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10 Weeks Old Tomorrow

3 weeks ago today, Rio arrived at our house. He is definitely learning and growing.

How do you hope to grow and stretch over the next 10 weeks?

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Ten Things Every Aspiring Book Author Should Know

I am an author!

As of April 22nd of this year, I can officially make this proclamation.  This is the day my first book released to the public.  Since the book released, many people have asked me how it feels to be an author.

It feels great, and it feels a little weird.

People have also asked what it took to release my first book.  I have a lot to learn, but I think I can also provide a fresh perspective to people who are thinking about writing their first book.  With this in mind, I came up with a list of ten things to know about writing your first book:

Ten Things Every Aspiring Book Author Should Know

  1. Writing a book takes time.  Writing a book doesn’t happen by snapping your fingers.  It will take you some time.  My On Track book took three months which does not include the time I spent last year writing a few of the blog posts that initiated the idea of writing a book related to the world of track and field.  This is important for me to remember as I consider my next book projects.  I’m hoping to have another book to release before the end of the year, but it may take longer.
  2. Writing a book requires the attitude of a student.  There is so much to learn in the world of book writing and publishing.  I have talked to many other authors.  I have read many blog posts and articles about writing books.  There are many, many great resources available for aspiring authors.  I still have so much to learn, and I’m excited to learn more.  If you want to write a book, ask a lot of questions and prepare to learn.
  3. Writing a book requires humility.  I asked for feedback from several people as I prepared to release my book.  I gave the manuscript to editors, book authors, and potential reviewers in exchange for their honest feedback.  A lot of the feedback required me to set aside my pride, so I could produce a better product.  If you are writing a book, ask people to provide honest critiques of your work.  It will make you a much better author.
  4. Writing a book is work.  It is not easy to write and publish a book.  Besides taking time to write the book, you have to work with cover designers, editors, format people, book store owners, agents, publishers, and many others.  You will probably need to write guest blog posts and do interviews.  You will have to promote your product in an effort to get your book out there.  This is a lot of work.  No one explained to me how much work it took to write and publish a book.
  5. Writing a book is fun.  Honestly, I have enjoyed the process so far.  It has been fun to figure things out along the way (maybe this is the engineer in me).  It has been fun to tell other people about my book or about the progress in completing my book project.  It is fun to watch your initial book sales and to open your first box of books as they arrive at your house.  And it is fun to autograph books for those interested.
  6. Writing a book is habit-forming.  I wrote the first book as a practice for the second book.  My guess is that my second book will be practice for the third book and so on.  Some authors are once and done, but my guess is that many first time authors become second time authors.  They can’t help themselves to do it all over again.
  7. Writing a book provides an amazing opportunity to share with others.  I’ve written about it in previous posts.  I am amazed at the number of opportunities I have had to share with others about my book and about the message behind my book.  You have something worth saying, and a book will provide many unique opportunities to say it to a captive audience.
  8. Writing a book will stretch you.  Do you want to grow?  Do you want to stretch yourself?  Start writing a book.  I have been stretched in so many directions as a result of diving into my first book project.  I thrive on stretching.  I want to live a life marked by growth.  My book project has pushed me to new places in my life.  I am having opportunities to go places I have never gone before as a result of the decision to write a book.  If you want to stretch, start writing.
  9. Writing a book does not guarantee a financial windfall.  So far, I’ve sold 98 copies of my book.  I’ve made about $110.00 so far.  In my dreams I will be a best-selling author one day.  In my dreams….  Did you know that over 90% of authors sell less than 200 copies of their book.  This doesn’t bode well for anyone hoping to making a ton of money by writing books.  I would love to do some amazing things with money made from book proceeds.  I have dreams of building 100 houses in Guatemala using proceeds from my writing.  It’s possible, but it will require a lot more work and a lot more writing.  If you are planning to write a book, you should have realistic expectations for the financial outcome of your book.  You should also remember your initial reasons for writing.  I write to reflect on my stretching marks and to stretch other people.  Why do you want to write a book?
  10. Writing a book is possible.  I never imagined I would be able to call myself an author.  I’m an engineer and a manager.  I’m a husband and a father.  I’m a runner.  But I never imagined I was an author.  That changed in April when I released my first book.  If I can do it, you can do it too!

Have you ever thought about writing a book?  What is stopping you from pursuing becoming an author?  If you have already written a book, what would you add to this list?

On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle.  Click the link below to get your copy today.

As a reminder, I am offering a FREE pdf copy of the interior of the book to subscribers of The Stretched Newsletter.  Head over to the main page of the blog and sign up on the right hand menu bar to get your copy today for FREE!

On Track Delivered to My House

I came home from work today to discover the first delivery of my book to our house. Now, I have copies to get out to people who requested autographed copies. If you are interested in getting one, let me know so we can discuss details.

What did you get in the mail today (or this week)?

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Old Teacher Friend

At the local Civil War Reunion, I ran into my middle school social studies teacher, Mr. Dunigan.

Who was your middle school social studies teacher?

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Play Hard, Rest Well

With a new puppy in the house, I’m reminded again of the importance of playing (and working) hard and of resting well.

How will you rest well today?

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Why On Track?

OnTrack3dCover04132014

Since releasing my first book, On Track: Life Lessons from the Track & Field, almost two weeks ago, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to many people about the book.  People at my office have asked me about it.  People at my church ask me about the book.  And people from the other circles of my life have asked me about the book.

It’s fun to share, but it has also been an adjustment as I walk the line of promotion and humility.  I sometimes wonder if this is normal for first time authors.  I want people to know about the book.  I want them to read it.  And I want them to share it with their friends and family.  But I also don’t want to be arrogant, prideful, or cocky.

I have so much to learn about writing, and I truly believe the best is yet to come.

When I share about On Track, I feel compelled to share the story about why I wrote the book in the first place.  I thought it would be healthy for me to share the story here.

I’m an engineer.  Writing a book was not on my radar until the past few years.  I started blogging nearly seven years ago as a place to process life’s stretching experiences.  Early on, I realized my thoughts in the blog could also be a catalyst for helping other people to stretch.  The more I wrote, the more I realized I had something worth sharing.  Readers began to ask me when I was going to write a book.  I put these comments to the side doubting that a book could ever be in my future.  After all, I was an engineer and not a writer.  Somewhere in the past two years, I started to move thoughts of book writing to the forefront.

I started writing On Track a year ago when I wrote several posts about related to the track and field world.  Here are the posts:

I don’t remember the specifics, but one of the Stretched readers (Steve Y) suggested I put together a book based on my observations of the track and field world.  This seemed like an interesting idea, but I didn’t do anything about it for a while.

As many of you know, I have a big heart and passion for short-term missions.  My experiences the past couple of summers propelled me to write a lot about missions on the blog.  As I considered writing a book, a book about short-term missions and developing a mission mindset seemed like the natural direction to follow.

I started brainstorming and creating an outline for this book about missions.  I prayed about it.  I talked about it with my wife and a few close friends.  And I decided to move forward.  I worked diligently on the outline for this book, and I sent it out to a few trusted friends and authors for their feedback.  As the feedback started coming in, I began to realize I was stepping into something pretty big.  I have big ideas for this book, but I didn’t have any experience whatsoever on how to proceed with the project.  Do I pursue a traditional publisher, or do I go down the self-publishing route.  How do I write a book proposal?  How do I handle the cover design?  How do I handle the editing and formatting?  How do I launch this kind of project?  The feedback for this book was terrific and encouraging, but I realized I needed to step back and try something a little smaller first.

And this is when I remembered the suggestion from Steve Y.  I looked back on my old posts, and I started scheming on how I could adjust and add to these posts to create something worth publishing.  In a sense, On Track became a “test” book project.  The book gave me the opportunity to see how self-publishing works.  It also gave me the opportunity to work with a graphic designer and editor.

Initially, I had thoughts of giving the book away for free in an effort to build my mailing list.  After all, this is what the experts on platform development tell you to do.  As I went deeper into the On Track project, it became more than a “test.”  On Track became something I believed had an important message – a message worth sharing.  And so, I decided to release it on Amazon in paperback and eBook for a small price.  (A digital copy of the book is available for FREE when you subscribe to the Stretched Newsletter.)

Since the release of On Track, I’ve been learning a lot about the challenges of “marketing/promoting” a book – especially when you are busy raising a family, working at a demanding job, and living a life that keeps you on the go.

I have so much more to learn, but I’m thankful for the journey so far.

Tomorrow, I’ll share the introduction to the book.  For those who haven’t read On Track yet, I think this will give you another look at why I wrote On Track.

If you have read On Track, I hope you’ll leave a comment on Amazon, and let me know what you think right here in the comments.  If you haven’t read the book yet, click the link below to purchase the book at Amazon, or pick up a digital copy for FREE by subscribing to the Stretched Newsletter.

Thanks!

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