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What I Hear When You Ask to ‘Pick My Brain’
As a moderately successful author, everyone wants to know my secret — and no one wants the truth
A few years ago, an email popped in from a guy named Matthew who wanted to see if I had 20 minutes to talk to him over the phone about memoir writing. I immediately shot back: Do you mean you want advice or you’re interviewing me for your article? “It’s an article for Publishers Weekly,” he said, “You’ll be quoted.” I apologized, “Sorry, I was about to jump down your throat.”
He called me an hour later and said, “You must get lots of emails from strangers about your books and stuff.”
“I used to get emails about my books,” I said, “now I get emails asking what I can do for them, and how they can ‘get’ things I have, or they think I have.”
I said this in a joking manner, but as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized it was true.
I get hit up a lot for advice. In the two weeks before Matthew emailed, I’d received more emails from strangers than ever; what was in the air? These emails were not about my books, but more of, “How can I emulate your career path? What do I do?”
I’ve gotten these emails for years, and at the moment I’m busier than I’ve ever been. I’m teaching a…
