Stick With It
Several days ago I told myself to sit down and start writing out ideas for my next book. Amazingly, four viable (I believe) ideas flowed out relatively easily. I contemplated and had a chat with my husband about which idea I should run with for Book #2. He confirmed what I had suspected was the best idea for the 2nd book.
I will note that it was not the idea that sparked the most excitement in me, but it undoubtedly feels like the right idea to start with. Since settling on the idea, as well as writing in my blog more frequently, there has been a part of my being that is just lit up with an inner enthusiasm and sense of “writing is something I’m supposed to be doing.”
The topic I’ve decided on will essentially be a book based on the podcast I hosted for almost a year (February 13 - December 12) in 2021 called “The Creative Real Estate Agent.” The podcast consists of a total of 31 episodes made up of 10 solo episodes and 21 conversations I had with business owners who are also creatives. There is a wealth of ideas and inspiration in the show, but I abandoned the project suddenly, recording my last full-length episode on Friday, October 1. It was a solo episode about “Managing the Creative Temperament. (Ep. 30)”
It was on the evening of October 1, 2021 that I encountered what has been one of the greatest challenges/opportunities of my interpersonal life. What revealed itself over the next couple of weeks became a major upheaval. My family has experienced a lot of incredible growth over the past year. I’m still following my calling, perhaps even more so than I was before, as I don’t have the same eager need to please and fit into a certain mold. I am more myself.
In any case, I was too distraught and distracted to continue running my podcast. I abandoned it for several months, then wrapped it up by recording a short “Farewell” episode on December 12, 2021, and that was that. I have barely thought it about since, other than, “I learned how to run a podcast and I did that for nearly a year- that was a cool experience, I’m glad I did that.”
However, there was a lot of insightful content in the podcast and it is still timely and relevant. I don’t see another book out there with quite the same topic, so I am going to write it. I am starting to use Otter.ai to transcribe the recordings into text, and pull major themes out. These themes will become the chapters of the book. This morning, while I was at the gym, I decided to take a listen to the show. It had been so long, it was almost like listening to someone else’s podcast!
The place that it had been left off at was midway through “Consistency and Creativity,” Ep. 29, a solo episode. I considered starting over from the beginning of the podcast at Ep.1, but something told me to listen right where it had been left off. Only moments into listening, my ears perked up.
In the podcast, I was telling a story about a dream I had (which I had completely forgotten about). An author I had some familiarity with handed me a book they had written. Inside one of the covers, there was a note. I read the note (it was neat I was able to do so because so often my dream text is gibberish). The note simply said, “Stick With It.”
It was such a neat synchronicity to hear about this forgotten dream I had a little over a year ago. Little did I know at the time I had the dream that I would soon be writing and publishing a book! But, as life would have it, I self-published “The 30-Day Sobriety Experiment” in August 2022 and have recently received strong indications that it is time to start writing my second (which led me to listen to the podcast episode in the first place!).
To hear “stick with it” was such a lovely little affirmation this morning and feels very in line with the sense of drive I have about writing lately! I feel like writing is really helping me to tune in and connect with my inner guide; my muse; my intuition. But that is, perhaps, another topic for another day. For now, I’m just going to take the advice provided in my dream and “Stick With It.”
