What is Your Story? Why YOU Should Write a Book.

As I work through my follow-up book to The Fragile Mind, I am reminded how much writing that book impacted my life.  I have been fortunate enough to sell a few copies and win a couple of national awards, but that is just icing on the cake.  The real benefit was what I learned about myself through the writing process, and how it helped me improve in some key emotional intelligence areas.

Another pleasant surprise has been the number of people who have been inspired to write after reading my book.  I know two people who have already gotten published, and several others have asked me specific questions about the writing and publishing process.  This has gotten me to think about how great it would be if more people shared their stories.  The goal should not necessarily be to sell a bunch of copies and make a lot of money, but rather to contribute to the body of knowledge in the public sphere.

If you are challenged in figuring out what to write about, ask yourself the following questions.  What do you enjoy?  Do you have a unique life experience that people can benefit from learning about?  Do you have a big idea?  Do you have a different view on an issue than what appears to be the popular position?  Is there something you would like to learn more about? (Remember, you are an expert if you read three books on a given subject).  Having asked all of those questions, please keep in mind that your life story is probably more profound than you think.  Whatever you write about, I guarantee that you will get more out of it than you could ever imagine, especially where emotional intelligence is concerned.

Here are some elements of emotional intelligence that can be improved upon through writing a book:

1.    Emotional Self Awareness.  The process really teaches you about yourself and why you think and feel the way you do.  Often, we are out of touch with where our ideas and feelings originated.  With careful exploration, you might find that your feelings and ideas have more to do with your parents and childhood experiences, than a real thorough evaluation of facts.

Some of us have stereotypes about people because of what we were told and just absorbed as true.  Some of us go to church or prescribe to a certain religion because its what our parents and their parents before them did, as opposed to a thoughtful examination of different religious philosophies.  Some of us are virtually unaware of our behavior and its impact on others.

Depending on your subject, writing a book really forces you to go inside yourself in ways you can’t even imagine.

2.    Self-Actualization. I cannot express to you the sense of accomplishment you feel once you finish your book.  The feeling rivaled the feeling I had after obtaining my doctorate degree.  Imagine starting from a blank sheet of paper and ending up with a 200-plus page document.

3.    Assertiveness. Few things can challenge one’s ability to be assertive than putting your ideas out there for the world to respond.  If it is not challenging the status quo, it is probably not worth writing.

4.    Impulse Control.  The process is great practice for patience.  Sometimes it takes a while for the ideas to form.  It might be in the car, it could be in the shower, sometimes it is in a meeting, often it is in the middle of the night.  (By the way, buy a digital recorder so that you don’t miss these opportunities.)  The fact that anyone anywhere can read your ideas really forces you to think deeply about what you are penning.  You can’t just put your first thoughts on the page.  You have to play with, wrestle, and sometimes fight issues to deconstruct and better understand them.

5.    Independence.  I have already indicated that finishing the book was comparable to finishing my doctorate, but an added plus was that I did it without a committee keeping me on task.  In a sense, I felt like I had some good ideas and it was my responsibility to share them, but in reality I was accountable to myself and nobody else.  For me, this magnified the sense of accomplishment.

For more writing resources, visit www.writers.com or www.writersmarketplace.com.