So, You Want to Write!: How to Get Your Book Out of Your Head and Onto the Paper in 7 Days [Paperback]

I was very much looking forward to reading this book after reading the glowing reviews here on Amazon. Unfortunately, Ms. McIndoo's book is not very well written, contains about 10 pages of real content in 121 pages, has scattered typos, and was just way too "out there" for my taste. For example, the first 60 or so pages is dedicated to "rah rah, you can do it!" talk without giving any real advice or guidance on how to write a book. I actually laughed out loud when reading the following paragraph on page 50, describing how Ms. McIndoo sets the mood for writing:
"I close my eyes and visualize all the amazing things I am going to create. I clap my hands 4, 5, 6 times really fast and loud. I rub them together and get them hot. I do this three times and I say, 'Yes! Yes! Yes!' I repeat my incantation: 'I love this. This is so much fun.' I keep clapping and rubbing, smiling the whole time. 'I'm feeling great, feeling excited, happy to have the opportunity to do this. Today I feel amazing and creative and will create extraordinary things.'"
If you are looking for a book to get you motivated/stop procrastinating/come up with ideas and can tolerate paragraphs like those above, you might find value in this book. I personally already know what I want to write about and have done the research, and was looking for something more intellectual -- something with better advice about how to organize your thoughts, what to write first, next, etc. If you are looking for more concrete advice once you're beyond the procrastination and idea-generating stage, I would suggest trying "Writing Nonfiction" by Dan Poynter.

If you want to read a book with several hundred exclamation points and motivational "You Can Do It!!!!", then by all means go ahead and waste your money on this so called guide.
A large majority of the book is repeated phrases that fill up space over and over again. Little to no content is actually original or constructive.
It was like reading a children's book on how to feel good about yourself. I was looking for a book/guide that had some genuinely good pointers to writing a book. Particularly my first. I found no such guidance in this waste of money.
Do you really want to learn techniques to writing a book? Not wanting to waste an evening of your time reading garbage? Then I would recommend the following:
-Keep an open journal and fill it with your ideas daily. Try to spend at least 15 minutes a day brainstorming ideas in this journal. No particular topic needed. Just write anything that comes to mind. This gets you in the writing mood.
-Create a storyboard in sequence of your book idea and display it on the wall in your "writing room". I prefer a dry erase board so that I can erase and add-on as needed. The dry erase board and markers will cost you the same amount as this book. *Hint, hint*.
-Put the scene titles from your storyboard in order and start from there. For example:
1. Intro to main character Joe.
2. Joe falls in love with Sally.
3. Joe falls in love with sailing.
4. Joe cannot choose between sailing and Sally. Plot thickens...
Etc...
Each of these storyboard scene titles are now perfect places to start your chapters. Just fill in each section in greater detail and you have the beginnings of your book.
-A page a day. That's it. When you are done and have exhausted all the details of your first draft. Take a week away from your book to go on a long vacation with family to celebrate your first draft (don't read it). When you come back printout your first draft, take a red pen and mark up your draft with areas for more detail needed and other editing ideas. Go back to your draft in digital version (MS Word or whatever) and insert/edit your changes. Do this one more time and you will likely have something to present to a professional editor (or if you think you really have a hit on your hands, an agent).
That's it folks. Done. I just saved you time and money by writing this post before you took the plunge on this toilet of a guide.
Your welcome.

Millions of people want to write a book but have no idea how to get that book idea out of their mind and on to the paper. Ann McIndoo has taught thousands of people her techniques to help people desires become a reality.

This book is a careful balance between motivational material, practical techniques and exercises with blanks so you can instantly go to work and create a book manuscript. As McIndoo writes in the opening pages, "This book is about preparation, organization, and scheduled success. You will learn about preparing yourself to write, organizing your material to create a book, staying motivated throughout the writing process and scheduling your success - i.e. completing your book." (page 20)

I recommend you get a copy of SO, YOU WANT TO WRITE!