Tag: book coaches

Margot’s Chateau Margaux

Oh boy. Some things pop up on the Internet and you just gotta shake your head.

Book merch, for example. It’s a thing.

Check out this Esquire article.
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a44449495/book-publishing-influencer-merch-explained/#%F0%9F%8D%BE%F0%9F%8D%B7

I’ve often bemoaned the widespread dereliction of words and literature. Increasingly, consumerism trumps education and literary exploration as a leading social value.

And why does that matter? Because good literature gives us insight into the human condition and the amazing range of roles we play as humans on the planet.

Text speak has reduced “what were once words” to a series of acronyms and emojis. So now, whatever we’re feeling, we just have to match it to the closest emoji to convey our feelings to the world. Hoo boy.

As a former professional “marketer,” I hold my nose over the introduction of book merch. Umbrellas with a favorite author’s new book title on it? Galoshes and raincoats and book covers and whatever else to show your allegiance to the words of whomever? Seriously?

Here in my blog, I have written about the rampant “commodification” of book writing and publishing. Book coaches. Book retreats. Book writing challenges. Book webinars (pick a genre, any genre). I note there is no industry accreditation for any of these purported “experts.” Just plenty of chutzpah.

The book publishing industry has gone way, way, way beyond satisfying the simple ego motivations of self-publishing, or encouraging impatient authors to utilize the so-called “vanity press.” Sadly, like cultivating love and friendship and a career “calling,” the mystery of writing as a gift of the fates and happenstance has also evaporated.

“Find your ideal life partner by following these five easy steps!” “How to make 20 friends in 20 days!” (with a money-back guarantee! No, I was just kidding about getting any money back). “Fifty ways to leave your lover.” (No, wait that was by someone else about something else.) No matter. You get my drift.

I am first to admit guilt in the realm of needing a fairly swift kick in the ass to have me consistently put pen to paper. In full sentences. Mostly.

But I never see myself giving in to the marketing claptrap of “book merch” to claim I am “successful.” I simply define success (as most writers I respect and admire) as just putting your bum in a seat every day and cranking out something. Anything.

Then again, hold up. The possibilities are undoubtedly endless for a Chateau “Margot” Margaux. Jeesh, I am a soft touch.

But seriously. Ptooey!! As if I have anything to say that is going to change or “influence” anything ….

Old school values die hard.

The Bookee

The way I see it, if KN Literary Services is a purveyor and “booker” of book coaches, then I am a “bookee.” Yesterday I had the long-awaited ZOOM consult with KN Literary Services. It was productive. I met with Publishing Consultant Sarah Bossenbroek. I was heartened when our fifteen minutes expanded to half an hour without protest or polite dismissal.

Mutual respect is essential to a fruitful working relationship. My conversation with Sarah felt like a promising start in that regard. Sarah went over the challenges she sees in my writing project that we both feel I face when writing this memoir.

To start, the acknowledgment that there is much too much material. To address this, she advised me to think about this memoir as step one and park the remaining eras on the back burner once I’ve wrung all the juice out of one of them.

Sarah identified three distinct “eras” and stages in my life that she feels will be worth exploring: 1) Childhood 2) Young adulthood 3) Early days of parenting.

Each of those life chapters presented unique challenges and lessons for me. All were teaching experiences, eventually. Exceptionally well-disguised at first. What I took from Sarah’s summary was that creating an outline would be an effective place to start. I could then make lists of scenes, stories, and incidents from which I can pick and choose. I get to decide which scenes to develop and which to leave on the literary cutting room floor. I have to say that sounds like it would be helpful. I’d been leaning that way anyway.

I was also heartened to hear Sarah already has someone in mind with whom I might be a good match. Once I put a deposit down on our contract, Sarah will connect me with her and see if we are a good fit. If her first book coach pick doesn’t work out, Sarah assures me she will seek out another. And so on until I have an official book coach and partner

This book-writing project is getting real, folks, now that there is money and a contract involved. As my husband said to me early in our courtship, “You know a man is getting serious when he lays money on the table.”

I have moved out of the giddy excitement phase about starting off on this book-writing path. I am moving inexorably into the “real work” phase. It is odd how my mind processes words differently when it knows one day there may be in front of an external reader out there. I am having more internal discussions about what to include and what to exclude from the narrative. What moves the story along. What is extraneous and what is interesting enough to keep in.

Earlier I made a comparison between book writing and making a cake. The “birth-day” is today. I have to assemble the ingredients. I need to decide if I will proceed with KN Literary Services to commit and engage a book coach.

Where I did say earlier that engaging a book coach might be premature, I now believe the investment might be the difference between getting the book done or not.

Going forward, I will let you know what I decide. Full disclosure, I am leaning heavily into the “onward” camp. I’ve come this far.

Raging Debate

To tell or not to tell? How widely should I spread the word that I am writing a book? It is often cliche and code for “not doing much of anything.” Well, given this blog is about writing a book, that ship has already sailed. But telling the world I am writing a memoir to be accountable is not to be confused with disclosing everything that will go into that memoir.

I once read that the brain doesn’t distinguish between the stories you write on paper and the stories you share out loud. Once you’ve shared, the logic goes, the brain thinks you’ve done it. What I read about this phenomenon doesn’t fully explain how this happens. But it has slivers of sense in it.

Research suggests that discussing the story you are planning to write can actually make you less likely to succeed and finish it. It’s almost like your brain gets tricked into thinking that you’ve already put in the effort and achieved the goal. So, instead of inspiring you to move forward, the act of discussing your work widely before it is completed can actually dampen your motivation.

There is this fairly reasonable fear in artists of fragmenting their vision or misspending their creative energy and momentum. If they allow their drafty drawings or words and stories to be disseminated too far and wide before they are finished, creativity could come to a halt. Writer’s block, for example. That has a host of causes but letting cats out of the bag can be part of it. Releasing sections of our writing into the world prematurely makes it harder to stay focused and committed to the book project’s path. It is like dispersing energy to the wind. Usually unrecoverable. Like time.

There is another good reason for keeping your artistic cards close to your chest. For many authors, even those who have carefully outlined and story-boarded their manuscript, it can happen that their writing doesn’t quite behave and stay on track with the writer’s vision. Plots have been known to deviate onto their own inherent logical path. It would be a pity not to pursue an interesting plot line if it was just sitting there beckoning to you with a broad smile and open arms.

I also hear characters take on a life of their own. You have to follow where your characters lead, not vice versa. Many authors have told me this. Keeping that which is precious and emerging from your creative depths both safe and protected is a generally accepted artistic “best practice.” You wouldn’t think of leaving your infant outside at the mercy of the elements or pushing him or her to tackle something before they are ready.

So to err on the side of caution, I won’t share any chunks of the emerging memoir. Not anymore anyway. From now on, my mantra is “Write don’t tell.” Or is that “Show don’t tell?” I get so mixed up about what I am supposed to do in my writing. I have been listening to way too many online book coaches.

Margot’s Argot

In an earlier post, I talked about my pleasant interaction with a book coach following the Perfect Your Process Writing Summit. Presently, I’m neck-deep in researching my subject matter, dates, places, events, and so on, and learning what I need to do to eventually get myself over the book publishing finish line. That seems like plenty to tackle for now.

But I’m not gonna lie. Having a knowledgeable someone to hold my hand and kick my ass in the doldrums could be helpful. Even better, it feels great to think that there would be someone else I could blame for my procrastination. Or failure.

The first challenge in finding such a person is imagining who that special someone might be. In that regard, bringing a book coach into your life feels a lot like falling in love and setting up house. Without all the sexual tension and dirty dishes. So how does an aspiring author go about acquiring and hiring such a person? Make no mistake. Acquisition is precisely the word. There is a marketplace out there with no end of well-meaning book coaches hawking their wares. And just like any corner of the capitalistic marketplace, the offerings are widely diverse.

Some book coaches have developed their own “processes.” They lure you in with their assertions to the secret world of publishing. Soon you are learning the special language of the publisher and the publishee. Just follow them, step-by-step, they exhort, and you shall be a published author in no time flat. When I came across one particularly comprehensive sales pitch, I checked out their website. I have never been so confused in my life.

That link led to this welcome page and then you sign up for the community here and, while you are at it, submit some of your writing so that others can critique it and that page will lead you back to a page where you can critique the work of others and if you get your draft submitted within this timeframe, you may get some of your money back and … whew. I am exhausted and I haven’t even talked to anyone personally yet. Maybe I’m not supposed to.

I have always had mixed feelings about argot. That special language professionals use to deem you an “insider” or an “outsider.” Think lawyers, doctors, and engineers. Professional training is in large part, language training. Argot – according to Merriam-Webster: “The language used by a particular type or group of people: an often more or less secret vocabulary and idiom peculiar to a particular group.” Well, that definition seems straightforward enough. I read further in the American Heritage Dictionary. “A secret language or conventional slang peculiar to thieves, tramps, and vagabonds devised for purposes of disguise and concealment.” Now that resonates a little too close to home. I am a recovering lawyer after all.

This is not to suggest that book coaches do anything improper or untoward in offering their offerings. But it does have that uncomfortable feeling of “one size fits all.” The promise that anyone can write a book but only if you follow their inherently, foolproof methodology seems a bold statement to me. You can’t argue with success, of course.

If I can be persuaded that countless numbers of illiterate aspiring authors were trained up to become New York Times #1 bestselling authors by following a certain prescription, I would eagerly jump on board. But neither words nor authors adhere that closely to prescriptions in my experience. There is the X factor that makes Stephen King who he is or more accurately the writer he became. He developed his voice over years and years as most successful authors do.

And no one who devours a steady diet of Stephen King’s books necessarily wants to read F. Scott Fitzgerald. Not even The Great Gatsby in Grade 11 English class. After graduation, even less. There is a fairly marked stylistic divide between those two particular genres. As is to be expected in the alchemy of developing a voice.

A book coach may be a good idea up the road but seems premature for me. A conventional first draft book manuscript runs around 50,000 – 70,000 words. I will be more comfortable hiring a book coach when I am at least halfway to that word count, which I presently am not. What happened to the days when intrepid authors sat in their grottoes and submitted query letter after query letter in vain to numerous disinterested publishers and toiled in oblivion for years before their great talent was recognized and, finally, fame, stardom, and wealth inevitably followed? Ya. I don’t really think that ever was a thing except for the favored few. Particularly for those with a trust fund or a wealthy spouse.

For me, for now, I will continue to toil in obscurity in my grotto. Seriously. Given the stage I am presently at in writing this book, getting my word count close to something that eventually impresses me that I am a real author is more urgent. Getting there would at least convince me I am becoming one. PS This is my thirtieth consecutive blog post. That accomplishment is helping me feel like a real writer. In any case, it’s a start.