writing book 3, shaping

One of the final chapters of book 3, shaping, was one of the first chapters I ever wrote for the easy town books, back in 2016.

All in all book 3 was mapped out and written in 2016, in winter 2021/22, in winter 2022/23, occasionally in 2023, and in 2024/5.

From 2016 onwards, book 3 got the most notes of all easy town books with over six hundred pages by 2021.

In January 2023, I began to write the first complete draft for book 3, and I started with the last part of the book.

My reasoning was simple. The last part starts in January, it was January, and I knew that this part had a lot of defiance and encouragement potential.
I needed both: defiance and encouragement. And it worked. I poured all the defiance I needed to keep going into the story, and felt strengthened.
I can only recommend to read these chapters whenever a boost is needed.

I remember approaching the fifteenth of February in 2023, a key-turning date in the story. I prepared everything to write more of that day’s chapter on the actual 15th of February, standing desk in front of the town’s map (on my wall), all lists and notes ready, fridge with plenty of food.

The night before the fifteenth, I got a sore throat, and my body’s first massive signal that it had enough of years of relentless overworking.

It took me a month to shake off this cold. Mind you, I continued to work, slowly, which is always quite good because I dig deeper when I don’t rush through a scene.

Over Easter 2023, I wrote the Christmas chapter in the second part of book 3. Yes, it was bizarre, but I disliked the idea of writing Christmas in another heatwave.
Shortly afterwards my body warned me again, but it still took a shoulder injury and a full-blown strike for me to finally stop working in May 2023. My body’s message was clear: either you take care of me or I won’t play along any more.

What followed was a strange time. On the one hand I was finally shocked about the state of my body, and frustrated that I couldn’t work any more. But at the same time, I began to wake up and rediscover my body, finally getting out and about, taking time to prepare foods, connecting with nature – which I had always loved, which plays a big part in my work, but I had utterly neglected to actually connect, enjoy, explore, breathe – in person, in nature.

My body forced me to take time to live, to recover, to strengthen my systems, to be in nature again, to discover yoga and kayaking, to read outside of my work, to meet people, while staying away from news.

It was a strangely joyous time of rediscovering and reconnecting. But at the time, I couldn’t even open a computer, let alone work on it.

I remember some three weeks into this time, I picked up my printed manuscript. I could read it again, but the moment, I discovered something that would need an edit, my body signalled that it wouldn’t go there. It’s quite interesting how physical these reactions were.

When got my breast cancer diagnosis in summer 2023, I pushed myself to start writing again even though I was still recovering, but I wanted and sort of needed to take a first draft of the book with me to the hospital. I did. I edited way into the night before the operation. And I remember it as a relaxing, reassuring night.

I didn’t read much in hospital, but just having the book there, the first relatively complete draft, was my rock, my reassurance that I had something to fight for.

In mid December 2023, the weekend before my cancer rehab started, I spent three days in Prague for some research for the Christmas chapter, and as a treat. In the end I used little of the new input, but I’m still glad I did I wandered through the city I knew from visiting as a child and as a young adult, and walking through the Christmas scenes on location.

While I am very happy to be breastless and didn’t have to do any therapy afterwards, recovery was very slow, often frustrating me.

Interestingly, once again I couldn’t work at the computer, and so I only edited on paper. When I finally began to write again, it was mostly by hand on paper.

To avoid slipping back into overwork, I took a mad but useful (in my case) decision: I would work on five books at the same time. This way, I avoided sinking too deeply into a single story.
I gave myself one to three weeks per book, and then forced myself to focus on a different book. The switches were brutal, but they delivered. And often I would have some ideas pouring out for different stories.

I wonder whether I should take a similar approach again after completing the CAMPAIGNS FOR OUR FUTURE. Though, presently- no, more on today, later.

In the first half of 2024, I worked on book 4, building, on THE END OF ALL WARS, on book 3, shaping, on breastless and on Charlie Alice Raya cooks. By now, the last two are on hold.

Book 4 became my ticket back to writing. For years, I had wanted to write the Blur, the first part of book 4, as a breathless, intense race for the town teams to get a site for the town. And I thought, it would probably be best to dictate it rather than write it in the first draft to have this sort of condensed time where only snippets surface because so many things happen all at once and needed to happen fast.
As a preparation for this breathless chapter I needed a meticulously plan for ten weeks of campaigns. I wouldn’t use everything, but I needed to know exactly what happened when so I could pick and choose while recording. The to compile the plan was my first back-to-work task. It was like a big fun puzzle to fill days with little snippets of what would be happening when, to cross-reference, to connect dots, to add characters, to invent campaign events, to find new questions. It was a perfect task to ease myself back into writing because it gave the explorer in me a field day every day.

After this first triumph, my next stop was to start with THE END OF ALL WARS, a story which first emerged in 2022 while I wrote the dot.story. I remember choosing a café in my neighbourhood, put a binder with A4 sheets and notes, I always accumulate, no matter what, on the table, big cappuccino next to it. And I began. It was great. After three hours of writing, I was utterly drained and happy.

For some months, I flipped between the stories while strengthening myself with workouts and yoga, and occasionally granting myself trips into nature. A magical lake in a national park became a refuge where I would at times also go to edit outdoors.

As the year progressed, and recovery still took up a lot of time, I became impatient and decided to complete THE END OF ALL WARS, the shortest of all books, so that I would have something to publish soon.

Yes, I did some overworking then, but I also remember it as a happy time, much of it spent at the magical lake, which contributed quite a bit to the story’s deep connection to nature.

After self-publishing* THE END OF ALL WARS at the end of September 2024, I decided to focus on completing book 3, shaping. And fast, because book 3 includes a Christmas chapter, I dedicated to everyone who had ever trouble with that time of the year, and I wanted the chapter to be available for the upcoming Christmas.

*Note: I still self-publish because a key part of my work is about rethinking how we do business, and the publishing sector needs as much of a rethink as any other. I drafted ideas for alternative business models and businesses, and hope to find people with the courage to shape a world that mimics nature and seeks balance, synergies and empowerment. Some of my ideas have their own website and you can find an overview of those on my main website.

Originally book 3 was supposed to be published in a single book. But when I realised that I might not be able to publish the whole book before Christmas, I decided to split the book into three parts.

Today, I can’t believe, I hadn’t thought of that before. The splits make perfect sense, and each part of book 3 has its very own flavour and flow.

But, to be honest, I also didn’t want to edit the Christmas chapter again in spring. There comes a point in editing when you need to close a chapter.

In the end, I didn’t make it in time for Christmas. Which is sort of OK.
I am not by nature a patient person, but when I write the story, it doesn’t matter how much pressure I feel. If a scene or idea needs more of my full attention, there is a sudden calm and stoicism that always surprises me and keeps me digging deeper.

For Christmas 2024, I settled for a compromise. I had just published the first part of book 3, shaping, and I read parts of the unfinished Christmas chapter, in the second part of book 3, on Christmas Eve and Christmas day on video. I published the videos on Vimeo, not wanting to go anywhere near Google. But on Vimeo the videos were pretty much lost in a vortex.

A day later, I went to Seebad Ahlbeck on the island of Usedom, for the first time in over a decade, after my sister had contacted me, after years of silence.
It was intense, strange, and infuriating to meet because we could have come together again years ago – if only we had talked.
This Christmas not only gave me back my brother, my two sisters and their mother, but it also gave me the great privilege of spending a lot of time on Usedom in 2025, giving me access to the sea, a new appreciation for forests and maybe most importantly allowed me not to be in Berlin.

Mostly on Usedom, I completed the remaining two parts of book 3, shaping, and I prepared book 4, part 1, for the CAMPAIGNS FOR OUR FUTURE.

In autumn/winter 2025, I write and publish drafts of the chapters from book 4, part 1, to make the campaign ideas in the story available. Too often, I am overworking again, mostly because I feel the urgency of taking action but also because I need to find a way to finance myself. Until I have a steady budget, I will always be in danger to work more than I should, and to take too little time to live. But, at least, I have the great fortune to temporarily spend a lot of time on Usedom, which allows me to be a lot in nature, to use my camera to explore flora, funga and fauna, and to share my finds. Plus, there is Max, the dog, who insists on going for walks.

Book 3, shaping, was long in the making and not unlike a tree, it has gained a whole collection of layers over the years.

What I like most about my work is that it doesn’t offer a recipe, philosophy, ideology or solution. My work is always an exploration, a thinking process, and an invitation to join in the process of rethinking, challenging and shaping our world.

The easy town story is a story, a story with its very own dynamics, a story which doesn’t fit any label. Most importantly it’s a contribution for a future where people and planet thrive.