Book(s)
Although I knew the path I was destined to walk, I didn’t dive right in and start working on my book. I knew it was something I must do, but I did not know how I could. I was still committed to my businesses, especially running the mortgage business, and my partner was counting on me, so I couldn’t just drop everything and start spending time writing. I decided to take a little time to think everything over and figure out how I could possibly fit writing a book into my insanely busy days.
My wife came home Sunday afternoon and by that evening, I still had not made any progress. I helped her put the boys down, then went down to my office and logged into my computer. My mind was spinning with thoughts to the point where I had almost frozen my mind like the spinning wheel on your computer when you overload it with commands. Not sure what to do, I decided to at least open up the Google Doc with the hopes that maybe looking over what I wrote would inspire me. It didn’t. I started reading word for word what I had written and thought about the feedback I was given. As I read more and more, things started to become clearer for me. I could start to envision what I wanted the book to be (and not be). I took out a blank notepad and started making notes as I read. I noted things I wanted to add or subtract. Things that I could explain better. Additional things that I could add. As I went chapter by chapter, in my mind I saw how the book needed to be. One thing became very clear: I shouldn’t write a book; I should write two books.
When my partner was sharing his brutally honest feedback with me, one thing he said almost in passing was that I should take out the examples and make a workbook out of them. At the time, his words did not really register with me, and I almost forgot them. But, as I read over what I had written, his words crept back into my mind and I realized that he was right. To achieve the vision I have for my future, one book is not going to be enough; I need to write two.
When I finally got through my review, I looked at the clock and it read 2:03 am. I had been so immersed in reviewing the book that I completely lost track of time. For the last six hours, I was in a trance. I was so focused that nothing else in the world mattered. It was similar to my meditative state from a few days ago, except this was different. I didn’t set up any couch pillows or do any breathing exercises. I just sat at my desktop computer reading and typing away on my keyboard. I was so entranced with what I was doing, I didn’t even realize the soothing classical music playlist I put on had turned to a punk rock/alternative one.
As I sat there staring at the clock turn to 2:07, I had a realization. I could write the books in the late evening once all of my other responsibilities are done. I knew that I would have work to do once the kids went down, but once everything I had to do was finished, I could then spend time working on the books. So that is what I did. Six months after putting the book down, I started using the late evenings to work on them as much as possible.
I started with stripping out everything that I felt would be better suited for the workbook. Then, before diving back in, I spent some time looking over the books on my bookshelves. I didn’t want to make the same mistakes I did in the first version when I wrote it quickly. This time, I wanted to see what other successful writers did in their books that would enhance mine. I reviewed styles, layouts, additional items they added, and how they worded things. As I did this, the vision for my book became a lot clearer, and I knew the direction I wanted to take it.
Six nights a week, I would spend an hour or so working on the book, only taking off Saturday nights to rest my mind and regroup before starting up again on Sunday. I knew this second version was going to be the most challenging to write since I was essentially starting over almost from scratch. Although I had pulled out a lot, I was left with a lot of holes to fill and had to reorganize everything to ensure the book flowed well. At the same time, I knew that to achieve my vision, I had to write the book in a way that would make it easier to remember what was read. This was incredibly important to me because, as an avid reader, I know firsthand how many books I read where I maybe got one or two things out of them, regardless of how amazing the information was. This also meant I had to rewrite everything in this way.
I kept working on the book at night, and as the clock ticked midnight on New Year’s Eve 2023, I felt excited for 2024. I finally had a direction and knew I was going down my ultimate path with a sense of purpose and following my passion. The problem was that it was taking me forever to write the book. I worked on it as much as I could, but by the time 11:00 pm came, I was spent and had to shut it down. That was until I discovered something that would change everything.