✍️ Diary of an Author: Free Gift + 3 Tips for Writing Your Chapter Outline

A free gift, book outlining tips, and how I tackle doing hard things!

Happy Wednesday! In today’s issue, you’ll find…

✨ A free gift at the end of this email — just for paid subscribers as a “thank you” for supporting this publication!

🧪 3 tips for writing the chapter outline of your nonfiction book

📚 How I approach writing chapter outlines for my books and my clients’ books

❌ Sometimes We Hate What’s Good for Us

Running is stupid was my sentiment during my early high school years.

I remember running outside on the track by my high school with a parachute strapped to my back for some JV basketball conditioning during 90-degree heat and thinking —

— if it’s up to me, I’ll never voluntarily go for a hard run again.

Fast-forward a few years and I’m completing my first half-marathon: the rock n’ roll race with bands that play for the runners every few miles to distract you from the fact that your lungs are on fire.

I kept running after that: I did the night half-marathon through Dodger’s Stadium in LA, a 10k on Catalina Island, and running was a staple in my life up until the pandemic hit, and I faced some health challenges and had a hard time walking down stairs.

(I’ve since gone through a healing journey and stairs are no longer the enemy — but that’s for another post.)

I restarted my running habit in Athens, Greece and the same grumbly feelings came to the surface again.

This is hard. Why am I doing this?

But after I finish a run — without fail — I feel happier and more accomplished. I sleep better, my thoughts are more organized, and life is better.

Running is a daunting form of exercise because it’s a high concentration of hard, uncomfortable things in a short period of time.

I see outlining as the same process: it’s the “go for a run” part of the book writing process. It’s a concentrated document that needs to be full of great ideas to build a solid foundation for a book.

It’s hard and uncomfortable but getting through it sets you up for massive success.

Come on a run with me and let’s break it down:

📚 3 Tips for Writing Your Book’s Chapter Outline