Article: People often ask me how...

People often ask me how I go about writing a book. It seems the kernel of an idea springs from an observation, experience, or need to share new ideas with others. For example, my first book, Women, Anger & Depression: Strategies for Self-Empowerment, stemmed from observations made when I had a practice of psychotherapy devoted to the unique concerns of women. So many women exhibited the same phenomenon of turning their anger inward thereby causing depression and I wanted to empower women to be in touch with their anger.

Overcoming Your Strengths: 8 Reasons Why Successful People Derail and How to Remain on Track was based on my experiences working as a business coach. I wanted people who might never have a coach understand the common reasons why careers change momentum unexpectedly. The idea for Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make that Sabotage Their Careers came during a coaching session I was having with a woman who was doing all the wrong things to get ahead.

I'm a bit unorthodox when it comes to writing itself. Outlines don't come naturally to me, so I write an article on the subject first. It helps to organize my thoughts and getting it published in a journal provides a great exemplar to accompany the proposal. I then take the article and start breaking it into key topics, which eventually become chapters. The proposal itself is always painful because I feel as if I'm trying to sell what I consider to be a great idea to people who are understandably skeptical.

The most fun part for me is actually sitting down with a chunk of time, a fleshed out idea, and a blank page. The hours seem to fly by when the ideas are flowing (and drag when they're not!). I'm not a religious person but I've come to believe in some kind of divine intervention in the writing process. There are days when I review what I've written and have no recollection of writing it. It's as if a creative spirit takes over. That's when I know I'm in the zone.

Copyright © 2004 Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D.