Since this newsletter feels to me like my personal confession booth, I share with you a very personal project I started. The most personal ever.
No word about it on my socials (yet), but: I AM WRITING A BOOK.
The fact that I share this here in my intimate newsletter and not yet anywhere else, is the essence of the story in my book. It’s meant for readers like you. Readers who care, who dive in, who want to know the whole story and want to get inspired.
‘One day, I want to write a book, and you’ll be the one who helps me doing it’, I told my copywriter Linde repeatedly over the past years. She’s been helping me write down my insights in this newsletter since 2021 and vocalizes my ideas in exactly my tone of voice.
For years, I’ve felt deeply that I wanted to write about what I went through: losing the life I had lived, starting all over again, reinventing a new life, and building a company without having a specific passion or calling to guide me. The idea for coaching artists came much later. If you’re new here and wondering what the hellI’m talking about, you can find out what happened to me here.
So when Linde (my copywriter) invited me as a guest in her podcast*, I surprised her just before we started recording with the question: I’m getting started with that book of mine, do you want to team up as my ghostwriter? A big YES followed. The plan is: I’ll write my own story down. Linde will improve it. Two weeks later we had a book pitch ready.
(As you may remember from an earlier newsletter, business was slow in May and I took that ‘free’ time to take up some palpable actions. One of them: finally starting the book idea.)
Through a former coachee, I got hold of a mail address of someone at my dream publisher. I sent out the book pitch and waited. Exciting and scary at the same time.
Not long after that, the answer landed in my mailbox: a clear NO. But not without a valuable piece of feedback: ‘Your personal story is undoubtedly powerful and remarkable (...) At the same time, I must be honest: in its current form, the proposal isn’t focused enough to be published. Themes such as starting afresh, resilience, making choices, slowing down and living at your own pace are valuable, but they’re also very common in the market.’
This feedback got me thinking: maybe I shouldn’t have aimed for my dream publisher right away, but first have send a purpose to other publishers. As a test and to be able to improve the pitch. So back to the writing table we went. Sharpening the purpose, adding a marketing plan and sending it out again.
Meanwhile, I attracted new clients (through the actions I took in May). So June and July became busier. And as calls usually slow down a bit in summer, at the end of July I felt I needed to start writing.
The blinking cursor on the page stared at me. I typed: Chapter one. Luckily, I had a chapter structure ready. And luckily, I knew that it didn’t have to be perfect. So I started writing one word after another.
And what about the book pitch I sent out to other publishers? I did get an answer and it wasn’t 'no', nor was it a yes. I did get a meeting appointment after summer, when everyone is back at work, so my hopes are high.
It feels thrilling to share the start of this book process with you. I hope I don’t jinx it by doing so, but it’s nice to be able to ventilate a bit about it here.
I keep you posted!
Katrijn