New Book Update: Action Cures Uncertainty

Action: the great restorer and builder of confidence

“Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear.

“Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all.”

– Norman Vincent Peale

In my last New Book Update, I acknowledged the trepidation I felt going into First Insight. Naming my resistance and claiming it publicly propelled me through the uncertainty into action.

Yesterday’s action always makes today’s action easier.

How Many More Questions?

First Insight is all about the questions

When I write nonfiction, I strive to get the most out of each stage before I move on to the next. (The stages of the creative process are detailed in chapter 4 of Around the Writer’s Block.)

Limiting the questions I ask in First Insight, for example, would in turn limit what I’ll look for when I’m in Saturation, the second stage.

I thought I was pretty much done with the First Insight search for questions for my new nonfiction book. After all, I had two single-spaced pages of questions. But when I opened the file to review what I had so far, I thought of another question. Then another. And another.

I ended up with twice as many questions. These will inform and fuel my research and I’ll go much further in Saturation.

Even though I’ll probably return to First Insight to ask more questions as I move through Saturation, I’m glad I pushed myself to see if I could squeeze out more questions in today’s Product Time session.

I’ll keep challenging myself this way until I can’t wring any more questions out of First Insight. Then I’ll know it’s time to move on to Saturation. And when I do, I’ll have a wealth of topics to explore. I’ll have my marching orders, or at least my “start here and see where I end up” orders.

Do you have your “start here and see where I end up” orders? What’s your next step?