The Writing Coach's Guide to FINALLY Writing Your Book!

The biggest mistake would-be authors make is letting someone else's negative opinion stop you from writing your book. Other people may tell you you're not good enough to be a writer, or that your book idea isn't worth writing about. Are they necessarily right? No!

If you've got an idea for a book and you're so passionate about it that it's keeping you up nights, then stop wasting time and figure out a way to get busy and WRITE! Even if you're not the world's best writer, if you write from the heart and write your story with passion, that's all you really need.

Never let your need for the good opinion of others stop you from achieving your own biggest dreams!

Along with clearly identifying your individual reasons for wanting to write your book, it's also important that you begin to think about what your expectations are for this book. This step requires a bit of a balancing act, because I do want to encourage you to dream BIG, and at the same time help you to manage any truly unrealistic expectations that will set you up for disappointment. This might sound like a contradiction in terms - "Dream big, but not TOO big" - but stick with me and it will become clear.

Most of us are afraid to dream big. We tell ourselves that we are afraid of failing or of being disappointed if we don't achieve our dreams, so why bother to dream big? Many of us got into this bad habit of negative thinking because we were influenced by someone whose own ability to dream was stifled in some way.

There is nothing wrong with dreaming big. If there were not people in the world who were willing to have big, outrageous, impossible-sounding dreams, there would be no innovation, no technological advances, and no creativity. From the wheel to the steam engine to the space shuttle; from the first radio broadcast to Internet "streaming" audio to the ability to download your favorite music to an iPod, everything we use or see in daily life started out as someone else's big, crazy dream.

I encourage my clients to dream so big that they may never actually achieve the dream. That may sound like I'm setting my clients up for a big fall, but in reality we all need to strive for something that's bigger than we think can manage. If we set our sights only on the things we knew for sure we can achieve, we'd barely bother to get out of bed in the morning because there would be nothing to challenge us and no adventure. Life would be very boring and dull. When my clients tell me they have a certain goal, I ask, "Are you sure you can achieve it?" If they say yes, then I up the ante: "So what would make this goal so big and exciting to you that you fear you might not be able to do it?" When they get to the point where they can visualize it being possible but where there is an element of uncertainty, then the goal is big enough to give them something to reach for.

It's not always easy to know what is realistic and what is not. No one, including me, can tell you definitively what is realistic in your situation, with your book. Having said that, you do need to think about what you expect, and allow yourself to stretch the limits of what you think is possible.

Many people believe they have a great idea for a book but for one reason or another feel they don't have what it takes to write a book. Then they feel discouraged to learn that it can cost between $10,000 and $40,000 (on average) to hire a ghostwriter. Writing a book is a major endeavor requiring hundreds of hours of work, so hiring someone to ghostwrite your book won't be cheap. But before you panic about the price of hiring help, maybe you need to think about whether or not you really COULD write your own book.

Is your book fiction or non-fiction? In most cases, if you have an idea for a fictional book, you should probably write it yourself. No one else can crawl into the recesses of your imagination and write your story the way you can.

Then there is "based on a true story" fiction: many fictional books are based on true life stories where the details have been changed to protect the innocent (and sometimes the guilty). This is a case where a ghostwriter could be used as long as you, the "author" are actively involved in providing the foundational material so the ghostwriter can fictionalize it correctly.

For non-fiction books of all types, ghostwriters are often used, especially in cases where the "author" is a subject matter expert but perhaps does not have the time or writing skills to plan and write and entire book.

I believe most aspiring authors CAN, with a little hard work, planning and patience, write their own books. What they usually lack is confidence, either in their idea for the book or in their writing skills. Here's the thing: if you're not the best writer, you can't spell and you don't have the best grammar, those are things that can be polished up by an editor (you can hire an editor for a fraction of the cost of hiring a ghostwriter). So don't let "lack of skill" be your excuse not to write your own book.

If you really feel you would benefit from hiring someone to help you write your book, but your budget is modest, then you need to figure out ways to cut the cost. Do some of the work yourself: do the research, write the book outline, even take a stab at writing a first draft -- whatever will save the hired writer time can save YOU some money.

To learn more about what is involved in writing your own book, and to begin to plan AND write your book, pick up a copy of The Writing Coach's Guide to FINALLY Writing Your Book. You'll be an author before you know it.