The last fortnight has whizzed by in a blur of busyness and excitement as I officially published my book, Seasons of Change. If you visit here regularly, you may recall that in August I started writing my book.
I developed a daily writing practice with my accountability partner. We’d regularly check-in and cheer each other on with our projects. Over time this developed into a 7am writing session.
Writing was the easy part, the words seemed to flow effortlessly most days. It was the technical bits and knowing what to do once I had my manuscript that was tricky. But because I’d developed a routine of showing up daily, I gradually picked my way through it.
Creating a vision
Before I even started to write Seasons of Change, I had a vision of the finished product. Really, that’s just a fancy way of saying that I knew where I was heading with it. I knew the structure it would follow and what each chapter would contain.
The blurb gives you an overview, but to give you a peek inside my head, I knew that the book would be divided into four sections, a section to represent each season. As we all know through our lived experiences, each season feels very different and I wanted each section of the book to tap into this energy.
I then began to reflect on mini transformative steps I’d taken in my own life that tapped into these seasons vibes, knowing that ultimately I wanted to produce an accessible guide that people could use to transform their lives and find freedom every day.
And through these steps, Seasons of Change was born.
Showing up daily
Once I had my overview, I just had to show up each day and write. Initially, this was at different times during the day. However, it later transformed into a 7am weekday writing session.
My thoughts are so much clearer first thing and I found starting my day in this way gave me a huge sense of achievement. So I’d set my alarm early, go for a run or do a workout and then drag my sweaty self to the laptop and begin writing… Yes, writing really isn’t as glamorous as it sounds.
By 8am, I’d save my work and get ready to begin my day.
The key lesson I learnt from doing this is that showing up daily is essential. For me, it kept the writing process (and the inspiration) flowing. And it showed me that I was willing to commit.
On reflection, I do think that this act of showing up regularly builds our self-confidence- and once we know that we can trust ourselves, then we’re able to achieve so much more.
How many times have you intended to do something and then either given up or, worse, not even started? This is not a judgement, I have so many half-completed projects lying around and dreams that I’ve given up on because my inner monologue said ‘you’ll never be able to do that’.
I didn’t want Seasons of Change to become a discarded project. It had a different energy to it, a buzz – and the act writing flowed most days, so I went with it.
The technical bits
It wasn’t all easy though. Once I’d finished the manuscript, the process of turning it into a book was very much a learning curve. Yes, I’ve published low content books before as part of Chicken Roulette Press but this was very different.
First, I had to proofread it – many times. Thankfully, I had a tribe of proofreaders to assist.
Then it needed to be typeset so that it looked good both as an eBook and as a paperback. Reedsy was my software of choice for this. Although it’s a relatively easy interface to use, it was still very much a learning curve to learn the in’s and out’s of the software.
There was keyword and category research to do, a book cover to design and a blurb to write. Now, if you’re thinking blurb writing is an easy task for someone who’s spent hours writing a book, think again. Trying to write that little sucker was harder than writing the book (I’m not joking). I had pages of notes, most of which I discarded before settling on the final piece. But I got there in the end. And that’s the main lesson I took from this whole process – show up daily and you will get there.
So if you’re reading this and want to publish your own book, or have a dream of any kind, then go for it! If I can do it, you can too. It’s simply a case of showing up and taking small steps towards your goal each day.
When we see someone who has succeeded, we mistakenly think that they ‘got lucky’, they’re ‘incredibly smart’ etc… The list goes on. But what we fail to see is that they showed up and they kept showing up.
So what’s the point of this post? Well obviously, I’d love for you to go away and purchase my book, it would mean the world to me. But if you feel it’s not for you then please make sure you take away this one message:
You can achieve whatever you want to achieve by taking small, daily steps towards your goal – so get out there and create the life you want to live today!
So dream big, take small but regular action and begin to create the life you truly want to lead. And if you’re in need of more inspiration, then you can always check out Seasons of Change for more transformational tips. ; )