How do you even write a book, anyway?
Rachel, Monique, Jenn and I at our first book meeting!
Last week was a big week because . . .
We had our first official meeting for Book #2!
I get a lot of questions about the book-writing process, and it was certainly something I was curious about before I wrote a book. How do you do it? What goes into it? What is the process? Do you have a team? How long does it take?
With Permission to Screw Up, I went about it in a bit of a backwards way. I didn’t get my book contract by way of a proposal or outline: I was speaking at a leadership retreat, and my publisher happened to be in the audience. He asked me if I wanted to write a book, I said yes, we shook on it, and then we signed an official contract after that.
At first, it felt like a dream. But as I began the process, it soon felt like a nightmare. It was really hard to write the book because I had no outline and no direction. I didn’t have the slightest clue of what this book was going to be about. Not having that clarity led to a change in book direction about 1,983,123 times. (Okay, maybe more like 2 or 3… but it sure felt like that many.) It also led to me going more than 1.5 years past my deadline and almost giving up. I thought my publisher was going to release me from the contract. And even worse, it led to an experience that I would not describe as fun at all.
This time, I have the chance to do it differently.
I’m choosing to start with an outline because I now know that clarity at the beginning really matters. I’ve learned that your ideas can shift as you write, and where you begin might not be where you end up when you finish the book, and that’s all okay. But having a strong starting direction is absolutely critical. And most importantly, having a clear direction from the beginning will allow this process to be a lot more fun, which is a goal that is really important to me in this next go-around.
Writing a book is freaking hard, and I am lucky enough to have a writing team. I admire anyone who goes on this journey alone—I couldn’t imagine doing it solo. Our primary book team consists of Rachel, our Chief of Content, who has a degree in journalism and who recently celebrated 10 years with our company. She also worked alongside me writing Permission to Screw Up. Then there’s Monique, our Chief of Growth, who is my thought partner and who helps me flesh out my ideas. She recently celebrated 9 years with our company. And last but not at all least: Jenn. We were lucky enough to find her in the middle of writing Permission to Screw Up, and she helped us get on track and bring the book to the finish line. Jenn is our book leader, our editor, our strategist, and the person who has the courage to tell us when what we’ve written isn’t good enough or doesn’t make sense. Thank goodness for her!
In our meeting last week, Jenn said something really powerful: “Clear thinking is clear writing, and clear writing is clear thinking.”
That is why an outline matters, and that's why we are starting there. Our goal is to have the book outlined in the next couple of months, and we will also give ourselves permission to take longer if we aren’t clear. It’s that important.
An outline consists of a few parts:
What is the overarching idea of the book?
Why am I the person to write it?
What are the chapters and main ideas?
These are the questions we have to answer first.
In our first meeting, which lasted two hours, I shared my thoughts on the book direction and the team gave me feedback and asked me questions. We honed in on two main ideas, and we believe these ideas may be connected.
Between now and our next meeting (which is a month away), my homework is to:
Clarify the relationship between these two main ideas. I need to define each one, and then determine where/if these two ideas tie together
Determine what are called “narrative threads.” Essentially, what are the moments that I want to write about within the story? It’s probably no surprise to you that my natural writing style is more memoir-y/storytell-y, and in order to write this style of book, I need narrative threads
Brain dump a list of topics I want to cover in the book
Research what's out there about these two ideas. What are people talking about? How are they talking about it? This might show us where there are gaps that this book can fill
And there you have it. The first of many book meetings (and many homework assignments!) for book #2!
I already feel a difference between this book and the last. I left our first meeting feeling excited. I know this is going to be a lot of work. I know it’s going to be challenging. But I also know that I’ve grown a lot since writing Permission to Screw Up. I have boundaries. I know that I can’t sit in front of the computer, writing for 9 hours straight. I know that it’s healthy to walk away when things aren’t clicking. And most of all, I know that clear thinking is clear writing, and clear writing is clear thinking.
I promise to take you along this journey with me. The ups, the downs, and especially the times when I want to throw my laptop off the balcony, because let’s face it: It’s inevitable.
Thanks for being here with me through it all!
Hugs,
Kristen
PS: We are so excited to announce our next set of dates for the Human Leadership Program: March 16 + 17th! We hope you’ll join us. Tickets are first-come, first-served and will be capped. A few attendees from our last program helped us create this video to share what the experience is like. You can get your ticket here.
PPS: No REAL TALK this week because I’ll be giving a speech at that time! We will resume on Wednesday, 9/15 at 11 a.m. ET! I’ll be interviewing my best friend, Darlene. We are talking about friendship and I hope you’ll join us. Register here: https://bit.ly/3kWe2kT
