Book Part 2: From conception to birth, books take longer to make than babies*

* when you use a traditional publisher.

From the day my publisher first approached me about writing my book to the date it will officially be for sale, 581 days will have passed. That catches most people by surprise.

But there's more to the book writing and publishing process than most people - including me until recently - realise.

Here's the process I'll be going through:

• 29 March 2019: Hand over first draft to editor for structural edit (that's a 'move this chunk here, get rid of this part' kind of edit)
• 26 April: Get structural edit back from editor, start making those changes
• 20 May: Hand second draft to editor for copy edit (that's a 'fix this grammar, change this tense' kind of edit)
• 1 July: Get copy edit back from editor, start making those changes
• 22 July: Hand third draft back to editor for typesetting (that's laying it out on pages like you'd see in a book)
• 19 August: Review 'first pages', propose edits
• 16 September: Hand edited pages to editor for updating, commence proof-reading (proofreader and I do this consecutively I think)
• 29 November: Approve final pages for print
• Early December: book goes to print
• 11 February 2020: Release book into the wild (might end up being 18 Feb - still TBC)

That's just the book writing/editing/printing.

In between all that I've got to create all the downloadables I want to accompany the book, get the graphics I want to use created, set up a website with the calculations I do in the book so people can enter their own data and get their own answers, set up all the social media handles and pages, write all the articles I want to share around launch to drive traffic to the book... and about a million other things I haven't thought of yet.

It's going to be a busy year.

Progress to date

Today I printed version four of my first draft (sorry trees. I'm printing two pages per sheet and double sided, so that's 49 pieces of paper). It's weighing in at nearly 84k words. I'll spend the next two weeks attempting to trim it back to a more respectable 65-70k words per my contract before the official Draft One submission.

I've been keeping in touch with my editor, sending chunks along when I want some feedback. It's been reassuring to have her telling me when I'm on/off track and make suggestions for additions along the way. I hope this means she doesn't get any nasty surprises when I hand in Draft One!

Reflections to date

Routine

My writing routine per my first instalment of the book-writing process has continued, though I've expanded my music list to include The Screaming Jets, Guns 'n' Roses and Eddie Vedder/Pearl Jam. I've been able to keep the caffeine use moderate (had a black tea this morning and that's it). Using that routine I had several days writing 5k to 6k words, so it's clearly a sweet spot for me.

On writing

I've thoroughly enjoyed writing for the most part. It's wonderful to get this stuff I've been thinking about for decades out of my head and onto paper so I can organise it. It's also bringing together what I think my financial education programs have lacked: a cohesive story with a solid overview and a strong metaphor to help make it real for readers, and make it easier to implement. I'll begin testing it with advance readers (thank you Adam, Bobbie, Aaron, Erica, Susan, Fran, Adam!) and people to whom I present through Money School over the coming months.

Some parts I haven't enjoyed. Going back to fill in the gaps I left while writing because I either got bored of a topic or got more excited about some other brainwave is satisfying yet feels chore-like. Searching for references I'd saved in LinkedIn sucks because I can't see the full list of everything I saved, only the last six articles. I 'eat the frog' with that stuff, putting it first on my to-do list and not letting myself do anything else until it's done.

On having a life

I also started letting myself have a social life again. I'm miserable if I don't get social time with other adults.

Once I got the first 'draft' printed (71k at that point on 22 Feb), I finally felt like writing a book might actually be achievable and I didn't need to stay in isolation forever. I removed my self-imposed quarantine and started having some fun again, such as attending theatre events with friends, hosting my daughter's birthday party and chipping in to help at the cake stall at school. I'm still having to be careful not to overcommit - the writing and editing means I'm saying no to events and actions I would usually say yes to. My FOMO isn't too bad.

With all the sitting and writing, my back and neck haven't been happy. I've seen the health professionals I rely on to keep me in reasonable condition (Tim Edwards, Jen Taylor and On Point Massage) and I bought my friend's standing desk so I can switch positions occasionally. I try to get to sleep early and have banned my phone from my bedroom as I have little self-control and frequently find myself dazedly scrolling when sleep would be much more helpful.

I also had a big night out to celebrate taking home a Business News 40 under 40 Award - it felt great to let my hair down (well, technically my hair was up, but you catch my drift) and chat with heaps of fabulous people.

To reward myself for the hard work, I've got a night out with some of my fave ladies planned on 30 March. T'will be great to hang out with them.