B is for Book Coach

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re making space for weirdness.

Raise your hand if you’ve heard yourself say any of the following things about your book:

I don’t know if it’s the RIGHT way to do it, but…there it is…

It’s a little bit of X and a little bit Y…

It’s complicated.

It’s complex.

It’s weird.

Can I tell you a secret? All the best books are.

- Why we're good with weird

- What it really takes to make the weird work

- A framework you can use

- A reminder you can keep

Enjoying this space? It takes all of us to create it together! When you become a one-time or ongoing Momentum Partner, two things happen.

First, you get to join a small but growing group of folks who pop in for Office Hours twice a month to sort out their content and travel this journey together.

Second, you add to the Mutual Momentum fund, which helps to bring deeper development support to authors who need more than just space to get started.

You can create a one-time boost of Momentum here by clicking the button below, or subscribe to keep the forward movement going for us all.

Whether or not you’re ready to dive into writing just yet, remember that the best authors show up fully, just as they are. That’s all it takes—and you’re already doing it.

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re making space for constraints.

We’ve been talking a lot about releasing external obligations, and for good reason. Especially now, at the start of the year, they’re loud, they’re pushy, and they’re often unrelated to what we actually want and need.

But I find that internal pressure is much more difficult to release.

- Unhelpful brain stories

- The Cynefin Framework

- Governing and enabling constraints

- How to emerge from the chaos

Thanks for creating this space with me today.

Whether or not you’re ready to dive into writing just yet, remember that the best authors show up fully, just as they are. That’s all it takes—and you’re already doing it.

Be sure to subscribe on Substack or wherever you listen to podcasts to catch every coaching moment to come. And when more of your book is ready to emerge, the space we made today will be here waiting for you.

And so will I.

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re making space for relief.

A well-respected leader in a niche industry sent out an email recently that had me yelling and drawing out charts like I had missed my calling as a sports commentator. The same message hit a friend of mine via a podcast just days before, and my authors tell me they hear it all the time. It’s everywhere.

- The sales messaging formula that stresses us all out about our books

- A truer version to translate it to whenever it crops up

- Steps you can actually take to level up your visibility

- A reminder that you're already an authority, book or no

The B is for Book Coach space is one way I create direct support for authors as they bring their books to life.

If you’d like to expand that space for yourself and someone else, contributing to the Mutual Momentum fund brings those services to authors who need more than just space to get started.

You can create a one-time boost of Momentum at bit.ly/mutual-momentum, or subscribe to keep the forward movement going for us all.

Welcome back to a special edition of B is for Book Coach. In these episodes, I’m reading through pieces of You Don’t Get to the Ocean by Accident—the workbook version of the early work I do with all of my authors.

If you want to follow along or jump ahead, pocket-sized copies are available on Amazon, and every Substack subscriber gets a fillable PDF copy as well.

Today, we’re reading from: Reimagine Your Next Steps.

To get the rest of the workbook right away, look for You Don’t Get to the Ocean by Accident on Amazon, or subscribe to get a free copy right now.

And as always, whenever your book is ready to emerge, the space we made today will be here waiting for you.

And so will I.

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re making space for a guided 5 Minute Outline.

- Why I don't believe in writer's block

- One kind of block many of us do face

- 5 Minute Outline (If you’re new to 5 Minute Outlines, you can click through to an introduction.)

- What are you going to do with this book?

- Why are you writing?

- What might feel unshareable?

- What will it take for you to write through the unwritable?

- What will happen when you do?

The B is for Book Coach space is one way I create direct support for authors as they bring their books to life.

Whether or not you’re ready to dive into writing just yet, remember that the best authors show up fully, just as they are. That’s all it takes—and you’re already doing it.

Be sure to subscribe on Substack or wherever you listen to podcasts to catch every coaching moment to come. And when more of your book is ready to emerge, the space we made today will be here waiting for you.

And so will I.

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re making space for growth.

One year and one month of posting on Substack has taught me that when you’re in the right place, you can create one year and one month of content.

That’s it.

And it’s everything.

- What I've learned about growth in the content space

- What I've learned about myself in the content space

- What it takes to grow beyond the content space

The B is for Book Coach space is one way I create direct support for authors as they bring their books to life. You can create a one-time boost of Momentum here, or subscribe to keep the forward movement going for us all.

Be sure to subscribe on Substack or wherever you listen to podcasts to catch every coaching moment to come. And when more of your book is ready to emerge, the space we made today will be here waiting for you.

And so will I.

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re making space for mobility.

I have hyper mobile joints—or, as we might have called it in the ‘90s, “stupid human tricks.” Without any real awareness of this imbalance, I couldn’t put any intention toward rectifying it. So my body did what bodies do best: it contorted itself, according to its overriding command to survive at all costs. This came to mind earlier this past week, when a friend and client sent me an article about why creatives aren’t productive.

- The difference between "creatives" and what we are creating

- The overdevelopment of willpower muscles

- The muscles left to develop

- A reminder to pursue balance first

The B is for Book Coach space is one way I create direct support for authors as they bring their books to life.

If you’d like to expand that space for yourself and someone else, contributing to the Mutual Momentum fund brings those services to authors who need more than just space to get started.

You can create a one-time boost of Momentum or subscribe via Substack to keep the forward movement going for us all.

And when more of your book is ready to emerge, the space we made today will be here waiting for you.

And so will I.

Welcome back to a special edition of B is for Book Coach. In these episodes, I’m reading through pieces of You Don’t Get to the Ocean by Accident—the workbook version of the early work I do with all of my authors.

If you want to follow along or jump ahead, pocket-sized copies are available on Amazon, and every Substack subscriber gets a fillable PDF copy as well.

Today, we’re reading from: Your Idea.

Previous workbook episodes:

https://bisforbookcoach.substack.com/p/the-ocean-workbook-your-reader

https://bisforbookcoach.substack.com/p/the-ocean-workbook-your-author-ity

https://bisforbookcoach.substack.com/p/the-ocean-workbook-the-project

https://bisforbookcoach.substack.com/p/the-ocean-workbook-ethos-and-process

The B is for Book Coach space is one way I create direct support for authors as they bring their books to life.

If you’d like to expand that space for yourself and someone else, contributing to the Mutual Momentum fund brings those services to authors who need more than just space to get started.

You can create a one-time boost of Momentum by clicking the button below, or subscribe to keep the forward movement going for us all.

And as always, whenever your book is ready to emerge, the space we made today will be here waiting for you.

And so will I.

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re making space for a guided 5 Minute Outline.

When you are writing for something more than the transaction of it all, the bigness of the work is twofold.

There’s the complexity of constructing a book, and then there’s the complexity of leading change in your corner of the world.

So when I say “start with the small,” I don’t mean that we’re going to shrink that bigness down at all.

The complexity stays. It has to.

This is a structure that can hold it.

You might want to check out this introductory post if this is the first 5 Minute Outline you’ve worked with.

Otherwise, grab a pencil and paper, write the numbers 1 through 5, and start with your pencil at number 3. Because beginnings are hard, so we’re not going to start there.

By the end, you should have something written at each of those 5 points that resonated most, and it can be mad-libbed in to look something like this:

* There is [a problem, difficulty, or complicated situation] that [the thing I want to say] can address.

* It’s complex because [reasons].

* If I weren’t worried about those reasons or how I’d say it, I would say [the thing].

* Still, despite all of that complexity, [the thing] is important to say because [big reason].

* When I say the thing to the person who’s waiting to hear it, [things will change].

This is complex work you’re doing.

It’s good work that you’re doing.

And it doesn’t have to be done in isolation or simplified into oblivion.

Hey, thanks for creating this space with me today. The B is for Book Coach space is one way I create direct support for authors as they bring their books to life.

If you’d like to expand that space for yourself and someone else, contributing to the Mutual Momentum fund brings those services to authors who need more than just space to get started.

Whether or not you’re ready to dive into writing just yet, remember that the best authors show up fully, just as they are. That’s all it takes—and you’re already doing it.

Be sure to subscribe on Substack or wherever you listen to podcasts to catch every coaching moment to come. And when more of your book is ready to emerge, the space we made today will be here waiting for you.

And so will I.

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re making space for momentum.

From time to time, I have to pause to look up definitions of very basic words, because I’ve realized my neurodivergent self isn’t using them quite the same way dominant society does.

- Checking our definitions around productivity

- Checking our assumptions around our own productivity

- Checking the societal expectations that keep us from progressing

Hey, thanks for creating this space with me today. The B is for Book Coach space is one way I create direct support for authors as they bring their books to life.

If you’d like to expand that space for someone else, contributing to the Mutual Momentum fund brings those services to authors who need more than just space to get started.

Be sure to subscribe on Substack or wherever you listen to podcasts to catch every coaching moment to come. And when more of your book is ready to emerge, the space we made today will be here waiting for you.

And so will I.