On the process of writing

The last couple of weeks i’ve focussed on writing for the new ‘Handbook of Social Leadership‘. It’s based around the ideas i’ve first shared in this blog space and, yesterday, i completed the first draft. Which probably means i’m about fifty percent of the way there. Writing for the book is more reflective than for the blog (which is my first reflective space). This deeper reflection is sometimes hindered more than helped by what i’ve written before: when i was writing the section on ‘community‘ in social leadership, i found that i had half a dozen articles around this, all interlinked, but not easy to join up. In the end, i had to ditch most of it and write it again from scratch.

Which was far faster and easier: i guess the words on the page are less important than the understanding that develops in our heads.

Writing for the book takes me from a first reflection space (the blog) to a second, deeper one. This journey is done through refinement, editing and within community

I suspect if i’d started the whole thing with a blank sheet (instead of gathering around 30 articles into a document) it would have been a quicker process overall, but that’s how we learn things. By making a few mistakes along the way.

As usual, i’ve been #WorkingOutLoud and sharing extracts as i go: this has really helped me remain engaged within the community whilst writing, although you have to be prepared to share your half formed ideas along the way. Back into that first reflective space!

So today, back to the task in hand as i start a run through the manuscript for a first edit. Wish me luck…