I have just had a new book published, "Insight" (http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/insight/12809764), which I am really pleased with. My friend Susan Rice-Lincoln is partially responsible since she gave me the idea – simple really, but not obvious till you get it. She said, ‘re-purpose’ your materials. What? Re-purpose your materials; make them work harder; re-use them in a variety of contexts.
I guess I get bored easily so have never been good at doing this. I am always on to the next thing without adequately considering whether something I have already done is being effectively used or distributed. Thus, looking at my backlog of blogs over the last two years I find I have well over 120 in total, and some of them have had great feedback from readers. Why not then compile a ‘best of blog’ and put them out in this new media, the book? The advent of Lulu (see Lulu.com) makes such publications so easy – so check out my book if you are interested in this kind of thing and see what can be done so easily. With even more effort I am sure you could do better.
But to return to my book, there is something so gratifying about having your writing actually in print. It is also just so important to write. Writing is a kind of therapy to the mind, and I like to think of it metaphorically as a de-fragmentation of the brain in much the same way as we would de-frag a hard drive. After we do it, we are healthier and faster and more alive.
And here is another important aspect of writing – writing the narratives of our businesses, our passions, and our life. Narrative is a primary act of mind – it corresponds with reality, how things occur, past, present and future: when we tell stories, therefore, we can understand – make sense – of what is happening. The remarkable thing about narrative is that the creative act means that we don't know what we think until we have written it. Put another way, narrative reveals truth in the nature of things that was not foreseen when the urge to write started. This is startling and teleological, suggesting deep purpose(s) in the fabric of existence.
Thus, apart from the most banal and obvious of writings, we don’t decide to write ‘content’ but we discover ‘content’ when we write. This discovery is a process in which the head and heart are equally involved and as the layers peel away to reveal the truth beneath there is the conviction of truth – with my own eyes I see it, that is I see myself. So writing is a process of revelation even to the writer! Weird, but great. And it’s why writers get such a buzz from writing – it’s a form of exploration.
If you don’t do it, then give it a try. If you persevere you won’t be disappointed.
The Mapping Motivation Series 