Activated Author Mindset Ep 98

Jessi brings back crowd favorite Mell T. for more conversation on writing, what makes a "real" author and identifying are YOU and author? Melissa Thomas shares insights on the book writing process, author activation, leveraging AI tools, and creating impactful book launches. Discover practical tips for aspiring authors and learn how to turn trauma into transformation through writing.

bootcamp.mellissathomas.co/signup 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:03

And we laugh. You know what? Y'all know how the weefy be weefy and the wi-fi be wifi. I was ready with the slab cloud early, okay? And I'm like, oh, wait, no, we gotta do the countdown. So, good evening, happy Friday. It is an amazing Friday evening, and I am here with my hashtag Dr. Mel Steve, Mel T. Welcome back in, Mel T. We love having you on. You know, my people love you, my audience loves you. And um, we're doing something a little different tonight. We live in a couple of places. So if you don't want to, if you want to continue scrolling, you can go ahead and go over to YouTube. Shout out to the Everybody Can Go Combo's podcast page. You can watch us over there and you can watch us here on Facebook. So we live and we live. And so um, welcome me and say what up to the people, and then we're gonna get right into it on this Friday night.

SPEAKER_03 1:05

Welcome everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in, and just thank you for thank you for having me on. It's always a pleasure.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Of course, of course. You know, I love having you on being in your space, breathing the same air, being the antier gang, being so high energy, and you're like, okay, that's enough. Calm down. And I love every minute of it. I really do. I do, I do. Oh, let me see. I want to put this where I can see the audience and I can see you. So I can kind of look at both y'all. All right. So um tonight I wanted to have Mel stop through. You know, we've been busy podcasting, doing all of the things, all the things everywhere. I wanted Mel to come through with us on pause so that we can do an exclusive talking about a couple of different things. Um, this week, even though it's been a short work week, this week has been busy, busy, busy. I'm not gonna say like a train wreck, but it's been a lot going on in a lot of places. That's for sure. So we have the um we have the truth of transformation book boot camp coming up um starting June 1st, uh, which Mel has been announcing and talking about all week. And I'm like, go to my pie, go to my pie. So this is why you guys ended up with this exclusive episode. Uh last night on her live, she talked about she actually got her copy before me. She got her copy before I did of her everybody can go book. Yes, the book that became the brand that was the the epicenter of this podcast, the workshops and everything is here now. And take a while that she's able to she's able to pick it up and show y'all. And I'm like, wait, no my own copies. So for those of you who pre-ordered, shout out to you. Let me just the number of times I've talked to this woman over the past month about my publishing woes. For those of you who have not pre-ordered or who haven't put in your order yet, go ahead and holler at that on Amazon and at barnesandnoble.com. They will send your book right to you. I'm still working on it for the ones that I'm fulfilling. I am so sorry, you guys. So, um, Mel, update us on um let me see. I don't remember if I've talked about in the past few weeks, um, if I've talked about the author activation weekend. So remind us back a little bit. Um, tell us a bit about the experience during that weekend and how that bridges like right into the troops of transformation boom boot camp. Talk um, you know, just take it away.

SPEAKER_03 3:59

Appreciate you. Yeah, the uh activation weekend was amazing. Um the the those four days in Tennessee were like wow. Like if I could do that again in the next couple of weeks, I would I would go right back there. It was amazing. Um, there were about seven of us in the room, um, virtually and physically. Um, what we had one virtual attendee, which was awesome. Shout out to her. And we were all plugging away. Like we chose to invest in ourselves, come away from the usual daily distractions, daily habits, the sort of lull of our everyday routines and sort of new environment, and just focus. Like we locked in. Um, we got some incredible gain from you know, from some of our speakers who came through there, taught us about the New York Times bestseller like pipeline, like how to get to that list, which is crazy. Like, wow. Um, and then also we because healing through writing is so important to me, I wanted to make sure that this go round our authors were able to have a session with a licensed therapist. And we did shout out to Dana Bill, like she gave us some serious game um on Thursday doing the VIP session, and then uh Ayana came back through uh and talked to us about how to create a memorable live event, in particular, a memorable book launch event, and she gave some interesting tips. And I know you know, Jesse, you came away with one that's about to be fire. Like, I can't wait for I can't wait for when you do that one. That's gonna be amazing. Um, but yeah, it was a weekend where we all it was a weekend of fellowship. Not only were we working on our books, we were sequestered while we were writing, but only while we were writing. The rest of it was uh sharpening each other, cracking jokes on each other, getting to know each other, you know, like bonding deeper. Because a lot of us did know each other, which is great. But yeah, we we created deeper bonds that weekend, and anybody who works with me works with my family. So everybody got the chance to fall in love with my family, so that was a huge privilege. To your question about how that ties into the Truth of Transformation book boot camp. The boot camp is, to be honest, a more spread out version of the author activation weekend, and it's the one that is wider open. Author activation weekend, y'all, is intended as an intimate event, and it's you investing in your book and investing in your transformation, your personal transformation, and the transformation you're going to create when you create the book. Um, the Truth Transformation Book boot camp is 21 days. It's spread out and you're operating at your own pace. Author activation weekend, you come away from your routine and it's a sprint, it's a four-day sprint, highly concentrated. We had roughly 15 hours worth of writing time that weekend. So concentrated blocks of deep work. The book boot camp is a daily kind of trick through the process of authorship. So not only are you you writing, but you're writing 30 minutes a day. It's brief, you can pace yourself, and it makes it doable, it makes it accessible and possible.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Okay. And just let me know when you're living on your back. Yeah. And we that part, you adjust as you go, you adjust as you go.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

Yeah. So 21-day boot camp, um, we do weekly calls on the boot camp, um, virtual calls, it'll be every Monday for the three weeks. And then we'll also have for those who choose to invest in the VIP option, Saturday check-ins. So those will be slightly briefer calls. And then, because self-awareness is such an important keystone to healing, we're giving the VIPs the opportunity to take the extreme execution flight assessment if they haven't yet. And then we're doing a deep dive call. Shout out to Jess. We're doing a deep dive call where Jess is gonna go over the extreme execution flight assessment for those VIPs in the boot camp who take it so they can learn more about themselves and be able to reframe their trauma, like being aware of their own behaviors at the time that the thing happened, but also being aware of the behaviors of the person who caused the trauma, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

You know what I mean? Sometimes they don't mean to. Let me know if you can hear me. Let me know if you can hear me. Aha. It's all good.

SPEAKER_03 17:26

I mean, I w let me let me speak to let me speak to some of what you were talking about though, because you you mentioned a lot to me. Yeah, you mentioned a lot as well. Um shout out to you for two or three more books. That's awesome. That's awesome. Having that many, knowing that you have that much content is promising. So that's that's really good. Um, and this is the power for you watching and listening. This is the power of having a repeatable system. Like once you have something that's repeatable, yeah. Once you have something that's repeatable, you can plug any subject into it. And the system that I use can be used for fiction as well. The majority of the folks I teach are non-fiction authors because I'm teaching them to take their life stories and turn them into books. But this applies to fiction too. So if you're watching this and you maybe have a children's book in you, or you have you want to take your life and turn it into a novel, that's possible. Like the framework that I'm teaching during the boot camp, that can apply to what you're doing too. So, an author that needs to be activated is the person that has those misconceptions or or beliefs. So, if you're if you're someone who has an idea and wants to put it in a book, you're an aspiring author. An author is simply a person that produces a book. That is the definition, y'all. Like it's not any deeper than that. An author is a person who produces a book. If it's an ebook, you're an author. There are plenty of people who have ebooks as lead magnets for their businesses. Technically, they're authors. Even if the ebook is something super simple, 40 pages, real brief, it's still a book. They're an author. They're an author. Your book, you're not considered an author simply because your book lands on a list. You're an author if you chose to produce a book for your content. If it's an audiobook, you're an author. If it's an e-book, you're an author. If it is a digital flip book, meaning, like, if you've ever seen like a one of those books that has a simulation of like a magazine, it's still a book. A digital flip book is still a book. Like you're an author. Print, you know, print books like these, you know, hardcover, paperback, whatever, author. Audiobook, author. An author is a person who produces a book. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

Yeah, I think it's not a good one.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

Because in the process of harnessing your trauma and turning it into something that can cause transformation, you're going to have to revisit the thing. And if you have not yet processed it or haven't fully processed it, emotions are going to bubble up. And without the help of a clinician, it's real easy to get lost in that again. And I wanted to make sure to provide my attendees with a means to come back out of it, a means to look at it, revisit it from an empowered place. From a safe place, and extract the lessons that they're going to need to put in the book as opposed to simply going back there and getting stuff back there all over again, which is very easy to do, depending on the depth of the trauma or transition. So it was important to get the counsel of a licensed clinician who also is an author. Because I didn't want to just bring on a clinician who wasn't an author. Like it was important to it was important for that clinician to also have context to what we're doing. And Dana was that for authors. Give the counseling first before you ever write. So wanted to give everybody that stage advice before they moved forward. That's why that took place on the Thursday before we ever had any of our writing sessions. In terms of ideation. So one of these four questions. It's June 1st to the 21st. June 1st to the 21st.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

Um but yeah, question number one. What are you most passionate about? Question number two.

SPEAKER_03 38:47

What is the most frequently asked question? The question people always come to you to answer. Number three, what topic of or expertise can you monetize the fastest? Number four, what do you want to learn more about? Now, number four is a bit, you gotta be careful with number four, because as we recently learned, uh just CJ came through the mask model one more time, and he gave a nice um mnemonic device to help us remember how to provide value to people. He said, Teach backwards, learn forward, and so he was saying, like, don't teach on anything you haven't overcome or haven't had victory in. So topic number four. If you're gonna if the topic of your book is going to be a topic that you want to learn more about, make sure you're phrasing your narrative in the book in a way that lets the reader know that you're exploring to, that you're learning with the reader. Okay, please don't phrase it in a way that like you sound like you know what you're talking about, because then other people are still like they'll catch, they'll catch the fact that you don't quite know what you're talking about because they're gonna be looking for errors or looking for holes to poke in your material. So as long as you're upfront and transparent in your language in the book, that this is something that you're exploring. And by the way, don't think this is something that only amateurs do. New York Times best-selling authors have crafted books that were New York Times best-selling books, that were hypotheses, they were investigating a topic because they wanted to learn more about it. They saw something that was prevalent in society and was like, let's look into this. And then at the conclusion of their book, they were like, I don't necessarily have a solution, but this is where we can go from here, and then they would propose certain options, and there's some there's some authors that tend to leave you thinking because that's their goal. It's not so much to give you the impression, like, I know what I'm talking about, follow what I'm saying. It's more so I'm really good at researching, I discovered this thing that is meaningful to me. Here's what you can do with the information now that you've read it. So, number four is still an option, like that topic that you want to learn more about is still an option, so long as you present it to your reader in a way that they understand that you're exploring as much as they are.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

Yeah. Yeah. Not always. Not always. Just a little bit. Just a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 45:58

Just a little bit. Just a little bit. Um, no, but just to just to highlight like a point that you're making there, in terms of what you were saying with the citing your sources. The beauty is we live in the age of information. Like, if you don't know how to cite a source, you can figure it out. Like, and with the AI tools, you can ask the AI tool like to format your source in a way that you can then present. You know what I mean? Or does that mean? I'm just saying, there's that too. The beauty of being in community is having access to the people that can get you the answers you need. Always have a who. Like I say that on my on my pod all the time. Always have a whole. Even if that person doesn't have what you need, they can likely point you to the resource that you need. Okay. So if you're choosing a topic that you're exploring, it's not something you have mastered, and you're presenting a hypothesis, you definitely have to cite your sources in a book like that, because that kind of book is going to be all research. And in fact, we got this game through the mastermind gest. Like this is one of the things that they were telling us the New York Times is shifting their priorities to. They want to make sure they're dealing with authors who have done studies. Like you show me, like whether a meta a meta-analysis, which is where they take existing studies and analyze the results, or they conduct their own. So you have folks like Mel Robbins, who will be on the New York Times bestseller list multiple times in a row, because she always ties in her personal development topics with science. Always. The high five rule, that's another one. Like all of these things are rooted in science. So she does studies, includes studies in her books, because she wants to make sure the book makes it on that list so that as many people get their hands on the book as possible. Because her goal is really to help as many people as possible. And of course, for as many people to get their hands on the book as possible, as many people need to know about the book as possible, need to know about the book. But yeah, if it's a topic you're exploring, yeah, definitely utilize your who use Google or use AI to figure out how to cite your sources if that's something that that's a challenge for you.co forward slash sign up. Yeah, because we do go over that, y'all, in the the truth of transmission book boot camp. I do teach how to use AI to assist in the authorship process. We do not endorse having the AI write your book for you. Please do not do that. Please, do not do that. But we will teach you how to utilize your AI tools, and I said tools plural because you want to use more than one in assisting in your research and in your ideation. Like the AI tool can you can have the AI tool ask you questions. So just like to your earlier question about limiting beliefs. One of them is what if I get stuck, or what if I run out of ideas? What if I run out of what to say in the book? Because a question I often get is page count. Like, if the book is only 70 pages, like will anybody take it seriously or whatever, whatever. Have your AI tool ask you questions. That is the way to stay writer's block free. And that is the way to extract as much content out of your brain as possible, because the brain is a problem-solving mechanism. It does not like an unanswered question. So if you have your AI tool asking you questions related to your topic, you have the content you need to fill the book. Because your brain is gonna want to answer them questions.

SPEAKER_01 56:52

I'm still a fan. I'm still a fan, y'all. I'm still a fan. I will write a thing down.

SPEAKER_03 57:02

And Jessica and I are our card carrying journal collectors, okay?

SPEAKER_01 57:07

We love a good journal. Pre order landing pages done. Man. Exciting momentum already.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:32

It absolutely is. Which is what the AI tools are intended for. Like it's it's meant to give you, it's meant to be your thought partner. Like it's meant to extend your capacity to think, not think for you, which is what a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:50

Like, that's the mistake a lot of people make. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:57

Apparently, y'all just grab a bulletproof vest, okay? Put it over your head, put it in the drawsy shoulder. What we gotta cover up, cover it up. She's playing.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:14

Yeah. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:16

You know, thank you for having me again. And again, y'all, boot camp. Melissa Thomas dot co forward slash sign up. The link, the link is in the chat.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:25

But yeah. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:42

You can go to YouTube at getting the win. We're we're in the process of a rebrand, so be stand by for that. But for now, go over there and subscribe though. Like, subscribe at getting the win on YouTube. You can find me on LinkedIn. Serious Inquiries at Melissa Thomas. Two L's and two S's. And you can follow me on Instagram at Getting the Win Show.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:05

At Getting the Win Show. Thank you, guys.