I often work with authors who are creating their first book later in their lives. Authoring a book demands a time commitment that a full time job might prevent. People retire, then write their memoirs, went the old motto.
I admire anyone putting out their first book after decades of reading and trying. Calling these legacy books feels correct, but that word doesn’t nail down the mighty effort of writing for publication. I’m using a more specific word now for the later-stage book. It’s a testament. Like the dictionaries do, I’m dubbing it my word of the year
Calling the work to make a legacy a testament gives shape to authoring something. It’s more than just a book when it’s a testament. The definition calls a testament “evidence of a specific event or quality.” There’s a good reason that our most important paper is called a last will and testament.
Just like we call our role an author-publisher rather than self-publisher, I think testament delivers a gravity that making a book deserves. Each book can be a testament to something, whether it’s a life crafting newspaper columns every week for decades, or telling the history of a native chieftain from colonial America. Perhaps it’s a telling of recovery from addiction into a life of self-worth. Ennoble your creating by making it worthy of word testament.
