Writing a book Step Four: Determination

Step One: Dream
Step Two: Desire
Step Three: Discipline
Step Four: Determination

To write, you must be determined.  Some people might call it pure pigheadedness.  Call it what you will, without it, you will not be able to reach any goal, much less write a book. 

My definition of Determination while writing is:  persistence married to intentions.

Are you persistent?  Can you stick with something until it's finished? 
I'm married to the a man that descended from generations of good hard-working farmers.  His very DNA will not allow him to quit until a job is finished - he is incapable of calling it quits until he is comfortable with the job.

As writers, we need to do the same.  As Indie authors, it is critical.  We are our own company - CEO, editor, everything.

As an author, you can't please everyone.  You can get a 5-star 'WOW' from one person and a 1-star 'YUCK' from another on the same book.  Why is that?  The same reason some people like vanilla ice cream better than chocolate.  For instance, I prefer 'clean' books - I don't like profanity of any kind, I prefer romance over sex, and if there is violence, it must have a purpose such as self-defense, to save the world, etc.  I'm sure there are millions of readers just the opposite.  To each their own and this is a GOOD thing - it means we can write what we like to read and millions can appreciate our efforts. 

What are your intentions for your book?  Do you intend for your books to be commercially successful or are you willing to just let family have a copy and call it good?

Success takes work.  It means doing things others don't like to do.  One of those things is rewriting.

I usually have about six drafts.

1) Bare bones:  the idea and whether or not I can build a book around the idea.  Maybe how I want the book to end.
2) Bones:  Basic manuscript - I usually write about 20-30 chapters and try to be consistent with length.  In this draft, I made the connections between characters and the main plot.
3) Sinews: Manuscript is expanded and I'm refining characters/plot and making sure the book flows.
4) Muscles: Another rewrite.  I polish the manuscript and fill in holes.  Is it exciting enough?  At this point, I seek to destroy bad elements.
5) Guts: Another re-write and expansion.  Plots and sub plots:  is there enough action?
6) Flesh:  Final re-write/edit/polish.  This is the point I allow pre-readers to see it and point out the things I missed (there are usually typos, grammatical errors, and an occasional continuity issue which is a major oops - like having a character be 6 years old on one page and 8 on another)