What I've Learned about Book Coaching Through "Backyard Bird Chronicles"
If You Read Between the Lines, You'll See Author Amy Tan is Coaching Fellow Bird Lover Fiona Gillogly
Maybe you read The Backyard Bird Chronicles written and illustrated by Amy Tan. Maybe you’ve been blow away by her drawings. Maybe you been fascinated by her drive to excel in drawing and painting birds when she’s already a great published writer. Perhaps you’ve been intrigued by her ability to find joy in her backyard during a challenging time, the COVID plandemic and lockdowns.
Me? I’ve been most captivated by her friendship with fellow bird lover Fiona Gillogly, “the annoying girl with endless questions” accompanied by her mother on a field trip south of Sacramento. Tan found that the 13-year-old’s journal pages were “dense with why, how, what. “Her curiosity and exuberance over so many things brought me back to that time in my childhood when I crouched and touched plants and animals.”
On later trips, Tan said she ‘stalked’ Gillogly. Or maybe Tan stalked the girl that reminded her of her younger self.
It might well be that Gillogly energized Tan more than the birds that came to her California backyard. Indeed, Tan touchingly ends Chronicles by noting that Gillogly “freed me to wonder and wander in the woods and marshes like a child again.”
It almost sounds like Tan is writing a testimonial a future book by Gillogly who “embodies ….’intentional curiosity,’ what leads us to deep observation and wonderment. Questions that beget more question are the fertile spores that can lead you deeper into the forest.”
Indeed, the two have become close. Tan says that “over the last six years, Fiona has been my nature journal mentor.”
Not surprisingly, writer and mentor will be going out exploring again. This time, “we are going hunting for pellets—the indigestible parts of prey regurgitated by our resident Great Horned Owl. We’ll dissect the pellets to examine the bones, teeth, vertebrae, and furl that are close to what the owl feasted on….We show each other what we’ve seen or found, and our questions spiral out.
Just as Gillogly is teaching Tan, Tan is also teaching. She is coaching Gillogly to become a writer. Gillogly has the right mindset and curiosity that it takes write and craft a book.
While Gillogly might be Tan’s nature journal mentor, Tan is most certainly Gillogly’s book coaching mentor. Tan is coaching Gillogly to dream big and think about that next book now. She doesn’t have to wait until she finishes college; Tan will help with her the editing and the big picture. She will help her with revisions and find an agent.
This is what book coaches do: they help writers along the path to writing and publishing. It’s what I try to do with my book coaching clients, nurture them along the way. Encourage them when the going’s rough and cheer them on.
There’s no doubt in my mind that in a few years, we’ll see a book published by Gillogly and dedicated to Amy Tan. She might even use Tan’s agent. I’m not a betting woman, but I’d bet on Fiona’s writing debut soon.