Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

I wrote 3 books in 5 years. And they all started as TURDs

Dr. Jason Fung

In high school, English was my worst subject. By far. So what’s the secret to writing? It’s a process and here’s mine. It’s tedious, it’s a lot of hard work, but it worked for me.

  1. Write something — anything. Don’t worry that it sucks. When you are trying to create something, don’t limit the process. Some people are so afraid to put out silly ideas that they’d rather not put anything out. That’s constipated thinking. Eventually, all you get is hard lumps of stinky ideas. No — you want verbal diarrhea at this point. Everything you think about goes onto paper. Much of it will suck, and you will flush it down the toilet. But what remains gives you something to work with.
  2. Write blogs. The discipline of putting out a blog post every week gives you the raw material with which you can create something. You’ll also build up your audience and get feedback on what works and doesn’t work.
  3. Place in some kind of rough order. Organize the material into coherent chapters.
  4. Edit. Find Supporting evidence. Find opposing evidence. Fill in the parts that need work.
  5. Edit again. Read more about your…

Create an account to read the full story.

The author made this story available to Medium members only.
If you’re new to Medium, create a new account to read this story on us.

Or, continue in mobile web

Already have an account? Sign in

Dr. Jason Fung
Dr. Jason Fung

Written by Dr. Jason Fung

Nephrologist. New York Times best selling author. Interest in type 2 diabetes reversal and intermittent fasting. Founder www.TheFastingMethod.com.

Responses (7)

What are your thoughts?

Useful for a writer. That was expected to read from you.

--

Thanks, Jason! All good tips!

--

Brings fresh images to the pot to marinate with your new ideas. Creativity is born from the unexpected.

Great advice - Dr. Fung!

--