Image courtesy of Drew Coffman (http://bit.ly/1r26EBL)
A recent survey showed that 81 percent of Americans want to write a book, but most never will. They remind me of a quote often attributed to Henry David Thoreau: “Most [people] lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”
The reason most people never sing their song or share their story is because they don’t know how to do it. Have you dreamed of becoming a writer or publishing a book or even starting a blog? I want to help you do it through my Writers Boot Camp. I’ve partnered with Margaret Feinberg, author of more than a dozen books, and social media whizz and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Jon Acuff to teach writers how to identify their audience, tell a killer story, grow their social media presence, publish their book, and more.
I feel lucky to get paid to sing my song in books and columns and articles. Each morning, I wake to my dream job. But it wasn’t always that way.
As a child, I imagined the adult version of myself standing over an anesthetized body holding a scalpel and eyeballing the perfect incision point. I dreamed of becoming a surgeon from an early age, but the aspiration died in 2004 when I heard what I believe to have been God speak to my heart: “You’re going to write.”
Looking back, the phrase was as much a salvation as a calling. I wince at the sight of too much blood, I hate rising early in the morning, and please don’t bother me when I’m off the clock, thank you very much. Oh yeah, and one more thing: writing is the greatest job in the world.
Becoming a writer hasn’t been easy. The market is flooded, and fewer paying gigs exist. I’ve had to claw my way to this moment over many years, often sailing on a sea of rejection’s tears. Of course, things didn’t lighten up once I became a writer. Hours of work become thousands of words, many of which no one ever reads. But the thrill of a finished piece that I know really says something important (and emails from readers who have been changed by it) drives me forward.
If you want to learn how to do what I do, join me at Writers Boot Camp in Denver, Colorado this coming October 27 -29, 2014. I’ll pick up the scalpel and dissect the craft of writing and the publishing industry. And you can finally start singing your song.