Insight Coaching in the works
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I am in the middle of a writing marathon again. This time I decided not to blog about it, because – well, hey I’ve done that twice already over the last couple of years.
So, in lieu of a string of posts, here is a short one mid-way through to describe briefly what is happening and what new learning is emerging.
I started on Saturday afternoon, and am on this until Thursday. It’s not a complete clear space as I have work and other commitments to attend to. However, I am using this “marathon” or perhaps it’s better described as a series of “dashes” or “sprints” to move forwards with the book “Insight Coaching: from values to action” which has been a bit stuck for a while. I’ve got it moving again now, thanks to some time spent with post-it notes to pull apart each chapter heading and work out what goes in there. Then, thanks to Ian Pettigrew I am using Trello as a new tool to manage the manuscript. It’s brilliant for managing the flow of something like this. It has checklists which I am using to track each section of each chapter.
I’ve completed a first draft of the opening section and chapter one so far. The pace is picking up as I get past resistance and figure out what the manuscript is actually about. It’s in the process of writing that I figure out what I am thinking (who said that?)
Alongside this book, I am also producing poems for the “alice reimagined” book – two so far – which is developing into a really exciting project.
Apart from using Trello, which has been really useful – I’ve also learnt to set realistic word count goals and make sure that I get regular breaks. But contrarily, when I’m in flow, being prepared to just carry on can be really helpful. I’ve read in several places people saying that a writing session should always end in the middle of an idea or a sentence. I’m not sure whether that works for me – I’ve tried it and I’ve also tried ending when I’m at the end of a section. That’s one to experiment with a bit more.
Later in the week I will post here again with an update on progress. Thanks for reading.
Also published on Medium.
2 thoughts on “Insight Coaching in the works”
Thanks for the comment Alison. Glad this post was useful. Look forward to hearing more about the book…
This is really interesting, as I am also writing a book, so your methods might help me too. Especially the use of Trello – had not thought of that.
I’m trying to work out how to subscribe with a different email address – the only way seems to be to post a comment! I’ll see if this works and then unsubscribe from the other one.