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open thick book, viewed from the spine laid flat on a table

So you want to write and publish a book?

Most authors don't make bank. They write to share a message, promote their expertise, or build their brand. Here's advice from a panel of six academics and authors.
book cover of Lost in Thought by Zena Hitz

Book Review: Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life by Zena Hitz

A good life means you don't work for the sake of work—you work for the sake of leisure. But what is leisure? What are the benefits of reading, studying, or thinking for its own sake?
book cover of Strong Towns by Charles Marohn

Book Review: Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity by Charles Marohn

American cities are failing. Most cities are insolvent, carrying debt they can't pay off as instructure maintenance costs loom and land values fall. What do we do?
book cover of Sprawl Repair Manual by Gail Tachieva

How Do We Fix Sprawl? Book Review: Sprawl Repair Manual by Gail Tachieva

Suburbia sprawls endlessly. Cities are insolvent. Entire neighborhoods slump into disrepair. How can we fix it all? This practical manual details a difficult, but doable, way forward.
the cover of the book Uncertain by Maggie Jackson

Book Review: Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure by Maggie Jackson

Uncertainty can be stressful. We crave predictability and answers. But uncertainty enables creativity, better performance, predictions, life planning, leadership, and more.
The book Grad School Life: Surviving and Thriving Beyond Coursework and Research by Jacqueline M. Kory-Westlund, standing up on a bookshelf with a stack of more copies behind. The cover shows a piles of papers behind the title, with a small potted plant on top of one stack, and the bottom half of the page covered in blue as if underwater

PUBLICATION DAY: Grad School Life: Surviving and Thriving Beyond Coursework and Research

Publishing a book can be a long road—but here we are at the destination! Read about my book: How to thrive in graduate school while keeping a healthy personal life!
the cover of the book Quiet by Susan Cain

Book Review: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Extroversion is the gold standard of personality in the Western world—but why? How can introverts get ahead and use their own strengths? This book explores the impact our temperaments can have on careers, learning, creativity, and more.
the cover of the book When by Daniel Pink

Book Review: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel H. Pink

Have you wondered how to take the ideal nap? When to take breaks for improved performance? The best way to start a new project? <I>When</I> has the answers.
cover of the book Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne with Lisa M. Ross

Book Review: Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids by Kim John Payne with Lisa M. Ross

Make your home quieter and calmer, with less clutter, less media, and less stress. Home is supposed to be your restful home base. This book shows you how to make it so!
book cover for Grad School Life: Surviving and Thriving Beyond Coursework and Research by Jacqueline M. Kory-Westlund. It shows a piles of papers behind the title, with a small potted plant on top of one stack, and the bottom half of the page covered in blue as if underwater

Book Update #5: Grad School Life: Publication Day is March 19, 2024 + Cover Reveal

Exciting news: I have a book cover and pub date! Plus, details on the rest of the book production process, receiving page proofs, and figuring out book promotion.
the cover of the book Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar, looking like red and white parking sign

Book Review: Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar

More space in America is dedicated to parking cars than to housing people. How did our built environment become this way? Why is parking so frustrating, the center of every zoning debate, and the key to reviving our towns?
the cover of the book The Expectation Effect by David Robson

Book Review: The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Change Your World by David Robson

What you think and how you approach a situation can significantly affect what happens. This book explains how your beliefs influence real-world outcomes—health, sleep, stress, memory, concentration, fatigue, creativity, and more.
the little blue engine that could pulling the train of toys over the mountain

Book Update #4: Chugging Through Copyediting

How is a book edited and produced? Here what's happening with my book on the slow road to publication.
the cover of Changing our Minds by Naomi Fisher

Book Review: Changing Our Minds: How Children Can Take Control of Their Own Learning by Naomi Fisher

Different kids need different learning environments; they're interested in different topics; they thrive on different tasks. So why force them to learn the same things in the same ways at the same times in schools?
the cover of the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, featuring little people running around a stylized red hamster wheel on a constrasting yellow background

Book Review: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

Habits are the backbone of daily life. How do you form new habits and create better habits? In this book, Duhigg explains how habits work—for individuals, organizations, and societies.
tags: books habits work
a book with its pages fanned out in the air reting atop three other thick volumes that are also open

Book Update #3: Revisions Complete, Entering Production!

I'm inching my book from idea to final product! Here's what the review and revision process was like, and my next steps as the book moves into production.
three wooden bookshelves filled with books

How to Start a Reading Habit

What if you don't like reading? What if you don't have time to read? What if you want to read, but just can't make yourself do it? Here's how to make reading a hobby—it's simple, and you can start today.
the cover of the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Book Review: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

This book is a fascinating examination of belonging, attachment to place, heritage, culture, connection to ancestors, and, our relationship with the world around us.
cover of the book Retrosuburbia by David Holmgren featuring a smiling man on a bike with three kids on the back, and a basketfull of greens in the front bike basket; he's smiling at a woman holding a baby goat, and another goat is standing in front of the bike nibbling the greens. A house, water tank, a man, and a woman wearing a baby on her back are in the background.

Book Review: Retrosuburbia: The Downshifters Guide to a Resilient Future by David Holmgren

Not everyone has 40 acres and a mule. This book explains how to be more sustainable, off-grid, and productive on a regular neighborhood lot!
Cover of the book Smart Brevity by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz

Book Review: Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz

No one reads, but everyone skims. How do you write shorter and smarter to reach your audience? This book shares the secret.
the cover of the book Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Book Review: Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

'People don't buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.' This fast-paced marketing and business book will help you better understand and brand yourself and your company. What is your WHY?
the cover of the book Get It Done by Ayelet Fishbach

Book Review: Get It Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation by Ayelet Fishbach

If you want to know how motivation works and how to set better goals, achieve more, procrastinate less, and sustain your motivation through the long haul, this book is for you.
closeup of a black-keyed macbook keyboard viewed at an angle

I wrote 200 words a day for two years. Here's what I learned.

I wanted to write regularly. I had writing goals! To meet them, I needed to make consistent progress... so I began writing daily. Here's how I did it, the methods that worked for me, and the best lessons learned.
a row of old leather books on a shelf

How Do You Write and Publish a Nonfiction Book?

Drawing from a recent panel discussion held by the Ronin Institute on book publishing, I answer questions about how to develop ideas, find an agent and publisher, and what the whole publishing process is like.

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About

We're Jacqueline and Randy, a blogging duo with backgrounds in tech, robots, art, and writing, now raising our family in northern Idaho.

Our goal is to encourage deliberate choices, individual responsibility, and lifelong curiosity by sharing stories about our adventures in living, loving, and learning.

Learn more about us.


Connect:

whoo@deliberateowl.com

Start here

Curious about our life and journey? Here are some good places to start reading:

Jacqueline and Randy leaning their heads together smiling at the camera

A Blog About Education, Lifestyles, and Community

A brief history of how the Deliberate Owl came to be and why we're writing a blog about us, our lives, and how we're living out our values.
Priests in red and gold celebrate a traditional Latin Mass

Discovering the Traditional Catholic Mass

How I discovered the traditional Latin Mass a few years ago, why that discovery changed everything for me, and what was wrong with the Novus Ordo Masses I'd attended.