Deja Vu. All over again.

I have written previously about the challenge of writing that difficult second book (Close to the Edit) and also this time last year of celebrating the end of my second year of independence (Lessons Learned Log). Well, this latest post cleverly (my words) combines the two. It is the end of Year Three. I’m still loving it. I can still afford to feed the badger. And I am writing another book.

This, of course, has nothing to do with the fact that August is quiet (it does and it is) but more to do with applying Point One of my Lessons Learned Log; “Come to terms with the fact that no-one loves you during August and December and write a book”. I am not good at not being busy.

However. There are few things more daunting than a blank page. Well, actually there is. Being at the dentist. A job interview. Being asked your name in Starbucks. But when you are trying to be creative, whether it is a course, a book, a blog or a song, that moment when you are faced with a pixel-less screen is filled with a tension that says “what if I have nothing to say?” The trick, I have found, is to write about having nothing to say and just see what happens. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.

But, it appears that I have quite a lot to say. My first book was about applying some psychological principles to your management of people. The second was about career coaching yourself. The narrative that is currently forcing its way into my consciousness like a dog with a cold nose is about dealing with change.  As a manager.  As an employee.  As a, you know, person. And with that, of course, comes a veritable gamut of related topics that I draw on in my workshops; emotional intelligence, resilience and cognitive bias, self-coaching, reframing, having difficult conversations, dealing with resistance in your team and dealing with resistance in yourself, understanding and applying your strengths to increase said resilience. . . Not to mention applying all this to the organisational context you find yourself in – or perhaps more accurately, choose to be in. I think I’d like to read a book like that. I have never seen it all in one place in an accessible format and with witty one-liners.

I’d better write it then. Wish me luck – and BBC, if you by any chance read this, please take Bargain Hunt off for a month or so. Thank you.