Giving Birth to Dreams

Writing has always been one of my strongest passions and part of the overall dream for my life. To bring finished works forth from the invisible realm to the world of form takes commitment, consistency and a whole lot of patience. As with most creative endeavors, there are parts of it that aren't glamorous at all, especially if you decide to self-publish a book. That doesn't mean they're not creative, just that many parts of the process really feel like work.

Compared with posting a blog piece, the details in getting a manuscript transformed into a publishable book can feel never-ending. Switching hats from writing to editing to layout to promotion required a level of discipline and tenacity I didn’t know was possible. Personally, I’d rather hang out in the writing zone and let someone else take it from there once I'm done with the writing. Not possible at this moment, so hat changing is part of birthing my dreams.

I just happen to prefer right-brained activities. I've lost my taste for the heavy lifting the left-brain does. I love the creative play of dancing with my Muse and the excitement of watching little bits and pieces of ideas get transformed into prose, stories and plays on the page. The experience still pulls at my heartstrings and makes me feel childlike and open to the world.

So when I need to put on the more serious, left-brained editor hat, I drag my heels a bit, lingering in the colorful playground of the Muse as long as possible. What finally gets me to start editing is the awareness that I need to untangle my sweet threads of rough ideas and and weave them into a beautiful tapestry that a reader can enjoy. That awareness is just the spark I need to see get myself performing alchemy on each and every sentence so that that it interweaves in harmony with all the other sentences and the piece as a whole. Whatever doesn't fit is lovingly removed; what's missing is added. Some sentences just don't flow or feel right as they are and need to be moved or shortened or lengthened and so on until finally, after several read throughs, all the sentences appear to have always been together in just that form.

Voila! A bit of magic has just happened, allowing the reader to engage fully with the writing—not just a bunch of sentences strung together, but a cohesive whole, able to be received and understood.

All of this is to say, I have some big writing intentions this year. I plan to update my Creative Alchemy book and publish a second edition of it, along with a companion workbook. In addition, I have at least one other book project in the works. Keeping quiet about that for now until I get a little further along in the process.

In the meantime, I’m posting some notes I took a number of years ago about what I learned about self-publishing. I’m including it now as a reminder for myself and as a peek behind the curtain on what it looked like for me on the other side of birthing a dream. (These notes can be applied to the process of making most creative projects available to the public.)

• Everything takes longer than you expect: the writing, revising, book layout, e-conversion, distribution, promotion and so on. However, with that said, it's also a pretty straightforward process that anyone with solid writing talent and a plan can do if you take your time and follow the steps. Many writers get discouraged because the process seems so daunting. It's a lot of work, but it is within reach.

• You cannot do enough proofreading. I hired a professional proofreader, and asked a few people to read the manuscript. And right when I the last typo or error had been found, another few would pop up. I began to think the original ones were having babies in the middle of the night. It's amazing how easy it is to miss a really obvious typo. Funny enough, I often find at least one major typo in every book or post or article I read these days.

• You can't get there alone. Books may be written alone, but most writers are not good editors, proofreaders, cover designers or layout experts. Nor do many know how to promote their books. Self-publishing, at its best, is a collaborative effort.

• There are lots of ways to get a book published. Some are free or low cost and others are really expensive. The low cost ones require lots of work and the expensive ones do the work for you. The more you spend, the more time you have to do what you love (writing) and less time you'll have to pull your hair out over the stuff you hate (all the rest of it).

• The first one's always the most difficult. That's the one you use to learn the process. It's your beta test and you'll learn from your mistakes, so don't expect perfection. Enjoy the process and what you glean from it. See yourself smoothing the way for the next time.

For those of you giving birth to your dreams this year, I wish you much success! When the going gets tough, don’t quit! Keep moving forward, no matter what, even if you take the tiniest actions. It’s worth it, and it does get easier as you go. Don’t forget that I’m right alongside you putting one foot in front of another.

If you’d like a little extra inspiration, encouragement and accountability, grab a friend and join me and a wonderful group kindred, creative souls in my upcoming Creative Alchemy class. The magic and fun begin on January 31st. Hope to see you there!