Episode 18: My Latest Personal Growth Goal

I was chatting with one of my coaching clients last week and something she said really stuck with me. She said “It’s so helpful to see your journey, but I feel like I want to see the beginning of the journey too.” That inspired this week’s episode, all about my newest goal on my personal growth journey. I’m writing a book! 

I am super excited about this goal and can’t wait to take you on this journey with me. Let’s get into it! 

Writing a Book: The Inspiration

Since I was in kindergarten, I knew that I wanted to write a book someday. It has been forever on my bucket list, no matter what form my bucket list takes. It’s been on every vision board I’ve ever made. Every time I pushed the question: “What do you really want to do?”, my internal answer has always been “write.” 

I think a lot of this inspiration comes from my passion for reading. I read 2-3 books a week and am fortunate to be a fairly fast reader. Writing a book is always on my mind when I consume books, especially non-fiction and personal growth texts. 

If I had to pick a single book that inspired me to start my own writing journey, I would have to credit the author, Taylor Jenkins Reid. The moment I read her book “After I Do”, I was absolutely hooked on her writing style. The idea of spending my days writing truly fills me with joy. I can’t wait to finally officially be on this journey.

I’m Writing a Book: Why Now?

OK, so why am I deciding that writing a book is now a priority? There are a few reasons. First, back in 2020 when the pandemic first hit, I actually started writing again. The world was so unknown at the time. I needed a project that would help me take back control of my life. My photography business was on hold and it seemed futile to try to plan anything. 

I read the book “12 Week Year” and was inspired to try to use that framework to start writing again. And guess what? I did! In 12 weeks, I wrote 2 chapters of a non-fiction book and wrote an entire book proposal, using the book “The Art of the Book Proposal” by Eric Maisel. I wrote every morning from 4:30am-6:30am, it gave me a reason to get up early and I was so refreshed by the process.

Believe it or not, I actually pitched my book proposal to an editor at Scholastic. While my proposal wasn’t accepted, I got some really great feedback about where to go from there. At that point in 2020, we were coming out of the actual shutdown, my photography business started booming and writing went back to the back burner. But I am so thankful that I used that time to start working towards my writing goal, again, because I learned so much about the writing process. 

All that to say, I feel like now is the right time because my youngest daughter just began school last week. Last year, she was home with me on Fridays. And while I am so thankful for that time that we had together to do day dates and spend 1:1 time together, I am looking forward to having that bonus day in my work week now.

That being said, I knew that the day would quickly be absorbed if I didn’t really think about how I wanted to utilize it. After a lot of soul searching and discussions with my husband, I decided that I wanted to use the bonus day to start writing again. He wholeheartedly agreed and this week is going to be the first time that I kick it off. Eek! 

Writing a Book: Where I Am Now

Let’s talk about where I am right now. As I am sharing this with you, it is the first week of September, my kiddos are just back to school and I dove in. Just like my coaching business, I knew I needed to just start, even though I didn’t feel ready.

So as of this moment, I have one 30-minute writing session under my belt. I wanted to make sure that I was setting myself up for success by not taking on too much at once. That meant that this morning, after my workout and coffee date with my husband, I spent 30 minutes on the couch with my MAP Book. I don’t have a huge vision right now for what I want my book to look like. Just like everything, I think that is a huge part of the process. I’m dedicating time right now just to brainstorming. 

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Today, that looked like brainstorming a list of stories that have stuck with me for years. I began to notice a few themes pop up and if I end up going the fiction route, I’m sure my main character will be a mom going through a personal growth journey (surprise, surprise!). I would actually be floored if I ended up writing a book in the fiction realm at this point. We’ll see what happens!

Writing a Book: My Plan For Month 1

Back in August, I spent a few minutes creating a list in my MAP Book of what I want daily writing to look like. 

So here is my current plan for how I want my writing process to feel: 

• Like a treat/escape
• Therapeutic
• Mine
• Raw
• Maintainable
• Something I look forward to/want to do

What do I want my writing routine to look like? 

• Daily
• Non-negotiable
• Part of my routine
• A set word count (at least to start)
• Longer writing sessions on Wednesday
• Open to whatever I want to write in the fall
• Exploratory, at least in the first stretch 
• Fun
• Can decide where I want to go after this exploratory period 

My plan for tomorrow is to do the same brainstorming practice, except leaning into non-fiction writing. From there, my loose goal is to just play with different ideas. I want to spend the month of September brainstorming, experimenting and creating a writing routine. 

Writing a Book: Staying Motivated and Accountable

At the beginning of 2022, I decided that I wanted to dedicate more time to writing. However, I knew that I wouldn’t have the bandwidth until September. So during my annual goal-setting work with PowerSheets sessions, I would note that daily writing was a fall goal, but I always had it in mind.

Now that the time has finally come to actually start tackling this goal, I definitely want to put some systems in place to stay accountable and motivated. Like with workouts, I need to focus first and foremost on getting consistent. To stay accountable for this, I created a list in my MAP Book and check off each day that I spend at least 30 minutes doing some type of writing. I’m not super strict with this, because I want to be flexible. For example, today I spent a lot of time just thinking and brainstorming. A different day may be more pen to paper. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself though by setting a word count goal just yet. I’ll see where things take me! 

Generally, I am a pretty motivated person. To stay motivated, I asked my friends and husband to ask me how the book is going. In addition, I also have a vision board above my desk that I look at daily to remind myself of what I am moving towards. I can’t wait to see where things stand in just a few months if I can stick to all this!

Let’s Make a Plan!

Have no fear mama, today’s plan isn’t for you to write a book! That being said, what is something that has been on your bucket list forever? When you ask yourself the question: “What do I really want to do?” What does that little voice inside you say? Do you have space to start listening to it? 

Take some time to marinate in the idea of something you really want to accomplish in your life. What could you do today to tackle it? Again, I’ve had the goal of writing a book for more than 30 years and I’m just getting around to tackling it now (and yes, that sentence made me feel incredibly old, thank you for asking!).  

Now, I mentioned my MAP Book a few times in this episode. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my MAP Book set-up guide if you are looking for a fully customized system that will transform you from overwhelmed and reactive to proactive and on top of things. And the best part? It will take 60 minutes or less to get going with it and is the tool I swear by for reaching your big goals. 

And then finally, if you want to learn more about the system I use to create a plan, you’ll want to check out episode 9. It walks you through my whole process, from start to finish! 

And Don’t Forget…

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe on Spotify or YouTube so you don’t miss next week’s episode where I am going to be sharing 5 strategies for creating your dream life vision.  This isn’t your average vision board exercise, mama! 

Next, if you want to connect between episodes, be sure to give me a follow over on Instagram. I would love to support you on your personal growth journey, mama!

Finally, be sure to subscribe to my email list to get weekly personal growth delivered right to your inbox – and because I know you’re busy mama, I promise it will include a meaningful action step that will take you 2 minutes or less to implement! 

Thank you so much for being here, mama! Get back to doing your thing, rocking your world and remember – keep growing! Little eyes are watching. 

Did You Love This Episode?

If so, be sure to share it with a friend – this helps busy moms like you to find me!

And finally, you can also check out these related episodes that I think you’ll be obsessed with:

5 Best Personal Growth Books for Busy Moms

How to Make 2023 The Year You Changed Your Life

How a 99¢ Notebook Saved My Life