How Anyone Can Write a Book in 30 Days
It’s easier than you think.
Stories are down on Medium. Blog posts are barely being published on my blog. Social Media activity has been at an all-time low in terms of consistency. And I feel exhausted.
Yet, I accomplished something I have always wanted to do. I wrote a book. In 30 days. No, I didn’t write, edit, and publish it in 30 days.
I completed the first draft of my first book in 30 days.
At the time of writing this story, I’m in the middle of editing. I have made it farther than I thought possible. And now, I know I will get this book published!
How did I do it?
What I did in 30 days was a combination of five major identity-defining activities to make this possible. These activities are as follows:
- Believed in me.
- Discovered my idea.
- Chose a system.
- Put in the hard work.
- Worked with accountability.
With these five major things, I went from never writing a book before to completing the first draft for a full on book in 30 days. And now that I have done it, I think anyone who has a book to write can do it too.
In this story, I want to share with you my experience in order to encourage you and give you hope to write your book. Because I want to read your book.
Five Essential Parts to Writing Your Book in 30 Days
This photo shows where I started with mind mapping an idea. And where I ended up after 30 days of writing my brains out. It only shows the beginning and end of the process, but it represents all five parts of what I had to do in order to write this book.
№1 — Believe
In October 2018, I shared about how I was afraid of actually writing a book. And to be honest with you, I carried the fear of failure and with me for months after writing this post.
For several years, I have had a desire to write my own book. And made a lot of excuses for myself as to why I couldn’t do it. Those excuses were simply limiting beliefs which were holding me back from chasing my dream.
However, I finally decided it was time to make it happen. As I read more and more stories of people deciding to write their books, or of people who had written books, I realized I could do it too.
Not because I am better than anyone, but because it is possible for me to do. And if this story does anything for you, I want it to encourage you to write the book which is inside you.
Because I believe you can do it.
“Believe in yourself and you can make almost anything happen.”
№2 — Idea
The idea for my book goes all the way back to November 2017! Long before I even thought about writing a book. It was a topic I researched because I needed to become better at it. The topic was productivity, and I became fascinated with productivity habits.
We have tons and tons of stories here on Medium about “Productivity.” And the topic of productivity has been so impactful for me because I started out being terrible at productivity with my job.
Had I not sucked so bad at it with work, I may never have started researching and writing about what I was learning. In fact, after my initial story, I wrote a follow up for each point of this story.
And then Frank McKinley said something that blew my mind:
“You have enough content for a couple of books!”
It was a simple comment on a post on Facebook, but it made me realize I have something to say and a lot to say about it. And this stuck with me until I was ready to write my book.
№3 — System
There were a few things which launched me into action for writing a book. First, it was a social media post by Ayodeji Awosika sharing about a course and book one of his connections, Anthony Moore had put together to help writers make money for their writing.
When I clicked over and signed up for the book and course, I devoured the content. It gave me hope for turning my side hustle into something more. And most of all, it made me realize I could find a system to write my book.
After finishing Anthony’s book, I was prompted to remember how I had purchased Chandler Bolt’s book: Published. And had never read it, so I thought I might go back to it. And this book gave me the system for writing my book.
In this book, Chandler shares how to mindmap, outline, and write a book in 30 days. And it shares a ton more about getting it edited and published. What I walked away from this book was how it was possible to write, edit and publish a book.
And I could do it now. So, I did.
№4 — Hard Work
Everything we do takes hard work. This was by far, one of the hardest things I have done in a while.
I woke up between 4 AM and 5 AM every morning for a month in order to have enough time to map, outline, and/or write a chapter before my daughters woke up in the morning.
I committed to doing it every day for 30 days. And some mornings it was hard. I encountered a lot of barriers and excuses for making this book happen, but I needed to do it. I knew there was no better time than now.
And what happened?
I completed the book in 30 days. Sure, my number of Medium stories decreased significantly. And my social media posts went down. But I knew it would pay off in the end.
Even if it doesn’t financially, it will pay off because I will complete something I have always dreamed of doing. We need to put the hard work into writing a book, otherwise, it won’t happen.
№5 — Accountability
When we start into something we have never done before or a project which will take time and effort, we need people around us to support our efforts. The accountability of others provides us with strength in numbers when it comes to our writing.
While writing might be something we do by ourselves, writing a book is something we do in a community.
We need accountability and community to encourage us when we are down. Our accountability partners celebrate with us when we are thriving. And they remind us of why we are writing our book.
When I read this quote by K. Kris Loomis 📚, I knew I needed to have accountability partners:
“If you don’t have an accountability partner, I suggest you consider finding one.”
It isn’t overly profound, but the article which went with it provided me with the base for establishing the help I would need to write my book.
Are you going to write your book?
While there are always a lot of reasons why not to do something, I hope this story gave you some reasons why you should take action today and write the book which is inside you.
There are a lot of great resources and communities available to us as writers. They will help us along our book writing journey. And I hope you will take advantage of them.
Start today. Believe in yourself. Choose your idea. Pick a system. Start doing the hard work and find people to help you do it.
Because I want to read your book.
If you have written a book, what are some techniques you have used to make it happen? If you want to write a book, what is holding you back? Share in the responses below and support each other!
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