motivation

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3 Steps To Organize Your Book’s Idea

052416-WhatIdeaAre you wondering how to organize your ideas for a book?

Or if your ideas even FORM a book?

You’re soooooo not alone! In the past month, I’ve spoken to probably a dozen people who have a great inkling for a book but have no idea how to take that random idea and organize it into a comprehensive writing plan!

Many people THINK that the first step in writing a book is that outline – and they can slave over it and cram every bit of information about the topic into a placeholder in that outline.

And there’s some value in that as an exercise…

But it doesn’t really help you get your book organized and written!

That outline is going to be key in writing your book without losing your mind. But it’s not actually the FIRST step!

052416-IdeaThere are two steps BEFORE creating your outline:

1. Coming up with LOTS of ideas

When you jump straight to creating your book’s outline, you can miss key things that should be in the book. Or your book’s topic is just a little bit… off!

And you can also have ideas that while great – don’t fit into THIS book. Which brings me to step 2…

Keep Reading!

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What is overwhelm costing you? (And your message!)

I’d like to think that I know a thing or two about overwhelm…

When I was a junior in high school, my mom had to leave her shopping cart in the middle of Walmart to take me home – too many people after too long a day and I started crying. I was overwhelmed and we had to leave Right Now.

042616-SinkLast week I started crying before breakfast because the dishwasher was full of clean dishes, the sink full of dirty, and I couldn’t get my tea kettle under the faucet to make a cup of tea. Ben saved the day by filling a mug with water and pouring it into the kettle.

It took me nine months to completely unpack after we moved – and I still have boxes in the spare bedroom that were stuffed (full) into the closet. (And I “packed” in three days before I moved because I couldn’t figure out how to pack and still live/work in the house.)

The first four seasons I spent working in the family tax practice, I’d break down crying at LEAST once a week because there were three phone lines ringing, a waiting room full of clients, and I couldn’t find my stapler.

Here’s the thing about me: I actually rarely procrastinate. Because I’m always busy doing something – and it’s usually some activity that is getting me closer to a goal. But there are just so many moving parts at any one time, I get stuck knowing where to start, what to do next (or what to do first!), and how to keep everything I’m doing moving forward.

This is a classic definition of overwhelm.

All too often I think that we wear “overwhelm” like a badge of honor. Like the person with the biggest To Do list, the most amount of projects in progress, the most chaos in life wins.

Are you living an overwhelmed life? 'Overwhelm' is NOT a badge of honor! Click To Tweet

So I get it that the idea of adding “Write A Book” to an already overwhelmed life feels heavy. Like there’s an elephant sitting on your chest. And the desire to write it battles with everything else that life requires and before you know it, you’re overwhelmed, behind, and crying at the sink because you just want a cup of tea and all the steps required to just get water into the kettle are more than you can handle.

And I don’t even have kids yet!

Sweetie, I get it. I know what it’s like to be on the perfectionist scale – the one that says More Is Better (not the one that creates a Pinterest-worthy life!). And I know what it’s like to bite off more than you can chew – regularly – and then wonder if you’re a masochist or just dumb because you’re not learning from your past “mistakes”.

Keep Reading!

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How Do You Write when the Story is Hard?

So just how do you write something that is… hard? Something that is hard to explain, it’s complicated, it resists breaking down into the elemental pieces of word, sentence, paragraph?

How do you approach a piece of writing that isn’t about the technical difficulty of a concept – but about the emotional side?

What do you do when the meaning behind the words, the message you want to share, is elusive?

And how do you handle the line between memoir and a how-to? Navigating the muddy channels of revealing the truths from your own story to bring peace, enlightenment, teaching to the readers?

How do you get into that and not walk away?

032916-HardWritingThere was an experience last week that changed me. I knew in the moment that I was being changed – I flung myself into it with open heart and bright-eyed excitement knowing it would happen, welcoming it in, understanding that the initial choice to even start would result in alterations.

But now…

Now I’m in an interesting place, one that is uncomfortable. One that is clearly showing the untaken steps of “Kim the Author” – and highlighting, rather painfully, the miles ahead of me on the writer’s journey. Miles, that frankly, I thought I’d already tread.

Humility isn’t one of my greatest virtues.

I’m working with three clients who are writing “teaching” books – that are really thinly-veiled memoirs. Three clients, three authors, who I’m in awe of as they bravely are unearthing their stories and their demons and laying their bones upon the page. Three people who are staring unflinchingly into the mirror of their message and not only bringing that message forth onto the page, are doing it with a literary aplomb that is enviable.
Keep Reading!

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Video – What’s Keeping You From Writing Your Book?

One of my bigger goals for 2016 is to be more visible – and that includes doing videos! In this video (2:07 minutes) I go over the #1 Mental Monster that is PREVENTING you from writing your book!


 

Don't fall prey to the mental monsters that keep you from writing your book! #amwriting Click To Tweet

Here’s the link to the eBook I mention in the video.

To watch move videos like this, please subscribe to my YouTube channel.

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Guest Author: Martha Austin

Welcome to a brand new year! I have to say, last week’s article was actually inspired by this one, written by Martha Austin of GreatnessInGovernment.com

010516-KimAndMarthaI’ve had the privilege of working with Martha for about a year and a half and I can honestly say I’ve never met a more giving person. Not only has she given to what inspires her in life (including traveling around the world with Global Dental Relief) but what she pours into her clients to spread greatness in the world is nothing short of remarkable.

As we’re entering a new year, many of us are creating new habits for ourselves. One habit that I adopted in Q4 of 2015 was a tithing practice. But instead of blindly donating 10% of my income, I’m purposefully giving to what inspires me. The idea is from “The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity” by Edwene Gains but it was really Martha who helped me incorporate this into my life.

Please don’t be thrown by Martha’s focus on government employees! I can guarantee that she’s offering something to everyone who is a mission-driven person but is getting stuck in the red tape of the workplace.

And be sure to check out the About Martha after the article for a special offer from Martha.

Spreading Greatness: Give to what Inspires You

In this season of thanksgiving, we’re bombarded with invitations to donate to this charity or that food bank based on the desperateness of some persistent need. It drives me absolutely crazy!

This is might sound rather cold to some of you, but here it is: I will not give to a “need.”

And here’s why: the need in this world is simply too vast. There will always be those who are sick, hungry, homeless, or destitute. When you give to a “need”, you’re giving out of a sense of obligation or guilt, putting your attention on the need, and actually creating more of it.

None of us want that!

Now before you think I am the epitome of Ebenezer Scrooge, let me say that I am a STRONG proponent of giving.

Are you giving to need or to inspiration? You want to give to what #inspires you! Click To Tweet
Keep Reading!

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Get Organized: What Your Book Needs

110315-OrganizeForYourBookWhen people talk about book organization, you usually hear things like “front and back matter”, table of contents, foreword, about the author, etc. But have you thought about how you actually organize your writing?

Something that one of the experts on the Brew Your Book Telesummit, Jeanne Demers, said really stuck with me in our interview…

Jeanne shared that her biggest obstacle to overcome in the writing wasn’t how to put the book together but how to organize the pieces of the writing AS she was writing. After the recording was over, I thanked her for her candor and honesty around this – and she promptly became embarrassed about being “that author who didn’t know how to organize!”

But let’s think about this…

Where are we TAUGHT how to organize our thoughts?

Were you taught how to organize your thoughts and ideas? Here's how to do it for your #book! Click To Tweet

The other place where I saw this idea of needing to be taught a process for something that people THINK should be just known is Marie Kondo’s book on tidying. Once she points out that being tidy isn’t something we’re magically born knowing how to do (or figure out) it was a huge relief. Keep Reading!

Can one story change a life?

Can I tell you a secret?

You story matters. You are the only person on the whole planet who is the unique sum of your experiences, feelings, knowledge, and opinions. All that comes together into your own world-view.

Sure you might catalog and classify your opinions through the lenses of your life like:

  • Political party
  • Religion (or lack thereof)
  • Where you live
  • Ethnicity
  • Culture
  • Gender

Or what you think about marriage, guns, equality, feminism, or the importance of bananas in smoothies.

The point I’m trying to make is that you’re so much than just your labels! There are things you care about – passionately, deeply – that you know you are meant to share with the world.

THIS is your story.

It is the information that only you can share. And it matters.

Keep Reading!

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