My Author Journey: What Changes When You Start Authoring a Book
An author journey is not just the act of writing a book. It is the gradual shift in how a writer remembers, researches, connects, and pays attention to the world. For me, authoring a book reshaped far more than my writing.
When I began the process of authoring a book, I expected my writing to change, to evolve. What I did not expect was how much else would change along with it, memory, relationships, attention, and the way I moved through the world.
The shift was not dramatic or immediate. It unfolded quietly, in ways that became noticeable only when I paused to reflect.
Poems and Stories in my Author Journey
My author journey did not begin with the intention of writing a book. I have been writing poems since 2011, alongside articles and long-form content for my professional work, most of it business-related. Writing, in different forms, was already part of how I processed experience and made sense of the world.
Over the years, the poems accumulated quietly. When the question of publishing them came up, some well-wishers cautioned against it, suggesting that publishing poetry might work against being seen as a “serious” author. I listened, but the writing continued regardless.
What those poems did, perhaps unintentionally, was open another door. Writing poetry sharpened my attention and memory. It made certain childhood moments return with clarity.
Over time, that clarity turned into a deeper urge to write Malli’s stories. Stories rooted in my childhood, in the places I grew up in, and in the people who stayed with me long after those years had passed.
In that sense, the poems were not a detour, they were the beginning of stories and hopefully much more.
How my Author Journey Revived Old Connections
One of the earliest changes I noticed was how sharply childhood memories began to surface. Details I had not thought about in decades returned with surprising clarity, sounds, smells, small incidents that felt fully intact again. Writing did not just help me remember; it seemed to reorganise memory itself.
Many writers describe this phase as one where memory becomes more precise and associative once long-form writing begins, as attention shifts from casual recall to sustained observation and narrative coherence, a change often noted in reflections on the writing process and author development. Here is a blog that captures my thoughts very well – How writing a book can change your life.
Many writers describe this phase as one where attention deepens and perspective shifts once long-form writing begins, as the act of writing reshapes how experiences are processed and understood, essentially how writing changes perspective and self-understanding.
Old Connections Find Their Way Back
Alongside this return of memory came reconnections. I found myself reaching out to friends from school and college, some after two or three decades. These conversations were not about revisiting the past for comfort. They became a way of validating memory, filling gaps, and understanding how shared experiences had taken different shapes over time.
Writing, I realised, is not always solitary. Sometimes it asks for witnesses and confirmation.
How Research Shapes the Author Journey
As the writing deepened, research became inseparable from the process. I began reading differently, paying attention to the cultural background and perception. Books became teachers. Essays became quiet conversations. Hard to access research papers became exactly that!
This shift from expressive writing to deliberate craft is commonly discussed in practical writing guides, which emphasise that authoring a book requires understanding structure, audience, and purpose alongside creativity (a practical guide to writing a book).
Ideas Multiply Once Commitment Sets In
Once I committed to one book, ideas for others began appearing unexpectedly. Topics surfaced during walks, conversations, and reading. Before I realised it, I had rough structures in place for at least two future books.
This abundance did not feel overwhelming. It felt clarifying. Writing shifted from asking can I do this? to what else wants to be written?
What struck me, as I read and listened to other authors describe their journeys, was how rarely authorship began as a clear plan. For many, including myself, writing grew out of life lived fully in other directions, professional work, reinvention, learning, parenting, and curiosity carried quietly over time.
Authorship did not arrive as ambition alone, but as a gradual realisation that writing was no longer just an activity. It became a way of organising thought, memory, and attention. In that sense, writing a book is less about producing a manuscript and more about stepping into a longer process. A process that reshapes how you live, learn, and keep moving forward.
How Community Influences the Author Journey
Joining an authors’ group and two book readers’ groups has been one of the most illuminating parts of this journey. Listening to how others read, interpret, and respond to writing altered my understanding of what it means to write for a reader.
Many writers note that engaging with reader and writer communities changes writing from a solitary act into a dialogue, helping authors understand how meaning is received rather than assumed.
Understanding the Publishing Landscape Grounds the Work
At the same time, the practical aspects of authoring a book took shape. I curated lists of publishers, literary agents, illustrators, and book-focused communities. I created a book proposal and, in doing so, understood the publishing process afresh.
Learning how books move from idea to publication is often described as a key turning point in an author journey, where creative work gains professional context and direction , more on this in my subsequent blog.
Visibility Feels Different When It Has a Purpose
I also returned to social media, this time without resistance. Sharing pieces of the journey, observing conversations around books, and engaging with readers became enjoyable rather than performative.
Once the writing felt grounded in craft and intent, visibility stopped feeling like a demand. It became an extension of the work.
What the Author Journey Changes Most: Attention
Looking back, the most significant shift was not productivity or output. It was attention.
Authoring a book changed how I observed the world and my place within it.
If you are in the middle of writing a book, you may recognise some of these shifts already, the quiet return of memory, the pull toward structure, the need for community, the desire to understand the path ahead.
Authoring a book does not announce itself with milestones or certainty. It works slowly, reshaping how you notice, connect, and commit.
And in that attentiveness, the work begins to find its own form.
What the Author Journey Changed for Me
- How I remember my past
- How I relate to people and places
- How I read, research, and structure ideas
- How I understand writing as a long process, not a single book
This is what my author journey meant for me, not in one decisive moment, but through steady attention and return. Writing a book became less about finishing something and more about learning how to stay with the work.
If you are on your own author journey, I would like to hear what has changed for you.