I first discovered the power of the spreadsheet method when I began writing fiction. I was writing a murder mystery, with a twisted plot, many varied characters, interesting settings and a story line that had to make sense. I kept getting mixed up in the timeline, and found my main character speculating about how a certain thing happened, when it couldn’t actually have happened yet!

Eventually, I hit on the idea of putting the timeline on a spreadsheet. I put all the scene numbers and titles down the left, and added a column with a few words that summarized the action. For example, “Gabi discovers the body”. After I sorted out the timeline, I realized I could use it for other aspects of the story, such as character descriptions, sub-plots etc.

I found spreadsheets so helpful that I began to use them for my non-fiction as well, and after a while I started using them with my clients. When I am ghostwriting a book, I often (although not always) use them to keep track of what I have written, and when I am coaching authors who are writing their books themselves I teach them how to use book spreadsheets for themselves.

For example, I’ve been talking in recent episodes about using stories. You could have a column for stories. Your chapters are down the left side, short snippets or summaries in the next column that match each chapter, and then stories inserted where appropriate. You might even colour code the spreadsheet, so that a quick glance will tell you whether your content is in a logical order, whether your titles make sense and are compelling, and whether you have the right balance of theory and story.

You might even find spreadsheets useful in the early planning stages of your book, even before you write your table of contents and your outline. Personally, I don’t do it that way, but if it helps you balance the content of your book, have at it. As I’ve said before, do whatever you have to do in service of the book.