Just imagine, you’re sat fat, dumb and happy when BAM! Your engine shits itself. (And so do you.) Suddenly you’re forced to divert. You need to get on the ground pronto!
Before you know it, there you are. Grounded with a bum engine – a million miles from the original destination you had in mind.
So, you find yourself sat around in your underpants on a Thursday afternoon scratching your whatsit wondering what to do with the rest of your life. (Probably not scratch your whatsit.)
After twiddling your thumbs you decide, at exactly 3:34 pm, you’re going to grab the day by the horns. So, you make a cuppa and sit down at your desk. After checking facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube and then facebook and twitter again, you begin typing.
All that thumb twiddling has given you a radical idea. (Actually, it’s given you many, but not all of them are suitable from younger readers.)
You decide that the time is now or never. After all, your wife is bringing home the bacon. You have no excuses. “No more thumb twiddling!” you say.
It’s down to business.
So, ladies and gentlemen, here I am. This time I’m really doing it. I’m committing. I’m going all in. I’m going to start by stating it out loud.
But first let me check facebook one more time. Oh look! Someone liked the photo of the coffee I made. (Yesterday’s main accomplishment.) Yay!
Anyway, back to this radical idea, this pet project of mine.
A book, damn it!
There, I said it. No backsies. I’m going to take my thumb out and write one. By announcing it out loud it I figure that
- a) you dear readers can hold me accountable and,
- b) give me some much needed feedback as I progress and, crucially,
- c) tell me how to actually write a book.
Because I don’t have the first clue!
Anyway, I guess I should start by telling you what my radical idea for this book is.
This tremendous book (title to be decided) will combine lessons in aviation (and life) with modern psychology (and a bit of ancient philosophy) in an attempt to help people hit the metaphorical reset button and rebuild their lives from the ground up.
The idea is to provide a roadmap for those who feel their lives have stalled – who feel lost and unsure about what direction to take – who feel overwhelmed and burnout out. (So yes, me.) It’s going to talk them through the stall recovery. The need to come back to earth in order to gain some much needed clarity and perspective. But also to regain the energy and lift needed to maintain a sustainable climb over the long haul. (Of course all of this will play to my strengths: long extended aviation metaphors.)
It will be broken down, roughly, into four parts.
- Section 1 will be entitled Grounded.
- Section 2 will be entitled Lift.
- Section 3 will be entitled Turbulence.
- Section 4 will be entitled Moral Compass.
Sections 3 and 4 will expand upon 1 and 2 respectively. A kind of beginners section and command section. This will possibly be spilt into two books (or a series of mini books). Anyway, this is just me spitballing – the basic idea I have in mind – all to be expanded upon in due time dear readers.
For now I just want to throw it out there and get your feedback on
- a) the idea itself and
- b) where the hell I should start? (From the ground up I suppose.)
Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
***
You can find more of AP2’s writing here at: https://wiseandshinezine.com
You can also find him on Medium at: https://anxiouspilot2.medium.com
You can also email him directly at: anxiouspilot2@gmail.com
Clear Air Turbulence 
Sounds like an excellent idea
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🙂🙏
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Look forward to turning the pages of the finished manuscript AP2
For what’s it’s worth (probably not much🙂), it might ‘fly’ better if you don’t start by filing a ‘flight plan’, but let the ‘clear air turbulence’ navigate you through each chapter.
Bon voyage my friend!
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That’s excellent advice Fred. I’m very much a free flow pilot. It’s when I follow my gut I tend to get the best results. 🙏
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Love, love, love your concept! Especially since it has a great chance of reaching male, self assured types who struggle with vulnerability!
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I think you’ve really got something here, AP2. You know the first rule of writing: bum in seat, write!
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Aye. Getting rid of distractions is key!! Thanks Jane. I’m glad you like the idea 🙏
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You have a lot of wonderful content from your blog that you’ve written in the past while that you can draw from, AP. So it may not be as daunting as starting from scratch.
The four sections sound good to me. I suggest looking at what you’ve written and see what can repurposed and adapted. And then go from there.
Good luck!!!
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Thanks Ab. Yes i do. It’s an idea I’ve been sitting on for a while truth be told. I’ve started to shift through old content and start organising it already. 🙂🙏
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That would be a book I would like to read. 😀
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Thanks Lesley – glad you like the idea 🙏
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Two words AP2 “DO IT”! You have so much passion/experience to draw from and the layout sounds great. Take your time; it will all fall into place. I want to write a book myself also, but all in good time. Good luck with this next chapter on your journey sir 🙂
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Hi Bernie! Thank you so much. Trying to force it would be a mistake. Great advice. Thank you. Wishing you well 🙏🙂
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Just do what is obvious. Write the book. It’s what I did, what thousands and thousands have done. You have to write the book, not talk about writing the book. That is the best advice anyone can give other than read eveythiiiiiiiiiiiiing you can in whatever genre you choose and follow some writing blogs because whatever you think you know about editing, about grammar, you don’t.
Can’t wait to see what you come up with.
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Good advice Barb. I’ll well aware I know nothing about editing and grammar 😂. I think that will be the hardest part for me. Not the actual writing. Thank you 🙏
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No, you are a lovely writer but there will be things along the way that you have to unlearn or relearn, or improve on. That’s life in any arena. But, do it, write it and I am sure there are many like me who love your posts and will look forward to the outcome. You have humour, you make good points and you are always interesting.
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Thanks Barb. I took no offence. Grammar and editing are weak points of mine – definitely require some work. You’re right to make the point. Learning is a never ending process. No matter how good you think you are (or aren’t). There’s always room for improvement. Thank you so much for the encouragement. It means a great deal. 🙂🙏
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Love this idea! And you already have tons of content from your blogs that you can use. Can’t wait to read it!😊
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Thank you Shaun. I appreciate your support 🙂🙏
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I love the analogies (or metaphors, I never know which term is correct) of using the stages of flight as descriptions. I think the use of real-world, real-life vignettes is helpful in expressing a concept and are often, though not always, helpful to the reader’s understanding as well.
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That’s my plan. To combine those metaphors with real life examples to help empathise/explain my points. Thank you. 🙏
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