I am always amazed at how the Universe sends me what I need after I make a decision. In last week’s post, I declared that I would publish Nest City: The Human Drive to Thrive in Cities here, in the blogosphere.
Shortly after this post, I heard from a friend and colleague (and fellow blogger), Brenda Herschmer, about her recent experience in self-publishing. We haven’t connected in a while and we will reconnect in person to chew on our publishing decisions. In addition, in my email in-box was a link to Nina Amir’s upcoming book, How to Blog a Book. After exploring her book a bit, I headed off to her web site and blog to see how she did it. What does it look like to blog a book? What am I getting into?
I realize that this has been a really big, liberating decision to step into the world of the professional writer. I choose to do this as serious endeavour, which means that the time I spend each weekday writing “the book” will be shared. It will be alive and public each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It means that I will have to promote my writing right away. It means that the consulting work that I do will be even more focused and strongly connected to my writing; these two aspects of my work life will become even more connected.
I am really looking forward to this new professional challenge. I have no idea precisely where it will take me, but I have no doubt that it will take me where I am supposed to go. Nina Amir’s How to Blog a Book led me to Gina Trapani’s blog, lifehacker.com, and the story of how her blog turned into a book. After posting 12 times a day every week day for 9 months, an agent called her. To be honest, I don’t want the kind of life that tethers me to a computer to post that frequently, but maybe I will surprise myself! What I can commit to confidently is to publish 4 pieces of Nest City every week, Monday to Thursday.
Please join me tomorrow for instalment #1 of Nest City: The Human Drive to Thrive in Cities.