My Friend Lee's New Book Available
Wowza! I’m over the moon today. My (first) book came out on Amazon a few days agoand the feedback has been, well, positively Amazon-azing.
If you’ve ever wanted to accomplish something important to you (but you didn’t know where to start) let me say 3 things about this book-writing adventure that may help you.
1) Ask for help. I have a habit of not asking for other people’s help. I take a “put on your big-girl pants and get it done yourself” approach to most everything. But pretty quickly into the book project I realized I was going to have to suck it up and ask for lots of help.
First, a writing buddy for accountability — Coco Rosenblatt-Farrell, my playful, wise friend. Next, a graphics designer for the layout (enter Kari Whitaker at Launchpad Creatives, who made it all look beautiful and fun). Having someone read a draft seemed like a good idea, so Nancy signed on, sharing constructive comments. Over lunch, Dori Decamillis fed me helpful tips on publishing and marketing. Jane (gotta love it — she’s a best-selling author) gave me stellar advice on the title. Gee whiz! I didn’t know I needed (or had) so much help.
2) Let it take the time it takes. Give the project some air and room to grow. Wander through book stores looking for ideas. Get out your colored markers and doodle words and images. Don’t keep your dream a secret – listen to the way it evolves as you tell other people about it. Keep an index card in your pocket to jot down thoughts that come to you when you’re walking or digging in the dirt or filling your car with gas.
Of course, given too much time, the thing won’t ever get done. That’s why you also need #3…
3) Set up a structure for making progress. You don’t need a 40-page planner.What you really need is a framework that works for YOU, so you’ll take steps toward your goal. For the book, we wrote chapter headings and a list of the features we wanted to include. Coco and I live in different states, so we scheduled phone sessions when we shared what we had written and edited it on-the-spot with Google Docs .
Two quotes to keep in mind:
Progress is better than perfection.
All life asks of us is measurable progress in reasonable time. ~Jim Rohn
4) Okay, just one more tip. Inspire yourself with something tangible. When I first realized I wanted to write a book, I took a paperback from my bookshelf, printed Lee Irwin, author in a pretty font, pasted it on the front cover and placed the book on my desk where I saw it every day.
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