After publishing weekly on her blog for three years straight, Susana Reina, my mother, finally wrote her book in one week. She trained the writing muscle so much that she could build a bank of knowledge or, like we like to call it, a “second brain.”
Susana didn’t start writing her book from scratch, though. She used her “second brain” to capture and consolidate her notes, play with them, and make them better.
What is a second brain?
As a single human being, you are an entity of impressive ingenuity and capacity, but you possess only one brain. A second brain is an external storage solution that helps you manage your knowledge, move decisively through projects, and increase your personal knowledge level.
How to “write” a book in one week
Susana Reina is the founder of FeminismoINC, a non-profit organization supporting women to reach leadership positions. She also advises companies to develop inclusion and diversity plans. I’m incredibly proud of her passion and work ethic. Whenever we are together, it’s energizing. She is a brilliant speaker and an inspiring woman. Miss you, mom!
My mom went through an intuitive writing process. When she found she had a huge library of thoughts she could pull from, she realized she had so much information she could publish volumes of work.
After walking one morning, she came up with the central idea of a book: “Discomfort to transform: reflections on the feminist movement.” She mentions that having the title before made everything easier.
She started doing a quick general overview of the articles she had written to capture themes and categories. My mom thought it would take longer, but she was so excited that she selected what goes in and not in two days. All she had considered it’s that the pieces had to be evergreen and generate a strong reaction. The goal for each piece is to move from conscious to transformation.
Then, after curating her own blog posts, she turned them into a table of contents, which helped her create a plan to work through one chapter at a time. She described it as “throwing things in a box,” but then she carefully reviewed the order and continued to polish it.
In the end, she let the chapters simmer to revise them one week later as if she were reading them for the first time.
The writing mindset
When I asked her to share what helped her get started with writing, these were some of her wonderful reflections:
- Stop asking yourself, “who is going to read this?” Early on, Susana decided to write for herself; she had something to say. Whoever wants to read it will. When you start on your writing path, you start to doubt how good or bad it can be. You compare yourself with other writers and think you can’t be as good as they are. Don’t pay attention to those negative voices.
- Write when you feel energetic. Take advantage of your peak energy hours. My mom’s magic hours to produce are from 4 am to 8 am; it’s when she has all the clarity. The best time for writing is in the morning because your mind is well-rested but has yet to be overworked by social interaction and other demanding tasks. Also, when we are in the right mood for writing, which is a big part of producing content, we are more creative and thoughtful.
- Hit the keyboard; you can’t wait until you find the clarity. When the time is right, the fingers know. You need to keep the brain at bay and let it flow out. Easier said than done, I know, but sometimes a brainstorming session is just what we need to jumpstart our writing and create something unique. Go with the first thing that comes to your mind. You can refine it later.
- Put your cellphone in another room. She created a space for flow by eliminating any distractions. When you enter the flow state, you forget the things that entertain you or even eat. Much the same way athletes use sports to enter a flow state, she uses her work to flow, which makes it possible for her to write more.
- Make sure you are enjoying the process without caring if it’s perfect. Quality is not meant to be perfect. Even though she cringed from the few first blog posts, she saw how she improved over time. It’s helpful to remember that the voice of your writing should naturally develop over time.
Please enjoy Susana’s posts if you speak Spanish and like to read about feminism and women’s leadership.
