The story you tell yourself comes first... plus a few of my favourite things this week
Storytelling is identity work, really…
Everything starts with a story – the story we tell ourselves, and the story we tell others.
Even the bible begins with “In the beginning.”
You have to believe that you’re a storyteller, or an author, before anything meaningful happens on the page.
It took losing my job, and the identity I had wrapped around it, for me to finally start writing a book. The book became a story about two women losing themselves and finding themselves again. Through the process, the same thing happened for me.
I didn’t identify as an author. Not yet. But I knew what I was unbecoming, and that created space for someone new to emerge.
That’s why I don’t start with writing techniques.
Craft matters, but it comes later. First comes the shift in how you see yourself, and what you’re here to say.
Because the strongest writing doesn’t sound impressive. It sounds unmistakably like you.
That’s the work I’m most interested in: What is the book that is uniquely yours – the one that only you can write?
And who are you becoming along the way?
Cat
PS: I talk to a lot of people who want to write a book. Most of them don’t actually need help writing. They need help not wasting a year.
They’re wondering: Is this the right book to write? Am I structuring it the right way? Will this actually support my business or thought leadership, or just exist?
That’s the work I do with authors before (or early in) the writing process – helping them avoid the wrong book, the wrong structure, or the wrong publishing path.
If you’re at that stage and want clarity before you invest months of effort, you can reply “book” and I’ll share what that looks like.
And a few other things...
If you’re new to this space, last summer I shared 20 ways to write your book that don’t look like writing. Check it out here and here.
Recently, I listened to the George Saunders interview with music producer Rick Rubin on creativity and writing, and I can’t stop talking about it. This quote stood out for me.
Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed film Ladybird was rejected for 5 years before it finally got the greenlight. Here’s what she says about chasing your dream.