Should You Write a Book? Five Reasons to Say Yes!
Have you ever thought, “I can write a book some day. I’m going to write a book this year!”
I can guess you’ve had had those thoughts plenty of times in your career. Either inspired after reading a terrific book, or midway through reading a horrible one. Many of you know the technical articles on my blog, and since March 2014 I’m writing a book to be published by the fantastic folks at Focal Press.
When I first had someone seriously give me an opportunity to write a book, thanks very much to the endlessly supportive Brian Sullivan for connecting the dots, I thought it might be wrong for me to commit. “No” swirled around in my head. Too much work. Too much pressure. Too much expectation. In fact there are endless reasons to say “no”, but they all spawn from the same simple place: fear, worry, and doubt.
As I daydreamed about the idea of writing a book I turned to my brain-trust (family, friends, colleagues) and I realized my reasons to say “yes”:
- It’s an amazing creative outlet
- It’s an intellectual challenge
- It’s a chance to serve others
- It’s elevating my knowledge of the subject
- It’s an opportunity to connect with new people
There’s no way that I’m going to get rich and famous on writing this book. If I’m lucky it’s popular enough to be known in my industry and become a type of “calling card.” In fact any success will simply be a side-effect of what I try doing. Every day I wake up thinking: what will I learn, what will I share, what will I build to solve a problem?
I hope you take a chance to write about what you know best. When you do reach out to me, and let me know of your success. Let’s do something awesome today!
