July 26, 2022

Last year on my birthday, I announced my second business. Today, I turn 29. And while Russell is spoiling me with dinner at my favorite place, a homemade chocolate cake, and gifts for me (and the cats), the real celebration today is that the countdown is officially on for my book launch next year – on my 30th birthday. That’s right – I’m writing a book for the first time.

Having always been a voracious reader, I grew up thinking that authors were the pinnacle of success. Unfortunately, after a few attempts in my teenage years, I soon gave up the idea of ever becoming an author. Fiction and creativity just wasn’t a skillset I had in me.

And then I joined the world of entrepreneurship, which opened me up to an entirely new realm of nonfiction books. Still, I didn’t think anything further of my long-buried childhood dream. Frankly, trying to figure out how to run an actual business was challenge enough, thank you.

Until, that is, that I started reading Natalie Franke’s “Built to Belong“. Natalie’s bravery in writing her own book, and pouring into her readers made me realize that I could do this. And I realized that this was a dream I was ready to unearth. I pulled open my journal, flipped to the very back page where I keep my goal ideas, and wrote down that I wanted to write a book before I turned 30.

That was last August – almost a full year ago.

And for months, and months, I sat on that goal. I was convinced I’d do it. I just wasn’t worried about it then. Until May rolled around. I was at a conference, and there was a workshop session on self-publishing. I went and took pages and pages of notes. And I re-committed to this goal that I had. I decided I wanted to officially launch the book on my 30th birthday, and I began the research process.

I’ll be honest with you – I have no idea what I’m doing.

I don’t even know if anyone will care to read this blog, let alone an entire book that I write. But, as all of the Chasing Simple podcast listeners know, I want to invite anyone who is interested in the messy middle parts of entrepreneurship into mine. And this, right here, is surely a messy middle.

Over the next year, my goal is to chronicle this writing process. To share my dreams, my ideals, my fears, my realism, and my day to day. The next few posts will go back in time and be pulled from my journal to showcase what I’ve already begun working on, and then I’ll move forward and catch up to real time.

I have no idea what this process is going to look like, but if you’d like to follow along in the messy middle, I’d love to have you!

Love and cat-hair hugs,

Amanda

Follow along on my book writing journey, and read more Book Blog Posts here!