Hey Book Launchers family, Remember me? Eric? The guy who used to show up with 3 times a day to drop a comment or share ? I've been MIA for a few weeks, and I owe you an explanation that's equal parts apology and cautionary tale. It started with a question "maybe you weren't called to be a leader" And with random thought, my brain did that thing. You know the thing. That writer's curse where instead of thinking "huh, interesting" like a normal human, my brain went: "BUT WAIT. What if leadership isn't about leading at all? What would that look like? Why? If it wasn't that, what could it be?" The hook. The thought that wouldn't let go. I have this delightful quirk where I torture myself with "what if" questions when trying to understand something. It's like intellectual quicksand—the more I struggle, the deeper I sink. Most of the time, I exhaust the thought in a few days and move on like a functional adult. Not this time. This time, the universe apparently downloaded the entire operating manual for human consciousness directly into my skull. Suddenly, I had to write this thing. Not wanted to. HAD to. Thirty thousand words later, (just crossed the half way mark) I don't even recognize my own writing. The tone, the voice, the perspective—it's like someone hijacked my laptop and decided to channel Rumi meets Malcolm Gladwell. I'm reading sentences like "once you've seen what needs to die in you, you can't go back to living like it should survive" and thinking, "Who the heck wrote this?" I've apparently become the kind of writer who uses phrases like "equal parts unsettling and clarifying" without irony. I catch myself writing about ladders and wrong walls, and I've used the word "journey" more times than a yoga instructor at a wellness retreat. The worst part? I can't stop. This project has me by the throat. I wake up thinking about it. I dream in chapter outlines. I've started having philosophical conversations with my coffee maker. So that's where I've been. Held hostage by my own brain, writing in a voice that isn't mine but somehow is more me than I've ever been.

There once was an editor, Neck-deep in bad grammar and tea.With footnotes that bled, And plot holes he read, He begged, “Let it Friday be!” The chapters all blurred into one, The rewrites no longer felt fun. His red pen was dry, He let out a sigh—“Lord, just tell me the week’s nearly done.”

Build your biggest asset besides your book - your author platform with our favorite email platform - Kit. Next week, we're hosting a free behind-the-scenes webinar with Shiv Chibber, Creator Educator at Kit (our go-to email platform for authors). What you’ll see How to build an audience organically, even if you're starting from zero How to leverage partnerships with other creators to grow your list faster How to build trust with new subscribers quickly through your welcome sequence How to turn that trust into revenue opportunities I want to help you build an email audience that: Grows consistently without constant effort Converts new subscribers into book buyers/reviewers/customers through your welcome sequence Runs mostly on autopilot while you focus on your book promotion (or writing) [Now this image is a bit of false advertising because I am going to be attending an AI training at that time so I'm not hosting with Shiv, @Shane Vigeant is ... but he's the Kit expert at Book Launchers anyway so you're in better hands with him!] REGISTER HERE

Day after summit, kinda feels like the day after I finished grad school - what to i do now, and it's too early to break out the bourbon. I guess my plan will be to get out a new pad of paper and start writing up a plan to put everything learned and open the ALK and see how to apply it and begin world conquest.

We've been so busy with the summit I almost forgot to tell you .... the Authortube Writing Conference is on tomorrow. My session is here: https://youtube.com/live/I3bK9ty5cmY And the attendee package is attached for your use. This is the link to the whole schedule and official site: https://www.authortubewritingconference.com/ Please do join in my live .... I'd love to see you there!