Today, one year later to the date, I was drawn to the domain I purchased for the book I started to write on June 16, 2020. I don’t plan to keep the domain, so being a thrifty person, I figured I’d archive the two posts from thesafetyhabit dot com to this blog. For history’s sake, here are the blog posts from June 16, 2020 and July 15, 2020 respectively with an update immediately following:
6/16/2020 – Thanks for the Challenge!
James Altucher laid down a 30-day book challenge and I’m taking him up on it. Today, June 16, 2020, marks day 1 of the 30 day challenge to write a book. Yes, a whole dang book. Inspired by James, I’m taking publishing into my own hands, and taking the step (leap?) to write my first book. I have been constrained for too long with rules set by 0lds who have been rendered obsolete by the internet. Follow along, and please check out the final product when it is ready. And please, be similarly inspired by James if you’ve always wanted to write a book too!
Check out James’ post that started it all on LinkedIn.
7/15/2020 – The book is live!
Today is the day! I completed the 30 Day Book Challenge by taking it down to the wire, the 30th day… but I did it! I feel like I’ve formed a new habit, hmm…
You can get the book for free with Kindle Unlimited, other options at the link.
Make sure to leave a review after you check it out!

OK, back to 2021…
A year later, what have I learned?
- People assume that because you’ve written a book, you’re making a lot of money off of it. This is very very false, especially when dealing with Kindle as your sole route of distribution.
- People will call you an author now. I find this a little weird, but technically it is true – I wrote a book. However, I’m married to an actual writer, so I understand there are standards of how an author should be evaluated! That said, I’m still proud to be an “author of a Kindle book.”
- An e-book can be the new business card in the virtual world. A hard copy book can be a business card in the real world. Either sets you apart from the crowd, the latter makes it a bit harder for the receiver to recycle what you just handed them…
- Writing a book is like getting a tattoo, you’re already thinking of the next one while finishing the current one. And yes, I have another book in the works! I may need to utilize the structure of the 30-day challenge to get this one done as I started it in 2017…
- People like physical books. I haven’t promoted The Safety Habit book much, but whenever I do, a few folks ask for a paperback. Kindle actually has a paperback option, but The Safety Habit (version 1) was a little too short to publish that way. Keep an eye out for a slightly updated version of The Safety Habit so it can be published as a paperback along with my second book.
- Audio books aren’t easy! As a relatively experienced podcaster, I thought recording an audiobook would be a cake walk. It wasn’t. Short advice: read and fully understand the requirements of recording audiobook files before dedicating a Saturday morning to what could be a fruitless endeavor. Oops.
Thanks for coming with me on this reflection, if you haven’t read The Safety Habit, I’d obviously love it if you did! If you’ve already read it, you can gift a copy to another person – pass it on! It’s “dads and grads” season, and the book has a familial angle that makes it a perfect gift.