Posted by Grant on June 5, 2008 – 10:11 am
As I’ve mentioned, I have finished writing my first book for students and now we are in the midst of the editing phase of it all. I currently have 15 students from around the country reading the book and another 6 adults reading over it as well. And so far, I’ve been getting some great feedback…people actually like the book and think it is really good!
And while I’m excited that the initial response has been positive (especially from students since they are the target audience), we still have a lot of work to do. It’s the challenge of being content with where we are at or working a little bit more to take it from good to great. So now we are in the process of asking the difficult questions. Do all of the questions that the book addresses fit to our target audience of students? Have we communicated responses in a clear, concise manner? Are these chapters nice theories or are there practical things students can do to implement the ideas into their daily lives?
In anything you do in life, it is easy to settle for the ‘good’ instead of pursuing the ‘great’.
Are you settling?
Posted by Grant on May 30, 2008 – 7:26 pm
As strange as it may sound, I think writing the last few chapters of the book this week was almost as difficult as writing the first few chapters. It is this weird feeling of being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel or catching a glimpse of what the mountain summit will look like, but it seems easier to just stop where you’re at.
Regardless of what you have going on, always finish strong. There is no reason to bust your butt for 95% of a project only to give a half hearted effort for the remaining 5%. Whether you are finishing school this week or next, you are completing a major project, or you are wrapping up a current job, I would encourage you to finish strong.
Demonstrate the same energy, passion, and fervor on the final day as you did on the first day.
Posted by Grant on May 29, 2008 – 9:12 pm
Filed under Books, My Book
I’m stoked to announce that I am done writing my book! It has been quite the process but I finished up basically all the writing elements needed for this project. I ended up with an even 50 chapters plus an introduction and a wrap up chapter. I also finished writing all the extra stuff you got to do…copyright page, acknowledgements (maybe you made the list), back cover text, about the author, and everything else that has to get written.
Now it is time to transition into editing mode. This is where we throw it all in the fire and hopefully only the best will come out. Of course the whole thing may just burn up and well, that would suck. We’re still on track to have the book out by this fall, probably in late September.
I can’t wait to have the finished product done but beyond that, I can’t wait for students to get their hands on it and hopefully it will help them with the difficult transition into the real world of life.
Posted by Grant on May 21, 2008 – 1:10 pm
Filed under Books, My Book
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done any writing on the book because of all the travel I’ve had lately. But this week I’ve been working on the project more and we are getting closer and closer to wrapping up. I’m on track to be completely finished on the writing side of things by the middle to end of next week!
Right now, I’ve got 40 chapters completed and about 13 more to go. I’ve also got 35,246 words which seems like a lot. I feel the need to save the file on my computer every 2 seconds for fear that I would somehow lose it…that would suck.
My sister, who is a graphic designer, is doing some of the interior layout for me and we’ve also started playing with that. I think the book itself will look really sharp and will have real cool layout. On a side note, if you’re looking for some graphic design work, I would highly recommend checking her stuff out. And not just because she’s my sister but because she’s really good (I should get paid for this ad). Check out some of her portfolio here or you can email her
I’m really pumped about this book and can’t wait to have it done. In case you’re interested, here are the rest of book updates so far…
Posted by Grant on April 29, 2008 – 2:29 pm
I passed the half way point on my book today! Right now I’ve got 27 out of 50 chapters done, so I’m a little over 50% finished with just about 24,600 words so far.
I also think I’ve landed on the publishing company I’m going to use so that’s exciting.
I’m currently working on the section that addresses questions students have about money. As I wrote various chapters today, I couldn’t help but think of the number of students who will read this and will hopefully apply the principles that we outline for winning with money. I just hope they remember me when they’re rich and famous.
As I’ve said before, writing this book is one of those big goals for me and it feel incredibly good to have made so much progress. We still have more climbing to go though to get to the top of this mountain. But the view from the top is always that much better when you made the climb yourself.
What big goal have you been putting off and now you’re ready to start the climb?
Posted by Grant on April 22, 2008 – 8:15 pm
I’ve made a little more progress on the book and plan to knock a lot out in the next 10 days before I leave for a good amount of travel in May. Right now I’ve got 15 chapters done so I’m around 30% finished with just over 13,100 words!
I’ve also got my list of printers narrowed down to just a couple so we should have that nailed down in the next week or two.
We’re still on track to have the book printed and in hand by October 1.
If you’re a student or someone who works with students, you’re going to want to get your hands on this book. I really think this is going to become a great resource for students as they make the transition into the real world.
I can’t wait to finish this project!
Posted by Grant on April 10, 2008 – 11:58 am
I’ve been able to get a decent amount of writing done this week on the book I’m working on. The book is for students and is designed to help teenagers make the transition from middle school and high school into college and the real world. The book is basically broken down into 5 sections with each section containing about 10 different questions that students are asking about these areas of life.
I just finished the tenth and final chapter for one of the sections so I figure I’m about 20% done! Nice to make some progress but I still have plenty more to go. So far I have about 9,100 words so that seems like a pretty good start!
The target is to have the book done and in hand by October 1 of this year so I’m real excited about that.
I currently have a group of about 20 different students from around the country who have been providing some feedback along the way in helping with this book. So if you’re a student and would like to help with this project, send me an email at grant@grantbaldwin.com and I’ll let you give your 2 cents!
Posted by Grant on April 7, 2008 – 9:12 pm
I mentioned a few weeks ago that one of my big goals for 2008 was to write a book for students. With a slow travel schedule last week and this week, I’ve had some time to really begin working on this project and I’m excited about how things are coming along.
I’ve never written a book so learning how to approach it has been interesting. I read recently in a book, “The War of Art” that the most difficult part of writing a book isn’t writing a book. It’s sitting down to write a book. I can definitely see how that’s true.
Once I actually started working on it and creating an outline, it actually came together pretty quickly and easily. But it was the challenge of sitting down to work on it in the first place.
I don’t want to let too much out of the bag this early but I’ll certainly keep you updated on how the book is coming along.
As I work on this though, I have to ask you…what is that big goal/dream/project that you’ve wanted to work on but the mountain just seems too big. My advice…you gotta start somewhere. You can’t eat an elephant in one bite so pick somewhere and dive in (some additional advice…you probably shouldn’t eat an elephant…I’m sure there are laws against that and you’d probably really tick some people off…just my 2 cents on elephant eating!)
