You know what they say about opinions, everybody has one. So, you’re working on your book – maybe you’ve got your plot, your structure. You’ve got some really great ideas, and then you run it by your friends, and they tell you, “No, I don’t think that’s going to work, or maybe you should do this or that’s already been done.”

Welcome to my seven deadly sins of getting our books done because sin number five is asking for too much advice – trying to get the opinions of everyone. Again, everyone has one and a lot of them are going to be different. You want to have a group that you can trust, that you can collaborate with, and that can hold you accountable. But be careful that you don’t make that group too large, especially when it comes to friends and family. Sometimes they mean well, but it can really derail our writing process and it actually kind of feeds into that imposter syndrome that I talked about for deadly sin number one.

Be Specific

So, when you’re seeking advice, I recommend being very specific. “Hey, could you read this paragraph and give me feedback as to what emotion evoked or what your takeaway was?” Something very specific versus, “Hey, can you read this chapter and tell me what you think?” Or, “Hey, here’s my idea. What do you think?” Ask specific questions. If not, sometimes you open up the hose a little too much and you get way too much feedback and it can get confusing.

I’ve heard someone say, “make sure you leave this section in” and five minutes later somebody else said, “make sure you take that section out.” “Oh, I love the way you worded this.” “Oh, this is not worded well.” “Oh, I think this is a great point.” Your point gets lost. So you have to be really, really careful about who you ask and what information you want from them.

I’m Belinda Goodrich with Goodrich Publishing, and I’m here to help you get your book done. I want to see your book in your hands, so let’s get writing and be cautious of taking advice from too many people.