How to Know If You're Actually Called to Write a Book (or Just Think You Should)

There's a version of "I want to write a book" that comes from a deep, soul-level knowing. It's the kind that wakes you up in the middle of the night and won't leave you alone, no matter how many times you tell it to shut up.

Then, there's a version that comes from seeing someone else publish their book, watching their launch go beautifully, and thinking, "I could do that. Maybe I should do that."

Both of those feelings are real. Only one of them is a calling.

Confusing the two is one of the most common reasons writers start books they never finish. They begin with enthusiasm. Then, they hit the hard middle, and without a true calling underneath them, they stop. Excitement runs out, but calling doesn't.

So before you outline a single chapter, before you pick a title, before you tell anyone you're writing a book, let's figure out which one you're actually dealing with.

You might just think you should write a book if…

The idea came to you mostly from the outside. Someone told you that you should. You watched a friend launch hers and felt a pull that felt more like comparison than conviction. The book feels like a credential you want to have rather than a message you can't hold back. When you try to describe what it's about, you struggle because the core of it isn't fully formed in you yet.

None of that makes you a bad person. It makes you human. However, it's worth sitting with, because starting a book from that place tends to produce a lot of starts and very few finishes.

You're probably actually called to write a book if…

You've been saying the same thing for years. Maybe in conversations, in journals, or in the middle of prayer. Even after that, it keeps coming back around.

There's a specific person you can see so clearly in your mind when you think about this book. You know who she is, what she's carrying, and exactly what you want to say to her. The message isn't something you came up with. It's something you lived. You've told pieces of it in so many places that writing it all down starts to feel like the obvious next step.

You also feel a holy kind of resistance to it. Something deeper than fear. A calling tends to come with both a burden and a certainty, and they show up together holding hands.

Three questions worth sitting with:

1. If this book never made you a single dollar and nobody outside your immediate circle ever read it, would you still write it? Calling will still say yes. Ambition usually says no.

2. What is the one thing you keep saying that you can't seem to stop saying?

3. Who is this for? If you can see her face when you close your eyes, you're probably not making this up.

Being called to write a book doesn't mean the path will be easy or the words will come without a fight. It doesn't mean you'll feel confident every day or that you won't question yourself seventeen times before you type "The End." A calling is not easy. It's often the hardest command to obey.

If you're still reading this and that pull in your chest hasn't let up, that's probably your answer.

The question now is what you're going to do with it.

If you're ready to find out what your God-led book is actually about, the Book Clarity Bootcamp was made for exactly this moment. It will give you all the tools (and applications) you need to get started.

Grab it here: https://writingyourgodledbook.com/bootcamp