Thinking About Writing a Book? Check Out This Interview
I wrote Get Where You Want To Go Through Marketing, Selling and Storytelling to provide value to anyone who leads people, manages processes or sells ideas, products, or services.
In it, I offer tips and strategies that I’ve learned over the years from my experiences to help readers with their stories, convey their ideas, and maximize the impact of their messaging.
Writing this book was a challenging yet rewarding experience and it’s my hope that I can share what I learned along the way with those who are considering writing a book of their own.
Check out my Q & A below to learn more.
Where did you get the idea to write a book?
My process for my book began very early in my career because I was fortunate to do a lot of turnarounds and aid in the growth of new organizations.
Along the way, I would jokingly say, “That’s going to be a chapter in my book!” when something crazy (good or bad) happened.
However, the idea of actually writing a book never really crossed my mind until some of my mentors questioned why I hadn’t written one yet.
When they mentioned it, I thought about it and decided to do my research and learn more about the process.
After doing my due diligence, I was convinced it was time to write my book so I started building the outline.
At first, I had these broad categories of what I wanted to cover and the more I strategized, the longer the list would become.
Until I had a lightbulb moment.
At the time I was in the early stages of producing content for my blog.
I realized the blogs I’d written all fell into a handful of categories that I’d already outlined.
So, instead of recreating the wheel, I took my blogs and added more meat to them.
This helped me focus my attention and got the ball rolling on the actual writing of my book.
What did your writing process look like?
When I decided to write my book I knew I needed to carve out time every week to write.
But between work and coaching my kids’ sports teams among other responsibilities, my time was limited.
So that year, I decided to take a step back and not coach my son’s football team for a season.
I used the time I would have spent at practice on writing.
In addition to those writing sessions, on Saturdays, rather than sitting in the bleachers for a few hours during my sons’ basketball practice, I’d drop them off and head to a nearby Starbucks and write. In fact, I actually finished the book at Starbucks.
I want to stress that writing a book not only requires discipline to frequently sit down and write, but it also requires a level of time management because you have to carve out time either every day or multiple times a week to write.
It’s difficult but once you find a process that fits with your lifestyle, put your head down and get to work. Before you know it you’ll have the first draft of your book completed.
“Words matter” is something you say a lot. How’d that play a role in writing your book?
Words matter in so many ways.
This was especially true when it came to the title of my book.
I wanted to convey that it helps you to get where you want to go.
I had a book consultant say to me, “Ah, that’s too pithy,” and I said, “You’re probably right, but I legitimately believe that I can help you get where you want to go if you read my book, and I believe it’s Get Where You Want To Go Through Marketing, Selling, and Storytelling.”
The words mattered on the title just like the words mattered on the headlines of each blog I wrote.
They were written creatively to make you think and the lesson here is to realize the importance of focusing on the words of your title. It needs to hook and then reel in a person’s attention to pick up your book and learn more.
How did you navigate around the difficulties of writing this book?
There are so many. The first is, even though I set aside time when I would have been coaching a team or at a football practice, you still flat out get uncomfortable with writing. There were so many times when the screen would be empty and times when I’d give the backspace button a workout.
To break through writer’s block, a lot of times I went back to pen and paper. There’s something about the “old school” way of writing that gets you into a groove.
But, it was painful (literally) and honestly, that’s par for the course because writing a book is a painful yet rewarding experience.
I suggest you build an outline to focus your attention, get your reps (create a writing schedule), use your blog or any other resources you have to guide your writing, and then just do it.
Overthinking and strategizing won’t get your book on the shelves. It’s the actual hard work and writing that will.
What are some tips you picked up along the way from your experience?
The beautiful thing is self-publishing is no longer frowned upon.
Back then, I had a friend who was a strategic partner and still is, and he sent his book to 25 different publishers and was rejected by all of them.
Then he sent it to another 15 and got rejected by 14.
His first book ultimately was published, but he spent years trying to get someone to publish it for him.
I went the self-publishing route because it gave me the flexibility I needed to make my book my own.
I wanted to be able to pick the title and have the design the way I wanted it and basically have control of how the book turned out.
But, beyond the creative aspect, if you choose to self publish you have to be ready to get into the nitty-gritty details like getting an ISBN number, copyrighting your work, getting the manuscript a certain way, finding a printer, etc.
The process has become more streamlined and easier for people to get their work into the world.
If you were to write another book, what would it be about?
I wrote Get Where You Want To Go because it was on my bucket list. Every time I see my book in my office, it serves as a constant reminder that hard work pays off and when you set your mind to something and pour your whole heart into it, you can accomplish anything.
I think my next books will be about the power of storytelling in leadership and the eight reasons companies become BS marketers. Stay tuned…
If you haven’t already, you can grab a copy of Get Where You Want To Go Through Marketing, Selling and Storytelling on Amazon.
