Writing and recording an audiobook

BETH LAPIDES, creator of LA’s long-running UnCabaret, delivers a funny and heartfelt meditation on the power of decisions, the place for regret, and the space for grace in the Recorded Books Original, So You Need to Decide. This series of intimate conversations with a diverse group of comedians, writers, and cultural icons revolves around five universal experiences: family, work, love, moving, and spirituality. Listen in and read along as we discuss the format of writing and recording an audiobook.

Marion: Today my guest is writer, performer, producer Beth Lapides. She is the critically acclaimed createtrix of UnCabaret, the show that launched the alt comedy revolution. The show has now been running for 27 years, these days, both live in Los Angeles and now on Zoom. She’s the author of the audiobook, So You Need to Decide. A funny and heartfelt meditation on the power of decisions, the place for regret and a space for grace. It is recently out from recorded books, original. Beth is a master creativity coach and much more so listen in as she and I speak of her new book and of living this full out creative life. Welcome, Beth.

Beth: Thank you so much, Marion. I’m so happy to be here.

Marion: I’m so delighted to have you here. And as I said, you recently released an audiobook, So You Need to Decide. Which takes on this whole process of decision making. And immediately upon getting it, I got it. I mean, I thought, “Oh my God, my own progress as an artist for books. I’ve written essays, magazine pieces, whatever have consisted of a billion small and large decisions from the topics I had to zero in on to each individual sentence.” So, this idea of deciding is at the heart of creativity, isn’t it? How?

Beth: I mean, the whole world has decision exhaustion and for artists, I mean for writers, that’s your whole job. You sit at your desk and make decisions, it’s all that it is. And one of the things that I learned about decision making, doing the book, I mean of course being a writer, I’m just so taken with etymology and I’m always looking up the word. And when I realized that deciding was connected to all the other side words, homicide, suicide, fratricide, all the sides, that there is a kind of killing and a violence that happens when you make decisions, you really have to move on. You’ve put it behind you, there’s a kind of violence and it’s a gift you give yourself making these decisions and you move on. But you also have to be so kind to yourself knowing that this is what you’re doing. So that was one thing.

And then I also, it’s such a gift and we should be so grateful in a certain way. Decision making is a kind of freedom. If you have the freedom to make decisions, you are living in freedom and that freedom is a kind of a modern thing. The word decide didn’t even really enter the language until the big revolutions of 1830s. So that was sort of interesting too. Not much of a history buff. So that kind of opened my mind. So that’s it for writing. It’s like every… Your big idea, the smaller ideas, the tiny ideas, the every word, every single semicolon, it’s crazy.

Marion: Well, it’s so wonderful to consider this etymology because at the root of words can be the root of our problem sometimes. When you really go and funnel into a word. So, let’s stay there for just another second or so. . .

Beth: Sure.

Marion: Because you’re a multi-platform creative, which means you have a lot of experience in deciding where to put your energies.

Beth: Yes.

Marion: And my audience is writers, so let’s give them a little more comfort around this idea of cutting things off to get things done. I think a lot of them listening to that exchange just there are going to be on the floor like, Oh. So give us a little bit more comfort around that if you could.

Beth: Okay. Well, one thing that I find very comforting, and it’s not the sexiest idea, but I create an outs file for every project I’m working on. And every time I think I’m cutting the “kill Your babies” idea, every time I’m cutting the most wonderful thing, I know I’m going to need it. I put it in the outs file. And I’ve never once gone back to my outs file. I mean, I create one for every project and I’ve never once gone back. But it gives me such great comfort to have it. It makes it so much easier. The other thing is when deciding, I think here are some things that I think about and I’ve counseled people to do.

Is this project really you? Like, is it very now? Is it very you? Those are two very big criteria for making a decision about what project to do because you have limited time. And if sometimes you get this great idea and you think, wouldn’t this, Oh, this would be the greatest idea for my friend Bob. For Suze, who should do this? Maybe not me. So the idea, you really want to do the things the world needs you to use your gift on your ideas. So if something feels in your heart like this is so me, this is so me. And then you ask yourself, is this so me right now? Is this what the world needs? Well, now or in a year when I finish it, in a smaller thing, is it what it needs this week? So, that those are two does that. . . ?

Marion: Oh, so helpful. I talk to people all the time about an Outs file. I was raised in a newspaper, so it’s more out than in with everything you write. But I have, for every chapter I write, let’s say it’s chapter one, I have a file in the large file called New book. I’ll have a chapter one and then I have a chapter one out and everything I take out goes there. And I haven’t mostly used them, but I know they’re there. There’s a reassurance. So I really, really love that.

Beth: It’s so. . .

Marion: And I also really love use your gift on your idea because you talk late in the book, and this was a moment in your book where my heart sat right down in the expensive seats where you and Byron Bowers get into this complex concept of living an old dream or living in an old dream. Oof, that really hurt. I really had to think about it. It’s a really interesting concept for a creative to contemplate that we might be doing something that our 21-year-old self formulated for us and that it won’t fulfill me at the next step as you two take on. So let’s take this one more step further with this idea of comfort around deciding. You’re a creativity coach. You run a beautiful workshop called The Infinite Writer. How do you recommend we look for the fulfilling in the next step and not simply live an old dream?

Beth: That’s such a great question and I’m just so tickled that that was one of the things that really resonated with you. I think of it quite a bit as myself. Part of it is energetic. It’s not an intellectual process. When you think of it, when you think of yourself doing it, do you see it in the future? Or was this a dream? There’s that thing. It’s never too late to be what you might have been. And I always say, yeah, unless what you might have been was an ingenue. Then it is too late.

Marion: Yeah.

Beth: That’s kind of the model of what we’re talking about. Standup is a great example. People come to me wanting to do standup. But stand up in order to get great at it, you need to be out in a club five to six nights a week, getting in your stage time, hearing the rhythm of your voice, just failing like crazy.

It’s never going to happen otherwise. And in your life now with three kids, is that possible? In your life now with a full-time job, is that possible? It’s a reason young people do it is it’s particularly physically demanding. And the same is true of I think a novel. Have you really let go of making up things? And now what you really want to do is tell your own story. Has your own story gotten too old? Now, the story that you wanted to tell, is it stale?

I mean, I think looking for staleness the same way when you eat food, you’re like, is this still good? Is leftover, day two is maybe all right, but leftovers day three, maybe you need to be thrown away. It’s a similar kind of thing. And I always really recommend also a big possibility idea dump, you really hear are all the things you could do. And this one is brand new, is there’s so much more energy and excitement around that. What is the desire? I mean, you know from doing a project, there’s so many days that you don’t want to work on it, that you have to work on it. It’s so hard. Even with something you are so desirous of. If the idea is intellectual, if it’s something you think you want to do, this would be what I think ultimately where I’m landing. If it’s what you think you want to do, maybe. If it’s what you feel you want to do, that will get you in the seat.

Marion: That’s a lot of help. And I appreciate it because I think this whole idea of deciding and making decisions also has so much emotional content and it’s wonderfully fleshed out in this book. So I want to talk about making the decision about this book, this format. You’re the first author I’ve interviewed who went directly to audiobook. And at first I was a bit flummoxed and I thought, Oh, I better go get the paper back so I can read along with it. Whatever I was thinking, I’m not even sure. And then I flipped on the audiobook and I just went with me everywhere.

Beth: Thank you.

Marion: And I know this is not a new medium, it’s not like it’s the first audiobook I’ve listened to, but this was very different. This is a compilation of voices of interviews with truly great creatives. You interviewed more than 25 people, nearly all of whose work I know, Sandra Bernhardt, Bob Odenkirk, Isaac Mizrahi, and many more asking all of them about decision making and then editing it into these themes. Lots of cutting and pasting, I suspect.

Beth: Oh my God.

Marion: I get it. It was great to actually hear these voices, something that you’re attune with. So I sort of felt your fingerprints all over it, knowing you’re a performer, knowing you’re an actor, knowing that you do all this creative work with others. It had a real draw and you could’ve interviewed these people and written it up, but it’s quite alive this way.

Beth: Oh, that’s so nice.

Marion: Talk to us a little bit about making that decision. You bring your whole self is what I felt like you did to this, and I think…

Beth: Oh, that’s so nice.

Marion: Yeah.

Beth: Yeah.

Marion: Go ahead and just, how’d you do that? How’d you make that decision?

Beth: Okay. I’ll hop in there. Yeah. Well I’ll give you the real answer and then a bigger answer. My agent said, I think I can sell an original audiobook.

Marion: Yeah.

Beth: And that’s one of the ways you decide things. You’ve got to live in this world and what’s possible. So having said that, I wanted to land on an idea that I knew was vibrant, that people would have exceptional stories about. Having told my own story for all these years and having curated stories for all these years, I know that there are some topics that are just deep. That people hold quite dear to their hearts and soul. And I knew that decision making would have endless stories and then it was figuring out which of the topics. There were a couple of topics I thought would pan out that didn’t fine. That’s fine, that’s one of those things about decision making. You give yourself a little elbow room. In the book, there are stories about spirituality, work, family, love and moving. I thought friendship would be really interesting. And people held those stories about decisions about starting and ending friendships very close to their chest and did not want to share those, which I thought was really an interesting taboo.

So first there was the idea you’ll do an audiobook, then there’s a second idea, you have access to all these people, maybe it’ll include that. Then third was the idea, what’s the topic? And then we have decision making. And then there was a lot as, I mean I think cutting and pasting, as you say, I had my own story I wanted to tell. My editor suggested, I narrow it down. That the decision who to listen to is very key to being a successful artist. There are a lot of people who want to tell you what to do and most of them are not worth listening to. Especially for writers starting out. The people who are closest to them won’t be able to give great advice. Some of them will in fact not want those people to succeed. Sometimes the closest people to you don’t want you to change.

So it’s very tender who you should show your work to. Anyway, I did trust this editor and she helped me narrow my story down. There was a lot of cutting and pasting, as you say, to make the whole thing flow. And ultimately, I believe this very much. The rhythm of your voice is the wave your inner truth rides in on. And it’s one of the reasons that I’ve worked so closely with people going back and forth between talking and writing, that I believe that the talking process really helps you as a writer. Saying it out loud, having a conversation with trusted ears, hearing your own voice say to. . . One thing I just tell people all the time is, This doesn’t sound like you. What? This isn’t you. This isn’t your voice. So obviously everyone in this book has such a refined sense of who they are and what their voice is.

And so the decision to do it as an audiobook, it was built very specifically as an audiobook. I would dearly love it to also be in print because there are some people who will not adventure into the audiobook environment. And I think eventually it will see its way to that. But I’m giving it time to exist as itself as simply an original audiobook. And one of the nicest things, one of the ways I decide what to do is I enjoy being innovative. It’s something that is part of my, if you. . . In our current parlance brand, but it’s just me. It’s just what I like. I love going to uncharted territory.

And one of the nicest things Vulture said, it made it the Vulture’s Best Comedy Books of 2022. And one of the nicest things they said I thought, was that UnCabaret had been so innovative and this was sure to innovate also in it was a very new way of doing audiobooks. And that really felt good in my heart.

Marion: Well, it should.

Beth: So for me, that’s one way. So one of the ways, just to loop back to what we were saying before about how to decide is also, are you somebody who wants to tell something that is so far untold? Because there are many people who are very happy to tell the same story that’s been told in a very different way. Anyway, I hope that answers that question.

Marion: It does, and it helps enormously. Because I experienced an utter conversion to this format while listening to your book. And I have to say, I’m going to start recommending it to my writers because there are those people who would like to bring in voices. So I can imagine, for instance, in a roundabout interview with your family, with your mother’s friends, when you go to. . . In my first book, I talk about my mother’s devolution into Alzheimer’s disease for instance. For the research for that book, I interviewed her friends. And in that research I learned everything about why my sister and I had a different relationship with our mother. Now I can imagine a format in which you could utilize some of that in terms of memoir, in terms of, remember that great moment in Annie Hall where they go and speak to people on the movie lot and remember they’re looking for Marshall McClue and it’s like, I’ve got him right here.

I’ve got this expert right here. I mean, there’s this sort of funny moment where you think about, let’s just bring in my mother and ask her if she loved my sister more. But there’s this option to kind of bring in these voices and I thought, wait a minute, this is perfect for memoir. If you wanted to. If you wanted to capture people, keep it zen. If you wanted to have people associate with or accentuate a moment, I think the audiobook format is got a gorgeous thing to do for memoirs. So I’m a convert all of a sudden. I have to tell you.

Beth: I love hearing that. And that’s so interesting and that’s very keen. I love that.

Marion: And for all those podcasters, people who like to talk. And so it’s not a lesser than in the same way we’ve had to get used to self-publishing, hybrid publishing, the Big four, blah, blah, blah We’ve got all these choices now we’ve got this other choice, direct to audiobook. I think it’s brilliant actually. And hearing those voices, especially the people that I know, their voices, I know them, I think. Because that’s how we’re tuned. So it was very satisfying.

Beth: Thank you.

Marion: Yeah.

Beth: And also when you think about right now, I mean for authors to think about all the people who just don’t have time to sit with even a Kindle and you’re in the car and we are so… I mean, I love your extrapolation into how you would use the interviews that you had done. I mean, it’s so beautiful. I mean, who wouldn’t want to hear that.

Marion: I think would. I think this is going to get a big boost. I really do. So it was listening to yours that put me in that spot.

Beth: Nice.

Marion: And this book ultimately challenges a listener on how they want to live. That’s just it. Ultimately at the end, I said to even myself at this stage in my career, what’s my artifice? What’s my authenticity? Do I want to go bigger or smaller? And do I want to live on the surface or do I really want to plum the depths? That’s a decision as you say, so beautifully only I can make as a writer, only I can make as a creative. And I coach people all the time on how to write books. And I always get them to decide on their argument before they begin. Now that, you touched on this a little bit before, but for this project you worked with your agent, you had an idea, but did you know where you wanted to end up or did you go in with inquiry?

Beth: Always you go in with inquiry and curiosity. I mean, if you don’t go in with curiosity, I mean then you’re just a stenographer. So I did go in with inquiry and curiosity, but I had an idea of this format. I mean, I had an idea that it would be like this. Every interview or conversation really is how I think of them. I didn’t know what we would get. I didn’t know I was going in for Ace and one or two people I knew it’s going to be this story, but honestly, this is a great example. Isaac Mizrahi and I did at the beginning, we were still figuring out the tech because it was beginning of Covid and we ended up not doing it in person. And we did. And he was supposed to press record on his end and didn’t. So at the end when I said, and so send the file and I saw his face panic.

So we did a second interview, we changed our format and we made it easier for the people on the other side. But our second conversation was completely different and gave us, I think it was even better. So I held open the space for. . . I knew which I knew what the buckets were. I knew we were going to talk about love, I knew we were going to talk about career decisions. I could have done the whole book about career decisions, but it doesn’t give it the depth because I think I’m so interested in, I think we’re such soul sisters on this, I’m so interested in process, in the process of creating.

But one of the other ways you make a decision about what you’re going to make as a creator, in the case of what we’re talking about is, what is your life? Who are you? And that one reason I use the infinite writer and infinite creator is you change your work and your life changes. Your life changes and your work changes. And it’s this infinite process that the better your work gets, hopefully the better. . . We live in a holistic world, maybe this wasn’t true for some alcoholic writers in the early 1900’s who were doing great writing and dying from it. But now, I think we see things that are integrated and you would hope that your writing decisions make your life better and vice versa.

Marion: Yeah. You say on your site, you’re a muse, coach, teacher, mentor, and you help creatives find their unique voices and develop projects suited to them. It’s great language. Absolutely, the projects suited to them settled me right down and made me understand a bit of you, and we touched on this a little bit before, but I do still think so often. Beginning writers chase what they think will sell, right? Oh, well I’m going to write just like Cheryl Strayed, I’m going to write a Wild. I’m going to go do something and change because of it. And it’s a weird destructive bumper chasing and though maybe occasionally it pays the rent, it’s soul eating. I think.

Beth: It is. I mean, I confess who hasn’t starting out doesn’t do that. I did it more when I came to Hollywood from New York and there was a certain television… What can I sell on TV? Just the way you did that voice is so perfect. It’s that exact feeling. Oh, it’s just stay away from, Oh, if you could stay away from just the feeling of that because maybe you will sell it, but it won’t be you. And then what do you sell after that?

Marion: Right? And then they want another one.

Beth: And then you’re not yourself. And if you’re not yourself, who are you?

Marion: Right. It all becomes a Preston Sturgis movie, which I know is not a reference that many people will get, but you’ll get it. Right and love him. Ooh, love him. But don’t want to live in one of those movies where you’re chasing after the thing that isn’t you. And. . .

Beth: Yeah, I love that you’re saying that because in some ways it’s getting quiet. I have to say, one of the things I really recommend for decision making is develop a meditation practice just to quiet your mind. I mean, it took me a long time. I’ve practiced yoga for so long and I’ve done so much meditating. And when a friend of mine trained as a Vedic meditation teacher and I sort of felt like, Ugh, I have to let him teach it to me even though I don’t want to. And then that was six years ago. And just having, for me, and I think, I’m not saying this is the solution for everyone, but for me, having. . . You sit down for 20 minutes, it’s the same as TM. You have a mantra and it’s the simplicity of it that has helped me settle my mind, settle my soul.

I think that sound you made, the way I would describe it is unsettled, chasing. And you want to be attractive to your own ideas. I used to think about it as seducing the muse. You know, you want the muse to come to you. You want your ideas to float to you. You want to. . . You know, it should be a dance with your best ideas and it should be fun with your own ideas. So when you find one of those ideas, and I also do think there is a level of tossing off to your trusted people, what about this? What about that? The what about phase is different than the chasing phase. What about, is you, you know. . . There’s this great, you know. . .
There’s those two Truman Capote movies and one of them has the great scene of him dancing with all the society ladies.

Marion: Oh, yes.

Beth: And he’s sort of pitching the story to each of them and you can see him developing it as he’s sharing it. And that’s a very, very interesting part of the process. You’re having dinner with your boyfriend and you’re just sort of telling a little bit of it and you’re talking with your colleague and maybe you try a title out and it’s this way of, I don’t know, dancing with the idea.

Marion: I think that’s beautifully put. And I always recommend people to only pitch to somebody who’s invested in your success. Try not to pitch to your life partner who’s hungry, who’s going to say one of two things, neat or yeah, what’s for dinner. Or I don’t get it, but what’s for dinner? Which isn’t helpful.

Beth: And you want your life partner to really love it and really tell you that you’re a genius and every. . . It’s hard.

Marion: Yeah, you do. But sometimes you got to go pro and get somebody to help you. So, I really love the sound of your workshops. Everyone should check out your Infinite Writer series on Eventbrite and your Infinite Creator series, and I’ll put the links in the transcript. And as I said before, you’re a performer, a writer and much more. And for the creatives listening to this, it’s going to sound like you’re living the dream. And I know that you are. But it’s also that it’s very hard. So help us out a bit. For those who want to live the multi-platform life, you’ve got to decide, as you say, right from the start with that etymology to cut things off. So any tips for time management for people who want to write and publish and perform and more, because there’s more and more of them coming out of that writing idea these days. And time management is a big part of it.

Beth: Yeah, it really is. You’ve really hit the nail right on the head there. And one thing I would say is I think people underestimate how hard you have to work. When you say time management is like all your time. I can see in students, you’re not going to succeed. You just don’t work hard enough. Oh well. So that. Work very, very hard. Number two, try to see what you can eliminate. You don’t have to do everything to be, you know, multi-platform. You do have to use social media. You just do have to. Try to find what you like about… Everything doesn’t go everywhere. And, you know, what are you going to do where? See where you can succeed. And I have had clients who became Instagram influencers after not figuring… After trying standup and trying this. And you’d see what you can eliminate in general. Like you have a script idea, you have a book idea, you have. . . Which ones do you really want to do and what can you cut out?

I also say, having spent a lot of time on stage doing UnCabaret is especially about doing new material is, work on stage. And the sound of your voice and your story is the well that creates all the water that goes into all the other projects. So though you’re doing standup, that doesn’t mean you aren’t successful because you’re touring or have a Netflix special. The success of it is based on how much other work you’re doing from it. If you’re going to develop an audience, that audience needs to want to see what you’re doing. So you need to authentically show up everywhere. So I think eliminate what you can eliminate. That and work really hard. It’s a little bit vague, but be yourself. Work where you can show up mostly as yourself. Feel where the energy is. Michael Patrick King, who is most famous for his work on “Sex in the City” once told me, “Follow the green lights.”

And that small piece of advice has really served me well. Because, if you’re feeling green lights do go there. That’s where the world wants you. And that is one of the things to keep asking yourself, not just what do I want? Because sometimes that can be muddied, but what does the world want from me? How can I be of service? And once you ask yourself, how can I be of service that number one, lets the universe really help you because the universe knows you’re on our team. And this might be too woo-woo for this, but. . .

Marion: Nope.

Beth: The universe knows that you’re working for the greater good. And somehow once that happens, there is a force behind you that is bigger than yourself. And looking for ways to live creatively that is not just you, that means finding collaborators. That means finding partners. That means finding representatives.

That means finding an audience that you’re talking with. And that means the universe or God or the goddess or whatever force you feel might be greater than yourself. That’s going to be enormously helpful in making your decisions about which part. And then the other thing is to see it holistically, to see it as a whole and be open. And as somebody recently approached me about doing UnCabaret, is I don’t really don’t know what to do with cabaret next. It’s going, it’s strong, it’s great. And I have the question, what’s next for UnCabaret? And that’s a great piece of advice too. Love the question. You don’t have to always know the answer. You’re not a know-it-all. You don’t have to have everything figured out. You do have to find the question. So I’m asking myself, what’s next for UnCabaret? We do a very hot show, somebody in the audience is doing holograms in London and approaches me about that.

I’m interested and I think it’s actually not going to work out. And then I didn’t hear from him. This is a weird story. And then I didn’t hear from him and I reached out to a friend because I was like, that seemed real. He said that he very suddenly passed away. So that was kind of crazy. And I hope his spirit is listening and I app. . . We all have. That’s a crazy story. And that’s, I’m just going to segue right to that, think really live with that idea. Your time is not infinite. This is the other part of the infinite creator, the part of you that you partly you want yourself to live on. You want an infinite impact. What part of you do you want to leave behind? What part of the energy do you want to keep creating? And admit that you don’t have an endless amount of time to do it and you don’t. . . What can you cross off your list? Those are some ways.

Marion: Oh, those are very helpful. And as we wrap this up, I want to just go back to that piece that recently published piece on Medium, the 10 Top Decisions That Lead to Creative Success. I’ll put a link in the transcript.

Beth: Thank you.

Marion: But it ties this all up really, really well because you posit that horrifying question that artists ask themselves, Ooh, I don’t know, 25 times a day, should I quit? And you state that with that question on the table. All other questions of real importance get squeezed out. So you suggest we take that decision off the table, for now. And it’s that last phrase for now that’s really compelling. So as we exit this interview, I want everyone, first of all to go to your piece and read it, paste it to their walls, pin it to their shirts. But just leave us with this idea of why to take the, should I quit off the table for now attitude and how that will fuel their creative lives if they do.

Beth: Well, thank you so much for that. For now is a great way to live because everything changes. And by saying for now you accept that change is going to be part of the process and change likes that. The part of the world that is changed enjoys being acknowledged. As we all do. It’s respected. It’s like a very respectful attitude towards the hugest idea, which is that life is change and change is hard. And we have to change to be happy, but change makes us unhappy. That’s the essential conundrum. So we look at, for now, we say for now. We give ourself the option later to change our mind. But once it’s off the table, so much space is created for creativity. To say you’re creative. The word creative also, to loop back to end with another beautiful part of etymology, we think it means to make, but to create means to grow.

And once we move quitting off the table, we move the idea that we are stuck, we are done growing, we enter creativity, we enter growth, we honor growth, and we surrender to the idea that we are going to change while we work. And that’s one of the resistances that keeps us from pushing forward is we actually sometimes don’t want to change and grow through our work. And that’s required. So. . .

Marion: Ah, perfect. Thank you Beth. It’s been a pleasure. I am so grateful for this conversation.

Beth: Me as well, Marion. Thank you so much for all your work and for having me.

Marion: Oh, you’re so welcome. The artist is Beth Lapides. Her audiobook, So You Need to Decide is available on Amazon and elsewhere. See more on her at beth lapides dot com and follow her on Medium, Twitter and Instagram. Get your tickets for either the live or Zoom version of UnCabaret on Eventbrite. I’m Marion Roach Smith and you’ve been listening to Qwerty. Qwerty is produced by Overit Studios in Albany, New York. Reach them at overit studios dot com. Our producer is Adam Clairmont. Our assistant is Lorna Bailey. Want more on the art and work of writing? Visit marionroach dot com where I offer online classes in how to write memoir. And thanks for listening. Don’t forget to follow Qwerty wherever you get your podcast and listen to it wherever you go. And if you like what you hear, please leave us a review. It helps others to find their way to their writing lives.