Today is my book’s official birthday! The Writer’s Roadmap: Paving the Way To Your Ideal Writing Life is officially in the world!
Happy birthday, TWR! It’s an amazing feeling watching my words go out in the world. Now they’re yours to do with as you wish!
You can get your e-book here!
If you prefer the paperback, get it here! The paperback has extra pages for you to mark up with your notes.
Publishing this thing has been a wild ride.
Writing and publishing are two different animals.
Writing is solitary. No matter how many readers, editors and family members who say they can’t wait to read it! When is it going to be done? You know, you should really write a book about [fill in the blank]! And oh you’re a writer?! But really, your writing is about you sitting in front of your computer making small decisions over and over until you’re finished.
Then when you’re finished, you have to leap over the fear of “will anyone like this at all?” to decide to publish your work.
Next, you have to decide how to publish. Do you want to self-publish? Find an agent or a small press or something else?
You’re on your own with this one.
You can ask for advice, listen to stories, hear what other people have chosen, but ultimately, this is a step you decide on your own. We joke about writers and working from home. I won’t lie. I’ve been known to roll out of bed and straight to my computer to start work for the day.
In the lone world of the writer, anything goes. You can make a mess. Try something and trash it and try something else. You can be messy, ridiculous, ugly and even have tantrums. No one sees what you do on your own, which can be both the blessing and the curse of writing. No one sees it so you are FREE to experiment, change, grow and be as messy and ugly as you want.
But no one sees it so it feels like your writing means nothing if no one reads it, sees it or even knows it exists. A piece of writing in progress may as well not exist. A piece of writing you’ve finished but never bother sharing exists only for you.
Publishing brings your words into the world but publishing is literally the opposite process of writing.
To publish, you must be neat.
You must edit every word, comma and sentence.
You must have an outer dressing — aka cover — that draws people in with the first glance.
You must simplify your message so it’s easy to understand in one sentence.
So you can shake someone’s hand and tell them in one sentence, what it is you do and what your book is about.
This applies whether you’re pitching editors for articles or querying a book.
You can’t be alone when you publish.
Publishing requires a community — a group of people to read your book, to leave reviews, to share your hashtags, to love what you’ve done, to push back and tell you they didn’t like something, to correct your mistakes and tell you when you’re doing it wrong. It requires filtering the information and focusing on that which helps you most. It requires relying on other people, knowing they won’t all be gentle with you or your work.
This is what I learned in writing and publishing The Writer’s Roadmap.
I learned that people do want to know what I have to say. They want it more than I realized or imagined when I sat alone writing. I learned that my stories are important. I found my community is there for me, and I will continue to be there for them.
I am grateful.
Gratitude benefits you in any circumstance. When things have gone to shit, focusing on what you do have — instead of what you don’t — help. It doesn’t magically make shitty things into good, but it allows space around the bad.
What’s the worst that happens if you put your writing out there?
People ignore it?
People hate it?
I didn’t write The Writer’s Roadmap because I wanted everyone to love it. I also didn’t write it so everyone would buy it. I wrote it because it needed to be written.
I struggled for years trying to create a writing life for myself. Through taking classes, joining masterminds, reading books and asking questions, I figured out a system that worked for me. It worked so well for me, I started using the same method with one-on-one clients. I watched their writing and confidence grow and found I didn’t have enough time to work individually with everyone.
That’s why I wrote the book. So anyone who wants to plan a writing life for themselves has access.
Those who want it? Fantastic. Those who learn from it, love it and develop their writing lives with my help? I wrote this book for you!
What will I do now that The Writer’s Roadmap is out there?
I go back to my plan.
In The Writer’s Roadmap, I lay out my own writing plan, how I developed it and how it became reality, one step at a time. The plan includes working with writers on their books, running writing retreats and publishing the book.
Now it’s time to take a step back.
First, I’m going to launch the book and then take some time to celebrate. There’s no joy in our lives if we are constantly working and focusing on what hasn’t been done. So I’ll take some time to just relax and reflect. I’ll go hiking and hang out with my family. I’ll cook, because the last few months have been a lot of pasta and sandwiches. I miss digging into a recipe and trying something new.
Second, I’m dreaming of what the future will hold. I have lots of ideas. Learning the tango rises to the top. I’ve been living in Argentina for a decade — which I can hardly believe — and I’ve only tangoed a couple times. I want to learn.
I’ll also go back to my personal writing. Mostly non-fiction. I’ve started two books and have a backlog of articles and essays on in Scrivener just begging for attention. I’ve started two books. One called The Rejection Handbook. The other is based on the journal I kept while pregnant with my oldest daughter (who is now fourteen years old.)
We’ll be talking about it in The Workshop, my online writing community for anyone who wants to create a plan for their writing and make it happen.
I’ll be share on my mailing list, where I also share ideas to build your writing life and lots of resources for you to make your plan a reality. If you’re not already on it, sign up here.
I did this!
But today is launch day! I want to enjoy it! I want to bask a bit in the realization that I did this. I wrote this book. I published it. And I am proud of the work I do and this book!
None of it would be possible if it wasn’t for the writing community who has helped me in so many ways, it would take another blog post to list them all.
Thank you!