Finding Enough Words for a Dozen Book Projects

If you have seen a high-rise building being constructed, you probably don’t have an idea of what it will finally look like. Only the project engineer has the big picture.

The same is true with writing a book. A book project is like an engineering project. The person who’s job it is to manage the book project knows what it will look like in the end. Usually, the editor or publisher fulfills this role. But certain writers with strong opinions or a unique perspective of the world can actually assume this role.

For beginning writers, it is my professional opinion that somebody else should perform this role. Somebody should say, We’re going to write a book about moneymaking (or some publishable subject). That person, the book project manager, knows what will be written, but he won’t be doing the writing. That is the job of the writer.

For writers embarking on a 100,000-word book project, the hardest part is delegating the role of book project manager to somebody else. Making a judgment that something is impossible to do is assuming the role of project manager. If you want to write a book, you will have to let go and let a better person do the job. Somebody optimistic is better.