Write A Book!

All right, I believe we are set. We're jumping into a live here. All right, so the live. This live is going to be around writing a book and. All right, so with this, I have talked to a lot of people that have aspirations around writing a book that are currently, like, wanting to write a book, or they are in the process, and they're just. It's a difficult process, obviously, or finishing the book or getting across the finish line. And I've just completed a book, actually. It's really, really proud of the project.

It's called A Starry Night and obsessed over this book for several months of beginning of this year, and it just came out last week, and it was an absolute joy and it was also really hard. And so I'm eager to pay it forward and share some of the things that I learned around writing a book. And we all have stories that are meant to be shared, and some of those stories are meant to be shared in book form. And so if you've got that itch, it probably means you're meant to do it. And I would love to help and be a resource in any way.

So. So with that, I want to share five steps of a simple framework. And we only have a few minutes here, so I want to move really quickly. And then if there's any other additional questions or thoughts that you may have, reach out to me directly. Or if there's energy around wanting more of this, I'm happy to do it as well. So this is a mental health platform. And so what I have found is my mental health struggled when I had something within me that wanted to be expressed, and I didn't know how to get it out or I was afraid to express it.

And so I just felt, like, stagnant. And when we feel stagnant, then we feel sad and depression comes in and sets up resonance within us. So. So with that, if. If you want, if you feel a desire to write a book, then let's write a book. So, number one, let me start walking through these five. Since we're limited on time. Number one is what I'm going to call the pulse. Okay? This is the most important thing, the foundation of everything that we're going to talk about is the goal of the Pulse of Step 1 is to connect or reconnect with the book's living heartbeat.

Okay? This is where we listen. And so a couple questions that may help you in this phase. What is this book really about? Beneath the topic. All right, so the root, like the thing, what is this book really about? Another Question is, why does it matter now to this world and to me in this moment of time? What's happening in the world and what people are wrestling with and dealing with and what's alive? Why does this matter now? And then the third thing is then what's one truth or question that refuses to leave me alone?

What's keeping me up at night? And so those three questions really help diagnose, to get you to the pulse, the heartbeat of what this book wants to be. And I also, I say that a lot. What does this book want to be? What does this book want to be? This book is. I may be writing it and putting pen to paper, but this book is a living thing that's moving through me, right? And it is for me and through me, not by me. And so I use spiritual wording like that and that's too woo woo, then just throw it out.

But so with this pulse, this part of this framework, don't leave this segment without naming this books core pulse. Okay? In one sentence. Just condense it down into one sentence. And that's your compass for this entire project. So for example, the core pulse in one sentence for a starry night was a starry night is a story of returning to what was never lost. That's going to be the constant thread. Second thing, we're going to call this the shape. Okay, so we've got the pulse. Now let's give it shape.

Especially important for you if you're just starting. We put a lot of pressure on. All right, like what is this thing? And I've got to have everything figured out. No, you don't. But you do need to have a scaffolding or framework for the book so you can start filling in. So the goal of this stage is to give your book bones. So it stops being a cloud of ideas. The more ideas you have floating around, the more overwhelmed we can become and the harder we are on ourselves and the less momentum the project has.

Okay, so if you're starting before you've written a book, then write the working title out three sections and then five chapter ideas. These will change, okay? So do not put pressure on the wording and everything like that. These will change. This just gives you bones. Don't think it, it just gives you structure. If you're midway through a book and, and you're kind of feeling like stuck in it or it's lost momentum, sketch a current map of the book. What's written, what's missing, what feels dead.

Write it all out, get it in front of you and Then if you're finishing, you just need to get across the goal line and you just edit, edit, edit, and you just can't quite get it there. List what's left. Edits, holes, connective tissue with that. And so a prompt for this stage is, if my reader only remembers three moments or ideas, one. What would those be? That becomes the spine of the book to work from. Okay, third is the scene. I'm moving quick here. Third is the scene. Okay? So the goal of the scene is to drop from structure into aliveness.

So pick one powerful moment in the book, one story or image that embodies your book's truth, okay? Then Write it for 10 minutes fast. No outlining, no editing, just heat. And then read a few lines aloud to feel the energy of what. Just what you just put on paper. Okay? A reminder in this stage is that books are built from moments, not plans, okay? So don't get lost in all the details of it and everything like that. Follow the heat of what's coming up to splash it down. Write it for 10 minutes fast.

No outlining, no editing, just the heat. All right, so the fourth piece of this is what I'll call the path. And so the goal of this fourth stage, the path, is to convert inspiration into momentum. We want momentum. Momentum is everything, everything. As long as we feel forward, forward progress in what we're doing, it's going to keep bringing us back to the book. As soon as we feel like we're having to start from scratch every time we go to write, it's going to get. We're going to start. It's going to be heavier and heavier to carry the book.

All right, so we want momentum. So three ways to do this. One, small. Next, action. Okay, an example of this is 500 words. Finish a scene, and then maybe outline the next chapter or maybe like, revise the intro. A small. Next, action. Another thing then is one ritual. So the same chair, the same time, the same tea or coffee. I had one spot that I would constantly write, and it was on the couch. I had my lamp. Everything else was dark. And I did most of my best writing late into the evening or early morning.

I had a lot of sleepless nights with this book, and that became a real place of refuge and comfort. And so ritual really helped me find that spot in that place, that time in the elements around you, and then one container. And what I mean by that is an accountability partner. Maybe you're talking actively with. With someone and they're saying, all right, cool. What's next? What are you going to have done next week a writing sprint? Maybe. Maybe it's a time you have on the schedule. Every day that you write, there's 30 minutes and it's just the next thing, some sort of deadline that can be helpful, whatever is helpful.

Now if you feel a lot of pressure or stress with that, then maybe revise that because you want it to be flowy. You're just creating a container where that flow can happen. Okay? So if I were coaching you, I would, for example, I would have you write like by this time next week my book will have moved because it's important to know what the next step is. That's momentum. Okay. The last one is I believe writing a book bring something into nothing is a deeply spiritual act. Okay. I believe that to my bones.

And so as a result of that, the fifth stage is a blessing, I'll call it. The goal of this stage is to anchor the creative state before we leave. And let's do that before we even leave this time. And so again, it's going to sound woo woo to some and over spiritually and if that is, throw it out. Right? Make it your own. But something I believe because this is a deeply thing. Let's, let's just say then that if you have a book to write, then what I believe is that this book already exists in the unseen, in the quantum, whatever it is, okay?

And my work is to listen and let it through. Okay? So it already exists. I believe that. I believe the book that I wrote, it existed before I wrote it. And it was my job to listen what does this book want to be and then let it come. And so I hope this is helpful. If you're interested in more of this or interested in one on one coaching or anything to get your book off the ground or to the finish line, message me. We all have a story worthy of sharing. We just have to listen long enough to learn how it wants to be told.

So, all right, rooting for each of you, cheering you on and have an awesome day.