Last week I proclaimed that I’m about to undertake a lofty, new goal… to read every writing book there is (an idea I borrowed from a comment Catherine Franz left on Amazon.com).

And every since making that decision I find myself tip-toeing around the writing section at the bookstore trying to decide what to read.

The only thing I’ve ever written outside of school is non-fiction. Every writing book I’ve read up until now has had a non-fiction slant. In the past 15 years I’ve read a grand total of 3 fiction books.

Can you see a “circle-circle-dot-dot” pattern here?!?

I don’t know how to write anything else except real-life stuff.

And now that I’ve begun exploring other writing genres, I’m seeing that there’s A LOT I could be doing to improve my writing.

Right now I’m knee deep in The Making of a Story by Alice LaPlante. And although it’s predominantly geared towards fiction writers, the advice is very much applicable when you’re writing a story in a sales letter.

I especially like the Details, Details chapter for this very reason. I’m always saying to make a story emotional. LaPlante offers the hard core version of my advice. It really gave me an “a-ha!” moment.

But, there is a problem…

A goal of this magnitude requires a plan.

A plan for reading, and a plan for taking notes. And I haven’t fully constructed said plan.

So I’m thinking that first I’ll need to learn how to read faster. I want to be able to read a book and comprehend it in an hour or two.

That’s easy enough (I hope!), I’ll just learn how to speed read.

For that I recently ordered Breakthrough Rapid Reading by Peter Kump because it got pretty good reviews on Amazon.

Over the next month I’ll be practicing the exercises.

I have a few note taking strategies in mind. But I’m going to experiment to see which option I’d like to take.

If anyone has some advice, please do share.

An author of desperate ebooks must always be prepared to channel their inner Sherlock Holmes.

Your eyes must be open – with glasses on. You must have the skills to interview complete strangers without the slightest hint of nosiness. You have to be able to put random clues together in order to see the big, achy picture.

The ability to pluck a desperate topic from a normal conversation can be compared to vacation time for some people in the work world. If you don’t use it, you lose it.

So come on and flex with me. Today’s post gives you some (more) mental exercises for finding desperate topics.

1) Your friends and family.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… friends and family make some of the best kindling wood for ebooks. Examine my own six degrees of separation.

My mom’s in sales. My dad is in the restaurant business. My step-dad is a retired cop. My step-mom is a former runway model. My step-mom’s father owns a landscape company.

I’m familiar with the occupations of nearly every mom (and some dad’s) of the kids in my daughter’s class. They include several UN workers, a translator, an artist, an attorney, a stay-at-home dad/IT professional, etc.

Traveling around the world I’ve met a stay-at-home mom who’s a stock picking genius… a video producer… a musician selling his own CDs… a chef… a professional photographer… a former horse trainer… a children’s clothing shop owner… and the list goes on.

Do you think out of that rather limited list that you could find a desperate topic somewhere?

Of course you could!

And my secret to success really isn’t a secret at all.

I like people. All kinds of people. And I like listening to people tell me their stories.

Not only do you find desperate topics that way, you also get to learn about their friends and family. And the cycle starts all over again.

2) Associations.

Whenever I have an interest, I join an association.

I love to travel. So I’ve joined two associations specifically for professionals in the travel industry.

My goal is to know what woes the workers of the travel industry. And the easiest way to get the inside scoop (without being in the travel industry) is to participate in their trade groups.

I read their newsletters. I buy their research reports. I lurk on their message boards. (Message boards that are reserved for paying members only.)

It can be a costly venture. Some associations cost hundreds of dollars to join.

But the intimate knowledge you’ll walk away with can easily be worth tens of thousands of dollars.

3) Blog comments.

Besides leaving my own words of wisdom, I’m a big fan of reading through blog comments for desperate topics.

Sometimes people ask questions. Sometimes they mention their unfulfilled requests or nagging problems. At times they even out right say what they want.

Of course not every blog comment is worth its weight gold. You still have to do your research to make sure it matches the desperate topics criteria. But they’re certainly a good starting point.

Your Assignment for the Week–

Using one of the above mentioned resources, find just one desperate topic that has been measured against the DBO criteria.

Put it in your idea folder.

When you’re finished working on existing projects, pull out that idea and get busy on it.

In the arm, that is.

You see I bought a new computer recently. And though I’ve managed to migrate almost everything essential over to the new system, I haven’t tackled Dragon Naturally Speaking yet.

You know about Dragon. I rant and rave about it everywhere I go.

You speak, it types what you speak, you get your work done a lot faster.

Trust me, it’s one of THE BEST software investments you’ll ever make.

(And I don’t go handing out comments like that arbitrarily. So if I say it’s one of THE BEST, I ain’t kidding.)

So for the past few weeks I’ve basically been typing instead of Dragon-ing. I created that huge document with 800+ article title templates. Then I’ve been cranking out a couple of articles a day. Plus I’m working on Desperate Buyers Only – Volume 2.

And at first all that typing didn’t bother me. But now… ohhhhh now… my right hand/arm has fallen into a bit of disrepair.

Imagine curling a 1lb weight non-stop for 16 hours a day. It’s kind of like a slow burn. Yeah, that’s what my arm feels like – a slow burn.

I thought it might be carpel tunnel, which in my head is scarier than being robbed at knifepoint.

Then I found a blog post at Jemmille.com that actually offered a helpful tip. I’m following his advice, and so far the pain is easing up ever so slightly.

Helpful Tip for the Day

As I’m sure you’re well aware, you’ve gotta use your arms for a lot more than typing at a computer.

How about cooking… taking a shower… brushing your teeth… playing with your kids/grandkids… driving.

DO think about the long-term damage you can do to your hands and arms by working on a computer all the time. You might be all right now. But who’s to say what condition you’ll be in a year from now.

Take it from me – I actually waited too long to start using a transcription program. I wish I’d started using Dragon Naturally Speaking years ago. Now I’m suffering because of my negligence.

Needless to say, I will be migrating back to Dragon tomorrow. Bada-bing, bada-boom!

If you’re not using Dragon, get on it.

Think of it as insurance for a lifetime of successful writing.