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Writing a book is a journey. Like many journeys, it begins somewhere and ends up somewhere else. Sometimes this might be back where you started. Alternatively, you might end up somewhere else you weren’t expecting. What is certain is that on a journey, you will see new places, meet new people and learn new things. You may also get lost or suffer from delays or even get stuck some place along the way.

Journeys that are not so enjoyable are those that were forced on you through business (or family) and where you are stressed at the start and return without recharging your batteries. Conversely, the best journeys I have ever taken have been the ones where I not only enjoyed the places I visited, and people I met, but also had memorable and unexpected highlights. Of course, the luxury of being able to lay back and relax at some point along the way is ideal too.

Fortunately my own career as a published author followed this latter course. It started when I wrote a short story to help out a friend of mine who was a graphic designer. She wanted some words to show off her considerable talent so I said I’d put something together for her. As it happened, I was just embarking on another journey, at 35,000 feet on a plane, when I wrote it. The whole story, from beginning to end, sort of downloaded itself before the plane touched down at my holiday destination.

What I didn’t know then was that penning that particular story would end up with a book I hadn’t planned in print and with me walking round London for 26 miles, at night and in a bra. I was also not expecting that it would lead to an unplanned change in career direction with me now mentoring other authors. Such is the magic of becoming a published author. A book can become the best ‘business card’ you will ever have, opening doors for you that you didn’t know existed.

You have probably seen a scene in a film or TV where a writer’s bashing away on an old typewriter, frustratingly tearing out page after page and crushing it up before trying to curl it into an over-flowing waste basket. You’ve also heard of people I am sure who have had multiple rejection letters from publishers.

It stereotypes like this that stop many potential authors from starting out in the first place. The demon on the left shoulder whispers things like, “Don’t be stupid, who would want to read anything you write?” or, “You haven’t got time to write a book, what about the day job?”

The reality is somewhat different as getting published has never been easier. If you go about your task in the right way, writing the book itself can also be a breeze. In extremis, even if you just pen the outline or dictate your story, there are many ghost writers out there that can convert your musings into publishable copy.

Firstly, let’s deal with what may seem the hard part to many – getting published.

Nowadays, anybody can be a ‘published author’, for free, pretty much instantly. To get going, all you need is a blog site or something like a YouTube or YouPublish account. Write a few posts, craft an ebook or record a podcast or a video, upload it and you are a ‘published author’, in many peoples’ eyes at least.

If said ebook is any good, and it’s deserving of seeing the light of day in print, you can then submit it to one of the many print-on-demand services and you can get your work in print pretty much overnight. Better still, use one of the many assisted publishers and your book can be available all over the planet via Internet retailers, and in book shops, in just a few months.

There are also many ‘traditional’ publishers of fiction who are actively looking for the next ‘J.K. Rowlings’. You will find submission guidelines on their web sites. Some might suggest you use a literary agent. For non-fiction, there are even more possibilities but it is worth making yourself au fait with their terms and conditions as to who ends up owning the copyrights.

Which ever route you take on your journey to becoming published, there is no guarantee though that what you’ve written though will sell or inspire. This is where becoming a ‘laidback writer’ is really important. As, if you are inspired when you are writing, this will inevitably be picked up by your readers. The best way I have found to tap into inspiration is to be relaxed and free of interruptions and, certainly, any angst.

Just before I wrote my first published short story, sort of by accident, I had started to write a big novel which incidentally I am just finishing three years later. I had just taken up meditation on a regular basis and I had set Fridays aside as my writing day. I was increasingly surprised that the words and storyline appeared each week as if the book was being serialised to me and I was the ‘reader’ not the writer. Furthermore, in the intervening week, information that was really useful to me just appeared as if by magic in emails, magazines or on web sites that I would just chance across by serendipity.

The engineer in me was intrigued and I started to research what was happening. My research took me from the subject matter of my novel, namely quantum physics and cosmology, into some fairly esoteric areas. Eventually I ended up researching the area of thought itself and that perhaps most thoughts aren’t actually your own.

When words and concepts just flow, you know that they are going to hit the mark with your readers. If you are stuck with your writing, you can almost guarantee it won’t scan well for a reader. If you have ever experienced a light bulb moment, you will know what I mean. You get the whole picture and vision in one go and can’t seem to get it down on paper fast enough.

Many people think that such light bulb moments are random and can’t be controlled. Well, with minimal training and discipline, you can have them daily or better still, tap into them on demand.

It turns out that light bulb moments actually happen when you are ‘not thinking’ – perhaps you are daydreaming or sometimes they occur in the gap between waking and sleeping. These points in our daily cycle have the rather pompous names of hypnagogic and hypnopompic.

Salvador Dali used them for his inspiration around his siesta time. He’d balance a spoon under his elbow on the edge of a desk. It would clatter on the floor when he nodded off and he would instantly awaken and paint what was ‘on his mind’.

I found out that you can actually become a laidback writer in a more controlled manner and less dramatically with a healthy mix mind mapping and meditation. Together they provide the route to light bulb moments on demand.

When I was writing my novel, my mentor advised that I mind map all the concepts I wanted to get across to the reader. I ended up with a wall sized mind map on my office wall comprising of one central map dealing with the overall theme. Coming from it I had about 12 or so sub-maps on topics diverse as Luck, Space-Time and the Zero Point Field.

It was no surprise then that this map became imprinted on my unconscious mind which, in turn, would alert my conscious brain if it spotted anything that might be useful to me. This was how I unwittingly started tuning into coincidences and serendipity.

Mind mapping has another collateral benefit. The map itself gives the logical left hemisphere something it is happy with – a structure. While it’s kept ‘busy’, the creative right hemisphere is then free to unleash its full creativity. I learned that this is known as whole brain thinking, or synchronisation.

It turned out that this is the same state your mind enters while meditating. When you use your mind map as a seed in meditation, the effect becomes more powerful still.

What you find when meditating regularly is that you become attuned to inspirations and messages that have not necessarily come from your conscious mode of thinking. In time, you can even start a meditation with a request for specific information or a random inspiration. You will be delivered a real gem, or seed, from which springs forth a whole chapter of a book or an article – like the journey metaphor of this one.

Remember that meditation takes many forms and you can meditate with your eyes open and while walking. The morning or afternoon dog walk for me proves to be a great way of generating that sometimes elusive next chapter – and you are getting exercise and fresh air.

The ideal way to work is to write while actually in a meditative state. This takes some practice. It is sometimes called channelling, as it appears that the writer is ‘out of the loop’. Nothing is further from reality though as the writer is creating the loop and the flow.

By the way, channelling doesn’t necessarily mean you are communicating with departed Souls or the angelic realms. Rather than you are tapping into the collective consciousness, sometimes known as the holographic or cosmic mind. I like to think that this flow involves a connection in a sort of ‘Back to the Future-type way’ to the ‘future you’ that knows the words that you are yet to write.

If the thought of meditating each day seems like a waste of time in a busy calendar, there is another and perhaps more relaxed way to become a ‘laidback writer’.

Most people enter a type of meditative state daily called sleep. With some practice and a simple memory technique, you can also dream to order too. Again whole chapters and insights come in dreams. Many scientific ‘discoveries’ have come this way. Kekulé postulated the benzene ring structure after dreaming of a snake biting its own tail. How laid back is that?

Even using these relatively simple techniques, there is no guarantee that you won’t hit writers’ block. In fact, I found some clients that I taught these techniques to began to encounter real life examples of what they were writing. If they wrote about something traumatic, for example, some associated issues may surface in real life.

Being aware of this, when I come across a writer whose ‘pen has run dry’, I look for the blockages elsewhere in their lives, clear them and they move on and upwards in their journey. It is as if ‘the Universe’ wants to help the writer out not only experience what they are writing but to be able to evolve at the same time.

The real key getting the most from a book writing journey is to be open and accepting of where it takes you. If you get stuck, realise that there is a reason for it and that there is a learning to be had and dealt with.

When you get the learning, or a good piece of luck along the way, be thankful and take the opportunity with both hands. Be thankful too for that chance meeting with your eventual publisher at a party or that flash of enlightenment you got out walking.

What makes a journey even better though is if you can learn some really useful life skills along the way that you can use in all areas of your life. A more laidback and contemplative approach to life will allow you to slow down and enjoy it more while, at the same time, speeding up towards your goals.

By Tom Evans

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Tom teaches these techniques, and more, on his Unleash the Book Inside workshops and online e-learning courses. He is available as a ‘ghost’ writer, a structural editor and mentors authors all over the world over Skype. Tom is also a Master Trainer for Buzan Online’s iMindMap software and teaches Whole Mind Thinking.

You can find out more about his mentoring services on his blog site – www.thebookwright.com – and you can contact Tom on tom@thebookwright.com, on +44 1483 209560 or on Skype id: evanst58

If you are interested in training on iMindmap visit: http://www.sheresolutions.com/imindmap-training