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I always knew writing, editing, and publishing a book would be hard and time-consuming, but I had no idea how hard and time-consuming it actually would be!

The entire process, from book idea in 2018 to publication in September of 2022, has been quite a journey. I began with nothing other than the unyielding desire to write a book. Ever have one of those feelings that you just want to do something, even if it logically doesn’t make a lot of sense? 

I’ve heard Marie Forleo say that you wouldn’t have the dream in your heart if you didn’t have what it takes to make it happen, and that was a touchstone for me. Of all the things in this world that I could do, my brain & body & soul wanted to write a book. So I did. 

And wow…I’m glad I had that desire fueling me because this was tough. While I had the idea for this book in 2018, I really started leaning into the book writing process in April of 2021, when I hired a book coach.

Before I started working with her, I would’ve told you that writing and editing and publishing a book was like running a marathon: I knew it was going to take a long time and it was going to be hard work. That, however, turned out to be incorrect. 

Once I finished the first draft of the manuscript, I realized that it was going to be more like two marathons: one marathon just to write the first draft, and the second for all the editing and re-writing that I was doing. However, that, too, turned out to be incorrect. 

About a year into the process of writing and editing and prepping for publication, I decided that it was like one marathon and a triathlon, where the one marathon was to get to first draft manuscript, and the triathlon was the writing that I had to do based on the revisions, and then a bunch of things that were NOTHING like writing. This included cover design, back cover descriptions, title & subtitle selections, and supplementary graphics.  

Now that I’m mostly at the end, I will share my final analogy: writing and editing and publishing a book is like running one marathon to write the manuscript; and the everything else associated with editing and publishing is more like one of those Tough Mudder obstacle course races where you have to crawl under barbed wire and climb over walls while covered in mud. 

In this episode of the Jamie on Purpose podcast, I get into all the juicy details and share the full timeline and what my journey looked like. If you’re interested in writing a book one day or you’re just curious about what all goes into the book process, you’ll love it! 

It was a wild ride, but I am SO thrilled for you to get your hands on a copy on September 27th!