Reinventing Myself: How I Became an Author

I’ve always loved books. When I was younger, I would escape into them. The idea of being an author felt beyond reach; it was too aspirational for me. So I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a pinch-me moment when I’m reminded that I. Am. An. Author!  

I started seriously thinking about writing a book when I was an executive at Time Inc. My good friend and colleague, Patricia Karpas, was really interested in my leadership style. She didn’t quite get how I could be so good at running a business while also being kind and compassionate. She planted the seed for my first book The Myth of the Nice Girl, but life would always get in the way. Patricia really stayed on top of me over the years to write this book. The real tipping point was a blog post I wrote for Forbes called Nice Girls Finish First, which ended up being one of the most popular posts in their mentoring series. I started hearing from women all around the country about the double bind that they found themselves in: if they are nice at work they are thought of as a pushover, and if they are strong they are thought of as a b***h.  That single blog post validated the need for the book and helped me to secure a book deal. 

If you’re thinking about writing a book, but don’t know where to start, my advice would be to test interest in the book by writing a smaller piece (a blog post, even an Instagram post). Just start!

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