Just got done with a great teleclass that went a half-hour over! Wonderful questions, although–aarrgghhh–too many I couldn’t answer simply! How can you condense 42 hours of instruction into 25 words or less???
I just “called in” on Jo-Anne Vandermuelen and Larry Brook’s Articulating with Authors show on BlogTalkRadio. Interesting experience. I was hanging around to repeat the URL for tomorrow’s teleclass but I guess when the show is over, zoop! the phone line disconnects. Still, it was an interesting experience. Larry is very knowledgeable about writing architecture, as he calls it–I use the term “structure”–and Jo-Anne has achieved the remarkable: 25,000 contacts and friends on social media networks in less than a year! Whew! That takes a lot of sitting at the computer and networking, networking, networking. She’s on more networks that I knew existed.
Here’s the show (I come on around minute 17):
And that, for me, begs the question: where does an author or business person or service provider who is busy plying their trade or profession find the time to accomplish the time-consuming task of going on network after network to field questions, ask questions, respond to people … it builds into an incredibly busy social life very quickly, but one that pretty much ceases to exist if you don’t stay on top of it all the time, post at least daily if not more frequently, and constantly add contacts/friends–on whose sites you must post comments and questions so they will come to your site and post and on and on and on.
What’s a busy introvert to do?
And since we’re on the subject: I’ve noticed that a tremendous number of people believe the way to make friends is to tell their life story. This, no doubt, accounts for the equally tremendous number of memoirs being written by regular people, all of whom are sure they have something special to share. And while I agree in theory that everyone should have the opportunity to share their accomplishments, dreams, and obstacles overcome, I don’t agree that it necessarily puts us into the best light possible.
I’ve had my share of life challenges: more than some, less than others. I’ve been told my triumph over a gaggle of diagnoses is inspirational, that my story would help others.
I suspect not. I suspect that relaying all I’ve battled against would, instead, throw me back into an extended period of my life that I am now past, and would like to leave in the past. I suspect I have more to contribute to life, to my clients, to my students, to my kids (birth and acquired) than just the tedium of dysfunction and the slow, frustrating journey to overcome. That was then, this is now.
I still have far to go in my healthy life to achieve all I wanted to, lo those many decades ago. I’m only 56! Time enough to write my memoir when I’m at closer to the end. After all, the whole point was to extend that particular point in life–the end–farther down the line. Now that I have (God willing), it’s time to do something to celebrate that fact with a bit of personal industry. I don’t want to make my mark by courting sympathy or even shining a light on myself as an inspiration. I’d prefer to point that flashlight on the path ahead, not behind.
So no memoir from me, my friend. No “Look What I Did” article, no “10 Steps to Overcoming Blah and Blah.” Just steady on course: let’s talk about writing, YOUR writing, your potential career as an author or–more my expertise–a ghostwriter. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about my life so far, it’s that the key is forward motion. Whether in a nonfiction book, a novel, or a life, it’s all about moving on, going forward. The destination is important, yes, but ah, the journe–that’s the treat. As Winston Churchill said, “When you’re going through hell, keep going.”
I’m doing my own free teleclass tomorrow, on ghostwriting. We’ll talk about what it is and what it isn’t, why I prefer to NOT put my name on my author’s books, what you can reasonably expect to earn, and how that all works. Just briefly, of course–it’s only an hour call! To sign up go to http://www.naiwe.com/experts/teleclass.php. You’ll have to accept a free subscription to the NAIWE newsletter to get to the confirmation phone number and access code, but it’s a good newsletter, so that’s really a plus. To sign up for Ghostwriter Certification Training, which is the full 14-week version of tomorrow’s little teleclass, just click on the link in the left column of this site. It’s fun, it’s stuff you’ll never learn anywhere else, and it’ll give you something else to write about in your memoir!
