THE BUSY PERSONS GUIDE

TO WRITING A BOOK
12 Easy Steps for Completing Your Book
Twice as Fast with Half the Effort

Michael Hyatt

This workbook is a place for you to record your notes, insights, and action plans. We suggest
you print it out before the webinar, scan through it, and then have it in front of you as the
webinar begins. If you want to comment on Twitter or Facebook about the webinar, please use
the hashtag #WriteFaster. Michaels Twitter username is @MichaelHyatt. Mandis is
@Mandi_Riv. (Mandi is Michaels co-host for this webinar.)

Introduction

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Premise

You can complete your book ________________ as fast with _____________ the effort by

following these _______ easy steps.

2017, Michael Hyatt Page !2

 The Busy Persons Guide to Writing a Book

1. Determine your ___________.

a. You can be the ______________________.

b. You can be the _______________________.

c. Similarly, you can be the _________________ without being the ________________.

d. Three questions to ask yourself:

1) Do you have any _______________________ writing?

2) Do you have the ______________ to write the manuscript?

3) Do you have the ________________ to _________ a writer?

e. Additional resources:

________________________________________

________________________________________

________________________________________

Google: ________________________________________________.

Action Item

Decide what ____________ you will play. Will you be the _____________________, the
____________________, or both?

2. Schedule your _____________________ time.

a. You are not any __________________ than anyone else.

b. You have ________________ in your weekjust like __________________ ___________.

2017, Michael Hyatt Page !3

 The Busy Persons Guide to Writing a Book

c. People make time for whats _________________.

d. Understand the role of ______________.

@AndyAndrews: _____________ is the ability to ______________ ___________________
do something you dont want to do in order to get a result you really want to get.

e. Understand the role of __________________________.

@MichaelHyatt: ___________________ doesnt usually show up until __________ do.

f. What gets ____________________ gets ______________.

g. Schedule ________________________ with yourself.

Action Item

Determine _________ you will write. Put your first four ____________________

____________________________ on your calendar.

3. Set up your writing _________________ __________________.

a. Choose a place where you have ________________.

b. Eliminate as many __________________ as you can.

c. Set the _____________________ to _________ or cooler.

d. ________ ________________ that inspires you and makes you more productive.

_____________________________________

______________________________________________________________

e. _____________ plenty of _______________.

f. ___________ the proper _____________.

2017, Michael Hyatt Page !4

 The Busy Persons Guide to Writing a Book

Action Item

Decide _________________ you will do your writing.

4. Use the appropriate ___________________ ____________.

a. Use ___________________ for collecting research.

Check out: _____________________________.

b. Consider ______________________ for writing.

Check out _________________________________.

Check out _________________________________.

c. Learn _________________________________.

Why? Four reasons:

1) Focus on the ___________________.

2) Use your favorite ___________________.

3) Maintain document _____________________.

4) Convert to necessary ___________________.

Check out: __________________________________.

d. Try _____________________ for editing.

Check out: _______________________________.

2017, Michael Hyatt Page !5

 The Busy Persons Guide to Writing a Book

Action Item

Download the ___________ _____________ of ____________________ and give it a try.

5. Create a formal ____________ _____________________.

a. A book proposal will give you ________________ around five things:

1) Your _______________

2) Your _______________

3) Your _______________

4) Your _______________

5) Your _______________

Action Item

Write a formal _______________ ___________________________. This will be your blueprint for

success.

6. Establish your writing _______________.

a. Manuscript ___________________:

1) What percentage of readers finish certain length books?

If the book is _________ pages or less, ______ of readers finish the book.

If the book is _________ pages or so, ______ of readers finish the book.

If the book is more than _________ pages, ______ of readers finish the book.

2017, Michael Hyatt Page !6

 The Busy Persons Guide to Writing a Book

2) Conclusion: One of the best ways to reduce your writing time is to _________ the
length of the book.

3) Examples of super-successful, ______________ books:

The One-Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson ( _____ pages)

Tribes by Seth Godin ( _______ pages)

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield ( ________ pages)

4) Rule of thumb for how long your book should be:

eBook Opt-in: ____________ to ____________ words

Business Book: ____________ to ____________ words

Non-fiction Book: ____________ to ____________ words

Fiction Book: ____________ to ______________ words.

b. Manuscript ________________________:

Check out: ______ ______________ _________________________ (Ill provide a link to

download this spreadsheet at the end of the webinar).

c. Example goals:

I will finish a 12,000 word opt-in ebook by 08/22/17.

I will finish a 50,000 word manuscript on productivity by 11/30/17.

I will finish a 75,000 word novel by 05/30/18.

2017, Michael Hyatt Page !7

 The Busy Persons Guide to Writing a Book

Action Item

Write a _____________ for finishing your book. Make sure you include the manuscript
_______________ and the manuscript _____________________.

7. Set up the books ____________________.

a. A books structure is like the _______________ of a house.

b. A typical book is divided into three main parts.

c. Examples:

__________________

___________ ___________

Action Item

Set up your books structure, using either _________________ or a _______________

_________________________.

2017, Michael Hyatt Page !8

 The Busy Persons Guide to Writing a Book

8. Gather your __________________.

a. I recommend that you use ______________________.

b. Set up a separate __________________ for your book.

c. Create a set of __________ for your book.

d. Examples of research you can collect:

Straight ___________

________ pages

________________ highlights (To learn how to do this, go to michaelhyatt.com/

______________.)

e. Then you can just go back and forth between __________________ and your word
processing program.

2017, Michael Hyatt Page !9

 The Busy Persons Guide to Writing a Book

Action Item

Install the free version of _________________ and start storing _________________________ about
your book.

9. Create a chapter ________________.

a. Stop _____________________ the _________________.

b. Instead, use a ____________________.

c. Make sure it is tailored for ___________.

Action Item

Create your own chapter _______________________.

10. Write the _________________ ___________________ first.

a. Starting any project is like trying to get a __________________ turning.

2017, Michael Hyatt Page !10

 The Busy Persons Guide to Writing a Book

b. What you need to finish big projects is _______________________.

c. I typically start with the __________________ _________________.

Action Item

Identify the chapter that would be the ___________________ for you to write.

11. Separate the writing from the _______________.

a. Modern brain research says your brain consists of ______ __________________________.

b. There are at least three implications for authors:

1) _________________ and _________________ are both important.

2) However, they should be done ________________________, not

_____________________________.

3) You should resist the urge to ____________ as you write.

2017, Michael Hyatt Page ! 11

 The Busy Persons Guide to Writing a Book

Action Item

Purpose that you will resist the urge to __________ until you finish each _____________________.

12. Know your enemy.

a. Your enemy is the ____________________.

It is an __________________, destructive force that opposes you any time you try to
make an ________________________ in any area of your life.

b. It has three _____________________:

1) Strategy #1: __________

Countermeasure: _______________

2) Strategy #2: ___________________

Countermeasure: _____________

3) Strategy #3: _____________

Countermeasure: ________________

Action Item

Recognize that ____________, ______________________, and _______________ are just part of the

process.

2017, Michael Hyatt Page !12

 The Busy Persons Guide to Writing a Book

Conclusion

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

2017, Michael Hyatt Page !13