How to Use Your Journaling to Write a Book with Tom Kreffer

Become a Writer Today

Journaling is very popular right now, but could you produce a book from your journal entries?
I'm writing a parenting book at the moment, and journaling is the approach that I'm using. I wrote journal entries about the sorts of things that my kids got up to, then, when I was ready to write the book, I reorganized the entries and turned them into chapters.
Taking this approach works because if you write 300 words in your journal today, chances are tomorrow you'll feel a bit more comfortable about the topic and go past 300 words, and you might write 400 or even 500. If you do that for a week, you'll rack up a couple of thousand words. If you do it for the year, you'll undoubtedly have more than enough for your book or several books.
In this episode, I chat with Tom Kreffer. He's the author of Dear Dory: Journal of a Soon to Be First Time Dad, which he initially wrote as a series of journal entries when his partner was expecting their first child, before turning it into a book.
In this episode we discuss:

• At what point Tom realized his personal journal could be a book
• Using humor in the book
• The pros and cons of parenting books for dads
• Lessons that Tom has learned from writing the book
• When did Tom find the time to write when working full time
• Tactics for promoting the book

Resources:

• Day One
• Scrivener
• David Sedaris - Masterclass
• Braintoss
• Evernote
• Tom Kreffer

Support the show

If you enjoyed the show please leave a review on Apple. And if you have any questions you can find me on Twitter @BryanJCollins
Thanks for listening!