The Maya Angelou Story You Don’t Know

I keep this secret list on my phone in the notepad. When someone writes a Facebook post or an email or says something at a conference that I connect with, I jot down their name in this file. (Actually I have 2 secret lists like this in my phone, the other is a list of cute boys, but I digress.)

Anyway I don’t really know why I keep this list. I call it “People I Want to Work With.”

 

Yesterday, when Maya Angelou died, I felt the urge to review that list. Lately, I only want to work on books that lift the world like hers do. So I looked through the list and tried to connect with the people who I felt shared the powerful energy of her work and the I reached out and I told them my favorite Maya Angelou story.

 

Have you heard this one?

When Hallmark publicized the fact that Maya Angelou would be writing for them, someone in the Times asked the poet laureate of the time, What do you think about Maya Angelou writing for Hallmark?

He said, “I’m sorry that Ms. Angelou has reduced her art to writing mottos for greeting cards.”

“That day I read that in the paper, and that afternoon I was in a bookstore in Miami called Books on Books,” Angelou explained in this interview to The Daily Beast last year, “It’s a wonderful store, you’d love it—jam-packed with books. You’d want to live there. I walked down an aisle and came face to face with a woman who reminded me of me: my height, my age. But she was white.

She says, ‘You look just like Maya Angelou!’

And I said, ‘I am!’

And the woman steadied herself on a bookshelf and the tears came down.

She said to me, ‘Ms. Angelou, I’ve been estranged from my daughter for five years. But this past Christmas she sent me a card which said “Mother love heals.”’

And she cried. I joined her.

She said, ‘My daughter and I are going to be re-established.’ She said, ‘I take that card to my bed at night, I put it on the nightstand. In the morning I take it to the kitchen when I make coffee. I keep that card. My daughter and I are together again. I thank you.’”

This story makes me cry every time I tell it. Does it move you too? Do you think you could change the world with 3 words? You could, you know. Do you need me to remind you that what she has in her… you’ve got it in you too?

Whether it’s a Hallmark card or one of the Great American memoirs, or a humble ebook with Difference Press, your words can save people and heal people, just like hers have done and will continue to do.

Maya Angelou’s words are delicious… like ice cream… but sometimes better. She is one of the reasons I am so passionate about helping people like you to write your book.

As one of my authors, Julie Stass, just posted on FB: “Just a warning, if you work with Angela, you WILL end up writing the book you’ve been dreaming about, She is magical, you will go under her spell and write and publish. Just saying, be careful what you ask for!”

Here are some of the most common reasons my clients say that they haven’t finished their book. (Can you imagine how the world would be different if Maya Angelou sat on these excuses?):

• I don’t know where to start.
• I’m waiting for inspiration to strike.
• I’m worried my writing style isn’t entertaining enough.
• Having the dream of being a writer is better than making it a reality.
• I don’t want to be seen as a hack.
• Everything I have to say has been said already.
• I’m opening myself up to criticism that I’m not sure I want to hear.
• My mother isn’t going to like what I have to say.
• I’m afraid of being exposed as a fraud.
• Who am I to write a book?

Does any of that sound like you?

Let’s shatter all these bullshit stories.

My last 26 published books have all become best sellers. It’s an astounding success rate. Talk about a HOT TRACK! I don’t know any other author coach or publisher that is having the success I’m having and all I’m doing is tapping into the truth of my client’s inner author. That’s what I can teach you how to do too.

If you aren’t on my list of “People I Want to Work With” that doesn’t mean I don’t want to work with you… If you have wanted to write a book for a long time and it feels intuitively to you like we should probably be working together, then please take a look at my new program and reach out if you want to talk.

Even if now isn’t the time for you to write a book – or even if you aren’t ever going to write a book – I would love for you to check it out so when you hear of someone in this exact circumstance, you know where to send them.

I call the program Your Delicious Book because to get your book done – it needs to be the most delicious thing in your life. (BTW that’s secret #1 to the success of my work.)

If you think chocolate ice cream is truly delicious, it’s not going to last very long in your freezer. And if you think your book is truly delicious, it’s not going to last very long in your head.

Your Delicious Book comes in 2 flavors: kindlicious [kin-dl-ish–uhs] for writing shorter ebooks and bookilicious [book-eh-lish–uhs] for writing full-length print books. Either way, you have a full team to support you, keep you accountable and nurture your transformation into a best-selling author. All the details are at https://www.theauthorincubator.com/archive/delicious

P.S. And like I said, even if this program isn’t for you… or isn’t for you right now, take a look  anyway in case there is someone you are meant to recommend the program to. I have been blown away by the coincidences this program has created in my life. If someone is meant to be in this program, I know they will find it – you might be a conduit!

P.P.S. Leyla Day just emailed me this… It sums it up why I do what I do perfectly…”The incredible aspect of this program is… that your book gets conceptualized, written, published, and becomes a best-seller in 13 weeks! I have wanted to write a book since I was about 9 years old. The liberation and sense of accomplishment I felt on completing this program is incomparable! Why will you get your book written in this program when others failed? Because Angela, in addition to being a crack publisher and marketer, is also a life coach. She’ll peel you off the wall when you hit “the wall”, talk you off the cliff when you contemplate jumping and keep you moving forward. If not now, when will you write that book?”