I'm writing a book: Join me on my journey

I just finished the first shitty draft of my outline and holy cow did that feel good!

My laptop, my moleskin, my pen: This is just the beginning

Hey everyone,

I cannot believe I’m writing this, but I am finally, finally writing my first book.

I’ve been thinking about it, dreaming about it, talking about it, planning it, for so, so long, that it has driven me bananas.

I’ve finally decided to hunker down and commit to the big goal that has consumed so much of my brainwave capacity and physical energy over the years.

I’m making this announcement to hold myself publicly accountable, to put myself out there, to expose myself to the elements of expectation, both that of others, and of myself.

I’ll be documenting my process to help me process what I’m going through and what I’m learning.

It’ll be for selfish purposes, sort of like writing “morning pages”, which Julia Cameron has written about so eloquently in her book. Morning pages are a type of journaling yes, but different in that they are supposed to be more free-flowing and stream of consciousness.

Unlike morning pages, however, which are not intended to be seen by anyone beyond the writer, I will be sharing the musings that I jot down in my little digital journal of my writing journey.

I also want to help you as a writer, to share what I’m learning along the way so maybe you can apply some of the lessons I learn, or just draw a bit of inspiration when you’re feeling unmotivated and tired of the world, of yourself, or whatever is bugging you at the moment.

I might share a photo or two, maybe a video, maybe a drawing, who knows.

Frequency? Not sure right now. Biweekly, weekly, every few days, whenever inspiration strikes.

I’ll try to be spontaneous here, less edited and polished than my typical writing.

I’ll make mistakes and leave them in (though my perfectionist tendencies are strong and I know this will be really hard for me to tolerate).

I will still publish interviews with great writers, more Writing Masterclasses, so stay tuned for more of those.

I will still share my thoughts and tips about writing, some of which will likely end up in my book.

Writing my first shitty outline / table of contents

Okay, that stuff above was my grand entrance on the stage, my shout into the bullhorn announcing my project to the world.

Now for a quick peek into my “writing studio” and what’s going on in my head right now.

In this first entry in my digital writing diary, I want to share the enormous pleasure I just felt when I finally, finally, sat my ass down in my chair and wrote the first, shitty draft of my table of contents, the outline of my book.

Holy cow did that feel good! And weirdly, I wrote it all in CAPITAL LETTERS LIKE THIS. I mean, I normally HATE capital letters because it looks like you’re SHOUTING LIKE THIS. But for some reason, it just felt right, it felt good, it felt cathartic to get all of my ideas out on a single document for the first time ever.

I’ve started and stopped, started and stopped, this outlining process, so many times over the years. But I FINALLY did it!

And amazingly, it took just an hour or so to do it. There’s tons of work to do but I now have my map, and it feels good to know where I need to go.

Okay, that’s enough for this first entry. Thank you for reading. And let me know what you’d like me to write about here. Leave me a comment with encouragement, or just throw me a virtual hug if you’re feeling like it.

Oh yeah, one more thing: what’s the book going to be about?

More on that later…

Glenn

PS: If you haven’t already, please sign-up for Write With Impact Academy here on Substack. Follow me on my writing journey!