It’s been said that everyone has a book in them. Probably lots of them actually. In fact, we at The She Said Project so passionately believe in the power of storytelling, that it seems more likely to us that women could write quite a collection.
But when Burning Soul Collective founder and CEO Lauren Eckhardt presented to a roomful of aspiring memoir writers at the inaugural She Said Storytelling Conference, she wasn’t trying to get her listeners to write an Encyclopedia Brittanica set. She was simply trying to empower her audience to write that one book that’s been yearning to make its way out of each author’s heart and onto paper.
Vulnerably, Eckhardt shared about her career shift out of her human resources consulting position and into her role helping to inspire writers to make a lasting impact on the world. Her role as a parent to two young sons partnered with the changes in her personal life was the catalyst to launch her onto her new career trajectory which included writing 5 books in 9 months. How, you ask? Because her why changed. Her boys gave her a deeper sense of purpose. A familiar feeling that any parent can resonate with.
Eyes widened when she said, “Many people think about writing a book for years, but it actually only takes a few months to write it!” It typically takes her just 30 days to write the first draft of a book. She explained that if she takes longer, she has to keep going back to reread it. Once she proved to herself that it can be done, then she could get into a writing flow. If it takes more time than that, it becomes like a weight. Instead, she gets rid of that rock sitting on her heart by fully committing to getting it done.
Eckhardt is no stranger to hearing the writing rebuttal: “But my life is boring.” People tend to think that nobody would care or be interested in their experiences. She reminded her audience that we don’t follow everyone even though there are millions of people on social media. We gravitate toward certain people. Likewise, she ignited a sense of purpose and intention when she went on to explain that different people relate to different parts of our story.
Her encouragement was delivered so eloquently when she said matter-of-factly “You can’t say you love yourself today without honoring your life journey. If there’s a dream stirring within you, it chose you because there are people who need to read the exact story that you’re going to share. And it takes your voice to do it!”
