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What are your thoughts, feelings, and intentions about writing your first book?
This survey aims to understand the common thoughts, feelings, and intentions that people have when setting about to write their first book, as well as their trust in themselves as creative beings.
As a first-time book writer, what do you imagine that this process will ask of you -- e.g., in terms of: •Dedication •Time •Clarity •Enthusiasm •Know-how
Have you ever created anything, before, that felt like a natural process? (e.g., cooking a meal, anything else not necessarily connected with writing.) If so, what was it, and what was it like for you to create it?
Did this process mentioned in Question 2 go smoothly for you? Did you already know everything about it, or did you have to learn parts of it as you went along? If you had to learn as you went, what was that like for you? Were you okay with having to learn as you went along, or did it cause you feelings of resistance, fear, doubt, etc.?
Did you enjoy the process of creation mentioned in Question 2? What did you enjoy about it? Did it call on your existing capacities, or were new capacities unearthed? What were they?
When creating this manifestation mentioned in Question 2, was there anything about it that caused you to feel fear and doubt? If so, what was the nature of the fear and doubt? And to your best understanding, what was their cause? (e.g., “I didn’t know enough,” “I didn’t feel up to it,” “I was afraid of doing it wrong,” “the cost of failure was too high,” etc.)
Now that you’ve explored creating the manifestation mentioned in Question 2, what about writing a book do you imagine is different? (I.e., in your current view, what does writing a book ask of you that’s different from creating what you reported in Question 2?)
Can you find any connections between what you created as mentioned in Question 2 and the creation of a book? What might they be? You might think in terms of (a) how you related to the creation of what you mentioned in Question 2 and how you relate to the prospect of writing a book, and (b) whether creating the manifestation from Question 2 and writing a book have any qualities and/or requirements in common (qualities you already have, as shown by your manifestation of your example in Question 2)
Now that you have grounded yourself in the reality of your being a creator, what are your thoughts, feelings, impressions of what is different about writing a book? That is, what does writing a book seem to ask of you that manifesting the creation noted in Question 2 did not ask?
You can see that I’m implying, “You already have created something.” Does this realization affect your trust in your ability to write a book? If yes, how so? If no, why not? What’s in the way of your self-trust?
If you do have fears about writing a book, do they tend to show up in any or all of the following areas?
Not knowing what to say first, second, etc.
Not knowing how to organize the material
Shaky confidence that you have something valuable to say
Having ideas but not knowing how to express them interestingly
Other (please elaborate)
Other
Have you ever listened to yourself so closely that you understood something from the inside-out that hadn’t been known to you before?
And if so, what can you remember about what you did to get there?
Yes
No
Once in a while
Other
Can you see a relationship between listening to yourself and writing a book? If so, what does that relationship look like to you?
What is your image of what it takes to write a book? Can you reframe that image to fit who you are? What would this reframe change about your writing a book?
If there were no such requirements as you listed in Question 13, what would you like to do in writing your book?
What if a large part of the purpose of writing a book is to make yourself fulfilled –and to do so by drawing from what’s deep inside you and giving it the voice that only you can give? How does this notion affect your feelings, thoughts, intentions about writing a book?
What if writing a book is not a test on which you’ll be graded, but a journey of self-discovery? What would you like to discover?
How much of a “map” do you require to begin this journey? A complete itinerary? An indication of the territory a few steps ahead? Would you be okay starting off by writing the piece that calls to you right now, without (yet) knowing where it’s leading or how it will fit into the larger scheme of your book?
What have you learned about yourself, and the prospect of creating a book from answering these questions that you were not aware of before (or that you suspected but hadn’t given much attention to)?
Do you feel more eager, more ready, more curious about writing a book now than at the start of this survey? If yes, say more about that. If no, please say more about what might need to take place for you to have this orientation.
Anything further you’d like to share here?
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and concerns about your book-writing journey to come!
Thank you for filling out this survey. While your answers will be very helpful to me, my intention was also that they be very helpful to you – setting the wheels of your curiosity, connection-making, and interest (even eagerness) going.
As a Book Developer & Creative Midwife who’s been in the publications field for over 30 years, I love to encourage people’s creative flowering – as a source of health and spiritual fulfillment as well as creative expression. Let me know if I can be of service to you. naomirosedeepwrite [at] yahoo.com. Website:
www.naomirose.net