Welcome back to the waitlist for my upcoming book, The Quarter-Life Catalyst.

Here’s what’s new:

February 20th last month was a VERY exciting day for me.

Because after nearly ten months of writing, thinking, deleting, rewriting and questioning my life choices… I finally finished my first draft of The Quarter-Life Catalyst.

When I first opened an empty Word document in a quiet café in Gran Canaria last year, I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into.

I had the idea for the book.
A rough structure.
And about a million messy thoughts.

What I definitely didn’t expect was that this little project would stretch into nearly a full year of travel, learning, reflection and slowly shaping a simple idea into the biggest project I’ve ever tackled.

So, finishing that first draft felt pretty surreal. And if finishing the first draft felt this good… I can only imagine what it will feel like to eventually publish.

At this stage I’m aiming for the end of the year. Or maybe as a birthday present to myself in January 😎. Either way, it’s coming.

Now, over the last few weeks I’ve started working back through the manuscript and building the second draft.

I originally thought this would be a quick tidy-up.

Let’s just say… I was wrong.

I don’t mean to be too harsh on Gabe from ten months ago, but wow my writing (and thinking) has improved a lot since those early chapters. There’s still a huge amount of work to do across the whole book, but I’m honestly loving this stage of the process.

And as I’ve been revisiting the manuscript almost a year after starting the project, it felt like a good time to reflect on a few of the biggest lessons I’ve learned along the way.

When I first started writing the book, I obviously wanted it to sound great. Straight off the bat I was expecting beautiful, flowing sentences. But turns out… that’s not how writing works.

My first chapter moved at about 100 words an hour, and it honestly took me over a month to get to chapter two. At that rate, I had five years of drafting ahead of me. I knew something had to change, so I started reading and researching about the writing process.

As much as my perfectionism demanded beautiful sentences, the recurring advice was just get the words out. Shitty words first.

So painfully, I did. I refused to stop myself if I didn’t love a sentence and aimed to write about a thousand messy words per sitting. Finally, the book began to move. And the funny thing was that each time, the words felt a little less shitty ✨.

Looking back at those early chapters now, it is safe to say I followed the advice because wow… some of those words really were terrible. Now, with all those shitty words behind me, I finally have something to work with: something I can shape, refine, and actually make sense of.

But here’s the bigger lesson:

So many of us wait for the perfect plan, the perfect idea, or the perfect timing. But clarity rarely shows up first. It arrives after we start, after we embrace the mess. Sometimes, the only way forward is to let the imperfect, messy version exist. Action before clarity.

Over the past year I’ve probably spent close to one thousand hours working on this book.

And I haven’t earned a single dollar from it.

That might sound strange but honestly, it’s been one of the most insightful parts of the experience.

In his book What’s Your Dream?, Simon Squibb talks about how you know something might actually be your dream when the excitement doesn’t fade after a few weeks. When you keep coming back to it.

That idea has really stuck with me during this process. Because writing this book hasn’t been glamorous. Some days it’s frustrating. Some days the words just won’t come out.

But there’s a quiet pull that keeps drawing me back to the laptop. When I’m working on something I truly care about, the motivation feels almost inexhaustible.

Of course, I’d love to eventually build a career around this work. But if money had been the main motivation, this project probably wouldn’t have lasted a year already (and counting)!

One of the most pleasant surprises of this whole journey has been how people respond when I start talking about what I am building.

At first, I was insanely nervous to share the idea of the book. Naturally, I thought people might judge or think it was silly. But the opposite has mostly happened.

People have been curious, supportive, and surprisingly helpful. I have found that once you start talking about a project openly, interesting things happen.

People connect dots you can’t see.
They suggest people you should speak to.
They offer new ideas and encouragement.

A great example happened recently when I shared some of my ideas with a friend. She suggested I speak with someone she knew in the public speaking space.

One conversation led to another… and before I knew it, I landed a new role delivering workshops with BOP Industries (I am starting this week)!

That definitely wasn’t part of the original plan. It was just the natural ripple effect of talking about what I was building.

And I think there’s a lesson there too.

A lot of us keep our ideas private because we’re afraid they’re not polished enough yet. But sometimes the act of sharing the idea is exactly what helps it grow.

Right now, my focus is finishing the second draft by the end of April.

After that I’ll start sharing the manuscript with a few early readers while I dive deeper into understanding the publishing process and looking for a great editor.

If anyone reading this has experience with editing, publishing, or the book world in general, I would absolutely love to hear from you!

Talk soon,

Gabe