Following my last blog post I wrote a draft for my book called Rooted Digital Habits. The writing process started off furious and I, in a matter of weeks, got my thoughts and ideas onto paper. But I never got to finishing the book and felt like I was not at a place to be published; nevertheless, I held the idea of the book with me and waited for a moment where I could continue to work and get it to the next stage.
Following a month during which I had resumed school I did not work on the book, but recently I had an idea of how I would continue to expand the book which sparked my motivation to work on it and write this blog post. In this blog post I want to achieve the following: 1.) Reflect on my Writing so far and the decisions I have made, 2.) Discuss where I got my inspiration to continue writing and develop a new structure, and 3.) Designate which stones I will be stepping on next. To conclude the blog I will write a goal of where I want the book to be at by the end of the year and the steps I will take to achieve my goal.
My book currently has 11,000 words, and focuses on how our values affect our decisions and habits. The book contains influences from Deep Work by Cal Newport, 4 Disciplines of Execution, sermons I have listened to, as well as my personal experience with technology. While revising, I also found a few synopsis from Tony Renke’s books and lectures on how technology affects us. They lead me to conclude in my books, my intended audience would specifically be fellow teenagers, receiving ideas from a fellow teenager who understands the numerous benefits of technology as well as its drawbacks. I desire to speak in a way that connects with my audience, providing less arguments for certain changes, and therefore adopting a style where I inform and illustrate and allow my audience to come to their own conclusions. Thus, I plan to heavily revise my current position by adding more personal stories, removing direct opinions, and being honest with the goal of providing reflections on technology's impact on our lives. While doing this I hope to assert my perspective of faith with sincerity.
One aspect that was giving me concern was the length of the book. This led me to slow down the project considerably and attempt to take measures to add more material. Thus I concluded to move onward, I needed to restructure and change the scope of the book. What gave me inspiration for the structure of the book was an intended Windows Update. I delineated the tasks to AI. I struggled to find use cases in which I could use AI most effectively. Thus it came to me that by sharing my experience with technology I could provide honest opinions and information on how students could use digital tools in an effective and intentional manner. An idea that reflects my idea is a quote about productivity I read, which stated the key to productivity is not removing distractions, but finding something difficult you work toward. I believe this quote sums up the contrasts between my first section on building Christ centered habits, and the concept of trying to achieve something or learn a valuable skill which honors him. While writing, I realize how contrasting this is to my original theme of habits. I argue that while the topic might not immediately tie in with habits, I will find a way to connect it to building skills and making decisions that honor God. I believe a key way I could do this is by stressing the importance of intentionality in your online pursuits. Whether that be using AI, or searching for study material intentionality plays a role in where our path takes us.
The book When Breath becomes Air, developed in me a notion that our condition can heavily affect our perspective on our personal meaning. Pain and loss of hope can brand a heart. I believe technology can significantly impact our perspectives on what human values are. We can look at this from many different perspectives, the eyes of a teenager, the family, the workplace, and the whole world. In this section I will discuss what the future might look like, why we have been placed in it, and how it reflects trends in our culture.
Those are my current ideas on the new course of the book. I hope to in all these sections maintain that we do all these things to honor God. Understanding technology and how we can use it is valuable but without a root holding it together, I do not know why I would write the book or what the purpose is in reading it. I will pray for my writing that I might be able to write a book that stays true to his purpose.
Looking forward to my structural changes, I want to discuss which stones I plan to step on in the following months. I have three stones I would like to share, Young Writers Workshop, video lectures, and decisions for style. The Young Writer Workshop is a community I would like to join. I also will develop my writing style, completely free from Artificial Intelligence. I know this is a challenge I will face particularly in revisions but I believe it will serve me in the future.
The third final stepping stone is utilizing the medium of lectures to develop the content of my book. I first came across this idea while reading John Piper's book desiring God, and its start as a set of lectures at Bethlehem College. In the past I have also loved watching 3Blue1Brown’s videos and developed an appreciation for an ability to explain and teach. I hope to develop these videos and convert them into chapters. I am interested in how I might edit and build these videos. I believe this concept connects with me personally because I hope to have opportunities to teach in the future.
Looking to the next few months, I know the foundations will make major shifts in the books content and what the finish line looks like. To conclude this blog I have decided to establish three goals in regard to my writing: 1.) Write a draft for section two and three by December 31st and revise heavily 2.) Pray about how God will use this book not to my benefit but for his Kingdom and that he would establish paths to publication. 3.) Commit the morning hours of each weekend to focusing on the book and track how many hours are spent dedicated to it.
I hope to come back in December to a house being laid on the foundation that is our Lord Christ.