Phew! I just finished writing Think Sideways: A game-changing playbook for disruptive thinkers. Well, it’s mostly done. Right now it’s in the hands of the editor, aka the person who is about to rip it apart and send me something filled with red lines and side comments. While it’s in his capable hands, I thought I’d pass on some lessons from the book-writing process. Whether you are writing a book, building your entrepreneurial dreams, or playing around with a few ideas, these lessons apply.
What I learned about Thinking Sideways from writing Think Sideways:
- What you dread is also what you love the most. It’s been with him for a few days, and to be honest I occasionally miss my book. Weird right? Creative endeavors are such a funny thing. Going into them we often feel a sense of terror, yet when we are done we have a sense of loss. I miss having to write all day. I miss having to think about what I am going to write. I even miss the horror of staring at a blank page. I miss all the things I dreaded when I started this process. The next time you dread something remember that it may be your most creative endeavor yet!
- Get comfortable with that cloudy feeling. It’s easier to go from point A to point B in a straight line, right? Writing a book, formulating an idea roadmap, dreaming big means that the path from A to B is not as straight as I thought; it’s circuitous, messy, and sometimes very foggy. Throughout any creative task it’s critical to get comfortable with that not-so-clear feeling. Usually as we navigate the waters the path becomes clearer. I’d say our destination becomes clear too but that’s not always the case. Often our intended destination changes mid-journey. How we start the process and how we end the process are never the same. Get used to the idea that creativity is messy work.
- Work through the pain. Sitting at my desk with emails dinging, phones ringing, and more enticing things like Facebook calling me, I found it hard to write. Perhaps, some of you are more diligent than I am but I found it tough. After getting lost in any shiny ball that came my way I booked a ticket to Lake Tahoe and spent five days holed up in a mountain house. Nothing but me and my book…hour after hour after hour. There I was for days on end staring at my computer without any distractions. Can you believe at first it felt weird and unsettling? It was downright painful at times. I’m not used to slowing down and just being. It felt like a yoga pose that you hold for way too long. But I was determined so I sat there and can you believe that once I worked through the pain the ideas were flowing? Work through it. Don’t give up when you hit a rough patch. Sometimes that rough patch is what you need to get to the next level.
Get your pre-publication reader copy of Think Sideways for only $10 (retail book $19.95).
Still here? Share the lessons you’ve learned while pursuing creative endeavors
