If I only had the time in my day…

I should write a book about this…

Remember when you said you were going to write a book? Did you do it?

Are you still going to do it? When?

Someday? Maybe?

Oh, when you retire.

That’s nice. Let me know when it’s available.

So I retired a decade ago.  Truthfully, I’ve never been busier.  You know, the post retirement job, the kids through college, the mortgage. It’s quite a list. Life has a way of filling in the blanks with so-called important issues, and without our own personal intervention in our own personal futures, that tendency fills up our personal 24 hours a day quite succinctly.

So you want to write a book.  I’m presuming you do as you’re still reading.  That’s a good sign.  If you’re like me, you’ve got a knack for writing or story-telling. People have told you that before, and not just to be nice. You know it’s true.

My issue was not only that I could never find the time. It was that I didn’t know what I would do if I did find or make the time.  The only thing I could envision myself doing was sitting in front of a computer screen or with a notebook in hand contemplating what I should be writing, but couldn’t because I only had an hour anyway. I understand a lot of writers spend a lot of time doing this. I didn’t have a process or a guide or a friend who could tell me what to do. And I didn’t want to join a writers group…I don’t know. Just because.

I’m one of the fortunate who found employment in my chosen field of study: communications.  So, I feel pretty lucky.  But for years. Decades, if I’m honest, I put off bringing any focus to the writing projects I started when I attended the university.

I’m an avid reader and a professional communicator, and most of my time, when I wasn’t working or sleeping, I was reading. While I had the talent and the means to write a book, I never considered it because I just didn’t know how. There, I said it again. I didn’t know how. How long are chapters? Who would even publish my book? What if I wrote it and couldn’t get it published? Would I invent my own publishing company no one had ever hear of, vanity press some copies of my book, the play it off like I was tired of the whole idea? Actually, not a bad idea, but not really my style. Had I had author friends, my life might have taken a different turn, but it didn’t.  So here, I offer you, my new friend, friendship with an author and a method for writing that book you’ve talked about with yourself. Seemingly forever.

No, I can’t make you a great writer.  No, I won’t read your manuscript.  That’s not what this is about.

This is about understanding the art of the possible. It’s a roadmap that can help you, in a few months, take your idea and put it into a manuscript form.  Think it’s impossible? That’s what I thought, too. So stick around. Do what I do (or don’t do what I did, depending on the case), it’s in the key of E. Watch me for the changes.