Diagnose Your Story Problem

When I realized physical therapy is like getting help from a book coach

Photo by rhoda alex on Unsplash

I got to ring the bell at my physical therapy office last week for completing my therapy.

I started PT in May for a lower back issue. Around the same time I had also developed a shoulder injury, so once the back was under control, we added shoulder, then moved to exclusively shoulder.

I went twice a week for several months until the fall when we finally dropped down to once a week.

We took three weeks off in January just to see how my shoulder would respond to only doing at home exercises.

I had my re-evaluation last week and my physical therapist and I agreed…it was time to ring the damn bell!!

I’ve been going to PT for so long I watched several knee replacement patients come and go; two students rotated in and out for internships (I am just missing one of them starting as a full-timer later this month); I’ve used practically every piece of equipment in the building and been poked by enough needles I was able to walk another patient through the dry needling process from the patient perspective so they could decide whether they wanted to try it on their calf injury. Let’s just say, I feel like those old commercials: “I’m not a physical therapist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.”

My back is holding steady and my shoulder is leaps and bounds ahead of where we started. I’m not 100 percent, but my range of motion is much improved. My pain level has decreased. And I can now anticipate motion that may exacerbate pain and make adjustments. Even better, I know what to do with specific flare-ups allowing me to recover much faster.

All wins.

Maryellen, my physical therapist, hugged me on the way out the door, reminding me she’s always here if I need a new resistance band or to come for a recheck and most definitely to call if things start to backslide.

Armed with my home exercises, resistance bands, a new foam roller I’ve purchased and my at-home weights, I’m ready to see how much progress I can make on my own.

Which reminded me of my writers.

When writers come to me there is typically a pain point. A problem they can’t quite fix on their own. Something they can’t see in their manuscripts that isn’t working to its full potential.

Just like my shoulder.

I didn’t know if it was an injury that just needed rest, frozen shoulder, or something else entirely. I just knew it hurt and everything I tried from the Internet didn’t help.

Writers, does this sound familiar?

You get stuck. Something isn’t right. You go back to every craft book, blog, and workshop you’ve ever attended hoping that something will click about your issue.

The problem? It’s information overload and too generic to be about your specific story issue.

Similar to physical therapy, I spend time testing your manuscript to diagnose its specific problems. I work with you to dissect your unique story premise and goals and prod the story to find its weak spots. And then, together, we start to massage out a stronger story.

My goal is to arm you with the tools you need – whether that’s in your process, in your craft, or in your mindset – and bring your revision to a place where you can take your at home exercises (ie, revision plan) and revise forward without the overwhelm.

Sometimes, that takes a few “visits” and other times it takes more. It all depends on you and your manuscript and what you both need.

But the goal is always, just like physical therapy, to equip you with the skills you need to take your manuscripts as far as you can.

Knowing I, like Mary Ellen, will always be there to offer a quick tip, support, or a larger check in, if needed.

In other words, you can do so much of the writing process on your own….but I’m here when you can’t.

What I have learned from physical therapy is that there is no shame in not being able to fix myself all the time. There are people whose job it is to diagnose these problems and find the solutions that will help.

The same goes for your writing.

Don’t suffer in silence. Get the help and support you need. You and your stories will be stronger for it.

Let’s get started and help you get to the place where you can ring the bell on your finished manuscript!