Earlier this year, on February 3, I wrote the first in a series of blog posts focused on people who were planning on writing a book (or at least conceptualizing and researching a potential book) starting this year, or who had already started writing it.
Now we are about to go into the final quarter of the year, and a number of things may have happened on your writing journey:
- Started in early 2022 and on track to finish this year
- Started in early 2022 and will finish next year
- Started at another point in 2022 and on track to finish this year
- Started at another point in 2022 and will finish next year
- Started at another point in 2022 and will finish in 2024 or after
- Started the process but reconsidering approach; e.g. turning a memoir into fiction, or changing topics/emphasis on a nonfiction book based on initial writing and research
- Started sometime during 2022 and stopped completely; may or may not resume
- Started sometime during 2022 but changed or lost an advisor, such as a writing coach, agent, or publicist
- Started sometime during 2022 but changed or considering changing topic/emphasis based on what you learned, or people you met, at a writing class/conference/webinar/retreat, or similar event
- Started sometime during 2022 and stopped completely; no plans to resume
- Started sometime during 2022 and paused; aim to finish later this year or next
- Started research and planning sometime during 2022 but haven’t started writing
- Started research and planning sometime during 2022 and undecided about how to proceed
If you are still doing some combination of conceptualization, research and/or writing, consult some of the writing-related posts I’ve written since the original February 3 post:
Thoughts on (Finally) Reading Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, August 17
Celebrating Berrett-Koehler at 30 With a Curated List of Influential BK Books, August 4
Writing, Research, and Creativity Quotes from Deborah Kalb Book Q&As: 1st Half of 2022, July 27
Becky Robinson and Reach: Creating Value For Your Intellectual Assets, July 21
26 Books by Berrett-Koehler Marketing Workshop Presenters & Participants, June 15
22 Self-Reflection Questions For Writing Your Book in 2022, April 13
Reality Checks from Wally Bock & Alex Lazarow for Writing Your Book, March 9
My Curated List of Books by Current/Former USA TODAY Writers: Revised and Updated, March 2
The above posts cover areas that authors and potential authors can use to go deeper in writing and ultimately marketing and promoting their books. You can also draw inspiration from the lists of published titles by current/former writers from USA TODAY (my workplace alma mater), and from the Berrett-Koehler marketing workshop presenters and participants. BK published my first book, Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life, in 2009, and is also the publisher for the Becky Robinson book referenced above.
And don’t forget these two posts from the last year, 7 Keys to Writing for Publication, October 20, 2021; and 43 Eclectic Resources on Writing/Publishing/Creativity, September 30, 2021.
It may or may not be doable for you to finish writing your book during this calendar year, or if you’ve written it, to see it published in that time frame. But I hope that the links above will point you in the right direction and inspire you to either start, return, or keep going on your writing project. It could be that the best option for some people is to start/continue planning during the final three months of the year, and then to start the writing process at the beginning of 2023.
Whatever you decide, all the best on your continued journey to completion and successful publication!