I’m working on a new book.
Or at least, that’s what I’ve been telling people.
In reality:
- I’ve decided that I’m doing it
- I know what the topic is and who it’s for
- I even know who I’m publishing it with
…but have I written a word of it?
Have I ****!
My glorious new book is just sitting there in my notes app, a bunch of disjointed scribbles and concepts, waiting for an intervention of some kind to actually turn it into a book.
The truth is, I’m in my head about it.
Going round and round.
Should it be my magnum opus? Or should it be a short, practical manual on a narrow topic?
There are, of course, endless options.
My famous Case Study is, in many ways, a book.
It’s 120 pages…
Covers a pretty big topic in a lot of depth…
Took me months to write…
But did I get in my head about it before writing? Not even slightly. I just had an idea about what I wanted to write, then sat down and wrote the dadgum thing, one page after the next, from my favourite beach-side café in Hobbitshire.
Pressure? Zero.
Fun? Maximum
I was in my element when I wrote that thing.
But I know why:
I was writing it for myself.
My email list was precisely zero people.
No expectations.
It was just me, writing the thing that I wanted to read, for myself.
And, of course, I’m not exactly a stranger to writing books. In my language business, StoryLearning, we’ve published 25+ of the things.
Heck, you won’t find a quality bookshop anywhere in the world where my books don’t occupy at least one shelf, if not an entire display:
And yet…
Here I am, starting another book…
Stuck in my head, like a WhatsApp voice note you’ve recorded seventeen times and still sounds like you’re being held hostage.
I’m not sure there’s much of a point to this email, other than to say that…
This s*** happens to me too!
I’m no different to everyone else in that I tend to talk up the positives, and conveniently forget to mention the negatives.
And that can give the impression that I somehow have it all figured out, and don’t struggle like everyone else.
Breaking News: Olly Richards struggles too.
…
At least, I was struggling…
Until yesterday.
I had lunch with fellow authors Michael Bungay Stanier (The Coaching Habit) and Rich Litvin (The Prosperous Coach) here in London.
And after I finished my long list of pathetic excuses for why my book was stalled like a US government shutdown, they just told me straight:
“Here’s the book we want to read from you…”
They just laid it out.
Exactly what it should be.
The angle…
The content….
Even the specific length of the book.
Taking everything they know about me, fused with what’s working best for businessbooks these days.
And I was sold in an instant.
Cut through all the noise and lit me up like a Christmas tree.
It’s a wonderful moment when creative concepts come together and take shape, and it reminded my that the level of excitement that this produces for me is exactly why I do all this stuff in the first place.
It’s why Creativity is one of my core values.
So now that I’m clear on what the book’s going to be, I’m going to waste no time pulling it together.
I was thinking that I could even do some kind of collaborative writing to my list — sending you guys early concepts to test out some of the content as I go.
What do you think?
Would that be interesting? Or just pure self-indulgence?
Either way, I’m on the case.
And I’m excited about it.
Namaste,
Olly
P.S.
It’s not lost on me just how much of an unfair advantage it is to have successful author friends who can just tell me what to do.
(Not that I just blindly listen to what they say, mind. But it certainly adds fuel to the creative fire.)
I still stop and wonder what I did to get myself in this position in the first place.
but hey…
I’ll ride this particular streak of luck for as long as it lasts!
