From Big Idea to Book

Create a Writing Practice That Brings You Joy

Jessie L. Kwak

• Publisher: Microcosm Publishing
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781648410680
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Creative Writing
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Want to write a book? Half the battle is finding a practice that works for you. Successful author and creativity expert Jessie Kwak is here to help you do just that—and have fun doing it. In her view, every part of the process is important: idea generation, development, research, planning, drafting, revising, and publication and are all covered here in friendly, accessible detail. As in her previous book, From Chaos to Creativity, Kwak helps you set up a system that makes the most of your creative ideas and helps them find their best form—and their audience. Fiction and nonfiction writers alike can use this book as a muse, a checklist, and a resource for getting your ideas out of your head and into the world. With a foreword by Charlie Gilkey, author of Start Finishing.

From Big Idea to Book

Create a Writing Practice That Brings You Joy

Part of the Good Life Series

© Jessie L Kwak, 2022

This edition © Microcosm Publishing, 2022

First Edition, 3,000 copies

First published March 8, 2022

eBook ISBN 9781648410680

This is Microcosm #603

Cover illustration by Lindsey Cleworth

Book design by Joe Biel

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The book you’re now reading is the book I wish I would’ve had when I started my public writing career almost fifteen years ago. Jessie does a masterful job of demystifying all parts of the book publishing process, and I suspect it’ll be a guide that we readers will be turning to time and time again.

And, while I’m letting you know what you’re getting into, I’ll also set you up to not be as surprised by Jessie as I was when I met her a few years ago. We first met because a client asked her to interview me for the upcoming launch of my book, Start Finishing. I’d worked with ghostwriters before, so I expected that there’d be a healthy amount of corrections and edits to make to the write-up of the interview. I slotted the requisite amount of time to address the anticipated corrections and edits only to find that there were a handful of small edits that were mostly idiosyncratic preferences. I had to reread the piece several times because, surely, I’d missed something.

The only thing I missed was how excellent Jessie is at what she does. I later contacted her to help me get some articles done when I was in the crunch of the launch, and each article had the same level of quality. I started referring her to clients and they had the same delightful surprise, even though I told them to be prepared for her to nail their voice and content.

I later discovered that she was a prolific nonfiction and fiction author, as well. She’s that rare breed of writer who can nail writing for others, writing nonfiction, and writing fiction. I’ve long wondered how she pulls it off; the contents of this book reveal the structures and practices that channel her magic.

Since Jessie so ably addresses the structures and practices that will help you go from idea to book, I want to touch on the magical side of writing books. My dear friend and author of multiple best sellers, Susan Piver, once shared a quote she got from Julia Cameron: “The first rule of magic is containment.”

Maybe you find the magic in wonder. Perhaps it’s the spark of service to help someone. Perhaps it’s a character or set of characters who take on a life of their own and surprise you as you’re writing. Perhaps it’s that feeling of finally being able to articulate the simple insight that’s been vexing you for years.

I’ve seen too many of my friends, clients, and colleagues get stuck with their book because they’ve lost the magic. A consistent cadence of writing, talking with friends, and getting readers—all things Jessie covers—help you to stay in touch with the fire and magic of creativity. That’s the “containment” part of Cameron’s quote.

But without the magic, there’s nothing to contain.

Fortunately, it’s not the magic that disappears, but your connection to it. Your unique voice, lived experience, expertise, imagination, and connections to your actual or potential audience are all available when you’re ready to call upon them. And if you’re reading this book, there’s at least one idea inside you that wants to be in the world.

The true mystery and gift are how mundane the magic of writing is. Minutes of writing sentences, applied over time, become drafts of manuscripts. Quick emails to friends become conversations that unlock new pathways or epiphanies. Many small edits transform okay sentences into the micro-masterpieces that you’ll be proud of for a lifetime.

With what’s inside you and what’s in these pages, you have everything you need to go from idea to book. Yes, you. Yes, today. Stand tall and start finishing.

—Charlie Gilkey, July 2021

Who Is This Book For?

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Table of contents

• From Big Idea to Book