#172 - Focus2Finish Session - How to Finish Writing a Book with Paul Wallman

Welcome to the Author Audience show, the podcast that helps you reach more people with your message, create a book, connect with your audience, change lives. Here's your host, Shelly Hitz.

Welcome to Author Audience, where I'm on a mission to help you reach more people with your message. It's time to let your light shine. My name is Shelly Hitz, and today is a Focus to Finish so session, which means I have one of my Author Audience Academy members here on the call with me, Paul Walman. Welcome, Paul.

Hey there.

And I'm excited to work with you today. And we're going to really just help you to kind of take those next steps, get clarity, and really help you to move forward in your project. So let me go over to Screen Share. I like to use a mind map. That way I can send you the notes afterwards and it just helps me and you just kind of give clarity. So let me go over to Share the screen and.

All right. Can you see my mind map?

I can.

Okay, great. So I'm also going to start my timer because I sometimes lose track.

So what I have here is a few of the things you have sent me in advance of this call. One of your goals is to finish the first draft of your book, Moment Farmer. Is that correct?

That is correct.

And you already have 6,200 words, but you said you were kind of stuck in the research mode, correct? Yeah. And then you have another book that you'd love to write, just focusing on God's amazing Grace, different stories and incidents that have happened over the years. And so you had mentioned about that as well. So to start off, I first just want to ask you, like, what is your main goal right now? Is your main goal to be published? You know, like, what is your main goal right now? Is it, you know, just to enjoy the writing process, to earn income, just so I can kind of know what your focus is.

So my focus is I have all these creative ideas. I've always been that way. I always am thinking. My mind never sleeps or rests, and I'm constantly exploring these different ideas. And, you know, I'm 51 now, and I'm wanting to start capturing some of these ideas that I've explored and felt laid on me to kind of flush out. And some of them are me trying to understand kind of how life works. There's lots of areas of my life where I'm always striving for improvement, and I stumble upon these ideas and I see growth and change in me. And so I want to be able to share that with others if I could do this in a way that would get people to make their lives matter, make their lives count, and make a difference for. Not only for them personally or for their relationships, and ultimately for God's glory. That's what I'd love to do. If I make an income out of it, that'd be wonderful. I mean, matter of fact, that's one of my goals. But it's not kind of the driver. The driver is that these ideas I have can be used. Sometimes people will come back to me and say, you know, what you said the other day, that was just. That just totally changed how I was thinking about it. I'm really glad you shared that with me. And that just. That vitalizes me in such a wonderful way. I just want to continue to do that and reach people without pushing my ideas on people. So. So that's my big focus.

Okay. So I just heard, you know, kind of capturing some of your creative ideas, sharing those personal growth experience, and really ultimately making a difference in other people's lives. The secondary goal is income. And would you say your book the Moment Farmer kind of encapsulates some of that, or would that. Would finishing your book Moment Farmer do some of those things for you?

I think so. I think that is the thing that. See, I've always been kind of a daydreamer. I was already thinking about the future. I'm always dwelling on the past. And I've been striving to be in the moment, actually enjoying the moment God's giving me while it's happening, rather than always thinking about what's happening next or what I should have done before.

Right.

And just trying to enjoy life as it comes at me. And then the premise of the book is also using moments to craft your future so that if you make good choices, kind of the big thing is, what can I do in this moment that make future moments better? And so what do you see in the moment that you can actually tangibly change or learn from that helps you to be a better person? And so there's lots of ideas around that. But how I get from. From where those initial ideas that I can say in a simple paragraph. How do I expand that to an entire book that somebody wants to actually read? That's my struggle.

Okay. Yeah. So it sounds like that book would encapsulate some of your goals. And, you know, you had asked me, you said, you know, I'm kind of stuck in the research. I'm kind of stuck at 6200 words of this book. Should I start this other Book God's Amazing Grace. And I think that's always the struggle with creatives and with entrepreneurs. You know, we like to start things. It's a little bit harder to press through and finish. And my initial thought would be, you know, you've already put this. This work into moment Farmer. Why not finish that first before starting on a second project? How does that seem to you?

Yeah, and that's what I. That's why I signed up for Author audience. I'm striving for this because I tend to do this where I get kind of this I'll say at the 6200 marks in any idea. And then I get, well, you know, I could do something else and I start over and I never get done. And so ask my wife. We've got things in the house.

You know what? People who are listening right now can totally relate. I hear this a lot. I struggle with it a lot. And it's something I've really had to. It's not always my nature just to want to stay focused on one thing because I love doing a million things. But when you do a million things, like, you know, you're doing it just a little bit, whereas if you do one or two things really well, you can really have a lot more impact. So it does take pulling back the reins.

And I love having a creative idea journal or someplace like Trello or someplace that you're capturing those ideas. So. So you can tell your brain, I'm not forgetting this idea. I am just putting it over here. I'm going to get to it later. And you capture it. You write down those ideas, but then you stay focused on this idea. And I was telling someone the other day, it's kind of like if you have several children and one child is getting ready to graduate, guess who you're going to probably be focusing more on that year? Your child who's gonna graduate. You have to figure out college and graduation and graduation parties and all of these things, preparing them for the next. So it's kind of like that with your creative ideas. Yes, you're going to have a lot of creative ideas, but there needs to be somewhat of a focus right now on the moment farmer and really helping the moment farmer graduate.

The thing I struggle with is that I'm a perfectionist at heart, but I've changed that philosophy to a successfulist where I. As long as I'm successful, it doesn't have to be perfect.

Good.

But I still fall back to the. Well, I wanted to. I can't create a book unless it's just going to be the most amazing book that's going to transcend time and that kind of thing. And I know that that's not what I need to do, but that's where my mind goes. It needs to be worth the effort.

Yes. And I really believe in producing quality work, and I think it's important. That's why we do self editing. That's why we have professional editors. That's why we have beta groups. That's why, you know, we do all these things. But it's interesting. Perfectionism is one of the biggest obstacles for most creatives. And I was reading the book the Artist's Way. It's not a Christian book, it's a spiritual book. But she talks about in a chapter perfectionism, and I wish I had the book in front of me right now. But she, in that chapter talks about it's like an endless cycle of correcting and editing and making it better. Like it's never going to be good enough to publish out to the world. You know what I mean? And so. And she actually said, it's actually the root of perfectionism is pride. I was like, ooh, ouch, that kind of hurts, but it kind of makes sense. Like, you know, we don't want to look bad. You know, we want to put our best foot forward. And yet there is a side where it's a good thing. Like, I know some of my friends that have that perfectionist quality and they've produced so such quality products. They're selling like gangbusters. So there's kind of that balance. But the biggest thing is the mindset of saying the first draft is not the final draft. So, you know, allow yourself to make all the mistakes. Allow yourself to get that first draft out and realize you're going to go through an editing process and that first draft is not the final draft. If you try to make it the final draft, it will probably never be published. Does that make sense?

Yep, that does make sense.

But I totally get it, and I don't have an easy answer. I wish I did, because so many people struggle with that perfectionism. So I really think it's time to press through on the moment. Farmer. So let's talk about that. Where are you stuck on the research part?

Well, I think I shared with you in some of the content I tried to define so you have a better idea. And so I get I'm pretty to the point kind of guy. I can provide a concept. In my corporate world, I do a lot of summaries, and I have to give simple ideas in a tangible way. And so I don't really expound upon things like you'd see in a traditional book. And so I struggle with how do I expand this idea without losing the reader or making the book way too short. And I think 70,000 words is the typical threshold, but I really don't know when I would consider myself done. So that's the other thing I struggle with.

Yeah, so there's different lengths of books. I think it's actually really great that you're able to get to the point and to summarize because I think in our culture right now, and you can tell me if you agree, people are in information overload, they're overwhelmed. And to be able to get a concept quick and easy and to the point would actually be a little bit of a relief. Wouldn't you agree?

Yeah, yeah, sure.

I think it, it's actually an asset for you. So I think you should see that as an asset in our culture today. And there's no like, you know, size of book you have to publish. I have my book Procrastination to Publication. It's a very. Some of my clients have said that it's one of their favorite publishing books. It's just, it's very short, simple, to the point. Like you said, it's only about 12,000 words and it's not 70,000 words. But it helps people get published and so it gets them to the. It solves their problem. It helps them do what they want to do. It's a print book, about 76 pages. I think it's eight and a half by five and a half. So it's not a huge book, but it's not a teeny tiny book either. So that's the other thing. It doesn't have to be a 70,000 word book unless you know that's really what you want it to be.

I've heard that the 70,000 word book was so that the spine would be big enough to see the words and sell the book. I don't know if that's true or not. But for publishing back in the day in the electronic realm now, does it need to be that big? I don't know.

Yeah, so I think. I don't. I have some copies of that book, but it's not right here where I can grab it. But I think on that book I was able to put. Put still the title on the spine, but I have some shorter books I put in print. I don't put the title on the spine because there's not room, but people are still buying them, they're still being impacted by them. So I wouldn't let size deter you. And you can always get a proof of your book ahead of time. And if you feel like, well, this is just not substantial enough for what I want, then you can always edit. That's the beauty of self publishing or independently publishing. You don't have to click the publish button until you're satisfied with it. But I just want to put that seed into your mind that longer is not necessarily better. And as long as you're able to really give some good quality content, you're able to solve a problem for someone or help them have an aha moment, help them change something for the better, help them accomplish something they've wanted to accomplish. And with the moment Farmer living in the moment, I think it would bring peace. It would bring a lot of peace from those regrets of the past, from the fears of the future. And so if you can help someone live in the moment and have peace, you can't put a price tag on that, can you?

No. And the book helps people to come to peace with past moments. They can't change because the only thing that's real in our lives is this moment true, your moment, only thing that's real. Everything else is either in the future or in the past, what you can't change. So there's some good ideas I think, that people can resonate with. I just struggle because I'm not an author. You know, I author emails and I author brief things here and there, but I don't have that skill set, so I still struggle.

Okay, so let's just talk about a few ideas. So what kind. What kind of personal stories have you put into the book so far as far as, like, how this concept has changed your life?

So in the book, it's more of. Most of what I've written is more conceptual, and I shared with you a few snippets of my stories and other. I think I have the hilltop story.

Where I had that encounter. I don't know if you read that or not.

I didn't have a chance. I'm sorry.

Yeah, that's all right. It's a story where I went a men's retreat and I went up on the top of a hill to spend time with God. And it was an overcast, dark night, and I had a flashlight and the ground started glowing around me. And I thought, am I gonna have this wonderful experience with God? And I turned around, the clouds had parted and there was the moon. And so it was kind of humorous that I had a laugh with God. So it was a moment that was special between me and God, but it wasn't the amazing thing that my mind was producing at the time. So it's kind of a funny story, but so I try and capture some of the moments in my life that have been unique, but don't know that all my moments relate to everyone. So how do I. Yeah.

So then the other thing, you know, is just, you know, look and see. Is there any other places where maybe a personal story, an example would be effect, or other people's stories? You know, you could do a little bit of research, maybe ask even some of your close friends, you know, family, colleagues, or do some research of people that have been written about in the past. Biblical stories, things like that, that you could add to. To also back up the. You know, you're basically, when we go to a movie, we go to the movie to hear the story. Right? Stories help us solidify concepts. And so you give the conceptual framework, but then you help solidify it with real life. Examples of this is how I did this in this situation, or this, you know, this person here. Like, I think of Brother Andrew, who was a. I think he did wash dishes or something, and he. They, you know, he has a book written about him, and he was able to learn to be in the present moment with his prayers and things like that. You know, I mean, I'm not saying he would be someone in your book, but I'm just saying, you know, different examples. And I remember when I was teaching the Author Automation system recently to Author Audience Academy. It's a very complex system, but it wasn't until I gave very specific examples and did case studies and took people step by step. This is what I did with this book. This is how I did the lead magnet. This is how I did the Perma Free book. This is how I did the tripwire. Then all of a sudden people were like, oh, I get it.

I get it. So just really kind of digging deeper and thinking, okay, how. What are other ways that I can help them get it with either my own stories or other people's stories. Those are great ways to add value, you know, to a book. Another idea is application or some sort of interaction point. So, like in my broken crayonstool color book, I have personal reflection questions with every chapter. So, you know, you could have something like that. I have created that book to be a group study guide. So would your book be good for a group study guide or group study?

Well, and that's just where I struggle is that I don't know, through your information, I was able to define who I think my audience is. And so that's been since I wrote it. And so now I'm like, do I need to go back through and kind of look at it from those eyes who my reader is?

Absolutely.

And I tend to write it, then rewrite it, then rewrite it, then rewrite it. And I waste all this time because I'm not a great writer. I'm like, well, that doesn't make really sense. And I'll read that so it makes more sense or that doesn't sound as compelling or you know, so I'll reformat it. And then I get, after several iterations, like I can read it and like, oh, that reads like something I would read in a traditional book. And so I don't know if that's just a unique way to do that.

Yeah, I mean, you just basically have to do what works best for you. I tend to recommend turning off the internal editor when you're doing the first draft. So to get the first draft done and out of your brain onto paper and then go back and do what you're saying there. Do like, I mean, I recommend in the, in the member area doing at least like four different self edits where you're going through and looking for different things. You're using different tools to do the self editing and different ways to do that. But you know, if that's working for you, you know, and that's going well for you, you can use whatever works best for you. I just find that when people get into that internal editor mode, it tends to shut them down on the creativity mode. And so I like to batch tasks. Batching is basically just having a section of time where you're doing one particular thing. So doing the first draft, just writing out the first draft, rewriting it, writing it out, getting it out on paper would be 1b of time, then going back and doing research. So while you're free, writing, if you think is something you need to look up, you need to reference a quote or a certain thing, then flag it, put a star by it, highlight it, do something. But then come back later in another batch of time and do your research. And then in another batch of time come back and do your self editing where you're going back through and now you're really polishing and you're updating, kind of like what you were saying. And then you'll finally have that draft that you can send to a professional Editor, that's typically what I recommend, but it works different for every single person. Everyone's different. So you have to find what works best for you.

Yeah. And what I did though is as I got that semi polished. I'll use that term really roughly.

Yeah.

Because I still think I'm in that area. I have a friend of mine who's, she's a school teacher and she's very well educated and understands things and she'll read it and say, hey, you might think about this order change or, you know, you could expand upon this. And so that's helpful as I'm still learning this whole idea of getting my ideas on paper.

Yeah. Because the other idea I was going to give you is a beta group, which she's kind of acting like that for you. And basically you have somebody or a few people that you're sending your first draft to knowing that it's not final, knowing that there's a lot of work to still be done, but they can give you feedback on it. And what do you think is still missing? What would you like to see? Is this, you know, transformational? Because we can give information, but what we really want is transformation. And so one of the things that I find brings transformation is having those interactive parts of the book. And you can have those in different ways, but, you know, it's just something to think about. But also that interactive part of the book can actually add content to your book as well, you know, as you're writing it. So do you have any other questions about the research or about, you know, just expanding your book?

The fact that you. The fact that you published a book with 1200 words gives me 12,000. I mean, 12,000 words gives me hope.

Yeah.

It's like, oh, well, I can reach that. I can. It's not. It doesn't feel overwhelming because if I'm going for a 70,000 word book, I'm not even at 10% yet. So it's like, well, what am I going to do? It'll take me forever. And so that helps me to have that new goal, strive for that number. I know it's not about the number necessarily. It's also about the content and being a complete thought and process for the reader, but at least gives me that I'm not as far behind as I thought I was.

Yeah, it's like, hey, you're halfway there.

You could literally be halfway there. What do you think has been the biggest obstacle, besides, you know, the research and the size of the book to really getting the book done? What do you think has been stopping you. I know you talked about perfectionism too, but is there anything else you think that's stopping you?

Yeah, the flow of the book, how one chapter builds on the next, or how I reference something early in the book, expound upon it later, or you know, how it actually struck is structured to take the reader from a place of not understanding the concept at all to build on that I don't quite understand. I mean, I've got some ideas and I've done several chapter summaries and then I start over and I do another chapter organization that maybe I should do this order. And I just really don't know what's the best way to take the reader through all the concepts. And so that's one of the things I struggle with.

Do you feel pretty comfortable with the outlining process or is that kind of where you're. Is that kind of what you're talking about when you're talking about the structure?

Yeah, the outline of the book. I've got Scrivener and traditional word processing. I've done it different ways. I've got Evernote, you know, and that's another thing is that I've got it in all these different places. And so I've tried to get everything in Scrivener and stopped putting it in four different places. Yeah, so that's getting better.

Good. Yeah. So there's a couple things to think about. The first thing is what type of flow of book helps you to understand a concept. So what types of books have really impacted you? Go back and look at them. Look at kind of the flow of that book. It's basically market research. So you're looking at other well known books and what they've done and how they've done it. You know, basically like when we're doing cover book, cover design research, we can look at the best selling books in our genre, See what selling what's capturing our target audience attention. Obviously never copy, never can get very good ideas of the type of imagery that's capturing your target audience. Well, the same thing's true with the flow. You could even look in the look inside feature on books that are best selling similar to yours and look at what their chapter titles are. Look at the flow of their book. See, kind of if you're on the right track, the other thing that can really help, and I had already mentioned this to you, but a developmental editor will help you with the structure of your book. So there's two different types of editors. There's a copy editor which basically Just helps you with the punctuation, the spelling, grammar, all of that sort of thing, and really helping you just give that final polish to it. But a developmental editor will actually give you. A good developmental editor will actually give you opinions and ideas on flow. So when I was doing broken crayons, still color, I used Deb hall, and she did the developmental editing as well as copy editing for me. And she gave me some really good insight into flow for some of my chapters, things, concepts that maybe I didn't cover thoroughly enough. And with her feedback, as well as the beta group that I was working with, I was really able to get a lot of good information that then helped me produce the final outcome that, you know, the book is selling really well today. Thank goodness. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Right. That might be an option since this is your first book and I can hear the hesitancy in your voice. You're like, I'm not an author. I'm not good at this. And that's the other thing starting to change those. Our words have power. So say, thank you, Lord, for writing through me. You are the author. I am the pen. And you're the one that's going to give me the ideas. You're the one that's going to give me the structure. You're the one that's going to give me. You're going to connect me with the right people and the right editor and the right beta readers or whoever it is. And thank you for giving me this ability. Thank you for helping me to improve in this instead of just being like, oh, I'm not an author. What am I doing? I don't know what I'm doing. Do you see the difference?

Yeah. I can write to the second one better, though.

Can't we all? Can't we all?

I need to do that. I do that. And I kind of get spurts where I'm, like, doing really well and feeling really confident about myself. And then they get other ones where it's like, yeah, well, no, this is, you know, and so. And. But I am a very optimistic person. I believe that everything's figureoutable.

Yeah.

So I strive to do whatever it takes because it's gonna. I'll figure it out eventually, so why not just figure it out now?

Yeah. And so that's just a little thing that I've just heard a couple times on this call. It may not normally be something that you're. You're verbalizing all the time, but, you know, that mindset can stop us in our tracks every single time. Myself included, I have to constantly be on my guard for it because the enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy our manuscripts. Right.

And so that's just something to consider. I don't know if you listened to a recent podcast I did on, you know, if you need money, ask for this was the title. But it's all about God ideas. And I think when we're writing, just really, especially if we're Christ followers or Christians, as you are, I am that connecting with the Creator who is the author of all creativity, feeling like it's not up to us to figure it all out. It's not up to us to write this book. It's not up to us. We are to do our part. But when we start connecting into him and asking for his ideas and what is your idea for this book? I'm stuck with this flow. Lord, can you give me some insight? Can you show me what to do?

You.

I just think it really can make a difference. And I always recommend having a prayer team. Do you have a prayer team right now?

Nope. I pray a lot. I got one prayer team right now, so I think I can improve on that for sure.

Yeah. At least get a couple people where two or three are gathered, he is there. You know, get a couple people who, you know, believe in what you're doing and would support you. Just say, hey, would it be okay if I just sent you an update each week on some things to pray about? As I write this video book, I've been feeling stuck, and I just know I need that extra prayer support and I'd be willing to pray for you too. So, you know, please send me your prayer request as well. So it's just a real simple way to get a little bit more support. Because sometimes, not always, but sometimes, especially when we're writing information that's going to impact people for eternity or potentially impact them, it could be a spiritual battle. Sometimes those moments where we just want to give up and we want to go to the next project or, you know, something is happening. And so found when I was writing my broken crayons still color book, writing and sharing prayer requests every week with my prayer team made the biggest difference. I honestly do not feel that I would have finished that book without that. And I just saw prayer request after prayer request answered every week, and it was increasing my faith, but also the faith of those who were praying. So really encourage you to think about doing that as well. Any final ideas or questions or thoughts?

I take the train now, so I have an hour each way that I'm Now I'm calling my power hour, I guess.

Yeah.

Distracted with other things. And so I need to make sure I have a plan for how I spend that time.

Okay.

Any ideas on how I focus on it during that hour?

Yeah. So what is it that you feel like you need to do next, the next step with all of these things?

I think I just need to get my format done and just continue to flush out the ideas so that I can complete the book.

Yeah. So I would just say what I like to do is have, you know, do the outline and the format first, you know, so just kind of, even if you just do it chapter by chapter, do some sort of outline and format, and then if you're able to write while you're on the train, you can then just start writing out the. The content for that chapter. The reason I like to outline is because then you're never stuck. You always know what you're going to write next, the next story, the next idea, the next thing, and you're like, okay, that's what I'm going to work on next. And like I said, the first draft is never the final draft. And so just keep repeating that to yourself and get that first draft done. Until you have the first draft done, you don't have anything. But once you have the first draft, you can self edit, you can send it to an editor, you can have beta readers. I mean, you can. You have all sorts of options. But right now I think the goal is to get that first draft done. So I think that's a great next step.

Perfect.

Well, thank you so much for being here and for sharing so honestly. I know that so many authors are going to be able to relate to that and I really just pray that this really helps you and that you're able to finish your book and cross that finish line. Can't wait to celebrate with you, Paul.

Awesome. Thanks so much for your help.

Yes. And as always, post any questions in the Facebook group. I'm in there regularly and we're able to help you in any areas that you're stuck. So we're always available for you there.

Great.

And thank you all. Yes, you're welcome. Thank you all for listening today to this edition of Author Audience. I will see you next time. Bye. Bye. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Author Audience. I would like to invite you to attend one of my free trainings on three proven book writing formulas Every nonfiction author needs to know. This is a fun and fast way to write a nonfiction book, but also a book that you're proud of. Plus I will give you two free gifts just for attending. No credit card required. First you'll get my 10 nonfiction book title templates and you'll also get my ebook titled Brilliant brainstorming. It's a 28 page ebook and both of these bonuses are yours at no charge. Just for joining us for the training, you can sign up for my free training by going to shellyhits.com formulas. That's Shellyhitz S-H E L L E Y H I T Z.com formulas. This training and the two bonuses are free and I would love to help you write your next nonfiction book.

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