How To Write A Best-Selling Book

Last updated on April 2nd, 2012 at 12:23 pm

Have you ever experienced the sense that the sky is endless — blue skies curving to meet the horizon all around you, surrounded by 360 degrees of sky, spilling over to the edges of the world – and just known that life is full of infinite possibilities?

I awoke into that space the other day.

I was sipping a mimosa by the water in sunny San Diego, palm fronds waving and seagulls swooping overhead. It was the end of a month of travels for me:  two weeks in Argentina for Christmas, NYC for New Year’s Eve, and a week on Florida’s Gulf Coast with my family.

Now, granted, maybe it’s easier to feel a sense of endless possibilities with a mimosa in hand after a month like that, than if I’d been, say, shoveling snow off my front porch in upstate New York. I’ve made travel a high priority in my life, and am astonishingly grateful for my itinerant lifestyle.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow…
I woke up happy, and headed to the hotel restaurant for brunch. That’s when I spotted a shimmering patch of color in a soft wash of clouds, airbrushed onto the sky.

It wasn’t a full arc, just a swatch of bright stripes on a single sweep of cloud.

No rain in sight, so why the rainbow?

Who knows. Anything is possible.

I felt the sense that life is bigger and more beautiful that we can ever comprehend, and that dreams do come true.

Now, a few days later, I’m back in the midst of a New York winter, feet planted solidly back on the ground in my winter boots. I am also back on track with my big dream for 2010: completing my first book.

How Does One Write A Best-Selling Book, Anyhow?
Stick with me this year, and hopefully I can show you how.  Of course it takes some serious chutzpah to say so, because this is my first book, and as with the rest of life, there are no guarantees of success.

More to the point, as best-selling author Elizabeth Gilbert (whose book Eat, Pray, Love was a surprise runaway success) writes in the introduction to her new book, Committed, “How in the world does one go about writing a book that will satisfy millions?”

“In the end,” Gilbert continues, “I found a certain comfort in recognizing that I could not — cannot — write a book that would satisfy millions of readers. Not deliberately, anyhow.”

“The fact is, I do not know how to write a beloved best seller on demand. If I knew how to write beloved best sellers on demand, I can assure you that I would have been writing them all along, because it would have made my life a lot easier and more comfortable ages ago.”

“But it doesn’t work that way — at least not for writers like me. We write only the books that we need to write, or are able to write, and then we must release them, recognizing that what happens to them next is none of our business.”

Believing in Infinite Possibilities
So, I will do my part — write the book I need to write now, tell the story that I have promised myself I would tell, then send it out into the world. Right now, as my writing coach said when commenting on my first chapter (along with a lot of positive feedback, which makes me feel like I am at least on the right track), I just need to “keep going!” Keep writing!

Then, we’ll see what happens next…

What is your biggest dream for 2010? Can you find the magic in yourself to make it happen?

Perhaps more importantly, can you take the steps toward your dream and let go out of the outcome? I honestly believe the way to write a best-selling book, or to do anything that becomes a wild success, is to follow your heart and create what you feel called to create.

Of course, there is more to it than that… writing craft, and marketing, and timing, and a host of other factors – not all of which are under our control. Yet what we can control is doing our best work, and doing it in a way that showcases our unique voice and talents.

Pursue your passions, and do what makes you happy, since happiness gives us the energy to fuel our dreams.

Wishing you a sense of infinite possibilities today as you pursue yours!

Lisa

(Lisa has launched her dream by signing up for Ellen Sussman’s “Memoir-in-a-Year” class, speaking her story out loud at a Take Back the Night rally, and committing to a regular writing schedule – 50 pages completed by December 5th, when she also turned in her first book chapter! Her next milestone is to have 100 pages completed by February 6th. Being invited to join 8womendream.com was a dream come true, and she looks forward to chronicling her writing process. Lisa is currently bi-coastal with her home in historic Troy, New York and her heart in San Francisco.  Lisa’s post day is Tuesday).

DREAM GOAL:  NOVEMBER 01, 2010 COMPLETED MEMOIR