#AmWriting

Kids, this is a Blueprint for a Book Summer Challenge Bonus Episode. I’ll be dropping these weekly throughout the Summer 2022 Challenge. Some of you are already signed up and challenging away, turning in weekly assignments and pushing yourself to get this done.

Some of you are #AmWriting supporters who’ve put your $$$ where your <3 is (that’s an old school pre-emoji keyboard heart, in case you’re wondering). We appreciate you—and so you’re getting these bonus episodes too.

I touched on this in the bonus for Blueprint episode 1—but now I get to really dig in. The change is the theme, y’all. If your readers are going to learn how to be happier parents—the theme is around happiness and why it matters (and why we resist it, in the case of my own non-fiction). If your protagonist is going to learn to value what’s important to her over what she’s been told she should value, that’s your theme (oh, and also why it matters and why it’s so hard to trust ourselves to figure out what makes us happy). Or if she’s going to learn that you cannot be happy while you’re hiding yourself from the people she loves… why, your theme might just be around being true to yourself and understanding what will make you happy! (Hello, yes, I have a single theme that I return to again and again, as do many of us.)

But you may not be able to spot that theme from the beginning. So trust me—to find your theme, keep coming back to that change, in yourself, the protagonist(s) or the reader until you can put that baby on a bumper sticker. That’s when you know you’ve got it.

How to listen: if you’ve listened to any previous Bonus episodes or Minisodes, this one should already BE in your podcast feed. If not, click on the link to listen and you’ll find yourself at amwriting.substack.com. You COULD listen there, but we’re guessing you’d rather get all subscriber episodes, from now on, in your usual podcast-listening app. It’s easy, and you only have to do it once to get every #Minisode from now on right where you want it.

So click “listen in podcast app.” You’ll get an email with a link in it. Click the link—ON YOUR PHONE—and you will get a menu of the most popular podcast apps. Chose yours and click, and you’ll have a new “private” podcast feed for supporters only.

If your favorite listening app isn’t included, fear not. There’s an RSS link in the email. Your podcast app has a way to add that—it’s probably a “+” sign somewhere on your main page. Add the link once, and any time we do a #SupporterMini, you’ll get it without having to do a thing. (Trust us, it’s easy. This is WHY we chose Substack.)

I want to believe I can change. Show me how.

The “arc of change” is famous in fiction, and it’s much the same in memoir–but there’s a change and shift in non-fiction too. Change is what pulls the reader from the beginning to the end of every narrative book. Without the promise of change, your reader feels like they’re going nowhere, and they won’t come along for your ride.

In fiction and memoir, the change comes to the protagonist (and offers the reader the promise that they, too, are capable of change. In non-fiction, change may come to the narrator, to a real-life figure, or be offered to the reader, but it has to be there. It isn’t enough that the advice is sound or that a story is true. We still need to feel that journey from one way of being to another.

This is the fifth episode in the 10-part Blueprint for a Book Series. Start with Step 1, do the work (we’ll give you an assignment every week), and in 10 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation for a first draft or revision of your project that will help you push through to “the end”. Find details on the challenge HERE. 

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Write out the answers to the following questions:

Fiction and narrative memoir:

Answer the following questions:

* Who is your protagonist? (If you’re writing memoir, it’s you.) What do they want at the start of the story?

* What is their arc of change – their transformation journey? What do they know or believe or understand at the end of the story that they didn’t at the start? How are they different?

* What stands in the way of the protagonist getting what they want, externally and internally?

* Are they telling the tale?

* Will there be other POV characters?

Nonfiction and Self-Help/Memoir:

Define the arc of change – the transformation journey – for your reader.

*  What do they know or believe or understand when they pick up your book? Be specific.

* What do they know or believe or understand when they finish your book that they didn’t at the start? Be specific.

(Note: We suggest you download a Blueprint answer workbook to keep track of your 10 assignments. That will make it easier to revise, review and come back to your work. Click to grab yours for fiction or nonfiction. If you are writing narrative memoir (a story), use the fiction workbook and assignments. If you are writing self-help/memoir, use the nonfiction workbook and assignments. Prefer paper? Tape the assignment into your journal and make a nice big heading so you know: This is Step 5: CHANGE.)

LINKS

The Story Grid

Story Genius, Lisa Cron

The terrible cat/rich dude movie: Nine Lives

Atlas of the Heart, Brené Brown

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman

How to Stop Time, Matt Haig

Boyfriend, Sarina Bowen

The Premonition, Michael Lewis

Blueprint for a Book (Fiction and Memoir)

Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book

TODAY’S COACHES

Savannah Gilbo is a certified developmental editor and book coach who helps fiction authors write, edit, and publish stories that work. She loves working on commercial fiction for all age ranges, but her favorite genres include fantasy, science fiction, and romance. Savannah became a certified Author Accelerator in 2019 and has been helping writers (full time) ever since! Find more at savannahgilbo.com. 

For more from KJ, subscribe to her newsletter: Read. Eat. Listen. Or grab one of her novels, In Her Boots and The Chicken Sisters, wherever books are sold. Wondering about KJ as a book coach? Her current offerings are HERE. 

For more from Jennie, subscribe to her weekly newsletter. Or grab one of her Blueprint books, wherever books are sold. You can learn about getting matched with an Author Accelerator book coach or becoming a book coach at authoraccelerator.com.

This summer is all about starting a project, but if you already have a novel or memoir manuscript and you’re ready to go ALL IN, you’re going to want to do Author Accelerator’s Manuscript Incubator. Registration is open for the intensive, 7-month coaching opportunity that offers one-on-one support and guidance for novelists and memoirists planning to have a submission-ready project by early 2023—and includes the opportunity to have that project reviewed by a group of agents and editors when it’s ready. For more information, head to authoraccelerator.com/manuscript-incubator.

Kids, this is a Blueprint for a Book Summer Challenge Bonus Episode. I’ll be dropping these weekly throughout the Summer 2022 Challenge. Some of you are already signed up and challenging away, turning in weekly assignments and pushing yourself to get this done.

Some of you are #AmWriting supporters who’ve put your $$$ where your <3 is (that’s an old school pre-emoji keyboard heart, in case you’re wondering). We appreciate you—and so you’re getting these bonus episodes too.

This is a longish episode in the hopes of offering you some shortcuts to writing a short thing—that often feels super-hard.

Here’s my shortcut to a starter sentence for your logline for fiction/biography or narrative nonfiction (read on for memoir and prescriptive non-fic):

On the verge of/About to/Just after/Just before CURRENT LIFE, a NOUN who HAS A PROBLEM discovers/is drawn into/some other action THE INCITING INCIDENT/PLOT PROBLEM and STAKES, but when TWIST, s/h/the/y must SOLVE INTERNAL PROBLEM to SOLVE PLOT PROBLEM.

Here’s my current one. I can transform this into jacket copy by adding some proper names and sparking it up—but starting with a terrible run-on sentence like this can be really helpful.

On the verge of losing a chance to start over in the small town she loves, a woman who believes her flaky mother destroyed her life by depending on fortune-telling and magic discovers that cookies with the images of the family heirloom Tarot cards she stole long ago have the ability to change her life and the lives of others, but when her attempts to control the cards play right into the hand of a witch more powerful than she’d ever imagined, she must recognize that true power lies in letting those you love make their own choices in order to save her daughter from sacrificing herself to a destiny that might not be her own.

For memoir, it’s similar but a little different.

On the verge of/About to/Just after/Just before/description of where author started, AUTHOR AND WHY WE CARE ABOUT/RELATE TO THEM (usually includes dramatic core narrative or how core narrative is universal) does/endures/experiences THE PLOT and learns THE CHANGE in order to survive/grow up/find something/achieve something.

Finally, for instructive/prescriptive nonfic:

AUTHOR/EXPERTISE offers a guide to/provides lessons in/ demonstrates/shares THE OSTENSIBLE THING BEING TAUGHT and gives readers/shows THE REAL TAKEAWAY FOR LIFE.

These are really logline cheats (and the Publisher’s Marketplace stuff I promised is WAY below)—but you can do the same thing by grabbing your comp books, looking at the jacket copy and then taking out all the specifics and replacing them with generalities, then use the various transitional words—on the verge of, but when, forced to, faced with or studied, learned, translated, to help readers, readers will learn—to make your own awful Frankenstein monster version.

How to listen: if you’ve listened to any previous Bonus episodes or Minisodes, this one should already BE in your podcast feed. If not, click on the link to listen and you’ll find yourself at amwriting.substack.com. You COULD listen there, but we’re guessing you’d rather get all subscriber episodes, from now on, in your usual podcast-listening app. It’s easy, and you only have to do it once to get every #Minisode from now on right where you want it.

So click “listen in podcast app.” You’ll get an email with a link in it. Click the link—ON YOUR PHONE—and you will get a menu of the most popular podcast apps. Chose yours and click, and you’ll have a new “private” podcast feed for supporters only.

If your favorite listening app isn’t included, fear not. There’s an RSS link in the email. Your podcast app has a way to add that—it’s probably a “+” sign somewhere on your main page. Add the link once, and any time we do a #SupporterMini, you’ll get it without having to do a thing. (Trust us, it’s easy. This is WHY we chose Substack.)

What follows (and will be too long for the show notes, you’re going to have to click through to the website to see it) is the Publishers’ Marketplace from 7/20/22. DO NOT LET IT WORRY YOU. Sure there are lots of CEOS and second-time authors here (and a neurosurgeon, jeez) but there are also debut authors and plenty of people you’ve never heard of. I love these, they’re very informative about what the INDUSTRY is looking for. It’s all there, fiction to memoir to non-fic to children’s and YA down at the bottom. Heck—bonus in the form of some agents and editors you might be interested in. The links probably won’t work, though, as I think they require a PM subscription.

Fiction

Debut

Emily Jane's ON EARTH AS IT IS ON TELEVISION, in which the world is rocked by the arrival of alien spacecrafts that appear over major cities only to disappear as suddenly as they arrived, leaving humanity to wonder why they came and what happens next, to Adam Wilson at Hyperion Avenue, for publication in summer 2023, by Holly Root at Root Literary (world). Rights:[email protected]

General/Other

Author of THE WIFE UPSTAIRS Rachel Hawkins's THE VILLA, a dual timeline Gothic suspense following two women on a trip to Italy, where they uncover the deadly legacy of their rental villa, tracing back to one unforgettable summer in the 1970s whose events reverberate into the present day, to Sarah Cantin at St. Martin's, for publication in January 2023, by Holly Root at Root Literary (world English). Foreign: Heather Baror at Baror International Film: Jon Cassir and Berni Barta at CAA

Noa Yedlin's STOCKHOLM, the basis for a Israeli television series optioned by Amazon Studios, a dark comedy in which four lifelong friends in their 70s conspire to hide the corpse of their friend, a leading contender for the Nobel Prize in economics who has been found dead just one week before the prize's announcement, a plot that begins as a tribute to the legacy of their late friend but becomes a revealing journey that will test their bonds, their sanity, and the lengths they will go for redemption, to Daniella Wexler at Harper Via, by Elizabeth Winick Rubinstein at McIntosh & Otis, on behalf of Steph Thwaites at Curtis Brown (world English).

Women's/Romance

Michele Dunaway's WHAT HAPPENS IN THE AIR, in which a photojournalist returns home only to find her father involved in a feud that could endanger the town's hot air balloon festival, and she and her widowed high school sweetheart are the only ones who can fix it, to Megan Broderick at Harlequin Special Edition, in a nice deal, in a three-book deal, for publication in January 2023, by Jennifer Herrington at Harvey Klinger (world).

Sidney Halston's VALENTINE'S HATE, an enemies-to-lovers holiday romance, featuring an anti-Valentine's Day heroine who, while preparing for her best friend's Valentine's Day wedding, runs into the man who ruined her love for the holiday many years ago, through a series of unfortunate events they end up sharing a hotel suite, to Tessa Woodward at Avon, for publication in winter 2023, by Sarah Younger at Nancy Yost Literary Agency (world).

Willow Quinn's THE RIDE, a debut rom-com pitched as FORCES OF NATURE meets ALONG CAME POLLY, where a straight-laced architect who analyzes and calculates his every decision has no choice but to journey down the path less traveled, in more ways than one, when he hitches a ride with an eccentric free spirit, to Gilded Press, in a nice deal, for publication in the summer of 2023 (world).[email protected] Rights contact(s):[email protected]

Digital

Fiction: Mystery/Crime

Author of IMAGINING ELSEWHERE Sara Hosey's SUMMER PEOPLE, in which a neurodiverse seventeen-year-old girl hoping to enjoy her last summer before college in her small, sleepy town instead discovers the body of a friend in the polluted town lake, forcing her to investigate and find justice for his death, even if it means implicating her own family and community, to Sue Arroyo at CamCat Books, with Helga Schier editing, in a nice deal, for publication in summer 2023 (world).

Non-ficti…

How do we make our ideal reader say Oh—THIS is the book for me?

In our first two episodes, we dug down into why we write and how to share that why with the reader. In the last episode, we hung a quick right and got really practical about that reader and how to reach her–in other words, we talked about the market and why it’s important to understand where your book will sit on the shelf if you want the right readers to find it.

In this episode, we’re going to talk about what happens when one of those potential readers picks your book up off that shelf–and turns it over. That means we’re talking jacket copy! You might have heard writing advice that basically says, quit daydreaming about what your cover will look like before you’ve written your book–but we’re not talking about the cover art. Jacket copy is important and drafting it now will help you find your story. It’s the promise you make to the reader–so the sooner you write it, the harder you can focus on keeping it–or changing it. Plus, it’s useful in a whole lot of ways.

Like your point, your jacket copy is probably something you will come back to again and again as you write your book—but every time, it will help you hone your mission and clarify why you’re still sitting in that chair, typing away.

This is the fourth episode in the 10-part Blueprint for a Book Series. Start with Step 1, do the work (we’ll give you an assignment every week), and in 10 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation for a first draft or revision of your project that will help you push through to “the end”. For the details on the challenge, and to sign up for weekly encouragement, bonuses and the chance to win a blueprint critique, head to authoraccelerator.com/amwritingblueprintchallenge. 

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Write jacket copy for the book you want to write. Study the jacket copy of the comp titles you found in Step 3 to get a feel for how it should sound. Make it no more than 250 words.

(Note: We suggest you download a Blueprint answer workbook to keep track of your 10 assignments. That will make it easier to revise, review and come back to your work. Click to grab yours for fiction or nonfiction. If you are writing narrative memoir (a story), use the fiction workbook and assignments. If you are writing self-help/memoir, use the nonfiction workbook and assignments. Prefer paper? Tape the assignment into your journal and make a nice big heading so you know: This is Step 4. This is Jacket Copy.)

LINKS

The Bohemians, Jasmin Darznik

Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert

We Need to Talk: A Memoir About Wealth, Jennifer Risher

Making Numbers Count, Karla Starr & Chip Heath

Made to Stick, Chip Heath & Dan Heath

Miss Independent, Nicole Lapin

The S**t No One Tells You About Writing Podcast

Blueprint for a Book (Fiction and Memoir)

Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book

TODAY’S COACHES

Michelle Cox loves helping women in midlife and people in recovery tell their truths through fiction and nonfiction. She’s an Author Accelerator certified book coach, having undergone the rigorous training needed to become certified in fiction and nonfiction. She’s also the creator of Addicts to Authors “You Should Write a Book: Let’s Find Your Story©” program and the Fearless Midlife Writers Book-coaching© program. She has nearly three decades of experience as a professional writer, editor, journalist and writing coach. You can find her at bookcoachingworks.com.

For more from KJ, subscribe to her newsletter: Read. Eat. Listen. Or grab one of her novels, In Her Boots and The Chicken Sisters, wherever books are sold. Wondering about KJ as a book coach? Her current offerings are HERE. 

For more from Jennie, subscribe to her weekly newsletter. Or grab one of her Blueprint books, wherever books are sold. You can learn about getting matched with an Author Accelerator book coach or becoming a book coach at authoraccelerator.com

This summer is all about starting a project, but if you already have a novel or memoir manuscript and you’re ready to go ALL IN, you’re going to want to do Author Accelerator’s Manuscript Incubator. Registration is open for the intensive, 7-month coaching opportunity that offers one-on-one support and guidance for novelists and memoirists planning to have a submission-ready project by early 2023—and includes the opportunity to have that project reviewed by a group of agents and editors when it’s ready. For more information, head to authoraccelerator.com/manuscript-incubator.

THE MARKET.

First of all, I am having the best day here. I’m through 9 of 10 phone call/Zoom interviews about In Her Boots, and 8 of those interviewers appeared to have read it or at least in one case started it (a record) and a bunch of them seemed to have genuinely LOVED it and I’m delighted. Why tell you this here? In part because something readers have come back to several times is a piece of the book that I changed, at my editor’s suggestion—because she thought readers would want something different from what my original draft gave them.

In other words, the market. I made the change and I’m so glad I did, not just because readers like it, but also because it was true to the story I wanted to tell to the people I wanted to read it. And that’s what thinking about reaching your market can be. It’s not “selling out” or “writing to market”. It’s—how can I tell my story or share my thoughts or message in a way that reaches the people I want to reach?

I love this assignment. I hope you do too.

In the first two Blueprint steps, we went high level, talking about your why and your point, and why those are key things to consider in writing the book you want to write–that will reach the readers you want to reach. In this episode, we get practical. Because while you need a why and a point to reach readers, you also need to know something about those readers–where they hang, what they’re looking for, and how you can become a part of it. In other words, it’s time to talk about the market.

This is the third episode in the 10-part Blueprint for a Book Series. Start with Step 1, do the work (we’ll give you an assignment every week), and in 10 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation for a first draft or revision of your project that will help you push through to “the end”. For the details on the challenge, and to sign up for weekly encouragement, bonuses and the chance to win a blueprint critique, head to authoraccelerator.com/amwritingblueprintchallenge. 

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

There are several things to do this week, most of which involve some time hanging around a bookstore. You’re welcome!

* Find a working title for your book.

* Name your genre (fiction) or category (for memoir or nonfiction.)

* Find at least two comp titles that help put your book into context.

* Write one paragraph on your ideal reader – not just about the demographics that define them, but about what they feel/need.

(Note: We suggest you download a Blueprint answer workbook to keep track of your 10 assignments. That will make it easier to revise, review and come back to your work. Click to grab yours for fiction or nonfiction. If you are writing narrative memoir (a story), use the fiction workbook and assignments. If you are writing self-help/memoir, use the nonfiction workbook and assignments. Prefer paper? Tape the assignment into your journal and make a nice big heading so you know: This is Step 3. This is the page (or pages) about my readers.)

LINKS

Seressia Glass Episode, How to Love Writing What You Can Sell

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman

The Wild Edge of Sorrow, Francis Weller

Episode on books on nonfiction proposals

The Art of the Book Proposal, Eric Maisel

Florida Woman, Deb Rogers

Think Like a Monk, Jay Shetty

Blueprint for a Book (Fiction and Memoir)

Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book

TODAY’S COACHES

Rona Gofstein is an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach. She specializes in helping writers of genre fiction who have never given up their dream of being an author develop, write, and revise their novels. She writes contemporary romance and will be launching a new series and pen name later this year. She desperately needs her morning coffee, thinks reservations are the best thing to make for dinner, and believes that one day she will find the magic planner that will keep her perfectly organized. Find out more about Rona HERE.

For more from KJ, subscribe to her newsletter: Read. Eat. Listen. Or grab one of her novels, In Her Boots and The Chicken Sisters, wherever books are sold. Wondering about KJ as a book coach? Her current offerings are HERE. 

For more from Jennie, subscribe to her weekly newsletter. Or grab one of her Blueprint books, wherever books are sold. You can learn about getting matched with an Author Accelerator book coach or becoming a book coach at authoraccelerator.com

This summer is all about starting a project, but if you already have a novel or memoir manuscript and you’re ready to go ALL IN, you’re going to want to do Author Accelerator’s Manuscript Incubator. Registration is open for the intensive, 7-month coaching opportunity that offers one-on-one support and guidance for novelists and memoirists planning to have a submission-ready project by early 2023—and includes the opportunity to have that project reviewed by a group of agents and editors when it’s ready. For more information, head to authoraccelerator.com/manuscript-incubator.

Kids, this is a Blueprint for a Book Summer Challenge Bonus Episode. I’ll be dropping these weekly throughout the Summer 2022 Challenge. Some of you are already signed up and challenging away, turning in weekly assignments and pushing yourself to get this done.

Some of you are #AmWriting supporters who’ve put your $$$ where your <3 is (that’s an old school pre-emoji keyboard heart, in case you’re wondering). We appreciate you—and so you’re getting these bonus episodes too. If this one inspires you to join the challenge, it’s not too late to sign up. Start with Step 1, do the work (we’ll give you an assignment every week), and in 10 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation for a first draft or revision of your project that will help you push through to “the end”. For the details on the challenge, and to sign up for weekly encouragement, bonuses and the chance to win a blueprint critique, head to authoraccelerator.com/amwritingblueprintchallenge before July 15, 2022. 

This bonus episode is all about… the book’s why. What’s your protagonist or your reader working toward? What do you want that character (fiction or non-fiction) to know at the end of this that they don’t know at the beginning, and what is the reader thinking hard about too? This is the heart of your book, and every book, whether it’s The Chicken Sisters or How to Be a Happier Parent, needs a heart. Once you find it, a whole lot of other things drop into place. Sadly, however, this may be the single hardest one-sentence-to-go-on-a-post-it-note you ever write. But fear not! It’s ok to keep groping toward this for as long as it takes.

How to listen: if you’ve listened to any previous Bonus episodes or Minisodes, this one should already BE in your podcast feed. If not, click on the link to listen and you’ll find yourself at amwriting.substack.com. You COULD listen there, but we’re guessing you’d rather get all subscriber episodes, from now on, in your usual podcast-listening app. It’s easy, and you only have to do it once to get every #Minisode from now on right where you want it.

So click “listen in podcast app.” You’ll get an email with a link in it. Click the link—ON YOUR PHONE—and you will get a menu of the most popular podcast apps. Chose yours and click, and you’ll have a new “private” podcast feed for supporters only.

If your favorite listening app isn’t included, fear not. There’s an RSS link in the email. Your podcast app has a way to add that—it’s probably a “+” sign somewhere on your main page. Add the link once, and any time we do a #SupporterMini, you’ll get it without having to do a thing. (Trust us, it’s easy. This is WHY we chose Substack.)

I’m writing this book because I want people to read it.

Step 2 in the Blueprint for a book challenge only sounds easy. In Step 1, we talked about your why. For Step 2, we invite you to find your point – which is what you want your reader to feel or know or do when they are done. It’s not the same thing! If you want to get all AP English on this, we’re talking about the theme. Or from the non-fiction perspective, maybe you want to consider this your thesis—but they really come down to the same thing. Every book is, at heart, an argument for something – for a belief, a way of life, a vision of the future, a way to solve a problem, a way to make a friend, a way to lose your soul. Finding your argument (and this is something you will probably revisit, hone and clarify along the way) will help you find your book.

This is the second episode in the 10-part Blueprint for a Book Series. Start with Step 1, do the work (we’ll give you an assignment every week), and in 10 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation for a first draft or revision of your project that will help you push through to “the end”. For the details on the challenge, and to sign up for weekly encouragement, bonuses and the chance to win a blueprint critique, head to authoraccelerator.com/amwritingblueprintchallenge. 

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Name your point. It may sound like a billboard or a bumper sticker and that’s okay. That’s what you want for this step.

This is an easy assignment so use the opportunity to revisit your why from Step 1, and to revise your point as many times as you need to until it feels just right. Next week you’ll have more to do.

(Note: We suggest you download a Blueprint answer workbook to keep track of your 10 assignments. That will make it easier to revise, review and come back to your work. Click to grab yours for fiction or nonfiction. If you are writing narrative memoir (a story), use the fiction workbook and assignments. If you are writing self-help/memoir, use the nonfiction workbook and assignments. Prefer paper? Tape the assignment into your journal and make a nice big heading so you know: This is Step 2. This is the page (or pages) with my point. )

LINKS

The Enneagram

Jessica Lahey, The Addiction Inoculation

Becky Chambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Jasmine Guillory’s new Beauty and the Beast, By The Book

Kerry Savage book coach

Blueprint for a Book (Fiction and Memoir)

Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book

TODAY’S COACHES

Dani Abernathy is an author and Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach who helps novelists write the stories they need to tell. Specializing in fantasy, soft sci-fi, and YA, Dani merges how story works with how people work, creating books that give readers the opportunity to have more empathy for themselves and others. She is a Capricorn, INFJ, and Enneagram 4 who believes that honest stories can change the world. Find more about Dani HERE.

For more from KJ, subscribe to her newsletter: Read. Eat. Listen. Or grab one of her novels, In Her Boots and The Chicken Sisters, wherever books are sold. Wondering about KJ as a book coach? Her current offerings are HERE. 

For more from Jennie, subscribe to her weekly newsletter. Or grab one of her Blueprint books, wherever books are sold. You can learn about getting matched with an Author Accelerator book coach or becoming a book coach at authoraccelerator.com.

This summer is all about starting a project, but if you already have a novel or memoir manuscript and you’re ready to go ALL IN, you’re going to want to do Author Accelerator’s Manuscript Incubator. Registration is open for the intensive, 7-month coaching opportunity that offers one-on-one support and guidance for novelists and memoirists planning to have a submission-ready project by early 2023—and includes the opportunity to have that project reviewed by a group of agents and editors when it’s ready. For more information, head to authoraccelerator.com/manuscript-incubator.

Kids, this is a Blueprint for a Book Summer Challenge Bonus Episode. I’ll be dropping these weekly throughout the Summer 2022 Challenge. Some of you are already signed up and challenging away, turning in weekly assignments and pushing yourself to get this done.

Some of you are #AmWriting supporters who’ve put your $$$ where your <3 is (that’s an old school pre-emoji keyboard heart, in case you’re wondering). We appreciate you—and so you’re getting these bonus episodes too. If this one inspires you to join the challenge, it’s not too late to sign up. Start with Step 1, do the work (we’ll give you an assignment every week), and in 10 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation for a first draft or revision of your project that will help you push through to “the end”. For the details on the challenge, and to sign up for weekly encouragement, bonuses and the chance to win a blueprint critique, head to authoraccelerator.com/amwritingblueprintchallenge before July 15, 2022. 

This bonus episode is all about YOUR why. Next week, we’ll talk about what I think of as the book’s why—but for this week, it’s all about you. Knowing why you want to do this hard thing will help you keep your butt in the chair and head in the game when you’d rather do something else—because you’ll know better what you’re working for and why. And it will also help you make some decisions down the road about exactly what this thing is that you’re working to hard to produce and where you want it to go in the end.

How to listen: if you’ve listened to any previous Bonus episodes or Minisodes, this one should already BE in your podcast feed. If not, click on the link to listen and you’ll find yourself at amwriting.substack.com. You COULD listen there, but we’re guessing you’d rather get all subscriber episodes, from now on, in your usual podcast-listening app. It’s easy, and you only have to do it once to get every #Minisode from now on right where you want it.

So click “listen in podcast app.” You’ll get an email with a link in it. Click the link—ON YOUR PHONE—and you will get a menu of the most popular podcast apps. Chose yours and click, and you’ll have a new “private” podcast feed for supporters only.

If your favorite listening app isn’t included, fear not. There’s an RSS link in the email. Your podcast app has a way to add that—it’s probably a “+” sign somewhere on your main page. Add the link once, and any time we do a #SupporterMini, you’ll get it without having to do a thing. (Trust us, it’s easy. This is WHY we chose Substack.)

We sit down to write because we have something to say.

It’s beginning!

This Episode marks the beginning of the 10-part Blueprint for a Book Series. Start here, do the work (we’ll give you an assignment every week)—and in 10 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation for a first draft or revision of your project that will help you push through to “the end”. For the details on the challenge, and to sign up for weekly encouragement, bonuses, and the chance to win a blueprint critique, head to authoraccelerator.com/amwritingblueprintchallenge.

Start with why. That’s the title of one of Jennie Nash’s favorite books and TED talks: Simon Sinek’s Start with Why, and it’s what a good book coach will always bring you back to if you get ahead of yourself. Why are you writing this? Fiction, memoir, non-fiction: we always have a reason. There is something we want to say, and someone we want to hear it. Knowing what that is gives your writing power. Readers feel it when something raw and real lies underneath your words, whether those words are about an intergalactic dinosaur battle or improving your chess game.

LINKS

Bookriot

Leaf Your Troubles Behind: How to Destress and Grow Happiness Through Plants, Karen Hugg

Know My Name, Chanel Miller

Bomb Shelter, Mary Laura Philpott

Nanette

Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation, Hannah Gadsby

Jenny Lawson

Mae Respicio

Glennon Doyle

Brené Brown

Blueprint for a Book (Fiction and Memoir)

Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Write one page on why you want to write this book. Consider external motivators such as money and the admiration of colleagues, and internal motivators such as anger, jealousy, or wanting to prove to yourself (or someone else) that you can really do this.

Be honest with yourself: knowing your why can fuel your fire to keep writing, especially when the going gets tough (and it will get tough!)

(Note: We suggest you download a Blueprint answer workbook to keep track of your 10 assignments. That will make it easier to revise, review and come back to your work. Click to grab yours for fiction or nonfiction. If you are writing narrative memoir (a story), use the fiction workbook and assignments. If you are writing self-help/memoir, use the nonfiction workbook and assignments. Prefer paper? Tape the assignment into your journal and make a nice big heading so you know: This is Step 1. This is the page (or pages) with my why. )

TODAY’S COACHES

For more from KJ, subscribe to her newsletter: Read. Eat. Listen. Or grab one of her novels, In Her Boots and The Chicken Sisters, wherever books are sold. Wondering about KJ as a book coach? Her current offerings are HERE.

For more from Jennie, subscribe to her weekly newsletter. Or grab one of her Blueprint books, wherever books are sold. You can learn about getting matched with an Author Accelerator book coach or becoming a book coach at authoraccelerator.com.

Our summer project is all about starting a book, but if you have a memoir or novel draft that you’re in the process of revising, Author Accelerator has a free treat for you—Ready Set Revise, a three-hour workshop that will help you evaluate your manuscript, figure out where you are in the process, and hopefully make it all less painful. Friday, July 8, noon – 3 pm PT / 3 – 6 pm ET

 They’ll explain how best to think about revision, talk about the things writers most often get wrong, and put you into a small group with a coach who coaches the kind of books you write.  It’s a great chance to get yourself in the right headspace to do this right. For details and to sign up, head to authoraccelerator.com/manuscript-incubator.