Four years ago I took a month-long sabbatical to consider where to invest future energies. Great friends offered advice, shared their ideas, and asked me tough questions.
One of the questions often asked was, “Why not write a book?” I chuckled at the suggestion and pushed it aside.
But the idea wouldn’t go away. Three years ago a friend again asked, “You love to write. Why don’t you write a book?” This time the idea wasn’t pushed aside as quickly. But to write a book — a good one — you need an idea worth sharing. A unique idea or insight is crucial if I’m going to justify the time it takes to be an author.
About two years ago my kids, who always wanted me to write, encouraged me to take the idea more seriously. But again, about what?
Around this same time I was asked to speak on the topic of faith, vocation, and wealth. It’s a familiar theme for me, so I said sure. It went over better than expected and people were asking for more. In reflecting on what clicked in the talk, some obvious ideas that had been part of my life for decades began to surface. Hmmmm.
About one year ago the idea began to take shape. I shared it with D’Aun first, who often thinks my ideas are insane but always supports them. To my surprise she loved the idea. That sounds bad, doesn’t it? As if D’Aun never loves my ideas? Well, it’s not that exactly. She keeps me grounded and does not fall for my idealistic thinking. So to receive her unconditional support for a new idea was very encouraging. I was on the right track.
Since then I’ve begun to jot down ideas, seek out specific experiences, and even draft a short introduction. The next step is to actually do some writing. Which is what I naively think will be the easiest part.
What I’m not looking forward to is working with publishers and doing promotions. I’m an unknown name, a first-time wannabe author, with no significant “platform” of followers, and I’m not exactly the warm & cuddly type. Publishing houses will wonder how they’d ever get the book sold. Hard to blame them for wondering.
Perhaps a self-published book? Well, maybe, but that has limitations too.
So is there a book in me to be written? I think so, yes. It will be a great exercise to pull out the best of my thoughts — or at least what I think are the best!
If you want to be among the first to know what’s going on with this project, you can sign up below and receive updates. Shoot, I might even give away a few freebies! Just enter your email address and you’ll get occasional notifications of any progress. Thanks!