Writing FAST - Jeff Bollow 2012

Break it down into chunks
Meet the FAST system
The setup

Once you’ve got your idea in place, you’ll use the “chunking” technique. You’ll break down your idea into manageable chunks, and lay it out on what I call the Power Grid. This is your roadmap.

The hardest part of writing is all those blank pages. That damn cursor blinking at you. At the bottom of the page, that little number says 1, and you have no idea what to do.

But chunking is the fine art of making it easy.

The first thing you’ll do is estimate a total size of your work. For example, with this book, I estimated 200 pages. That’s 192 numbered pages, and 8 preamble pages at the beginning.

But if I just started plowing into 192 pages of book, it would be incredibly easy to get lost. So, first thing I do is start chunking. I figure the best way to express the FAST System would be to break it into four sections: F. A. S. T. Makes sense, right?

But that’s not quite enough. I need a Setup and a Payoff, so that’ll make it six sections. And I’ll throw in an introduction and an epilogue, to save my reader from hearing me yammer on and on about myself.

Then I start chunking it out. I estimate 6 pages for the Intro and Epilogue, which leaves 180 pages. Six equal sections would be 30 pages per section. I figure that’ll divide nicely into three 10-page chapters apiece.

My chunking gives me a 30-page Setup section, 30 pages for each of the four-parts to the FAST System, and a 30-page Payoff section to show you how to apply it in the real world.

Suddenly, this enormous project is easily manageable. I don’t have to write 192 pages. I only have to write 10.

And I just do it eighteen times.

Can you see how powerful the Chunking technique really is? You’re making your own, custom-designed roadmap for your journey.

A formula created by you, especially for you.

The entire point of the Focus section is to turn your idea into a specific, step-by-step plan.