In 2012, Brené Brown was a professor at the University of Houston. She had a dream and a manuscript. She didn’t have a big following or celebrity connections. But she had a powerful idea about vulnerability. Her book “Daring Greatly” became a bestseller. It changed millions of lives. You might think, “That’s great for Brené, […]
In 2010, Tim Ferriss released The 4-Hour Body. It sold 63,000 copies in just two weeks. The book hit #1 on the New York Times, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon bestseller lists — all at the same time. This success didn’t happen by chance. It was due to a special nonfiction book writing process. Did […]
I was sixteen, sitting in my high school newspaper room, staring at a blank screen. My editor wanted a story about a local firefighter who saved a family. I had all the facts and quotes, but the words felt flat. That night, I picked up “The Soul of a New Machine” by Tracy Kidder. It […]
I sat at my kitchen table on a rainy Tuesday morning. My cursor blinked like a heartbeat. I had spent three years building expertise in my field. Everyone kept telling me, “You should write a book about this.” So there I was — ready to begin, with absolutely no clue where to start. That moment […]
In 2016, I was in a coffee shop in Portland. A woman slammed her laptop shut. She laughed and said, “I’ve been trying to start my novel for three years.” This moment stuck with me. Starting a novel seems impossible at first. The blank page is scary. Your characters and plot might feel weak. I’ve […]
I still remember sitting at my kitchen table at 5 a.m. I stared at a blinking cursor on a blank screen. My coffee was getting cold, and my cat was judging me. I had a burning idea for a novel, but I didn’t know where to start. That was six years ago. Since then, I’ve […]
Three years ago, I was in a small apartment in southern Chile. I had just left a job in investment banking. I didn’t have a plan or a writing degree. But I felt a strong urge to write. Outside my window, the Andes mountains were hidden in thick clouds. I was teaching English to kids […]
I sat at my kitchen table in early 2019 with a cup of cold coffee. I had just read Brené Brown’s “Dare to Lead.” A wild dream hit me: I could write a book like this. I had the knowledge and stories. But, it turned out to be much harder than I thought. My dream […]
I sat at my kitchen table at 5 a.m. one Tuesday, staring at a blank Word document. My coffee was getting cold. My cursor blinked like a tiny heartbeat, waiting for me to do something brave. I had read Stephen King’s “On Writing” three times. I had notebooks full of scribbled ideas. But the gap […]
Three years ago, I was stuck in a dim office on Wall Street. I stared at spreadsheets that looked like rain on a windshield. I was making good money but felt empty inside. One night, I opened my laptop and typed a sentence about my childhood in India. That sentence led to a paragraph, then […]
