lifestyle
Writing a Book: 5 Ways to Put Your Legacy on Paper
my world • Leaving a Legacy • lifestyle • hobbies-me time
Maybe you’ve thought about writing a book. Or perhaps it’s a desire as simple as blogging, so your kids understand what you were thinking when you raised them, or maybe you long to start a journal.
Writing is therapeutic, and wherever you start, you could find that it changes your life.
Everyone has a story.
And it’s that story, good or bad, that can help change another person’s life. Writing your thoughts, feelings, and emotions down on paper can be transforming.
Of all the ways I’ve seen homeless people rehabilitated, though my years working on the street, the most effective is through writing. When homeless people write, and begin to journal about their life, their childhoods, or their feelings, remarkable things start to happen.
Families are restored. Fathers are reunited with their children. Homeless men and women start to build their self esteem and feel as if there’s hope.
Nathanial, a homeless guy I met on the street, recently came back to me with a full book he’s written on addiction. His goal is to evolve into a speaker who talks in teen rehabilitation programs and schools. We first met on the streets of Dallas and I gave him a writing journal. Now he’s been un-homeless for over a year. There are countless stories like his. Too many to repeat in a brief post.
But take my word for it. Writing transforms lives.
If you desire to write, don’t delay!
- Step 1: Just do it. Start writing in a journal today.
- Step 2: Spend one day a week visiting a bookstore. Browse the stacks, sit with your journal, and envision your own book on the shelf. That’s what I did. If you want it to, it will happen for you.
- Step 3: Write out all your biggest joys, pains, and fears. The story will come naturally.
- Step 4: Teach your children to journal. When they’re adults it will be a great way for them to handle a crisis, by writing out their feelings.
- Step 5: Think about writing a book, or copying your story and sending it to family members. It’s a great way to preserve your legacy.
What’s inside of you? Are you ready to write the story of your life?
Tammy Kling is a life coach, advocate for the homeless, and international author of 29 books including The Compass. She’s the mom of two boys, an avid trail and mountain runner, blogger, and adventure travel writer.
Not a fan of the idea.. HUGE difference between a legacy and a journal. My true “story” is never to be read. My pains, my fears, my doubts, my worries, my crisis’ are NOT my legacy. Nor will I highlight or bookbind them for my children to read & pass on to their children when I depart this world. I choose to leave my letters to the future, my dreams, wishes, hopes, ideals, values, thoughts and our memorable moments. My legacy will be mostly in their hearts, where the truth truly lies. Pop over to Barnes & Noble and page through the recently published “autobiography” section, the legacy section. Fabricated for the buyers and a (profitable) joke to those who know the author.