I’m in the midst of deciding on my next big race, preferably a marathon. As I’ve been narrowing down my options, I’ve been struck by the deep parallels taking on a marathon has with starting a new book project. Featured here are the first two steps. The next two steps I’ll share with you next week!
Step One: Reaching Out to a Coach
I’ve been extremely fortunate to have the same gentleman coach me for years. He’s remote, back east in New Jersey, but he’s ALWAYS available. He’s experienced, USATF certified, inspiring, realistic, and encouraging. He’s been there, done that. Especially when I was coming back from a serious illness and needed to train for the NYC Marathon, he knew exactly where I was coming from (having tackled Chicago Marathon training after a major surgery due to his life-long health issue). So I reach out to my coach, see if he’s willing to be my guide — again — and if he thinks I’m nuts. Of course, he’s in the middle of his own training season, but he immediately gets back to me to lay out expectations.
Starting out on a book journey is so similar. Find an experienced professional who knows how to do it, knows what the steps are, and knows how to motivate you. Find someone who’s been there. Find someone who is responsive and honest with you.
Step Two: Assessment
Coach Casey knows that before we can create a plan, we have to assess my current state. This means finding a local 5k or 10k race to run as well as I can and see what my fitness and pacing are like. If I’ve kept up with running for fun, chances are my fitness levels will be decent and I’ll knock out a consistently strong pace. If I’ve taken some time off, I might be a bit creaky and have a sub-optimal performance. Once we assess the race, we can set the longer term goals for the marathon. Coach follows a formula to figure out what my workouts should look like to hit my target marathon pace. We make a plan that is laid out over a few months. I know myself, and I know that I have a tendency to live and die by deadlines (this may be a leftover from my newspaper days), but Coach knows that things happen. We can have the best laid plans, but you need to leave room to adapt.
Book ideas need an assessment period as well. Reach out to a trusted adviser or coach to discuss your concept. Write a couple pages or paragraphs to get a feel for it. Is the idea as strong as it can be? Does it need some fine-tuning? Have you been writing regularly so that the words flow relatively easily onto the page? Or is it a bit of struggle to get your thoughts down on paper? Once you know where you are, you can come up with a plan. Again, there’s a formula for creating powerful query letters and book proposals, and a great editor will know how to adapt them for your project. There are also some key best practices to outlining your novel for dynamic and compelling storytelling. Have your coach evaluate your project and help you develop the best plan of attack for creating the perfect prose package.
Coming Next Week: Steps Three and Four!