About a year ago I started writing the first draft of my next book. If you count earlier iterations that only led to refining the outline and restarting, I probably started six months earlier, not that I kept track. I had finished my first draft a few months later, spring 2021.

I knew when I started writing my second non-self-published book, Initiative, that I would write my next book on sustainability. I had just started This Sustainable Life, called Leadership and the Environment at the time, and anticipated podcasting would help develop it. It did. The new book will be much stronger for it.

This time I worked with an editor far more experienced than before. At first, I reeled from the amount of editing I’d have to do after I thought I had a solid draft. She edited to a level of depth and consistency than I had experienced before. Also, the number of iterations after starting with her, meaning times to reflect, led to dramatic changes. We also focused on my proposal instead of the book. My time spent writing the manuscript wasn’t wasted, though. The exercise informed a lot of what went into the proposal.

At least twice I hit on ideas or organization that revolutionized the book and turned it inside out. If I didn’t know the middle steps, I wouldn’t guess that last year’s manuscript was connected to this proposal.

Groundbreaking

I believe this book will break new ground in acting sustainably and changing American and global culture. I expect it to change a lot, in ways people will appreciate. I like the content, composition, all the sketches, and so on. I can’t wait to start promoting it.

[EDIT: Holy cow! After writing this post I found my post Book 3, first draft done, March 15, 2021, almost exactly one year ago.]

• ← A simple proposal to reduce litter
• One of the tragedies of addiction →