Christel asks: Hi! Our project is to make an inspirational book about family problems, love problems, friend problems, etc. that must include an advice for each of them. But I’m not a writer. I don’t know how to start a book, specifically, an inspirational book. I don’t even know what to write. Please help me.
Hi Christel –
I would like to create some books someday, but as of now, I haven’t ever done one. So truly, if you look at my website, you’re seeing all I know about it!
Now I’m guessing that your assignment isn’t to publish a book (which is extremely difficult, especially these days), but rather to just create one. There are lots of ways to do that, from old-school methods like stapling pages together or putting it all in a binder, to newer methods where the book is professionally bound.
But if you’re asking about how to write it, then I think there are really two ways to go about it, and both are here on my website. First, you could get questions from people, as I do. Maybe you could get some friends to ask you questions about their family/love/etc. problems, and then answer them with some advice and recommendations. You’ll see questions-and-answers like that all over AskShirelle. Or, second, you can just think of some issues that concern you. Maybe you’re seeing people acting a way you think is faulty, and want to write something to help them out. Or you can try to make sense out of something happening in the world that is overwhelming people. Or you could just write about something in your life that you’ve had to learn from. In all these cases, I can give you the examples of my “Pawprint” newsletter. Once a month I write a big essay about… something. Not in response to anything anyone’s asked, just off the top of my head. Or, third, you could do what I do at the end of each “Pawprint” newsletter, and just collect inspiring quotations from others, and make a book of those.
I imagine that it doesn’t matter which of these methods you use. What matters most is that you do the entire project from the heart, and only say what you mean.
And here I have an advantage over you. You see, we dogs only speak from our hearts. Our brains aren’t as clever as yours, and we don’t know how to lie!
Best of luck,
Shirelle