Sometimes, the most thorough way to learn something is by first learning every way not to do it. I have written several books, two of which can still be found here and here. But before my first book was finished, I was writing books for more than two decades. That’s right, more than 20 years to just finish a book. The time was not all in the first book I finished; of course, it was in all the books I never finished writing. So, today, I shall share my expertise on ways to not write a book.

1. Slow Writing the Near Future—My first method for not writing a book was to choose to write a science-fiction novel set in the near future. I was employed in a consulting job that took a lot of time, and I didn’t have much time for hobby writing. Before I had 50 pages written, I had to move the book back 12 years, because the near future had caught up with me. Even after moving it back 12 years, it would have been set in 2012, and I still haven’t finished it. Later, I just incorporated many of the ideas, themes, and plot elements into a totally different book.