Mind maps

Hello to all!

As promised, here is the next part on my favourite ways of getting any type of writing done. I happen to really like mind maps. You can be as basic as you like with these, or make them state-of-the-art. It doesn't really matter. I've even been known to add a smaller bubble halfway through the first stage to carry secondary thoughts, which may or may not be used. If not, I can always spin them off into something else.

The main idea with mind maps is to choose just one topic. This often throws a lot of people as all types of topics and snippets that seem to be interesting sneak in. That happens to all of us, so don't stress too much.
You will find that over practice, the subject which occupies your main balloon takes precedence over everything and you will just brainstorm everything that goes with the topic alone.

This process is due to those busy little elves in your subconscious. Give them just one word to work with, and you will be amazed at how industrious they will be. Often it will seem like rubbish, but where the subconscious is concerned, nothing is rubbish. It all has a place somewhere, even if it is right at the end. Or even may be useful in another ebook. Never throw these scribblings out, as they can fill in a lazy afternoon, or even a blank space in your conscious train  of thought. I have pages and pages of all types of these things, and even notebooks of them around, of which I may do something one day.

A friend of mine uses mind maps when she is waiting for her small children to finish kindy and school. She is not one to share idle chit-chat as she is very shy, so she uses this time to map out some writing which she probably will do when the kids are in bed and husband is watching TV.

So most of us aren't that organised or energetic. It works for her, which is the main thing. She turns out four ebooks in the erotic genre each year and makes a good living.

Set up your mind map, having chosen your subject. Ensure you have chosen one for which there is a market, otherwise you may write the best ebook ever on your subject, but if that topic is not already selling, then it will simply languish in cyber space. This, just quietly, is why many good ebooks fail. There just is not the market for them, and may never be.

Many people also baulk at that. "But that niche is already saturated!" I hear you loud and clear. It may seem to be, but the positive in that is you know that topic sells. So go write your book, using a mind map. Just put your unique slant on it. Remember, no one else can see the topic from your point, so use this to write and map.

Next post, I'll talk about the lengths of ebooks.