You are here: Home / Archives for write a book
July 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Introducing Mindy Gibbins-Klein: “The Book Midwife™”

When I became a coach, I joined a BNI chapter in Palo Alto. And when I decided to focus on helping people write books, I was struggling to come up with a memorable “elevator pitch” that would encapsulate what I offered. One Wednesday morning, the words just popped out of my mouth, unpremeditated: “I’m Joel Orr, book midwife. You have a book inside you, and it wants to come out; I’m here to help it be born.”

Mindy Gibbins-Klein

I loved the image, and so did my BNI friends. It was sticky and evocative. And having attended a live birth in my youth, it resonated with my feelings on helping an actual human being into the world (as I had on January 5, 1975).

I began to use the “book midwife” term to promote myself–by inserting it in my email signature. Shortly thereafter, I received a warm and polite note from Mindy Gibbins-Klein. She’s been “The Book Midwife” since 2002, and has actually registered the trademark for it in both the UK and the US. She asked that I not refer to myself in that way, and I responded that I would stop doing so.

What I did not immediately understand was that calling myself a “book midwife”–quotes, no caps, no “the”–might also weaken her claim to her intellectual property, because it could lead to the phrase becoming generic. Now I know better.

As a coach of aspiring authors, I am very sensitive to such issues, and fully support Mindy’s position on this matter.

So I thought it would be appropriate for me to state publicly: If it’s “The Book Midwife” you’re looking for, that would be Mindy. From what I’ve learned about her products and services, they are first-rate. I encourage you to go to her site and sign up for her inspirational emails.

Filed Under: book writing, people & ideas, write a book Tagged With: , ,
July 12, 2010 By 2 Comments

Are you clustering?

I keep coming back to the power of clustering in this blog because I keep meeting people who once learned how to cluster and then never used it.

Part of an H0 scale model railroad layout
Image via Wikipedia

Our Creator did not provide our brain with an index. As a result, we usually don’t know what we know on any particular topic. “Do you know anything about electric trains?” “No. Well, wait–I had a Lionel set when I was 10. It had three tracks. I remember seeing some other kinds in my neighborhood hobby store–I think they were HO scale and NN scale. Oh, yeah, and…” 20 minutes later, you realize you do know something about electric trains. And given more time, you’d discover more.

Neuroscientists are making great strides in understanding how we remember stuff, but it is still mysterious in many ways. Without understanding how it all works, clustering gives us access to our knowledge so that we can make a list of what we know and don’t know about any topic.

This is useful at many phases of the book-writing process. You can cluster a title for your book; a subtitle; chapters; subchapters; and more. And before you talk to your book coach, you can cluster the topics you want to be sure to cover.

Cluster what to say in your presentation. What to tell people about on your web page. What you should pick up at the supermarket.

Clustering is a mining tool, to let you get at the riches you have stored in your mind. Gabriele Rico devotes an entire book to it:Writing the Natural Way. Highly recommended.

How do you cluster? Here’s a description from the blog of writer Dustin Wax.

Here’s the basic idea:
1.    Write a word in the middle of a sheet of paper.
2.    Circle it.
3.    Write down the first word or phrase that comes to mind and circle it.
4.    Draw a line connecting the second circle to the first.
5.    Repeat. As you write and circle new words and phrases, draw lines back to the last word, the central word, or other words that seem connected. Don’t worry about how they’re connected — the goal is to let your right-brain do its thing, which is to see patterns; later, the left-brain will take over and put the nature of those relationships into words.
6.    When you’ve filled the page, or just feel like you’ve done enough (a sign of what Rico calls a “felt-shift”), go back through what you’ve written down. Cross out words and phrases that seem irrelevant, and begin to impose some order by numbering individual bubbles or clusters. Here is where your right-brain is working in tandem with your left-brain, producing what is essentially an outline. At this point, you can either transfer your numbered clusters to a proper outline or simply begin writing in the order you’ve numbered the clusters.

Try it!

Filed Under: book love, book writing, inspiration, write a book Tagged With: , , ,
July 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Color

Not in the printing; in the writing.

Colorless writing is boring. In his blog, journalist (The Economist) and teacher Andreas Kluth writes:

Color has to be in support of something. And that something has to be an idea, a thought, a story. The mistake many writers make is to list details. Lists are boring; we use them to go shopping. Details are boring, unless they illuminate some meaning. It does not have to be epic. It can be quirky, amusing, moving, insightful, whatever. But there has to be a there there.

So the trick is to find substance, and then to take away details so that only a few splashes of light and color remain, which then filter out the entire sensual world around the reader and deliver him to that one place that you, the writer, have in mind for him. In terms of thought process, it may be the opposite of what my students were doing, and what I used to do.

I can find no better illustration than Rembrandt. You are drawn deep into this man. If I asked you, you would say that there is so much color in this painting, so much light. Only then would you notice that most of the canvas is dark, that very little of it is … in color. (Click here to see what he’s talking about.)

Thanks, Andreas. That works for non-fiction books, as well as for journalism. You want to take your reader on a journey, but it must be purposeful. I was once on a flight from the east coast to California, and the pilot took us down for a view of the Grand Canyon, because the day was beautiful. The view was fantastic, but I learned later that the pilot was severely reprimanded for departing from the flight plan. Several passengers, it seems, felt they had been taken for a ride they did not ask or pay for. Your readers deserve to get where you promised to take them, too.

Filed Under: book love, book writing, inspiration, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , , ,
June 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Learning about writing from matchbooks

I’m afraid of fiction writing. I’m afraid if I started, I would lose myself in it and forget to come out, forget to pay the bills. I’d just refine and refine and read more good writing and go back and write some more.

So I push it away. I stick to the purposeful prose of non-fiction, and teach others to do the same.

But still. I love the beauty of the writing craft, the endless possibilities. And while you are writing your book that tells your story, in a way premeditated to communicate your uniqueness to prospects and clients, you have the passion that can move, even dazzle–that can fuel a small fire in the reader, or even fireworks.

Go read about matchbook literature, and enjoy the stimulation.

Filed Under: book love, book writing, inspiration, people & ideas, write a book Tagged With: , , , ,
June 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Learning about writing from musicians

A friend sent me a video of an unusual performance of Pachelbel’s Canon in D, which you probably know and enjoy. It led me to think: How can I mirror this kind of innovation in my book writing? First watch the video; then we’ll talk.

.

OK, now that you’ve seen it, how does it speak to you? What can we model, as book writers, that can make our books more engaging? Comments are open.

Filed Under: inspiration, people & ideas, write a book Tagged With: , , ,
June 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Impressionism and the book writer

As the final installment in my birthday festivities, my wife took me to the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco, to see The Birth of Impressionism. The unusual number of well-known masterpieces by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Pisarro, Cezanne, Gauguin, and others is here thanks to the Musee D’Orsay, their usual home, undergoing extensive remodeling.

Portrait of Claude Monet, 1875, Musée d'Orsay,...
Image via Wikipedia

I have a deep love of Impressionist art, dating to a Paris visit in the eighties. It was before the conversion of the old train station into the Musee D’Orsay, and the Impressionist art was cheek-by-jowl on the walls of the Jeu de Paume building in the Tuilleries garden. (Don’t all these place names make you want to go to Paris?)

I was wandering around, wondering what all the fuss was about. I had never looked closely at Impressionist art before; it just seemed messy and blotchy. Suddenly I came upon this painting of Monet by Renoir. Reading the sparse legend, I realized that these two friends were in their early thirties when this portrait was done.

I was in my late thirties at the time. Something struck me, and suddenly it was as if Monet was a real person. Everything in the painting became real to me. And I was moved to tears.

As I moved along to other paintings, the experience continued. All the Monets and Renoirs affected me this way; also Mary Cassat’s work. Sisley’s later paintings, and some of Pisarro’s, opened that channel of light to me, too.

And it never left me. Even a small, low-resolution reproduction of a Renoir or a Monet still evokes the feelings in me, as if I were looking into another world. The art changed me, and opened new worlds for me.

That is what I aspire to in my writing: To have an impact on my reader that transcends the moment.


Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: book love, book writing, inspiration, people & ideas, write a book Tagged With: , ,
June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The story of your life is a professional asset

Joel at 17

My daughter sent me some old pictures for Father’s Day. This one is of me when I entered the Israeli army, at 17.

If the main purpose of your book is to play a part in marketing your professional services, one of the most powerful stories you can include is yours. People feel like they know you if they know something about you, and the more they know, the closer they feel to you.

You don’t need to include a complete autobiography, or the details of who came to each of your birthday parties from age 1 onward. Tell the parts that brought you to where you are today, practicing what you do.

Perhaps you had an experience that led to a turning point, a major shift of some sort. Such accounts are exciting! Everyone longs for tales of hope, because if you were able to overcome your challenges, perhaps they can overcome theirs.

Start by clustering your story, thinking in terms of its role in your book. (If you’re not sure what clustering is, search for “clustering” in this blog, using the search box at the top right.) Edit and prune unemotionally; readers will appreciate it. “Awww!” is not the reaction you want, so avoid sappy sentimentality and self-indulgence. But don’t be afraid of telling about emotions.

Some pictures of you in your youth can be helpful, but are not essential.

Don’t go overboard. Remember the purpose of the story. You are saying, “These are some of the circumstances and experiences that brought me to where I am today. This may help you understand why I am passionate about what I do, and why I feel strongly that I can help others move ahead.”

Run it by a clear-headed friend or associate, even before the book is edited. Writing about yourself is hard for everyone.

Filed Under: book love, people & ideas, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , , ,
June 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

How to structure your book?

My book-writing process is the simplest one that I know of, and I’ve examined all the ones I have found. Nevertheless, one part of it remains challenging: Creating your structure.

COLMA, CA - AUGUST 18: Home Depot workers mov...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

If you’ve read my book, or picked up pieces on my blog, you know that the basis of the Joel’s BookProgram method is one simple rule: Structure first, then content. In case this is the first you’ve heard of it, here’s my favorite metaphor: If you want to build a house, you do not begin with a trip to Home Depot. For what will you buy? How many 2×4′s? How many pounds of nails? Feet of Romex cable? And so on.

To build a house–assuming you’ve got a place to put it–you need a plan. So your first stop is the office of an architect.

After extensive discussions to establish just what you are seeking in a house–talking about everything from type of construction, number of floors, bathrooms, how long before the kids move out, room for the electric trains, to the swimming pool, and much more–the architect will draw up plans. Only after they have been gone over, revised, and re-revised, can they be turned over to a builder for estimates–and ultimately, for the creation of shopping lists.

The book equivalent of a house plan is your structure. Any writing you do without having a complete structure in place–a detailed outline down to the sub-chapter level–is likely to be a waste of time.

Your book is really its structure. The structure determines the order of what will be said, in order to get your message across. So how do you create it?

Before you even start, recognize that this is the creative, artistic part of book-writing. And for many of us, that puts us in a place of emotional intensity. We may experience exhilaration, anxiety, frustration, progress, disappointment, and fulfillment–in rapid succession, and repeatedly. Recognize that this is the nature of the process, and if you are having these feelings, you are on the right track.

The two tools that I show you for use in this phase of your book-writing journey are clustering and “the diamond.” They are all I’ve found so far, and they are powerful. But there is one other form of help you can use: Feedback. Talk through your thoughts with a coach or trusted friend.

And if you come up with any other ways to make structuring easier, please share them with me!

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: book love, book writing, inspiration, planning, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , , , , , ,
June 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

How about a typewriter for input to your iPad?

Much has been written about writing on the iPad. Those tapping out more than a few lines often opt for a Bluetooth keyboard. But the cool kids get one of these:

The USB Typewriter.

You can star in your own personal film noir fantasy with this USB-powered input device that works with any USB-capable computer, including the iPad. When mounted in back and connected, the iPad rides the carriage* from right to left as you type. It even registers a carriage return automatically and places the cursor beneath the previous line.

The best part is that there are several models to choose from, ranging in price from US$400-500. DIY types can order a $200 kit to convert their own typewriter. We love it.

*Youngn’s: The “carriage” is where the “paper” used to go and get struck by the “ink ribbon.” Ask an old person. He’ll tell you all about it.

(From TUAW.com)

Filed Under: humor, tech, write a book Tagged With: , ,
June 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Have someone interview you and write your book

You know you want to write a book. You know you need to have a book written by you, for your branding, credentialization, authority, differentiation, and more. But you just don’t have the time to write it yourself, even using my ultra-efficient process.

What can you do?

You can have someone–like me, for example–write your book for you.

The typical process depends on the writer. Most will interview you to understand your goals and direction. If you have material you’ve written that you want incorporated, that may speed up or slow down the process.

How much does it cost? There is a wide range. Hillary Clinton’s ghost writer got about $500,000 of her $8,000,000 advance (possibly the highest flat fee ever paid to a ghost writer). You can find writers in India and elsewhere who will work for very little–$3000-$4000 for a 100-page book.

Most 120-180 page ghost-writing projects will cost around $25,000-$35,000. Editing may be separate.

Why pay tens of thousands of dollars to have a book written for you? Because of its value to you, and the opportunity cost of your time. I currently have two such contracts. One is with a successful inventor, who wants his ideas to be exposed to a large audience. The other is with an up-and-coming consultant/coach/speaker, who values his own time at $500 an hour. “I can’t afford to take the tens–maybe hundreds–of hours I’d need to get my book out. Plus, I’m not a great writer,” he told me. I’ll finish his book in a couple of months, while he earns much more than I’m charging.

When hiring a ghost writer, chemistry is critical. You must be comfortable with the writer, both as a person and as a skilled craftsperson. Take your time interviewing different ones. Look for track record; empathy; and compatibility with your personality.

If you’d like to speak with me about your writing needs, schedule a free strategy call with me. I want to help you finish your book. Let’s talk.

Filed Under: book love, book writing, planning, steps to write a book, write a book Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »