MONDAY 25th March

It has been a busy two weeks.  It was 12 March – that the book idea started to germinate, and by the Thursday, it became  a viable seedling!  By the Friday morning (15 March) this journey become reality and flights were booked to Cambodia and Sri Lanka, and people were told. THAT’s how to make the idea a REALITY – there’s no turning back now.

Ok this is really happening – I AM writing this book and this project is a definite goer. Now that I’ve had the initial rush of inspiration and excitement – I need to get down to the planning side so I can get my thoughts clear about what needs to happen.

This is now my job.

And steadily through the week – every day I’ve put in some hours of research and had at least two significant conversations about self publishing, writing, the editing process and crowd funding each day. I’ve described my plan and my project to a dozen people and discussed my upcoming trip to Sri Lanka. It’s amazing how excited and enthusiastic people are – for me.

My trusted Accountant is the first person I called. My call was transferred and there was no “hello John”. I just started with ” So, you know that every time I start some wild and crazy venture, you’re the first person I speak to.”  There was a moment of hesitation and then. ” Ok, what is it now Sue?”

After a good 20 minutes of retelling my story, John’s enthusiasm for the project was like the traffic light turning green after flashing orange with caution. ” Sue, it’s fantastic, you have to do this. Amazing.”

Getting my wobble on.

It has been a week – and I’ve already had my wobble on a few times.

I’ve visited with friends – particularly long-termers who were with my through that part of my life – and for new people, they’ve received the short version which is STILL about 15 minutes!  Consolidation is my aim for this…

Only a week has passed, I can’t believe it. I feels LONG – how is six months going to feel?

Planning thoughts last week looked something like this:

• What time frame are you working on for writing, publishing and distribution?
• How are you going to afford this project when you’re writing and not working?
• What is crowd funding, what are the platforms and what are other people’s experiences with this?
• I need support. I need an advisory board to bounce off. Who can I ask and when do I need to present this to them?
• What about production? How am I going to get this laid out and what software should I use?
• Talking to publishers and printes about production.
• Where and I going to find an editor?
• What about the marketing and communications side of things? Blogging needs to happen, facebook, social media, local media…..
• WHO is going to be  interested in this book and how should I make it more appealing and meaningful beyond the story?
• What style are you going for  here?
• What about other forms of engagement?
• Better start with looking at your material and planning your chapters -OH remember that story? – Write that one down!
• A budget – need one of those….

Believe it or not – I got through about 30% of all of the above. No wonder if feels like more than a week has passed.

Other actions taken included:

• Applying for TedXSydney – which meant I had to write my story  – May 4 2013, Sydney Opera House
• Applying for Jacobs Creek True Character – where I’ve now “outed” my project before I was actually ready.
• Registering for a crowd funding seminar with NSW Writer’s Centre
• Following up on helpful leads to other individuals who have taken the same writing, self publishing, self funding/crowd funding path.
• Reading – other people’s memoirs. Yes I’ve still had a bit of brain space for that.

I know. There’s so much to do – but I must not let this detract from the actual writing of the book.