So after some thoughtful consideration, prayer and of course the "gentle" encouragement from my wife I have decided to embark on writing a book. I have been in New York for over 6 years and before my time runs out in this fine city I think it is probably a necessary risk to take. There is something about living in New York that automatically gives you "street cred" regardless of the industry you work in. While I find it odd, I also feel like I should try and take advantage of it. I am blogging about this as a way to keep me accountable and motivated. Nothing is worse for me than telling a person I am going to do something and having them ask about it later and having to say "Uh, yea that didn't happen" or even worse "I didn't even try."
For me there are two very difficult aspects of writing a book. The first and foremost is trying to figure what to write about. My wife gave me some good advice and suggested I write about something that inspires me. Ummm...only I am not exactly sure what inspires me so that has been a challenge. There are plenty of things that I enjoy: baseball, zombies, PlayStation, fishing etc, yet none of those things do I really want to write about. Baseball is a possibility but I am not sure what I could write about that hasn't been written nor am I close enough to the game to write some sort of controversial piece. I would love to write about baseball but I just don't think my credibility in that area would support writing a successful book.
I also LOVE history, enjoy reading history related books and have credibility as a history major and published author to write this kind of book. The challenges I face here are two fold. First, like with baseball I am not sure what the heck I would write about. The options are vast when writing about history but I also don't want to try and write about something that you can already buy hundreds of books on. I also would need to realize all the research that would be involved and the potential travel as well. For instance I probably shouldn't write a book about Alexander the Great unless I have the budget to travel frequently to Europe, India and Asia. This leads to the second obstacle: time. Writing any piece on history, whether it is a paper or a book requires a lot of research and as a byproduct requires a great deal of time. I don't mind putting in all the work and time but I also feel like the window on writing something while I still live in New York is closing quickly. I am still keeping this open as a possibility. I had a family member who fought in the Revolutionary War, was born in CT and died in NY. I would be very interested in working on a book about one of the battles he possibly fought in (Battle of Long Island/Brooklyn, Battle of Bunker Hill or The Battle of Princeton). Another option would be to try and write something that incorporates my wife's family history and my family history together either in a historical book or perhaps historical fiction. There are just many places where my wife's ancestors and my own ancestors were in close proximity to one another. Again that is going to require research and time and travel so we will see.
The only thing I am really passionate about it being the best husband, father and friend that I can be. More importantly I am passionate about encouraging other men to do the same. Every day I wake up and my sole purpose is to be a better man than I was the day before. Some days that is easier than others. Much of my passion revolves around an intense desire to see men of God raise up and live the kind of life God intended us to and not the kind of life we live by default. Yet I also feel called to challenge all men, not just those who profess to be Christian. With or without Christ men all over the world are living a substandard life and are often only mediocre husbands, fathers & friends. It really upsets me that men are okay with setting such a low standard. Deep inside the heart of every man we desire greatness, yet it seems that men only chase after this greatness in their careers. I firmly believe it is only in Christ that men can obtain the highest potential in these areas but even without Christ men all over the world can and should be better. Just writing these few lines gets me fired up! Which is exactly why this is probably the subject my book should be about.The second most difficult part of contemplating writing a book is being comfortable or confident the things I want to share or write about will have an audience. I am confident that I am a good writer (only because I worked so hard to be better after being terrible most of my life). I am not as confident that what I want to write, say etc., people would be interested in reading. It seems arrogant to me to "assume" people will want to read what I write, yet that is exactly the kind of mindset you must have if you want to stay motivated. This is especially true on those days when you are not happy with anything you have written. I am still working through this process but have decided regardless of how I feel about it I need to write something. Whether it is read by many or by few I know I need to take a stab at it. God has given me this gift of writing and passion for men to be better (not that we are bad) so I feel I must honor those gifts and passions for His glory. I only hope along the way someone will be helped and their life made better by my efforts.
Until next time make it an a great one!
Andrew Sloss
