The musicians’ self-help and motivation guide : the begining of the writing process

The beginning of the writing of a book is always a very particular and exciting moment.

It’s a period of time where everything seems possible as ideas, concepts and virtual chapters pops out of your mind at every possible unexpected moment.

It can wake you at 3:00 am or it happens when you’re at a restaurant with some friends of yours and you don’t have any kind of pen or any bit of pencil to write it down before it vanishes as quickly as it came out.

Fortunately, it will come back.

Always.

As far as I’m concerned, since then,  before I actually start to write the chapters of my book, I usually enter a primary building process that stands upon  5 specific steps : structure, path, sources, rest,  consolidation.

• structure

I always begin with a small and light table of contents, throwing down on a sheet of paper the first ideas that come to me.

This step is based on a few questions I ask to myself :

• What’s the starting point ?
• Where do I want to go ?
• What story and things do I want to tell people about ?
• How this book could be any different from every other book dealing with the same topic ?
• How can I propose a book nobody ever thought or dare writing before ?
• If I wasn’t the author, what would I want to read and learn from the man or woman who’d have wrote it ?

This step is very important because it allows me to see if I believe in the project. It also helps me to identify if I’m gonna take pleasure to write the book and to know if I will be satisfied once the book published.

This backbone will have a strong impact for the writing because, if I’m not fond of what I’m going to do, nobody will.

Just so you know, the first draft summary for the musicians’ self-help and motivation guide I put online is right here : download.

• path

I don’t read theorical self-improvement books.

I just read books in which the author tells with honesty what he did, what he tried, what he failed and what he achieved.

Such books create a specific link between the reader and the author as the first one will identify himself in the story of the second one.

This kind of books generates fan, community, sharing behavior and give hope to any reader.

That’s what I felt whent I read Tim FERRISS’ 4 hour workweek book.

It helped me for several parts of my life, it inspired me, it gave me strength and made me think to myself “At least, someone put in a book what I was not able to say on my own”

As a matter of fact, as an author, I try to stick to such an author’s state of mind.

Hence, I try to pick up in my own story, issues or successes I’ve been through that could help readers to clearly get my point.

Moreover, it’s important for to stay connected to reality. So, as I explained in the books section, I’m not a guru and don’t want to be perceived as a ‘Follow-me-and-all-your-troubles-will-disappear”-man.

For me, the purpose is to help people by connecting my personal growth skills with what I lived, what I tested and what impassions me.

For the musicians’ guide book I will dig in my own musician path, my management skills, my passion for martial arts and zen philosophy.

• sources

Humbleness is a must and life is about learning continuously.

I can’t imagine writing a book without being aware of some other author’s point of view.

That’s the reason why I focus tightly on books I call ‘killer” books.

By that, I mean tooks that rule and give you new ideas, new visions, new perceptions and reveals some leads for your book you wouldn’t have even think about.

By the way, I always connect these books I read with music, dvd, footages I see incidentally, Comic books and so on and so forth.

At this moment, as I my mind is definitely oriented to my goal, I try to capture every sign, every piece of information, every color, sound or feeling, whatever,  that could bring something a piece of my own DNA in the book I’m ready to start writing.

• rest

Should I explain that ?

My brain is my force. So I have to take care of it.

Moreover, all of this is about having fun.

So I have to enjoy my own journey to give the best of me eventually.

• consolidation

It’s time to mix up all of this and put it all together so to consolidate the initial table of contents.

And the writing can start.

Now !