Start the game with each player putting his Golden Shovel playing piece in the square marked "Start" and taking a "Book" card. Take turns rolling a die, moving that many squares in a counter-clockwise direction. The kind of square you land on determines what you do next:

• Write Chapter: roll two dice and add. This determines the kind of chapter you write. Keep a tally of these with a tick on the appropriate row of your "Book" card .
• Publish Book "at every turn": If your "Book" card has at least 3 chapters, put it in your "Published" pile and start another. If not, imagine what your Fictional Wealthy Father would say: you need to fabricate more bull!

• Proof-read: Lose a turn as you go back and proofread what you wrote.
• Book Deal, Royalty Payment, Public Appearance, Bum Deal, Aftermarket Sales: Draw a card from the appropriate stack and follow the directions.
• Living Expenses: Living extravagantly means forking over $100,000. If you're in debt, well, there's always that next Royalty Payment...
• Taxes Due: One Best Selling author would have you believe that the government taxes all the money you have -- even stuff you've already paid taxes on. So that's what you do: hand over 20% of everything you have.

• Research: An attack of conscience strikes, and you feel the need to research. Transition to the Seemingly Endless Cycle of Research and Hard Work. You travel Clockwise here.
• Seminar Tour: Place your piece on the Start Tour square, set aside your "Book" card, and start a "Seminar" card.
• Seminar: Same as "Write Chapter" but applied to your "Seminar" card. You also get a $10,000 Stipend.
• Extend Tour: Move your Golden Shovel playing piece back to the Start Tour square.
• If you leave the Seminar Tour, throw away your "Seminar" card (it was all crap anyway) and pick up your unpublished "Book" card.

Publishing a Book: Roll a die and write that into the Circulation box. Set the "Book" card down into your Published Book pile.

"Pick a (Published) Book": When a card tells you to pick a published book, shuffle all your "Book" cards and lay them in a circle. Roll a die and count books from the top counting clockwise. The card you stop on is the book that is "picked."