Exploring the Possibilities: How to Learn from Experience

Once upon a time, more than 30 years ago to put a number on it, I self-published my first book.?

In discussing the process with a librarian friend, she commented that publishing a book is like having a child.? As we chatted about her analogy the similarities became clearer and clearer.? Factors such as demanding, emotional, intense, meaningful and rewarding come to mind.

Now that I have published my 31st book (or book equivalent) not only are the same factors still there, I have learned how to learn from the experience of writing and publishing a book. ??Thanks to some excellent training in experiential learning, I can identify and articulate some potentially helpful lessons about writing and publishing a book.

Not coincidentally, the approach to identifying and articulating potentially helpful lessons is itself included in my new book: chapter 29 to be exact.

The Reflection Phase: What Happened?

For present purposes, the first step in the Learning Cycle--the core of Experiential Learning--is to identify what happened.? This task involves collecting data generated by the experience.

In my case, I assembled enough content for a professional editor to smooth and refine into a manuscript containing about 68,000 words, divided into 29 chapters. Some of this content was pulled from archived material; some of it was created to fill in the gaps and further clarify important concepts.

Once the editing was complete, talented designers created both the cover and internal format and layout.

And the final step of the publication process was to distribute the finished book to major booksellers online and off.

The Generalization Phase: Conclusion

This phase is all about making sense of the information collected in the reflection phase.?

The following questions (taken from the book, slightly modified) will help in drawing a conclusion:

1. ? What does your answer to the “what happened” question mean to you?

2. ? Why is this significant?

3. ? How might what you did or experienced been different or better? Why?

4. ? What conclusion can you draw from questions 1-3 above?

5. ? What does that suggest to you about what you self-publishing a book? Why?

All things considered, self-publishing a book is a whole lot easier than might be expected.? Sure it was a lot of work on my part … but doesn’t creating anything of lasting value always require a lot of work??

Besides, like most self-employed professionals, I have enough archived content to produce a small library of books. ?And that’s a significant lesson learned:? given how much useful content that I, and most self-employed professionals have just lingering in archives,? why not repurpose the content into book format to help others benefit from our experience?

My self-publishing experience might have been better had it not taken almost four months to complete.? But in all honesty that’s my issue, not a flaw in the process.? Patience has never been one of my strengths.

More often than not, whenever new acquaintances learn that I am a published author, they tell me about a book that they or someone else they know wants to write. ?My typical response is to encourage them (or their friends) to just start writing.?

Invariably, my suggestion triggers some explanation as to why they (or their friends) couldn’t possibly write a book.? Few things are more annoying than faultfinders putting problems in front of solutions.

If there is one thing that I have learned from writing full length books, it’s that everything becomes clearer and easier when I take action.? Once I have conceived the idea and outline for a new book, it seems to take on a life of its own.? (There’s that analogy with having a baby again.)

For much of the writing process, I felt more like a channel for ideas coming through me, with my fingers converting these concepts into coherent words in a computer system.

The bottom line on moving my book from a concept to a finished book in both hard copy and eBook format?? Everything became clearer and easier as I took action.

The Application Phase: Applying the Conclusions

In this, the final phase, we apply what have learned as a result of the experience.

To this end, there are two key questions to consider:

1.?????? How will the conclusion be useful in our work or professional life?

2.?????? How will the conclusion be useful in our personal life?

From experience, I know full that completing one’s first book appears to be a daunting task.? But each book after that becomes increasingly easier. That has certainly been the case with my most recent of 31 books.? And I’m very much looking forward to number 32, which is current awaiting completion, once the current book has been well and truly launched.

Given that everything becomes clearer and easier when we take action, when are you going to get serious about that book you have in mind?

As for question #2, there is no end of tasks or projects that at first glance appear overwhelming to the point of being impossible.? But once we do something, the task becomes more doable.

For example, yesterday I bought a new pair of earbuds.? As a technoklutz, I was dreading whatever was required to get these things up and running. Today, after a quick glance at the instructions, I had the earbuds paired, with my background soundscape now clear and energizing in my ears.? Go figure.

To learn more about how to learn from your experience, check out chapter 29 of the book.

Hard copy versions are available through major book sellers on a print on demand basis.

It’s also available online through book sellers such as:

·?????? AMAZON Worldwide

·?????? KINDLE Worldwide

·?????? APPLE BOOKS ?Worldwide

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