Welcome back to B is for Book Coach. I’m B, midwife of big ideas and book development partner for writers and non-writers alike. And for the next few minutes, you are my author.
Don’t worry. That doesn’t commit you to anything more than what you’re doing right in this moment. Because the best authors are simply people who show up as themselves, for themselves and for their readers.
Today, we’re making space for a guided 5 Minute Outline.
The B is for Book Coach space is one way I create direct support for authors as they bring their books to life.
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“Wherever you are beginning this, take a deep breath and notice how you feel in your body, and how the world around you feels.
Take a breath for the day you have had so far.
And a breath for this precious moment, which cannot be recreated.
Now, another of the day and night coming.
Here you are, in the cycle between the past and the future,
choosing to spend your miraculous time in the exploration of how humans, especially those seeking to grow liberation and justice,
can learn from the world around us how best to collaborate,
how to shape change.”
This is how adrienne maree brown begins her book Emergent Strategy, one of the books on my stacks of invisible shelves that’s almost more highlight than plain text.
After she asks us to breathe into our own spaces, she shares a bit about her own space while writing, before offering up the definitions her book is built around:
“Emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions.”
and
“Emergent strategy is how we intentionally change in ways that grow our capacity to embody the just and liberated worlds we long for.”
The rest of the book is a journey through elements of the natural world, interviews with change makers, examples from other movements, and strategic tools—all of which remind us that change is possible when we start with the small rather than becoming paralytically overwhelmed by the big.
What you’re doing is big.
Let’s just pause for a second to acknowledge that.
When you are writing for something more than the transaction of it all, the bigness of the work is twofold.
There’s the complexity of constructing a book, and then there’s the complexity of leading change in your corner of the world.
So when I say “start with the small,” I don’t mean that we’re going to shrink that bigness down at all.
The complexity isn’t going away.
That’s where I see so much of the nonfiction writing world getting it wrong.
The templates, the all-in-one services, the hacks—they’re all intended to simplify the book side of things, with or without acknowledging the larger work side of things.
Keep an eye out and you won’t be able to unsee it: the broad assumption is that all you need is someone else to simplify the book, then everything else will fall into place.
But when we think in terms of emergence, it’s only our focus that’s shifting.
The complexity stays.
It has to.
Let me clarify: If you were pausing everything to only focus on a book—just a book, any book, like the assembly line for a product—then it might make sense to shrink, condense, simplify, and churn through that process as quickly as possible.
It would also make sense that the production would be the problem in that scenario. Either you’d already know exactly what you want to say, or you wouldn’t be attached to how you’re going to say it.
It would be a product, and products are relatively simple to produce.
You, your work, and your project are neither products nor simple.
This tendency toward template-first simplification is why I balked first time I was invited to expand on the 5 Minute Outline.
I had already articulated its core structure—5 core questions that I used to drive conversations with authors in order to bring out the structure of a chapter or book.
From there, the variations depended on just that: the conversation with the author.
It’s not a template.
It’s not a formula.
It’s a simple interaction that leaves room for and makes sense of the complexity of your work.
It’s emergence.
The only way I was able to create independent variations like these episodes was to think of them as an invitation to an interaction with yourself—a meditation.
Like the beginning of Emergent Strategy, I open each one with a grounding breath, and the reminder that whatever comes up is worth celebrating.
You’re choosing to spend your miraculous time not only learning how to shape change, but putting yourself on the line to do so.
It is a simple interaction that opens the door to your complex aspirations.
It’s also wildly generous and vulnerable.
adrienne talks about this too. She says: “Generosity here means giving of what you have without strings or expectations attached. Vulnerability means showing your needs.”
This, I have found, is what makes a structure like the 5 Minute Outline work.
Because it’s not a simplified way in to a literal content outline, it requires you to show up generously and vulnerably in order to surface the intentions it’s meant to capture.
It requires giving of what you have, even if you don’t yet know how that will take shape on the page.
It requires looking at your needs—both in the gaps that emerge and the rawness you’ll have to contend with.
As we move into this iteration of the exercise, I want you to remember that it is an emergent process.
Spend the next 5-or-so minutes allowing this interaction to be as simple as it is: being present with your breath and the questions and whatever answers emerge from there.
Keep your focus on the relative simplicity of this one interaction—with me, across time and space, and with yourself, in the hyper-present moment of wherever you are.
Use these minutes to grow your capacity for the generosity and vulnerability that is required of the impact you’re writing to make.
Let everything else go—all of the unknowns about the content, about production and publishing, about what happens after…
Just be here, now.
In this miraculous moment.
With the intentions you have for the corner of the world you’re here to change, no matter how complex that might seem.
This is a structure that can hold it.
You might want to check out this introductory post if this is the first 5 Minute Outline you’ve worked with.
Otherwise, grab a pencil and paper, write the numbers 1 through 5, and start with your pencil at number 3. Because beginnings are hard, so we’re not going to start there.
Minute One/Number Three: What is the thing you would say if you didn’t have to know how to say it?
When we start with the key takeaway—the one thing we want the reader to take away from the piece we’re working on—we’re naming the reason for writing in the first place.
And that reason is not always easy to articulate.
Not in a way that feels polished or clean or official or “good,” anyway.
So, let’s just say it.
Take a deep breath.
On number 3, write “What is the thing I would say if I didn’t have to know how to say it?”
Release all of the “supposed to”s.
And let’s begin.
[Timer starts]
If you didn’t have to think about a book shape or chapter structure or how a thing is supposed to be said…what would you say?
No one else is reading this right now.
No one ever has to see it in this form.
So say it in the way you’ve always wanted to say it, as messy as it might be.
What is that one thing?
[Timer stops]
If you can’t be candid here, when it’s just you and a piece of paper, it’ll be hard to be direct anywhere else.
This is where you explore. This is where you find the core of your message. This is where you set your intentions. The polish can come later.
So shake off the tension of that moment of vulnerability, move your pencil to number 1 on your list, and we’ll keep going.
Minute Two/Number One: Why is the thing you really want to say so important?
The thing about generosity is that it’s not strictly necessary. It’s an above-and-beyond sort of thing.
And this is not an easy gig.
Neither the work you’re doing outside of the book nor the effort of capturing it in writing.
So there must be a reason that you’re here, doing the generous and vulnerable work of showing up on the page for someone you might never get to meet.
There’s something important about the thing you want to write.
On #1 on your list, write “Why is this thing so important?” and let’s continue…
[Timer starts]
Thinking about the thing you want to say—despite its complexity, or whatever makes it difficult to say—why does it need to be said?
What pain is it addressing?
What complication is it wading into?
What weight is it lifting?
Who is waiting to hear it?
Why is it important to say this thing?
[Timer stops]
This might be one you come back to later to dig in a bit further. Either way, I want you to let it linger. Let it grow.
Feel that weight, because it’s got the gravity that will pull you forward.
See those people, because those are the interactions that you’re creating through the experience of a book.
For now, though, let’s take another big deep breath, move our pencils to number 2, and keep going.
Minute Three/Number Two: What feels difficult or complex about saying that thing?
Part of creating room for complexity is actually looking at it.
It can be tempting to shift our focus to the unknowns of book creation, letting things like agents and publishing steps and support services and marketing overwhelm us.
The temptation is that we can get so caught up in the overwhelm of those transactional steps—which actually can be simplified—that we stop looking at the complexity of our own work.
So for this minute, set aside anything related to the actual production of the book.
Focus on the feeling of “I can’t say this because…” as you go to number 2 and write “What feels difficult or complex about saying this thing?” and let’s see what comes up.
[Timer starts]
Finish any of these sentences that resonate:
If I say this thing, people will think…
I can’t say it like that, or…
When I’ve said this before, this thing happened…
I’m worried about saying this because…
This is what feels so complex…
[Timer stops]
Sometimes these exercises feel like a relief because we’re able to surface important thoughts and insights without the filters of “good writing.”
Sometimes they feel like a challenge because we’re getting to deeper layers than we typically do, and that’s not always comfortable.
Both experiences, and anything in between, are valid.
Hang in there, and let’s keep going to number four on the list.
Minute Four/Number Four: What makes that thing worth saying, despite the complexity?
We’ve already identified what’s important about the thing we want to say.
But now that we’ve looked right at the difficulty of saying it, we’ve got a new lens on that importance.
Let’s take this minute to go a bit deeper, really naming why we’re wading in with this piece or project.
With your pencil on number four, write “What makes this thing worth saying, despite the complexity?” and let’s keep going…
[Timer starts]
What makes this thing worth saying, despite the complexity of saying it?
No matter how simple the production stage of writing can be made, you’ll still have to bring that writing into the world.
And that means facing those fears and worries about the content itself.
But you’re still here, trying anyway.
Why?
What is so worth all this effort?
[Timer stops]
Notice that we’re not solving anything yet.
Those steps can come later.
But if we don’t know what we’re solving for or why it’s worth the effort, the solutions are likely to skim the surface and only last so long.
You’re doing work that extends so much further than a simple transaction.
We need to meet that work at the depth it requires.
With that in mind, let’s shift to number 5 on the list, and wrap up this challenging but necessary (and good!) exercise.
Minute Five/Number Five: What will happen when you say that thing to the people who most need to hear it?
There are two places we’re looking for the answers to this exercise:
Either the hyper-present moment of your current observations, insights, and intentions—or the distant future where you’ve already figured out how to say this thing that seems too difficult to say.
For now, we’re staying out of the messy middle, where we have to figure out how to say it.
That’s a problem for near-future-you, likely in collaboration with a supporter who helps you navigate that messiness.
In the last minute of this exercise, we’re going to go back out to the distant future, forgetting about how we’ll get there.
When you’re ready, with your pencil on number five, write “What will happen when I need to say this thing to the people who most need to hear it?” and let’s wrap up…
[Timer starts]
Notice that we’re living in “will” territory here, not “might.”
Fears are housed in “maybes”; confidence lives in “will.”
So what are you confident will come from saying what you know needs to be said?
Not for the whole world…not for every reader…
But for the person you know is waiting to hear this thing, what will happen for them?
What will happen when you say the thing?
[Timer stops]
This likely won’t be all inclusive.
There are still unknowns in the process ahead of you, and some of those unknowns are outcome-based.
And also.
It’s so important to tap into your knowns.
To trust them.
To write toward them, even if you don’t know how you’ll get there.
This is good work that you’re doing, not just for bringing those outcomes into the world, but for the growth you’re experiencing as you do.
So take one more deep breath. Shake out all your muscles. And let’s look at what has emerged.
Emergent Writing Recap
The fact that we’re not writing a content outline right now is probably my favorite part about this exercise.
Because we’re only naming our intentions, without any need to know how those intentions will be met, we can go deeper than we would if we were self-limiting by what we already knew how to write.
That can be difficult, especially if this isn’t your first time through this particular 5 Minute Outline or a variation on it.
So I want to offer encouragement from adrienne’s book.
She says that a key part of an emergent strategy is that we have to “…release any assumption that one person has all the skills needed to lead and support the work.”
Having questions and worries about the steps connected to bringing a book into the world is no more of a problem than having questions and worries about doing your larger work in the world.
You likely aren’t going it 1000% alone there, and you don’t have to here, either.
Knowing that you can raise your hand at any point (literally by replying to this email to say “HELP?!” if you need to) should give you the freedom to work from your strengths without trying to stretch too far into new spaces alone.
With that in mind, you should have something written at each of those 5 points that resonated most, and it can be mad-libbed in to look something like this:
There is [a problem, difficulty, or complicated situation] that [the thing I want to say] can address.
It’s complex because [reasons].
If I weren’t worried about those reasons or how I’d say it, I would say [the thing].
Still, despite all of that complexity, [the thing] is important to say because [big reason].
When I say the thing to the person who’s waiting to hear it, [things will change].
Repeat this exercise—probably with time to process and let it bake before coming back again—until those statements feel true.
I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather base a complex, vulnerable, generous project on the truth than on a simplistic veneer.
adrienne said it this way:
“Art is not neutral.
It either upholds or disrupts the status quo, advancing or regressing justice.
We are living now inside the imagination of people who thought economic disparity and environmental destruction were acceptable costs for their power.
It is our right and responsibility to write ourselves into the future.”
This is complex work you’re doing.
It’s good work that you’re doing.
And it doesn’t have to be done in isolation or simplified into oblivion.
Whenever you’re ready, the simplest interaction that can bring your complexity to life is the free 30 minute call always linked in the footer.
Because you’ve got this. And I’ve got you.
And together, we’ve got big work to do.
Hey, thanks for creating this space with me today.
Whether or not you’re ready to dive into writing just yet, remember that the best authors show up fully, just as they are. That’s all it takes—and you’re already doing it.
Be sure to subscribe on Substack or wherever you listen to podcasts to catch every coaching moment to come. And when more of your book is ready to emerge, the space we made today will be here waiting for you.
