Corey’s Story Journey: Hanging a Picture Frame Around Your Life
January 22, 2010
When I started working with Annie Hart and Katie Gutierrez Painter on my book, I really had no idea where it was headed, or how it would all come together. In fact, like so many of my own clients, I often felt lost throughout this process.
Over the last eight months the three of us got together weekly and Annie pulled out my most poignant business, creative, and personal stories so that Katie could document them. But remaining objective was something I have not been able to do well. My view of my life is infinite, it has no edges, and yet, we have to put a frame around my stories to build the book. We have to give the stories context.
A short lesson on context. One thing I have learned through working with so many books is that readers, as they read, are constantly pulling information, ideas and lessons from what they are reading and are subconsciously filing them in their brain as they travel down the page. If an author fails to provide their reader with enough context, files quickly get backed up and create clutter as the brain slows down and tries to determine how to categorize them. For most readers, a single uncategorizable file can knock the reading experience off course. I call this a roadblock.
The brain starts directing extra focus towards determining how to unclog the road block. But information, like cars, is still being added to the equation. So now attention is being split between trying to unclog the road block and trying to direct new traffic to where it needs to go. One little road block can lead to a pile-up if an author is not careful. And a pile-up is a quick indication to a reader to drive in the other direction—away from what they’re reading!
Throughout the process of telling my stories, I have been waiting for the context to become apparent. I’m a strong believer in not forcing it, and so I have been patient. Then yesterday it happened. Annie and Katie and I were coming to the end of the storytelling portion of our work together and over the last couple weeks we had begun pulling out the themes we saw running through my life.
Simultaneously, I’ve been dealing with some very difficult company setbacks and trying to untangle some rough terrain. To be candid, I felt recently like I was watching my company fall down around me. From an authentic conversation around my life and the business, my picture frame popped out and into view. What a joyous moment to arrive at, and we did it together.
This weekend I plan on taking my first stab at the introduction to the book, and next week, Katie and I will begin to assemble my stories based on our new context. Phase 1 is over. Now we breath and enter phase 2.
From Annie: Corey has been a delight and a joy to work with over these months. Together we dove deep into the stories of his life and I am so happy that he’s able to go to phase 2 now. What a beautiful journey!
Corey’s Story Journey: The Pain of Remembering
December 4, 2009
Today, on my call with Annie and Katie, we focused on my experience with the first business book I wrote with a client. I talked about the joyous process we experienced putting the book together. This will be presented in more detail in my own book, but I’ll summarize here that the process was almost completely pain free.
Our client was an absolute pleasure to work with. She knew what she wanted and she was willing to engage expert storytellers to guide her through the building of a book that took readers on a ride of what it was like to work with her. We had a ball.
When the book was complete, we began focusing on getting the book published and that’s when the world pushed back. Agents and publishers had been telling me that they were looking for something innovative, something fresh, and that’s certainly what we had created. And those who were reading the book were loving it. So what was the problem?
The problem was that we were tackling new ground. We had created an intimate journey of change that needed to be placed in the business section. And while others before us like Patrick Lencioni had used story in the business section, none had done it with the intimacy we had. There was no proven track record that this would sell and so we were turned down left and right.
Then we came across a group described as an “entrepreneurial publisher” and my client and I flew out to talk with their CEO. We were sold on their ability to mass distribute while leaving a good percentage of the ownership with us. She wrote a check to go through their book design and layout phase to prepare the book for publishing and we returned home excited to get our book out.
As time moved on, they seemed to be incredibly disorganized. We learned that the woman in charge of our book, was a college intern, and when we cornered the CEO into a follow-up call, he made more promises that he never backed up.
We were not seeing the results we were promised and the process felt rude and disrespectful. We had some tough decisions to make. This process played out over months and months until my client nearly had to litigate to get the rights to her book back. The result of this battle was that what was once beautiful (the process and the outcome of the book) was now tarnished. It had been dirtied by deceit and it was painful and it was sad. My client certainly didn’t deserve this and I hated feeling she had been taken advantage of and that I hadn’t been able to prevent it.
I had almost passed by the opportunity to include this story in my book, because the pain and sadness associated with it are so strong. I am proud that I used the experience to create a better publishing model for our clients. One that I continually try to improve so that it respects what my clients go through personally, and values the vulnerability they have offered up to the world. But overall I am left with sadness.
I am confident that one day, someone will take a risk on one of the three narrative business books we have written. And when that happens, I hope to say that the sadness was just part of the journey.
Annie’s Note: This was a beautiful story to hear. Corey’s fierce determination to make something better out of a difficult and painful situation is very touching and powerful. We can all learn resilience and tenacity for change from this.
Corey’s Book: From the Writer’s Perspective
December 2, 2009
From Annie: for those of you who have been following Corey’s story journey, we are working in a wonderful collaborative trio and I’d like to introduce the third member of our team, the wonderful Katie.
Hello! I’m the third member of Corey’s book-writing, storytelling, epiphany-creating team—Katie, the writer. Corey has asked me to contribute one blog per week describing our unique process from my point of view, and I’m happy to do it. The truth is that, to many, the writing part of this equation is quite mysterious. I’d like to shine some light. But, first,a little history.
Corey and I have been collaborating on projects since fall of 2007. That was when he hired me to proofread Robert Renteria’s wonderful book, From the Barrio to the Board Room. Because of the subject, Robert and Corey specifically wanted feedback from a Latino or Latina editor. I fit this bill, and I was also thrilled to work with and support a project—a cause—by a fellow Latino.
That brief project (the proofreading took maybe two weeks) quickly parlayed into dozens of small assignments and several large ones, including writing two books with The Table. In the last two years, Corey and I have established mutual respect and trust. He’s one of the most fun and brilliant people I’ve had the pleasure of working with! 
Now for his book: He approached me several months ago about the possibility of co-writing his own book, his own story. This is a big deal. For a guy who spends his life helping others tell their stories, and championing those tales to the world, telling his own was never going to be a light undertaking. I knew he’d give the process the same dedication and fire he brings out in his clients, and I was honored and excited to be a part of it.
My calls with Corey and Annie are different every week. Mostly, I listen as Annie leads Corey into telling the stories that compel him most in that moment. Sometimes I’ll ask questions, if the answers won’t get too tangential; otherwise, I’ll bite my need for detail back and insert those questions in the manuscripts I send Corey each week. But the cool thing in these calls is that they’re rarely what any of us expect. The only real structure is a deliberate unstructure, a kind of stream-of-consciousness storytelling that Annie always maintains invisible hold over.
Because we’re all creative people and we’ve all been a part of this process before, we’re rarely bothered by the seeming lack of concrete goals; instead, we enjoy the stories and realizations that are made this way. Of course, there are times when we feel we’ve gone off track, even if we haven’t, but we trust in our process and our guide.
Here’s where I’d like to talk about the writing—but this post is long already! So I think I’ll leave you hanging here, but next week, come back to see what new discoveries we’ve made, and what it’s like to translate oral storytelling to the written word . . . and all the beautiful complications that arise in the process!
Annie – Thank you Katie, great to have you on the team!
Corey’s Story Journey: Fierceness
November 30, 2009
My big take away from today was an attribute that I have recently labeled about myself as impatience, but that my story guide Annie Hart redirected this morning as fierceness.
As my business is growing and our authors and company are gaining more popularity, more and more people are contacting me to help them with their branding.
That has created a serious bottleneck for me, because it often translates into hours each week of free consultation, where I’m having to describe the reality of what it takes to make a brand successful to people who have rose colored glasses on about the process. Constantly being pulled away to have those conversations frustrates me, because I have so much work to do not only for our clients, but for our employees.
The lack of patience increases when I’m on the phone with someone who is looking at this industry from the idealistic perspective of a child. Hollywood has trained most people to believe that if you have a great idea, it’s worth a fortune.
I used to sit in on workshops where agents and managers and producers would tell writers to never pay anyone to help them with their careers. “Hollywood should be paying you.” But Hollywood opens its doors to only .00001% of those people. So what does everyone else do? In the eyes of those producers, agents and managers, they should spend their time trying to be part of that .00001%. THAT’S ABSURD!
Everyone has a story worth telling. Everyone has many stories worth telling. I am cursed with that knowledge. I am cursed with knowing that our storytelling process is life changing for the people who tell their stories. And yet, I have to decide who we’re going to work with. I have to turn people away from that opportunity if they come to me with those rose colored glasses on.
I felt bad about being impatient. But I feel good about being fierce. This world needs change and change does not happen until we choose to see the world for what it is. When we take off those rose glasses, we leave the realm of the idealistic child and we begin to play in the arena of the powerful adult who can impact others. So forgive me if I come across as impatient…what I’m really doing is pushing to find the bravest of people who will go to battle for their cause.
Annie’s note: This is a wonderful grounded perspective on business. It’s difficult to be caring for everyone’s story but realistic about what it will take at the same time. Corey is blazing a trail of fierce commitment to the genuine product.
Corey’s Story Journey: The Weight of Story
November 18, 2009
Annie’s Note: Corey just got back from a trip where he spent intensive time capturing a client’s story and we felt it important to Corey’s own creative process and story to tell it. So here is the story fresh and real from Corey’s own heart.
Corey: This morning on my call with Katie and Annie I spoke mostly about my recent trip with Daniel Cardwell and our work together on “A Question of Color”. I told them about my first trip to the grocery store with Dan to stock up our cabin in preparation for our five days together and how unusual it was to go shopping with someone for the first time.
The experience opened my eyes to how stories are often told between the lines. Imagine how much I learned about Dan when he reached for a dozen tins of sardines, four boxes of Nutrigrain bars, two cans of beans and three onions.
As we worked, which we did for an average of 18 hours each day, Dan would cook so I could keep my fingers working on the computer keys and it was through his cooking that I learned more about his life, about his journey.
He was a farmer and a survivor who had lived on his own on a farm from the age of 14. He knew how to throw whatever we had in the fridge together in such a way that it was tasty, nourished us, and kept our minds focused as we toured his life.
I also learned about myself this trip. About my creative process. Working 18 hours a day was difficult for me. At home I flip flop between projects every few minutes, but here I had to remain intensely focused for long stretches, both in listening to Dan’s stories and in then capturing them on the page.
Listening for long stretches taxed me emotionally; I knew that only 10% of what I was hearing was going to end up in the book, and yet I had to sift through the other 90% to find those gems. My mind clouded over numerous times and yet as soon as we came across a nugget, I would find myself invigorated, inspired and attentive again.
Because Dan’s book focuses on his search for his mother that spanned more than 25 years, in many ways we were putting together a detective story. That was his role as he traveled around the world, searching for his origins, accumulating about 24 inches worth of documents that we had to pull the greatest pieces from. Dan’s story and his struggle for survival in a world that wanted to throw him away was heartbreaking.
At the end of our trip, as we said our goodbyes at the airport, we had a “dude” moment as Annie called it on the phone this morning. We had shared this intimate journey of Dan’s life and his love for his mother and when we shook hands, we knew we had been through a special experience together.
The moment turned a bit awkward as we tried to navigate letting go of the week we had spent together. Part of me wanted to hug Dan and cry with him – to release all the pain of his story, but we settled on a fist-bump and a nod.
When I walked into the airport I became overwhelmed with emotion as it all finally hit me. His story is both beautiful and tragic, and he walks away the hero having overcome adversity beyond measure. He had the strength to not only search for 25 years but to then share that story (the good the bad and the ugly) for the sake of others. That’s a hero.
In the days since we have parted, I have dreamed of Dan and his book every night. In those dreams I always wake up started, feeling like I was searching and so close to something. That tells me we’re on the right track here and I’m excited to bring this story to the world.
Annie: Beautiful, touching, inspiring!
Corey’s Story Journey: Corey’s On Fire
November 4, 2009
Annie’s Note: For those of you not yet familiar with Corey Blake’s work – one of his projects was to help Robert Rentera write and tell his story in a wonderful book called, “From the Barrio To The Boardroom.. This book is making a huge impact in areas of social change that formerly seemed impossible.
From Corey: This morning I was working on a blog post that Katie had sent me about Barrio and was adding my two cents to it when I felt the emotional stir of what we are building. Then I dove into some pages that she had prepared from our last call and suddenly felt the hairs stand up on my arms. I needed to talk about Barrio today.
So when Annie, Katie and I got on our weekly call, Annie bought us a virtual round of coffees and teas and we dove right in. I am compelled to start this story with one of the last lines from Annie on the call, “I appreciate how totally fucking passionate you are to be out there doing the impossible…”
Today I just ripped. Not only about Barrio, but about what our work stands for to me. Robert and I each have our own agendas with the book of course — it’s incredibly personal. My secret agenda is that I want teachers all around this country and the world to start using storytelling in their work with kids.
My main focus around creating the Barrio curriculum was to create a program that inspired these kids to use Robert’s story as a launching pad for them telling their own. Story is powerful. Story is what makes us stand out in a crowd. What makes us three dimensional.
For example, last week, we were presenting our curriculum to a group of 50 social workers and I asked them to tell me what they did for a living. Most of them were too afraid to try. A few of them gave me longwinded, uninspiring answers. Then one woman said, “I put bandaids on bullet wounds.”
WOW. Suddenly, everyone in that room turned and recognized this as a woman who was passionate about what she was doing. A woman who was trying. A woman who recognized the disparity between how they were trying to solve the problem (bullet wounds) with their solution (bandaids).
With those few words, that woman was suddenly understood by her peers who would otherwise not have even seen she was there. Isn’t life like that most of the time? Don’t most of us feel invisible throughout our day? Story makes us visible. And good story motivates people to do something. To introduce themselves to us. To say, “I don’t know why, but I think we are supposed to talk.”
Imagine how different life would be if at a young age our stories had been pulled from us? Imagine how less judgmental our peers might have been of us. How much more visible we would have felt. Imagine if we could have articulated what we stood for when we were in high school or earlier. Life changes when you know who you are.
Life changes even more when others see who you are. Through story comes understanding. Through understanding confidence is built. Through confidence we make better choices. It’s called character. And every story starts with one.
Annie’s Notes: It is so exciting to see Corey on fire with his project and to know the true power of story to change lives and change the world. Bravo Corey and Robert, for impacting so may people through story.
Corey’s Story Journey: Annie Hart Strikes Again
October 22, 2009
After our morning call with Katie, Annie reached out to talk privately with me to check in and see if there was some unresolved tension from last week.
I admitted that last night I had gotten nervous about our call today because I’m starting to feel how these calls impact my week. With so much else in life feeling all over the place (especially my own businesses), my anxiety struck late last night and I jumped in to dictate the direction of today’s call without letting Annie in on the “why”.
I usurped her role as story guide and jumped in to lead. I was feeling like my desk was cluttered and in order to see clearly through this project, I needed to get some busy work done to free up some brain space and feel accomplished. And that’s what we did today.
Before the call though, I was unable to be honest with Annie about the why and in this follow-up she gave me an opportunity to fill her in which strengthened our rapport. 
She asked permission to check in with me in the future when she sees me struggling through something and she also asked that I give her permission to lead us through such experiences. In reality, that’s exactly what I want. I don’t want to have to lead.
In this case, I had hoped Annie would read my mind and know how hectic life was and how badly I needed a great call with the team. But alas, as good a story guide as she is, she is not a mind reader, so we both need to work on keeping the communication open and honest so we can continue to grow as we work together and nurture this message. Bravo Annie Hart. You teach me so much!
Annie’s Note: This was a crucial and tender moment for Corey and I in the story process. Rapport is the single most important factor between the storyteller and the guide. I had the sense all week that something wasn’t sitting right and I wasn’t exactly sure how to address it. I usually try to wait and see what occurs naturally, but after the call this morning things still didn’t feel right, so I called Corey.
We had a great conversation. The basis of true understanding is to really hear a person’s situation underneath of their language. Through our conversation, I got a deeper sense of where Corey is and what’s important to him. I gained a greater awareness of how to make the process easy and enjoyable for him. My main role is to look out for his emotional well-being on the journey.
We had a lovely connection and through deepening our understanding, we drew closer. Thanks Corey, for being so open.
By the way, if you are enjoying reading my stories, and would like to receive them in your email box, click here.
Corey’s Story Journey: Sometimes the Creative Process Sucks!
October 14, 2009
Today was one of those days. My story guide Annie Hart was trying to lead me in a direction that I was confounded by and resistant to. We tussled for about 20 minutes and I never felt like I got anywhere on the issue.
It seemed like there was a pink elephant in the room that everyone but me could see. AHHHHH! So frustrating to feel like we were going in circles but not moving forward. What I love most about the creative process are the epiphanies that come on these calls. To feel like we packed up the car, but never left the driveway was irritating and disappointing. I’m used to being energized by these calls damnit! 
Thankfully, even though I felt like I was an actor who couldn’t deliver what the director needed while the camera was rolling, I understand the creative process enough to keep breathing. I relied on my humor and my understanding of the process to not allow the issue to deflate me. Okay I was deflated during the call, but not by the end of it! I left aggravated, but not feeling dismayed. Considering how successful this process has been, I can accept that some days it just sucks!
Annie’s Comments: I understand how Corey feels. I remember times that my mentor would push me into areas that I didn’t not want to go and I would be so mad at her. From my end, it’s not always easy doing breakthrough work. Sometimes you need to push someone in a direction that they don’t feel they need to go. I always try to let the client lead, but I also have to be ready for that moment when I feel the need to push in a direction that they don’t want to go.
Why? Because there is something there. Some meat, some juice, something I can’t even explain, but I can sfeel it. Who knows what it will turn out to be. But the amount of resistance that was there, says that there is something interesting right beyond that wall.
Stay tuned. Big gems come from daring to open these kinds of doors. The ones that push against you when you try to open them.
Corey’s Story Journey: A Living Example
October 9, 2009
Every week this book writing process takes on a new path towards living. Last week I thought we had redefined the intention of the book. We had gone out on a limb and found a delicious piece of fruit and suddenly I wondered if we were supposed to be writing the book from that limb throughout. It felt exciting and dangerous. This week, we brought that piece of delectable fruit back to the center of the tree. I realized that my book is still very much about the creative process. What we have done though is to start to bring in some very personal stories (the fruit) that reveal what I have been through on my creative journey and that exemplify how the process works and how it is changing me profoundly week to week.
One of the big discoveries we made this morning was that last week was a moment in my book writing process when I went from wanting to control and to “Show” or “Tell” people about the creative process and about myself, to starting to look at all I have experienced through the lens of truth and to reveal it in its gory detail. Letting my story be what it is without trying to control it is a huge step in the paradigm shift that is necessary to create real change through a story. I’m calling it, “Giving people the good stuff.”
Some of what I say is going to upset people I know and some of it is going to upset people I don’t know. And I’m getting more and more comfortable with that. People are going to judge me. People might even say nasty things as I bring up painful issues they might also be experiencing, yet not dealing with in their own lives. My former self avoided conflict such as this at all costs. Now I am finding that bringing my good stuff does disrupt people’s comfortability with their own stuff and I’m trying to poke them awake to that. Resistance will come as I do that, but true listening will also be accomplished. I’m excited to start seeing that in real time.
And I cannot wait to start sharing these stories with you all. I hate that I cannot express them on this blog, but that would be robbing you (and me) of the experience of the book in its entirety. And I wouldn’t want to rob either of us of “the good stuff.” So thanks for hanging in there!
If you have yet to hear it, you might listen in to the last round table interview I did with Annie Hart and Katie Gutierrez Painter, my collaborators where we discussed last week’s epiphany. Enjoy!
Corey’s Story Journey: A New Epiphany
September 30, 2009
Today, in speaking with Annie and Katie on our weekly call to develop my book we dove into some new waters.
My book has started taking on the appearance of a memoir as I change through the process of putting it together. It began as a book very much about the two sides of the brain and combining art and business. But that is such safe territory for me. It’s overly comfortable.
Thankfully, as we are putting this book together, I am also in pretty intense therapy and my aggressive therapist and Annie my aggressive storytelling guide are having an exponential effect on my growth. I’m being challenged in new ways. One of the new ways revolves around growing up.
I’m a 35 year old man who has been trapped in some very old behaviors. The work I have been doing over the last few months really revolves around the process of recognizing those old behaviors, assessing where they came from and then breaking free from them to release myself from old bad habits that are inhibiting my own joy in life.
It feels like a very profound time as I redefine my relationships with my family, with my wife, with my business, with my self. As opposed to being a victim of my past, I am taking control for the first time and the impact has been tremendous. This is the hardest work I have ever done, but I am finally letting go of an imprisoned version of myself and giving birth to a much more powerful me.
How this will affect the book? I’m not sure we know yet. But we have definitely seen and felt that this is a vital piece of my story…more to come.
Annie’s note: I am very excited for Corey’s continued breakthrough into new ground. Corey has had the courage to let the story lead the way, rather than deciding where it should go. This is allowing the real life energy of the true story to come forth. We’re breaking new ground and now with our wonderful third partner Katie, who is our writer, we are developing a great structure for the book. Stay tuned!
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