B is for Book Coach

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re making space for a special guided 5 minute outline.

Before we get into this week’s episode, I want you to understand that these outlines might take 5 minutes to map, but they represent a lifetime of your mastery.

This is true more of memoir than any other nonfiction sub-genre.

So when I say that we’re going to reverse-engineer Hannah Gadsby’s book Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation to create a 5 minute outline for your book, I’m not being cheeky.

We’re not oversimplifying the work that Hannah did or presuming that this exercise is going to cut corners on the deep introspective work that memoir requires.

We are going to get a better view of the bones of that work and give you a tangible place to start piecing your own together.

- Context for the Book We’re Mirroring

- Approaching Memoir without Overwhelm OR Oversimplification

- A Guided 5 Minute Outline Mirroring Ten Steps to Nanette

- What You Can Do Next

Get free weekly book coaching right in your inbox by subscribing on Substack, or upgrade your coaching access to get direct support on your work in progress.

Welcome back to B is for Book coach. I’m B, a book development partner for non-fiction non-writers, and today, we’re making space for rule-breaking.

- A bit of a credit to journalism and its rules first

- How "non-writer" writing is different

- One rule in particular that I break all the time

- How to follow the spirit of a rule rather than the letter of the law

Subscribe to B is for Book Coach on Substack for free weekly book coaching right in your inbox, or upgrade your coaching access to get direct support on your work in progress.

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

The writing world is full of ways to find out what's wrong with your work. From critique groups to beta readers to manuscript evaluations, you'll never have to wonder whether there's something more you can change.

But what happens when the beta readers themselves are wrong?

When the critique group or evaluation picks you apart, then leaves you there, in pieces?

Or worse yet, when any one of them smile and tell you “it's fine,” when you know in your gut it absolutely is not fine?

- When outside input is (and isn't) helpful

- The one phrase you need to remember while writing and revising a purpose-first nonfiction book

- The difference between your personal expertise and your growing experience as a writer

- What you actually need from supporters

And remember: 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.

Get free weekly book coaching right in your inbox, or upgrade your coaching access for direct support on your work in progress.

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

The work of writing tends to happen during quiet pockets of time, on Zoom calls over huge distances, and in the otherwise secluded spaces we create for it.

This is not new. In fact, today's post centers around a letter that Maxwell Perkins wrote to a would-be author in the middle of World War II.

- Perkins' advice about being patient as a writer

- A story about Hemingway and a pelican

- What makes "good writing"

Get free weekly book coaching right in your inbox, or upgrade your coaching access to get direct support on your work in progress. brannansirratt.com/book-coach-podcast

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

When I introduced you to the 5 Minute Outline, we practiced with the outline for an entire book and the promise that we’d return for more specific exercises over time. Today, we’re going to zoom in to outline a single chapter that’s primarily driven by storytelling.

Get free weekly book coaching right in your inbox, or upgrade your coaching access to include calls, office hours, and workshops.

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re creating space for your completed book.

There are so many variables to a writing project, based on everything from the complexity of your topic to how close it is to the chest to how many times you’ve articulated it (or not) in the past.

The key is to surface those variables and chart your course with them in mind. And we can’t chart a course without first naming the direction we’re headed.

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Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re creating space for human connection.

I’m asked almost daily whether AI will make a person’s writing process easier. While I do have thoughts about how to (and how not to) use AI for books, there’s another conversation I’m much more interested in having. It’s not whether or not to use the technology, but how its existence underscores bigger problems that have plagued content marketing and generation for years now.

- Why Idiocracy for content is not going to last

- What "super fans" actually look for

- Remembering why you wanted to market with content in the first place

- Refocusing on what really matters

Get free weekly book coaching right in your inbox, or upgrade your coaching access to include calls, office hours, and workshops.

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re creating space for context.

This year, I made it a point to bring reading back into my daily routine. A month or so ago, I finally finished a book I’ve had on my shelf for literal years now: The Girl with All the Gifts. And a moment between the protagonist and villain caught my eye.

- Why some content is hard to distill

- The stories we tell ourselves about that problem

- How to create clarity via context

Get free weekly book coaching right in your inbox, or upgrade your coaching access to include calls, office hours, and workshops.

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

In five, one-minute long segments, I will give you prompts and tell you where to write them down. You will write for the duration of that minute, allowing any and everything to come to the surface.

No stopping. No editing. No judging.

Before we begin, get a chapter in mind that you’d like to draft, then pause to get a pencil and paper. Write the numbers 1 through 5 on that paper...and we'll begin.

Get free weekly book coaching right in your inbox, or upgrade your coaching access to include calls, office hours, and workshops.

Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. Today, we’re creating space for questions.

When do I know I have a book worth writing?

When can we stop mapping and start writing?

When is it done enough to give it to you for editing?

When do I know it’s ready to share?

- The truth about these questions and who can answer them

- Tapping into your authorial audacity

- What to do when you disagree with your editor or readers

- The easiest way to reframe

Get free weekly book coaching right in your inbox, or upgrade your coaching access to include calls, office hours, and workshops.