For many years, every time I’ve learned something new through my spiritual practices, I’ve written about it. At this point, I’ve accumulated a huge (virtual) pile of notes about awakening and spiritual practice. I’ve always intended to publish these ideas, but unfortunately, these notes have been accumulating way faster than I’ve been publishing them. Recently, it’s become clear that I need to start doing something different—or eventually, I’m going to die with a large body of work that no one has ever seen. I hate that idea!
A Publishing Bottleneck
So, what’s been getting in the way of publishing my work? In part, I believe I’ve been waiting for a good venue in which to publish. It seems that this venue has now appeared, in the form of the Spiritual Awakening for Geeks website.
The other obstacle has been more subtle. I value clarity and cohesiveness, and I’ve tended to postpone publishing my ideas until they’ve been organized into a cohesive, integrated whole. The problem with this is that organizing and integrating my ideas takes so much time that it creates a huge delay in my publishing process. I’m starting to realize that if I continue relying on this approach, years or decades may pass between the time I first put an idea into writing and the time anyone else reads it. That’s just not working for me anymore; I’ve decided something needs to change.
How I Will Vanquish It
Here’s the solution I’ve come up with:
- I’m going to start publishing all my ideas about spiritual practice in the Spiritual Awakening for Geeks blog and newsletter.
- I’ll start publishing posts on a consistent schedule in the Spiritual Awakening for Geeks blog, and I’ll start publishing at least one piece of writing per day (across all my projects).
- Most of these pieces will be concise descriptions of a single idea. Occasionally, I’ll write longer articles. As I accumulate a body of published posts and articles, I’ll eventually organize them into longer, more integrated pieces (like books and courses).
I’m excited about this plan. I think it will help me get feedback on my work more quickly, and I think it will help others benefit from my work sooner. At the same time, I know this process will be a challenge—not only because writing is just plain hard, but also because this process is going to force me to publish my work when it’s still a bit raw—way before it’s fully polished and integrated. I’m going to take this as a spiritual practice to help me overcome perfectionism.
How You Can Help
Here’s what all this means. The Spiritual Awakening for Geeks blog and newsletter will now be the first place where all my writing on spirituality will be published. Think of the blog and newsletter as windows into the leading edge of the evolution of my ideas on spiritual practice and awakening.
If you appreciate my work, you can participate in this process by subscribing to the blog and newsletter and joining the conversation. I value your feedback; your comments help me refine my ideas and inspire me to do more.
What do you think of this plan? Leave a comment to let me know!
Photo Stacks of books, Seattle, Washington, USA by Wonderlane is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.