Choosing your topic for a nonfiction book

I'm in the middle of an Ed2go class, Write & Publish Your Nonfiction Book taught by Lisa Adams, when it occurred to me that it would be beneficial to write a blog post on each lesson.

The first lesson was an introduction to nonfiction, choosing your topic. We introduced ourselves in the discussion area and the lesson suggested we come up with a descriptive statement for our proposed book.

Introduction & Descriptive Statement for proposed book
I am a person of many interests. I carry a notebook in my purse to take notes. I also journal to clear my mind and stay focused. The way I get things done is use an old fashioned weekly paper planner that helps me list appointments, along with blocking out time for the things I have to or want to do.

My goal for this class is to learn how to write a nonfiction book and publish it as an ebook and print-on-demand book. I would like to have a rough draft done by August.

One of my interests is painting on location (urban sketching/plein air painting) which I do weekly year round. I like to paint with pastel (both regular and oil) and acrylics. I started out making a rough outline for the book but now am researching and taking notes.

The title would be "Don't Cry Over Spilt Paint, Painting on Location for the Terrified, Beginning Painter."

Descriptive Statement from lesson 1: A painting on location book that helps (or encourages) artists to start painting on location.

Our first assignment was to get a notebook dedicated to recording our book ideas. We're supposed to carry it everywhere so we can jot down inspirations as we get them. Also we're supposed to use the notebook to complete the tasks and exercises in this course so that way we'll have a complete record of our developing plans for our book.

I am carrying out the assignment with the following modifications;

• I currently carry a general notebook to record things I have to remember, results of mom's doctor appointments, meeting notes, work assignments, etc. I am going to continue to do that.
• I also keep old envelopes in the car to record thoughts, things to do, etc. which I then transfer to my planner.
• When studying the courses lessons I took notes on my computer. Quicker and more legible than writing. 
• I also posted in the discussion area of this course to get feedback. Feedback has been OK but no one really has commented or made suggestions to date that I recall. Other than good job. It may be that I'm outside their experience area. Not everyone does art or wants to. One guy is working on a book on Obamacare. It sounds like it's going to be real interesting. Another three that I recall appear to be working on memoirs, one which studies the effect of mental illness's generational effects.
• I decided to use this blog to record the tasks and assignments for this course in order to have a complete record of my developing plans for this book. This may help for my next book too. Right now I'm just recording ideas as they come to me. "Such as the painter/artist next door"

So there you have it. We're about halfway through the course right now. I'm going through my notes and will play catch up with this blog.

• Right now my timeline is rough draft by August. 
• Request Beta readers to proofread by September. (Maybe from my writer's workshop class or my artist friends? I can give them a free eBook then and put them on a thank you page in my book.) 
• Create Ebook in September. 
• Create Print On Demand book in October. 

The sooner I can get this done the better as I need to complete 1 task left over from spring, start and complete 2 summer tasks, then start working on a big project this Fall