How to Write a Book

Deep Work passes the “cocktail party test.” It feels cool to tell someone that the work you’re doing is “deep.” It makes you feel important. This is why “deep work” has become its own term people talk about in certain circles. Deep Work could have easily been called The Importance of Focus, and it wouldn’t be as sticky.

Turn your writing into a habit. Find a ten-minute window each day where you’ll have the best chance of completing your habit. Most people keep habits best if they do them in the morning. The chaos of life hasn’t gotten a chance to throw all of your intentions off-track. You’ll have a better chance of keeping your habit if you put it after a habit y

When you’re starting out writing, there’s a temptation to treat each line of writing as if it were a drop of liquid gold that must be salvaged. This feeling is made more intense by the fact that you’re only shooting to write a small amount of words each day. Ultimately, you’re aiming to be in the mindset that, There’s more where that came from. Yes

Loneliness is a good book about an important topic, written by an academic who has dedicated his career to studying that topic. But I bet the title holds back its sales. Even the author tells an anecdote about being embarrassed about reading an early copy of the book, which said “loneliness” on it, while on a plane.

Tell yourself, I am a bricklayer. You have a certain amount of bricks you want to lay each day, and after the job is done you can feel like you accomplished something.

Read the first sentence. Stop for a second and notice your own reaction. How compelled are you to read the next sentence?

By telling yourself, I can always improve this, you remind yourself that you will take a second, third, or fourth pass at your writing. You kill perfection paralysis.

If you feel like you only have one chance to say something, you make it harder to say. You think you’ve got to get it perfect. You fear your readers will get sick of hearing the same thing again. Nobody is paying that close of attention, and most people like the reminder anyway. Tell yourself, It’s okay to say it again. Allow yourself to write abou

Write an outline for your book When I was in school. Every English teacher confused me. They would ask me to write an outline, then write my paper. I always wondered, how can I possibly write an outline if I don’t know what I’m going to write?