Archive for May, 2009
Posted on May 23, 2009 - By Sharon Lindenburger
Benefit from “Socrates”
Very often, getting to the heart of the wisdom in your book can’t be done totally alone. One of the main reasons people have trouble getting their best material onto the page is that they don’t have Socrates looking over their shoulder. The great Greek philosopher awakened wisdom in others by asking them thought-provoking questions. If I could choose any character from history to be my own book mentor, it would be Socrates.
Why? Because it’s very hard for us to ask ourselves the questions that will uncover our wisdom. Yet if you’re a coach or speaker, when people come to your keynotes or coaching sessions, they looking for something from you. They want to know something that only you can tell them. It’s the same with your book. To share your knowledge, you have to know your reader’s often unspoken questions.
Think of a book coach/mentor like me as your own personal Socrates, asking you the questions, exploring the answers that reveal the core of your expertise, and helping the pages of your book come alive.
Posted on May 22, 2009 - By Sharon Lindenburger
It doesn’t take longer!
Many speakers and coaches tell me they really want to write a book. And not infrequently, they feel the market pressure to “get something out there”. This urgency, this need to get into the book market as quickly as possible, often compromises the content of the book as the author cuts corners or just skims the surface of what his or her expertise really can offer.
“I’d like to go deeper and write something that’s much truer to me and what I most care about in my field,” said a coach to me recently. “But if I do that, isn’t it going to take me a lot longer than those people who are just cranking out their books?”
Actually no. It will not take you longer. It’s all a matter of focus and intent. Writing 30,000 words is writing 30,000 words. Whether those words are shallow or wise, it’s still going to occupy the same amount of time to actually write them (or have them written).
If you set your intent that you want your book to be memorable to people, that you want it to reflect the best you have to offer, and you want your book to change your readers’ lives, then your subconscious mind is going to bring the deeper more authentic expertise in you to the surface.
And, if you work with a good book mentor, the process is even easier–and faster.
Whenever you are tempted to cut corners, either in your own writing or in the type of writing services you seek, remember that your book needs to be worthy of your readers, and it needs to be worthy of you. If you team up with a book mentor/coach who really cares about good books and who is committed to bringing the best out of you–the result will be a wise book that not only sells, it lasts.
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