How the Lemon Tree Mindset Helped Me Finish (and Publish) My First Book By Matt Tomporowski

Veronica Llorca-Smith likes to publish her negative reviews. I think it’s because, as authors, we tend to appreciate good reviews and obsess over bad ones. Plus, it’s funny to see what jerks on the internet will say about us. (How many books have they written, I wonder? Less than Veronica’s 4+, I bet.)

Well, for the record, here’s my Amazon review of “The Lemon Tree Mindset:”

Why did I write such a glowing review compared to a few haters on the internet who have been less than kind in their reviews?

I read “The Lemon Tree Mindset” when I was struggling to finish my first book. I was almost finished with the first draft and knew it was a mess. The writing was inconsistent, badly needed editing, and lacked a clear conclusion to wrap up the ending. I was just about ready to chuck the book and give up.

However, you know that feeling of being lost in a dark tunnel, and you see a bright light, and you figure that’s the train incoming to run you over and crush you and your dreams? Sometimes, the light you see is a lantern held by a helpful person who will guide you from the darkness. At that time, my guide turned out to be Veronica, and one of the many things she did was give me an e-copy of “The Lemon Tree Mindset.”

Roughly three months after I read Veronica’s book, I not only finished my book but I published it on Amazon. And surprise… my book is selling.

“The Lemon Tree Mindset” helped me a lot. Here are some of the key ideas that I took away that helped me finish and publish my book.

“There are 8 billion people in the world. 1 in 8 billion, that’s how special you are!”

You are unique and what you have to say is special. (Image from Canva Pro)

Do you know how many dating and relationship books have been written? A lot!

That’s how I was feeling when I was struggling with my book. At the time, I was deeply wondering why anyone would want to read my particular take on meeting people and forging relationships. But when I read the line from Lemon Tree about how I am 1 in 8 billion, it made me consider that my take on dating, relationships, (and kissing… why not!?) might actually be unique. Personally, I took that idea further and considered that there are literally thousands of authors writing and publishing their books every day. I’m smart, and I’m a good writer.

What’s stopping me from being an author with a book (or multiple books) to my credit?

Of course, the answer is myself.

I didn’t feel like my ideas were worthy, or I suffered from imposter syndrome, or whatever we may call the fundamental insecurity that prevents us from following our dreams.

But I am one in eight billion. I really am pretty unique. This means my book is going to be different from all the other books written on my topic. People are hungry to hear fresh takes on relationships (and kissing), so it felt worthwhile to complete my book and give readers a chance to discover and enjoy it.

You know what? You’re pretty unique, too.

“Dedicating 10% of your time to reinvent yourself.”

I though this article was about lemons! That’s an acorn which can grow into an oak tree. (Image from Canva Pro)

This is one of the most underrated yet valuable pieces of advice in “The Lemon Tree Mindset.” Here’s my old pattern: I would get inspired, and I would set out to do something that I imagined would significantly transform my life. I put in a lot of energy upfront and accomplished something like writing twenty pages, but after that initial spurt of momentum wore off, I ran out of steam, stopped making any progress, and had yet another unfinished project. When I found myself struggling to finish my book, I took this advice to heart, and I implemented two strategies.

First, I set myself a daily goal to write 250 words per day. That’s half a page. Even on my worst writer’s block day, I knew I could at least punch that many words out, even if they were garbage, and I wound up throwing them out. Then, I took this one step further. I promised myself that even if 250 words felt too much, I would set a timer and sit at my computer for ten minutes. If all I did was sit there staring at my cursor for ten minutes, that was enough. However, most days, I hit my 250-word target. By the time I reached 250 words or my ten-minute timer sounded, I was often in the zone, and I would keep going and finish one or even two thousand words!

Do you want to hear the result of what practicing this was? My original goal was to write a 30,000-word / 100+ page book. Practicing my micro-writing goals, my final manuscript came in at 47,814 words, and a printed copy of my book is 215 pages!

So yeah, 10% each day adds up. I know you’re busy, but carve out that sliver of time to dedicate to your passion. It’ll change your life.

“Charge Your First Dollar”

After you’ve made your first one, more will follow! (Image from Canva Pro)

This one blew my mind. Probably more than any other idea in “The Lemon Tree Mindset,” this one changed my life the most because it changed the way I think. When a lot of us start writing, we think about how we would like to earn a six or seven-figure income from writing. But up until recently, I hadn’t earned a single dollar from writing, so going from zero to an income of $1,000,000 felt like a fantasy. I could imagine it but didn’t know how to do it. But the notion of earning a single dollar from writing… I could do that! I figured that even if my book sold one copy, my royalties would be more than a dollar. That seemed easy enough. I simply needed to put my book out on Amazon, and only one person had to buy it.

Now that I’ve earned my first dollar (I actually sold four books on my first day so I blew past my $1 goal), my brain understands how easy it is to earn more than $1 in royalties from book sales.. So now the idea of earning my first $100 and then my first $1,000 doesn’t seem that difficult. Just repeat what I did before by writing more books and practicing smart marketing. More readers get to discover my books. So, seven-figure earnings, here I come!

Those are the three ideas that really stood out to me when I read “The Lemon Tree Mindset.”

Do you know what? The book contains 19 ideas!

I recommend checking it out for yourself; perhaps different points in the book will resonate with you. However, what I think is most important is the book’s basic idea that we each need to create our own lemon tree. My small lemon tree is my own Substack blog and my first book. I’m grateful to “The Lemon Tree Mindset” for helping me to plant it.

About the Author of this Post:

Matt Tomporowski

• Founding member of The Lemon Tree Mindset

• Author of: “Meeting People in Real Life: Your Guide to Easily Meet People and Make Genuine Connections for Friendship and Dating.” Available now on Amazon!

• Support Matt by subscribing to his blog on Substack: "Chasing Dreams in Middle Life."

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