Momentary Interruption

Writing...oh how I missed thee.

Its been too long since my last blog. The primary reason is because I have not written anything and I am trying very hard to focus this blog on that journey. I decided to write today because, well, it means I am writing.

There is way too much going on for me to focus just now. Besides the 2.5 month old we call Bear, I am getting my house in order in preparation for the big move to NYC.

I am now reading three books at once (so LaNora), so this feels like just another part of the work. It has me thinking about within what genre I would place my book. Because of its negative connotation, I hate the term "self-help" and really I am helping you help yourself, so where am I in that description. Memoirs by young people are starting to be popular, but this is definitely not my memoir though I use my journey to illustrate my proposition. So, I'm working on that one for my pitch letter. I want to be in the same category as "The Tipping Point", but Gladwell's description of his genre doesn't seem worked out quite yet...lol.

The best part of not writing is that I have had a lot of time to DREAM. I have not had that in awhile. Once you are on autopilot, the daily dreaming seems to subside. This is a necessary part because you can really get locked in the dreaming and forget to do the work. I am enjoying developing my work plan. I think it is soooo sexy that I will be a writer in Harlem. I have an address on West 119th and St. Nicholas and I can already feel myself being part of a tradition of Black writers who find their peak of inspiration on those Harlem streets. I love the story that I am writing for myself.

Muse News

Now that I think of it, there is some news to report regarding Muse CAA: I got a call about being an Associate Producer (AP) for a new Animal Planet series. I have not been officially offered the position, nor have I accepted anything but it came through a wonderful contact, so I think it will work out. So, that is a great start to my networking journey in NYC.

I hope to be settled into my new apartment by the end of March, so I will give myself to April 1st to get it together before I put myself on a writing schedule. This is real progress for me not to beat myself up about not meeting these self-inflicted deadlines. I am a deadline driven person, so I love and need them. But I am also a motivated person, so I have the tendency to overexert myself unnecessarily. Finding the right balance, and being blessed with the freedom to exercise it, has been overwhelmingly inspiring; taking the time to live in that inspired state has been life-changing. So back to writing April 1st and back to work, i.e., reading Wrapped In Rainbows, now!

2011...

Waxing Retrospective

I started this blog last year with the intention of creating accountability for myself. As a entrepreneur, I do not have a boss to give me assignments and enforce deadlines so I have to be self-motivated. Its interesting to reflect on how far I've come in just a short time. My priorities have completely changed, but my ultimate goal has remained the same: To have a meaningful impact on the world through the creative arts and become a millionaire in the process.

My first blog post lays out my three goals for 2010 and the seven faults I must overcome to be successful. Over the course of the year, I narrowed it down to 1 goal, which was to complete my book proposal, and I reduced those seven faults to their common denominator and made it my business to conquer the fears that were inhibiting my success. In order to grow, I had to stop moving long enough to evaluate my behavior. To that end, I winded down all of my contracts and stepped away from working with clients and really spent some time working on me. Never before had I put up a mirror and evaluated myself, especially not my faults. This was a necessary step if I wanted to continue being an entrepreneur. But we all know that necessary does not mean easy. In fact, 2010 was the most difficult year of my life. I am happy to say that it was well worth it because I came out of the process with a renewed and deeper belief in myself, a no stress attitude, and an awareness of those weaknesses that I must address as I travel on this entrepreneurial journey. Now for the work...

On to the Next

Tomorrow starts the first day back to work after my self-granted maternity leave. Because I was working on so many things last year on top of being pregnant and taking care of my first baby, I made it a point not to pressure myself too much. Now that is over. I do have a newborn, but she is low maintenance. My oldest is now in daycare and my husband has accepted a new demanding job that will involve a major move to NYC sometime in March. With this in mind, I am giving myself through the end of February to complete my book proposal. I would love to move to NYC with a clean slate so I can go about the business of reinventing myself. With no clients and no lingering assignments, I will be free to dream all new dreams and work on making them come true in The Big Apple.

Checking In

There is something about Sunday mornings that get me motivated. I have not written in a couple weeks, nor have I thought much about it, as I have been busy nesting. Well, I am proud to announce that I delivered my second child, Riley Alexa Clark, on November 29th. A beautiful baby girl who damn near brought herself into the world. Needless to say, I am filled with gratitude and renewed purpose.

This morning I started reading through my Guide to Literary Agents. It is interesting to read agents' perspectives on the book proposal process. It has me thinking even more about the elements of my proposal and how I really do have something here. I am the queen of persuasive writing, so I can't wait to see my finished product and where it leads me.

Although I would have loved to have my proposal completed already, I am still proud of my progress. Unlike when I had my first child, I do not feel any rush or pressure to do anything in a certain amount of time. This book is my other baby and I will give it all the attention and nurturing it needs before I send it out into the world. I should be able to gauge how much time I will have to devote to finishing my proposal over the next couple weeks. Riley is pretty low maintenance right now, but I am not counting on that to continue. In the meantime, I will do what I can do and I am sure everything will work out how it is supposed to work out.

Turn my Swag On

Goal Setting

At every stage in my life, I set a high goal and was able to attain it. For college I wanted to go to Berkeley or Brandeis. I only applied to 4 schools and got into all of them. For law school I wanted to go to the #1 school in the country, Yale. I punked out of applying, but I applied to 13 schools, all in the top 15. I got into all of them except Standford (down with the Cardinal!). When I graduated law school, I wanted to work at a top law firm. I went through the process and ended up at a Top 40 law firm.

I recently said to myself that now is not the time for little goals. I have two friends that are published and they are are both under two of the top 10 publishers in the US: HarperCollins and Houghton Mifflin. One of them already sold the rights to have her book adapted into a film and the other got her book sold in a literary auction, which means lots of people were interested in it. These are my peers and, therefore, my benchmark for success.

So, I am setting a top 10 publisher as my goal.

How do I get there?

Well, this is difficult to figure out, but a major aspect is the marketability of your book. I have started this section of my proposal and I think I have a pretty good segment of the market carved out:

In the academic world, I have connections to lots of published and respected professors. I need my book to be good enough to get testimonials from two of my NYU professors, Professor Derrick Bell (who is super famous in Critical Race Theory circles and beyond) and Professor Tony Thompson (who recently published the bible of books on Reentry studies). I am also getting in touch with NYU to see how they can support me in my efforts. For $190k, I assume there is something they can do to support my efforts. Especially because this book is definitely good PR for them.

I have a chapter devoted to who I consider to be the key members of my network. All of these individuals have their own networks and I am relying on them to be my cheerleaders in pushing my book. Each of them will be impressed with the role that they play and what I have to say about them and all are go-getters so if their name is attached they will want it to be a success.

Aspiring lawyers, law students and lawyers, particularly African-Americans are definitely a key demographic for my book.

Up and coming entrepreneurs are also part of the market for my book.

Another key element is access to press. I have this down in the DC area and I will be relying on my PR mavens on both coasts to help me push this.

I think my title is a seller as well.

Most importantly, the book has to be good. I am still yet to finish a full chapter, though I have been writing everyday. I jump around between the into, chapter 1 and chapter 6. Sometimes I stray and start writing up my marketability piece or, this week, I have been trying to stop myself from writing parts of Chapter 5 which follows my years at Berkeley.

What Now?

These goals are just there to help me dream big an do what needs to be done to make it happen. Right now my focus is on completing my proposal. Sunday is a good writing day, so if I could just keep myself focused on one chapter I know that I can finish it. I feel that it should be Chapter 1 because it will set the tone for the rest of my book, but Chapter 6 is so fresh and full of characters and the meat of my theory that it has been much easier to write. I will set my goal as finishing Chapter 1 and see where I get. No pressure. Baby Riley is due sometime in the next 15 days and she has been a huge motivation to get this done. I am trusting that everything will work out how it is meant to work out, so I am feeling confident and self-assured by my process. Wish me luck!

Evaluation Time

Checking in with Muse v Fear

1) LACK OF CONFIDENCE 1 point for me

2) FAILURE TO ACT tied

3) FEAR OF GOING AFTER MY OWN DREAMS 1 point for me

4) FEAR OF BEING ACCOUNTABLE 1 point for me

5) DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR 1 point for me

6) LACK OF COMMITMENT 1 point for me

7) FEAR OF GREATNESS 1 point for Fear

All in all, I am kicking butt. I have very little anxiety about my ability to write the book that I see in my head. I am not pushing myself too hard because I am keeping my kids as my priority right now. I am continuing to post blogs and keep it honest in my writing. By writing my own story, there are so many characters whose feelings I have to consider. It is teaching me how to write in a way that is both honest and considerate. I am enjoying the challenge.

Checking in with The Other N Word

Going back down memory lane is exhausting work. I have to edit myself when I write because this book is not my life story, if it is not relevant to teaching me the game of networking it should not go in. On the flip side, stories are injected in that I did not forsee being part of the book.

My goal is to draft my Intro, Chapter 1 and Chapter 6. I think these three things set up the premise for the book and are diverse enough to give a good impression of the rest of the book. I really like my intro so far. Framing my story has been like framing a piece of art. I have to put the reader in the mindset that I'd like them to be in. Choosing my words carefully and trusting my voice have been essential tools. I have parts of all 3 chapters done, I just really want to have a whole chapter done. This is my goal today. Chapter 1 is about my early childhood and Chapter 6 is about my law firm career. I straddle between the two depending on what I am in the mood to deal with. I think Chapter 6 might get written faster, though I am pretty close to being done with Chapter 1. A lot of framing of a lot of memories...can be slow work.

The law firm stuff is fresh in my mind and the chapter is entitled "The Knowledge Without the Game". At this point in my journey, I was beginning to notice a lot of things that I had missed before. I was still gaining the knowledge, but it took me becoming an entrepreneur to learn the game. The BigLaw partnership model makes an associate's job much like being an entrepreneur. You do not have a boss in the traditional sense, you still compete for the best work, and its about who you know as much as it is what you know. Interacting in the firm world with the knowledge of how to act, dress, be...showed me how understanding why I must (or think I must) do these things is more valuable.

I'm about to break for lunch and get back to writing soon after. Wish me luck on finishing up Chapter 6.

To the Wire

Since my last post, I have made serious progress toward my goal of having my proposal ready this month. The most exciting part was finally getting my final chapter titles and subtitles down. Just looking at my Table of Contents makes me proud. The fact that there are all these hidden meanings and/or thought processes that went into each one makes it even more exciting.

Decisions, Decisions

I have decided to complete my Introduction, Chapters 1 and 6 for my sample chapters. This will be interesting, as I am as excited as others to see how the book turns out. Most of what I had previously written serves as a basis for writing the final chapters, but I have been starting from scratch as I write so that my writing benefits from my clearer thought process and my focus on the art of storytelling and not just telling my story.

The Sneak Peekers

I have also been getting together the folks that I want to read and critique my proposal before I send it out. Having this feedback will be a major help in many ways, but mostly it will be the first time I really stop talking about it and be about it. I am yet to share my writing with anyone because I am not at a place that I feel comfortable with the final product yet, but that will all change soon.

The Big Test

I am hoping to have my three sample chapters completed by the end of the week. I am giving myself some leeway in the goal, as I am 37 weeks pregnant and rest is my main goal. In fact, last week I slept all day from Monday through Friday...it felt great and I fought off the guilt that I felt creeping in. My estimate is that that is 54 pages of writing, sounds daunting but you have to remember that that breaks down to approximately 22 standard pages. At 5 pages per day, with a lot of it already started, I should be able to stick to this plan. This will be a good indication of how long it takes me to complete the book once I secure a deal.

I have been working for most of the day, so I think I will quit for the day and start fresh tomorrow.

Momentum

Pitch Stage

Ok, so I feel wonderful today because, after months of brainstorming, writing, thinking, conceptualizing, etc. I am finally at the stage of putting together my book proposal to send to literary agents. My fellow entreprehustler and motivator Farrah Parker suggested that I could pitch my own book to publishers, but I really want to be free to just be creative in this situation.

The proposal for a nonfiction book contains the following elements:

Cover Letter

Book Overview

Marketing Potential

Table of Contents

Sample Chapters

Writer's CV

Other relevant information

I am happy to say that I have almost all these parts completed, plus a lot more writing done than is necessary for the pitch. For the rest of this month, I am focusing on getting each of these things in the best shape possible so that by November 1st, I am confident to send out my packet and see what comes back.

I am extremely optimistic about my ability to land an agent and I have been visualizing the success of my book. I feel like the timing is perfect, not just for my subject matter, but also for me personally. My baby is due December 1st and I need to take at least 3 months to devote all of my time to her. I also know that rejection is a major part of the process, so having a new baby to look after will ward off the depression that such rejection can cause.

The Difficulties of Writing Such a Personal Piece

The People

As I write, I am finding that my story is not my story alone, but includes many people that may have an opinion about what I write. I think I am a clever enough writer to be completely honest without throwing other people under the bus, but I honestly did not anticipate how many people's names would actually end up printed in my book. I plan to send everyone mentioned a copy of the part of the book about them, so this should be interesting.

The Obstacles

There are certain occurrences or event in my life that have shaped who I am and speak to my journey to uncover why networking is the other N word. Many of these are very personal and I have not shared them with anyone who was not privy to them as they occurred. Some stories I have really just started confronting over the last year. These are the most difficult to write, one because they bring up so much emotion and, two because I need to frame them in a way that makes me comfortable yet provides the proper context for the book.

Muse Moment

Needless to say, I am super proud of myself for reaching this goal that I set out at the beginning of this process. I have committed to this singular goal and have not let other opportunities distract me. Every time I write, I get a great feeling and I know that this book is a huge stepping stone toward my ultimate destiny. I believe that your 30s are for finding yourself and the people who are destined for greatness are putting the work in now. I know that I will be counted among the greats and I am ready to do what it takes to make sure this happens.