Dear Aspiring Author or Author:
I was born with a message in my heart, and it was that message that led me to writing.
You may resonate with that, especially if you are one of the 81% of Americans (according to The New York Times) who believe that you have a book inside of you that you just have to get out.
Common symptoms associated with this condition:
- You love to read
- Whenever you are in a calm place, or alone, ideas just seem to start streaming through your mind
- You may even wake up in the middle of the night
- Or be obsessed with checking out best seller lists, almost as if, subconsciously, you were looking for your own name
- People may have even complimented you before on your writing
- You can just feel something that is ready to burst out from inside of you, and you have been feeling that for quite some time
- At times, when you have sat down to write, words have begun to pour out of you, like out of a fire hose on high
- You just can’t let go of the fact that you have to write something, even if you don’t even know exactly what that “something” is, before your time on this Earth comes to an end
If you relate to any of the above, based on my experience, I would have to say that you are one of the 81% of probably not just Americans, but people from all over the world as well.
Now that’s not a bad or difficult thing. In fact, it’s a good thing, because there has never been a better time, in the modern history of the world, to be an aspiring author. I know that may be difficult for you to believe with all of the pain and frustration usually associated with the authoring and publishing of a book and the state of the economy and all, but it’s true.
For, if you haven’t noticed, things are moving really fast in our world, and no where are they moving faster than in the arena of writing, where it is possible for just about anybody to become an author in a matter of days and for that same person to become a published, internationally distributed author in weeks
Yes, it is possible to change your entire life and potentially your career, as well, in that short of a period of time, and the method that I have been blessed to deliver and which bares my name is leading the way.
It doesn’t seem that long ago, even though it is nearly three decades, when I was sitting exactly where you find yourself right now.
I had a desire, a dream, a message and either so much of what I had learned about writing, if not all of it, simply hadn’t worked for me. And there I was, blessed with a passionate desire to share through writing, yet left without a proven method to do so.
As a result, I felt inadequate, frustrated, defeated, and then I was offered access to the method which I have now been sharing, through my books, classes and retreats, for nearly the last thirty years and it came to me in the most unique of ways – in a dream. Of course, I had preceded that dream with a request, a desperate one I must admit, to be given the route, the plan, that I was sure was out there to be able to live my life and express myself as the author I was sure I was.
In that dream, which awoke me in the middle of the night, I could see it all – not only the exact steps that needed to be taken to not only write a book but to publish one as well – and I could see that how everything I had been exposed to up to that moment had prepared me for that exact time.
Having long exhausted the use of orthodox methods to employ, I immediately put into play what I saw in the dream. Approximately six weeks later I sold the rights to my first book to Harper & Row, the third largest publisher of books in the world at the time, landed an advance equivalent to three times the yearly salary I earned as a publicist with The Pittsburgh Pirates, resigned from my job shortly after and began living what I refer to as The Write Life, at the tender age of twenty-six.
The same type of rapid transition is even more available, for the reasons stated before, to you today than it was for me back then. So if I could make the moves I did back then, you can surely make the same transitions, with far more ease and speed, today.
Shortly after the release of my first book, first out of respect for the method having been shared with me and secondly because there just seemed to be such a demand for it, I began to teach.
Since then, I have had the pleasure to appear before over 80,000 aspiring authors, from who I have learned so much.
Here is some of what I learned, upon which The Tom Bird Method is based upon.
- Writing is a Divine art form, which is where conventional teaching of the craft has failed us. For we are often taught that it is an intellectual art form, which it certainly is, but the essence of it also draws from the physical, emotional and, most of all, the spiritual. Thus, only approaching writing from the mental point of view while leaving the other aspects of it unaddressed, would be much like trying to drive a car on three flat and only one inflated tire. Yes, so what I am saying is once a different viewpoint is taken and then applied to writing is that doing so would be like making sure that all four tires on your car were properly inflated before trying to drive it down the road. For when they are, you will find that it will roll smoothly to wherever it is that you want it to take you, certainly much more smoothly and far less self defeatedly than trying to get there on three flats, which would stop most of us from even trying to go somewhere. Just changing your point of view about the craft and then taking this approach will immediately provide you with the solution you were looking for, transforming you from frustrated writer to author.
- You want to write because there is a book stuck inside of you. Yes, that’s write. Great authors release books, they don’t create them (“wow – thank God – that takes a lot of pressure off of me”). How could they then release them if there wasn’t already something inside of them to be released. It was Aristotle who said that to live a complete and full life every human being needed to do three things: 1) raise a child; 2) build a home and 3) write. Could old Aristotle been onto something – possibly that the writing of a book embodied more than just the putting of pen to paper and that, instead, it represented a major coming of age, transition, possibly of both a personal and spiritual nature, that all of us are meant to go through?
- Writing can also heal. No doubt. This has been covered so thoroughly in so many texts and theories that writing or journalling has now become commonplace as a form of therapy.
- Anyone can write. Yes – even you too. All you need to know is how to get into the “right” or, should I say, “write,” stay there, recognize what not to resist and the book inside of you will literally birth itself.
- You can write your book is record time – oftentimes, when employing the “write” approach, in just a few days.
- You can become the published author you want to be quickly, in as short of a period of time as a few weeks, and easily and make upwards of ten times as much money per book sale as best selling authors of the past.
I have felt drawn to share to share the essence of the method that appeared to me so long ago, that, at somewhere along the way, I came to realize that it was possibly my purpose or one of my many purposes in this life.
Just imagine if all 81% of Americans or, even better 81% of persons everywhere, went through the journey of self actualization and appreciation, which is the only way we would finally all be so happy with ourselves that we would stop hating so many others that just don’t deserve it, which Aristotle speaks about, through the writing of their books. What a wonderful world this would be, would it not?
In response to the gauntlet of an opportunity that may have symbolically been cast before me, I have picked up the challenge through trying to create a means and way for everyone to follow this path, no matter what their station of life, if they choose (secretly I must admit that I think it would be great if all of us were given the proper guidance and encouragement to write a book before graduating from high school).
As a result, for those of you are just want to get your toes wet but are not yet willing to commit to following the dream, I offer free downloads of books, CDS and classes on my websites.
Just click on the Free icon on my homepage and you will see that you can download a free copy of my book Write to Heal and my CD Transitioning Back to the Writer You Were Meant to be, while also signing up for whatever classes or webinars I may be offering.
A little more committed than that but not yet willing to commit yet to a full blown retreat? You can buy copies of any of my latest books and CDs and start there if you would like. Or maybe that’s all you will need.
Ready to rock n’ roll? Now is your time? If so, then a retreat would probably be just write (oops) for you.
Depending upon how deeply you want to commit, the retreats, which are divided into four sections, the compilation of which provides you with and certifies you in everything you need to be to become the author you may be drawn to become.
- Certification as the result of Phase One is comprised of the month long preparation leading up to a retreat, which first removes any inappropriate understandings received as a result of any incomplete education you may have been in the company of, and re-educates you with everything you need to know to write your book and as many books as you would like to after that one.
- Phase Two is where you apply what was removed and learned in Phase One to write your book.
- Certification around Phase Three revolves around the thorough and proper revision of your book.
- Phase Four completes the certification process by walking you through the steps of getting your book published.
Two scholarship programs are also available for retreat attendees.
The Teen Author Program (TAP) enables high school scholarship winners to receive a full ride to a retreat, as does The Collegiate Author Program (CAP) for college and university students.
The biggest thing that I have learned from not only my own tie to the art form though, as well as that of the aspiring authors I have had the pleasure to work with, is that if you have a book inside you and you are resisting setting it free, life can be trying at best. In fact, it can be downright miserable. Yet, if you give into the release of it, no matter how scary that may feel, life can be better than what you now see as the best, as not only will your life be healed, directed and become oh so fulfilling, but so will all those who are tied to you as well.
So, in conclusion, if you are feeling the need to write, just do so. Not only will your world, but the world, will be a better place as a result.
Tom