I could kill my book

Blog

1 Aug

How writing your first book tests your mindset

There comes a time in the book creating a stage where you look at your manuscript and say ‘write yourself already.’ At least there was for me. I have always loved writing and found it easy to do however sitting down to a self-imposed time guideline changes the way you write, it brings about urgency, extreme desires to finish, a hypersensitivity to perfection, and an increased inability to be patient. You know you can change the end date but you simply don’t want to, finishing your book later would mean a more drawn-out process of late writing nights, imagining the need for punctuation marks in places 77 times before actually deciding you’ll place them there and looking at your food and getting angry at it for not cooking itself. Don’t get me wrong, writing a book is fun, the moment you complete is euphoric but boy does the journey test your mindset.

When I began writing my very first book in 2015, The Pursuit of Greatness, I was full of excitement and motivation; I knew that my writing skills would enable me to write hard and fast so I set a time frame on this 13 chapter book- 1 month. 1 month! I was freaking crazy deciding to complete it in 1 month but as with anything with me, once I am in, committed. So I locked in the month date and I pushed and pushed to get that damn book finished. I hired a friend to take the photographs for my covers and author’s page, another friend offered to be the editor of my book and in 1 month I had 10 chapters completed.

I remember one significant day when I thought my book was done only to wake up to the reality that I was in fact dreaming. I had 3 final chapters to go. This dream had come after a full day of final edits, I was tired, seeing letters in various places and was positioned on my kitchen floor in Greenwich, hair hadn’t been brushed nor washed, my teeth still not scrubbed and my pizza in the oven was taking what felt like a decade to cook- though merely 20 minutes in reality. I stared at my pizza, yelled at my oven, and pulled on my face as if this was somehow going to change the tiredness I had felt. You see my book became my summer project of 2015 to communicate how I had committed to training to climbing Mt Everest and learned so much more than just the skill of long-distance hiking. I refused to give up on the book so much so that I was comfortable looking like a hobo in the process of trying to achieve a finished product in a ridiculous timeline.

When the first month was over my lovely friend Patrick, also my editor, said to me, ‘Jules I think you just need to leave your book alone for a while.’ I didn’t like these words, it made me feel like he was suggesting that I give up on my book. I didn’t care how messy I got, I was dedicated to telling my story, it HAD to happen. I took a walk and realized that Patrick was right. My book and I needed space, we needed to break up for a while. I had read it so often that I knew where the words were placed, it wasn’t really ideal for the final edits. I had stopped loving what I was doing because I didn’t take it in chunks, I imposed a ridiculous time frame on myself and I pushed and pushed to get it done. I knew it meant a lot to me but pushing so hard to get it done in a short amount of time wouldn’t give me the outcome that I wanted- so I let the timeline go. I gave myself the balance back.

It was during this space where I could see the opportunity to ask friends who were aspiring photographers to help produce a photography shoot with me. Ian and I went out and took some shots and because I had the headspace for SPACE I actually knew the kind of shots that I wanted. I have remembered this in life and business to date- when we have no space in our head, expect nothing to happen, our brain isn’t meant to carry everything. The photos Ian and I shot were fun, as we were across different scenes in London crowds of people would walk up to me and Ian and wait to find out who I was, admittedly I LOVED that. I felt like a superstar and I LOVED that they had no idea that I was simply an ordinary person putting out a book about how hard physical training helped me love myself more. I still smile from ear to ear when I think of that moment. This superb moment, being a pretend superstar in London, allowed me to have the confidence and motivation to head back to my book and not get completely consumed by it to the point where I wanted to kill my artistic creation.

About 2 months later The Pursuit of Greatness was completed, 13 chapters of goodness. Completing it was amazing, to have friends help me with its completion truly special. However, the story of the Pursuit of Greatness didn't end. Not long after The Pursuit of Greatness was ready to be published I found out that a physical challenge I wanted to complete, one I had to postpone due to natural disasters and deaths, I couldn’t complete, this was my personal mission to climb Mt Everest. The new hiking rules requiring individuals to complete a large number of extreme hikes prior to climbing Everest that meant hiking the mountain in 2015 wouldn’t occur. Unfortunately, the ending of the book was originally about this next trek to prove to myself how tough my mind could be so I decided not to publish the book and instead published Conquering your Mindset in 2016.

With time passed, experiencing the rollercoaster ride of writing my first adult book in a short amount of time I felt like maybe the rollercoaster wasn’t worth it. Then I met a random on the street, an African British man who said ‘wow you are incredibly happy’ and it was then that I clicked. I had already climbed Everest, it just so happened to be that life gave me a different Everest to overcome because my path was meant to be here, present with you, helping you to do exactly the same. So this year, 2018 I am publishing this book in paperback form. I cannot wait to share a story of how I strengthened my mind through physical pursuits and how my life embodies the reality that with movement physical ability is only 10% of the story. If you would like to be on the pre-order list for my novel The Pursuit of Greatness, click here- you’ll get a copy of my book first, signed, and delivered!

For those of you writing a book or thinking of doing it, I will say this:

Even if you find writing a completely natural, simple task that is not laborious at all writing a book will be a completely different experience. Be flexible with your time limits (unless they are imposed by a publisher who isn’t flexible), take time to have balance in your life to keep the creativity, and don’t worry about a plot twist, you may find it makes your story even better.

Till next time,

Julia xo