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Cynthia Morris

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The Daunting Work of Researching a Historical Novel in Paris

My novel Chasing Sylvia Beach shares the story of a young woman captivated by another era and what happens when she unexpectedly gets the chance to visit Paris, 1937, a place she’d only dreamed of. (Yes, very much like Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris!)

From the interior courtyard at Gertrude Stein's former apartment in Paris

But even romantic dreamers need facts to breathe life into a story. I had to do solid research to take my readers all the way to Paris approaching the end of its heyday. I needed more details about bookseller Sylvia Beach’s world.
Many writers love research, but I’m no scholar. I didn’t know where to start searching. While I am able to delve in once I find a source, unearthing new material isn’t my forte.
Worse, in 1999 when I first began writing this book, research was a whole mostly analog. To contextualize this long-ago era, I didn’t yet have a personal computer or an email account. There was no Google and no abundant jungle of information to tap at a click.
Saving me with its vast abundance of information, the Internet blossomed as a treasure trove for researchers. Over the twelve years it took to write Chasing Sylvia Beach, I developed a multi-pronged approach in order to depict a historical period accurately.
If you’re writing a historical novel, you may consider some of the seven methods I used to show Paris, 1937, in all her fading glory.

In-person research

I took many trips to Paris, visiting Odéania, the name Sylvia and Adrienne gave their Left Bank neighborhood. I walked the streets, ducked down alleys and sniffed around second-hand bookshops. I’d squint to edit out the contemporary noise and hubbub, inspired by Leonard Pitt’s Walks in Lost Paris, which showed before and after pictures of the city.

Films

Paris is proud of its past and French nostalgia made it easy to find Paris-related media. Forum des Images, located in the center of Paris, is an archive of the films featuring the city of Paris.
On several visits, I viewed archived footage from this era and saw clips like this. Seeing animated images helped me to relate more immediately to the people in this era.

Stock photos

The city of Paris also hosts an extensive archive of Paris photos that I accessed online. From thousands of images, I generated my own gallery depciting people at the time (1937) and in the places (the Sorbonne, the Luxembourg Garden, the Latin Quarter and St Germain).
Staring at these images and writing immediately after inspecting them helped me hone my observation and description skills. Paris en Images has a huge database of photos of the city of Paris.

Conversations with masters

It never hurts to look at good examples of historical fiction for inspiration. You may be able to strike up conversations with the authors, as I did.
I had the good fortune to correspond with spy novelist Alan Furst about how he accessed Paris in the past. Interviews and conversations with Noel Riley Fitch, John Baxter and a Parisisan named Alexandre who survived the Nazi Occupation of Paris all helped me delve deeper into this city’s past.

The author, by interview subject Alexandre, Paris 2010

Paris booksellers were often willing to talk about the era and pointed me toward other books or resources that helped my quest.

Archived material

If the subject of your historical novel was a real person, there may be museums or archives devoted to that person. Because of a generous grant from the Alliance française of Denver, I was able to spend a week in Sylvia Beach’s archives.
I used every penny of the $1,000 to travel to Princeton, New Jersey, where Sylvia’s archives are held in the Special Collections of Princeton University Library. I managed to slip this experience into my novel, so you can read about it in detail there.
Touching Sylvia’s things and visiting her grave was a profound experience that deeply impacted the story and added a layer of emotion I couldn’t have accessed otherwise.

Books

Of course it was a book that got me into Sylvia Beach in the first place. Here’s the bibliography that helped me write my novel.

Cultural immersion

My friend, journalist Lys Anzia invited me to consider the gestalt of the era. She urged me to listen to music of the era, read up on the political climate, investigate social and cultural mores of the period. I also found myself inspecting fashion, transportation and writing tools (fountain pens and typewriters) to ensure accuracy.

Crossing the Seine in Paris

Trying to access another era calls for persistence and thoroughness. You’re attempting the impossible and know that you’ll never fully get there.
But you do the best you can, fueled by your intense desire to see, feel and know what it was like to inhabit another era.
I gave Lily Heller, my character, this chance to visit Paris, 1937. And she thanks me for it, as well as for what it leads her to.
What helps you do historical research? Was research easy for you or a challenge? 

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Don’t Let Your Inner Critic Hijack Your Book Research

This is part of the Claim Your AUTHORity series.
You’re jamming away at your novel. You’re composing merrily when you realize you don’t know what the cars look like in Paris, 1937, the era you’re writing about.

You dip into Google, searching for images that will help you accurately describe those cars. Before you know it, you’ve spent 40 minutes leaping from link to link, gathering more support for what you’re writing.

Finding information for your book online, or re-surfing, is fun. You can claim, guilt-free, that you’re working on your book. But a glance at the clock shows it’s time to pick up the kids. You shutter your session and enter the slipstream of your busy day.

Your one-hour writing session involved exactly 20 minutes of writing and 40 minutes of re-surfing, yielding a couple scribbled pages and a lot of information, much of it not applicable to your book.
Sound familiar?

Three ways your inner critic can hijack your research

I know this scenario well; having written a historical novel, I have spent countless hours researching my era and time period. But early on I experienced these three pitfalls while researching for a book:

  1. It is much easier to surf an endless research loop than to do the difficult work of writing. Your inner critic will love that you’re spending so much time looking at other people’s work.
  2. Your inner critic is committed to making sure you don’t look like a fool. He can turn your commitment to accuracy into a practice of endless research that can prohibit you from ever getting your book done.
  3. If you’re writing a non-fiction book based on your professional or personal expertise, your dedication to thoroughness can fuel deadly comparisons that wither your authorial confidence.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Keep your re-surfing in check

Try these simple but effective practices that my clients and I use to keep research from becoming the purview of the critic.

  1. Demarcate writing time and research time. If you have only 2 hours a week to work on your book, give 1.5 hours to writing and .5 to research.
  2. While writing, keep a separate log of items that need to be researched. When an issue comes up – what kind of fabric were skirts made of in 1937? – jot that down on your research list. I kept a notebook for notes for my novel and always had a page going entitled ‘To research’.
  3. Set aside a specific amount of time each week for this work. Be realistic; one or two hours is usually enough. Give yourself parameters. I usually did research at the end of the week in the afternoon, when my focus for writing waned.
  4. If you’re writing a non-fiction book based on your expertise, consider drafting your material before looking to see what else has been done. Get a sense of how much you need to know about what’s ‘out there’ before you feel confident claiming your AUTHORity.
  5. Keep a list of sources – web sites, magazines, people – whom you will turn to for research. Be open to the fun serendipity that will lead you beyond what you know and into territory that will enhance your book.
  6. Notice when the impulse to research arises. Often it surfaces just as you sit down to write. But notice, too, how your focus and energy and perhaps even your confidence can diminish the more time you spend in research mode.

What helps you keep your critic from hijacking your research process?

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World Book Night Giveaway – The Things They Carried

The best part of my job as a bookseller at Capitol Hill Books was recommending books to customers. There’s no greater pleasure than sharing a life-changing title.
Through World Book Night, on April 23rd, I get to relive that pleasure.  Why April 23rd? April 23 is the UNESCO International Day of the Book, chosen in honor of Shakespeare and Cervantes, who both died on April 23 1616. (It is also the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birthday.)
Book givers – that’s me! – will pick up copies of their chosen books from a local bookstore. The mission is to distribute the books to people who might not normally be reading. I’m considering heading down to Denver’s 16th street mall to give books away to people there.
I’m in charge of giving away 20 copies of the short story collection The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. My local bookstore pickup is the Tattered Cover on Colfax.
This is one of my favorite books – the writing is crisp, powerful and engaging. The characters are both sympathetic and tragic. The themes are rich and wide. The meta-content about the nature of story and what it does for us is profound.
O’Brien is a master storyteller and while the subject matter may not at first glance appeal – men humping their packs through the horrors of the Vietnam War – this book should be on every writer’s list of must-reads.
Tonight I’ll be out and about in Denver giving away copies of this book to strangers.  If you don’t see me – because you live in another place – I recommend picking up a copy of The Things They Carried.
Have you read this book? Have you heard of World Book Night? Tell us about it in a comment below. 

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If Sylvia Beach Blogged

I was talking with a friend the other day about blogging. She asked, What would Sylvia Beach blog?

Would Sylvia blog from the local café like I do?

I laughed. Then I thought about it. Even though I have studied Sylvia for a long time – 15 years, holy cow! – I can’t comfortably say I know exactly what she would think, say or do in any given situation.
But it is fun to imagine, isn’t it? And that’s what I had to do to make a historical figure a character in my novel, Chasing Sylvia Beach.
So let’s play and imagine what Sylvia would blog about. I bet Sylvia would put up a blog because she thought she should, but perhaps it would be spottily populated.
Maybe she’d delegate the blog to one of her assistants, perhaps the character in my novel, Lily Heller, who gets a job working alongside Sylvia.
Here’s my best guess about her subject matter:

Sylvia’s mission was to bring Anglophone literature to readers in France. She would make short posts to feature new books that had come into the bookstore.

She’d blog about the literary magazines such as Transition literary magazine that she carried in her shop Shakespeare and Company.

If we read Sylvia’s blog, we might also see reports of readings she held in her shop, like the one in 1937 with novelist Ernest Hemingway and poet Stephen Spender. (This is a scene in my novel that I have fictionalized.)

Sylvia might dish on the books she was reading, and would probably love sharing her opinions on them.

Sylvia would never blog about:

Herself or her private life. Sylvia was an intensely private person, and I imagine that she’d think any kind of personal blogging would be ridiculous.

She’d never gossip or spread news about her friends and their private lives.

She would never blog a novel because she would never write a novel.

It’s fun to imagine what someone in 1930s Paris would blog about, isn’t it?
What do you think Sylvia Beach would have blogged about? What do you think makes for a good bookstore blog?

Two ways to get help now with your blogging

If you’re in business, you know that blogging should be a big part of your content marketing strategy. If you’re in Boulder, join me for Feed the Content Monster, tomorrow, Friday April 20th at Pivot Guild. This morning class will be the best investment you’ve made in your business in a long time, leaving you with tons of ideas and a plan for implementing them.
Sign up here for Feed the Content Monster.
If you’re an artist, and you are ready to be a better blogger, you will love the online class I co-teach with Alyson Stanfield. Make blogging more sane with the popular Blog Triage class. For artists or writers who have a blog that’s limping along, this is the way to blog health. Join us online April 25th – May 25th.

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Borrowing Tenacity from Sylvia Beach

In the mid-1930s Paris, the Golden Age of the City of Light was waning. The Great Depression was in full effect and Hitler’s power was on the rise.
Americans were ditching the once-carefree lifestyle of Paris and fleeing for home. But Sylvia Beach, the owner of Shakespeare and Company bookstore, stayed.
This determination to stay in Paris at any cost was one of the main things that attracted me to Sylvia. Why did she stay when everyone else was headed for safety? How did she do it?

Sylvia’s tenacity inspired my own

Façade of Sylvia's former shop on rue de l'Odéon in Paris

Sylvia’s model of tenacity rooted in my imagination. Through this obsession with her, I developed my own tenacity. I have been researching and writing about Sylvia since 1997. In 1999, the stories I was crafting about her veered toward a novel. Now, nearly thirteen years later, the novel Chasing Sylvia Beach (June, 2012, Original Impulse) is nearly ready to be published.
I never considered myself to be the tenacious sort. Because I have a lot of interests, I shift gears often. (You, too?) Certainly I’ve never had Sylvia’s courage to move to Paris and stay – to immerse myself in the city beyond its romantic stereotypes, to wend my way through French bureaucracy in order to establish a business there, to deepen and nourish relationships beyond superficial connections.
But I persisted with the novel, guided by Sylvia’s example of dedication. I immersed myself in her world, witnessing from afar the decisions she made. The kind of person she showed herself to be impacted my own character.
I appreciate her willingness to work without financial reward but at great personal and creative gain. I resonate with her desire to connect and converse with other book lovers. First a bookseller like Sylvia, then a businesswoman, I found a better version of myself in writing this book.
Why was she so tenacious? From my research, I can infer that Sylvia was one of those no-nonsense people not easily deterred by obstacles. She was more interested in being of service to others than concerned about her own comfort. She lived in an apartment above her bookshop with no running water.
Stay with it

Sylvia didn’t go back to the comforts of home in the US because after more than a decade on the rue de l’Odéon on the Left Bank, Paris had become her home. This model of giving and commitment helped me set aside fears enough to get Sylvia’s story – and mine – into book form.
My parents’ tenacity showed me up-close how to stick with it despite challenges. My dad was a businessman who worked every day to build a beautiful life for his family. Whenever I cried, “I can’t!” he’d reply, “Can’t died in the cornfield!” I still don’t know exactly what that means but I know its essence is ‘Don’t give up.’
My mom was a dynamic saleswoman, and then her own businesswoman, building high-end custom homes. They married super young and are still married after 51 years. I owe much of my grit to them.

Grow your tenacity

While writing your book or creating your next great thing, you will have doubts. Your friends, family and peers may try to dissuade you. The economic climate and your own internal radar of safety will collude to assure you that it’s best to just give up and do something safe.
But now more than ever we need people to dedicate themselves to what they know to be true and right, despite the odds, despite the ‘norm’ and despite what seems ‘logical.
What helps you grow your tenacity? What books or heroines help you persist despite all odds? Share your stories in a comment below.

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Sorting Out the Mess of a Chaotic Book Draft

This is part of the Claim Your AUTHORity series.
At one point while writing Chasing Sylvia Beach, I deleted 15,000 words of interior monologue. The book was a mess, and cutting this much was just the beginning of making order from chaos.
It was like I’d been driving with a mud-caked windshield and now it had been wiped clean. I could see the book’s plot and had clarity on how to drive forward.
Now, I advocate the freewheeling free writing method, where you riff on the story or the material in your non-fiction book. This is a good way to write past your inner critic and to just get your ideas down on paper.
But it can also lead to a mess that has you questioning your sanity.
Even outlining can make your material seem unwieldy and chaotic. You start writing about one thing and then realize you could also add this, and that and the other thing. Soon your book is a multi-tentacled monster that you have no control over.

How to sort through the chaos

First, it helps to know that at some point with every project your material will be a mess. Messiness is part of the creative process, not a sign that you’re inept and hopeless.
Organizing your work is essential. You’ll know what’s right for you when you find it. Here are some practices to try. These apply to both non-fiction (how-to, memoir) and fiction (novels or short story collections).

Break into pieces

If you’re writing on the computer, consider a series of documents (individual chapters or sections) instead of one long document. It can be very difficult to scroll through a whole book in one document while writing and editing.
When I look at the first draft of my novel from 1999, I see a handful of documents. I was hacking away at scenes as I built my way to a cohesive narrative.

See it

Tactile, visual approaches can help sort material. Seeing your work in form can help:

  • Scenes or concepts on index cards
  • Story outlined in a linear timeline
  • Mindmap of content or characters

There are many other ways to see your material. Check out this article about using index cards to manage your book’s material.

Stay calm

Here’s the scoop: your book will change and morph and grow. It will end up different than what you thought it would look like. But if you know your original impulse for the book and are aligned with your ultimate purpose for the book, you’ll sort it out.
Be sure to check out an earlier article about how to structure your book for more tips on sorting out your material.
What questions do you have about how to manage the mess that is a manuscript in process? What helps you sort out the mess of a draft? 
Download a .pdf of this article.

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Write Your Book Even When You Feel Clueless

This post is part of the Claim Your AUTHORity series. 
The idea for your book seemed so clear. You grabbed the inspiration, made a rough outline, and dove into scribbling your ideas down.
Soon enough, your enthusiasm has burbled over into chaos. You lost the thread of logic and your writing just feels like a handful of messy incoherence.

Signs of book cluelessness

You may experience any or all of the following signs of being clueless while writing your book:

write a book overcome fears
Content out of control!

  1. You frequently doubt you have any clue about what you are saying.
  2. You’re a blank slate when it comes to knowing how to structure your material.
  3. You wonder if your concepts make sense to anyone but you and your cats.
  4. You fret that you are completely unoriginal and your book has already been done. Better than you can do it.
  5. You cringe at the thought of others’ judgment of your book.
  6. You are certain your book will prove you to be a total nincompoop.
  7. You dread the daunting publishing ‘adventure’.
  8. You’re pretty sure you don’t have any authority whatsoever.

Right, then.
Much better to go back to the laundry and the very demanding business of our lives. Isn’t it much easier to avoid all this cluelessness?
Frankly this is a choice authors make again and again along the path of writing a book: stay safe or risk the unknown repercussions of sticking your neck and ideas out there.

On the other side of cluelessness

I’ve written two books and five e-books. I’ve helped hundreds of writers find their footing on their writing paths.
Based on that experience, I believe it is worth it. I believe that if we have the impulse to write or create something, it’s our duty to follow that impulse.
For all the terrifying uncertainty inherent in the creative process, here’s what makes the it all worth it:

  1.  You will feel wildly exuberant when you write your resonance.
  2.  You will resonate with your truth for hours after writing it.
  3.  You will feel more connected to your vitality and to your unique essence after writing.
  4.  This vitality will ripple out to the rest of your life: your people, your work, strangers, even.
  5.  You will respect yourself more after writing.
  6.  All this adds up to your AUTHORity. Doesn’t it feel good?!

But don’t take my word for it. Stick it out at the page or keyboard and feel the results yourself. Pay attention to what you gain from the act of putting your AUTHORity to the test.
When these and other fears rise up to convince you that you do not have any authority to put your words on paper, know that wrangling them is one of the most fun, sweatiest and rewarding parts of claiming your authority.
What’s to love about the cluelessness inherent in the creative process? What has helped you cruise right past all those fears that convince you it’s better to stay away from your book? Share in a comment below. 
Download a .pdf of this article.

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Go Ahead – Take the Fool's Journey

Pecking away for hours in solitude, wandering the wide and wicked landscape of your own imagination.
Believing that the stories you create will be read by anyone else. And that those stories will move the reader to feel, think or do something differently.
Daring to ask, again and again, for someone to take your writing and publish it.
Risking your own neck and publishing the damn book yourself.
For no promise of fiscal or social reward at all.
What kind of fool would do these things?
Millions of us.
The nerds who are thrilled by finding just the right word. The dunderheads who love to tell a good story and who even thrive on the challenge of telling a great story.
The dreamers who are so smitten with story that they are willing to invest their time, energy and heart in something that may never go anywhere at all.
It’s not just writers. It’s artists, entrepreneurs and parents who take this fool’s journey of creativity.
Because to not heed the call to embark on the fool’s journey of creativity is to live the life of regret, sorrow and loss.
Go ahead. Be a fool. Dare to write that story, sing that song, have that baby. Build that business, go for it.
Even if you don’t get published, don’t earn a dime, don’t become famous, you’ve stood up for your original impulse.
And there’s nothing foolish about that.
The fools who dare, who risk, are the ones we admire. We relish their daring. We applaud their willingness to take a stand. We adore the wildly imaginative things they’ve created.
Be a fool. Let your creativity run wild.
A great resource for coping with the fears and challenges of the fool’s journey is the book Uncertainty by Jonathan Fields.
It’s a very helpful hand-holding through the many unknowns in the creative process.
 
 

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Who to Trust When Writing Your Book?

You’re in a writing workshop and your recently-drafted chapter is up for review. Students offer their reactions. Let’s listen in:

“I love this. I love what you’ve done with your character.”

“I didn’t get it. Was she trying to pick that guy up or what?”

“This would make a great short story or a performance piece. It doesn’t have to be a just a chapter in a novel.”

Helpful?
Feedback is vital to the creative process. But inept critique from the wrong sources can squash your confidence or worse – dissuade you from continuing with your book.
Where do you go for constructive criticism? I’ve written elsewhere about how to design the feedback process so it’s useful to you.
Here I illustrate four groups you might consider asking for help writing your novel or non-fiction book.

Peers

These are your fellow writers, the people in your writing classes, or your writing buddies. Even if they’re not writing in the same genre, style or subject matter, these relationships can provide:

  • a sounding board for your process
  • a forum to share resources for developing your craft and publishing your work
  • accountability partners to help you stay on track.

Most importantly, peer relationships help you feel ‘gotten’. Being understood is vital to writers and artists who are creating something from nothing.
My peer relationships helped me and made the writing journey much more pleasant. The friendships I developed at La Muse writing retreat in France and writing buddyships I had in Boulder with Suzanne, Ann and Dorothy were all invaluable to my book.

Mentors and teachers

Writing instructors, mentors or professional editors have most likely written a book themselves. They deeply understand the craft of writing. They will be able to assess your work as a whole and offer critical and constructive insights.
After an initial novel writing workshop in 1999, I relied on professional editors to guide my work. Hiring someone to critique my manuscript was for me like taking a master class in novel writing. I did this at least four times in twelve years.

Audience members

These are people who won’t necessarily offer a critical review of your work. Instead, they’ll respond as someone who would ultimately buy and read your book. This is the person you are writing for.
Once you’ve established your core message and content, it can be helpful to pass it by your ideal reader. Do at least two drafts before showing it to a person in your audience.
Former bookstore owner and avid reader Valarie read drafts of my novel. Her perspective helped me see holes in the narrative and how I could increase the dramatic tension.

Friends and family

Your people love you. But they may not ‘get’ your work. They have a specific perspective of you and perhaps a hidden or obvious agenda. They may not yet resonate with your AUTHORity.
Here’s some of the feedback I’ve gotten from my loved ones:

“Why not just let this go and start another project?”

“The first chapter is a real downer!”

“This was a real slog!”

These comments came from highly intelligent people who love me, believe in me and wish the best for me. They were not trying to hurt me.
But they had no clue about how to give constructive feedback.
The people who matter most to us have the biggest influence on our actions. While drafting your book, I advise not sharing it with friends or family.

So which is right for you?

When you’re just beginning to write a book, you will likely opt for writing classes that teach you how to write. Be sure to learn how to filter out useless or misguided criticism that classmates may offer and focus on the teacher’s input.
As you progress in your book and solidify your message and confidence, work with other professionals and your audience to ensure your book is hitting the mark you intend it to.
What’s been most useful in helping you claim your AUTHORity? Let us know in a comment below to share what’s helped you the most.
To get solid support and make real progress on your book – fiction or non-fiction – join me for the Claim Your AUTHORity retreat this July. I’ve helped hundreds of writers claim their AUTHORity, respecting them, their material and their unique process.
The early registration discount ends this Friday. We’ve got a limited number of spaces available for this profound workshop. Claim your spot with us at the Sylvia Beach hotel on the Oregon coast, and claim your AUTHORity.
Download a .PDF of this article here.

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Target the Heart of Your Book to Write More Easily

This is part of the Claim Your Authority series.
You feel the urge to write a book. You’re haunted by an idea or a cluster of ideas, but have no clue how they will hang together in a meaningful way to form a book.
This is a common problem: most people are trying to write a book from a surface level. As a coach, I’m always helping my clients dig deeper to find the core of their impulses.
Connecting to the heart of your book provides a powerful anchor to make what you’re expressing in your book easier.
Here’s a simple but profound exercise to target the heart of your book so the ‘what’s it about’ question will no longer haunt you.

Values + themes + stories = the heart of your book

Values in the middle, then themes, then surface stories

Okay, let’s look at a strategy to dig deeper to connect with the heart of your book. Remember the last CYA post where I asked you to identify a short list of your values? Get those out.
We’ll use a target to map stories, themes and values. At the core are your values. The next ring represents your themes. The outer and most visible ring stand for the stories you’re telling. Here’s an example of the model.
 
In my novel Chasing Sylvia Beach, here’s the top layer of story:

  • My character, Lily Heller, is bored and aimless
  • Lily wants to be a writer but doesn’t know how to get started
  • She looks to the life of Sylvia Beach as a model for a life of meaning and influence

In the next layer we find the themes:

  • Desire to live an interesting life
  • Desire to express something creatively/be a writer
  • The heroine’s journey – who am I and what am I doing here?

Finally, we see these values I hold:

  • Adventure/stretching/travel/learning
  • Creativity/expression
  • Learning/growth/expansion

As you do this, you should experience some ‘aha’ moments, where you access the deeper levels of your work.
Once you are connected to the core of your book, it’s easier to make the time and space to write it.
Homework:  Try this process to connect with the heart of your book. You can do this on a big piece of paper, dry erase board or use index cards…whatever method you like.

Using index cards in 2006 to map out Chasing Sylvia Beach

I suggest three different colored index cards, one color for themes, another for values and the third color for stories.
Play around with the cards, seeing how they connect to form the heart of your novel or non-fiction book.
Depending on how you think, you may start from the center (values) or the outer ring (stories). Let this exercise flow organically and don’t worry about figuring it out in a linear way. Take your time with this and let the process be yours.
Try any of these three approaches:
1. Start with your values and work your way to your themes, then the stories that represent the values that are deeply meaningful to you.
2. Identify the themes or topics that keep recurring in your writing and match them with values, then find stories that express those values.
3. Look at the stories you tell often. What themes are inherent in them, and what values are you expressing when you relate these stories?
If this seems confusing or daunting, leave a question below and I’ll help sort it out.
This is one of the juicy exercises we’ll do together in the Claim Your Authority retreat on July 10th – 12th, 2012, on the Oregon Coast. Together we’ll work through this to clarify the core of your book to make it easier to write. Reserve your spot before March 30th to get the early registration discount.
How does identifying your values help you write your book? What did you learn from doing this exercise?  Let me know in a comment below.
Download a pdf of this article  to make Claiming Your Authority easier.

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What Happy Writers Do

When we’re satisfied with our writing – writing often, working on challenging pieces, having our work read – we’re happy.
I’m on a mission to help people who want to write feel good about their creative impulses.
I’ve made a video inspired by my own writing happiness. How do you celebrate and express your happy writing habit?

My online class, Make Writing a Happy Habit, starts Monday, March 19th. You may not be rolling around on a ball to express your happiness. Instead, you’ll feel your own irrepressible urge to express your happiness.
Come write with us.
 

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Book Review: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

The Snow ChildThe Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This may be the most beautiful book I’ve ever read.
The descriptions of the Alaskan landscape, flora and fauna, weather patterns and animals were so beautiful. I never thought I would be eager for that place, but Eowyn’s prose was so lovingly rendered and gorgeous, it made me want to visit Alaska again.
The characters were well-wrought and absolutely lovable. The mysterious snow child and her roots in fairy tale offered just the right amount of magic and mystery.
I loved the beautiful surprises that came near the end (trying not to be a spoiler!). So delightful.
So sad and beautiful at the same time.
I highly recommend this book, in case it’s not already obvious!
I met Eowyn at the Tattered Cover’s annual Authors Meet Readers event, and she was a total dear. As a fellow bookseller-turned-author, I enjoyed our conversation about a life among the stacks.
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Seven Boons of Writing a Book

This is part of the Claim Your Authority series.
I’m standing in front of a crowd at the Boulder Bookstore. In my hands is my novel, Chasing Sylvia Beach. The heady brew of emotions that swirl in me include joy, wonder and a huge whoosh of gratitude.

Speaking at the Boulder Bookstore for Create Your Writer's Life

The combination prompts a sense of overwhelming joy that makes my knees buckle. Flush with gratitude, I share the story I’ve worked on for more than a decade.
Even in my imagination, this emotional cocktail is potent and unexpected. When publishing a book, you’d imagine a lot of happiness and celebration. What’s surprising to me is the profound amazement and wonder that infuses me.
It makes all the work and sacrifice that I invested in this book worthwhile.

What will writing your book bring you?

When I coach people, I help them cast their sights to the other side of the process, to imagine and see what’s possible after the long, quiet hours alone working on the book.
Bringing a work of art into the world will yield a blend of internal and external rewards. There’s what you gain from bringing the work to fruition and what you will glean from how others receive it.
It will be different for everyone, but here are seven possible boons that await you when you claim your authority.
1 Be a finisher. So many of us suffer at the hands of our inner critic who loves to point out how often you abandon things. Here’s your chance to finally prove to yourself that yes, indeed, you can finish something. This engenders huge reservoirs of confidence that can extend to future projects.
2 Know yourself and your material on a new level. You get to experience your work – whether fiction or non-fiction – in form. Having a tangible expression of what’s meaningful to you reflects you back to yourself in ways that empower deeper explorations and satisfaction.
3 Start global conversations. All art and writing that makes its way into the world initiates dialogue with others. How people respond is a fascinating process that allows what that they feel, think and believe to interact with what you’ve shared in your book.
4 Elevate your status. Having a book means you claim a new position both in the eyes of the world and for yourself. Imagine for a moment that you’ve written your book. How do you perceive yourself differently?
5 Earn money. Most of us don’t get into writing because it’s such a lucrative field. But more money can be earned from a book than from a cluster of ideas that merely perambulate in your head.

Seeing your book on the bestseller shelf at the bookstore...

6 Invite unforeseen opportunities. This is the best part. An idea for a book niggles at you. Speaking about it to others will likely bore them. But a completed book generates excitement in your audience and prompts opportunities you can’t even imagine. If I show up to do the work to write, publish and promote you book, something absolutely amazing could happen.
7  Give a gift to your readers. All of this is well and good for you, but what about your readers? We have a variety of motivations for writing, but many of us hope for a powerful impact on our readers. My non-fiction books are designed to both inspire and instigate action. I write them with nothing short of the lofty intention of changing people’s lives. And they do.
I can’t predict exactly what awaits you when you claim your AUTHORity. Everyone’s path is different. But I do know that every book we write works us in some way.
Our job is to heed the call to write our book, to get our words and ideas out of our head and onto paper so others can experience it too.
What do you imagine your AUTHORity will do for you? How do you want being an author to change your life?
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