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Book in a Month: The Fool-Proof System for Writing a Novel in 30 Days | 
 enlarge | Author: Victoria Lynn Schmidt
Publisher: Writers Digest Books
Category: Book
List Price: $22.99
Buy New: $13.00
You Save: $9.99 (43%)
New (26) Used (11) from $10.47
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 29396
Media: Spiral-bound
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 8 x 7.8 x 1.6
ISBN: 1582974861
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.3
EAN: 9781582974866
ASIN: 1582974861
Publication Date: January 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Book Description
What Can You Accomplish in 30 Days? If you make time to write and put away all of your excuses, could you stay on track and finish your novel in only a month? With a structured plan and a focused goal, yes, you can! Using a combination of flexible weekly schedules, focused instruction, and detailed worksheets, author Victoria Schmidt leads you through a proven 30-day novel-writing system without the intimidation factor. Book in a Month shows you how to: - Set realistic goals and monitor your progress
- Manage your time so that your writing life has room to flourish
- Select a story topic that will continue to inspire you throughout the writing process
- Quickly outline your entire story so that you have a clear idea of how your plot and characters are going to develop before you start writing
- Draft each act of your story by focusing on specific turning points
- Keep track of the areas you want to revise without losing your momentum in the middle of your story
- Relax and have fun--you are, after all, doing something you love
So what are you waiting for? If you've been putting off your book project, let Book in a Month be your guide and find out just how much you can accomplish.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Great for structure/motivation August 7, 2008
The concept of this book appealed to me, so I put it on my wish list, and thankfully one of my friends bought it for me. I love it! I'm the world's worst procrastinator and start far more projects than I finish, so this type of scheduled structure was very good for me. There is a short section for each of the 30 days with your objective and usually some sort of worksheet, and all the worksheets are collected in the back of the book (larger versions with more room to write). The author included some effective motivational rhetoric, especially the part about fighting our resistance to starting and/or finishing a project. I actually managed to write a rough draft of a novella (in 45, rather than 30, days) using the worksheets and guidelines in the first half of the book, many of which sparked additional ideas for my story. I plan to finish reading the book while working on a rewrite. There is also an accompanying Yahoo group (mentioned in the book) that, if you wish to join, will e-mail you daily with a very pared down version of your goal for that day, and which provides a forum for people using the system to support each other and a place to post your goals and achievements.
I will agree with a couple of the other reviewers that some terms are not well explained (like "reversal"). I can guess what she means by this and other terms, but it would be nice if they were more explicitly defined. Still, I've found this book incredibly useful and effective for my purposes. If you already have story ideas, but have trouble motivating yourself all the way through a project, this might be the book for you.
 Great Concept; Execution Needs Work July 16, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Who wouldn't want to write a book in a month? My first novel manuscript took over a year for the first draft, so this workbook was appealing just for the timeframe. But BIAM also drew me in for the focus on structure and organization. I gave it the Read-Til-I-Drop-Or-Buy test. It seemed just what I was looking for... BIAM delivers on it's promise to provide a schedule and worksheets to organize myself. Everything fits in one place. I like the spiral binding. The stickers are cute if not completely useful. The motivational discussion at the front is spot-on. However, BIAM slips in the connection between story structure outlining and the actual writing. I find I want more discussion and examples of how story structure works... Act I Turning Point, Act II temporary triumph and reversal. You won't find the depth here you might need on these concepts (the author has other books for that!). Still, I'm trying to follow her advice to write "as if" I had everything figured out and trust I'll understand Act II and III structure better when I get there. BIAM would have earned my fifth star had it simplified the story structure outline worksheets, gone into more depth on the concepts, or put the Act II and III outlining later in the course. If you are well-versed in story structure concepts, BIAM will be a great tool to keep you organized.
Great! - Even for More Than a Month July 6, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This unique book makes writing fun. As you can see with the "Search Inside" feature, there are around 50 worksheets to fill out on all the details of your novel. If you fill in the blanks, you're guaranteed to have an outline for a fleshed-out, compelling story. The book is also very inspirational, with tips on how to avoid resistance (psychological reasons for why we might allow ourselves to procrastinate) and asking you to really think about why accomplishing your goal of writing a novel is important to you. And for some reason, just the act of writing into the actual book with my story details made the project seem more serious and provides a great place to jot down every detail. With all that said, this is an excellent book for any writing project, even if you don't plan to write it in 30 days, but it's even more exciting if you do decided to go for it. Good luck!
Love it! May 29, 2008
This is a very well written guide that skillfully weaves structure and encouragement... I felt like I had a writing coach in book form!
From J. Kaye's Book Blog May 16, 2008
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
This isn't the first how-to write a novel book I've purchased. My first how-to was THE MARSHALL PLAN FOR NOVEL WRITING: A 16-STEP PROGRAM GUARANTEED TO TAKE YOU FROM IDEA TO COMPLETE MANUSCRIPT. I made it all the way to the section sheets and stopped. I had no clue how to do those. At the time, I was really big into Yahoo Groups and had signed up for a mess load of writer's groups. I talked someone into starting a writing group for writers using this method. To my amazement, he did. They all got to the section sheets and guess what? You got it, I wasn't the only person totally confused. Like the insane person I am, I purchased the workbook hoping to get clarity. It never came.
Was it a waste of money? No, because I walked a way with more knowledge than before and to be fair, I understand more about the section sheets now.
There's more...
About the same time, I'd purchased FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS: A NOVEL WRITER'S SYSTEM FOR BUILDING A COMPLETE AND COHESIVE MANUSCRIPT by Karen Wiesner. A novel in 30 days, a 1st draft in 30 days, and a 16 step program to a complete novel - great book.
So when I talk about BOOK IN A MONTH, I have the two others to compare it to. My only complaint is it's small. For those of you who carry such things around with you, this might be just the ticket. I don't and I don't write small either. The pages are 5-1/2 inches wide, making this very compact for travel. I don't travel. So if I had one wish, it would be a super-size model.
The book combines psychology with the mechanics of how to organize a novel from start to finish. This is by far the best on the market I've seen.
As a side note, it was helpful for me to also purchase "Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time" by Jordan Rosenfeld as well. I was able to get more out of the book that way.
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