My book is here!! (or Why it almost didn’t get written a thousand times…)

Dear gorgeous mama,

It’s here. Replenish IS HERE. I can hardly believe I get to write these words and send you over to the page where you can have it either magically zipped to your e-reader or flown through the skies to be in your mailbox soon.photo(2)

It’s like being able to send you a little piece of my heart that you get to hold in your hands and see all the nooks and crannies, wrinkles and laugh lines. I’m literally jumping out of my seat typing these words.

I have so much to tell you about why I wrote it, how the process went, where things are going from here….but today I want to share with you why this book almost didn’t get written a thousand times over.

We have a tendency to want to only offer the world the highlight reel of our lives, the finished product, the mountain tops.  We forget all of those highlights came as a result of our willingness to walk through the valleys.

Today I want to share with you one of the valleys, one of the barriers, that I had to fight through over and over again in order to press on.

The Process of Writing a Book Doesn’t Look Pretty

In my office I have a vision board I made over a year ago. Nestled between pics of a baby grand piano, a family hiking in Sedona, and a mom playing with chalk on the sidewalk with her daughter, are two pictures of women writing.

One is in a bubble bath.  She has a wooden writing board laid over the sides of the bathtub with her journal, a small candle, and her hair in a perfect braid. I imagined she was relaxing, pampering and writing all at the same time.  It looks lovely.

luxury

The second pic has a similar feel. This time a woman is at a large table in a field, I think it is in the Serengeti. She is in flowing, feminine loose fitting clothes, the wind is in her hair and she is engrossed in her work slightly bent over writing in a journal as well.

These were the images I chose to represent my desire to bring a book into the world. To have writing as an integral part of my life. To imagine the joy of creativity being poured into my vision for this book.

Do I need to tell you that this “luxury-writing experience” never actually happened like that for me…not even once?

What did happen was me staying up late nights surrounded by a table still messy crafts and snacks making sense of scribbled notes from earlier in the day when I had an inspired idea.

It looked like waking up early mornings staring at the sink full of dirty dishes and feeling the rise of guilt when I chose to open my laptop and get an hour of writing in instead of cleaning before the kids woke.

It looked like me stealing chunks of time every chance I could to work on a paragraph here, an outline there… being in near tears hundreds of time because I just couldn’t make my creativity work on demand like I felt I had too.

It looked like hours in a chilly library with my cup of Quick Chek coffee hidden in my bag hoping the librarian wouldn’t ask me to put it in the garbage (again) and trying to keep myself focused and on task.

It looked like weeks when I couldn’t bear to write another word, where I just mentally flat-lined and avoided all book writing tasks at all.

Of course, there were many many hours of utterly enjoyable, “is this really my life?!?” amazing times of writing too- when I’d finally start to see a thread come through the concepts that held the book together, or when the stories would start to weave smoothly and I almost felt the book was writing itself.

But nowhere on my vision board was there an actual image of how this process really went in the real world. And on some days that tricked me into thinking maybe I’m just doing this wrong.

Maybe the signs are telling me I can’t do this right now in my life. Maybe it’s just too big of a goal. Maybe I’m kidding myself that I can actually get this done. Maybe this will be a huge epic failure and I’ll regret wasting my time on it.

Mama, wherever you are in life, I believe there will be a time when a big, thrilling, exciting, meaningful project or dream will make it’s way into your heart’s field of vision. For a while it will rest in there like a tiny seed. Sometimes you’ll feel it move and wiggle deep in the soil, other times you’ll forget about it all together.

But then there will come a time when a line in the sand gets drawn.

I had my own line in the sand moment with this book when it became absolutely clear that I must do this thing. When you have the line in the sand moment, you need to capture it, journal it, record it. You will need to come back to it a thousand times on the journey ahead, which is okay. It’s there to keep you going.

Because once you know this is something you’re ready to say yes to…you will be challenged. There is no way around it. I have never (ever) committed to something that meant a lot to me where I wasn’t challenged many times to see if I was willing to stay the course and do what was necessary to see it through.

But, oh…how GOOD it feels to see it through, to cross the finish line and to be able to watch your heart’s work make it’s way into the world!!

So for me…this is cause for CELEBRATION!!

Yes, YES, I want you to buy the book. I even want you to buy 2 – one for you and one for the mama in your world that could use a small act of kindness and care right now.

But I also want us to come together and dig a little deeper with a video course I’m creating called 7 Days to Calm– we’ll all go through this class together for 7 days beginning September 1, 2013. All you have to do is buy a book before then and send the receipt to my team (all details are on this page!)

Replenish Bonus

Are you ready?? You, Me, Replenish and 7 Days to Calm– It’s going to be AMAZING!!

So please celebrate with me?  Hop over pick up your own copy (ereader or print, your choice!) and then get on board for our class 7 Days to Calm.

Much love and many blessings,
Lisa

 


Comments

8 responses to “My book is here!! (or Why it almost didn’t get written a thousand times…)”

  1. Yay! I’m off to read it on my kindle right now!!! Congratulations Lisa.

    1. Thank you Alida- hoping the book serves you well 🙂

  2. Congratulations Lisa. Thank you for sharing life as it really happens mixed in with gratitude & loving hope!

    1. Oh yes, Marci- celebrating the real is huge for me 🙂

  3. Congrats on the book! I know your joy very well. My process sounds more like yours than the lady relaxing with the perfect braid!

    1. Ha, Camesha! I’m still holding out for one of those bubble bath writing sessions, though LOL! 🙂

  4. What a blessing to read your post! I am at the early stages of writing my first book and to know the real life behind the scenes is encouraging since this is my reality as well. Still, I feel the calling on my heart to write these words, so I know He will see me through it!

    Congratulations!

  5. Hi Lisa,
    Congratulations Luv!! I can imagine how excited and relieved you must be. 🙂
    I just got my copy and can’t wait to find a quiet place to enjoy.
    Blessings to you,
    Allison

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *