14 Sep 105. Write Your Book from a Place of Intention

No  matter what kind of book you’re writing, it doesn’t have to become a source of stress and anguish.

You can control the kind of writing experience you want to have—at least, most of the time.

In this episode, I share how I encourage my coaching clients to view and experience their writing time in a way that’s more conducive to a positive writing environment.

You can do it too. Listen to find out how.

For more writing tips and inspiration, follow me on Instagram @candiceldavis.

Mentioned in This Episode

Authors Ignited: Group Coaching Program for Nonfiction Authors

Jump-Start: A free guide to help you jump-start your nonfiction book.

Complete Author Coaching (1:1 Coaching)

Episode Transcript

Hey there, and welcome to Nothing but the Words. I’m Your Book Coach, Candice L Davis.

If I sound a bit tired, it’s because I am indeed tired, friends.

But it’s that good kind of tired, when you’ve done something effortful but satisfying and you feel like you put your all into it.

A couple of days ago, I hosted The Virtual Writing Retreat with a group of authors, some of whom I know well and some who were new to me.

If you were there, I so appreciate you.

The whole retreat turned out even better than I’d hoped.

We had novelists and nonfiction writers, including memoirists and coaches and consultants writing about their areas of expertise.

And the authors were all at different stages of their writing process.

During the retreat they set and achieved different goals based on their next steps, including:

•       Expanding and completing their outline
•       Writing an intro story for every chapter
•       Crafting their origin story
•       And writing thousands of words of their manuscript.

I punctuated the day with lots of breaks, including a lunch hour and in between writing sessions, I coached whoever needed coaching to get past a block or just to figure out what to write next.

It was one of the best, most productive, and most fulfilling days I’ve experienced, and I definitely want to do it again.

One of the common themes that came up was how hard it can be to just sit down and write, especially when you have plenty of other tasks and obligations you can fill your time with.

Here’s the thing I wanted them to know and which I want you to know too.

You can choose to write your book from an intentional and helpful place.

I firmly believe the only good reason to write a book is because you want to.

The reason behind your desire to write a book only matters in the sense that if you think it’s a good enough reason then it is.

But no one is required to write a book.

Even if you have a book contract, you can return your advance, cancel the deal, and move on with your life.

The only good reason to write a book is because you want to, and only you can identify why you want to.

That means you do not have to write your book under duress.

You can if you want to. But you can also choose to write your book from a place of joy.

You can write your book from fear—fear that someone else will write it first, fear that people will think less of you if you don’t write the book that you said you were going to write, fear of missing out on an opportunity.

Or you can write your book from a place of desire—desire to finally get your story and knowledge out to the world, desire to serve your readers, desire to see what you can create.

The point is you get to choose how you experience the process of writing your book.

You can approach the process with excitement, and curiosity, and a sense of adventure and exploration and loving the work—if you want to.

That doesn’t mean you’ll never feel overwhelmed or afraid, but those kinds of states don’t have to be your norm when you think about writing or sit down to write.

What if you decide to have fun writing your book? 

What if you decide to greet your writing sessions with joy and desire, and anticipation?

I come from a literary fiction background. I learned to write from award-winning, brilliant, and often tortured literary novelists.

In that community, there was a common belief that writing is a painful process we all do only because we can’t not do it.

I get it. Sometimes I still write from that place, and I’m okay with that.

But I don’t want to feel that every day.

If you’re not writing as much as you’d like to, consider how you feel about the writing process.

Then decide how you want to feel.

And if you need more help making that shift, check out some of my previous episodes, especially episodes 75 and 85. I give you some specific steps you can take.

Writing doesn’t need to be something you have to do.

It can become something you want to do—something you’re excited about and look forward to—at least most of the time.

It’s up to you. You get to choose. Write your book from a place of clear intention.

That’s all for this week’s episode, friends.

Thanks for listening to Nothing but the Words. I’m your book coach Candice L. Davis, and I’ll see you next time.

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