Meet a Book Whisperer

Carolyn Scarborough is a professionally trained life and writing coach, and works with people to turn their “whispering” to write into a reality.  Her most recent book is “Backyard Pearls: Cultivating Wisdom and Joy in Everyday Life.” She is an award-winning magazine writer, editor and newspaper columnist and has published more than 500 articles in magazines around the world. Her passion is inspiring people to tap into their inner wisdom, then share their message with the world through non-fiction books, novels, memoirs, blogs or articles.  She offers one-to-one coaching on the phone with clients around the world, as well as group tele-courses and live retreats. Check out her site www.backyardpearls.com. Abhijit: I have heard of animal whisperers - but a Book Whisperer or a Writing Wisdom Coach. What is that about?Carolyn: Good question. I coach people who have the desire to write… yet they are not writing. Some people have a novel, memoir, non-fiction book or even blog that’s been percolating in them for years, but they either haven’t started writing… or they start and stop and can’t get any traction. It becomes very frustrating because they really want to write, yet they’re stopped. I coach with them to discover what gets in their way and clear the path towards joyful, more effortless writing.As a Book Whisperer, I communicate with clients on the phone -- usually a couple of sessions a month -- and via email. I listen very closely to what they say – even listening to what they don’t say, their tone, the messages underneath the words. From there we identify where they are right now… and where they want to be. Through the process of deep, intuitive listening and discussion, I help them move.I have one client who has had a book in him for 15 years, yet he was so doubtful of his abilities and how to start a book that he had simply done nothing. After just one session, he was off and running and now he can’t write often enough!Quite a few people come to me who want to write, but somewhere along the way, someone told them they weren’t good. Often it seems a schoolteacher passed down this judgment. And from then on, they’ve been shut down. The process here is restoring their belief in their innate ability to communicate and write.Some clients are hung up because they simply are confused on how to begin, while other reasons are more deeply buried. One woman had been working on a memoir, but it was taking a long, long time to write and she kept getting distracted. As we dug deeper, she realized she had a fear of seeing the book with her name on it on a bookstore shelf. It terrified her, being visible like that. Once  this was identified, we knew how to move forward.Others have found themselves overwhelmed with jobs and busy lives, yet they feel they are missing out on creative expression and being in touch with themselves. They are ready to open a space in their lives that is more than the day-to-day grind. They want, as author Virginia Woolf says, “A room of one’s own.” They’ve had enough of taking care of everyone else’s needs and demands and realize it’s time to slow down and connect with who they really are. Once they do this, transformation happens that affects every other area of their lives – not just the writing.In fact, we all need this type of creative respite on a regular basis. And by taking the time to look inward and be fully in the present moment, our writing brightens. On my blog, I talk about when I found myself in need of this kind of tune-up -- http://www.backyardpearls.com/blog/2010/time-for-a-sea-change/.Finally, a desire that drives many of my clients is sharing a message that can have a positive impact on the world. They are not writing just to see their names in print (although that’s a nice side benefit). It’s so beautiful how they want to share their wisdom and contribute in a bigger way. Writing and getting published reaches so many more people, and this is what drives them.Abhijit: Does having a writing coach help people to get published faster or does it help them to write better? How is the coach's role different from an editor?Carolyn: A writing coach can help people get published faster, but speed isn’t the main focus. I had one client who had spent 4 years working on her book, sitting in confusion, going different directions, getting stuck believing it wasn’t good enough or no one would read it. We started coaching and one month later her book was finished and now it’s been published. Her entire life changed. It was awe-inspiring.We also help clients get published faster simply because they finish their project in the first place! Having a coach means having accountability. However, I don’t hold people accountable in the usual ways, through admonishments if they don’t write.I teach clients ways to stay with writing that are based not on “push,” but on tapping into their own inspiration and inner coach. I love the quote, “Discipline is remembering what we want.” I help them remember what they want, even when they’ve forgotten it, and that keeps them going.As for the difference between an editor and a writer… well, an editor typically looks at a piece and improves it, whether re-arranging whole sections and the focus of the piece, or making it more readable or clear. They also get into the nit-picky details of grammar. I used to be a magazine editor and know that role well.While an editor focuses on the writing, a coach focuses more on the person behind the writing. By inspiring someone, they write more authentically and more often. By clarifying their thoughts, they write with more organization. By teaching them how to find stories, they live in a way that draws story ideas naturally. So we change the writer, not the writing.That said, however, I do sometimes look at a client’s writing if they’d like suggestions on how to make it more vital, more interesting or ways to get their point across more clearly. That’s not the majority of what I do, but I’m happy to do it if that’s what’s needed.Abhijit: How does a writer find his/her voice? How does one know that they have succeeded?Carolyn: The best way of finding your voice is to write without rules, which you can do in a journal that no one will read. What do I mean by this? Well, when I take my dog Ziggy for a walk, he really enjoys it, and he’s also very good at staying right by my side on the leash. Nothing wrong with that. Yet when I let him off the leash in the park, he looks completely different. He runs, he walks, he bounds, he rolls, he leaps. He has his “voice.” He also does things which are socially unacceptable, like eating from the garbage bin. That’s also his voice, but that part can always be edited out later. JVoice is how we sound when we write without fear, without “shoulds,” without trying to look good. I had one client who was stuck on her book, but she could blog quite effortlessly. That’s because with her book she was so focused on trying to sound “impressive,” she couldn’t write at all! Her inner perfectionist got her.Another client has a very warm, enthusiastic personality, yet her writing sounded stilted and formal. She had so many fears and so many rules she was trying to follow, that it didn’t come out naturally. Her own voice was choked out. But when she was able to see and let go some of her fears and break all the rules, something very different appeared.Suddenly she began writing in a way that not only “sounded” like her in terms of cadence and flow, but she also had a lot more fun doing it. That’s another clue. If writing feels like pulling teeth, you’re not likely in your voice (unless, of course, you’re a dentist). Voice usually feels more like flow coming out, and there’s an identifiable feel to it no matter what you’re writing.As author Patrice Vecchione says, “It’s always a risk to write and speak your truth, but the risk of not doing so is greater. You have only to speak with your own voice, in its rhythms, with its melody and cadence, the voice right there within you, your distinctly human voice.”  When you do that, the rewards are immeasurable…------------Read my take on Royalty and Other Fictional Characters