Lessons Learned on My Book Writing Journey

Great news! I ordered an author copy of my book, Chicago Roller Skating History, on Tuesday, December 2, 2025. An author copy is a single copy of your book that you will review to ensure all elements are correct prior to mass printing. I am one step away from completion. Woo hoo!

My Book Writing Journey

Starting my book writing journey was easy because I was excited about this new project with a fun topic. Honestly, when I began asking people about their roller skating memories in 2009, I was just gathering information. I don’t think writing a book was on my radar. As I spoke with more people and gathered more data, the idea of creating a book started growing.

Continuing the journey was challenging because the novelty of the project wore off after a couple years. I had decided to write a book by then but was not totally convinced that I wanted to do it. I had a lot of stories from people I had spoken with but little research from publications. It was hard finding information online about roller skating in Chicago in the early stages of my research.

And when the reality of the amount of work that was required for the project set in, I almost stopped. I was interviewing skaters and rink owners, digging through old publications and searching for information on microfilm and microfiche at the library. And THEN I had to read, organize and compile the information before writing a draft.

Finishing the journey was harder than continuing for several reasons. First, it was challenging to stay motivated as a team of one. Yeah, I had support but ultimately it was my vision and it was up to me to bring it to fruition. There were periods when I worked a lot, worked a little or not at all.

Second, I had to sift through loads of information to determine what to keep and what to delete. I read hundreds of articles in publications and newspapers, reviewed interview notes and listened to recorded conversations. I wanted to include everything since I took the time to find it all, but selected the information I felt was relevant and would add value to the story I wanted to tell.

Then there was the constant voice in your head that has you questioning yourself and your project: “Is this good?” or “What qualifies you to write this book?” That voice in your head is your biggest enemy. Here are ways I learned to drown it out. First, keep working on your project. As long as you’re progressing, it can’t stop you – unless you allow it to. Second, get feedback on your work from credible people. As for what qualifies you: God. God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. I love that quote. The constant requests for my roller skating presentation were confirmation that my project was on point.

Lastly, there were little things that could have been disrupted my progress had I allowed them to. For example, I received two error messages when I uploaded my manuscript to the publisher’s website. After freaking out, I took time to read them. One was a notification about low resolution images in the manuscript, the other required action. I put the error in ChatGPT and was told how to correct it. I fixed the error and re-submitted the manuscript within 30 minutes. The interior and book cover were approved with no errors and the author copy is on the way.

That was a short version of my book writing journey. Following are lessons I learned throughout the process.