“There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy dust all over your typewriter or computer screen. I’ll leave you with this from Stephen King: If you allow your brain to think without structure, you’ll naturally begin making connections and coming up with ideas. It could be while you’re driving, taking a shower, or exercising. You don’t need perfect conditions to begin. Once you realize what that is for you, then my advice is to start right away. I literally visualize the pieces of information as being these puzzle pieces that somehow have to fit together in a nice way. So to answer your question, I’ll tell you this: Figure out how your brain works first. How do you recognize these pockets of time to use so efficiently? You said that you wrote the book in the “edges of time.” It really struck me, and I was wondering what the shortest amount of time you had available that you actually used to write in. I agree completely and am actually very relieved that I won't have to write a "mental models" book haha).”Īfter all parties signed off on the contract, I got to work on a sample chapter, and the rest is history. As I told Chris, “These are some great points (especially the "mental models" terminology. I had initially pitched a book around mental models, but it didn’t feel right because “mental models” are oftentimes stuck in the theoretical. The “adjustments” were around the framing of the chapters. The team at Harriman House offered me a contract and said, “We're confident in you and the proposal, and though we'd recommend a few adjustments and developments (completely up for discussion!), we don't think they will be problematic.” We did a call, and once I decided to work with them, I sent a one-page book proposal that included things like the book title, my bio, my distribution stats, a book summary, my target audience, and several sample chapters. He told me, “If your thoughts ever turn to writing a book, we'd love to chat with you.” Can you share the process of how you signed with a publisher, and what it entailed?Ĭhris Parker, who’s a senior editor at the London-based publisher Harriman House, reached out to me on Twitter after he saw a thread I wrote on Canva CEO Melanie Perkins. I’ve always seen myself as the ‘songwriter’ because the applause from the performance isn’t as gratifying to me as the grittiness of the writing process itself. I included some timeless lessons I’ve learned over the years, but I also conducted new interviews from people whose fresh ideas updated my own. To answer your question more directly, there’s a mix of old and new. The quiet is what thrills me, but if people enjoy the book, then that’s the cherry on top. I told my husband that even if I don’t sell a single copy of this book, it would’ve been worth it because I learned so much in the process of organizing my ideas and clarifying my thinking. Unlike Miranda, I thrive in the quiet that it takes to pursue an idea. I don’t know why, but when I read this question, I thought of what playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda once said : “I like the quiet it takes to pursue an idea the way I pursued 'Hamilton,' but I couldn't write a book, because there's no applause at the end of writing a book.” The questions were excellent, so I took my time to thoroughly answer them (and even enlisted my editor Chris Parker from publisher Harriman House to weigh in!) below: To what extent is an author like a songwriter who performs? Did your audience research tell you they wanted the tunes they had already heard and could even sing along to? Or did your audience tell you they wanted the new words and the future you? I recently invited you - the readers of The Profile - to submit your questions about the book-writing process. I cannot thank you enough, and I feel incredibly lucky to be part of the community we’ve built together over the last 5 years. But most of all, I’ve been in awe that so many of you decided to buy it months in advance. Since announcing it, I’ve felt every emotion in the book - excitement, terror, and joy. Order it here: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | ThriftBooks ). (My book ‘HIDDEN GENIUS: The secret ways of thinking that power the world’s most successful people’ comes out on June 20, 2023. Never did I actually think I would write a book.
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