How Long Are You Going to Sit On It?

Don't let your thing take the seven years it took me to publish my first book. Happy First Birthday to "Dear Fellow Spender."

What’s that saying, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around to hear it, does it make a sound?” I have a riff on that: “If you write a book and it stays on your private Google Drive, have you really written a book?”

I really wanted this to be true and have my first book “count” as written—done—finito—while it stayed safely sequestered on note cards and then on my Google Drive. That kind of playing it safe is why it took me like seven years to write and publish my first book, Dear Fellow Spender. 

Here’s the thing about books: they are written to be read. To be enjoyed by readers, to help others, to make a difference with a personal or fictional story. And my book sure couldn’t do any of those things if literally no one could access it. 

Is there anything you’re keeping tucked away safely in your dreams or hard drive of your heart or computer? I triple dog dare you to get serious about getting it out into the world where it just might make a difference or at least have the chanc…