YOUR BOOK SKELETON
for memoir
Map out your memoir in advance, so that when it comes to the long-form writing, you know exactly what you have to say, which story you're telling, and why it will matter to readers.
This intensive coaching package includes:
12-PART WORKBOOK
SUBMISSION DEADLINES
EDITORIAL FEEDBACK ROUNDS
90 MINUTE COACHING CALLS
EMAIL SUPPORT (M-F)
This package includes:
This program is for you if:
You feel called to write about your lived experiences in both the shadow and the light, and your memoir is starting to take form in your mind.
You know this book is yours to write. You can feel it in your bones.
It will inspire your readers to 're-member' the mythic feminine in some way - for instance by reconnecting them to nature, their feminine instincts or their buried creative power.
You're looking for a rigorous process that asks you to define and refine your ideas until they are crystal clear, so that you can then go ahead and write the most compelling memoir possible - one that speaks intimately to your readers, and at the same time has direct relevance to the cultural Zeitgeist.
During these times of global breakdown, you know it's time for you to stake a stand for your life-affirming message. Together we will probe into the underlying architecture of your life and the sacred message you are here to share. The objective is that by the time we are done, you are able to see your book as if you were holding it in your hands, before you embark on the long-form writing.
Your Book Skeleton for Memoir is an invaluable process that prepares you to then write a compelling and focused book proposal, to pitch to literary agents and publishers.
Mapping out your mythic journey
You've lived through a journey of transformation that led you through a process of identity dissolution and into a creative rebirth. You experienced a potent series of initiations, challenges and revelations: these carried you through to new wisdom, and changed the course of your life in dramatic ways.
This journey is likely to have included an ordeal. It may even have felt like a kind of descent into the underworld, where you had to shed skins and learn to see in the dark.
You emerged with a profound shift in identity: one that was more embodied, creative,, intuitive, and attuned to nature, the body and the goddess. One that was more raw, more real, more you, more true. To adopt the words of Clarissa Pinkola Estés, you repaired your 'injured feminine instinct.'
You want to share this journey in book form, with the understand that this is not about therapy, but about offering your hard-won wisdom to others who need it.
Discovering your memoir's true identity
The difference between writing an autobiography and a memoir is: an autobiography is the story of a life, whereas a memoir is a story from a life. But which story from your life are you going to choose?
During our work together, you will define your mythic theme; the thing you most want to say about life and the world.
We will then identify your most potent experiences that support that theme.
We'll locate the most powerful turning points in your personal story, figure out the most compelling ways to begin and end, find a time frame and structure that captures the point you want to make, and track the transformation journey that takes your reader through a powerful. consciousness-expanding arc of change.
Curating your materials
Sorting between the details of your life is a difficult task. There are so many details that you could put in, from your wealth of experience.
Because of this you're struggling to know how exactly where to begin, how to end, what to include, what to leave out, and how to structure your materials for greatest impact on your ideal reader.
Perhaps you've been trying to write on your own for some time, but keep getting stuck.
The task of writing your memoir might feel insurmountable, yet you're longing to see it through to completion, with a lucid sense of the precise thematic story you're here to share.
These challenges are exactly why I offer this program: to alleviate confusion, give you focus, and optimize your precious writing time.
By the time we have wrapped up our work together, you'll have honed your skills with discernment; you'll know exactly where you're going as you enter into the long-form writing; and you'll understand how each section of your memoir connects to the whole.
Perhaps this book idea scares you
You feel called and resistant at the same time.
You know there could be no greater reward than seeing your memoir on bookshop shelves, yet the exposure feels terrifying, and you don't know if you're up to the task.
Your message feels raw and vulnerable. It may be contentious within your social, spiritual or professional milieu, adding layers of complication you'd prefer not to deal with.
Your story may expose a side of you that your family, friends and colleagues haven't seen before, and this takes courage. You may ruffle feathers. You may get pushback. Yet you believe this is part of your sacred purpose in this life: to write this book, and claim your voice, your wisdom and your version of events.
Finding your ideal structure
Above all else, we'll focus on finding an effective structure for your memoir, so that you can create a pathway that unfolds beautifully for your reader - not only in terms of the book as a whole, but inside each chapter.
You will develop a strong sense of your chapters, subheadings, ordering of contents, and narrative drive.
When you've established the narrative cohesion for your book, you are likely to experience a huge sigh of relief. This is doing the heavy lifting before you do the writing.
The result is a detailed, effective skeleton for your book that places a special focus on reader transformation as you share your own journey of transformation.
By the time you get writing, you know exactly how to proceed... in a way that is well-mapped out, heartfelt and inspired, with strong narrative drive.
Your reader's arc of change
Your book's structure is intimately tied to your book's purpose: to inspire transformation. But how do you facilitate this?
You will learn to hold two sets of considerations at once: your own personal journey, as well as your reader's experience of your materials and how this relates to her own life.
I'll provide a powerful tool to help you create a 'heroine's journey' story structure for your reader: one that ensures that your narrative arc builds from one chapter to the next in a lockstep manner with seamless logic and best possible impact.
This may present a new mindset for you as a writer, but I'll be there supporting you along the way, asking questions to check that your transformation journey is being effectively conveyed from the reader's perspective.
Avoiding frustration and heartache
This approach may sound as if it might impede your creative flow, but actually the contrary is true: there is enormous creativity involved in building your book outline. You either do that creative exploration now, getting the key elements of your memoir into place in advance of your long-form writing, or you're doing that as you write.
This approach alleviates confusion, gives you focus, and optimizes your precious writing time.
With your outline created in advance, you can avoid the frustration and heartache of writing down dead ends, or having to course-correct when you're already thousands of words in, which is really hard to do, and can be expensive if you need a developmental editor to do a lot of fixing.
Elevating your sense of purpose
As we work on your memoir, you will find that your book works on you as you work on it. It will refine or uplevel your sense of life-purpose. This is not a beautiful claim so much as a built-in aspect of the work. You will need to dig deep to find your most deeply-held message. You will have to check you have real conviction, at the centre of your being, in all you have to say.
This works on you like sand in an oyster. It brings you clarity, focus, creative energy, and a renewed sense of passion for the writing task ahead.
Topics we'll go into
We'll define the key elements for your book, including: