In November 2020, my friend and neighbor decided it was time to get into shape. Cara’s weight had crept up in recent years, and she woke up one day and knew she was ready for a change. Like many people in her position, this wasn’t her first attempt, but instead of repeating history and DIY-ing it, she decided it was time to get serious and signed up to an all-in-one program.
Because the program provided multi-sided support including a healthy eating plan, fitness regime, a sponsor, and a moderated group on social media, she was freed to focus on the task before her each day and felt a huge weight- literally and figuratively- come off of her.
From the moment she signed up, she was given a list of things to do and happily went about doing them. The first day, she had a nutritious breakfast, logged into her first exercise video, and four months later, she’d lost 55 pounds.
Apart from having to give away all her wine (which is perhaps the sole differentiating factor to writing a novel) what Cara embarked on, and what she did with great success for those 4 months, is what anyone going through a large-scale effort needs: someone to plan it, guide you through it, and support you while you’re experiencing it. It’s a relief and a pleasure to not have to take care of all of the elements yourself, something she noticed right away.
Cara and I are close friends, and I have loved seeing her more and more empowered by her success every day. We’ve begun working out together, which has been great for me as well, but it didn’t occur to me until we talked about her program’s infrastructure how similar her fitness program and our Write Your Novel, Memoir, and Business Book in 4 Months Program are.
Both her program and ours alleviate the participant from having to plan and facilitate the many details that need to be organized.
Like the success stories of the fitness programs with their moving before and after pictures (of which Cara is now one- you go, girl!), the writers who go through our 4-month mentored book-writing programs go from having an idea to an actual manuscript in their hands in that short time because they’re supported in every key area: community, accountability, education, and resources, leaving them free to focus on the job at hand and feel emotionally strong and motivated to carry on even when it’s hard.
What Cara likes about her program is that it was her choice to let someone take the reins, which is empowering.
She is a very intelligent person, which means she knows when to try and do things herself and when to outsource to professionals, especially in areas in which she’s not a specialist.
Indeed, the professionals who put together programs like hers possess years of expertise in seeing how to bring about specific outcomes. Their combined knowledge makes it easy for them to distill the what, why, and how, so participants can logically follow along and understand why those elements are necessary.
While Cara could have educated herself enough to create her own program, with a family and a full-time job, when she saw someone else could break it all down for her, support her, and show her the way, that all-in-one package was far more appealing, productive, and time-saving than any DIY could ever be.
Cara is seeing how her diet and exercise correlate to invite specific weight loss and physical conditioning, so day by day she can enjoy watching herself inch toward her goal. She measures her success in inches, pounds, and her ability to do more physical activities and simply feel a heck of a lot better in her skin.
She also recognizes this isn’t an isolated event; she is in fact rewiring her brain, and doing that means building a habit, which will have broader positive repercussions in her life.
In our pre-cursor course to the Novel Program, Cultivating Creativity: How to Start and Sustain a Writing Habit for 31 Days, we examine the idea of what it means to make something habitual enough such that it becomes an unthinking practice.
Some say you can develop an easy new habit in as few as 21 days; others say for bigger habits it could take upwards of 2/3 of a year.
In all cases, changing your behaviour takes time, so it is important that you have someone reminding you of your goals and hold you to them as you strive to become “Yourself 2.0.”
Going after a large-scale goal alone while family or friends go about their usual business means it can be hard to stay the course; having a sponsor to lean on for advice and to cheer her on holds Cara up, and being part of a group for community and camaraderie strengthens her emotionally and makes undergoing embarking on a new lifestyle a lot easier.
Our 4-month book programs in the novel, memoir, and self-development/business books contain these same elements; we support you not only through the 4 months of writing your book but for the long term through being a writer.
We hold you up and honor you as a creative person, so you can leave behind a legacy of having made the world a better place with your words.
The programs contain:
Like Cara’s program, our Write Your Novel, Memoir, and Business | Self-Development Book in 4 Months Program doesn’t re-invent the wheel; it respects the wheel and provides every spoke to make it turn, which means supporting our writers with this meaningful work.
Our programs work just as any program does that supports their participants mentally, emotionally, and physically. They exist to help you achieve this important goal.
In 4 months, Cara healthily lost 55 pounds, is far stronger, and feels amazing. (I’d tell her she also looks amazing, but she’d get a fat head, and there’s no program for that).
The other day when we talked about the parallels between our two programs and why they’re successful, I half joked, “So, now that you’ve been so successful at losing weight, do you want to write a novel?”
She said, “Not a chance.”
I might remain friends with her.
*Update: Cara ended up losing well over 100 pounds (at that point she stopped counting) and now has run several races and is training for her second half marathon.
If you’re ready to make the kind of change that will change your life, sign up to write your novel or narrative nonfiction book with us. The first week of the program is FREE, and you’ll see how incredible it feels to be supported in every way, so you can achieve this important goal.
Sign up today!
Our 4-month Mentored Book Programs, Online Courses, & Writing Coaching and Editing Hours. From November 21-27, 2023