Kendra Levin - The Hero Is You: Sharpen Your Focus, Conquer Your Demons, and Become the Writer You Were Born to Be

The goal of certified life coach Levin's book is to aid writers in developing a deeper understanding of story structure, a grasp of the archetypes that make up a hero's journey, and a composition process that will help them feel more in tune with themselves and their voice. Levin guides readers through the labyrinth of the creative endeavor known as the hero's journeya quest for identity and wholeness. Guidelines require writers to ask questions, explore their vulnerabilities, and seek mentors. Exercises and quizzes move authors toward self-examination. VERDICT: This guide would serve as a valuable text for writers' groups or beginning classes on the craft.

Deborah Bigelow, Library Journal

The title says it all. Every writer faces a journey that wends through a nettlesome labyrinth of challenges and obstacles. It takes a hero to leap into the uncertain terrain of a new creative venture, conquer self-doubt, and persist across the craggy lands found in all creative projects. Kendra Levin's wise, encouraging words provide guidance every step of the way to help every writer realize their creative goals.

Grant Faulkner, executive director of National Novel
Writing Month and co-founder of 100 Word Story

With the perfect combination of encouragement and practical advice, Kendra Levin inspires writers of every stripe in The Hero Is You. Acting as the coach by your side, she helps unlock your true talent, conquer your fears, and write your best work. If you want to take your writing to the next level, buy this book... now!

Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, The Book Doctors and
authors of The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published

If I were to name the one quality that writers need in order to get their books written, it would be courage. Kendra Levin knows all about this necessary heroism and helps writers step to the plate in this much-needed guide to the brave writing life.

Eric Maisel, author of Coaching the Artist Within

Smart, perceptive, and inspirational advice from an encouraging book editor.

Susan Shapiro, New York Times best-selling author of
Unhooked and Only as Good as Your Word

This edition first published in 2016 by Conari Press, an imprint of

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

With offices at:

65 Parker Street, Suite 7

Newburyport, MA 01950

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright 2016 by Kendra Levin

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

ISBN: 978-1-57324-688-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.

Cover design by Cara Petrus

Cover art aleksandarvelasevic / Getty Images

Interior images by Jim Hoover

Interior design by Debby Dutton

Typeset in Adobe Caslon text and Avenir and Book Antiqua display

Printed in the United States of America

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For my parents, with love and gratitude,
and with special thanks to Andrea Adams,
who sparked the idea and much more.

We have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.

Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

It's a Tuesday morning and a writer comes to me with a problem.

I just don't feel on top of my game, she writes in an email. And I need to be, for a thousand reasons. Do you know what I mean?

I do, and all too well. Just the day before, I was struggling through what felt like a terrible draft of the book you're holding and couldn't seem to get myself to a good place with it. As an editor and life coach for writers, I'm used to supporting writers, asking them questions, and challenging them to find their way out of quagmires. What I'm not used to is being in a quagmire myself.

I'm crafting my response to her when I get a phone call from Lindsey, one of the authors I edit. She wants to talk through a story issue in the novel she's writing, but it quickly becomes clear she's dealing with more than simply a plot problem. Her confidence is at an all-time low.

I know I've done this before, she says. But this time, I don't think I'm going to make it to the other side.

This is her third published novel, the fifth or sixth she's written. It's heartbreaking to see her struggle like this, yet I can't help but be inspired by the fact that she's fought her way through the peaks and valleys of this difficult process that many timesand emerged from it with books she was proud of.

Remember when you said that last time? I ask her. And the time before that? What helped you get through those rough patches then?

By the time we hang up, she sounds calmer and has promised she'll go for a walk to clear her head. She's also managed to generate some options to solve her story issue.

After my workday at Penguin ends, I see coaching clients. Rosalita is struggling with discipline; she sought my help after spending several years nibbling at her memoir, making only incremental progress. The night before, I always say, Tomorrow, I'm going to write for four hours, she tells me. But then I get up, and when I turn on my phone, I've got a text from my friend, so I text her back... and then while I'm waiting for her to respond, I look at my email and Facebook... and the next thing I know, the whole morning's gone.

Do other writers go through this? she asks me. I want to tell her I've been going through it myself. Instead, I just say, Of course.

What do you most struggle with in your writing process? Do you find it difficult to work when you're just not in the mood? Do you get hung up in the middle of a project like Lindsey, hitting a wall and panicking? Do you have a hard time resisting distractions and getting your butt in the chair, like Rosalita?

Or maybe you're not like any of these writers. Maybe what you've struggled with is finding ideas or getting startedor knowing when the piece is finished. Maybe when you're faced with a decision in your work, you have a hard time knowing which route to take. Perhaps you struggle with asking other people to help and support you in your process. You might be most confounded by trying to see your writing objectively or from a different perspective. It might be that you work so hard, you lose your sense of fun and play and writing becomes drudgery. Or what gives you the hardest time could be taking things you've learned and applying them to your work.

For more than a decade, I've worked with writers as an editor, teacher, and life coach. I've helped people writing fiction and nonfiction for both adults and young readersmany working on novels, but also poetry, screenplays, plays, picture books, articles, memoirs, blogs, and even puppet shows. Actors, dancers, and choreographers have also come to me for aid with finding a healthy balance between life and art.