It’s more than overdue that I discuss not only why book coaches are important or why you should hire a book coach, but also why I decided to become a book coach. I discussed a bit how I stumbled on the book coaching profession in an earlier post, but it was mostly a stroke of luck just hearing an advertisement for Author Accelerator on a writing podcast.
It may be obvious that I, like many people, have been a bit lost career-wise for the last few years. I have been struggling for some direction since getting laid off from my publishing job back in 2019, and obviously the pandemic didn’t help. When I heard about book coaching on the #AmWriting podcast a couple years ago, it felt like I’d finally found my calling. As I discussed in my post defining book coaching, I feel that book coaching is the ideal way to bring my editorial and creative capabilities together.
In my time in publishing, it was humbling and exciting to watch authors see their books go from a Word Document to printed book. As a book coach I can start at an even earlier stage of the process: helping a writer develop their idea into a structure that ultimately leads to a book. At the risk of sounding corny, coaching can take a writer’s daydream and help make it a reality. That is exhilarating to me. But what kind of writers would I work with?
The answer to this question became clear to me during a session of the weekly HerStory Writers’ Workshop I mentioned in a previous post. Every week in workshop, we hear from so many people harmed by the mental health system and mental illness who want the world to know their stories but feel silenced by society. We, in the United States at least, like to talk a big talk about mental health awareness and improving how we care for the mentally ill and/or those falsely labeled, but we don’t stop and listen to the people who have really been through it. Most of the people in workshop do not otherwise safe place to discuss their psychiatric trauma, and I firmly believe this needs to change.
How do we make more safe places for people to discuss their psychiatric trauma and/or their mental illness? Raise awareness! How do we do that? Publish the books of those who have been harmed, consequently amplifying their voices. My mission as a book coach is to help writers impacted by mental illness/the mental health system by helping them finish their books and get their books published for a large audience. By publishing these narratives and showing the greater public that these stories are important, we will get the realities of mental health in the mainstream.
My (albeit idealistic) hope is that through this mission we can fight stigmas and psychiatric labels associated with mental illness as well as build community and connection through these personal narratives. The more that those who have also been victimized can access these stories and know that they’re not alone, the more we can come together to influence change.
Writing and publishing a book is an arduous process for anyone, but it can be even more difficult for someone battling a mental illness or trying to cope from past trauma. Personally, my depression more than my anxiety is what bogs me down. My depression tries to tell me that I’m never going to get anything finished, and whatever I do write is going to be worthless anyway. My goal is to make the writing and publishing process easier while also keep the writer on track to meet their writing and publishing goals.
What are you biggest challenges in trying to write a book if you’re struggling with mental illness and/or trauma? How can a coach better serve you as a psychiatric survivor, someone who was misdiagnosed, or someone who is suffering from a mental illness? Feel free to respond in the comments or inbox me if you would prefer to respond privately.
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Featured photo by Polina Kovaleva.
Hanna Etu 