What inspires your writing? Is it a quote, a feeling, a story told? For me it is being in tune, a moment, whether it comes from travel or conversation, that inspires the first line. Without the first line, I can’t even begin.
My lifestyle has a lot of movement in it. I’ve been couch surfing since September. We are modern day nomads, people who travel full time, staying with others where available, sometimes hotels, most days in our RV, but not for the last few months as it has been in the cabinet maker’s shop. I’ll be honest, I’m ready to be back in my own space.
But the time spent with others is so valuable for inspiration. It has been tough to make time to write, I never want to walk away from a conversation, being present is ever in the forefront of my mind, but the knowledge and ideas have been ever flowing.
Putting author on your business card is an incredible feeling. Well deserved due to the time spent. Incredibly, your book can be your best business card, too. Determining what to write about throws most of us off. Do you write for love or money?
To write for love indicates you have something you must share, whether anyone will read it or not. It is the passion of your topic, your need to make a difference, to share a story. That is how most of us write.
To write for money is targeting keywords, writing what people are searching for, working for those sales. Both are worthwhile adventures, and adventures they are. Even when writing about a topic being regularly searched, there are no guarantees of sales.
Of course, the most important thing is to have something to say. Don’t just keyword stuff a document for sales, your reviews will suffer, as they should, and sales of anything you write in the future may never recover. But let’s say, you do have something to say, what then? Publishing your own book can be so valuable.
The technology has improved so much that printing a bound book is no longer outside of your reach. There are many places that will accept your formatted manuscript and send you back a bound book, sometimes in as little as five days. How great is that?!
KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is probably the most well-known of the Print on Demand Services since it is related to Amazon and allows you to publish on the Amazon Kindle platform as well as the KDP platform at the same time. Another platform is Lulu Xpress, their platform is easy to use and quick to respond. I’ve seen copies printed and delivered in less than five days.
What does that mean to you? It means the next time you are trying to explain an idea, trying to land a client, trying to teach a topic…you could be doing it from an author’s perspective. You could write down those plans, print your best ideas and launch your writing career.
If you want to be a speaker, you really need a book.
If you want to be a coach, you really need a book.
If you want to share your memoir, you really need a book.
Do you see the pattern? But it’s not just for those, it could be a cookbook, it could be a journal, it could be a travel book. What is it you want to share with the world? That’s the first question that needs answered.
Once you have that figured out, it’s time to get to work. Writing, especially inspired writing, takes time. The commodity none of us have enough of. It’s easy to see that your time is filled, but how do you find time to write?
Are there early mornings available? Late nights?
What do you do during your lunch break? Do you have a commute you can use?
Is there a TV you can turn off? That get-together for drinks you could beg off from to spend time with your screen? If it’s important you will find time.
I’ve found time to write when I choose to. It’s really that simple, I can shut everything down, I can get off social media, I can finish my meals more quickly, get up earlier, stay up later. But really, it’s entirely up to me. A writing career only comes if you want it.
How bad do you want it?
Shelley Krehbiel is a writing/publishing coach who can help you share your ideas with the world, whether you want a public or private career in book publishing, she has some ideas for you.