I wrote a book. An honest-to-goodness book. My first book.

Well, it’s an e-book published on Amazon, but still. Words on a (digital) page. (Visit this page to learn how to download it for free and leave feedback!)

As loyal readers, you probably can guess my topic. It’s a favorite one of mine and yours: Portugal. I say that, because my columns about Portugal got more clicks, views and time read than any other topics.

Of course, that’s probably because most of us like travel. We dream of going different places. Maybe we even do it occasionally. So reading about Portugal is kind of like a travelogue, I guess.

Some of you wanted to read about my experience there (and getting there) because you wanted to live vicariously through me or you wanted to know if I’d really be able to pull it off.

I did, and I realized what I had done was a formula that others could follow to achieve their goals. I achieved my goal of moving to Portugal.

So I wrote a book.

“How to Achieve Goals: 10 Steps to Follow that Took Me to Portugal” is available on Amazon as an e-book. It’s a short read, about two hours. It’s a guidebook with tips, lists and suggestions to set a goal and achieve.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well it is. And it’s a lot of work. Because simply having a goal won’t make it real. You have to do the work toward it, too.

I talk about that – and a whole lot more – in the book.

 

What’s in my first book

The 10 steps are listed several places, and I include a link to download the goal checklist and sample goal outlines. It’s meant to be something you can use over and over again, even if you don’t read the book each time. The checklist can keep you on track to achieving any goal, big or small, business or personal.

One thing I added to the book is a series of notes about what I would have done differently.

Portugal wasn’t perfect in the planning or execution. There were things I would do differently if I had to do it over again. While those things won’t be the same for you, I included them for a couple of reasons:

1. I’m not perfect, even though I am a perfectionist. We all fall short sometimes.
2. I still achieved my goal despite missteps and failings.

In the past, when I’ve read books about goals and life improvement, I sometimes felt the authors never made a mistake and that it was easy and simple.

I want to be honest with readers. In some ways it was very easy and simple, and I enjoyed the process immensely. But it was a lot of work, and I didn’t always know what I was doing, so I made mistakes.

More than once, I cried over something and wondered what in the hell I had gotten myself into.

I wouldn’t change it – any of it – for the world.

 

I changed my mind about writing a book

I never thought I’d write a book. For years, when someone would ask, I’d say no, I had no interest, no ideas. That’s part of the book, too, and something I’d change if I could.

It’s OK to change your mind and who you are. Just because I didn’t think I’d write a book when I was 18 doesn’t mean I can’t write one when I’m 28 or 48. That was a big realization for me in the past couple of years – how much we are changing all the time. We have allow ourselves to change and accept that everyone around us is changing, too.

I call this a guidebook. It’s pretty short. If I were to publish it in print, it would be just over 80 pages. That’s not that daunting – not like an 800-page novel. It was a good first book, straightforward and written in my own voice. A friend who read it for me while I was finalizing it said it sounded like I was talking to her. (Thank you, Tracy!)

I wanted to publish it because I think it’s something other people can use and benefit from in pursuit of their goals and dreams. And, I kind of just wanted to prove to myself I could do it. A challenge, if you will. Another goal accomplished, or something like that.

What’s next for my first book?

And now I have, so what’s next?

• Market it. Try to get people to download it and read it. Visit this page to learn how to download it and leave feedback!
• Build up a greater audience for my blog.
• Learn from the experience so I can do better next time.
• Finish my novel and another book I’ve got in the works.
• Figure out when I’m moving to Portugal as a resident and make it happen.

How about you? What’s your plan? Your goal? I’ve got a book you should read …

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How to Be a Better Writer

Set writing goals

When I wrote my book, “How to Achieve Goals: 10 Steps to Follow that Took Me to Portugal,” I had a goal to finish the bulk of the writing before I returned to the US. Each day, I’d take a section and work on it. I didn’t specifically have set word counts each day, but I knew I had to get through all of the steps before the end of the month. (At that time, there were 17 steps, too! More about that in another tip!)

Because I didn’t have a set word goal in mind or even a page goal – I knew it would be an e-book, which can be quite short – I didn’t feel like the task was too big. If you set yourself up with something that seems impossible, it might turn out to be impossible.

You know yourself better than anyone. Some people work well under pressure and like to leave things until the last minute. Others like to do things a little at a time. Others want to have many things happening at once and pull it all together at the end. Some people want a big goal, while others want little things they can reach on their way to the big goal.

Whatever you write, I encourage you to set a goal. It could be a number of words or pages. (I will write 500 words today.) It could be a topic or length of time. (I will write for 15 minutes.)

If nothing else, I encourage you to write every day. (I will write something today, even if it’s just a sentence.) Write something every day. A sentence, a paragraph, a blog post, a poem, an article, a half a chapter, a grocery list. Just write something every day, preferably creatively.