A.M. Offenwanger's Blog, page 5
November 15, 2023
November 11, 2023
SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK? – The .pdf Download

“So You Want to Write a Book?” is now available, all six parts in one document, on the website to download as .pdf (here) – just in case you want to save it to your computer, or print it out or something, and peruse or re-peruse it at your leisure.
You’re welcome! Now go write that book.
November 10, 2023
#FridayFragment, 10.11.2023

A fly buzzed against the window as slowly, outside, the rain dripped off the eaves.
“It’s kind of cozy,” he said, pulling the blanket closer around his shoulders.
“I know,” his friend replied. “I don’t know if I can stand it much longer.”
November 8, 2023
November 4, 2023
SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK? Part 6: Living the Writer’s Life
[Cue sonorous voiceover] Previously on “So You Want to Write a Book?”: Part 1, How I got started; Part 2, Other Ways of Writing a Book; Part 3, WRITE THAT THING; Part 4, What next?; Part 5, Getting it out there. How I wrote my first book by just starting to write; how to plan a book step by step; how to actually write that book; how to edit it once it’s finished, and how to self-publish it.
Part 6: What Else? – Living the Writer’s LifeSo perhaps, this whole thing of writing a whole, b...
November 3, 2023
SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK? Part 5: How to Self-Publish
[Cue sonorous voiceover] Previously on “So You Want to Write a Book?”: Part 1, How I got started; Part 2, Other Ways of Writing a Book; Part 3, WRITE THAT THING; Part 4: What next? How I wrote my first book by just starting to write; how to plan a book step by step; how to actually write that book; and how to edit it once it’s finished.
Part 5: Getting it out there – Self-publishingSo you finished your book (Congratulations once again!) and you’ve edited it to the best of your abiliti...
November 2, 2023
SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK? Part 4: Editing Your Book
[Cue sonorous voiceover] Previously on “So You Want to Write a Book?”: Part 1, How I got started; Part 2, Other Ways of Writing a Book; Part 3, WRITE THAT THING. How I wrote my first book by just starting to write; how to plan a book step by step; and how to actually write that book.
Part 4: What next? – Editing the BookSo you’ve gone and finished that book you’ve always been dreaming of. Wow! Hurrah! Congratulations! That is so awesome!
I mean all of what I just said. Having writt...
November 1, 2023
SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK? Part 3: How to Write the Thing
[Cue sonorous voiceover] Previously on “So You Want to Write a Book?”: Part 1, How I got started; and Part 2, Other Ways of Writing a Book: How to write a book by just sitting down and writing it, or, conversely, how to plan, plot, and plunge deeply into the story before you begin writing, a five (or more) step process. Spoiler alert: Both methods work.
Part 3: WRITE THE THINGIf you’ve skipped ahead to this part because you couldn’t wait to find out how to actually write that book, he...
October 31, 2023
SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK? Part 2: How to Plan a Book
[Cue sonorous voiceover] Previously on “So You Want to Write a Book?”: Part 1, How I got started. Detailing in great, umm, detail, how a particular writer went from “I’m not ever going to be ‘a novelist’!” to being, well, just that. And how said writer wrote their first novel by sitting down and starting to type on a chilly November day in 2011.
Part 2: Other Ways of Writing a Book – How to Plan a BookSo, as I said last time, I didn’t even set out to “write a book”, because I didn’t k...
October 30, 2023
SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK? Part 1: How I Got Started
Note: When I started this series I thought it would be one post, maybe two. It turned into six. So I’ll be posting one of these every day this week.
Part 1: How I Got StartedA friend and I were talking the other day about things one could do with one’s life.
“Is there anything you really want to do?” I asked her. “Something you’ve always dreamt of?”
She didn’t even pause to think.
“Write a book!” she said.
Well, you know what my reaction to that was bound to be.
“Do it!” I shot back at her....


