Be the Gateway

What I Write and Why

Posted on by Wendy Kennar

I am currently participating in a three-month (May1 – July 31) Mastermind program run by Dan Blank. This Mastermind is different than the one I wrote about in March. (If you missed that post, you can click here to read it.)

This Mastermind uses the ideas and information Dan wrote about it in his book Be the Gateway. I read this book a couple of years ago and wrote about it here. I’m re-reading the book, to coincide with our weekly topics. 

Why am I doing all this? Because I believe there is an audience for my memoir-in-essays. And while I continue to research publishing paths (so far, I have entered a couple of competitions which offer a publishing contract to winners), I want to make sure I’m as ready as I can be for that publication journey. I want my online presence — my website, my weekly blog, my Instagram account, and my as-of-now-unwritten Substack, to be as solid and welcoming to my readership as they can be. I want to make clear what it is I write and why I write it. 

With that in mind, this week I’d like to share with you, my dear weekly blog readers, something I shared with the Mastermind group just last week. The comments had involved thinking of our own missions and our creative work and what our creative work promises to others. I wrote:

“Dan, lots to think about here. As you spoke about the transformation our mission and our work promises something clicked for me. I was transported back in time, when I received my diagnosis, and later that day went home and Googled this rare autoimmune disease of mine. I found a handful to links. That’s it. I wanted to know someone else out there in this big world of ours was living with the same chronic illness and still fully living their life. I wanted to know I wasn’t going to feel sick forever. I wanted to know what happened next, after coming home with a name for the symptoms I had been experiencing. And I couldn’t find out any of those things. That is why I write what I do. That’s the transformation I hope to provide for my readers.”

And from that, I’m proud to share My Mission Statement with you — what I create and why:

“Everyone lives with pain and scars of some kind; some easily visible, some seemingly invisible. I write personal nonfiction to demonstrate the wide-ranging experiences of disability and to offer connection and support to others living with chronic illness and chronic pain.”  

Thank you, friends, for being on this journey with me! I welcome any feedback or comments you have. Please feel free to share.

Please note: I am including a link to buy the book that I’m highlighting this week. If you use my link, I do make a small commission on your purchase at no additional cost to you. I am working with Bookshop.org which also sends a portion of the profit to support local, independent bookstores.


Be the Gateway

Posted on by Wendy Kennar

Over the years, my writing goals have changed. At first, I just wanted to write. Back in elementary school I wrote short stories with girls named Jill and Amy. Names that weren’t also shared with a character in Peter Pan or a fast-food hamburger place.

A bit older, and I experimented with poetry and found myself trying to write poems about the moon, like a giant silver dollar so bright, up in the sky.

Then I moved on to nonfiction, writing pieces about things that happened to me. I discovered the personal essay before I learned its name, and since college, I have only written personal essays. 

Once I knew what I wanted to write, I wanted to be published which isn’t unique to me. Publication is a worthy goal, shared by many writers. 

However, I soon learned publication isn’t enough. I wanted my published personal essays to be read. I wanted to reach readers — to make them smile, or pause and reflect. To touch a reader with my words was, is, a gift. 

But that connection with a reader can only happen if I identify my intended audience, my ideal readers, and they have access to my writing.

Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience by Dan Blank is exactly what it sounds like. A book whose purpose is to provide steps and suggestions for sharing your creative work and having a meaningful connection with your audience. 

Mr. Blank’s book isn’t just for writers. It’s for artists and creators of any kind who are looking to share their art and creations.

Mr. Blank and his company, We Grow Media, are all about human-centered marketing. I have taken a few of his webinars and found them to be quite helpful. 

I won’t go into the specifics, but I would like to share a few of the passages that spoke to me, passages that I think are broad and general enough to speak to many of my readers as well:

“Instead of framing the value of your work by how it performs in the market, you define it by how other people experience the world through your creative work — the stories and experiences you share, and the topics you talk about.”

“It is about understanding the connection between what you create, why you create it, and how it will engage others.”

“When you share your journey, you are building advocates in the process; those who aren’t just aware of what you are doing, but feel connected to it in a personal way.”

“So much of success is about sheer persistence, and believing in yourself and your work.”

“Tennis legend Arthur Ashe once said, ‘To achieve greatness, start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.’ “

Please note: I am including a link to buy the book that I’m highlighting this week. If you use my link, I do make a small commission on your purchase at no additional cost to you. I am working with Bookshop.org which also sends a portion of the profit to support local, independent bookstores.