This passage is an excerpt from The Books Business Abundance Podcast.
How Did You Approach Writing Your Story?
Liesl: So my story came out in parts. wish that I could have told you that I sat down like a good author and wrote out the outline. Right? And I tried to do that, but in reality, what I did is I created a writing practice because I knew I wanted to write a book, but I really struggled with the discipline around it.
So, I would show up an hour every day and sometimes, I would have ideas about a specific chapter I wanted to write. And then sometimes, the story would go over here.
So for me, I felt like how I compiled a book was there were fifteen different stories that I then weaved together to make sense. So, while I understood the topic I was addressing, I had to just let the story come out first. And then I put it in its order.
How Do you Find Yourself Being inspired, Ellen?
Like, do you write like that or do you have an outline?
Ellen: I think this is one of the reasons I wanted to have you on. I think it’s different when you write a memoir versus a how-to.
Liesl: Yes.
Ellen: Okay. So, I mainly have written …all my books have been, how-to’s except for one, which was a compilation. So, I just told my story and I had sixteen other people tell their stories on How to Crush in Business Without Crushing Your Spirit, How entrepreneurs can Overcome Depression and Find Success. So, that’s really the closest I’ve gotten to anything like that. So, with how-to’s it’s generally, step-by-step; it’s a chronology. I always write my outline and then follow it. But it’s easy to do that. I have not tackled a memoir. I don’t know if I want to. I have had people say to me, “Oh, you have to tell your story.” There are pieces of my story that could definitely hurt other people. And so I haven’t really wanted to do that.
To hear Lisel’s story of betrayal and redemption and more including tips and tricks for telling your story, listen to the entire podcast at: https://booksbusinessabundance.com/podcast/tell-your-story
Ellen Violette helps inspirational speakers, coaches, and founders write a bestseller in 7 days, launch to #1 bestseller, and use their book to grow their business, make a bigger impact, make more money and leave a lasting legacy through her coaching and author’s services company, Books Open Doors ™ She’s is a multiple #1 International bestseller author herself and author of nine books, award-winning book strategist, host of the Books Open Doors ™ Podcast and Grammy-nominated songwriter. Her mission is to make the world a better place, one book at a time.