Week 0: My Q2 Plan to Write a Book

On Fridays We Write — From Idea to Draft

It’s almost the end of March, which means Q2 is on the horizon.

I have my Goal Getters Collab planning session today, and to get the most out of it, I’ve been thinking deeply about how I want the next 90 days to feel.

Not just what I want to accomplish, but how I want to live.

At the beginning of this year, I set a few big goals for 2026. One of them was to write a book about how to write your book.

But not in the traditional way. I didn’t want to disappear for months and come back with something polished and complete. I wanted to write it alongside my reader. I imagined a real time coaching session or a friend sitting next to you writing too.

“Let’s just start here and write about this.”

I want to help someone else plan, draft, and write using the lessons I learned while facilitating First Draft Friday.

And if your goal is the same, we can do it together.

Reality check.

I’m currently in Los Angeles. This is my third trip to clean out my mom’s house before it goes on the market. And I am exhausted not just physically but emotionally.

There are 54 years of memories tucked into every cubbyhole, bookshelf, and drawer of the Cape Cod home that held so much of our childhood.

Yesterday, my sister found a photo of my mom smiling, hose in hand, watering newly planted grass sometime in the early 1970s.

A few photos later, my dad had taken her place, proudly watering the lawn while my mom stood behind the camera.

There’s another photo of our yellow Volvo in the driveway and my mom sitting in the passenger seat wearing a robe and holding my newborn sister while I welcomed them home by opening the car door.

At one point, I found a gold brooch shaped like a leaf with a small diamond set into it. My grandfather made it for my grandmother. Hours later, we found a photo of her wearing it.

We even uncovered a letter my dad wrote to Bank of America the day they paid off the house. It was completely business like but you could feel the emotion in it and the freedom. Packing up and cleaning out your childhood home is like being a historian and uncovering pieces of a life that was fully lived.

So what does this have to do with writing?

This morning, I was sitting on Zoom at 6am for The First Draft Friday Club. I had gone to bed at 2am and I was tired. And yet, I showed up on the page because writing is a healer, a connector and a record keeper.

Writing is how we make sense of what just happened. It helps us process the past and imagine the future. We can hold onto the memories that matter and begin to heal the ones we want to let go.

You might think:

“There’s no perfect time to write.” But I’ve started to believe the opposite. There is always time to write and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Writing doesn’t take you away from your life, it makes you more present in it.

When my alarm went off this morning, I wanted to press snooze. But I had pre-ordered my coffee and I had a plan to write. And sometimes that’s enough.

For the next 13 Fridays, I’ll show up here and share:

• what’s working

• what got done

• what felt hard

• what surprised me

And if you’re writing too, you’re invited into this process.

Here’s the week 0 prep plan:

• Set up a folder for my manuscript and gather the content I’ve already created in my course

• Answer my foundational questions

• Determine a writing schedule - Fridays are non-negotiable (minimum one hour) and I’ll layer in time during the week.

By June 26, my goal is to have a fully drafted nonfiction book, approximately 35,000 words.

It won’t be perfect (that’s why we have editors ❤️ ) but it will be honest and ready to shape. And if you’ve been waiting for the “right time” to write, this might be it.

Q2

I know Q2 is going to be momentous.

The house will sell and summer will begin.
Our older daughter will come home from her first year of college.
Our younger daughter will spend her days playing beach volleyball, getting ready for fall.
My husband will return to Park City to start season two of Marshals.
I’ll begin training with the Survivor Rowing Club.

So much will be moving and changing. And through all of it, I will write. Because writing is the thread that holds it all together. It’s how I process my thoughts and where my heart makes sense of things. And it’s my hope, that you’ll join me there too.