Masterclass today: Lessons in Publishing

"The 7 Lessons I Learnt When Getting My Book Published." Sarah Tucker is a novelist, journalist, broadcaster, and biographer of Love Laterally, the new biography of Edward de Bono. Join us at 1pm

The Heart Leap Writing Club hosts two writing hours a week, and Sarah Tucker is one of our very own Heart Leaping writers, and I am delighted to announce that Sarah will be giving us a masterclass on becoming a published writer today at 1pm.

It’s also the Heart Leap Writing Hour at 9am.

[Same link for both at the bottom of this post ]

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Sarah Tucker is the bees knees! She’s an award-winning journalist and broadcaster, a best-selling author of women's fiction, and has written books on yoga and travel, been published in several poetry and short story anthologies, and most recently written Love Laterally, a biography of Edward de Bono, the person who invented the concept of lateral thinking. Launched at the House of Lords in September 2024, the book “hopes to act as a catalyst to trigger the introduction of lateral thinking lessons into the school curriculum in the UK.”

Here are Sarah’s lessons from writing a biography—hilarious!

1. I did not estimate the level of politics involved in writing a biography. I know Anne Sebba and Sir Anthony Seldon, both distinguished biographers, and they advised it is always best when the protagonist is a long time dead and so are their relatives. Although I was fortunate to know de Bono for the last ten years of his life, I realise there was still a lot going on with regards to lost millions and the ownership of French chateau. All good fodder for a fiction novel, but more challenging when I have to write it as 'fact'. Ultimately, I stood back from all the different perspectives and made up my own mind as to what happened and why.

2. I learnt more about myself and the art form of biography in researching and writing the book. It is a prism of perspective, a disco ball of projected perceptions that are often based on prejudices and half-forgotten memories. And it is amazing how much ego sends a curve ball to memory.

3. I often learnt more about the person I was interviewing than I did about Edward when I met them. And understood why he liked or did not like them.

4. You don't need to like the person you are writing about, but you should be interested in them and what they have achieved. I am fascinated by what makes people tick, and de Bono was all about how to change the way people think about their thinking. He wrote a lot of books (over 66), and I read every one of them. It was a bit like being in a very bad marriage. No sex, and all about him.

5. You will need to get everything approved many times over. This takes time. Keep rigorous notes and take recordings whenever possible.

6. Would I write a biography again? No. Too much politics, and I chose to be a freelance journalist and novelist to move away from politics. However, Love Laterally has acted like a literary trampoline and has given me so many opportunities to do good in schools—teach lateral thinking workshops in schools and at Cambridge; become an advisory board member of Montessori Global; and be a Fellow of Cambridge University Homerton, as well as enabling me to bring together people at the launch who could introduce lateral thinking lessons into the school curriculum. It has also enabled me to connect with the likes of fashion icon Sir Paul Smith, who is a huge de Bono fan, and organise a TALE OF A HUNDRED TIES' at the Design Museum this November to raise awareness of the need to teach creative thinking in schools and the value of teaching the arts.

   

   Tale of a Hundred Ties: The Design Museum