Contents

Why This Book? Read This First!

PART 1
How to be the Hero of Your Own Life:
Guts, Grace, and Gumption

CHAPTER 01: Writing a Book is Easy and Fun

CHAPTER 02: A Pen Is a Wrench Is a Magic Saber

CHAPTER 03: Tell a Story Like a Hero, and Make Common Sense Your Writing Buddy

CHAPTER 04: Find Your Garret: Your Space and Time

CHAPTER 05: Fact or Fiction?

CHAPTER 06: Stormwriting: The Tool of Tools

PART 2
Three Touchstones for
Writing Your Book

CHAPTER 07: Essentials

CHAPTER 08: Your Truth: Finding the Heart of Your Book

CHAPTER 09: Your People: Breathing Life Into Your Book

CHAPTER 10: Your Map: Planning Your Book and Setting Off on Your Journey as an Author

PART 3:
Pour it Out

CHAPTER 11: To Be Great, Strive to Be Ordinary

CHAPTER 12: Writing Flow and Your First Draft

CHAPTER 13: Writing With the Masters

CHAPTER 14: Keeping Your Workshop: How to Physically Organize Your Manuscript and Materials for Best Benefit

CHAPTER 15: Getting the Names Right

CHAPTER 16: Relationships: The Key to Writing Compelling People

CHAPTER 17: The Source of Great Dialogue: Your Own Ears

CHAPTER 18: People Will Talk

CHAPTER 19: How to Write a Chapter

CHAPTER 20: The Power of Lists

CHAPTER 21: How to Write Unboringly About Yourself

CHAPTER 22: How to Write What You Don’t Know

CHAPTER 23: Living With Your Book and Driving It to Completion

CHAPTER 24: Now What? The Making-It-Better Process

CHAPTER 25: A Short Section on a Big Subject

CHAPTER 26: Publishing: What It is and How It Works

CHAPTER 27: Going Forward