I’ve written dozens of books. Novels, nonfiction, children’s, trivia, puzzles and more.
But you’ve never read any of them. Nor has anyone else.
Because they’re all sitting on my hard drive in various states, unseen by human eyes. Outside maybe the NSA or very bored and privacy-indifferent Dropbox employees.
I never publish them or share them. They’re never “ready.”
Tonight, I’m resolving to change that.
I am going to devote 100% of my “side project” night and weekend time to completing and publishing these books.
I’m going to stick with this plan indefinitely — no more switching to other projects and endeavors that may pop up.
And I’m going public with my plan to guarantee I follow through. I’m weaponizing my paralyzing fear of public shaming and embarrassment to propel these books off my hard drive and into existence.
Without going public like this, I’d be able to keep stalling and hiding and not publishing because nothing’s ever quite perfect enough.
That era is over.
Really? Dozens of books?
As for where things stand right now…
Technically, I am an author. I write lots of valuable, helpful, complex, funny longform stuff at work. In 2011 I received a book deal and had a book published under my own name. I’ve had a few books published under companies’ names. And I’ve ghostwritten several books published under celebrities’ names. (Two of those were even bestsellers.)
But I’ve written a whole lot more. Right now my hard drive contains:
- Six completed or near-completed rough drafts of nonfiction books.
- Three completed rough drafts of novels (in the mystery and heist genres), half of an incomplete novel, and a master plan for a whole universe connecting the characters.
- Two rough drafts of children’s books.
- Essays on a complete personal growth and productivity system I’ve developed over two decades of working full-time while also doing more than a dozen side projects and not sacrificing time with family or friends. This system could help so many other people.
- A self-built database filled with more than 4,000 trivia facts and rough drafts and outlines of several unique trivia books.
- A self-built database with more than 2,000 ‘80s and ‘90s pop culture events that I can and should turn into something.
- More than a dozen screenplays/TV pilots which I could adapt into novels.
- A book of word puzzles I created for a board game which I never released.
In other words… I have dozens of drafts and potentially 100+ books worth of material at my fingertips.
The plan
⭐️ I am going to publish 100 books.
I will start with at least one per month as of November 2022 and the pace will increase as I better learn the process.
Now… I have a great full-time job. I have two children, a wife, and a social life. I watch sports and plenty of random TV shows. I exercise and I sleep, and need to devote more time to both.
So I’m going to build and grow my author life without sacrificing or compromising any of it. (A big part of my growth and productivity method is eliminating time waste to fit in everything.)
I’m starting a streak of working at least one hour a night on my books. And not switching to other side projects; my two decades of shiny object syndrome are over. Any other projects I work on (like my newsletter or website) will be in service of my author work — as launchpads and/or as places to cultivate material for the books.
And I’ll be documenting the entire journey on this website once a week, minimum.
To follow along (and call me out if I slip)
No one goes to random blogs anymore; it’s not how people use the internet in 2022.
So rather than expecting people to come to this website…
- You can sign up for email alerts about new posts using the form below.
- I will let everyone know when I update this journal on my 11 Points Twitter.
- You can subscribe to this journal via RSS.
You’re also invited and encouraged to berate me via the above channels if updates slow down and it looks like I’m falling off.
(It will be hard to berate me through RSS, but go ahead on the other mediums. Though if you start a website with an RSS feed for the sole purpose of berating me, I’ll really feel that criticism.)
I hope you find my journey compelling (and potentially motivational, useful, educational, or, at the very least, a hearty dose of voyeuristic schadenfreude to keep you warm on a crisp autumn’s eve).
Now let’s publish some books.