Five Easy Pieces: Punching My Book Proposal in the Face

Five Easy Pieces: Punching My Book Proposal in the Face

Amazing cupcake on fire courtesy of this place.

I had an epiphany that made me punch my book proposal in the face. Last week I started a new job and was feeling pulled in so many directions with work, the book proposal, this blog, that blog, and these articles, that I didn't know where to start.

So I took a breath and approached myself as if I were one of my own overwhelmed students:

   
     Instructor Me: Hey there, Erica. Which of those tasks is most urgent?

     Me: All of them.

     Instructor Me: Great! Now, which task are you avoiding?

     Me: The annotated table of contents for the nonfiction proposal.

     Instructor Me: Why?

     Me: Because I don't know if this book will ever sell, so what's the point?

     Instructor Me: Ah. Well. That sounds like a problem for Future Me. Would you send a baby to prom?

     Me: What?

     Instructor Me: Exactly. So why not combine the annotations with a blog post? You like blog posts.

     Me: I guess. I mean...It would be cool to use this blog as a place to authentically draft my chapters. All I need are the mini-sections I'm going to use in each chapter and start there. 

     Instructor Me: And what are those mini-sections?

     Me:Uhm...The Confession, The Story, The Hindsight, The Takeaway, and The Resources.

     Instructor Me: Great! Let's do this!

     Me: But what if the book doesn't sell?

     Future Me: LOL

And so, Dear Reader, I have a solution. My next dozen or so blog posts will be structured how I'm planning the book as well. With these five pieces:

          The Confession: A true confession about my time as PhD student.

          The Story: The story behind the confession.

          The Hindsight: What I realized a little too late.

          The Takeaway: What I've done or improved upon since the hindsight.

          The Resources: Resources I wish I had before I made these mistakes.

I haven't the slightest idea if the book will end up exactly with those five sections, exactly, but it's my starting point.

So here we go.

The Confession

I might be writing this non-fiction book proposal because I'm too chicken to finish the MG horror book. I know it started that way, but I genuinely can't tell anymore.

The Story 

This blog used to be called The Davis Girl, but now it's specific to my time as a PhDidn't. This is intentional because one major section of a non-fiction book proposal is my personal platform, and how it relates to this topic. So the new focus on this blog does double duty for me: It keeps me focused and helps me draft the chapters of Confessions of a PhDidn't.

The Hindsight

I should have been updated this blog weekly, if not monthly while I was in grad school. Then, it would have served as a perfect archive in my book. While there are some posts from that time, it's mostly just a glaring gap in time.

The Takeaway

Our forebears kept journals as a record of their daily lives. Why not maintain that tradition in our current literacies? I do keep scrappy journals, but something about a public web log ups the ante. I'm already editing as I type this. 

The Resources

Whoa. I just found an amazing article that's going to help me retroactively spruce my archives up, a bit. Take a look here for tips on how to increase blog traffic. 

The name of this site alone with an article on why we should blog makes me so happy.

Anyone else? How is your blog going? What are you punching in the face?

Let me know in the comments! 

The Davis Girl vs. A PhDidn't: The Path of Least Resistance

The Davis Girl:
Or the blog formerly known as this one.

Confessions of a PhDidn't:
Or the blog now known as this one.

Introduction: The Big Picture

The Davis Girl is now Confessions of a PhDidn't.

I've been considering starting a new blog anyway, and this was the path of least resistance. Why reinvent the wheel when I could just rename the thing? And right now, I could use some simplicity.

Background: What the What

As you probably know, I write scary stories for kids. Some of these stories might even get published.

However, I decided to take a break before rewriting my first Alphagories book. In the meantime, it's time to tell the story about my time as a PhD student. Why?
The voices said so.

Methodology: How the Things Are Done

The end game for my PhDidn't story is a cautionary humor memoir/handbook for struggling grad students. Because sometimes it's OK to quit. More on that in a few posts.

No, I don't know if Cautionary Humor Memoir/Handbook is an actual genre, but it is now.

I wasn't planning on beginning this project so soon, but when I shelved the scary book project, the PhDidn't story wouldn't leave me alone. It's all I could think about. I dreamed about it a few times too. But how different could non-fiction be from middle grade horror fiction:

Write the thing.

Query the agents. Blammo. Right?

Results: The Things About It

Wrong. Turns out: Nonfiction gets a proposal not a full manuscript. 

A nonfiction book proposal has about eight some-what agreed upon sections which you can learn about here or read more about here.

Screen shot from proposal Table of Contents

What I appreciate so far about this whole process is that it reminds me of academia: everything has a place. And it better be there. Or else.

And I like it.

I never cared much for schedules or structure, but now that I know how much easier it is on me when there's no guesswork, I crave it.

There's method to this nonfiction proposal madness.

And I got to make a progress chart. I've wanted to do this for my fiction projects before, but it never made sense to me because I kept changing chapters and scenes and structure and...

Roll that beautiful bean footage:

Who doesn't love a star chart?

Discussion: The Part With More Info

Moving forward, this blog will center on the writing, content, and progress of Confessions of a PhDidn't: How to Quit Grad School Like a Champ. If anything staying to this narrow of a focus will keep me on track. At this point, I am drafting the proposal itself. 

Here we go.