I couldn\u2019t follow their advice.<\/p>\n
Yet the question kept coming, \u201cWho is the target audience for your book and for your book events and workshops?\u201d I was told it would be primarily middle-aged women like me. Probably white like me too.<\/p>\n
Something inside me yelled, \u201cNO.\u201d That narrowness of audience would perpetuate the very problem I was working so hard to address.<\/p>\n
If story is to have the power to change the world, it needs to be shared across the lines that have divided us\u2014gender, skin color, class, religion and age, to name a few. How else are we going to know about a diversity of experiences in the reality of our world today if we don\u2019t share our story, and listen to others\u2019 stories, as broadly as possible?<\/p>\n
It might be true that women would be more comfortable reading my book or engaging in conversations about it. Rather than an intellectual and at-a-distance analysis, I dove into creativity, play, other voices and deeply personal sharing. I had no interest in throwing out intellect and logic\u2014that is found in my work also\u2014but I was passionate about the need for us all to use a wide variety of tools and ways of knowing. Our off-balance world was built on the foundation of white patriarchy, \u00a0and it needs diversity if we are to survive, much less thrive.<\/p>\n
My intended audience for Big Topics at Midnight<\/i> is human beings on the planet today. Likewise, I want to read and listen and dance with a wide diversity of other people\u2019s stories. We each hold a piece of the truth that is needed for the great turning.<\/p>\n
Today I came back to what I always knew\u2014this book was written for people. My lack of a narrow target audience may not help me to sell Big Topics at Midnight, <\/i>but it is true to my heart and mind, and that is the only rulebook I want to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I couldn\u2019t follow their advice. Yet the question kept coming, \u201cWho is the target audience for your book and for your book events and workshops?\u201d I was told it would be primarily middle-aged women like me. Probably white like me too. Something inside me yelled, \u201cNO.\u201d That narrowness of audience would perpetuate the very problem … <\/p>\n