Why I wrote The Mouse That Roars

You’re used to me giving you business hints and tips and sharing my blogs with you, so you might be wondering why I’ve written The Mouse That Roars.

This is my new book which is part memoir and part self-help in style (which you can order now). But it never started off this way and I’d like to tell you the story.

The inspiration for this book came to me when a friend of mine introduced me to the book A Year to Live by Stephen Levine.

Stephen worked with terminally ill cancer patients for many years, helping them to make the most of their last few months. One day he thought to himself ‘why wait until you know your time is up to live your best life?’ He and his wife did their own year to live, and then he wrote his book, which became an international bestseller.

A couple of friends and I embarked on our own year to live in 2012, and I decided to write a book about it.

Although there are many approaches you could take, my philosophy behind the project was to stretch my comfort zone, and ultimately do the things that scared me. Among other things I went skiing for the first time, did my first (and only!) parachute jump, and signed up for a charity trek to Peru. I ran my first conference and trained to become a firewalk instructor!

I also changed my approach to life. Every time I had to make a decision, I asked myself ‘What would I do if I had a year to live?’ Tough question – hey? All too often it’s easy to put things off for another day, another week, another year, but not everyone has this choice, as I discovered during that year.

I became more mindful, meditated more, became consciously grateful for things that went well, and used my inner resources when things were a struggle. I’ve continued many of these habits to this day.

As I did the year to live, I blogged about my experiences. This blog was picked up by MoneySupermarket.com, and I won the runner up prize in their ‘bucket list’ competition.

My story also got noticed by a journalist who wrote buy amoxicillin for The Daily Express and I had double page feature in the paper last year. My dramatic trip to Peru was also publicised in a couple of online magazines where I shared my experiences.

But the book evolved. I showed my musings and blogs to a friend, Esther Harris, who is a PR expert, writer and ex-journalist. She picked up on the thing that I often talk to my clients about, but I hadn’t seen it in my own work: the book didn’t have a clear hook. It’s hard to see things like this when you’re close to the material, which is one of the reasons why I help my clients with this today.

Over the last year Esther and I have worked on the book. From our trip to Queens Club to see the tennis last summer when we excitedly nailed the book’s title on the train, (much to the disgust of someone who told us off for being too loud!), to the chats over coffee (and wine) that have enabled us to pull it all together. She was also involved with the situation that I talk about in chapter 20, which motivated me to complete the book and dedicate it to my dad.

The toughest thing about writing a book like this is being vulnerable and sharing your own stuff. I certainly found that there were times when I didn’t know where to start or finish, and I struggled to remember the emotions of situations. There were other times when I sat in tears as I wrote the words down and wondered how much to tell through the book.

I don’t believe that you need to be a sports personality or movie star to write a memoir that inspires others. We’ve all got our own story to share and we’ve all gone through tough (and amazing) times during our lives.

I also hope that my book will motivate would-be entrepreneurs to go for it, and help shy people (like me) to be authentic and true to themselves, and make the most of their gifts – and roar in their own unique way.

Here’s the link again and I look forward to sharing the book with you.