And in this series my answers aim to help new creators just like you!
This edition of Ask Nicola starts with the question:
I have finished writing my autobiography but don’t know how many books to get printed? Who and what should I consider before placing a print run order?
Wow, how exciting you are getting ready to print your life story – congratulations!
Now keep reading to find out how many books I suggest …
The amazing travel story of a motorbike trip from New Delhi to find the Hindu goddess Kali
Get ready for a wild ride with C. L. Stambush in this latest case study about her bold and honest self-published book Untethered: A Woman’s Search for Self on the Edge of India – A Travel Memoir.
The life story tells of her five-month, nearly 7000-mile (11,265km) solo journey in 1997 as a young woman on a Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle and her quest to prove to herself she “can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone”.
Indeed Stambush had never ridden a motorbike and named her Bullet Kali after the badass Hindu goddess of rebirth, hoping to gain some grrrr.
But her mission was to discover the 51 Hindu shakti peetha temples, containing pieces of the goddess — lips, wrists, heart — believed to possess the power to transform.
However, along the way Stambush was reshaped as she encountered friendly families and ominous men, confronted culture clashes, hijras, and bandits, experienced monsoons, scorching deserts, and homicidal drivers plus crashed her motorcycle and much more.
So keep reading as the long-time traveler and journalist explains the story behind the memoir, the creative process and her tips for new writers.
It was written by American journalist and author Lisa Taddeo and published in 2019 by Bloomsbury Circus.
In short, the biography “is a record of unmet needs, unspoken thoughts, disappointments, hopes and unrelenting obsessions”.
However, notably the Sunday Times and New York Times No. 1 bestseller has garnered sweeping endorsement from authors Elizabeth Gilbert to Marian Keyes and actor Gwyneth Paltrow.
Indeed the 320-page book is the result of eight years of reporting by Taddeo and has much to interest readers plus those sitting down to write life stories …
Ask Nicola Q&A: How to write a story for beginners who want to write well
How to write a story is the most common query I am asked as a life-story coach.
So to kick off this year’s Ask Nicola series, I’m highlighting six readers’ questions that deal with this theme!
They include how to create inspirational stories, writing tips, good writing ideas, writing mistakes, writing problems and the process of writing a book.
“It is a limited series of conversations between a daughter and a father about the things that make us family and the items in my dad’s life that have helped to shape who he is today,” Treasure said.
“You know he has had this incredible life as a cultural worker, poet, professor, activist and mentor but he wouldn’t write a memoir.
“So this podcast is a way to get those conversations onto tape and to find out exactly what shaped this incredible, complex – and far from perfect – man that I love.”
Let’s discover more about this fascinating life-story project plus Treasure’s tips for doing something similar of your own …