Write Your Book

Happy in my mess. New novel manuscript in far upper right.

Many friends tell me they’re afraid to write their book. They have a book inside, but they’re afraid to start writing. It just feels too big.

Don’t think of it as writing a book. Decide instead to write one chapter or just one experience. Pick a powerful experience, one that wrote on your soul and changed you. Write that. 

Don’t write for anyone else. Write as if no one else will ever read it. In fact, give yourself permission to burn it afterwards if you don’t want to share. Then, with that assurance, write the most raw, vulnerable, authentic experience that radiates from your heart. Drop it all on the page with the emotions you’ve bottled up for years. Write the details, your deepest feelings, and what you learned. If it makes you cry, all the better. Keep writing. You will process your experience in a new and powerful way. You will gain insights you’ve never realized. It will change you all over again.

When you’re done with those few paragraphs, pick another experience and write it. As the pile of paper on your desk grows taller, your confidence, clarity and compassion will expand. You’ll realize your story is worth sharing because it will help others the same way it helped you. And when you look at that pile, you’ll realize you’ve written your book.

Tell your story. Start with one page.