Resolution 2014

Today we have a different entry, today I am not writing you a story.

Today I am writing you something very personal, today I am writing one of my resolutions for 2014.
And from the results of my blog from 2013, I fully believe that I can achieve my goal. I received a little help from a friend and her blog "Marketing research without the jargon" by Ana Canhoto.

I have today a written physical draft of a book of what my final book can look like.

I just received in the mail via FedEx the first printed versions of the book. It came to life using the services of Blurb Books. It is far from being the book I want, but it is physical evidence that I can do it. And seeing it in hardcover format, allows to better understand what it can look like, and what it needs to be closer to what i want the book to become. A huge thanks to Angela Gaehtgens, my executive coach, that teaches me visualizing the success is part of achieving it. Today with this physical evidence, the exercise just became much more easier.

By writing my short stories and ideas in this blog, I am little by little compiling enough material to provide the content needed for the book.

The tip of writing, just writing, and especially doing it in a blog, I got in a book that I searched to coach me into writing it. This book "Write a Book in a Weekend" by Donna Kozik provided a lot on insight into getting your work on to the ground. But speaking of references, a real life changer was the book "Your Writing Coach" by Jurgen Wolff that puts everything you need to write a book into perspective with huge amount of information to make your book solid with content.

All my content are stories, short stories. And I found a great place to test this stories and get feedback on them. I strongly recommend you visit a Toastmasters Organization club. You will be surprised, there are clubs everywhere, probably extremely close to you and you have never noticed. Find one near you and ask for participating in a session. It was for me a fantastic place for telling my stories and get feedback on how I can make them better and how I can deliver them with more impact. A huge thank for my friend Filipa Valente that took me into one of this sessions for the first time at Young Entrepreneurs Toastmaster Club. A huge thanks to a lot of toastmasters that gave me a lot of feedback and enriched my life. I would like to say here the name of all of them, but where so many that it is difficult for me to not forget some.

In the beginning I was pictures of the events for the stories, thanks to the feedback of my dear friend Alex Frank, I use now my own drawings for enriching the message. After all it is easier to convey imagination in a drawing that it is in a picture. I will revisit my few blog posts done so far with pictures and little by little replace them with drawings.

So if I was able to produce a pretty decent book so far, I imagine that collecting a richer material will allow the content to become much more interesting and mold-able by the editor. So during 2014 I will definitively put a lot more investment into writing my short stories and keep them flowing. I believe by doing so I will have enough material for bringing the book to life in 2015. Nevertheless I will do a new print run by end of 2014 and hope to make it very close to a definitive book.

I just need one more thing for the success, I would like you as a reader to provide me feedback on what i have written so far. After all, despite the book being the result of my creativity, I do like to know that what I create links somehow to the readers. The book is for their joy as much as it is for mine.

You all have a fantastic 2014, and put in your resolutions to provide me feedback.
Happy New Year.

Alex.