Writing A Book For The First Time

In 2012, due to personal issues, I was figuring out whether to stay in the 

hair business.  I came upon  A video from a fellow hairstylist who said writing a book for the first time could be another income stream.  I needed another stream of income but could not spare time to physically be there.

I had always liked writing short stories but a whole book seemed like a huge task.  What would I write

about?  Who would read it?  There were millions of other hairstylists with oodles of experience than me.  I questioned myself and my abilities for a few days.  The bishop at my church at the time, famously said in a sermon one Sunday, “you have 3 days to have a pity party.  After that, you need to get up off your blessed assurance and do something about your life. (This is my summary of what he said okay) Thank you Bishop Bruno.  I took the whole three days.

After looking at my skill set, I found one skill that made me stand out from my peers. I did all the services

of a normal hair salon but I also did natural hair and dreadlocks. 

At the time, I was not aware I was one of the few offering the service.  I got a small notebook and laid out the structure of what I wanted my book to be like.  Writing a book for the first time meant making a note of things I learned to do unconsciously.

I don’t remember how long I took to complete it.  I only know it yanked me out of my comfort zone.  Then,

my other half told me about Canva for the design.  I learned how the platform worked and did my first e-book:  “Dreadlocks, A Hairstylist’s Manifest”.  I was also blogging which helped improve my writing a lot.  I delayed doing the paperback because it required more pages for printing.

During the lockdowns of 2020, I started another book,” Talking Hair” to pass the time.  Both books were

completed around the same time.  I refused to publish “Talking Hair” until I finished “Dreadlocks, A Hairstylist’s Manifest”.  They are both on amazon.com and I would appreciate your support.

I tried to find that video that revived my writing bug just to say thank you but did not.  I will continue looking.  If you have a skill that you want to tell people about, consider  writing a book for the first time.  Others could benefit from your expertise and you could have another income stream.

 By Paula Barker, Silkie Locks Hair Design