Live Writing Marathon – 5: The Finish Line

I did it! Three days of writing and I have completed a manuscript. At the start of the challenge I had 5,000 words and some ideas for what else I could write about.

Over the last three days I came up with a title (Believing in What we Do), turned those ideas into a set of chapters and sections within each chapter, wrote another 12,000 words to grow the book to 96 pages in total.

There’s still some editing to do but the first full draft is done. The marathon exercise worked. I feel exhausted and elated all at once!

I thought I would share the last few words of the manuscript. It’s not a novel so it doesn’t spoil the plot sharing the ending!

“The journey in this book has been from one example of setting values in a team, through practical approaches that you can try, and on to some examples of working with values in bigger companies. Then we went on to look at the bigger global context. Finally we shifted to look at the drive within us that brings us to the big questions that we all face in life.

“I hope that I have convinced you through all of this that there is real value to be gained in working from a strong values base. We need to believe in what we do. We need to have clear purpose if we are to go out of this world with the vivid sense that we left it at least a little the better for us having been around.”

The plan from here?

I will find some time in the next couple of weeks to do a read through and edit what I have written, make sure it reads fluently. Then, once it is tidied up and ready to go I will make it available through Kindle and as a paperback. Are you interested in a copy? Get in touch…

PS – I deliberately chose a photograph for this post that is out of focus. That gives you some idea of how tired my eyes are now. Gulp.