[00:00:00] I would venture to say that every book ever written has made some sort of impact. Of course, the magnitude and extent of that impact can really vary greatly depending on the book, the author and the quality of the work produced. But at the most basic level, a book creates an impact for its author. The process of crafting their story. , whether it's fiction or non-fiction their life story, or a subject that they're passionate about researching and telling others about really does have a profound effect.
[00:00:33] Regardless of whether they end up publishing it, the act of writing is transformative in itself.
[00:00:41] For authors who really want to make an impact in the world it's crucial that defined what that impact might look like. As an author who pursues getting their book published. You will have an impact on others, whether it's intentional, unintentional, big or small, [00:01:00] and it may surprise you. You may have an impact that you never expected.
[00:01:05] Today, I'm going to tell a personal story about an impact that a book made on my son.
[00:01:12] I'm Zach Kristensen, and this is Beyond the book presented by Juxta book.
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[00:01:26] So this story is about my son when he was three years old and we would read to him every night, , a variety of different books. One series is that he loved in particular was Curious George. One day, we read him "Curious George Makes Pancakes".
[00:01:42] In this adventure, George attends a breakfast fundraiser for the local children's hospital, with the man in the yellow hat. As always George throws himself wholeheartedly into the event, explores around and causes a little mischief along the way. But ultimately participate in a [00:02:00] fun and impactful way.
[00:02:01] After we read this book to my son, he began asking questions. What is a fundraiser? What is a children's hospital. Why do kids need to go to the hospital? What happens there? So we had a neighbor up the street that worked at the children's hospital. We went up there and my son was able to ask questions to them. And then he asked after he learned what they did, if he could help.
[00:02:26] And he ended up coming an with an idea to do an ice cream fundraiser to raise money for our local children's hospital. So as a three-year-old, he took the lead and decided which ice creams we were going to make as a family. He contributed to the creation of the flyers and helping put them up around the neighborhood and telling our neighbors about what he was doing. And the day came and it was an amazing event and we had generous donations from our neighbors. Now the hospital requested that we donate [00:03:00] toys instead of money for the children.
[00:03:02] So we use the funds to go to the store and buy toys. An amazing and fun task for any three-year-old.
[00:03:12] We then delivered the toys to the hospital, where they spent a thoughtful amount of time engaging with my son for what he did and that made him feel incredibly special.
[00:03:23] Reflecting on this experience, it's clear that this was all sparked by "Curious George Makes Pancakes" This story about a monkey participating in a fundraiser, inspired my son to make a real world difference.
[00:03:39] So for you as an author, I invite you to consider. What impact do you want your book to have. Take the time today to list out the potential impacts that you can imagine personal for yourself, impacts on your readers and, unexpected potential outcomes that could happen.[00:04:00] Maybe your book will inspire someone else to write, or perhaps it will prompt someone to take positive action in their life.
[00:04:07] Whatever it is remember that your words have the power to create positive ripples in the world
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[00:04:18] To discuss the impact that you want your buck to make.
[00:04:23] Visit juxta book.com. To set up your author coaching session today.
[00:04:29] If you have any questions about a recent episode, I'd love to hear from you. Visit juxtabook.com/beyondthebook and click the appropriate button to leave your question and we will include it in our weekly Q&A episode.
[00:04:45] Your book is just one chapter in your author journey. Think beyond the book as you craft your path. Thank you for your questions and thank you for listening.
