GIFD – Project 1: eBook

When I started my GIFD project, it was met with warm reception. However, as I posted my mini-updates, the traction died down in visitor count and the original post still held more views.

Therefore, I’ve created this post! Keep up to date with my progress by coming back to this page which will mostly just be tiny snippets into what I’ve worked on and where I’m going. When the project is over, I’ll do a new post to go further into detail about what I’ve learned from the experience.

For now, though — courage. #BeGIFD

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Apr 2, 2015 | The Book and the Outline

The first day (or night, really) was mainly used to get my thoughts together on how to proceed with this project.

The Book

Here’s the ebook pitch: Many friends of mine have different talents—some are graphic designers, others have podcasts and some just want to sell things. While having many different needs, they all have the same fundamental issue: they want a website but have no idea where to begin and don’t have the resources to hire someone to do it for them. I help people when I can, but sometimes they just want an easy solution that they can do themselves, something barebones, but nice looking, to set up their site. They want to do it on the cheap and they want it online today.

That’s where my ebook comes in.

If you’re a web developer/designer who’s had experience setting up CMSes for people, this might not be the guide for you. No, this is for the person who’s great at the craft they do, but not so great at the technical parts like buying server space and installing WordPress via FTP. I want people to know that if they have an idea for a blog or want to sell their products or simply put up their portfolio of work as fast as possible, it can be done and it can happen faster and easier than they think. They just need the motivation to put it together.

Kind of like me writing the book!

The Outline

After having an afternoon coffee and realizing that it would keep me up past 1 in the morning, I used the time to organize my starting outline and add more ideas as they came to mind. It’s probably not the final form, but it gets a majority of my ideas out there for me to follow through while I type. And, since I already have some of these sections typed out from previous attempts, the process should go more smoothly.

Currently, I’m using Todoist to flesh out my ideas. Two main reasons for this:

On both mobile and desktop, after typing an idea in, the app can let the user easily drag and drop the item anywhere they’d like at any level. Organizing random thoughts together is incredibly simple.
With all these thoughts in place, the outline turns into a checklist, which allows for making sure all thoughts are covered, expanded upon if needed, or removed if useless to the overall subject matter.

A sneak peek at what I’m looking to cover:

Again, probably not the final version (and many sections are still hidden, as you can see), but it’s a complete “story” in its current form and more than enough to get me going.

The next step… writing! Writing until my fingers bruise and my eyes fall out.

(Don’t get me started on thinking about the editing process. If it’s anything like video editing, I’m in for a long two weeks.)

1 day down, 13 days to go…

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Apr 3, 2015 | Setting More Limits (To Get More Done)

As I write, I find myself editing as I go. Unfortunately, that slows down my production.

Take the case of my late-night, decaffeinated self trying to articulate a thought together to “get it effing done”. My heart was in its right place, but the words were coming out all wrong. So, I bailed.

And that’s OK! Stopping a task because of its improper direction is much better than going too far and realizing you’ve wasted too much time on the wrong idea.

With that, I’m setting another limit with my writing, both in the book and my posts here: write it as a stream of consciousness and worry about it later. Focus on the initial thought. The words will fall into place. And if those words suck, they can be edited during the editing process, not the writing process.

Although, with limited time, these posts are going to be a lot shorter and will not be reviewed for editing. Rouge-style postings, all first take, all raw.

Mmm…tender.

Upcoming Goals: Use the weekend to write the entire first draft of the book from beginning to end, then go through and give it polish. With the book done being written during the week, I can spend the following weekend getting it into a publishing/layout app to make it purdy for people to buy.

Also, a quick convo with a coworker gave me a brilliant idea for how to market the book once I’m done…and, as I wanted from the first post, it can be done with the tools and skills I already have available to me.

Awesome ideas are percolating in my brai—ooh, coffee’s ready!

(See you tomorrow… 12 days to go!)

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Apr 4, 2015 | Excuses, Excuses

Honesty time: I didn’t really do much with my writing last night. Helped out with an event at The Confetti Bar last night, had some fun and didn’t really do anything productive.

Not really “Getting It effing Done,” now is it?

But, it’s a decision I chose to make and will have to endure with extra work with the remaining days. Besides, I’m still on track for completing the project in my time frame, and getting the first draft done this weekend.

Of course, that’s after we finish hosting a family/Holiday lunch at our space today too. All aboard the Excuse Train!

Tonight: Writing, writing and more writing.

11 more days to go!

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Apr 5, 2015 | They See Me Writing, They Hating

In exact contrast to the night before, the forth day and night looked something like this:

Everything is currently written out, with the exception of the introduction, the final thoughts and one section in the middle regarding WordPress installs and setup.

Anyone who understands WordPress installs and setups are probably laughing right now as trying to explain how PHP and CMS installs work to someone without the experience could prove extensive. For the interest of time and leaving myself the possibility of creating a future book specifically on WordPress (which this one might start off looking like when reading), I’m going to attempt to give just enough info to get people started, referencing built-in install options from hosting providers and references to FTP tutorials.

Let’s see what the creative process holds for me tonight!

10 days to go!

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Apr 6, 2015 | Wax On, Wax Off

And the polishing begins!

Incredibly quick update (will write up more extensively about the whole experience in the future): In my last bit of writing, I started to polish my own work early and found areas where the flow could make more sense to the reader.

The solution: adding more content!

Also, I realized that I helped with a website recently that went from abstract idea to completed website in less than 24 hours. So, now that I gained permission to use the site, I’ll be able to use it to better illustrate that a good looking, perfectly functioning site can be created with almost no technical knowledge beforehand.

Very last minute to get this update out, but I’m still working away on this.

9 days until launch!

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Apr 7, 2015 | Must…Stay…Awake

8 days until…zzzz

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Apr 8, 2015 | One Week

A full week on this project down and another week to go!

I’m finding a new issue with my writing though: I’m having issues stopping. As I review and polish, I keep falling into the trap of adding in more content that I feel would appeal to people more or better aid them with getting their site off the ground easily.

So, to prevent this book from not happening, I have planned a dead-stop day: Friday.

On Friday, whatever the book is looking like is how it will be published. I will spend the weekend getting the whole thing designed and placed into InDesign for production.

And all these deadlines are creeping up…

…7 days…

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