Week 3: Travel Exhaustion, Unexpected Research, Chapter Writing

This is Week 3 of writing and publishing a book. It was a challenging week, but I knew it would be. I was travelling for 36 hours from Sydney to arrive in London. While I had high hopes for productivity, I got some writing done, but not as much as I thought. It was struggle town on the 13-hour flight from KL to London as I got 0 words in. I was too exhausted to think, so I watched the last season of Top Boy (it ended how it should).

If there’s one thing about writing a book that I want you to know, it’s that there’s going to be challenging days and weeks on the journey. I made a commitment to write this book and share my journey, so I had to find the time to keep the momentum going. Here’s a rundown of Week 3.

What I did for the week

1. One benefit of jet lag was I was up early to write a few chapters. I wrote out chapters 5-7, which happened to be about the book writing process. This couldn’t come at a better time because I was writing about establishing a writing mindset and how to structure a book. 

2. I had to go back and get some research I hadn’t anticipated coming across because the original research I had was outdated. I want to make sure I’m 100% on point in giving you the best information on writing and publishing your book. 

Challenges faced

1. Travel exhaustion was a factor in an average week. I was hoping to get ahead on the plane to London, but I just couldn’t get it done. 

2. Broken minutes. It was hard to write for longer than half an hour at times because we were out and about travelling. This is a challenge you’ll face in your book writing process as you get into flow. Most of my writing was done in the morning for around 20-60 minutes, but I still got some chapters in. 

Total Time Spent

Chapters 5-7: 3 hours

Week 3 Word Count: 3,920

Total Word Count: 10,207

Action Step. 

I encourage you to set a timer and see how many words you can write in half an hour. You might be surprised how quickly you can get into the flow state when writing a book.

Remember, even the most challenging circumstances and exhausting journeys can throw you off writing your book. Stay resilient, and keep working!