Is one of your New Year’s Resolutions to write a book? What’s stopping you? Seriously? Take five minutes and sit down and make a list. What’s on your list? Don’t know how to start? Lack of time? Lack of talent? Lack of knowledge? Fear? I can help you with everything but the talent part. You got to bring something to this equation! The hardest part is getting started. I’ve been doing this a long time and I can tell you that you can buy all the writing books you can afford, subscribe to the best writers’ blogs, and attend conferences until YOU could teach writing workshops, but if you don’t “get butt in chair” you won’t “get there.” It can be daunting to stare at a big, blank computer screen. But the good news is almost nothing is impossible in this world. So, if you’ll make the resolution to write your book in 2015, I will get you to the finish line. So join me each month for A WRITER’S JOURNEY and by the end of the year you will have a manuscript. I promise! But you must do your part.
ASSIGNMENT–Month #1 (JAN): Write down your IDEA. I hate to say it but if you don’t even have a single idea for a book, you may not be a writer. But if you have an idea, you need to turn that idea into a manuscript. How? First, you need to summarize that idea in a minimum of one sentence and a maximum of five sentences. This is non-negotiable! You must be able to sum up your story. This month’s assignment is to work on defining and summarizing your idea. I found these examples for a well-known story, The Hobbit, on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/plotsummary. I recommend a maximum of a three-sentence summary.
Example #1: An inexperienced Hobbit inherits a magic ring and must journey to a far away land to destroy it.
Example #2: Bilbo Baggins is swept into a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.
Example #3: Once upon a time, the Kingdom of Erebor in the Lonely Mountain was taken from the dwarfs by the evil dragon Smaug. One day, the young Hobbit Bilbo Baggins is unexpectedly visited by the wizard Gandalf the Grey and twelve homeless dwarfs led by their former king, Thorin. Bilbo joins the company in an unexpected journey through dangerous lands of the Middle-Earth where they have to fight against Trolls, Orcs and other creatures. Bilbo also meets the Gollum and finds a magic ring that is the key to everything.
Example #4: A reluctant hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, sets out to the Lonely Mountain with a spirited group of dwarves to reclaim their mountain home – and the gold within it – from the dragon Smaug.
Coming in February: Outlining Your Novel… 
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