Massachusetts financial planner Derek Reed had stalled out on his book, which uses stories from his dad—a swordfisherman who captained the Andrea Gail until one year before it sank in the perfect storm—to educate readers about saving and investing for retirement. Over a period of a couple of years, he had written close to 40,000 words. Despite this progress, the book, tentatively titled The Imperfect Storm: Navigating the Financial Seas, remained a low priority and took a backseat to everything from work and family to home maintenance, church and volunteering. Something had to change. So I invited Derek to Bend, Oregon for a three-day writing coach intensive.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect, especially since we’d never met face to face. Derek also wondered how this would go. But after our second day, he told our mutual friend David Rosell, another a financial planner and writing coach client, that “Linden should make this writing coach intensive a required part of every writing coach package.”
By then we had refined the manuscript’s organization, identified what information and stories were needed where, and talked out those missing parts. We made sure to record our conversations so Derek could refer to transcripts when he returned home.
But the best was yet to come.
On the third day, we started to weave in Derek’s personal story: Why he had become a financial planner. The six months he spent in Spain with a family and “the best mama in the country.” And how he had recently discovered the truth about his birth, gaining another family in the process. We figured out how to incorporate that last bit in overtime, already late for a lunch meeting with David, who would be driving Derek to the airport that afternoon.
Derek looked at me when we determined how and where this final and intensely personal piece would work. “This is my book,” he said following an emotion-filled pause. “Not my Dad’s. Not the firm’s. My book.”
I got an instant case of goosebumps. And after three amazing days which included some of the best swordfish I have ever grilled and/or eaten, top-notch wines and restaurant meals, dog walks, and a ton of laughs, I have a client whose book, now a top priority, has really taken shape.
An email sent from the airport to me and David, who was instrumental in getting Derek to both write his book and come to Bend, read: My two book whisperers – you have no idea well yes u do actually what this project and its product means to me our biz and my family. Hard to express my gratitude. Un abrazo fuerte.
Wow, do I love being a writing coach!
“Fish on!” as they say on the swordfishing boats. Let’s do this, Derek.
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