Writing a book in public! My process, and why this approach.

I’ve said if I ever was going to write a book, it would look NOTHING like the current state that publishing is in today.

(And while I’m not here to thumb my nose at publishing, I believe that whatever the route - traditional, self, hybrid, publishing - I’d LOVE to see a major rethink of the extractive, zero fun rigamarole I see WAY too many thought leaders stumble into, and walk out the other way with $20-50K less in their pocket and their confidence crushed.)

I have no patience for a big reveal months down the road after manufacturing hype and teasing, while the world is in the biggest AND fastest transformation we’ve ever experienced.

This method meets the times. I have a playbook to put into your hands.

AND want to do the thing I always aim to do… pull back the curtain on the ‘how’ of thought leadership. There are so many ways to approach the ‘doing’ of thought leadership, and I am a firm believer that you will not do the things you do not like to do. This writing method is what will work for me to get it done.

My (different) writing method:

1. Speaking the book: While I write… all day… I know myself enough to know that this is about the length I’ll write for me - article length. I will not sit down and write a book for myself. Verbally processing is useful. You’ll hear my method in action.

2. The team: My intern. Yes, intern. My mentee. She’s another author, a novel self-published on Amazon at age 12. In high school. It’s her summer, and she asked about an internship. She’s a great writer. And knew nothing about AI. It’s a project to teach her AI and to leverage her ability to write and execute.

The Book Title: No way.

This book doesn’t have a title yet. I usually title everything I’m working on (you recall I am a ghostwriter, yes?) at or near the end.

Where will we start?

We begin at the beginning. You need a WHY and a thesis statement. They can change mid-process, but you start from a best guess.

THESIS: I'm writing a reinvention field guide that teaches people how to figure out what they want and confidently go after it. It's specifically for people who want to monetize their expertise beyond the norm of corporate, with a three-part framework and practical tactics for turning your expertise into revenue and thought leadership into positive influence.

WHY: Most of us are going through life on two of five cylinders - puttering along in our work, our business, our personal mission. This is how to get all cylinders running so you can go after whatever it is you want to do with your one life.

Listen and hear more about my book process and wrestling with an introduction, as a voice note to my intern working to interview me, gather all the material I have. This is my behind-the-scenes as I build a book.