Tenesha L. Curtis

The math breakdown and word counts listed in The 12-Month Manuscript allow you to adjust your writing goals to finish a manuscript of any size in a year or less. Write a book this week? Yep.Memoir done by summer? Yes.Romance written in a month? You bet! Click the yellow 'Buy' button at the top of the page to get your next book project started!Praise for The 12-Month Manuscript" "Curtis gives writers the perfect starting-from-zero introduction to their craft." — Aaron Bentzel, Flower Box Books"Tenesha L. Curtis's new writing manual, The 12-Month Manuscript, expertly targets the procrastination parasite that sucks the life out of so many writing dreams. The book spells out how writers can put a match to the little critters until they loosen their nasty little perfectionist-inducing, despair-producing mandibles. Once the pests curl up and fall to the ground, those writers can write as they should – with smiles on their faces and gleams in their eyes." — Dennis Goodwin, author of the Ten-minute Tales series. "Many people, especially those who say that they know they could write if (insert excuse here) consider writing a mystical experience. They think that they can light some aromatic candles and wait for the Muse to show up. Tenesha Curtis knows better. I know better. And I would imagine that anybody who has written successfully knows better. It’s work. The great thing about Ms. Curtis’s slim book is that it provides a road map for actually getting writing done, for—as the title says—completing a manuscript in 12 months. What you end up with at the end of the year is not a polished, edited masterpiece, but the required first step to get to a first draft. The book is easy to read, easy to understand, and the ideas are presented with a good deal of pertinent wit. For those who have been walking around with an idea and excuse not to write it, The 12-Month Manuscript may be just the thing to get them off the dime." — Chuck Holmes, author of The Sing, More Than Just Cellular, and Small Stories "The beauty of The 12-Month Manuscript is that it cuts through the crap of excuses us writers like spewing about writer's block, busy schedules, blah, blah, blah, and offers a direct, foolproof approach to completing a manuscript in 12 months or less.Call me “Exhibit A” when it comes to procrastination. If you're like me, then one of your favorite past times is formulating elaborate reasons about why it's been taking you so long to churn out the first draft of the novel you've been talking about for years. It's all too common for writers to trip up on the belief that they don't have what it takes to write a novel — whether that be due to time, talent, resources, or a combination of all three. The 12 Month Manuscript identifies the real culprit behind why we haven't finished our novel — we simply haven't put enough words down on the page. This book provides a very basic and realistic game plan that anyone with a pulse can follow to write a complete manuscript. This clear-cut approach to writing is a tremendous tool to have for navigating past all the mental roadblocks we put up to convince ourselves it can't be done. I can't recommend this book enough to anyone currently out there struggling to find the right strategy and the right mentality to finish their book." —Mary Beecroft, Writer"Writing is both the easiest and the hardest thing I've ever done.

How to turn your book or screenplay idea into an easy-to-follow outline---even if you've never written one before! Get overwhelmed when you start thinking about writing your manuscript? You're not alone. Many new (and even some experienced) writers spend most of their writing time cleaning up after themselves (plot holes, confusing passages, character inconsistencies, redundant chapters, etc.). Wouldn't it make more sense to plan out your book before you start writing it? Just like planning a trip, using a recipe to cook, or watching a tutorial on how to use a device, having instruction before your start traveling, cooking, or pressing buttons can save you hours of time and tons of frustration because you're working smarter, not harder. Writing your book is no different. If you measure twice and cut once, you can finish writing a cleaner first draft in days or weeks instead of months or years. I'm Tenesha L. Curtis and I've been writing since the early 90s and writing professionally since the late 2000s. In my work with green and seasoned authors, I have discovered what keeps them stuck on their first drafts and, in some cases, what prevents them from starting to write their book at all. I've taken my knowledge of what authors stumble over the most and neatly packaged it into Book Outlining Basics for you. Book Outlining Basics covers: Facts about outlining. How book outlining can save you big money, severe headaches, and precious time. How to prep your book premise before you start outlining. How to create a slim outline that gives you plenty of wiggle room. How to create a basic outline that helps guide you without you having to get overly specific. How to create a detailed outline that will make the actual writing of the book as easy as following the instruction on a can of soup!