My Third Nonfiction Book — How It Started & How It’s Going

I’m writing and editing my third nonfiction book.

And this time, I’ve completely aligned my writing and editing process with astrology — mainly the moon.

Like many people, I jumped into January thinking I’d kick off two big projects — a new podcast and my next book. 

I should have known better. 😂

January wasn’t the time for either new project. Maybe it was for you. And if it was — yay you!

Shortly after publishing Intuitive Writing (June 2023), I knew my next book had to be about writing with the moon (title, TBD). It’s been by far the most discussed part of the book. Podcast hosts are curious, workshop participants are intrigued, and I’ve had many conversations with people hearing these ideas for the first time. 

I was one of those people. The first time I heard the idea of writing with a moon phase (or a menstrual cycle), I thought, “That’s weird.”

You might be thinking this, too. If so, stay with me.

I wrote Intuitive Writing using many of the processes I outlined in the book. And I edited it with the moon in mind. But the initial draft — nope, it came out in 30 days in 2021, the last time I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). That 30-day writing challenge served me well, but writing every day for 30 days to hit 50,000 words isn’t for me anymore.

Since I’ve published two books, I get a lot of questions about the book writing and editing process.

Perhaps the question I get about book writing isn’t really a question at all. 

It’s “I want to write a book, but I don’t know where to start.”

There are many ways to start writing your first (or fifth) book. I know it’s helpful to see examples, so here’s the process I followed for writing each of my books—plus what I’m doing differently for my third book.

2017 — First Draft of Unfussy Life

• Pick a random day in October, set a timer, cue up Metallica, and write 30 topic ideas on index cards (my goal was to write a chapter a day for 30 days). 

• Every day in November (my first NaNoWriMo), I wrote at least 1,667 words. I pulled a random index card and wrote fast (SFD-style). I tracked my word count progress in a spreadsheet and created a separate document for each chapter. There was no revisiting, revising, or thinking — only super-fast writing.

• When I finished the draft, I edited each section in its individual document and then compiled them all into a single file.

2021 — First Draft of Intuitive Writing

• August 2021 — let myself dream and journal about what this book would look like. No forcing, only jotting down some notes and thoughts as they came.

• September 2021 — started planning. I booked a session with an editor to help with the outline and a second session with a Human Design expert.

• October 2021 — I prepared — got files ready, created a new document for each chapter (using separate documents for my drafts again, blocking my calendar for the writing time, and setting up the community for others who were focusing on NaNoWriMo, too.

• November 2021—Write daily (I missed one day) with my community. We did a 30-minute co-writing session at 8:30 a.m. each day. There was no chatting. We just got down to business right away. We met on weekends, too, which turned out to be too much for me. I like writing on weekends quite often, but prefer to have the time open and totally flexible.
  Sometimes, I’d get on my computer and start writing 30 minutes before our scheduled sessions, or I’d write a little after our co-writing session ended. I mainly went in the order that I outlined and didn’t write much (if at all) outside of the community sessions.

• December 2021 - light edits (I published in 2023)

2024 — Book Title TBD

• February 2024 — wrote an outline during my last airplane trip. It was loose, and it changed a little (it always does). The key is to start with just enough structure to get started but stay grounded in what I'm writing.

• March 2024: 

  • After the initial outline, I had many downloads (usually in the shower or while walking) about what to include in the book. This is the magic of planting the seeds and waiting before diving in with an outline on day one and writing on day two. Sometimes, our writing projects need space to marinate.

  • March 11—After the Pisces new moon (March 10), I started planning and adding to my outline. Blocked extra time on my calendar, plus used the community co-writing time when needed. When I’m in a season of book writing, I like to focus on my book before anything else business-related, so when a writing session is in the afternoon, I prefer to write other things like my blog, social content, or emails. I also worked with some intentions for the book and continued to clear my vessel for the most useful book on writing. 

• March 20, I started writing. And because I’m writing a book about the moon while writing with the moon, I started in the middle of my outline. The moon was in Leo on Wednesday, March 20, so I focused on writing recommendations for how to flow with Leo energy in your writing with the flavor or Aries.

Why March 20?

It’s the start of the astrological new year (I unconsciously knew I didn’t need to push in January!)

♈️ It’s the first day of Aries season. Aries is a fire sign, a young, initiating energy. The moon will be waxing (always when I recommend starting a draft). 

The moon will be in Leo — double fire. 

Now, editing, refining, beta readers, launching, self-publishing, and marketing — are all things writing community members get access to.

Six months into the process, I have a solid draft. I’m flowing with edits as the moon travels through each zodiac sign which is adding deeper and deeper layers every time.

When I write books, I don’t head to a cabin in the woods for a month (but if you have one I can use, please let me know 😉). I’m living life, running my growing business. 

I still serve my writing community and private coaching clients. 

This purposeful book writing process looks different from the pantsing I did a few years ago.

Pantsing: Flying by the seat of my pants.

Building the plane as I flew it worked fine for me then, and I’ll always be winging it to some degree — it’s how I love to co-create.

I know that when I’m fully surrendered to the writing process, my best words will flow.

When I see people state, “Just start writing!” in response to potential authors feeling unsure of their next steps for book writing — I cringe.

Yes, you need to start writing, but it's useful to have a container and some idea of where you want to go.

Even if the destination winds up looking (or even being) different from the starting place, we need to simply start to be able to know where to go next.

This is my third book-writing adventure (not counting the mini-book I wrote in 2015), so I know the theme will be more apparent from the beginning. I also know who the book is for, why I’m writing it, and what advice is useful for writers just getting started. 

I also know from experience that even if I go into the writing process with the best intentions, writing is an act of co-creation, and the direction may shift while writing.

That’s the adventure of the writing life. 

Having proved to my unconscious mind that I know how to write, edit, and publish a book (x2), my brain knows what’s up. My body has been here before. It knows this rhythm and focus so when I begin, my body’s like, “Oh, we’re doing book writing things! We got this!” (I imagine the “we” is my cells ⚛️).

This is important if you’re working toward your first time finishing a big project.

And that’s the whole point. Until I started writing and publishing my blog weekly (first at The Intuitive Writing School, and now here), I didn’t have the mental container. Now, more than a decade later, blogging is like breathing.

And even better news — blogging consistently helped create the container for book writing. 

Writing website copy, launches, and social posts creates the container to see a writing project through to completion.

Because how we do one thing is how we do everything, and writing is a holistic practice — mind, body, soul.

Here are some other practices I’ll continue during the writing and editing season: 

• Morning pages. I stopped them when writing Unfussy Life — big mistake. I thought I didn’t have enough time. I did them consistently with Intuitive Writing, and the words flowed much easier. We need to clear the gunk so we can come to the page from a clear vessel. Here’s how I keep from filling the 3 pages with complaining—>my trick.

• Maintaining my health practices—After healing candida earlier in the year, I’m clearer than ever. I eat a plant-based, whole-food diet—high carb, low fat — and it’s a life-changer. My wellness routine also includes sunshine and lifting heavy weights.

• Spiritual practices. Daily meditation and keeping my vibe high and my energy higher.

📗 Are you writing a book?

Write it with us in community in a fun and productive writing space.