To write a nonfiction book as efficiently as possible, you need to start by organizing your ideas.
Starting to write a book without a content plan is an invitation to false starts and wasted effort. It’s as foolish as trying to drive from New Hampshire to San Diego without referring to road map, intending to navigate entirely by intuition. You may end up there, but you may have wasted a lot of time (and gasoline) on unnecessary detours and dead ends.
You don’t have to know exactly what you’re going to write about in each paragraph of every chapter. But, for maximum productivity, you do need to know:
■The titles of each chapter.
■The premise, or big idea, of each chapter.
■The main points, supporting facts, or steps, you intend to write about in each chapter.