Book writing

Blocks, Book writing, Purpose

Why hello there! I’m back from a (mostly) glorious six month maternity leave. In that time, I’ve doubled my number of children, done roughly 8 million loads of laundry, lost almost 40 pounds, and only taken Xanax once.

Yay me!

I’ve also (mostly) conquered my fear of being alone with all four of my children.

alone with four kids pm

I learned quite a bit about fear when working with Patty Chang Anker, author of  the newly-published SOME NERVE: Lessons Learned While Becoming Brave (Riverhead).

SOME NERVE

When Patty and I started working together last year, I didn’t know I was pregnant. Then I knew I was pregnant but had no idea I was expecting twins. Then I knew I was expecting twins but had no idea how terrified I would be the first time I was left to care for all of them, at the same time, with no other adults anywhere in sight.

Exactly a year after Patty’s manuscript deadline, I held up a glass of Prosecco in her honor at the SOME NERVE launch party. That evening, in line with her book’s message, Patty asked guests to take the #SOMENERVE challenge and write down their biggest fear on the back of a postcard.

I was so terrified of my fear, I couldn’t even write it down.

Having read every word of Patty’s manuscript, I knew too well that often the thing we are most afraid of is the very thing that will bring us the most joy.

But to get there, we have to face that fear. Over, and over, and over again.

And I’m so very thankful to say that every time I’m alone with two six-month-olds, a (newly) four-year-old and a five-year-old, it gets easier and easier slightly less terrifying.

Thank you, Patty, for facing the fear of writing — and the fear of being read — for you have left us all with a beautiful, inspiring gift that has the power to change people’s lives.

—

To learn more about SOME NERVE and facing your fears, visit pattychanganker.com

And buy the book!

 

  • Comments Off on And we’re back…with some notes on Fear
  • by
Blocks, Book writing, Purpose, Q&As, Tips for authors

Today I received a reader question I just had to share with you.

This comes from an author who has published several books with major publishers. In other words, she knows what she’s doing.

She writes (edited to protect her privacy):

I call it the “You know what you should do?” syndrome. I ran into this with my last book.

I’d say I was working on a book. People would ask what it was about. I’d try out my elevator pitch on them to gauge reactions. Most friends would just give me an honest reaction (in that case, enthusiasm). Some would offer a helpful suggestion or two. And a handful would say, “You know what you should do?” and then proceed to tell me how to write my book.

I think it might be that there are some–okay, probably many–people out there who want to write books and, when they hear about someone else writing one, promptly become the writing equivalent of a backseat driver.

Their suggestions are many and not always in line with my plan for my book. This makes me feel like my idea’s not good, second guess myself, and not want to tell anybody what I’m doing!

Have you heard about this happening with other authors? And what’s your expert advice?

My advice about these book “visionaries” would be to consider them an informal (albeit uninvited) focus group. And just like every focus group, you take in all the feedback and draw your own conclusions.

The great part about getting feedback that makes you bristle is it solidifies YOUR vision for your book.

 
Kind of like when you ask your mom which dress you should wear, and she picks the blue dress. But that makes you realize you’re definitely wearing the green one.

So instead of making you feel lousy about your idea or second guess yourself, you could turn that around and silently thank that person for helping you know exactly what path you want to take.

Go green, baby, go green.

How about you? How do you deal with writing backseat drivers?

 
 

  • Comments Off on A reader asks: How should I deal with writing backseat drivers?
  • by
Blocks, Book writing, Purpose, Tips for authors

The web is abuzz with prompts for 2013 planning. “Make this your best year ever!” everyone seems to be shouting. And every day I come across a new planning tool to help me do just that.

“Too bad I can’t do that,” I caught myself thinking.

Because you see, I’m pregnant — with twins.

I launched this business last May, and there’s still so much I want to do, so many tools and programs I want to create to help you write the book you were meant to write.

But knowing come June I’ll be back in newborn land — times two — I thought I had to sit the first half of the year on the sidelines, too.

Thankfully I’ve learned not to believe everything I think.

I recently wrote on my parenting blog about how this news of twins initially knocked me down physically and emotionally. But now that I’m feeling better, I’ve realized a few things.

  • I can still make plans.
  • I can still grow my business in 2013.
  • I can still welcome the new clients who are showing up.

And most of all:

My goals are still the same, they just might take longer than I’d planned.

Maybe I’ll go crazy and indulge in one of those fun planning tools. And just like last year, I’ll come up with my guiding word for the year rather than making New Year’s resolutions.

But I’m not going to let myself feel left behind just because I’m not able to grow my business this year as much as I initially thought.

Maybe you’re in a similar situation — maybe life or business circumstances mean you won’t have the space you desperately want to write your book.

Trust that it will still be there for you, and that your life experience this next year will make it an even better book than if you’d written in now.

/ / / /

Writing prompt

Keep your hand in it

You may not be making the progress you’d hoped on your book. But instead of letting it keep you up at night with frustration, try this super simple trick:

  1. Start a new Google Doc
  2. Whenever you have a thought or want to make a note about the book you’ll eventually write, make the note.
  3. You may even want to date it, journal style.

There. Done.

You’ve captured your thought rather than hoping you remember it or pushing it away because “this isn’t the time.”

You’re slowly making progress instead of pushing the thought away.

This is creating with ease and flow.

And there’s nothing creativity loves like ease and flow.

  • Comments Off on What if this isn’t your “year of the book”?
  • by
Blocks, Book writing, Purpose, Tips for authors

A friend of mine runs a popular style blog called Frenemom. Recently, she published a post titled “Naked Cell Phone Pictures.”

I joked with her that she was just trying to get her site traffic up.

“That didn’t come close to my most popular post,” she said.

What was her most popular post?

“The one where I posted fat pictures of myself.”

(She had an INFANT at the time. She wasn’t fat, she was postpartum.)

Either way, my mind keeps going back to this story.

Why is her “fat” story her most popular post?

Is it mean-spiritedness? Good old-fashioned schadenfreude?

Or is it because in this post, she reveals a side of herself (ourselves) most of us would want to hide from the world.

I’d argue for the second.

In “Mrs. AA’s” signature tone, she writes:
Mrs. AA Frenemom

“I have read countless articles asserting that the birth of a child is a time when a woman realizes that there is someone more important than her in life and that she should now take a back seat to the upbringing of this child. Screw that.

What I realized was that it was finally time to put me first. Because if I didn’t, my little lady would see a mother who worried about what others thought of her and lived life by a script rather than a mother who embraced what was important and was incredibly happy in her own life.

Obviously I wanted my daughter to be well cared for and showered with love and affection, but I also wanted to show her that it is entirely possible not to be a fat, nutso, sweatpants-wearing “mom” type while doing it. The fog had lifted.  The bitch was back.”

And so there it is. Her “why.” The depth behind this woman’s incredible wardrobe, stunning closet, and overall fab-seeming lifestyle.

Seeing our style maven down and out makes us feel closer to her. It brings depth to a subject some might write off as frivolous. Even though we might not be able to travel the world, carry  $1,500 handbags and dress ourselves out of a closet the size of a Manhattan apartment, we can have fun watching her do it — and learn a few things along the way.

What does this have to do with you?

Most of us are writing to further our businesses. We are writing to establish our expertise and professionalism. We are writing to gain our reader’s trust. So showing a less-than side of ourselves seems counter intuitive and even detrimental to our “brands.”

Today I challenge you to challenge that thinking.

Mrs. AA concludes,

Today, because of the encouragement of my own mother and support of my husband, I have started Frenemom. It may not bring me much money or fame, but it brings me so much more. A sense of self, a sense of pride and a sense of humor. What more can a girl ask for?  (Okay, I admit it. I still want thinner thighs.)

Writing prompt

What part of your story could reveal that would build more trust, more understanding, and more connection between you and your readers?

Give it a try. Write it out even if you have no intentions of ever sharing it. See what happens.

And if you want someone to help you find the right balance, you know where to find me.

 

(By the way, my friend didn’t actually post naked photos of herself.)

  • Comments Off on That story you’d rather not tell
  • by
Book writing, Industry, Literary agents, Q&As, Tips for authors

If you are writing a book on health or wellness, you should know up front that you’ll meet some resistance from publishers if you don’t have “credentials” (code for an MD or PhD).

In this video, I asked literary agent Ned Leavitt to share some ways authors can overcome this resistance, play up the credentials you do have, and yes, land a big book deal.

NEW: Download the MP3

Tip: Import the mp3 into iTunes so you can listen to this in your car or while you’re making dinner

What you’ll learn

  • What are some of the biggest hurdles for health coaches who want to publish with a mainstream publisher (1:26)
  • What made one Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) graduate shine in front of publishers (2:40)
  • Slight audio issue at 4:38 — it passes
  • The one element your book proposal absolutely must have  (5:04)
  • Other strategies for demonstrating your credentials (7:20)
  • Should you go back and get traditional credentials (an MD or PhD) in order to get published? (9:35)
  • The role your client’s stories play in your content and your credentials (10:20)
  • Book proposals: longer? shorter? How many sample chapters should you include? Including the one mistake Ned urges you not to make (11:13)
  • How starting with a writing coach can help you through the process… including one Ned recommends (12:30)
  • If you’re not ready to write your big book, should you write and self-publish a smaller book first, such as an e-book? (Including the risks of taking this route) (13:47)

“Sometimes the people with the self experience are ahead of the curve, and so they’re discovering things that the people who are immersed in getting the credentials are not discovering.” –Ned Leavitt, literary agent

The bottom line

As Ned said, “I’m here to tell you that it’s your voice that’s going to make it work or not.”

Focus on your story. Focus on your voice. Focus on creating something that’s truly unique. Build your credentials, but don’t forget that the writing is the core piece. It’s about your story and how you tell it.

And if you need help telling that story, you know where to find it.

About Ned Leavitt

Ned is the literary agent behind Geneen Roth, Caroline Myss, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Joan Borysenko and many more leading health, spirituality, and psychology writers of our time.

The author he mentions in the video is Alisa Vitti, founder and CEO of Flo Living. Alisa helps women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s naturally correct hormonal imbalances through food and lifestyle changes. Her forthcoming book (title TBD) will be published by Harper One in 2013.

Book writing, Q&As, Tips for authors

“I thought she liked me because I was different, but maybe she just liked me because she thought she could make me the same.”

–from The Whole Story of Half a Girl

In my very first video Q&A, I asked Veera Hiranandani to tell us about her journey to getting published.

 

 

Veera is the author of The Whole Story of Half a Girl, published earlier this year by Delacorte Books for Young Readers. Lyrical prose, an insightful young narrator, and the universal struggle of finding your place in the world make this middle grade novel a work that could easily have been published as adult fiction.

Highlights from our interview:

  • How it took 4 years of writing, 2 years of editing, and one big heartbreak to publish her novel
  • How Veera wrote this book after becoming a full-time mom to two very young children
  • The benefits of working closely with an editor
  • How having a polished, complete manuscript ultimately helped her land an agent and a book deal lightning fast

 

Connect with Veera on Twitter
Read an excerpt
Buy The Whole Story of Half a Girl on Amazon

  • 1 Comment
  • by
Blocks, Book writing, Tips for authors

It’s the part of writing that is absolutely the hardest: shutting ourselves off from the world long enough to write more than a few hundred words on the page.

It’s also the part we never actually see. We see writers at parties, at book signings, and on Facebook when they come up for air. But we don’t see them holed up at their desks wearing yesterday’s yoga pants surrounded by half-eaten bags of chips, empty coffee cups, and inspirational post-it notes.

One of my clients is working on a deadline for a Penguin Putnam imprint.

When we first started working together, she had 16 weeks to deliver her manuscript. She is now halfway done.

Hitting this deadline has required a furious pace of weekly chapter deadlines, closing herself off from the world (“I say ‘no’ way more than I am comfortable with,” she says), and thinking about her book constantly (“when I shower, when I’m brushing my teeth, when I’m putting my kids’ shoes on…”).

What she doesn’t spend a lot of time doing is facing blank pages.

Before she sits down to write a chapter, she’ll spend a few hours reading through her notes and thinking through how she’ll connect the various story threads. Many of the threads have already been written (she writes up scenes directly after they happen or as soon as an interview is over — a great tip for making sure you capture your material when it is fresh and full of vivid detail), but need to be connected and shaped into well-crafted chapters.

Here’s something else she does that I love — before she starts writing she thinks about how she wants readers to feel when they read each chapter. For her most recent chapter, she says:

“I want it to feel like a joyride, where you see lots of cool stuff out the window, sometimes you stop and get out and take in the air, and at the end you arrive somewhere you’re totally psyched to be, with someone who made you laugh and feel like you were in good hands the whole time.”

And then she sits down to write.

//

What are your favorite tips for getting words on the page?

How do you shut yourself off from the world in order to write? Do you have any rituals that help get you into the flow of writing? Leave a comment below!

(Extra points if you can you guess what novel I had in mind when I wrote this post’s title.)

 

{Image credit}

Book writing, Purpose

how well do you know your reader?

If you’ve done any marketing, you know that you never start executing (coming up with strategy, design, or copy) until you understand exactly who your audience is. In the digital agency world, we call them user personas. Others call it the customer avatar. In old-school marketing, it’s called your target audience.

Whatever you call it, it’s about getting inside the head of your customer and understanding their hopes, dreams, and struggles related to what you can offer them.

The same principle applies to your non-fiction book project — but not because of marketing

I’m not suggesting writers come up with elaborate user personas to help them market a book they haven’t written. I’m suggesting you have a solid understanding of your reader before you sit down to write.

How understanding your reader will impact the book you write:

(Not to mention change your reader’s life)

  • Story: This is the foundation—telling your story in a way that creates deep meaning for your reader. This requires intimate knowledge of your reader’s struggles, fears, and dreams.
  • Connecting with where she is on her journey: If the reader of your health how-to has never made a green smoothie, you’re going to educate her differently than those who have been to Kripalu 20+ times.
  • Structure: Moms with newborns will require a completely different book structure than empty nest moms. Beginning crafters need step-by-step instruction. Build your book so that your intended audience can absorb your material.
  • Tone: Does your audience want to be met where they are, or will they work hard to understand your concepts? What other books are competing for their attention, and how do you want to be similar or different?
  • Examples: What kind of stories will you tell to drive home your big ideas? What demographics will appeal most to your reader? For example, if I’m a successful business owner looking to further my knowledge of metadata, I want to read examples of business people more successful than me, not complete newbies.
  • Exercises: What types of exercises will help your reader apply your concepts? Make them too basic, you’ve lost my attention. Make them too hard or don’t give me enough instruction, you’ve lost me, too.

Ready to give it a try?

Here’s a worksheet I dug up online to get you started. Just replace “customer” with “reader.”

If you try this out, leave a comment and let me know it goes!

{Image credit}

  • Comments Off on Don’t start writing your book until you do this
  • by
Book writing, Purpose, Tips for authors

Sure you could write your book with a simple formula.

But why?

This is your only chance to write the best book you can write.

Even if you are writing an ebook, what are the odds your readers are going to go back and read every version you release?

Give your book the time and space it deserves.  If what you are writing is truly important, it will be just as relevant twelve months from now as it will be tomorrow.

 

  • Comments Off on The easy way to write a book
  • by
Book writing, Tips for authors

“If writing a book starts with an outline, I guess I’ll never write a book.”

One of my brilliant clients said this to me recently and I couldn’t wait to prove her wrong.

While it’s true that starting with an outline gives you a clear vision of your book project, verifies that your idea can span the length of a book, and functions as the map you’ll be working from for the next several months, an outline does not have to look like something you did back in junior high.

And even though one of my favorite activities in junior high was to organize the local library’s card catalog, I can understand that not everyone does their best thinking in neatly organized lines.

So let’s look at the things you do enjoy:

  • Map making
  • Vision boarding
  • Post-it note-ing
  • Life size whiteboarding
  • Notebook doodling
  • Paper napkin dreaming

Guess what? You can outline your book using any of these methods.

In fact, you’ll be in good company: I know a bestselling author who has written 15 books. The outline for his upcoming title is currently plastered in post-its across the south side his office wall.

When you publish your book, no one is going to come back and grade you on your outline.

Don’t let technicalities hold you back from doing the work you were meant to do.