Our last blog left off with me hanging over the Costa Rican landscape clinging hysterically—and totally happily—to the rope tethering the Tarzan Swing to the tree tops. I promised to explain what that has to do with book writing, and here’s the deal:

First of all, although we think we’re just writing a book, other possibilities show up during the course of the project that we don’t know are coming (like a metaphorically-related Tarzan Swing). And when they do, if we say “yes,” they just might be gloriously expansive.

What’s more, although book writing/Tarzan swinging might terrify you a little bit, it will actually lead to something bigger, better, and brighter for you and the work you’re here to do in the world.

The second point I’d like to make is that even if you’ve wanted to write a book for a really long time, embarking upon the project can feel like a huge leap into the unknown. Working on your book can, actually, be an emotionally scary experience. And yet, when you get right down to it, writing a book is significantly safer a project than crossing a street.  But our ego gets hold of the idea and makes up all kinds of stories about imposter syndrome, being seen, getting it wrong, being judged, and so on.

That’s just noise.

Few people are ever really “ready” to write a book but, like embracing the Tarzan Swing, it is in the process of doing it that we become prepared for it. There will never be a good time to do this. Funnily enough, many people who think they want to write a book but feel too busy for the project, figure they’re going to have less on their plate in six months or nine months or a year. But that never really happens – another project shows up to take the last one’s place. And the unwritten book continues to fester in the backwater of their brain.

The reality is that we don’t get time to write a book, we have to make time to write a book. And we have to prioritize writing our books, no matter how unnerving the project may seem.

I find that when I’m working on a book, it really needs to become one of my most urgent priorities and I reorient my life for the finite period of time it’s going to take for me to get it written. It makes me uncomfortably busy. And it’s worth the effort.

So, if you are serious about becoming a published author, I invite you to reprioritize a few things in your life so that it does become one of your highest priorities.

When all is said and done, writing a book is a transformational experience. And if you haven’t yet written a book, it’s out there waiting for you. Having written five books now, I understand that each of my books has had a different impact on me and who I’m here to be. Each one has also changed how I see my life, how I relate to my world, and how my business has grown. That’s waiting for you, too.

Take the leap. Fly.

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