Hi Friends,

I believe you have a book in you. I’ve been pulling them out of my friends this week—including making covers and mockups to manifest them into being.

When I wrote Debug Your Meditation, I remember how lucky I was in having professional experience in long-form writing:

• My neuroscience PhD and postdoc research meant lots of technical writing, with peer-reviewed publications cited over a thousand times combined…

• I am a Certified Medical Publication Professional, meaning I specialized in project management for complex biotech writing projects…

• I’ve since mentored Write of Passage students and helped them overcome Writer’s Block through neuroscience/Buddhist frameworks…

All to say, I’ve accidentally wandered down a path specializing in the project management and endurance strategies for writing. Both of these skills are vital for very long-form projects like a book!

No Really, You Have A Book In You

Derek Sivers had written about the importance of “dying empty” in his latest book, How To Live. The original idea appears to come from Todd Henry’s book, Die Empty:

The most valuable land in the world is the graveyard. In the graveyard are buried all of the unwritten novels, never-launched businesses, unreconciled relationships, and all of the other things that people thought, ‘I’ll get around to that tomorrow.’ One day, however, their tomorrows ran out.”

Die Empty: If I don’t wake up tomorrow, I have emptied myself of whatever creativity is lingering inside.

When you’re gone, your work will stand as the single biggest testament to who you were - the sum total of where you choose to place your limited focus, assets, time, and energy.

So…memento mori. The world needs to know your story and your hard-earned wisdom before you keel over!

Here’s other reasons why you have a book in you:

• Aren’t you tired of social media? I know, I know. We all do it. But the nuances of messages are lost, even in longer-form writing like essays and newsletters.

• The inherent length of these formats, suited for the average internet attention span, prevents us from digging deeper into ourselves.

• It’s like we are given time with a shovel but have to stop because…the output length has to match reader expectations for the format.

• There’s more treasure to be found within, if we can endure plunging ourselves into our ideas further, and make a book out of it.

• Practically speaking, books are fantastic for people to get to know the way you think in-depth as a preview for other offerings, and for corporate opportunities like speaking gigs.

I can help you 1:1 with…

• Entertaining the absurd idea that you have anything to share with people that’s worth an entire book over. I have to admit: those of you who are kind enough to subscribe to my newsletter, also tend to be the most humble people on earth. Let me convince you that you have a book in you.

• Organizing your ideas for easy digestion. I’m the Marie Kondo of book writing. Let me help you make sense of all the floating ideas in your head, ground them, and connect them.

• Project management and emotional endurance. Book projects are just like any other grand endeavors—the secret is not sexy, it’s mostly grunt work and whoever can do it for the longest wins. I will help take the not-fun parts off your shoulder, and keep the project fun for you till the finish line.

Reply this newsletter if this level of 1:1 support is of your interest. I will work with a limited number of clients to provide the necessary intensive and personalized support.

And for group support…

Kind Camp starts Thursday Dec 1st!

Kind Camp is not a course. It’s a vibe-container where we invoke kindness within to support self-discovery through reflective writing.

12 Kind Campers have signed up and there’s still a few slots available.

I am deeply grateful for 2 Kind Camp benefactors (Buster Benson, founder of 750 Words, and an anonymous benefactor.) Their generous contributions provide equitable support for the Kind Camp community.

Warm Wishes,

Christin