I’ve seen a statistic that 80% of Americans say they want to write a book. And yet, 3% of those who start, actually finish their manuscript. And less than 1% of those who finish their manuscript, publish their book.
Well, I’m now part of that 1%.
Today, April 1, my book What Your Body Wants You to Know launches.
You might be wondering, “Why on earth did I want to write, let alone go through all the hassle to publish a book?”
The short answer is because I wanted to.
Many of you know my backstory of chronic pain in my 20s. The Alexander Technique did not solve all my problems, but it helped me turn my life around and has been an integral part of my self-care ever since.
The only reason I know about the Alexander Technique is because my mom happened to be at a conference where a speaker gave a presentation on it. After my mom mentioned it to me I was curious and looked for a book on it. There weren’t many books on the Alexander Technique at that time. But I found one that piqued my interest enough to look into it further.
It’s unfortunate but true that although it’s well over 100 years old, the Alexander Technique continues to be relatively unknown. I wrote this book because I don’t want people to continue to “happen to hear about the Alexander Technique” or “be lucky enough to have heard about the Alexander Technique.” This book is my small part to help change that.
As an Alexander teacher working with individuals and groups, I can only reach so many people. But with a book, I can reach many more.
Besides the fact that “I simply wanted to” there were three other big reasons I wrote and published a book:
To challenge myself. It feels darn good to finish something this big. This project spanned five years. I got my first full manuscript down on paper in April 2020. That was the first and probably the biggest hurdle—and that doesn’t account for the few years prior when I had planned out the book’s content and made several starts at the draft but never finished. Once that initial draft was down on paper there were many times I could have just given up. Even if I had to pause for a bit, I continued to pick it up and keep moving forward.
To learn. For me, life is about learning. If I’m not learning I don’t see any point to it. The more I learn, the more I want to learn—especially if I can choose how I want to learn. That’s the beauty of being an adult, to understand how best you learn and find opportunities to nourish that. Throughout this project, I’ve learned a lot about writing and publishing. And the whole process has been fascinating.
To be an even better explainer. Albert Einstein is alleged to have said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” I agree. A good teacher is a good explainer. And that takes practice. I started my blog back in 2014 to practice my explaining. This book was yet another way for me to practice in a big way.
I’m thrilled to have my book available. It was a book that first piqued my interest in the Alexander Technique back in 1995. I hope that this book will pique your interest too, and provide you with some simple, practical, and maybe unexpected ways to be more comfortable in your body.
Image of typewriter by Libel SanRo from Pixabay
P.S. If you read the book and like it, please consider giving it a review on Amazon. Your review can be short and sweet (and you don’t have to finish reading the book before you review it either.) Amazon can pull the review if it looks like you know me, so keep it unbiased. Thanks a bunch!
