Learning from the Pros

While I was working on the research and writing of my book, I tried to read as many memoirs, biographies, and collections as I could. This tactic introduced me to so many different writing styles and was my D-I-Y approach to learning how to tell a story. From that collection of books, emerged my short-list of wonderful guidebooks:

1. Growing Up, by Russell Baker: It still holds as my all-time favorite memoir. His gift of story-telling is unsurpassed. This should be read within the same 90 days as reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith.
2. Anything and everything by Anne Lamott, but especially Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. For any anxious, new, blocked, or expert writers, this is a gem like no other.
3. All Over But the Shoutin', by Rick Bragg. An unbelievable story told with incredible candor.
4. Living Out Loud, by Anna Quindlen: A great collection of columns and perfect bedside book.
5. The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls. Thanks to Dennis, I have a signed copy of The Glass Castle with Ms. Walls' encouragement to me, "To Kathy, Good luck writing! Jeannette Walls"
6. God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours, by Regina Brett.

From the list, you can see that I am genetically predisposed to enjoy works by columnists! Ellen Goodman is my other go-to gal for describing the human experience and how it affects the heart.

So with my lessons from the pros, I plowed ahead and tried to write a book from my folders of research. In fact, I wrote the first draft of what would become Preacher Kid, from cover to cover, as a detached reporter focused on getting the facts right. Then after some soul-searching and life detours, I rewrote the entire book from a personal perspective, recognizing that my voice added value to my grandma's story.

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Preacher Kid on the Needham Library "New" shelf!

I think, over time, my voice may develop into something different, but will still retain a certain true core. When I write my next book (!), we will see if any evolution has taken place. One of my favorite voices to listen to is Anne Lamott. She has a freshness, intelligence, and liveliness found in her stream-of-consciousness writing that engages me as if she is sitting on my back porch, shooting the breeze with me. She writes with an abandonment I don't yet have. She possesses a window into my soul and much of what she writes articulates or uncovers true feelings I share. It is a fantastic combination.

And speaking of Anne Lamott, I won her latest book in a contest this week! When I saw that she was giving away copies of her soon-to-be-released book via Goodreads, I decided to click the button and enter.

I wrote about one of Anne's other books in a prior post. Her sequel to Help, Thank, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers was written in the aftermath of the December 2012 Newtown, CT tragedy. The book is titled, Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair. If you know me well, you can see the appropriateness, on many levels, of me winning Stitches.

Thank you to all of the professionals who have helped me so far!

From Blogger Musings to Business Empire

One of the astonishing things about blogging is the transformation that can occur as the result of hitting a sweet spot in our culture.  There are great examples of people who set out to blog about life and end up with a major web presence and a booming business on their hands – and truly fabulous examples of getting paid for doing what you love! 

One of my favorite examples is Ree Drummond and her blog, The Pioneer Woman. I love this example because it allows me to channel my inner cowgirl. Ree probably started out pretty basic, blogging about her life on the range, homeschooling her kids, photographing her beautiful surroundings, cooking her favorite dishes. Somewhere between there and her gold mine of a business, run out of her state-of-the-art kitchen, she acquired over 380,000 Facebook fans. She now oversees a multimillion-dollar cookbook, talk-show circuit, Food Network show, home décor, endorsement business - all doing what she loves. I don’t think she has to hitch up the team to ride in to town with Pa any more.

Another great example is Blogpire. To summarize the journey: A coffee drinker thinks the little single serve coffee cups made by Keurig are an interesting development and guesses that others find them interesting too. So he blogs about them – their usefulness; their flavors; the machines that brew then; how they impact life; how they need to be more environmentally friendly. Quickly, he strikes a chord in the coffee-drinking world and thousands find his blog and comment about this new caffeinated phenomenon. Next thing he knows, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters wants to advertise on his blog and pay him a small handful of coins every time a visitor to his blog clicks the Green Mountain ad. Other advertisers come knocking and he finds himself earning five figures from his blog traffic! He has the genius to repeat the process in other consumer goods and creates Blogpire Productions, a directory of blogs that grow into a robust business.

People are finding their voice through blogging. Lisa Stone of Blogher will attest to the fact that women, in particular, are a big part of this blogging population.  In our inherent need to share, we provide and derive benefit from explaining our life, our talents or our solutions to problems. And blogging is the perfect tool for finding the audience that cares.

Are you blogging? If so, about what?