Know Your Why
I say this in business, and I say it in writing...whatever you do, know why you're doing it.
The other day, I was in Battle Creek, Michigan with a new marketing client, the Battle Creek Community Foundation. My marketing business, Your People LLC, is thrilled to begin working with them to organize and focus their marketing efforts so we can help them grow their reach and impact.
You know me here mostly as an author and writing coach, and I’d say that’s my favorite way of being known (well, after being a mom to four amazing people). But I do enjoy the marketing work that has flourished for nearly 20 years and which affords me the opportunities to write, publish and travel at my own pace. (Yeah, being an author is not the quickest path to getting rich!)
Anyway, BCCF came to me because its CEO, Mary Muliett, is a long-time friend and colleague. She’s been in the top seat there for a year and sought my help in focusing the narrative and organizing the communications and marketing, and I’m excited to be working with her again.
So I tell you all this as an introduction to the real point today, which is this: when you know WHY you do something, it becomes easier, more successful and way more meaningful.
Let me back up a minute. I was in this big conference room at BCCF with a soaring artistic installment of Abraham Lincoln made out of pennies of various patinas given time and use, and I asked Mary, who has an art degree and has spent decades working in social services, why she wanted to take the helm of a community foundation.
“Because I loved the idea of building legacy far beyond me or today,” she said.
It was quick, definitive, well-thought-through. A community foundation builds funds and awards grants, and the funds are designed to build over time to far outlive the people who set them up. It’s a beautiful concept.
Anyway, I was curious how Mary got from helping families and children in foster care to this position, and her answer made so much sense to me. When you choose work to do, what is the motivation behind it?
So it got me thinking about why I write books. Here’s what I came up with:
Because I love building a story from a blank page, love working with words, love writing beautiful sentences.
Because it’s a challenge to see if I can create something impressive from a simple idea.
Because it’s fun.
Because a book is a product that can bring escape, joy, adventure, thought and connection to countless numbers of people—people I may never know, but in the experience of communing with my pages, somehow we are soul-connected.
Because stories connect us at the deepest level, in very human and empathetic ways, and in these trying times, we need connection to sustain us, and to give us hope.
In writing books, I also tie into a community of authors who are generous, kind, creative, just the most amazing people. So that’s a part of it, too.
The other day, my friend Jean Meltzer, an amazing author who generously endorsed my forthcoming novel, I LOVE YOU, CHARLIE TANNER, spontaneously wrote a very long post about me and my books. I mean, it was jaw-droppingly generous and beautiful and a gift!
She had no reason to do so. I didn’t ask her to. She was just being nice and encouraging and supportive.
I think it made my year.
In writing books, I may never become financially wealthy (although I still hold out hope that one day, maybe), but I have already gained boundless wealth in friendship, in community, in good people with big hearts and kind souls.
I can’t think of anything more important.
So…what’s your WHY? If you haven’t considered this before, I highly encourage you to explore it. Free-write about why you do what you do, or don’t do what you really want to. See what comes up and please share it with me!!
With I LOVE YOU, CHARLIE TANNER publishing June 12th, I’d like to share the gorgeous, generous words that three amazing author-friends offered to endorse this new novel—please please please, go buy their books!!!
Also, there will be an Instagram Giveaway starting June 2nd—follow me there to learn more (the winner will get a free copy of ILYCT + a $25 Bookshop.org gift card!)
“Haunting, powerful, and intimate... I Love You, Charlie Tanner explores what happens when a woman dares to discover who she is beyond the man who once defined her."
~ Jean Meltzer, International Bestselling Author of The Matzah Ball
“Passionate and full of mystery, Lynne Golodner’s I Love You, Charlie Tanner is as breathtaking as Cape Breton’s rocky coast. But the novel also tackles bigger themes, like the ache of regret, and the tangles of family and faith. Golodner’s Charlie is fully realized, a heroine who discovers a second chance at love, at independence, and at becoming the person she always hoped she could be. Golodner understands that grief and desire are two sides of the same coin, and by the end of this powerful story, so do we.”
~ Christopher Locke, author of Without Saints
“In this evocative novel from Lynne Golodner, a rich tapestry of love, loss, and second chances unfolds against the backdrop of breathtaking landscapes. Fans of Where the Crawdads Sing will be captivated by the lush, vivid descriptions of nature, drawing readers deep into a world where the land itself is as alive as the characters. The story weaves together the delicate threads of the human heart with the raw, powerful rhythms of the natural world.”
~ Sarah Ansbacher, author of Wave After Wave and Ayuni
By the way, have you registered yet for the virtual launch? Or let me know you’re coming to the in-person launch party? Please join me!!! I want to celebrate with you.
And either request the book at your local library or preorder it please!! It’s a small ask, but a big payoff for us scrounging authors.
Thanks for reading A Look in the Mirror, a twice-monthly newsletter by Lynne Golodner. If you like what you read here, please share with others and consider becoming a paid subscriber! Become a paid subscriber before June 12th and win a free book by Lynne Golodner!