Writing The Self-Aware Interview: Essentials for Every Enneagram Type / Why I wrote a book!
I’ve always loved to write, ever since I was a little kid. Stories and poems about my basset hounds, dramatic musicals (The Deathly Coma was a personal favorite), and soap operas about my friends (sorry, everyone!).
In college, that turned into writing articles, press releases, and more to get into the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University (Go Cougs!). It looked like quickly written Media Criticism assignments (30 minutes before my 9 am class) tracking how many times Fox News and CNN said “Hillary” instead of “Hillary Clinton,” essays about The Bachelor, and a pilot TV script from TV Writing class that I still love.
At Smashing Ideas, I was thrilled to write copy, video scripts, and voiceover for children’s content. A highlight was going to LA to watch Disney Channel stars (including Selena Gomez and the Sprouse twins) perform it.
At Amazon, writing looked a little different: endless 6-pagers, QBRs, and PRFAQs. More technical, yes, but still a challenge I enjoyed.
When I had my daughter, left Amazon, and started my own business, writing became quickly drafted Instagram posts during nap time.
After my daughter started kindergarten, I finally challenged myself to do National Novel Writing Month (RIP) and wrote 50,000 words of my first fiction novel. (Finishing and publishing that one is next on my personal writing list!)
I’ve always loved the variety of writing, and each version came with its own exciting challenges. But one life long goal kept lingering: writing and publishing a book.
For years, I got stuck somewhere between writing and editing. I was always questioning whether the project was worth finishing.
The idea for The Self-Aware Interview: Essentials for Every Enneagram Type came from my growing interest in the Enneagram around the pandemic. I honestly don’t remember how I first discovered it, but once I did, I was hooked. I listened to the podcasts. I read the books. It helped me better understand my own strengths as a Type 6 wing 5, and oddly enough, learning that Type 6 is the most common Enneagram type gave me comfort as someone who has often felt like I stood out (not always in a good way).
More importantly, it helped me understand other people better. I couldn’t help but start layering the Enneagram lens into my work as a hiring coach. It made so much sense why certain clients struggled in interviews in completely different ways. Some overprepared, some undershared, most got stuck trying to be perfect.
I started writing Instagram posts about it just to see if it resonated and it did! The blog post where I consolidated those ideas became the highest-traffic page on my website. It wasn’t even a very good blog post. It was rushed, brief, and definitely not doing the topic justice. I realized this was the book I should write.
I’ve spent the past couple of years working on this book: in my head on walks, at my desk in my office, and occasionally staring at my screen wanting to cry because words stopped making sense during editing. I share a lot of personal stories from my career in the book. They may not feel especially vulnerable to a reader, but they definitely felt that way to me while writing them and now, when I imagine them being read by friends, family and strangers.
Launching it this spring (while honestly dragging my feet) has been one of the most surreal experiences of my life. The support from my community has meant everything to me, and I can’t thank everyone enough for encouraging me to finally do it. It feels surreal to now be a published author, and even more surreal that the book hit #1 New Release on Amazon in Job Interviewing and Job Hunting!
There’s something especially full-circle about having my own product on Amazon, a company that helped shape so much of my career and where I discovered how much I love interviewing. If you read it, I’d love to know what you think (and please write a review!).
And if writing a book is something you’ve always wanted to do—do it!!! It is absolutely as scary as you think it is, but the only way through that fear is to get out of your comfort zone.
I’d also love to build a small writing group full of accountability buddies, so if that sounds like something you’d want to be part of, let me know.