How might your career or business be transformed if you were able to overcome the obstacles that have prevented you (so far) from starting and finishing that book you've always promised you'd write? In this downloadable pdf (all 62 pages available at www.bookdoula.biz), Dr. Liz, The Book Doula addresses ways to shed light on those obstacles, as well as seven strategies to get that book out of your head and into readers' lives -- once and for all!
1. Find, Nurture,
and Sustain
the Motivation
to Write
Birth
Your Book!
Dr. LIZ ALEXANDER
The Book Doula
2. Praise for this Ebook
“Liz is gifted at inspiring and motivating people. In this valuable book she offers a variety
of strategies for writing and publishing the book you've always dreamed of. With practical
suggestions, creative ideas, and interesting stories, she challenges any thoughts or behav-
iors that have kept you stuck and energizes you to move forward to a more creative and
fulfilling future.” ~ Dr. Kate Brooks, author of You Majored In What? (Viking, 2009).
“Dr. Liz is a power-packed go-getter. Her sage advice can truly get you on the path from
writer to author.” ~ Marika Flatt, PR by the Book.
“Dr. Liz has created a practical, immensely helpful ebook that answers the questions other
books never seem to answer. If you know you’ve got a book in you, the approach Dr. Liz
outlines here will help boost your motivation, self-confidence, and follow-through.”
~ Regan Marie Brown, author of The Woman’s Way, Celebrating Life After 40 (Andrews
McMeel, 2001).
“Far from the dry how-tos that currently litter this genre, Dr. Liz provides advice, practical
exercises and inspiration for getting a book off your to-do list. I highly recommend it.”
~ Rusty Shelton, Shelton Interactive.
“I read your wonderful book at one sitting and it made SO MUCH SENSE. It was absolutely
on target and made me think of several areas about which I WANT to write — as opposed
to those where I might make some money but have not passion for the subject. Thank
you so much for making me take a hard look at myself and what I really want to say and
do.” ~ Jim Comer, author of When Roles Reverse: A Guide to Parenting Your Parents
(Finalist Violet Crown Award for Best Non-Fiction Book of 2007, Texas Writers
League).
4. Contents
About You ........................................................................................ 4
Introduction ..................................................................................... 5
Section One
• Find Your Passion .................................................................... 9
• Let’s Find Your Motivation ........................................................ 10
• No Excuses .......................................................................... 11
• Three Emotional Obstacles That Keep You from Writing ................... 12
• Three Mental Obstacles That Keep You from Writing ....................... 18
• Four Behavioral Obstacles That Keep You from Writing .................... 20
• Find What Excites You ............................................................. 22
• Let’s Get Started! ................................................................... 27
Section Two
• Strategy #1: Find Your Passion .................................................. 28
• Strategy #2: Pounce on Your Ideas .............................................. 33
• Strategy #3: Prepare and Pace ................................................... 36
• Strategy #4: Give Your Creative Potential a Boost ............................ 39
• Strategy #5: Allow the How ...................................................... 43
• Strategy #6: You Already Are ..................................................... 49
• Strategy #7: Don’t Go It Alone ................................................... 56
A Final Message ............................................................................... 60
About Dr. Liz .................................................................................... 61
Birth Your Book | 3
5. About You
At last! You’ve added “author” to your list of accomplishments. Whether you were
published by a commercial house or went the self-publishing or print-on-demand
route, your book is now available and selling well. More than that, it has boosted your
credibility as a subject matter expert so you’re now earning additional income as a
speaker, trainer and consultant.
No, I’m not talking to the wrong reader and you “Change rooms
haven’t got the wrong book. I know that isn’t your cur- in your mind
rent reality. But didn’t it feel good, for a moment, to think for a day.”
that it was? –All the Hemispheres
So what’s stopping you from making that dream a by Hafiz
reality?
If, like countless aspiring authors you have struggled with getting your book out
of your head, off your “to do” list and into people’s lives, this is the book you need. It’s
about the motivation to write: how to find it, nuture it, and sustain it. Once you have
addressed your motivation, you will find writing more pleasurable, quicker and easier
than you ever thought possible.
You will begin this near-magical process by reading this ebook and engaging
with the exercises. Hopefully you will also journal to capture the new thoughts and
amazing ideas that come to you, in order to fully realize your passion for contributing
something meaningful to the world. Let’s make a start on that journey together now.
Birth Your Book | 4
6. Introduction
Her husband looked so proud as he stood up during the breakfast networking
meeting to announce that she had written a book. Cheers and clapping ensued. I
think she blushed. I know he beamed.
A year or so later during an email exchange I happened to ask this woman if I
might interview her about her publishing experience. At which point she said she
hadn’t written a book. Seems her husband had jumped the gun, possibly in an
attempt to provoke a frenzy of writing. It obviously didn’t work.
Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience? You’ve been saying for months, maybe
years, that you have a book inside you. Maybe, as a small business owner or service
provider, you want the instant credibility that comes from adding “author” to your list
of accomplishments. But for some reason nothing has ever come of it. The idea for a
book remains firmly in your head. Paper is unwritten on. The computer file is blank.
Why?
As someone long fascinated by human motivation (I have advanced degrees in
the topic), and whose passion is writing, I decided to shine more light on a concept
that rarely gets addressed: the self-discovery that has to happen before the “how to” of
writing and publishing can be of any use.
Go to Amazon.com and search for “how to write a book” and you’ll be presented
with 11,180 results. But all the information in the world won’t do you any good if you
can’t find, harness and sustain the motivation to actually sit down and write. That’s like
reading everything that Julia Child ever wrote only to discover, the minute you walk
into the kitchen, that you keep thinking about all the other things you’d rather do
than cook.
This isn’t a book about how; it’s a book about why. As Viktor Frankl wrote in
Man’s Search for Meaning (echoing Nietzsche):“He who has a Why to live for can bear
Birth Your Book | 5
7. almost any How.” I don’t think we ask enough whys in life. Yet, when we understand
our core motivation for doing something, that achievement occurs almost miraculous-
ly. We’ll begin by addressing some of the reasons why you haven’t moved forward
with your writing in the way you had hoped. Then we’ll identify seven strategies that
will help you get your book out of your head and into readers’ lives.
In this ebook, you’ll find advice and practical exercises on:
• How to find that vital, emotional compulsion to get your subject-matter
expertise out of your head and onto the page (Section One).
• How to look beyond the first idea that comes to you for your book and find
a potentially more innovative and compelling concept (Strategies 1 and 4).
• Why it’s important to act quickly—to do anything at all—when a good idea
comes to you, in order to kick-start the momentum (Strategy 2).
• What characteristics you need to find and develop that will enable you to
do what writers do, consistently and well (Strategy 3).
• The difference between keeping an inspired outcome in mind and getting
mired in always needing to know how that desired outcome will become
reality (Strategy 5).
• Why writing should not be viewed as simply a mechanical process but a
spiritual induction that can change the nature of your reality (Strategy 6).
• How to see beyond the myth that writing is a lonely profession best suited
to alcoholics, depressives, and misanthropes (Strategy 7).
There is a lot of material here that you are unlikely to find in books that claim to
show you how to write and be published. I hope this prospect excites and delights
Birth Your Book | 6
8. you. Energy, passion, commitment, a desire to accomplish something meaningful, and
persevering to overcome challenges— all the stuff we associate with emotion and
motivation—are part and parcel of being a writer. When you can tap into all of these,
then the mechanics of writing, which are simple enough to learn given time and prac-
tice, can be applied effectively. Without passion and perseverance, however, your book
won’t make its mark on the world, because you’ll never get round to writing it.
As Anne Lamott wrote in Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life:
The problem that comes up over and over again is that these people [her students]
want to be published. They kind of want to write, but they really want to be pub-
lished. You’ll never get to where you want to be that way, I tell them.
Throughout this book you will be prompted to reflect on your motivation for
wanting to write. It’s one thing to focus on a desired outcome like Lamott’s students
who wanted to be published, but if what you’re really after is to see your name on a
best-seller list or to make a lot of money, then you are going to need a lot of money (to
promote the heck out of your book), many influential friends with powerful marketing
savvy (including big mailing lists), and plenty of patience.
For the time it takes you to read this ebook, I’m asking you to let go of any
obsession with how your book will get written, how successful it will be, and how
much money you are likely to make from writing it. Consider this to be the “prequel”
to all those other books you may have already read on developing nonfiction
proposals, crafting compelling chapters, writing query letters to agents and suchlike.
By focusing attention on why you want to write a book and working to overcome the
fears you may be harboring and those other impediments that keep getting in your
way, you’ll find that the hows will be taken care of, in their own time and in their
own way.
Writing your book isn’t a question of getting a better handle on what’s “out
there,” but on what lies inside you. We’re going to begin by discovering more about
Birth Your Book | 7
9. what excites you. Interested in pursuing that? Then you’ve come to the right place. If
not, I can confirm that there are over 11,000 other books waiting for you—just go to
Amazon.com and search for “how to write a book.”The chances are, however, that
without the introspection and understanding you will get from reading this ebook,
you’ll find yourself a month, a year, a decade from now wondering why you never got
round to writing your own book.
Still with me? Wonderful! Our journey is about to start. Let’s begin by finding
your passion and then discover how that can relate to starting and completing
your book.
Birth Your Book | 8
10. SECTION ONE
Find Your Passion
As anyone who knows me will confirm, I get things done.
• Between 1997 and 2002 I had eight books published, each of them 40,000- to
50,000-word nonfiction manuscripts that were commissioned, edited, and
printed by major commercial publishers including Random House and
HarperCollins. In all I’ve written ten books that have reached close to 500,000
readers around the world.
• I wrote two books each year from 1999 to 2001 “When I sit down
while at the same time working as a freelance at my writing desk,
journalist, motivational speaker, coach, and
time seems to
consultant.
vanish. I think it’s a
wonderful way to
• I earned both a master’s degree and a Ph.D. spend one’s life.”
from The University at Texas at Austin in five
–Erica Jong
years, in educational psychology (with an
emphasis on motivation and cognition), while also working 30 hours a week
and bringing up a high-maintenance 80-pound black Labrador who believes
she’s human.
This ebook focuses on how to get things started and completed; in particular
how to free yourself from whatever imagined limitations, fears, false beliefs, lack of
motivation or willpower have prevented you from turning the dream of writing a
book into reality. And not just any old book but brilliant nonfiction that promotes your
business, boosts your career, and attracts multiple streams of income.
Your writing ability and lack of knowledge about publishing aren’t at the root of
why you haven’t started or finished that book you’ve always promised yourself you’d
write. Challenges like these can be overcome by hiring a professional (such as a writ-
Birth Your Book | 9
11. ing coach or editor), or spending more time researching the market (for example,
reading books, blogs, or websites on your publishing options). What you don’t yet
know is not the problem because, with time and money, you can plug those gaps. The
issue lies deeper—with your lack of motivation to write.
Let’s Find Your Motivation
The only way I can think of to maintain a lack of motivation for writing a book
and still produce one is to hire a ghostwriter. These individuals will take your topic and
subject matter expertise and craft a book that goes out under your name. Most
celebrities, big-name business gurus and politicians do this. This option is expensive
(think low to high five figures, sometimes six figures, depending on the experience of
the “ghost”). If you are willing and able to spend the money on having a book written
on your behalf, then motivation is not a consideration. End of story.
But what if you can’t afford a ghostwriter? Or would like to know how marvelous
it feels not just to see your name on the cover of a book, but to be able to tell admirers
that you actually wrote it? Then allow me to help you discover the necessary clarity,
confidence, and passion to help your writing become more inspired, easy, and joyful.
I’m going to take you a step back from how to write and ask you to focus first on
knocking down all those barriers that are preventing you from having more of any-
thing in your life. This little book features the goal of writing a book, but the strategies
I’m sharing with you are relevant to any kind of positive outcome: from joy and fulfill-
ment, to having more money and business or career success. To accomplish any of
these desires, you need to be motivated enough to take action.
At its core, then, this ebook isn’t just about getting your book written and into
the hands of eager readers. It’s about your personal growth and the tips and strategies
that can move you to the next level in any area of your life.
Even though it might seem as if writing a book is all about thoughts and think-
ing, the first place we’re going to start is with your emotions.
Birth Your Book | 10
12. No Excuses
Am I right in assuming that there are things “We want to set
you always get around to doing? Even if you think of goals that our heart
yourself as the world’s biggest procrastinator, isn’t it conceives, that our
true that when certain people ask for your help you mind believes, and
can instantly find the time to assist them? When cer- our bodies will
tain activities need your attention you don’t sit and carry out.”
think about them but get on and accomplish what –Jim Rohn
is required, right?
These situations, I suspect, involve people and activities that you deeply care
about. You react from your heart rather than your head and get them done. True?
That’s your first clue, then, as to how to get anything done: find the emotional driver.
As the late personal development entrepreneur, Jim Rohn, advised, you need to set
goals conceived by the heart—which means goals that are emotionally important
to you.
Let’s imagine that you already have this great idea for a book. (We’re just imagin-
ing for now. If you don’t have an idea, don’t worry, we’ll get to that part later—it’s not
as hard as you might think). You already understand that with the right kind of mar-
keting and promotion, this book will boost your professional reputation and personal
credibility. But you never seem to find the time to start it or complete it. What’s stop-
ping you?
Here is a list of common obstacles to accomplishing that outcome, divided into
three sections: Emotional (feelings), Mental (beliefs), and Behavioral (actions). Which
are relevant to you?
Birth Your Book | 11
13. Want More?
Including:
• How to overcome the obstacles to
starting or finishing your book.
and
• Proven strategies to get your
book done!
The cost for the full 62-page ebook
is just $2.99. A tiny investment compared to what
you could gain from birthing the book in YOU.
“There is no greater
agony than bearing an
CLICK HERE for immediate download. untold story inside you.”
~ Maya Angelou
Need help moving forward? Let’s talk about how you can write,
publish, and sell your brilliant book – NOW!
Email: drliz@bookdoula.biz
Get your complete ebook download HERE.
