I got this book as a tool to help me prep for my first NaNoWriMo, and I am pleased to say that it helped A LOT. Though I was not able to reach my word count goal of 50K, I was able to come up with a story and plot it out; Act by act, Scene by scene. It got me organized and scheduled. It idealized my daily and weekly writing goals and made them tangible in little bullet points. I will definitely use it next November because it's the perfect guide for anyone wanting to write a novel.
The only reason I down-sized the rating is because the tips to overcome writer's block are not very helpful. It was frustrating to stare at the words I wrote and know that I'm losing interest in my characters or if the scene I'm writing is boring, even to me, and yet necessary to write or the story will lose its logic.
It's generally good for people who like to be organized and can actually stick to their schedule. ( )

This isn't the first how-to write a novel book I've purchased. My first how-to was THE MARSHALL PLAN FOR NOVEL WRITING: A 16-STEP PROGRAM GUARANTEED TO TAKE YOU FROM IDEA TO COMPLETE MANUSCRIPT. I made it all the way to the section sheets and stopped. I had no clue how to do those. At the time, I was really big into Yahoo Groups and had signed up for a mess load of writer's groups. I talked someone into starting a writing group for writers using this method. To my amazement, he did. They all got to the section sheets and guess what? You got it, I wasn't the only person totally confused. Like the insane person I am, I purchased the workbook hoping to get clarity. It never came. Was it a waste of money? No, because I walked a way with more knowledge than before and to be fair, I understand more about the section sheets now. There's more… About the same time, I'd purchased FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS: A NOVEL WRITER'S SYSTEM FOR BUILDING A COMPLETE AND COHESIVE MANUSCRIPT by Karen Wiesner. A novel in 30 days, a 1st draft in 30 days, and a 16 step program to a complete novel - great book. ( )