On a plane trip returning from sunny Sarasota, I opened the folder with the final third of Laurie Hunt’s manuscript. I’d read the first two-thirds of the book through a number of iterations, but this was my first full read of the final third—a section she’d recently completed.

On the Impact of Writing a Book, Pre-Publication

I loved seeing how the book had evolved into an engaging invitation for personal growth.

And as I read, it struck me that, just as the book had evolved, so had I. I’d grown somewhat between my initial reading and this latest reading of this final third, several years later. One catalyst for this growth had been Laurie’s draft. Well before she completed her book, I’d benefited and grown in the reading —and re-reading—of it.

“Testing out” Laurie’s engaging questions for reflection created internal changes in me. While I’m a work in progress—quite like a book manuscript!—I could see how my perspective about race and whiteness had evolved. I found I was more open to what the book offered to teach me and to self-scrutiny. I could see where my thinking and beliefs had evolved as well.

I thought, too, of the white women in Laurie’s focus groups who’d also inevitably experienced shifts as they explored Laurie’s model of “connected leadership,” which comes from doing the inner work around race that Laurie guides them through.

And, just like that, this post proved my point, beyond what I anticipated!

After I drafted this blog post, I sent it to Laurie for approval before sharing. Apparently, the draft of this post inspired Laurie to share several paragraphs from the manuscript in our Get Your Writing Done session today. Laurie’s reading prompted a rich discussion that began with voice and expanded into the book’s topic, raising awareness of our own race and racism. This discussion, in itself, heightened our awareness as a group and led us into a discussion of a topic that might otherwise have remained in the shadows.

I realized that this illustrated two things for me:

1. Yes, here was Laurie’s book manuscript, continuing to make an impact and
2. My blog post also had an unintended effect: it encouraged Laurie to share. (So a blog post can also have an impact pre-posting!)

Your book’s impact

Long before a book is published, it begins to make change in the world—in the author herself, in her beta readers, in her editor, in her students or clients, in groups that are exposed to it, in people the author meets and in the people that all those groups of people mentioned engage with.

Writing and publishing a book takes a long time. Sometimes it’s helpful to realize that your book is already making a difference well before it’s polished, finished and published.

I’m curious. How has writing your book impacted you? Can you think of ways your writing has impacted others, even before it’s published? Please share your experiences as a comment below or on social media!