Well, I did it. I started writing my next book.

My goal was to write 3,000 words in my first week and then report back to you. I was able to write 8,000 words.

Why such a lofty goal? Well, I wanted to try to write a book in a month. After hearing Michelle Kulp’s strategy, I decided to try it out for myself. She was able to write a book a month for an entire year. By the end of the year, she was making $3,000 a month in royalties. Since my goal with this project is to see what it takes to make a living as a writer, this seems like a great place to start.

So I did.

I started by writing a rough outline of the topics I wanted to write about with a thesis and a story for each chapter. Then, I started to write.

Some days were easier than others. I started to find my voice and the words flowed easily. Other days, I really struggled to find my motivation to write.

My goal is to turn this into an ebook, paperback book, and audio book. I want it to be a little more than 100 pages so that it’s easy to consume, doesn’t take too long to write, but is still (probably) long enough to justify someone buying it.

That’s my goal.

If all goes to plan, then I think I’ll have a rough draft in about two weeks. Here’s hoping.

After that, I think that I’ll try to spend about a month soliciting feedback while I start working on my next book. It’s hard to tell how long that step will take. I’ve heard others recommend giving people at least a month.

Since each of my first few books will be on similar topics, I’m a little nervous about asking too much of my beta readers. Asking them to respond in a month is one things. Asking them to do it three months in a row is another.

I can feel myself getting impatient even as I try to approach this situation realistically. I want to keep the momentum I’m building up without burning out myself and everyone around me—like I usually do.

But so far, the future is looking bright. I made progress and I am confident going into next week.

So what do you think? Do you want to try to write a book in a month? If so, what would you write about? I’d love to hear about it.

Until then, happy writing.

—Jacob