Good morning, friends!

Since announcing my book Hidden Genius, I’ve felt every emotion in the book — excitement, terror, and joy. But most of all, I’ve been in awe that so many of you decided to buy it months in advance. I cannot thank you enough, and I feel incredibly lucky to be part of the community we’ve built together over the last 5 years.

I recently invited you — the readers of The Profile — to submit your questions about the book-writing process. The questions were excellent, so I took my time to thoroughly answer them (and even enlisted my editor Chris Parker from publisher Harriman House to weigh in!) below.

(This is an excerpt. Check out the full Q&A here.)

To what extent is an author like a songwriter who performs? Did your audience tell you they wanted the tunes they had already heard and could even sing along to? Or did your audience tell you they wanted the new words and the future you?

I don’t know why, but when I read this question, I thought of what playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda once said: “I like the quiet it takes to pursue an idea the way I pursued 'Hamilton,' but I couldn't write a book, because there's no applause at the end of writing a book.”

I have a different take on this subject. Unlike Miranda, I thrive in the quiet that it takes to pursue an idea. I told my husband that even if I don’t sell a single copy of this book, it would’ve been worth it because I learned so much in the process of organizing my ideas and clarifying my thinking. The quiet is what thrills me, but if people enjoy the book, then that’s the cherry on top.

To answer your question more directly, there’s a mix of old and new. I included some timeless lessons I’ve learned over the years, but I also conducted new interviews from people whose fresh ideas updated my own.

I’ve always seen myself as the ‘songwriter’ because the applause from the performance isn’t as gratifying to me as the grittiness of the writing process itself.

At what point did you consider the first draft complete?

I finished it on June 28, 2022 and sent Chris the final manuscript on June 29. But what followed were endless emails with, “Can we change this?” and “Can we edit the wording here?” I continued fact-checking and tweaking words and sentences over the next few months.

I remembered something author Stephen King said about first drafts. He believes that it should take someone three months to finish a first draft because if it takes longer, you’ll lose motivation and attachment to your work. He then prescribes six weeks of "recuperation time,” so you can let the work simmer in your brain and be able to more easily identify holes in your narrative.

I did something very similar. The more it simmered, the more new ideas came to me. But of course, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

This is how I felt, according to a message I sent to a fellow author:

(The answer was “yes.” So if you’re at this stage, know you’re not alone.)

You said that you wrote the book in the “edges of time.” It really struck me, and I was wondering what the shortest amount of time you had available that you actually used to write in. How do you recognize these pockets of time to use so efficiently?

Well here’s the thing: I wrote so much of the book in my head, and that (of course) wasn’t done at a desk.

So for example, while feeding the baby at 3 a.m, I would get a breakthrough idea about how to structure a chapter or I would be on a walk and think of a detail I wanted to include. So as I went about my day, I would jot down these tiny ideas in the notes section of my phone. Once the baby was taking a nap, I would sit down at my computer and transfer the notes from my phone and work through it in Google Docs.

The shortest amount of time? 19 minutes of typing before she woke up.

But I have a secret: I don’t create an outline before I start writing. That’s because I think as I write, and I don’t know what I want to say until I’m putting it on paper. It’s like going on an adventure, but you’re not exactly sure where you’ll end up. And that is my favorite part of writing. And sometimes, as I write, there’s a war brewing within: I think I believe something, but then as I write, I realize I don’t believe that at all.

When I start a chapter, it feels like I’m starting with a jumbled jigsaw puzzle, and it’s my job to arrange it into something coherent. With every chapter, I didn’t set out teach. Rather, I wanted to learn something new, which means that the reader will likely learn as well.

So to answer your question, I’ll tell you this: Figure out how your brain works first. I literally visualize the pieces of information as being these puzzle pieces that somehow have to fit together in a nice way.

Once you realize what that is for you, then my advice is to start right away. You don’t need perfect conditions to begin. It could be while you’re driving, taking a shower, or exercising. If you allow your brain to think without structure, you’ll naturally begin making connections and coming up with ideas.

I’ll leave you with this from Stephen King:

“There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy dust all over your typewriter or computer screen. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in.

“You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you. Do you think this is fair? I think it’s fair.

“He may not be much to look at, that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist (what I get out of mine is mostly surly grunts, unless he’s on duty), but he’s got the inspiration.

“It’s right that you should do all the work and burn all the midnight oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. There’s stuff in there that can change your life. Believe me, I know.”

Read the Full Q&A Here

—

THE PROFILE DOSSIER: On Wednesday, premium members received The Profile Dossier, a comprehensive deep-dive on a prominent individual. It featured Diana Nyad, the first person to swim unassisted from Cuba to Florida. I’ve unlocked this edition, so everyone can read it below.

The Profile

The Profile Dossier: Diana Nyad, the First Person to Swim Unassisted from Cuba to Florida

At 64 years old, Diana Nyad became the first person ever to swim from Cuba to Florida without the assistance of a shark cage. It took her 53 hours to swim 110 miles in open water. Before she embarked on this treacherous journey, she hadn’t swum a single lap for 30 years, and her journey was one of endless trial and error…

Read more

4 days ago · 8 likes · 1 comment · Polina Pompliano

—

PROFILES.

— The queen of romance novels [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— Afghanistan’s crypto investors
— The world’s greatest living architect
— The ‘dictator’ in Nevada
— The artist who doesn’t write happy love songs
— The Disneyland of graveyards

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The queen of romance novels: Colleen Hoover has sold more books this year than Dr. Seuss. She’s sold more books than James Patterson and John Grisham — combined. She’s currently the best-selling novelist in the United States. Her specialty? Steamy romance novels with outrageous plot twists. Here’s how her success has upended the publishing industry’s most entrenched assumptions about what sells books. (The New York Times)

“She’s defying the laws of how the market works.”

Afghanistan’s crypto investors: In the year since the Taliban’s takeover last September, cryptocurrency use in Afghanistan has skyrocketed. Crypto has become one of the only ways to reliably send money in and out of the country as its banks are stuck in a perpetually sanctioned, purgatorial state. And, for a growing number of young women who are not allowed to work, it’s also become a source of income. (New York Magazine)

“If we want to criticize the Taliban, we will be killed.”

The world’s greatest living architect: A six-decade career has brought Frank Gehry recognition as the world’s greatest, or at least most famous, architect. For the past 10 years he’s been trying to get permission in Toronto to erect a pair of skyline-defining towers. One of the towers, at 84 stories, would be the tallest he’s ever built. Why is Gehry wading into one of the world’s biggest building booms at the worst possible time? (Bloomgerg; reply to this email if you can’t access the article)

“What sets us apart from somebody else who is in the same market conditions is we have an iconic project.”

The ‘dictator’ in Nevada: Kevin Baugh is the self-proclaimed "benevolent dictator" of the Republic of Molossia — a one-acre micronation with a population of 35 in the northwestern Nevadan desert. Molossia has its own currency, time zone, and system of measurements. This is a bizarre little story. (Business Insider)

"I can pass whatever laws I want as long as I don't offend the bigger country around me.”

The artist who doesn’t write happy love songs: In August, Michelle Branch, the Grammy winning-artist was arrested for domestic assault. She was charged for slapping her husband, Patrick Carney of the Black Keys, after learning of his alleged infidelity on tour. In this profile, Branch opens up about the challenges of her marriage, motherhood, and why she doesn’t write happy love songs. (New York Magazine)

“I’ve tried so hard to write happy love songs, and it’s really difficult to me.”]

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The Disneyland of graveyards: Other than getting a ticket to the Oscars or crashing one of its after-parties, the best way to place yourself within a crowd of Hollywood celebrities is to go to Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in Glendale, California. The cemetery’s grounds probably contain more stars per square foot than any zip code in Los Angeles. The problem is that their graves can be hard to find. Here’s how Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, a star-studded cemetery in Los Angeles, corporatized mourning in America

“One of the reasons celebrities choose to be buried there is for the anonymity it provides after death.”

✨ This installment of The Profile is free for everyone. For access to an additional section of weekly audio + video recommendations, sign up below. ✨