I started working on this new book back in October. I told my coach I should be able to have an introductory chapter to her in 3 weeks.
LOOOOOOOL lolololololol
I still don’t have a chapter.
Well, I do actually, I have like 4 chapters, but I’m not going to use any of them because they’re all for different books and I’ve FINALLY figured out that they’re not at all what I want to do in this one.
This is something I talk to clients about all the time. You can’t put all your material in one book.
Even if it’s good information or a great idea, it might not belong in this book, and that’s why you need to be very clear about what the purpose of this book actually is.
I broke my own rule there. I knew that a wanted to write a book, I knew I wanted it to be more personal than my first two, and I knew that I wanted to get it traditionally published.
This is not a good starting point. I would shoo me out of my own office.
And with good reason: in the time I’ve been working on this, my idea has gone from memoir, to how-to, to exposé.
It has taken me four full months to figure out what I’m doing here. Yes, I’ve ended up at a much more refined idea, but normally I would be nearly done by now.
But in the end that’s OK.
This has happened with plenty of the books I’ve worked on, because books are kind of their own organisms.
They’re a bit like babies, really. They grow and change and sometimes you can’t quite see what they’re doing until suddenly there’s a whole new bit to them.
Some just shoot right out, blissful and happy to be in the world. Others takes aaaages, fighting all the way and mad about it when the air finally hits them.
So now that I know what the purpose of this book is (which is suspiciously similar to what I started with), progress is underway.
I’ve written a summary of it and I know how I’m going to tackle the chapters.
Thanks for sticking with me while I’ve been gestating this, and I should have some new material for you to read soon.