bother?............191• I’m Not in the Mood to Write /I’m Not Inspired.............. 194• Other People Tell Me I’m No Good................................... 196• Naysayers (External and Internal)................................... 197• Key Points............................................................................ 199• Bonus: How Not to Get Yourselfto Write a Book............. 199Index 201• Worksheet Index................................................................. 210• DVD Exclusive Handouts....................................................211About the DVD 212I always wanted to be an author and be published.I figured the way to do that was to write a book.—Steve MartinI have written more than twenty books and fifty-four bookchapters or articles. People often ask me how I write somuch. I actually consider myself a bit of a slacker—ratherlazy and undisciplined. Isaac Asimov wrote more than fivehundred books before his death in 1992. English novelistJohn Creasey wrote 562 books over his forty-year career.Dame Barbara Cartland wrote more than seven hundredromance novels. Compared to these folks, I am a slacker. Ihave many more ideas for books yet to write, and if I hadknown some of the material in this book earlier in my writ-

ing career, I would now have many more books completedand published.When I began writing, I was more of a thinker thana doer. I believe I’m the right person to write this bookbecause I’m not a “natural” writer and writing certainlydidn’t come easy for me. It was like blood on the keyboardwith my early books—struggling to get myself to write andto keep writing. The writing, when it finally appeared onthe page, was unsatisfying—stilted and flat. I love goodwriting, and I wasn’t even coming close. But I soldiered on,and through the years writing has become less torturousand, finally, actually enjoyable at times. The thing thatcarried me through the early years was a burning passionto express myself in print and to help others.I was trained as a psychotherapist (with the emphasison the psycho, I often say). I helped people make changesin difficult circumstances for more than thirty years beforeI began full-time writing and speaking, so I have learnedsomething about how to motivate people to take action andchange until the desired result appears.For the past few years I have led book writing and publishingboot camps in Santa Fe, where I live. These intenseseminars are designed to help people write the book, orbooks, they want to write and get them published.It’s been an interesting experience to observe the peoplewho have attended these seminars, both those who havefollowed through and gotten their books written and published,and those who haven’t. I began to notice patterns ofwhat works to get book projects written and what doesn’t,and which people published their projects and which didn’t(or haven’t yet—some are still in process). Some people areamazingly fast and committed once they get some coaching,encouragement, and information. Others are slow and steadyand get it done eventually. Still others are a study in how notto write a book.I have read a lot of books with advice from writersabout the best way to write or get oneself to write. Theyoften provide rules. Write on a schedule; write in a specialplace, undisturbed by ringing telephones or people; writea certain number of words or pages each day; write standingup; write in a café surrounded by people; don’t showyour writing to anyone; show your writing to a trustedfriend; don’t talk about your writing as it will rob theenergy from it; write every day; write with a special penin a special notebook; outline before you write; and soon. These rules are based on things that have worked forthose writers.I have never followed any of these rules and here I amon my twenty-somethingth book. In the end, you have tofind what works for you, not what works for someone else.Having said that, there are some general principles that canmake you more likely to get your stuff written and completed,and that’s what I’ll offer in this book. No rules: Thereare guidelines and hints, ideas, and methods that you canpersonalize to your style and preferences—but you won’tfind rules.As I said, I have read a lot of books about writing—and I have never found the help I have put in this book. WRITE IS A VERBintroduction

I have combined my experience as a therapist and withhelping people make difficult changes in their lives, thenadded what I have learned from my own writing careerand from the people I have taught and coached, and putit all into this book you’re holding. I have tried to makeit practical, fun, and motivational. My purpose is to getyou moving, get you writing, and impel you to get yourwriting projects completed and published. I will use theliterary equivalents of Prozac, cattle prods, M&Ms, andwhatever else I need to get you off the dime and help youget your book written.If you read this book and merely come away havingenjoyed the read, I will consider it a failure. I expect toreceive many signed copies of books in the coming yearsfrom all of you who have finally gotten off the dime andwritten your books.One more quotation (source unknown) to give you a kickin the pants: “The trouble with doing nothing is you neverknow when you’re finished.”Okay, enough hooptedoodle and introduction. Let’sget cracking.• This book will give you guidelines, encouragement, andstrategies to get yourself to write and to sustain thewriting to complete projects.Key Points• You don’t have to be a natural writer or a good writerto write; you just have to write.• It’s important to find your own style and motivation—everyone is different. WRITE IS A VERBintroduction