Artists, Start Your Book in 7 Easy, Magical, Steps With 7 Delicious Cups of Tea
By Thea Fiore-Bloom, Ph.D.
Want to start writing your book this year and need to create a general outline?
Wonderful!
But terrifying, right?
Surveys and studies say 80% of humans dream of writing a book.
But the thing is, only about 10 % of those millions upon millions of wanna-be writers will ever get beyond the first page.
So what can you do to start and blast through that first-page roadblock that crushes so many dreams?
Well, if you’re a creative I know how you shouldn’t start.
If you’re a visual thinker like me, you’d rather get audited by the I.R.S. than come up with a meticulous 99-point outline that you stick to no matter what.
Doesn’t sound real appealing, huh?
When we creatives try to cram, mash, and mangle our circular selves into linear molds, most of us bale before we can say “Excel Spreadsheet.”
Is there a better way to go for imaginative types?
I think so.
It’s something slightly odd but fun that I invented out of pure desperation to help me start writing my own book.
I call it my “Deranged But Powerful Tea Method for Beautiful Book Outlines.”
And I’ve found that it works well for the artists I coach who are tackling their first book too.
My Insanely Easy Tea Method: How Artists Can Painlessly Start Writing Their Book in 7 Steps
When I coach artists in the early stages of their book, I often suggest they journal on seven specific questions in a certain order.
The answers to these questions will grant you a big aerial view of where you want to go and why.
This view can help you leap over that page one hurtle so you can sally forth with gusto.
I suggest you make the process less painful and even downright fun by spreading the seven questions over a week of early morning or late night mini-journaling sessions. You could also opt to spread your outline creation out over seven Sunday mornings in seven weeks.
And who could be a better companion for a 20-30 minute deep dive into one’s soul than a steaming cup of tea?
Why tea?
3 Reasons To Let Tea Help You Write an Outline for Your Book
1. First, science has shown that tea increases mental power and creativity.
2. Second, tea stimulates our senses. And stimulated senses give us great ideas.
3. Third, tea is a ritual; a ritual that helps us relax, overcome fear, and muse well. (I talk about how tea specifically helps artists in this post here.)
So, are you up for this madness?
Let’s discover your seven steps and your seven teas.
The 7 Cups and 7 Outline Questions That Will Help You Start Writing a Wonderful Book
1st Cup, 1st Step – Answer the Question, What’s My Book’s Deep Purpose or Hook?
Tea Suggestion for Writers: Make a steamy cup of cinnamon, ginger, chai, or tulsi tea (holy basil) from India; these are teas known to promote emotional courage and enhance brain function. Or go with Georgia O’Keeffe’s strong, smoky favorite, Lapsang souchong.
Quietly sit down with your tea and journal for 20-30 minutes on what you think is the true purpose of your book.
Why do you feel a need to write it, and how will it benefit a single reader or community of readers who share a common problem or aspiration?
Does Your Book Have a Hook?
Journal about how your book could transform an aspect of the life of a reader.
The transformation you are giving your reader access to is also known as your book’s hook.
I can’t overstress the importance of a hook.
It alone can determine if your lovely book will serve your reader and sell; or if it will accumulate dust.
Read more on how to craft your book’s hook in The Book You Were Born To Write: Everything You Need to (Finally) Get Your Wisdom Onto the Page and Into the World by Kelly Notaras.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
It has a wonderful explanation of why it’s worth it to research your hook and exactly how to go about crafting one, so your transformational non-fiction book can grow wings and fly off shelves.
This tea session on your Why will leave you in a perfect position to embrace the next day’s cup on your Who.
2nd Cup, 2nd Step – Answer the Question, Who Is My Book’s True Audience?
Tea Suggestion for Writers: Brew a cup of tea that supports empathy, like calming chamomile, restorative ashwagandha, or a peaceful white tea like Yin Zhen silver needle.
Now ask yourself, ‘Who is the ideal reader for my book?’
Maybe name and doodle out three imaginary characters (aka avatars.) Your reader avatars may be loosely based on friends, clients, or students of yours you think would be your ideal readers.
What are their favorite books? What inspires them? For instance, I know that people who love both high-class museums and humble garage sales will enjoy my upcoming book on the meaning behind objects in artists’ homes.
Most importantly, how will your book help them with their specific life challenges?
Now that you have an idea who you’ll be talking to let’s look at the genre you will be using to best get your important message across.
3rd Cup, 3rd Step – Answer the Question, What’s My Book’s Genre?
Tea Suggestion for Writers: For this, you’ll need a cup of something to quell procrastination and stimulate the imagination, like lemongrass or linden tea (made famous by Proust). Or go for a green tea like sencha or dragonwell.
It’s time to explore your book’s genre or format.
Sip a bit and write about whether this book is to be fiction or non-fiction.
Will it be a workbook, an inspirational memoir, or more of a teaching memoir?
Perhaps you’ll end up doing a blended genre. Take transformational non-fiction for example. That’s a creative combination of the memoir genre with the self-help genre.)
Author Laura Esquivel wrote two sensational examples of blended genre books:
- Like Water For Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies.
- The Law of Love. Part novel, part comic book, part opera music (via an enclosed CD.)
Journal on how your book could be integrated with audio, video, a course, or maybe an app you create.
Okay, you’ve worked hard. To get you over the hump and heading downhill toward the finish line, let’s do the most fun cup.
4th cup, 4th Step – Who Will Be Your Writing Guides for Your Journey?
Tea Suggestion for Writers: Make a steamy cup of white tea like Spirit White to help connect you to the bigger picture. Other teas to consider would be blends that contain saffron, lavender, or rose.
Starting to write your book demands you confront the weakest part of yourself and pull her up onboard your Romani vardo to seek adventure and complete what could be the most important intellectual journey of your life.
If you’re going on an arduous quest, I say, why not be like the heroines of mythology and get a little help from the divine realms?
When I was struggling through my dissertation, a mythology professor of mine (Dr. Patrick Mahaffey) gave me a print of the Hindu elephant God Ganesha.
In the image, Ganesha is seated, smiling with a huge book he’s writing in his lap.
My professor’s gift was apt because Ganesha is “the remover of obstacles,”; especially internal obstacles we set before ourselves.
Ganesha is also the patron of authors and new projects.
Spend this tea time researching and taking notes on any other saints, sprites, angels, hobbits, wizards, gods, or goddesses you might like to call on to support you as a writer.
Congratulations, you are more than halfway through your journey.
5th Cup, 5th Step – What is My Book’s Place in the Universe of Books?
Tea Suggestion for Writers: Before you put the kettle on to make a cup of brain-sharpening Japanese matcha or a crisp black oolong tea, go over to your bookshelf and pull down 5 comparable books.
“Comparable books” are simply books that your ideal reader might already own.
Spend five minutes leafing through each book you chose and jot down the answers to the following questions:
What do you like about each book? Why did you buy it? How did it help you?
Why would your ideal reader like this book?
What do you want to say that these books don’t?
Don’t skip this day.
It will help you feel more grounded, less lost.
There is a slight tendency to freak out with this cup and worry that it’s all been said and done before.
So why bother?
You bother because no one but you can tell your unique story.
As the dancer and pioneering Esalen instructor, Gabrielle Roth used to always say:
“If you don’t do your dance — who will?”
Now let’s dream on some ways to lay out your future bestseller.
6th Cup, 6th Step – How Will I Structure My Story?
Tea Suggestion for Writers: When I need to invoke structure, I fire up some peppermint tea. Peppermint seems especially good for stimulating ideas, optimism, and organization.
Spend your tea time today writing out a fantasy structure for your chapters.
Just wing it. No one is watching.
Your structure will probably change countless times anyway. And you have to start somewhere.
Perhaps begin by looking at the table of contents of a book that wowed you in some way.
Look closely at the names of its chapters.
What journey did that book take you on through its chapter structure?
Write up an impulsive list of temporary chapter names for your book.
Maybe your chapters are named after your paintings, the stages of the Ottoman Empire, or the moons of Neptune – now is the time for dreaming.
For a deeper dive into structuring a non-fiction book, check out this post by Joanna Penn.
For help visually plotting out the structure for a memoir you might like this video.
At this point in The Tea Method, there is a good chance you are realizing your book is seeming actually doable.
So our last cup is devoted to helping you create a realistic schedule to help you bring your dream to reality.
7th Cup, 7th Step – What Will My Writing Regimen Look Like?
Tea Suggestion for Writers: For this final cup, you may prefer a fortifying mug of rooibos or red bush tea, thought to relieve stress and anxiety and fortify heart function.
How many pages do you want your book to be?
In general, books have 250-300 words on a page.
So if you want to write, say, a 200-page book, you need to write about 55,000 words. If you break that down over a year, you’ll need to write 150 words a day.
That’s doable. Professional writers usually churn out 1000 a day at least.
And your 150 words don’t even have to be perfect words.
Get the words out first, and edit them later.
One hundred and fifty words could take just 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes a day is doable, right? Journal on when and where you are going to write for those 15 minutes.
Do you have a writing habit yet? Want help establishing one? Read this article by Jeff Goins.
Finish this cup by freewriting on what mini-rewards you will give yourself for working on your book every day or every weekend.
(And don’t forget to reward yourself for completing this week of tea journaling on your new book!)
Read why mini-rewards help so much in my post How To Give Your Creative Dream Project Wings.
Okay, you finished.
Now all that’s left to do is begin.
Now You Have an Outline; You Can Begin Writing Your Book
There will be no trumpets to tell you it’s time.
So why not sit down in the awkward silence of day eight, make a cup of your favorite tea, and begin?
You could begin by typing up more detailed chapter outlines.
You could begin by writing up a book proposal. (For the best book on the planet I’ve ever seen on how to write a winning book proposal go here.)
Or you may just need to start writing.
You could, in the words of one of my dissertation advisors, Dr. Laura Grillo, “Stop questioning everything. Just grab an end and go!”
Or maybe you need a little help making your book dream a reality?
I can do the tea method with you as your coach, so you don’t have to go it alone.
Pop over to my writing coaching page for artists and select the Pick My Brain package to get started.
No matter what you chose, it’s time to begin your imperfect, beautiful journey.
Be kind to yourself.
And may your journey lead you home.
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What’s your favorite tea?
Are you planning on writing a book?
What are you afraid of?
Let me know in the COMMENTS below.
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Oh, one last tool for starting to write your book:
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You may like these other Charmed Studio Posts:
How Tea Helps Artists: Includes Resource Guide of Best Books For Tea Lovers
How Artists Can Write More Often: 1 Realization That Can Change Everything
The Good Enemy Writing Technique
Letting Go of Approval: A Story for Artists (That Involves Underwear)
Hopper, Matisse, Windows and Daydreaming
Should You Paint from Your Shadow Side?
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Wow, I noticed my comment of January here, promising to give it a go, and I didn’t!
But I still want to try it out. To print out the helpful post today (thanks Thea!). The steps sound so reasonable and something that a spontaneous lazy cat like me is likely to do. Otherwise, “the book” will remain a distant thing forever.
You aren’t lazy – you’re normal Marianna. It is so difficult to get started on our heart’s desire. I haven’t figured out why this is, why we do this to ourselves- perhaps something to do with The Jonah Complex. Be patient with yourself, this other post on How to Give Your Dream Project Wings, may also help.
Thanks for taking the time to let me know.
My first night of tea and chapter. I was hoping to post a picture but it won’t let me. Thanks for the inspiration!!!!
That is so exciting! Sorry, wordpress doesn’t allow images, just links to images. I think it vaguely has something to do with spam and bots? Who knows, anyway I am imagining the scene of your pens and notebooks all out in my head. You will crush it!
“For a true writer, each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed” — Ernest Hemingway
Great blog! What a wonderful way to present this. So much great information and who knew Tea could be so important. That’s what I’ve been doing wrong my whole life. I’ve never been a tea drinker. I must re-examine that.
Lol. I was mostly coffee till this last year forced me into tea land, so I hear you. It would be fun to do it with 7 cups of coffee though Denise! Day 1, Espresso made in a little steel Italian Moka pot on stove, Day 2 homemade almond milk flat white etc, etc. Yum. Coffee is the best to free-write a lot of pages with. Thanks as always for honoring me by reading.
Thank you for this! I am still trying and need all the inspiration I can get…I actually found someone online to collaborate with which has absolutely changed everything! Bouncing ideas back and forth, they also know way more about story telling than I do! Actually starting to like this now..I feel like we could actually do it. When I was trying to do it alone it was really frustrating and I knew I was out of my element…but my friend who’s helping me is able to take my ideas and make them make sense, add their own ideas in with mine and it’s just all working way better! And of course thanks for using my painting! Let me know if you need anything else for a future blog !
PS: I redecorated my website – hope you like it !
Kikoe, this is wonderful news. It is so cool that you found what was missing for you. Some people work best with a partner. Happy you now can benefit from a synergy of ideas. Your new website slays. Congratulations!!
This post comes at a good time, just as I am about to dust off my old road adventure story. Now I will just add tea!
Tea is the best companion for cerebral adventures, just add rain and you’ll be all set. Excited for you and your future readers.
Hi Thea,
First, seeing the words ‘book proposal’, I thought right away “boring, not for me”. But now I can see that the questions will greatly help with the book itself – not just the proposal.
Most good to come from this 7 day journaling – is naturally – showing that the project is doable.
Since you ask for our questions also – what about this: Why do I need to bother with proposals and middlemen? It all makes me really uncomfortable. I want to write a book and sell it on Amazon Kindle. This way I don’t have to deal with rejection and “your book is not good enough”.
Your blog is always such a pleasure to read! Thanks!
Hi Marianna, great question. The object of the game here is not to aim to eventually write a book proposal and send it into publishers. The object of the game with my Tea Method is to answer some book proposal type questions in a creative way—- to make your own book one of greater value to the reader. Why will answering these questions that are loosely based on Book proposals help? Because formal book proposals are based on something proved and practical- the psychology of why people buy and enjoy certain books. Let me explain: Book proposals are boring, hard, intimidating, etc for creatives (and everyone else probably) because they are in essence, a business plan for your book. If you are not planning on seeking to be published of course you don’t have to do write one to prove to a publisher why you would be a good business risk. But why not look at what you could do before you write your first chapter to improve your odds of being a good business risk for yourself? Why not learn more about how to craft a winning, well-received book that sells? Publishers have learned a thing or two in their hundreds of years of dominion. Things like why people buy books, what structures are appealing, and what type of books readers will tell their friends about. Of course, big publishing houses are asses at times and dismiss incredible, imaginative would-be authors. (See myriad examples in Elaine Boorish’s great book on this called REJECTED in my post https://thecharmedstudio.com/5-books-on-writing-for-artists/.)
Answer these questions or do a mock book proposal to learn what you can from publishers without ever having to sweat their possible rejection. But rejection can be a great teacher but that’s another post for another day.
Hope that helps.
Thank you for your inspiring tea message. It comes at a good time: just as I was seriously thinking of dusting off my road adventure book.
Everything is easier with tea right?
So glad the post came at the right time. I’m excited for you and for your future readers.:)
Yes, Thea, I was going to do just that – use your method to find important answers
Thanks!
Good for you. It’s not easy to begin but it’s huge. Cheers to you!
I love this post! You’ve developed a gentle way to do all of the important first steps BEFORE actually writing any longish project. I think the method would work well for writing shorter pieces, too. I love that you made drinking tea part of the process. I’ve been drinking lemon and raw honey in hot water almost daily since December. I started because I had a cold and felt like I needed to fortify my immune system. And I’ve continued drinking lemon and honey in hot water because it’s such a pleasant experience any time of the day. Two thumbs up on this one!
Oh thanks Sharon. Yes short pieces would work too, great idea. Just musing… an artist could do this 7-day tea series for their ABOUT page if it was freaking them out or for a grant application essay. Those are so daunting. It could be a way to ease into it.
I love hot water and honey, so simple, yet so soothing. Thanks for your feedback. If you try this let me know what worked best for you.
A book? It amazes me that you can take something as daunting as writing a whole friggen book and find an elegant method to kick start the process. Kudos to you my friend!
I am going to follow your advice, but maybe apply it to my blog. After all, the blog could be fodder for a book one day and getting clear about it is invaluable.
Thank you oh wise goddess of creativity.
PS: I grew Tulsi (holy basil) in the garden last year, and even harvested it…but it’s just not for me. I think I overdosed on the scent while working with it. Ashwagandha however, is going in the garden again, not for the scent or taste (yuk) but for its amazing properties.
Thanks so much for your lovely, encouraging words. All I can say is necessity is the mother of invention. This was born of my own writing fear. And it started as a lark. Many of our best ideas start out as total larks right? It is my serious ideas that don’t seem to hit home with others as much, I think. shoot. lol. But then I honed the process with the wise contributions of my coaching clients who are writing their books, (thanks guys!)
And OMG, why didn’t I think of using this to launch a blog!!! You should have seen the hell I put my brain through for that. It took me a year and I had to paint out this multi-part mind map on giant sheets of butcher paper with other pieces of paper and images pinned to them. My studio looked like a crime scene investigation office. This would have been easier. Let me know how it goes for you please. Though I think your blog is already wonderful–seriously.
PS I am so impressed you grew Tulsi and now Ashwagandha, that is so cool.
This is absolutely transformative and inspiring. Just what I needed to get started. With a little structure but not too much. I’m so grateful for this. I’m going to print it and leave it by my journal. As I sip and write I’m going to be checking things off. Thank you Thea. You are inspired and your soulful approach is a game changer. 💖💖🙏👍☺☺☺
I can completely picture you sipping tea, writing and checking things off and it makes me so damn happy. You really were my inspiration for this piece. Thanks as always for reading my stuff and saying swell things about it. You always make my day. Let me know the teas you pick for your journey.