I've been working my ass off training to be a better book coach over the last 12 months, and I am finally in a place where I can talk about it more. If you want to write A BOOK THAT SHARES YOUR STORY, this is for you.
A year ago, I signed up (and let's not be coy, I paid a significant amount of money) to study memoir book coaching with Author Accelerator.
Author Accelerator is the premier book coach certification and community. It's renowned as the gold standard for teaching and certifying book coaches, ensuring those coaches meet the standards required to help writers do their best work.
I've had a successful business helping writers share their stories for NINE YEARS. So why did I need to be taught and certified by an external organization?
I didn't.
But I wanted to be.
Because I've been stalking the Author Accelerator organization for years, and the work they do is phenomenal. They teach people like me to be better at our jobs. To help writers more. To guide folks in producing better, more impactful books. I was, and continue to be, in awe of the work.
I wanted to be a better book coach
Frankly, I wanted to be better at helping people tell their stories. Specifically THEIR STORIES.
There is value in sharing your work or your three-step program or a how-to guide. I read and write and love self-help books—those guides that tell you how to do something. But lately, I'm captivated by people's stories.
I want to know what it's like to be someone else. To experience something else. To understand something else. I think this world desperately needs more of that, in every quarter.
Stories take us there. Of course, self-help books do some of that, too. But memoirs—stories people write about their life—give us the space to go deeper and feel more.
Sharing our stories is how we lift ourselves up, and pull others up with us. It's how we make ourselves heard, and how we inspire those coming up behind us.
Previously, I've focused on helping people write books about how to do things. Now, I want to help people write books about their life. Their stories. Their experiences.
I want to help people be heard. I want to help them inspire others who need to be heard.
What happened
So here's what happened:
I committed myself, paid a decent chunk of money, and signed up to study memoir book coaching, so I could learn the Author Accelerator methodology and skills, and (hopefully) get better at my job.
I studied. And studied. And studied. It was like taking an intensive university course. So. Much. Work. It was fun to go super deep into the subject, but it was WORK.
I practiced. And practiced. And practiced. You may recall my asking for memoir writers to practice working with. Working with real-life writers was a requirement for my studies.
I did the work, submitted it, and was assessed and graded by the Author Accelerator program.
And then, dear reader, I achieved my goal. I passed!
I am now officially an Author Accelerator certified book coach specializing in memoir. My work was noted as "excellent," and the certification team asked to use my work as an example for future students (yes, I love being teacher's pet).
Did I get better?
I mean, I was always pretty good at helping writers, if I say so myself. It's part of why I love my job. It's fun doing work you are skilled in. But in the last 12 months studying with Author Accelerator, I have become a better book coach.
I have learned more effective and impactful techniques to help writersshare their stories in meaningful ways.
I will forever have more to learn, but I feel confident and excited to help guide writers to do their best work with the skills I've been taught.
Can you get better?
Author Accelerator teaches book coaches to be better at their work. Book coaches teach writers to be better at their work.
Coaching and writing are both skills that can be taught.
So yes, you can get better at writing.
You can get better at storytelling.
You can get better at putting ideas on the page, and sharing your thoughts and stories and experiences, and inspiring those going through what you went through.
If you question if you're good enough to write the book you dream of, remember: Writing is a teachable skill.
You may not be good enough at the moment to do justice to the story you want to tell. If you're new to writing, there is no reason you should be good at it yet.
But you can go through the same process I experienced this last year.
Commit.
Study.
Practice.
Do the work.
Achieve your goal.
Easy, right?
No.
It is WORK.
But it is the best, most meaningful work I can imagine.
I'm grateful to be getting better at my work, and I wish the same for you.
If you want to join me on this quest to share stories in meaningful ways, I'll tell you more about how to join me soon.
In the meantime, I'm so pleased to finally be able to share what I've been working on these last 12 months.
And if you also feel drawn to sharing your story, I'm pleased you're here.
Thanks,
Liz "Officially Certified!" Green
Editor, Book Coach, and Ghostwriter
Green Goose Writing
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