How to write your first book

Last year around this time, I came up with this crazy idea of writing my very first book.  My pastor was in his final year of battling cancer, and one thing he would often tell us was to never leave this earth without sharing our story and our testimony.  In fact he would jokingly tell us that if he was the one to do our funeral and found out we had never shared our testimony with anyone, he would thump us on the forehead.  He definitely had a sense of humor, but he was also so good about being transparent and encouraging, showing us not only how to live well, but also how to die well too.  He shared painful lessons of sin and forgiveness, growth and change, fear and faith, bitterness and God's love during the 20 years I knew him.  He taught in a way that was both challenging and inspiring, and we adored him.  

I've always been a lover of books and reading other people's stories.  There's something about reading someone's personal journey through life that allows the readers to see themselves in the chapters of the book and find lessons and value in their own life.  Nonfiction, Christian, and personal development books have always been my favorite.

I started to get inspired about writing a book sharing my own story of childhood dreams, fears and failures, and ultimately the life lessons that transformed me into the person I am today.  I wanted to be transparent, honest, and encouraging.  I wanted to gift this book to my daughters by the end of the year, a bit of a memoir but also a book showing them that everyone's journey is a little bumpy, filled with ups and downs, disappointments and failures, but also beauty and joy, lessons and purpose if you search for it.

Several months into the project, I felt compelled to not just write this book for my daughters and my family, but to self-publish it for the world (or maybe a hundred people) to read.  It  became a big audacious goal of mine to keep going, keep growing, keep learning, and create something much bigger and better than I had originally set out to do.  For a non-fiction book of this sort, I needed 65,000 words.  

Writing an entire book was no easy task.  I had absolutely no idea what I was doing at first.  Stringing words together to form sentences and interesting paragraphs to develop into various chapters felt very unnatural.  Telling stories in a way that someone would actually want to read was difficult.  But over the course of about 9 months it started coming together as I reached 20,000 words then 50,000, then eventually 65,000 words.  I had enough words to finally call it a book!  It took me 9-10 months to grow each of my girls, and it took just as long to write and develop my book baby.  

How did I have the time to write a book as a full-time working mom you ask?!  Just like with any other crazy goal of mine, I had to make the time.

I wrote 1-2 hours at a time mostly in the early morning hours before work.  My "why" got me up in the morning week after week even when I was tired.  I spent early morning weekend hours putting in several hours of writing before the rest of the house woke up.  I just kept going, often with the sweet encouragement from my oldest daughter who left me drawings celebrating my word counts.  She was proud of her mom and it gave me the fuel I needed to keep going.

I researched everything about how to write a book, how to edit and format my own manuscript, and ultimately how to self-publish on Amazon.  I designed my own cover with a picture I took with my cell phone, wrote my own book description, and finally had the courage to hit submit.

As I write this blog post, my book has been out in the world for 4 months now and has been read by over 100 readers.  I am not only the author, but the editor, formatter, designer, and promoter of my own book.

Writing gave me a voice that I desperately wanted.  It was transformational, enjoyable, and completely rewarding.  I have so much pride for my work, for achieving this big goal, but my ultimate hope is that it encourages others to also share their own story.

I am currently writing book #2, hoping to finish and publish it by the end of the year.  It's a more tactical book encouraging busy moms (and really anyone) to fill their cups so they can spill out to others.  As I started writing this book, Covid 19 came in and changed everything.  It has no doubt played a big part in my writing journey for this next book.  It will be an interesting read at the end of 2020, as we've all had to learn how to adapt during this crazy, uncertain season.  I hope you'll enjoy reading it, learning how to pour into yourself even during difficult times.

Do you also have a goal of writing a book?  Feel like you have a story to tell, but aren't sure how to get started?  Are you afraid that no-one will want to read it?  Not sure that you have the time or the talent?

The best advice that I can give you is to just get started.  Jot down some notes about your ideas, come up with sort of a rough outline of what you are going to write about, name your chapters, and just start typing.  Sit at your computer and just start typing words.  Tell stories, share wisdom and ideas, be vulnerable, make people laugh, and just write from your heart.  Don't expect it to sound good at first, and I promise you it won't!  Just keep going.  Read and re-read, edit and transform it into something that keeps getting better.  Write a little or a lot at a time.  Set goals for yourself.  And when you get to a point where you've written enough words and you have a final edited manuscript, decide how you are going to proceed.  If you have a big following and have a chance at traditional publishing, then your next step would be to find a literary agent who wants to take a risk on your book.  If you don't have a huge community of followers and aren't anywhere close to being famous, then your next best bet is to self-publish, which actually has its perks.

One option is self-publishing through Amazon.  You can learn all about this at kpd.amazon.com

I hope this gives you a little bit of guidance and encouragement if you are dreaming of writing your first book.  I hope you feel inspired to share your story if only with your family and close friends.  Everyone has a story, and we can all learn and grow through reading each other's.  Don't leave this world without sharing yours.  You will be so glad that you did!

My current book, "Transformed: My Story as a Farmer's Daughter with Big Dreams & an Even Bigger God" by Allison R. Smith is currently available on Amazon

Follow me on social media at Filluptospillout and look for my next book later this year!

Have a great weekend and stay safe! ~ Allison