Hey there! Welcome to Nothing but the Words.

I’m your Author Coach, Candice L Davis.

On this episode, I want to discuss why I believe writing your book is an act of leadership and there’s no better time than right now—whenever you might be listening to this episode—to step into your role as an author-leader.

Right now, as I record this, we’re still self-quarantining because of the Coronavirus pandemic. This may be the 3rd or 4th or 5th week of staying at home for us. I haven’t really kept track. We celebrated Easter by doing TV church, getting takeout for the first time in about a month, lying in bed watching movies and TV shows, and just hanging out together. The hardest part for me was honoring my commitment not to work on Sundays. There was some editing I wanted to do, but I managed to delay it until Monday. I really didn’t have a choice since my daughter took the pages out of my hand.

Recently, my conversations with my coaching clients have started to fall into 3 categories. Some people are all in, taking advantage of this time to write their books. Other people needed a few days to process and get back on board with their writing projects. And there’s a 3rd much smaller group that’s still trying to find their way back to the writing.

While I understand that people need time to process, and I value self-care, I’m encouraging my clients to keep writing during this time. They’re healthy. They’re not caring for sick family members. Yes, they face new challenges with kids at home, cooking when they’d rather eat out, all the extra work required for a simple trip to the grocery story.

These are extraordinary times. But leaders rise to the challenges of extraordinary times.

There’s a reason why most of the people we see as thought leaders are also authors. Writing your book demonstrates that you’ve thought about the subject. Writing a great book demonstrates that you’ve given the subject deep and serious thought. Your book is tangible proof that you have a point of view. It’s 

My clients are leaders in business, in personal development, in their religious communities, in health and wellness, in finance, in the legal community, in life coaching and relationship coaching.

If you’re in the process of writing a book, the you’re either a leader or in the process of becoming on. 

In that case, you need to know . . .

Writing your book is an act of leadership. And writing your book in extraordinary times is an act of extraordinary leadership.

Leaders have the courage to take a stand. 

As a leader, your book should stand for something. You should have a clear message for your readers about what you believe on a given topic.

Leaders provide clarity to their followers.

Your readers could spend weeks and months doing Google searches and reading articles and watching videos on the internet. But people buy books because they want information delivered in an organized way. Whether you’re telling a story, teaching a process, or sharing information, the expectation is that you’ll synthesize information and communicate it in a way that’s helpful to your readers. This is how you lead as an author.

Leaders looks to learn from the past and apply those lessons to the future.

There’s a reason we tell children stories and read them books with clear lessons. We want them to learn from other people’s mistakes and experiences, including our own. 

As an author, you look to history, to your own experiences, or to the actions and consequences you’ve observed and you extract the lessons so other people can see them more easily. That’s an act of leadership.

Leaders act in the best interests of their followers, even when it means telling them something they don’t want to hear.

Telling people what they want to hear doesn’t make for a great book. Great books give people what they want while telling them what they need to hear. You might write a book on weight loss that promises readers they’ll see results in 14 days, what they want to hear, but you give them what they need by telling them they’re going to have to change the way they eat for the rest of their lives. 

Right now, I’m taking a great class, called Command the Stage, with Patrice Washington, who hosts the Redefining Wealth Podcast. In almost every session, one of her students says Patrice just snatched my edges, or she came for my life, or she called me out. In her classes, in her books, and on her podcast, Patrice tells her followers and her readers what we need to hear. She’s not unkind or lacking compassion, but she doesn’t feed us all sugar and no substance either. She acts in our best interest by telling us what we need to hear.

As an author, your book should share with your readers the information they most need to hear. Not everyone will take action on it, but that’s okay. Those who do will changed their lives in ways small and large.

Leaders set the direction. They chart a course for individuals, communities, and organizations.

As an author, you’re helping people solve problems, achieve goals, or meet needs. You might enlighten, educate, inspire, entertain, or all of the above. 

Let’s look at what some people would often consider a fluff genre, young adult fiction. 

“The Hunger Games,” inspired a generation of girls long before the movies were ever made. Young girls saw that they could be the heroes, the defenders of the weak, by standing up for people who can’t stand up for themselves. 

“The War of Art,” by Steven Pressfield lays out a path for artists and writers to overcome Resistance and create.

You can use any genre to set the direction for your readers.

Leaders do what other people won’t.

Listen. There’s always an excuse or a reason not to write. There are always distractions. The fact is that the vast majority of people who SAY they want to write a book will never do it. When external factors are more challenging, as they are right now during the pandemic, even fewer people will accomplish their goals. It’s just too easy to fall under the sway of distraction and worry.

Writing your book is an act of leadership, and the world needs leaders in every niche and field. We need leaders who write memoirs and books on how to run a business. We need leaders who write novels and books on historical events. We need leaders who write books that help us choose a healthy lifestyle, release bad habits, and develop good ones. We need leaders who are committed enough to mastering a topic that they have the level of knowledge needed to carry a book for a hundred pages or more.

Write your book. Take your place as a leader. Take action, like a leader, by sitting down to write your book today. 

If you don’t know where to begin, go back and listen to the first episode of this podcast and work your way through. I break it down for you step by step.

 If you’ve already done all the prewriting research and planning, and you’re working from a strong outline, then you need to be writing, my friend. You need to be writing consistently. 

If you can’t write every day, then figure out what days you can write. Put your writing sessions on your calendar, and show up for yourself and for your readers the same way you show up for your boss or your clients or your kids. 

If you need help focusing and setting down to write., I’ve created a really cool free resource for you. It’s a Writing with Candice, 30-minute writing-session video. There’s no teaching or talking, just time and space for you to write with the background music I use to create a productive writing session. Check it out. I think you’ll find it remarkably beneficial.

You can find the link to the writing-session video in the show notes at CandiceLDavis.com/14 (that’s the numeral 14, not spelled out) or go to candiceldavis.com/writingsession.

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