Life in Balance: The End of the Substack Trail....

I've studied nutrition, healing, and holistic medicine for 50 years. It's a passion of mine. I integrate the best of all worlds in the strategy for health I've developed in all those years.

And so I've written a book, LIFE IN BALANCE-Exploring Health: What it really is, how to get it, and how to maintain it.

For the last two (?!) years, I've been offering Substack readers the first draft of this book one chapter at a time as I wrote it. I'll be finishing up the first draft of the book this week! Now that I have only a few chapters left to write to finish the draft, I’m taking it down from public view on Substack (most recent chapters first) and my website. And after taking a few weeks to edit it, I’ll self-publish it in the fall.

For those considering this path of writing a book by posting chapters serially on Substack, I did find the impetus of sharing each chapter publicly on a regular pre-advertised schedule to be wonderfully motivational and freeing. Committing to that process removed the decision of what and whether to write so that there were no decisions to make; just "next Wednesday is my Substack publishing day, so my current chapter must be written by then." With all the many projects I have swirling in the background, I would not have been able to complete this as quickly and—mostly—effortlessly if I hadn't committed to doing it this way.

There is in this strategy of writing, of course, the experience of sharing publicly something that isn't finished, something that still contains flaws, which can be an uncomfortable experience, especially for those of us who tend to perfectionism. But I'd imagine my readers appreciated being able to read this not-quite-ready-for-prime-time version for free prior to my publishing a more polished finished product more formally. So the readers benefitted, and I benefitted. And, of course, the book got written. (Well, most of it. I’m still working on it….)

Let me know if you're thinking of doing, or have done, this yourself, as I'd love to know about your experience. Are you a “serial writer”?

I've committed to offering all my books going forward in epub format in order to help us wean ourselves away from Amazon and Kindle. Things have changed quite a bit since I last self-published, so it will be a learning experience—again—and I'll document what I find and share it with you in a Self-Publishing Guide later this year.

So if there is anything you'd like to see covered in the Self-Publishing Guide, do let me know. I've already gotten some great feedback about this, but everyone has their own perspective and experience, and I know I can't and won't think of everything without feedback from you. I'll share the final copy free with friends and collaborators.