From time to time in this space, Balboa Press publishes articles written by our authors in which they share some aspect of their self-publishing journeys. These  are the words of Greg Frucci, author of “Path of Three Hundred”. You can find out more about Greg and his book on his website and blog. Download our free publishing guide to receive more information on self-publishing your book with Balboa Press. 

I never intended to write a book. Once I returned from a solo sailing adventure in the Atlantic Ocean, I began to write. One day I had a scary thought, “I could write a book about this.” Fear began to take over and I stopped writing.

I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Perhaps you are there right now? You go through all of the prescribed preparations like writing an outline, reading “57 steps to writing your book”, gathering up all of your research and you begin. Only now that you have a mound of stuff in front of you, feeling like a thousand pound weight upon your shoulders. Who wouldn’t have a hard time writing with all of that pressure? Get rid of it.

I’m not going to say anyone must write a certain way. I am not going to say the words, “You should…” I am an artist. My brain is chaotic. Yet, I am a Virgo, so there actually is some organization to the chaos going on. What I have learned to do, is to flow with my thoughts. Precisely how I write books.

I wrote about what my mind was remembering at the time. I did not try and remember anything, I simply let thoughts flow in. Once the images from the sea were in the forefront of my mind, I began to focus on those images. Once the focus took hold, I wrote and allowed my writing to keep the remembrances fresh, continuing until there was an ending of the image.

The fear existed in the beginning because I thought I had to follow a sequence of events. Was I going to end up in writers jail if I did not follow a prescribed set of rules like writing in an outlined sequence from day one to day whatever? Nope. Once I realized I could follow any set of rules I chose or none at all, I became free and the words began to flow. One day I would write about the ending, another day about near the beginning and everything in between without following any prescribed sequence.

After a few months, I had a book, “Path of Three Hundred: Volume 1”. I took all of the chapters I had written and pieced them together like a puzzle. You remember putting together puzzles with your family perhaps? Fun, huh? So was the book.

What was not fun, was publishing the first two editions through an online retailer completely by myself. I learned quite a bit about the publishing process that way and I’m not unhappy about the choice. Thankfully, that part of the journey is over.

One of the best decisions of my life was made back in March of 2015 when I decided to have Balboa Press publish the revised and expanded third edition of “Path of Three Hundred”. Balboa took an immense weight off of my shoulders, allowing me to focus on building my author platform while they published the book. Several fired up humans walked me through everything. Last week, my first copies arrived. The book is perfect, beautiful and full of an energy which was not present in the first two editions.

You wish to defeat the fear of writing a book? Just write your heart out. Forget about rules. Forget about a sequence. Forget about time. It’s up to you and you are right no matter what your choice is. If someone else attempts to judge you, then let them waste their own time, not yours. What’s stopping you from writing right now?

Balboa Press authors who’d like to share a 350-600 word experience related to the self-publishing of their books, are invited to do so by sending a message through our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BalboaPress, by tweeting us @BalboaPress, or by emailing dghosh@ balboapress.com. We may not be able to use every story, but we will read and consider them. Balboa Press reserves the right to edit stories for content, grammar and punctuation accuracy; as well as for space.