Perhaps you write technical documents. In that case, you are looking to improve a process by clarifying it. This means change. Or maybe you write articles that provide readers with information they did not previously possess. More change. Copywriters want to change lookers into buyers. Grantwriters want to persuade people or organizations to support an endeavor they may have never heard of before. Business proposals are written with hope of fostering improvements within companies.

Do you confine your writing solely to your journal, or specialize in first-person essays? What are you looking for when you write about yourself, your experiences, your observations? My guess is that you want to arrive at a more complete understanding of what you saw, lived through and felt. You want to grow from experience, or you want your readers to think about something in a way they might never have done before. Change.

This applies even to this article. I want to help writers discover real reason for writing, enable you to refocus your energies and perhaps become more prolific and successful by understanding why you do what you do. I hope I've succeeded in doing just that.

As a writer, you've got a talent that many do not possess, and many admire. So don't just sit there. Write for a change.

Table of Contents (TOC) - use next Roman numeral and continue numbering these pages. The TOC might include a List of Acronyms and Abbreviations, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc., Appendix A, Appendix B, etc., List of Illustrations, depending on your document.

Do not list Preface or Introduction on TOC. (Anything that comes before TOC does not get listed on TOC.)

Chapters - appear next and always begin on a right-hand page. Begin page numbering using Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) paginating front and back pages.

New chapters begin on a right-hand page using an odd number. For example, Chapter 1 would be paginated 1 through 10. Chapter 2 would be paginated 11 through 28, and so on. If Chapter 2 ends on page 27, leave page 28 blank. It is back of page 27. Chapter 3 then can begin on a right-hand page with an odd number.

Bibliography or References - continue page numbering like a new chapter.

Appendixes - continue page numbering each appendix like a new chapter.

Back Cover

This list of parts of a document is a guideline. You may not use them all. You may have more parts than I've listed here. But when you begin layout of your pages, following this guideline will ensure your readers can follow your thoughts, real reason for writing your book!