becky blanton
Ghostwriter
memoirs–business books–web content
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Meet Becky
With more than 40 years of writing experience, including thousands of magazine articles, blog posts, and over 100 books, Becky has written for a variety of authors, including police and law enforcement, attorneys, doctors, CEOs, small business owners, entrepreneurs, and individuals who just want to leave the legacy of their lives in book form.
“I don’t know what happened…” she said.
“I don’t know what happened,” Elizabeth told me. “I was soaring along, the words were just flowing out of me, and then it was like my brain shut down, and I forgot how to write.”
Elizabeth (not her real name) was a successful CEO of a small company. She was writing her first book on mentorship, her passion. She’d been mentoring college-aged women for over a decade and knew her topic. Yet, she couldn’t get through Chapter Three — choosing and approaching a mentor. She herself had done this thousands of times, but she couldn’t bring herself to write about it. She could list the steps, but the words, stories, and feelings she’d put into her first two chapters just weren’t there.
SHE WAS BLOCKED
Chances are, if you’re writing or have attempted to write a book, you too got to about the third chapter before experiencing “writer’s block.” Some writers stop halfway through the first chapter; others get halfway through, but most come to a complete block. They either assume they’re not made to “be a writer” and give up, or they seek out a writing coach who can help them work through it or write the book for them.
SHE NEEDED HELP
By the time she called me, Elizabeth was willing to admit she needed help getting past her writing block. As a successful woman who had been mentored and who had mentored others, she understood someone had answers she could benefit from if she could just find them. That someone was me, as I’ve worked with writer’s block from a wide variety of writers.
writing is like therapy
Unless you understand the psychology behind writing your own book, if you’re like 95% of most new writers, you’ll experience this kind of writer’s block. Why? Because writing a book, even a non-fiction book, is like therapy — you know, where you see a counselor and work through trauma and childhood issues? No matter what you’re writing — unresolved trauma around your book, or something you’re trying to write will pop up its head during the writing process.
“I know you know what this is about,” she laughed. “Tell me. Why am I blocked?” We talked a bit, and then I explained…
TRAUMA IS TRAUMA
“Trauma is trauma. Take a piece of paper and wad it up lightly. Then take another piece and wad it up, only more aggressively, packing it tightly into a ball. BOTH pieces of paper have been “traumatized.” One needs smoothing out more than the other, but trauma is trauma. It can be one event or multiple events. It can be rejection all the way to severe abuse. It can be something like feeling like you’re a fraud — the “Who am I to write a book?” feeling, or it can be something else. Writer’s block is simply your brain’s way of saying that you need to process something you’re attempting to write about.”
YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH
It turned out that Elizabeth, like many writers, believed that she wasn’t “good enough, credentialed enough, or experienced enough” to write the book she was trying to write. We worked through her concerns, and I gave her some writing prompts to bypass that part of herself that didn’t believe she was “good enough” and she was able to finish that chapter AND go back and polish the first two chapters as well.
I’ve found most, if not all, writers need more than just someone to help them write their book. They need someone to coach them, to work through some of the feelings that come up, or to give them alternative prompts to get them past the writing blocks.
I am supportive
AND TRUE TO YOUR VOICE
I’m not a counselor, a therapist, or a social worker. But I’ve been through years of my own therapy and have helped hundreds of writers recognize where their writing block comes from. So, if you want to write your own book, I highly encourage it. Why? Because to successfully write, complete, and publish your book, you’ll need to confront and deal with some of the blocks, the trauma, and the fears within you. Your ghostwriter should be able to hear your concerns and not judge you or fear you.
I believe a good ghostwriter should be supportive on many levels. That includes being both a coach and an emotional support for you — especially if you’re writing a memoir. That’s my strength — holding space for survivors of sexual, physical, emotional, or spiritual abuse as they write and find their way through a fiction or non-fiction book