This was the soul-searching question posed this week at a Fabulous networking event by group leader Jacqui McGinn to 12 good networkers and true. That is Jacqui, the all-round hypnotherapist and holistic healer, author, teacher of English to Ukrainians and Japanese to English people.
It’s a brilliant question and everyone has a different answer. Mine is ‘authoring’. That means the whole process of being an author, which involves thinking, meditating, creativity, drafting, writing, rewriting, seeking advice, editing, rewriting.
It is also true for me that, since I moved to Winchester and started networking locally, my heart has opened and I feel more fulfilled, more heartfelt. At last I am doing what has always been my vocation – authoring.
This week has also marked the completion of the 10-Day Book Proposal Challenge with Alison Jones of Practical Inspiration Publishing. The brilliantly structured daily process involved us submitting our answers on 10 publishing challenges on an online platform. Alison marked the work and provided invaluable and generous feedback. We could tackle each section as often as we liked. And that was useful.
The challenge day by day
The process started with drafting the title and the sub-title of the book on day 1, together with the author’s name. My working title is “Secrets of winning writing”. Subtitle: “Expert advice on how to add impact to all your written work”.
Day 2 was the hardest as we had to decide on our target market, research it online, and produce some evidence as to the existence and potential of that market. My target market: women of 45+ who have always dreamed of writing a book but never previously had the time, the commitment and / or the courage. Now they may have a more flexible job and/or less burdensome childcaring duties.
The following eight daily tasks included a personal bio, the competition, marketing and promotion, a detailed Table of Contents (TOC), key features for the back cover; and, finally, the number of words, the format and size, the price.
My book aims to enable readers to discover in themselves the inspiration and find the time – 90 minutes a day, 5 days a week; to empower them to unleash their courage and commitment.
So now my heart is singing anthems to inspire me to fill my 12 proposed chapters with powerful and informative text. My deadline is early Spring 2023.
As an experienced writer and editor I strongly recommend this course. Alison’s January 2023 challenge is now open
Keep writing and let me help with your writing challenges
