“If only I knew then what I know now” – tips for first time authors

“The best way to be relaxed is to be prepared” – I remember those words from a lecturer at University in Scotland. She had this calming persona that transcended to the whole class and I wanted to know her secret. I never saw her again but the lesson never left me. Writing a book is like landing a plane, and you need to be prepared for lots of things everything to go wrong, so you can be relaxed when solving them.

Preparation starts with housekeeping. Starting a book is going to involve a lot of browsing the internet so learn how to set up (and back up) your bookmarks on your browser. Remember, if you delete them by mistake, you’ll never get them back. Next, you’ll be collaborating lots with Google Docs for exploring ideas and approving quotes so learn how to share (and unshare) them – if you delete what you haven’t unshared, the document hasn’t been deleted. Finally, whatever storage you're using (in my case DropBox), you need to have to get on top of security and short cut settings so that random ideas that popped into your head at 4am can be stored for when the coffee has hit and you're ready to explore it.

These are just three ideas, I could name a hundred more but part of the ride is learning along the way. The key is to be prepared to lose your ideas, misplace your files or fail to delete your documentation – and then remain relaxed as you have already prepared in advance for dealing with it.