I recently stated that I was not going to write a book that was not one of my journaling books for a long time to come. It seems I lied to myself. Because I found myself with an outline and 12,000 words written.
I’d spent the summer and autumn creating a number of journaling books, one is still in the cooker and a mandala and affirmations book ready to pop, when unbidden a book idea flew in.
Noooooo I cried, no, I do not want to write a big book. No, you can’t make me. Yet amidst my protestations, my fingers walked across the keyboard in delight.
I had one problem with this download of words – why on earth would I want to write this book? How did what I was being drawn to going to support the work that I was doing?
When I work with my clients I ask a simple but powerful question – what do you want to create in this world?
Then we work together to find the right book (or books) to support that vision.
I knew what I was creating – a writing community, where people write to heal and then write to heal the world, in whatever way you resonate with the word heal.
For weeks I found myself writing and journaling and I couldn’t see how this book that I was enjoying writing and bringing to life supported my vision.
So I let go. I let go of the reason and said the why will find me. And it did.
So often I think we try to force why. It has been drummed into us, you must start with why. And to a certain degree, I think that you need to know why something is motivating you, otherwise what is the point?
But I also think that sometimes that we need to let go and let why find us.
That’s not to say you don’t need to know why, more that if an idea comes to you, invite it in and play with it. If you feel like writing, then write and journal. Here’s the important part, when you have done your creative download, sit back and reflect.
In the spaces will come clarity.
When you have clarity, you can define where you are heading with your writing. In finding out about ourselves, we start to gain clarity of purpose.
Your readers will have expectations. Your role as a writer is to make sure those expectations are met, while at the same time fulfilling the purpose of your writing. Getting clear on your “why” will help you to gain this clarity.
Today a business book adds an extra dimension to your credibility as an expert. It allows you to demonstrate your expertise, skills, knowledge, experiences, and wisdom.
A book can support your other products and services and be used as a highly effective marketing tool.
In fact, a book is a blueprint for other products and services.
The business benefits to you could include a raised profile, more speaking engagements, opportunities to collaborate with others and options for you to productise your book into online programs.
Imagine seeing your wisdom, voice, thoughts, ideas, concepts and words in print.
When you are writing a book, you will tap into parts of yourself that you may not have considered.
So when the call comes to write a book, connect with your inner wisdom and allow what needs to surface to come up.
It might be that you need to write this content to get it out of the way or it is valuable content for your book. Either way put your inner critic to one side and play.
There are no shoulds. There is simply write.
Finding your why
Start writing – anything. By writing you will connect to your inner wisdom. The layers of doubt will soak away. Your inner critic will move on as the layers of what needs to be revealed peel away. And you don’t need to write much, you just have to write.
Experiment with your writing. There is no need to write endlessly, perhaps write less but more often? Experiment with subjects that seem unrelated and then allow the dots to join.
Let go and allow. Let your inner wisdom share what it has to say to you. You never know where it will take you.
Your ‘why’ questions
Ok, this is the harder stuff…
Ask yourself why five times. Each time you answer, ask why again. Link the why questions to your previous answer. Then ask so what?
Here goes. The key to this is once again to simply have a go, you can always come back and refine it later.
- Why do you want to write this book? I want to write this book because it’s crying out to be written.
- Why is that important? If it doesn’t get written the words will never leave me and reach people who need to read them.
- Why is it important that don’t keep your words inside of you? I would feel cheated and frustrated that I didn’t put my words on paper. It would be like another one of those ideas that didn’t get birthed.
- Why haven’t you birthed other ideas? I didn’t believe in what I had to say and I let other things get in the way.
- Why has the way you feel about this changed? There are things that I have to share that will make a difference in how my readers can connect to their inner wisdom to find answers to everyday questions. It’s worked for me and I feel that this is my legacy.
So what? Ask this final question.
People are constantly searching for ways to find answers to their questions. Imagine if they could know where to start their enquiry and where to go to find the answers and their resources in a simple intuitive way.
Ok, so you get the idea. Ask your why questions and finish with a so what. These do not need to be perfect, simply a start that you can refine.
Your ‘what’ questions
- What will writing this book give you?
- What won’t it give you?
- What would be the best thing about writing and publishing your book?
- What would be the worst thing about not writing and publishing your book?
Join our group coaching program and get your book written
The WRITE! program has been designed to help you to give you all of the support that makes writing a book – simple, stress-free and fun.