What I Learned Writing a Book in 60 Days
I wasn’t planning on writing a book.
It wasn’t on my radar at all.
That is, until I was approached by two German publishers roughly around the same time, who were proposing the same idea for a book:
How to find your calling and create a meaningful life.
They had both been following my work online around this topic and wanted me to share my experience and learnings from my never-ending quest to find purpose and fulfillment.
I mean, what are the odds of two two publishers at the same time?
I took this as a nudge from the universe – “Conni, you need to write this book, so I will send you not just one, but two publishers to make that clear”.
The message was clear and I surrendered to the universe, even though my desire wasn’t big. But who am I to decide what wants to be birthed through me?
I did have one request if I was to go for it – it needed to be an easy process, one that was in the flow. I wasn’t going to suffer through the process of negotiating with the publishers and writing the actual book.
You hear so many authors talk about how gruelling the process it. I didn’t want that. I called in ease and joy.
My request was delivered upon.
I chose the more established publisher with the wider reach and I got a deal that felt good.
As a first step, they requested a book proposal with a rough outline. At first the thought of a “proposal” made me tense. But I grabbed my laptop, walked to one of my favourite coffeeshops, sat down with an oat milk cappuccino and started typing. The entire proposal came flowing through me and within two hours I had written several thousand words outlining my ideas and arguments, why this book needs to written and how I envision the contents. It was the most effortless experience ever. Flow. I didn’t really edit it much and just sent it off – fully trusting.
They loved it. Of course – because the book needed to be written and I never had the executive decision on that. I just opened my transmission channels and let higher forces use me as the messenger.
This is my second book actually.
The first one was more of a digital product, a whole e-book course that I released in 2014. It comprised more than 70.000 words plus videos and worksheets on how to quit your job and become a location-independent entrepreneur.
It took me months – probably nine months alltogether to finish the damn book. I could have done it in three, but the resistance was stronger.
I wanted it to be different this time. I had to be different, because the publisher gave me a deadline: beginning of November.
Sorting out the details and the contract took longer than expected, plus I also had some planned travels to do – so in the end I was left with two months to finish the manuscript. That’s just 60 days.
Holy shit.
I did get a little nervous, but then I sat down and calculated how much I needed to write every day. I came up with about 1500 words.
I knew that was totally doable. it would also give me around two weeks to go over the draft and do a first edit run. So technically I wrote the book in 45 days.
Which you might even consider my first lesson:
Set Clear Daily Goals
It is clearly overwhelming to even think about writing a book.
Where do you even start?
But it’s actually really simple:
You take the big thing and divide it into lots of little things.
In my case, the big things was around 65.000 words.
65.000 words divided by 45 days equals 1444 words.
That’s really just 45 essays.
45 days is about six weeks. So I focused on one chapter a week.
This made it all more manageable in my head. Easy.
It would normally take me about 2-4 hours of focused writing to produce 1500 words. But there were also days when I wrote 2500 and some others I barely made it to 1000.
My Preferred writing Environment
I wrote the first big chunk of the book in a small surf town just South of Los Angeles. I didn’t know anyone there. There wasn’t much going on. At all.
The apartment was in a gated community, which was very quiet. All I could hear were birds and the occasional golfer hitting a ball.
It was paradise for four weeks and I totally get why authors write their books in cabins in the woods.
When I came back to LA, I struggled to focus. Urban energies and loud construction next door made it more difficult to get into the flow.
I realised just how important a peaceful environment is for my writing. It allows me to go this much deeper.
I then ended up going to Bali to finish the book and surf.
Whatever next bigger project I tackle, I will get a place somewhere quiet with the intention to create. It’s powerful when you have an intention like that.
the golden combination: Writing + Surfing
Since there wasn’t much to do and I didn’t know anyone in the area, the only two things I did every single were writing in the morning and surfing.
This combination was magic.
Surfing allows me to get out of my head and be fully present. It helped me to stay grounded and connected.
Being immersed in my favourite element – water – just does something to my brain and body. It’s like a reset, it clears out everything that is in the way of mental and emotional clarity.
Surfing is da bomb. (Just don’t think I’m that great at it)
The Power of Discipline
There were days, were it was almost impossible to get into the flow at all. I think a female’s moon cycle has to do with that. We just don’t operate the same every day. We go through phases.
Sometimes, it took me ages to find the right Spotify playlist. Or sitting position. Or clothes.
It sometimes felt like my inner resistance was really snobby and needed everything just right and perfect to let me do the work.
But in the end, it’s about showing up and sitting your ass down every single day. No matter what.
That muse with the awesome ideas doesn’t just give them to you. She makes you work for it.
Every day, The first 200 words are the hardest
I thought it would get easier to get into the flow and mood of writing in the mornings, but it didn’t. I think it almost got a little harder actually.
It always took me at least 200 words to find my way into an idea or topic. But once the door was open, it got easier. I understood that I needed to just get through the first 30 minutes or so until I would feel better, more confident, and for the good ideas to come.
Drop what doesn’t Excite you
I didn’t want to suffer through the process of writing the book, because I didn’t want that energy IN the book. Which is why, I really made sure to write from a place of joy and excitement when I sat down every day.
If a chapter was on the outline, but didn’t bring me joy to write or worse, bored me – I kicked it off the outline, no matter how important it seemed.
What’s the point to stick to a plan if you don’t enjoy it? How can I expect readers to enjoy reading what I was writing if I was bored writing it? What’s the point of writing a book just to write a book?
Write from your soul
At times, I wasn’t connected fully to what I was writing. It felt off. And I knew pretty quickly what that meant – I wasn’t writing from my soul, which meant I was censoring myself and my truth.
It’s easy to fall victim to our need for approval, so we end up censoring ourselves. But that’s inauthentic. It’s bullshitting yourself and ultimately, the reader.
I can’t just write things because I think my publisher and the readers will like it. I have to write my truth, there is no other way.
Eat the frog first thing in the morning
In the beginning, I tried to fit my writing sessions around all the other things I was working on.
Not a chance.
Writing would always fall off the table (or my to-do list).
The only way to succeed is to eat the frog (tofu frog).
I had a serious deadline and the writing every day was therefore the frog.
The thing was, I usually don’t sit down at my laptop until after my elaborate morning routine and especially after I exercise or surf.
But I realised I had to change things around.
I got up, meditated and made lemon water and coffee. Then I sat down with cup in hand and did a little reading. I didn’t check my email or social media. After about 20 minutes, I started writing immediately.
The mornings always held a clear mind and clear heart for me.
The worst time of writing: After lunch, when all energy moves from brain to the digestive system.
More than one day off —> immediate setback
There were several days where I didn’t write at all, because I was travelling from LA to Bali and also, my jet lag wasn’t fun.
Even after just those few days, it was difficult to get back into a rhythm and that same state of mind and heart.
This just shows the power of doing something daily.
The 30 day Passion + Focus Burnout
I did eventually lose my passionate writing drive after about a month. I don’t know if this just coincided with me coming back to LA or general writer’s burnout, but I just didn’t feel as enthusiastic about it anymore.
And during the last couple weeks of editing, I could feel that I was getting ready to release the whole thing. I was done, the ship had sailed and with it my steam.
All in all, two months of working on this book were just perfect. If I had had more time, I think I would have enjoyed the process less and less. In my case, I could sustain my energies and focus on one big thing for just those 60 days, and then I was happy to finally move onto something else.
I’m a creator, not an editor
As much as I enjoyed the writing process, I really did not like my two weeks of editing. It was quite a struggle.
When I’m writing, I am in full on in creative mode. My inner critic shuts up, because she doesn’t get to join the party.
But editing is like this big opportunity for the inner critic to come out and finally speak up.
Suddenly many of the awesome things I had written didn’t seem so awesome anymore. They felt dull and silly and useless.
It reminded me that I never enjoyed editing one bit. I don’t like editing my own stuff, but I also don’t like editing other people’s stuff. That’s just not my zone of genius. Mine is the creating part.
Two extra tips:
1. Don’t write a book just based on an idea you have.
Write a book from a body of work you have already created.
I had already published a lot of blogposts, videos, podcasts and Instagram posts around the topic before starting this book. I even ran a 6 week online program. Besides that, I had been reading endless books about it and going to workshops.
I had a strong foundation.
The only reason I could write that book so fast in two months, was because I had been IN the topic for more than two years. Essentially my book was already written somewhere in my brain. I just had to put the pieces together.
With that being said, here is what I advise you to do:
2. Start with sharing your ideas
So many people say they want to write a book. But they don’t actually write regularly and if they do, they don’t share it with the world.
It’s like they are hoarding their ideas and information for the book.
But the value is in sharing it – getting feedback on it and teaching it. THEN, maybe, as an advanced step can a book make sense.
If you want to write a book – start by sharing your ideas.
If your ideas are original, publishers might come and approach you. Like in my case.
Don’t make a book your goal. The medium doesn’t really matter in the end. Share your writing, because you want to make an impact and because you love writing.
Writing a book doesn’t have to be torture at all. For the most part, I had a good time and would do it again.
If you have already done a lot of pre-work, it’s totally doable in two months. Possibly even faster.
If I had been a little more focused, I probably could have done the writing in a month plus one week editing. But hey, it’s not a competition or meant to be a road to burnout.
Also, giving yourself more time creates space in our creative mind to let ideas brew when we you are not actively writing. Some of the best ideas came to me in the moments in between, when I was not at my laptop.
The cool thing is, I was happy to finish the book, but I am still not bored of writing.
I recently got my astro chart read. The astrologer said that this book won’t be my last and that the next one is already on the horizon.
Let’s see what wants to come through me next.
As a sidenote, the book will be published in German first. The plan is then to get a publisher in the US (or self-publish) and have it translated.
Keep creating.
Conni.