Normally I try to set aside time to write every day. I’m about 30% into the book, I think. 18,000 words or so. One morning 5000 words in two hours. That felt good. I hope it actually is good. ;)
But it’s important to go through the actual process too, and use myself as a guinea pig.
So my physical first steps in starting Rebel Dreams so far.
Start writing the book.
Great. That’s going on. I started with a 6-point outline, the outline of the process I follow. Then started filling in with a couple of notes. The ending I’ll write when I get there.
Then tried writing a blurb for the back cover. Blurbs are great, because they help you pull together all the most important points - so far - and distill them into a few short paragraphs. After actually writing the chapters, new words emerge that feel more important. So rewrite the blurb over time.
Now, I’m just letting the words go. No judgement, getting it out. Then come back and do some light editing, and add headers to break it up. And… to let readers know that I do know where I’m going when I detour on a sidequest.
I was surprised at how much pre-amble to the actual process feels necessary. I’m rooting around in my own pain and wounds, and exciting, trying to understand why they’re there. And now I see that they’re messages to me. So sitting with them, understanding why my burnout is a symptom of the wrong path I’ve been following, and not my own failure. A ballet dancer will never be a body builder. Each must learn to come home to themselves.
So yeah, lots of meta-level attention.
Set a deadline
This is always terrifying, but I think I’ve given myself a month and a half to finish. At the rate I’m going, it feels doable. I’ve been thinking and living these processes for years, so it should continue pounding out at the same rate.
I’ve set my birthday on January 16, 2023, as my goal.
Beta readers
Now that the book is coming together, and I have a deadline, I’ve realized that I need to start looking outside the book. Getting help from readers along the way will hopefully help them, and definitely help me.
So I’ve asked a couple of good friends to skim and skip around to share their feedback.
Early members
That then prompted me to realize that nothing is holding me back from using the process of writing the book to actually start helping people right now. Walking with people through using the prompts, and chatting about what works and what doesn’t creates an amazing early community.
So that’s what this substack is all about.
Branding
First step is to write down what the movement is. What I hope the community will be. Try to find out what makes it different and unique. What people will get when they follow the book.
And then rewrite it. Several times.
I was actually watching a Seth Godin video when he described an incredible leadership ideal: show up with no budget and no authority, and make a difference in 100 days. Money and authority comes from trust and experience.
That line leapt out at me from the video. I then realized that I’ve actually made that a point of personal pride, to just do something because I want to, and find after 3 months that I’ve made new friends and learned new things.
Where did the name come from?
A decade ago, I read ‘Rebel Dawn’ from the Star Wars novels, and had such fun with Han Solo’s back story before that fateful morning in the Mos Eisley cantina.
With this brand, I wanted something that feels different. There are tons of branding and self help books. I deliberately want something that feels different - largely because it is different. At least I think so.
It has a different starting place, and it comes out of my own story and energy.
Which, if you know me and my projects, tends toward the fun, the ambitious, and the ludicrously epic.
My key freelance project is ‘DreamAgain,’ born from the darkest moments from my inner journey in the last few years. And I’ve always been afraid of my inner rebel - partly because of how powerful it is.
It’s served me well in the last decade. And I now see it in all my favorite leaders and literary figures. So ‘Rebel Dreams’ felt obvious.
I rolled it around for a few days, until I could sense my old procrastination habits falling back into play. That’s when I just needed to keep moving. It was good enough.
The cover draft
After a couple of weeks of writing, I reached this point where I needed to start inviting people into the journey.
To do that, I needed some kind of visual. ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’, etc.
And I’ve been recently having a ton of fun with AI Art, so I fired up my favorite app and tried to generate dramatic art of hopeful-looking young people.
Pretty quickly, some of the ideas came back were looking ludicrously dramatic.
And one of them really jumped out. I liked his Latin looks - since I’m half Latino. And he’s looking very heroic and dramatic in a burnt orange parka, ploughing through snow and hardship.
That feels cool. That’s a vibe I like. So I fired up Canva, and messed around with four simple elements; the background, the title, caption, and my name.
Then, for the heck of it, I uploaded a draft of the cover to SmartMockups to see how it looked.
That’s when something sparked.
I liked how it looked in people’s hands. The quick previews weren’t perfect, but they made me realize something.
I like the idea of this book feeling like a novel. Not something ‘grown up’ and professional. But something that looks dramatic enough to catch someone else’s eye. Doesn’t everyone, though?
Imagine that reading the book on a college campus felt like a statement of who you are. What if you could pass it on to someone else, and work together through the process?
What if you feel like the character on the cover? Or the girl version on the back cover?
The vibe is dramatic, and feels like a story. Which seems right.
Ok. Time to keep moving.
Start the website
In launching a brand, the next step is to start a place where people can meet. A center. An avatar for the idea.
Normally, I would start a Wordpress install, and spend a ton of time building out a beautiful designed custom theme.
I admit… that’s what I usually do when I’m trying to psych myself into a process.
But I’d always wanted to try the idea of a substack, after seeing the rise in its popularity.
So 1 day spent making a cover, turning it into a graphic, and posting it on Linkedin and with some close friends.
1 day spent researching Substack vs Ghost and how easy it is to get it set up.
Now today, back to writing. I think documenting the journey like this will help create a feedback loop with the book too.
What else did I do?
I grabbed a domain name from Godaddy and pointed it to here.
Good morning, rebeldreams.co
I’m also such a sucker for great, Epicore music. This track suddenly appeared in my recommended, and now it’s on loop.
What’s next?
I can’t get too far ahead of myself. So I think what I’ll do next is post the first few chapters of the book here for paid members, and then do a soft launch.
What are the plans?
After the book, I plan to repurpose the practicals in the content into a course.
Then I’ll offer a cohort-based workshop to invite people to work through it together.
By that time, each of the audio episodes should get this going as a podcast, and I’ll look at bringing guests on.
More next time, rebel.