An Update On Writing My 2nd Book & The Blogging Challenge

In the middle of February, I launched into another weekday blogging challenge with a group of friends. The first week, I knocked out five new articles, but quickly dropped my frequency in the subsequent weeks of the challenge to one or two posts per week. Including this article, I've now published a total of thirteen new blog posts as the challenge comes to an end this Friday. By week's end, I'll have two more posts to add.

This blogging challenge has been a valuable catalyst to help me finish writing the last few sections of my book for striving small business owners (It's hard to finish this project!). When I began the challenge, I listed out the articles I needed to write. I ended up consolidating some of them and discovering a few other sections requiring write-ups. Publishing sections of the books as blogs has forced me to write with a sense of self-containment on each one, making these sections of the book even stronger than they would have been otherwise.

I've now got one chapter's concluding section to write, and another section on the four strategic pillars of a company mission to finish. This last strategy section is challenging because I'm still working out the concept. Writing it is hard because I don't exactly know what it is I'm trying to end up with, yet. If you have not yet written a book, know the hardest part of the process is thinking through the concepts, ideas, and stories. For both Path of the Freelancer and The Jump, much of the thinking was done ahead of time, but there was still some reflection required on both. 

With my recent read through from beginning to end complete and the last two missing sections identified for completion, my following task will be reading the book again, from beginning to end. I'll follow up by doing this a few more times, and with the paid version of Grammarly (affiliate link). Rinse, and repeat. 

In this process, I'll begin sharing the manuscript with those interested in providing feedback to make it better. And, I'll begin ordering proofs to read and edit the physical version. Together, we'll finish the book, and it'll be great. 

I am behind on my writing schedule, at least compared to Path of the Freelancer, but the book is almost twenty-thousand words longer and I've got much more on my plate to sustain than before. My goal now is to get my first proof ordered by mid-April and have the book completed by the beginning of May. If that holds true, I'll aim for a fall release around August or September giving me time to build up and promote the book, as well as approach a few agents to explore that publishing pathway. 

Hero Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash