Non-Fiction book - any input?

[DMH]

I like the bugging in vs bugging out. Also team vs alone. Looking forward to it.

[Graywolf]

It looks great and I'm really interested in reading it when it's ready. I am particularly interested in defense-combat multipliers. Will you be touching on 'if you don't have a raging arsenal at your disposal'?

lol, kind of.

A combat multiplier is anything that allows you to fight as a larger force than you currently are. Night vision is an example. If you had 5 guys attacking one in the middle of the night but that one guy had night vision, the odds even out a bit and he could possibly even win. It's not all about firearms and weapons, although some of them are definite combat multipliers.

[Graywolf]

Is this going to be a book about the steps you should take to beging prepping or is there going to be instructions in there as well? I would like to see bigger sections in books about trapping and snaring small animals. There isn't a lot of good information about tying snares.

I will have some things in there on snares but there is a LLLLOOTTT of information out there on primitive survival skills such as hunting and trapping. My goal is to help new people know how to focus their time on what they should be learning and doing. Giving them all those skills in one book would be tens of thousands of pages long. Some basic snare-tying is helpful but it's more of an advanced skill. There are a lot more things they should be focusing on.

[Graywolf]

I like the bugging in vs bugging out. Also team vs alone. Looking forward to it.

I think bugging in is always preferable to bugging out but there are definite cases where people have already not been able to bug in - such as when their house burns down or gets flattened by a tornado/hurricane or flooded. You should have some idea where you're going to go if something happens where you have to leave or you can't get back to your house.

Teamwork is always preferable to going it alone as long as your team works together and doesn't tear itself apart.

[Graywolf]

Well, I already see one thing I need to work on, now that I've started actually writing.

As it's written, 'Everyday life' is pretty much the whole book. It's about what you should be doing now, before SHTF. That means that 'Bugging in' then isn't really about prepping, it's about what you should be doing if you're already bugged in because I would have already covered it. That would make the everyday chapter gigantic and the bugging in or out ones very small and totally dependent upon what your crisis is.

I'm gonna have to pull down the 'life is about balance' part from above and put it into the 'everyday life' chapter and just have a section in both 'bugging in' and 'bugging out' that deals with how to prepare for each as well as what to do during either.

And I need to change that chapter title too. It's a bit vague.

Hopefully that made sense. It's still a little fuzzy to me.

Oh well, that's why I do an outline first, so I don't write myself into a corner too early.

[W.Lynn]

You might want a bit on "welcome to everyday life, 1870s style." For extended grid-down situations.

As usual (and even today,) there will be those who's only plan will be to take what they want, and without phones, many of those may find themselves in over their heads.

There will be trade between people who have, or can produce, some things, and those who need them. Eventually I may trade some spun wool or cotton for something I'm out of, and it won't be buttons because I can make those.

[Graywolf]

I'm definitely going to have a good chunk of homesteading in the book. Even though it's an advanced prepper topic, it's something that takes a while to learn. It's difficult to learn about how to produce things you need to barter with when you're just trying to survive. It's also something that we've gotten away from too much. There are a lot of good things about those old-time skills such as cooking better food and living a simpler life.

[Tex]

Graywolf, if I may offer a suggestion, perhaps you could hit on the homesteading a little bit, but that subject could easily be a whole book on its own.

Once you get into homesteading, there are ALOT of different sub-topics to discuss.

Tex

[Graywolf]

It definitely could easily be its own book.

What I want to get across to beginners is that homesteading is pretty much a self-sustainment lifestyle. If they can start gearing their life that way then if a lot of things happen that could happen (such as the economy collapsing), it won't affect them as much. It's also something that they'd eventually have to figure out how to do if it does collapse. I won't be going into a lot of details like how to tan hides etc because it's not a beginner's topic (and I don't want to write War and Peace here) but just mention that those things would be necessary and give them an idea of what homesteading is.

[W.Lynn]

So go with more than one book.

[angeryamerican]

Wolf, sorry I just got around to this. You've got a really good start, despite the corners. Your initial idea, a chapter on each of those primary topics is great. Flesh them out, just go with KISS, this is a beginner's book. You can always follow this one up with separate books on the individual topics, Gray Wolf's Expanded Editions or something. I know I'm busy right now, but if I can help, feel free to jerk my chain.

You're on to something that's going to work, the folks in New York are very interested.

[Graywolf]

Thanks AA. I have 2 more days of 14-16 hour/day Army stuff and then I'm hoping to get back on it. I'm hoping to at least have the writing sample chapters done by the end of the week and then maybe the synopsis/proposal next weekend.

I definitely have to stay with KISS. I've thrown out a couple thousand words already because I keep going too deep into things. I want to make the book worth reading and something they won't find in other books but I want them to be able to follow along and DO it. I'll be focusing on very simple and basic on Monday.

I wrote an article on the website a couple days ago on risk management called "why are you prepping" that I definitely want to include in the book but it needs slowed down and explained a lot better for a book chapter. It's going to be one of my sample chapters for the publisher.

My website has a mix of beginners and expert readers so I didn't mind flushing it out on there; the book won't.

[Rockntoy]

Sounds like a good book series. Might add in some where to have some type of entertainment if you are with a family and kids. Games, cards, toys, etc. Have a small pack that the kids can carry there stuff in to show they can help if needed. Just say'n.

[Graywolf]

I have a section now in my updated overview that puts something about comfort, entertainment and staying sane in every chapter along with the rest. Definitely important. Not sure exactly what I'm going to title it yet though until I flesh it out a bit.

[unseenone]

Any updates on the project?