Get Your Vision Board Iphone/Ipod App and start moving toward your dreams today! Books by this Author 301+ Ways to Get Ahead: Business Success from Home If you want to kiss your boss good-bye, this book could be your ticket to a home-based business. Lots and lots of examples of possible home-based activities are included along with stories of real people from across the county who have their own businesses, from accountants to zen instructors.   How Branson Got Started How Branson Got Started is the captivating story of how a small Missouri town -- less that 5,000 people -- has become the world's live entertainment capital.   Internet Success with Fred This is a very good introduction to the Internet. If you're smart enough to get this book, you won't need another because you'll learn by doing.   The Emmett Till Book What happened to cause a young African American student's lynching in the Mississippi Delta? When Emmett "BoBo" Till threatened Mississippi's rigid Jim Crow laws this fourteen-year-old paid with his life. Till's murderers were set free yet his death spurred Rosa Parks to take her important stand in Montgomery. In this 50th anniversary, the case has finally been reopened with new and intriguing information.   Where Rebels Roost: Mississippi Civil Rights Revisited Discover unresolved Mississippi murders - untold stories of the civil rights era. Susan Klopfer's "Where Rebels Roost" reveals new information about unique, persevering and brave people -- many who were murdered and forgotten.   Unlimited Autoresponders! Unlimited AdTracking! Free 30 Day Trial! http://www.trafficwave.net Feature Articles: Contest Advice for Screenplay Writers... Novel to Screenplay: The Challenges of Adapta... A Writer's Secret Place... Click here for more >>

Unsure about your book writing skills?

Well, remember all of those tough semester reports and maybe even a thesis or dissertation that you have written.

Even if you are still hesitant about your writing skills, there are many good journalism books that can help a new author through the learning curve. Two that I recommend are The Associated Press Style Book (great resource and "rule" book) and Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University by Mark Kramer and Wendy Call (good meat and potatoes for how to write nonfiction in an interesting way).

If you need an idea for a book topic or an approach, here's a tip that I learned while working as an editor for Prentice Hall. Go to a bookstore or the school or public library and watch people search for books.

What books do they take off the shelf? (Money books are very popular in bookstores!) What books do they put back? What books do they sit down with and read? What books do they actually purchase or check out? People watching is a great way to learn about what books work.

Another great way to write a first book comes through creating technical manuals, guides and software. If you write a very good technical manual or guide it may be suitable for libraries to include in their current inventory.

Or make use of your personal experiences. In our mid-50s, my husband and I moved from Nevada to the Mississippi Delta. We had no real idea where we were going geographically and no sense of the region's history when we first arrived. But this shift away from our familiar West Coast turned into a fascinating adventure that even birthed two history books.

Intrigued by this environment, I started visiting small cafes, libraries and beauty parlors asking questions and then writing nonstop. I was hooked and within the first week of our move to the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta, I sought out every book that I could find on the civil war and civil rights history -- while experiencing the South's strong culture that seemed so foreign for a Yankee. Learning to say puh-cahn instead of pee-cans (it really does sound so much nicer) and ordering sweet tea instead of plain.

For nearly two years, I kept visiting more of the region's small towns where I met a variety of Delta people, some who readily answered my questions about the region's people, and the civil rights history I'd never learned in school.

I drank their thick coffee and consumed their catfish, greens and buttermilk pie; visited quaint stores and shops, researched in local and regional libraries, consumed in antique and junk stores, sat in beauty parlors, bars or jukes and frequented gas stations for the Delta's home-cooked chicken livers and gizzards, all while learning more and more of this region's hidden tales of grace and gore.

And as their stories came forth, I could not escape the Delta's ghosts and my obsession with digging up Mississippi's history increased. Most Mississippi Delta stories have not been told, and are buried into crumbling red bricks that once gave structure to legally segregated stores, cafes, movie houses, Masonic halls, churches, schools and hospitals.

Learning of the countless murders of black teachers, ministers, lawyers, children and so many others, I began to feel responsible for passing on their tales; the Mississippi ghosts I'd met deserved to be remembered -- I knew that I had found the book in me.

Here is another way to find the book in you: consider the particular interests or skills you have that could relate to your students' needs. Are you good at woodworking? Do you like to read maps? Can you solve puzzles? Do you like to travel and visit historical sites?

How To books are always popular and they are not that difficult to write, if you have the skill or knowledge and passion.

So are you ready now to get started with your book?

A final tip, look for shepherds along the way. There are always folks out there who want to see others succeed with their books. A good shepherd (or "connector") could turn out to be a special shop owner, a printer, an editor, a minister, a relative or friend. The more shepherds on your side, the greater your book success!