Someday Never Comes

Hi Reader,

Last week I went to my favorite coffee shop in Sacramento and ran into an acquaintance, a friend of a friend who I don’t know very well and haven’t seen in years. I almost didn’t recognize her, but she recognized me and said hello.

We were chit-chatting for a few minutes while we waited in line for our coffees and she said she had seen a video that I had recently posted on social media. She said it felt like I was talking directly to her (which of course was great to hear because it made me feel like maybe I’m not making those videos in vain after all).

“I definitely want to write a book someday,” she said.

“Someday?” I said. “When will someday be today?”

“Oh, you know, when work isn’t so crazy,” she said. “I’m just not ready yet.”

Sound familiar?

How many times have you said you’ll get around to writing your own book (or other creative project) when work isn’t so crazy? Or when you’re “ready”?

What does it mean to “be ready” anyway?

If it means that you feel confident in your abilities and skill, that you have all the answers, or that you have it all figured out and won’t need any help—well, let me be the one to tell you that will be NEVER.

This story about writing a book “someday” is so old that I hear it nearly every time I talk to people about my work. I say that I’m a book coach for women writing nonfiction and the response is almost always a variation on the theme of:

• “I’ve always wanted to write a book.”
• “I’ve been working on a book on and off for years.”
• “I have a manuscript in progress but I just can’t seem to finish it.”
• “People always tell me that I should write a book.”
• “I’m going to start working on my book after I finish this other [fill in the blank] project first.”
• “I have this book idea that I’ll get to someday.”

There’s that word again: SOMEDAY.

But here’s a little secret: Someday never comes.

Someday is never.

It’s like Steven Pressfield says in his book The War of Art:

If you’ve been getting my emails for a while, you’ve probably seen me use this quote before. And I do use it often, because it’s so true. If you’re like any of the folks I’ve talked to in person about wanting to write a book, you have probably told yourself some version of the excuses I listed above—some version of “I’m just going to start tomorrow.”

So let me ask you: What’s holding you back? What’s keeping you from turning someday into today?

Hit reply to this email to let me know.

Janna

p.s. My next virtual mini retreat for women writing nonfiction is coming up on June 22 from 10a-1p Pacific. Click here to sign up if you’d like to join.