So, I’ve got me a book to write.  Went up to Manchester yesterday to meet my client, and spent the afternoon in a tapas restaurant favoured by Man City players talking through his history, and our future plans.  All being well — and all is looking remarkably well — we’re about to embark on a project that will not only involve a book, but a number of  spinoffs too.  Colour me excited.

I came away from the meeting with a healthy cheque from one of those Scottish banks that issues its own currency.  That’ll cover writing the outline and first three chapters, and by the time they’re written (quite soon, there are valid time constraints involved in this process), we’ll have a good idea of exactly what happens next, and what our publishing strategy is.

If all of this sounds unusual for those who operate in the world of books, that’s because the man commissioning the text is himself an unusual character.  He’s a high achiever in his domain, and the book will cover his history and achievements to some extent — but neither of us are interested in producing a lickspittle biography.  No, this is about raising awareness of issues that are important to him, and raising money to do something about them: proceeds from book sales will be going to charity.

It’s a fascinating project, and one I am highly motivated by.  Here, the challenge is to bring together different aspects of my writing skills in the service of a book (and, in times, its spin-offs).  The book will be a biography of sorts, which will of course utilise my capabilities as a researcher and interviewer.  But it’s one that is designed to inspire and motivate with a call to action at its heart.  And that calls for a particular approach, for which I’ll be drawing on The Hero’s Journey as a template, my experience as a copywriter, and the subtle but powerful language skills I recently studied with NLP trainer Gabriel Guerrero.  Plus, at the end of every chapter there’ll be exercises for the reader to engage with based on the content of what they’ve just read, which taps into my abilities as a trainer.  All of which justifies me asking for, and receiving, a more than decent fee for my services.

If all goes to plan, I’ll be finishing this book by the autumn, at which point I’ll be ready to start on another one.  That’s a project which overlaps with this one in some regards, again commissioned by a high achiever — a former world champion in his sport — with something he wants to get across to people.  But in other respects it’ll be a very different book, if only because he’s a very different sort of man in terms of background, outlook, and the way he wants to make a difference.

Both these commissions have taught me something about the nature of networking, too.  It validates the approach I’ve taken on that front, which is to introduce myself to people who seem interesting, and see what develops.  Simple as that.  No particular agenda: just follow where attention takes you, get engrossed with the other person, and discover if there are opportunities for you to assist one another.  In these cases, the projects have appeared through one person paying attention to my postings on an online forum and thinking I was saying things that made sense, and offering to look over some written work from the perspective of a professional writer.  Nothing formal, no money changing hands, just being noticeable, consistent, and helpful.

All very well.  Now what I’ve got to do is start on the first book, beginning with structuring it.  I know what the ordinary world and inciting incident are, have a good idea of who the mentor is…now to set off in pursuit of the elixir and bring it back to share…

In other news, I’ve succumbed to Twitter, or at any rate want to find out what all the fuss is.  Find me there at www.twitter.com/youdothatvoodoo