Award-winning author Pam Slim on writing her next book: the big idea, kitchen-sink first drafts, yellow pads and how the book relates to her business
Pam Slim, award-winning author of Escape From Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur, graciously agreed to a live interview for the current group of Beta Authors to talk about writing her next book. Tentatively titled Body of Work, it will be published by Penguin Portfolio in the fall of 2013.
The interview was so interesting and wide-ranging, I can’t resist sharing it with a broader audience. Pam is a professional speaker, expert on entrepreneurship, business and life coach, martial artist, devoted mom, world traveler and more. Read her eponymous blog, sign up for her e-newsletter and learn more at EscapeFromCubicleNation.com.
Click here to listen to the interview. Pam talks about:
- The big idea for her new book (she calls it “a framework for the new world of work”)
- Bridging the gap between “corporate is bad” and “entrepreneurship is good”
- How her new book will be the anchor for what comes next in her business (new keynotes, workshops, etc.)
- Her thoughts on traditional vs. self-publishing
- The value of the book proposal writing process
- Big idea vs. how-to books (she likes hers to be both)
- The value of a pen and yellow pad and getting away from the computer
- How she uses one Word doc, organized with Styles, to dump everything into a first draft
- Why Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird is her go-to source of comfort and inspiration
- Yes, she procrastinates
- When she is stuck or overwhelmed, she reminds herself that the purpose of her new book is “to be of service” to readers
Thank you, Pam, for a wonderful conversation.
Want to reinvent your life and work after age 60? Follow Sam and me as we reinvent a yin yang life on the coast of Maine and in Brooklyn.
