What The Book Writing Process Looks Like

It's not as easy as you might think

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been in the process of writing my first physical book. The book, Reel Leadership: Tales of leadership from the movies, will share insights into the leadership lessons you will find in the movies (much like my Reel Leadership articles).

I’ve longed to publish my first book. And the reality of my first book is edging ever closer. But one thing I realized is that I haven’t shared much of my book writing process with you, my readers.

My process for writing my first book Reel Leadership

Image by Dillon Klassen

The book writing process is interesting. The book writing process also isn’t as easy as you might think it is.

You don’t just sit down and write a book. At least I haven’t been able to.

If you’ve ever wondered what the book writing process looks like, check out how mine has gone.

What My Book Writing Process Has Looked Like

  • Excitement: Woo hoo! I’m finally writing my first book. It’s going to be awesome and the book is going to touch a lot of people.
  • Fear: Man… Who am I to write a book? I’m not good enough to do this. No one’s going to buy my book.
  • Progress: Great! I’ve been able to sit down and write 1,000 words with no problem. This is going to rock.
  • Stalled progress: Ughh… I don’t know how to move this forward. What movie will I have to watch today to get a leadership insight to share in Reel Leadership?
  • Trepidation: Whoa…. This book thing takes a lot of effort and a lot of writing. I’ve got to reach how many words? I feel overwhelmed.
  • Excitement: A wise word comes from a friend and ramps up the excitement. The wise word was a book writing trick to get writing. Commit to writing 3 paragraphs a day. Write more if you’d like to but you can stop after you’ve written 3 paragraphs.
  • Stalled progress, again: Whew! I’ve gotten a lot of work done. Let’s take a break.
  • Fear: Uh oh… I’ve taken too much time off of writing the book. And new blog posts. Which one do I work on? Book? Blog? Both?
  • Forward progress: I’ve got to work on something. Book today. Blog tomorrow. Rinse, repeat.

That’s how the progress for Reel Leadership has gone. Starts, stops, fits.

The journey of writing a book isn’t easy. Yet the book writing process starts by sitting down at the keyboard, pecking away at the keys, and making progress, however small the progress may be.

Reel Leadership the book is coming. I hope you’re as excited for the book about leadership lessons from the movies as I am.

Question: Are you excited to get your hands on Reel Leadership? Let me know in the comment section below.

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