1644: The Mental Journey of Writing a Book by Tynan on How to Be More Creative and Productive

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Work Daily, The Mental Journey of Writing a Book by Tynan of Tynan.com. I remember when I wrote my first book. A friend told me that I should do it. He was more financially successful than I was and so I figured I may as well just do what he said. It was a daunting idea but I thought that since so many other people had written books, I could probably handle it too. Back then I had a funny compact computer that had a 7-inch screen and a proportionately tiny keyboard.

[00:00:30] I sat down in front of it and started typing. Next thing I knew it was time to go to bed. I was so focused that I'd forgotten to eat dinner. I woke up the next morning and kept writing and again it was late before I knew it. But I had run through my ad hoc outline. The book was done just one day after I started it. Sure, I had to spend a week editing it, rearranging it and formatting it but that part's easy. You know the hard part is done so the rest is light and fun. I had no idea that writing a book was so easy.

[00:00:58] I'd never done the math and realized that at 100 words per minute you could technically write an entire book in 5 hours. I wanted my next book to be a real masterpiece so I took forever on it. I got into a cycle of never really being satisfied with it and felt like I was trying to write a book in someone else's style. It came out well in the end but I think I spun my wheels way more than I should have. I wrote my third book on a plane on a single round trip flight from San Francisco to New York City.

[00:01:26] It was a short but useful book. It was fun racing the clock and made the flight go by really quickly. My fourth book was written without me even noticing. I did it on a cruise ship but I swear I don't have a single recollection of writing on that boat. I remember all sorts of other stuff we got into but I couldn't tell you what the desk or chair looked like where I wrote it. That book was easy. It was about habits and I'd spent a couple years just obsessing about habits. More than writing, it just felt like releasing a valve in my brain and letting it all pour out.

[00:01:56] I'm finishing up my fifth book now so it's the freshest in my mind. It reminds me of all sorts of thought patterns that I forgot that I had when I wrote my other books. I know how good all my other books are. I think that the reviews are pretty fair for most of them and that the aggregate star ratings are correct. But as I write this book, I have no idea how good it is. It could be one star or five and I couldn't tell you which. I'll know once I edit it down and organize it and I'll work my hardest to get it to a five but it's impossible to tell as I write.

[00:02:26] When I first started writing it two weeks ago, it was a little bit daunting. It felt a little bit like climbing a mountain I've already climbed a few times. Okay, let's drag ourselves up this thing once more. As I knocked out the chapters though, I got into the groove of it. Even just being a tenth of the way through gave me a glimpse of what the final product might be like and I got excited about getting it done. I set a daily word count of 2,500 words. No matter what, I wouldn't allow myself to go to sleep if I didn't hit that word count.

[00:02:55] Most days I went over by a couple hundred words but there were a couple days I struggled to finish. Having a word count took a lot of stress out of the process though. Just write your words and you'll have a book eventually, I told myself. Then all of a sudden, the book was done. I still have to edit and rearrange and I'll surely have to rewrite some parts of it and add chapters. But the hard part is done. I'm coasting down the mountain now and it feels great. I can't wait to get this book in people's hands.

[00:03:22] I think it's going to help a lot of people and hopefully be pretty interesting to read. It feels good to get a project off the books and for the royalties to start trickling in. The truth is, it's not really all that hard to write a book. You just set a word count, put that many words on paper, ignore the doubts in your mind and pretty soon you have a book. It might not be that good but you could easily write a book. And you might be surprised at how good it comes out too. My third book, the one written on a plane, was poorly written.

[00:03:50] It's the only book where I feel like the negative reviews are completely justified and correct. But it's also saved some people a whole lot of time and gotten good reviews. Even if you're not a writer, you could definitely write a book that's better than that one. I think the reason many people who want to write books don't is because they psych themselves out. I almost did it myself on my second book, so I know how easy it can be. There's this fantasy of writing the greatest masterpiece ever. And that pressure makes it impossible to write even a decent book.

[00:04:18] The only way you finish is by giving up because of the pressure and then submitting to the idea of writing a decent book. It's a strange mental journey. At first it seems nearly impossible, then it feels like a chore, then it feels inevitable, and then it feels amazing. Altogether, it's a pretty decent mountain to climb. You just listened to the post titled, The Mental Journey of Writing a Book, by Tynan of Tynan.com.

[00:04:47] And thank you to Tynan, who is an author, coach, and speaker who uses his unique set of experiences and skills to help people build habits and systems to reach their goals. And now when I say unique, I really mean unique. He sold everything he owned to go on an extended world trip, started a cruise agency, and lived in an RV for 10 years. His blog has a wide range of topics and stories, so that is something that's definitely worth checking out.

[00:05:13] And as you can imagine, he likes to learn new things, build habits, explore the world, connect with awesome people, and create good work. His books are best sellers on Amazon, and he was even named a top blogger by Time Magazine in 2013. So you can check out his work and his experiences at Tynan.com. That's T-Y-N-A-N.com. And I have that linked in this episode's description. But that's going to do it for this episode, and I thank you so much for listening and for being a subscriber.

[00:05:41] Have a great rest of your day, and I'm going to see you back here tomorrow as usual, where your optimal life awaits.