I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “everyone has at least one book in them”. Well, after this workshop, I can honestly say I believe that!

Last week, a group of Unique Ladies had the absolute pleasure of being led in a story-writing workshop by Gemma from Maddison House Press. We heard from published authors about their experiences, talked top tips for writing your own book, and then Gemma announced that in the next 90 minutes, we were going to write a book! So did we succeed? Let’s dive in and find out…

Our first published author sharing her expertise was Jean Macdonald, author of ‘Love, Sex and the Midlife Woman’. Jean’s practical approach to writing was refreshing. In fact, when Jean instructed us to “pick a date and just start writing, and don’t stop” I almost felt the urge to pick up a pen and start writing my autobiography right there and then! Jean’s advice centred around the process of writing her book, which is hugely helpful for those who might know what they want to say but haven’t felt confident enough to get started. For instance, she described mapping out your book into 10 chapter headings, and planning 10 ideas or sentences to include in each chapter. This plan – once padded out -will more easily blossom into a fully-fledged book.

Another interesting piece of advice Jean suggested was writing a shorter book; around 60 pages was Jean’s ideal.Why? Well, she feels that people’s attention spans are shorter now, so this would make your book more appealing,particularly to those who don’t read regularly. Personally, as an avid reader, 60 pages would seem too short to explore a story fully – and I feel a lot of writers might have more to say than would fit in 60 pages, once they really got going on their chosen topic! I would love to know people’s thoughts on this, though. Is 60 pages enough to tell your story?

Our other published author and resident writing expert was Frances Day, author of ‘Diving Deep to Climb High’. I gotthe impression that Frances’ writing experience was a much more spiritual and cathartic one than most writers. Her book centres around women and encourages them to understand their self-worth, and Frances herself explained that during her writing process she sought the wisdom of spirit guides. This is, of course, another method of motivation, so if you’re considering writing your own book, make sure you think about what will motivate and inspire you.

Frances also explored the struggles of self-publishing, particularly marketing and research. In fact, she likened writing a book to “doing a degree” due to the sheer amount of work and research involved in the writing process. Whilst this issomething I’m sure we’re all aware of, it felt very honest of Frances to discuss these struggles, and how much timeand effort goes into the creative process.

So even with all these words of wisdom, when Gemma suggested we were going to write a book in the next 90minutes, there was a definite nervous laugh that went around the Zoom screens! But sure enough, we did it! Here’s how…

Collectively, we were tasked with writing a book called ‘A Glass Half Full’, all about the benefits of drinking water. Gemma expertly broke the writing process down into eight steps, which we followed in small groups. With Gemma’sguidance, we workshopped each chapter together, honed in on key ideas, and created masterpieces – if I do say so myself! I won’t share the full eight-step process here, but would encourage you to get in touch with Gemma directly if you are thinking of writing your own book. I can only imagine how invaluable her guidance would be if I were writing my own memoir or self-help guide.

I will share this, though: Gemma advised us at the beginning of this process to be “the mentor, not the hero”. As a social media marketer, this is a phrase I consider regularly, and it’s clear that it applies in so many scenarios. So ifyou’re thinking about writing a book, take into account these three key messages from the experts featured in this blog:

• Be the mentor, not the hero
• Find guidance that works for you
• Pick a date and just start writing!

Finally, a big thank you to Gemma, Jean, Frances and Pam for the organisation and preparation that went into this workshop!

Ashley Foster BB Social Media