It is hard to believe that my first and possibly only book was released 7 months ago.  People have been incredibly kind in their response and encouragement along the way. 

I had the thought of attempting to write a book for years but did not really know what I would write about or if I even had that much to say about anything at all. I have always thought of authors as “experts” and I have always thought of myself as a guy who knows a few things about a lot of things but not a lot about any one thing. I don’t have space to write about all of the majors I had in college or the number of hobbies I currently have!

So when I eventually decided that I might be able to say “enough” about something, I cautiously dipped my toes into the book writing creek. When I began writing, I was still not convinced that I could do it so I did not tell anyone! It was just me versus me…I don’t even think I told my wife for about a month.

If you purchased or seen the book, which is titled A Slow Walk with God, you know that it is organized into days and weeks. I figured that since I wrote for this blog occasionally, then I could write in smaller chunks or days. So I began. 

After I had the rough draft of the first week I invited a friend of mine, Josi Siebert, to read it and give me some honest feedback. That was the first moment of feeling pretty vulnerable in the process. There were more of those to come for sure. Once I heard back from her and the feedback was not too brutal, I decided to move forward and asked her to be a part of the entire process. Josi was incredibly kind in being my feedback loop through the entire process. She did way more than just read. She made amazing suggestions, kept me encouraged and accountable to get to the finish line. I can’t thank her enough!

The actual writing process took a year. Yes, I am slow. From there it took another 5 months for it to be made available to the public. Those 5 months included having a very gracious and brutally honest college professor and author read and offer editing suggestions. I had not seen that much red ink in a LONG TIME.  I almost felt like I was in trouble! 

Eventually, it was finished. I will never forget clicking the button that shared A Sow Walk with God with the world. That was a scary moment! I had all of the insecure thoughts that you could imagine! “What will people think?” “Is it actually terrible?” “Will it be of any benefit to anyone?”

So here are a few random thoughts and things from my experience of writing a book.

:: Writing a book is hard…..go figure…somedays it seemed natural and smooth. Other days felt like WORK! I almost quit several times.

:: I don’t know how other people approach the actual writing process, but something tells me that the way I do it is NOT the best…

:: Though I already knew this, I was reminded that I am AMAZING at grammar and spelling errors! 

:: I am not good at marketing and I do not enjoy marketing. I still have no clue how to do that.

:: Going public with a book, and anything creative, is an incredibly vulnerable feeling. I have every insecure thought imaginable.

:: Everyone asks if I will write another one.  I have no clue but I doubt it.

:: People are really encouraging!  I have had almost nothing but positive things said to me…almost…

:: I will never be fully satisfied with the finished product of any creative project that I work on.  Since its release, I’ve barely even opened a copy, but when I do, I always find something that needs to be “fixed.”

:: It is ok if the finished product is not the complete realization of what I envisioned. I am a big dreamer.  My creative ideas are often way beyond what I am able to accomplish. There was actually a huge part of this project that I was not able to include. I had to learn to be ok with that. 

:: The process was great for my soul. I am no expert at slowly walking with God so taking the time to pray, study, mediate, and internalize these passages taught me so much.

There you go.

doug

If you haven’t purchased a copy, you can find on Amazon right HERE