An update on the second book
Well, my friends, I have an update on Book #2—and it might not be what you were expecting!
The book is on pause. I’m bummed, but I’m also certain that this is the right choice for us right now. And here’s why . . .
For the last two years, my team and I have been going back and forth on the book proposal with our agent and prospective publishers. We’ve been stuck in a really defeating cycle: We work super hard on the proposal, we get feedback from publishers and editors and incorporate it into another revision, and then we get more feedback and are still left without a contract. The feedback about the proposal itself has been really positive, but the overall message we’ve heard from the publishers is that the category this book would be in is really crowded at the moment. They felt that they’ve already published books that share similar themes and that this book would need to stand out more. Because we’ve already done so many revisions, it’s starting to not even feel like the book or the message that I want to share. And for that reason, we’ve decided to hit the pause button instead of revamping the proposal again.
There have been many times over the last two years when I let this process negatively affect my mindset. I went so far as to question whether I even wanted to write a book again. But the thing is that deep, deep down, I know in my gut that something is off with this book. Throughout the process, something just hasn’t felt right with the direction, no matter how many times we changed it. But because I couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, I put my desire to write a book over my desire to write the right book, and I kept going. I guess my mentality was that once I got a contract, I’d figure out what’s off when I finally got down to writing. But I know that’s not a great way to write a book.
I learned from my experience of writing Permission To Screw Up that it’s so important to feel really good and really clear about the direction of the book you’re writing. With my first book, we spent a lot of the process with no direction at all, and it was super challenging. Going into Book #2, I knew I wanted to feel good about what the book would be before we even started writing it, which is why we poured so much into the proposal. That’s also why, now, I’ve come to realize that all this back-and-forth is happening for a reason. The version of the book we’ve described in our proposal is definitely not the next book I'm supposed to write. The branding work that we're currently doing as a team is helping me identify the book I really want to write as well as get crystal-clear on our messaging and the difference we want to make in the world.
The new version of the book will be about what I naturally like to speak about, think about, and dream about. For some reason, I didn't originally go in that direction because I thought it needed to be “bigger” or “grander” somehow. The stuff we're meant to do is the stuff that feels most authentic to us—and hello, here I am learning my own lesson!
Even though I now have more clarity on the right direction of the book than ever before, I don't want to dive back into it just yet. I want to give my team and I time to complete the branding process, and I want us to be able to put all of our attention there right now. I don't want to have the added pressure of writing a book on top of that. We will create a better book when we have the capacity to really honor it and take our time making it the best it can be.
Though it might sound like two years of working on this proposal has gotten us nowhere, it’s actually been hugely valuable. It’s helped me generate so many new ideas (some of which will make it in the next book), which I’m already using in speeches and in my work with teams, and they’re really resonating. They’ve added new life to a lot of what I write and talk about on a regular basis.
This whole process has me thinking a lot about how your mindset totally affects the way you look at a setback. When something doesn't work out the way that you want it to, you have a choice: You can ruminate on it, let it upset you, and let it prevent you from creating or doing something again. Or you can be curious about it and try to find the lessons and the gifts in the experience.
We got a lot of gifts from these proposal revisions. As a team, we’ve strengthened our writing muscles, created some really great content, and produced new keynotes and workshops. We’ve also formed even better relationships with our agent and some of the publishers. When you’re faced with a setback, I think it's important to ask: Is this happening to me or for me? I realize now that this whole proposal process is happening for us so that we can write the book we're meant to write. So while this did negatively impact my mindset for a time, I'm now in a place where I can absolutely see and believe that it's happening for us. And I want you to know that the same can be true for you.
I want to challenge you to look back on a setback or maybe something you’re going through right now with this new perspective. Maybe things aren’t going the way you want them to go or you're working on something that isn’t quite where you want it. I want you to know you're not alone! You’ve got this, we’ve got this, and I can't wait to celebrate with you when we get to the other side!
Big hugs,
