The Author's Walk

Do you have a story sizzling inside you?

Or an idea, concept, or solution you want to shout-out?

The question of the moment arises …

How badly do you want to become an author?

Do you feel the desire really bad ... deep in your bones?

What are you willing to forego to make it happen …

to see it told … to see your words in print?

You have thoughts. Ideas for blogs, articles, stories, and topics for your book come in currents … sometimes even riptides, jerking you in a direction you didn’t know you would land in. It happens.

I’ve ridden countless waves in the discovery process of my words over my forty-plus years of publishing. Waves that cascaded and pounded, and others that were mere ripples. None that I imagined when the idea of publishing a book dropped onto my radar screen.

For me, there was always an idea. Where it worked was when I remained open, allowing for any twists and turns that dropped in. What didn’t work was when I meticulously outlined all the details to be included and myopically stuck to them—blocking diversions that could open new paths.

When you grow your thoughts, your voice follows. It may alter it … and strengthen as you continue walking in your authoring path.

My Author’s Walk began with an epiphany … if you don’t share your words with others, others will take them and put their name on them. And they did. A wake-up call was revealed. Would I heed it? I had an idea and solutions I wanted to share … to shout out. Do you?

The question rose … Did I want to be an author? My answer was, Yes, I did. Do you?

How badly did I want it? Badly enough that I was willing to pay for help. Do you … would you?

Did I really feel it in my bones? Yes, again—I started to see a book with my name on it. I felt a smile spread across my face as I wrote the words: a book with my name on it. Do you?

What was I willing to forego to make it happen … to see it told … and see my words in print? Extra time, my energy on a redirect, and money. I’ve never regretted it. And you … what are you willing to forego, to give up on to make your Author Walk come true?

Do you need to go back to school to get a degree in creative writing? Nope.

Do you need an MFA degree … a Masters in Fine Arts, to get your foot in the door? Nope again.

What you need to do is write … and write lots. Get started. The more you write, the better you write. The better you write, the faster you write. It’s my truthiness along with the fact that I know of very few beginning authors-to-be who can fork over the $25,000 to $75,000 to add MFA behind their name.

The walk has countless feet to accompany you.

Does it make sense to take writing workshops and attend writing conferences? Yes. And read (and reread as a refresher as your walk continues) William Zinsser’s On Writing Well, William Strunk’s and E. B. White’s Elements of Style, Stephen King’s On Writing, and Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird. Excellent words of wisdom and education, all for under one hundred dollars.

And it makes total sense to hang out with other authors … not just newbies. Those who have been through the wringer of publishing. Who get it … and get what you are doing. The walk has countless feet to accompany you.

I knew nothing about structuring a book. Absolutely zilch. My book coach was a novelist and showed up with a tape recorder and told me to start talking. That I could do. Phil said, “I want to hear your voice as you tell your stories to support the concepts we are writing about. Don’t worry about hesitating or making mistakes—it will be cleaned up later.”

I wanted what I said into the magic machine to be perfect. “Don’t worry about being perfect,” Phil said. “Just get your ideas out. You know your stuff.”

I trusted him and we worked together for six months. I had my notes, a workbook I had created for a class I taught, so I had my material. And I have my words ... and my voice. Phil had his tape recorder and my words began to flow. After each session, he would transcribe them and start the rewrites. It all came back to me … then it was my turn to add my rewrites. Back and forth—we met, I spoke, he transcribed. My speaker mode was transitioned to learning how to become a writer.

And I did know my “stuff” … my content. I don’t write and publish on matters I haven’t walked. What you as the author-to-be need to also know—your stuff. As an author, content is the beginning—whether it’s the story that weaves through fiction or the solutions, the how-to, or the concepts within non- fiction that are delivered. Without content, there is nothing. But content can be boring. Ugly boring.

Trust that your discovery process will reveal itself.

The way you deliver it is where the voice reigns. Yours. It either sings or falls flat.

When we finished, Phil said, “You have a book. I’m going to show it to my agent and recommend that he represent you.”

In June of 1981, St. Martin’s Press published The Woman’s Guide to Financial Savvy. Within a month, it had three printings. A happy dance time for author and publisher. Little did I grasp that I had created a walk that was open- ended.

As I began to write, changes were made. There is a vast difference between our speaking, reading, and writing vocabularies. Data shows that the average adult speaker taps into approximately 20,000 words. The passive reader/ writer doubles that number. My mind and fingers had a lot more to say than what flowed from my mouth. The pencil on my yellow pad couldn’t fly fast enough across the paper. The year was 1979, long before computers and laptops were the norm at every station in an office.

My yellow pads filled with my thinking words. I was on a roll. My secretary Louie said, “JB, there has got to be a better way for you to write.”

“Louie, I need to feel my words—this is the way I write.”

“Well ... I’m tired of feeling and rewriting your words,” was her response.