B is for Book Coach

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

Do you remember last spring, when I landed in the middle of a tangled mess of roots in my garden bed—one that I decided could serve as a metaphor for my life?

It started with an attempt to clear surface level weeds from a garden bed tucked alongside my house, journeyed through the pit of despair that was the realization that those roots ran deep, and ended with the hope that the medicinal plants gifted to me by a friend would take root.

Months later, I am pleased to announce that…this project is still a metaphor for my life.

- An update on the garden bed (spoiler: the weeds won)

- Weeds as stories

- How obligation overwhelm is fueled by stories

- Where we find choices that lift the weight and reframe our next steps

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. You can make a one-time contribution here, or you can 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 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 Reader.

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.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been immersed in Anne Frank’s world. It started because Alice Hoffman, author of Practical Magic, is one of my favorite authors, and I needed a new audiobook to listen to at night. Her most recent, When We Flew Away, happened to be a fictionalized prequel to Anne Frank’s diary.

First things first: If you read fiction, I highly recommend this book. I also know it’s a tough time to be into anything World War 2 related, so I also recommend you take it (and the rest of this episode) slowly. It’s okay to tap out whenever you need to.

And that permission to walk away brings us to Anne Frank’s diary, the Clarity Spectrum book type it represents, and the 5 Minute Outline exercise I have for you today.

- Anne Frank's book type on the Clarity Spectrum

- What is your core reason for writing?

- Who can you imagine would be your reader?

- What context does that imagined reader need to have?

- What truth comes out when it’s just you and that reader?

- What might happen if that truth were published?

- A Tale of Two Annes

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.

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 here 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 finishing…or not.

A few years ago, a client came to me with a beautiful book idea and a not-so-pretty anxiety. Time was getting away from him.

- The pain of an unfinished project.

- The marketing bros who exploit that pain.

- How to heal that pain even before the project is finished.

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.

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

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re making space without obligation.

“I guess everyone wants to write a book at some point, right?”

I hear this so often it’s hard not to roll my eyes—not at you, the person I’ve probably only just met face to face and am so glad to hear from. But at the messaging that has so heavily influenced our world.

- The overwhelming messaging that "you need a book."

- How that builds into "you need...everything else."

- How obligation overwhelm pulls our focus

- How to get it back

Hey, 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 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 Author-ity.

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.

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, Mutual Momentum is a way to *pitch* in even if it’s not yet time to *dive* in.

Thank you, as always, for trusting me with your work and supporting me in mine.

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

The most effective nonfiction masterclass I’ve ever experienced was not in a workshop or conference. It wasn’t paywalled behind a subscription fee, and it didn’t end in a sales pitch.

It was—and is—the “red dress” scene from the movie The Matrix: https://youtu.be/IJrjcHx9nDA?si=Gp_DzUstvMBJLV0r

The brilliance is in a real message, communicated well.

For this exercise, I want you to stop trying to posture as a “good writer,” and stand instead as the architect of your own simulation.

Guided 5 Minute Outline:

* What does your person see now?

* How does your person filter what they see?

* What does your person need to see?

* What unfiltered truth are you standing in?

* What can your person become open to seeing?

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, Mutual Momentum is a way to *pitch* in even if it’s not yet time to *dive* in.

Thank you, as always, for trusting me with your work and supporting me in mine.

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re making space without intruders.

I manage a birthing room like I manage the writer’s room in your head.

…maybe I should back up and explain a few things.

- Birth as a parallel to writing

- Writing rooms as internal spaces

- Who gets to be in the space and how it's managed

- Recovering your energy after an intrusion

Hey, 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 names.

I have a unique name. My very first self-branded copy was this:

Hey, there!

I'm Brannan.

You can call me B.

You're also likely to call me Brannon, Branan, Brennan, Brandon, Brandy, Brenda, Britney, Brianna...​​

You can call me anything, as long as you call me when you're stuck.

It’s true that I’ve been called all of those things (and more)—and it’s just as true that I’m not particularly bothered by it. What does get me, however, is when misunderstanding turns into re-naming. For a long time, I didn’t really know why.

- The archetypal significance and power of names

- The power we gain through naming

- How to apply that power to your book AND the experience of writing it.

Hey, 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 to a special edition of B is for Book Coach. In these episodes, I’m going to read 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: The Project.

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.