I am so excited to announce that I will have a book coming out on Monday, March 21, 2016! I am so stoked about this for writing a book has been too long coming! I want to tell you my journey in writing this book and the process to help you glean insights on how writing a book really is and sometimes it’s not as pretty as you may think. I began writing the book back in December 2015 after I came up with the outline for a speech. I thought, “Hey, why not turn this into a eBook?”
So I started off my journey: I started strong, like all good writers do. I started to write for 10-15 minutes at a time and since I had a well written outline for the book started, I just filled in the gaps basically. I thought it wouldn’t take me a long time to finish (I was thinking more like a month from start to finish). I dedicated three days a week to write and I type pretty fast and within 10-15 minutes, I can write between 500-600 words. I knew the book wouldn’t be too terribly long, so I figured I could have it done within a month.
Well a month went by with me dwindling down to writing perhaps twice a week (or even once a week). It would seem that I just didn’t feel like writing. There were a few times that I got into the writing zone and would knock out an entire chapter or two, but I didn’t think it would have taken me this long.
I was on Chapter 6 and I knew I only had two more chapters left. I knew it would only take an hour or so to write the rest of the book. I put it off, put it off and put it off! I kept telling my accountability partner and others, “My goal is to get my book done!” It didn’t happen. I cannot tell you why writing the last few chapters were this painful for me. I cannot tell you why I felt so hesitate or reluctant to write. I don’t know if I was growing impatient and wanted the book done now or if I was just sick and tired of writing the ebook.
So one fateful Saturday, I went to the library at 10am and headed straight to a study room where I sat and stayed for 6 hours working, writing, and brainstorming. I knew I had to finish my book.
It was PAINFUL to write. I didn’t want to write it! Every word was forced and every sentence was torture to me. I cannot explain why so don’t ask. But once I was done, I was so HAPPY! I felt like someone just released me from prison!
I knew I would pay someone to edit my book for me; it took me 6 months to edit my devotional book. I knew I COULD NOT do that again! That was time wasted! Onto Fiverr I went and found an editor to edited my work (click here to see who I used). You know how great it felt to know someone was editing my book for me? I did go over the edits and yes, I made a few changes, but it felt good that I didn’t have to take the editing too seriously.
Next was finding a graphic designer to handle my cover (click here to see who I hired). I hired one off of Fiverr and within three days, I had a book cover that I love (it’s the one featured in this blog)! Between the time of edits and finding a graphic designer, it hit me: You have to start marketing this book, Monica! You have to create a launch!
That thought stopped me in my tracks!
I scrabbled to a piece of paper and wrote down different ways to promote myself – before and after my book is published. Then I made a plan to do 5-7 things in order to get my marketing rolling now! I printed out a calendar to create different days to get ahead of the game and how I am going to promote my book.
It has come time to discuss the publisher; what publisher am I going to use? CreateSpace. I have heard positive ravings and since my budget is tight, the price is just right. Free!
Now this launch isn’t as big as I wanted it to be, but I know I’m still learning and experimenting for other books I will be writing. This is also a test run to see what works and what doesn’t. I see it as a trial run for the next book, which is coming out soon (expect it in May 2016!).
I will have to talk about the publishing process as a theme one month – perhaps May? Let me know if this would be something you would like to learn about as I am going through it now. I would love to share my thoughts and knowledge with you!
From today until March 20, you can read the first chapter of the book! Click here (or on the book cover) to get the first chapter for free and then if you want a copy, mark your calendar for March 21 to buy it on Amazon, Kindle, and on my website!
