I recently made an ask I'd never done before.

I'd just recorded a podcast interview with my friend Karrie Lemansky and, at the end, I asked her to send me the transcript as soon as she had it.

We’d talked about a lot of the same things I’d shared on many interviews before—how I got into writing, my ghostwriting business, my shift into book coaching, and how I got back on track after my eye injury derailed everything.

But I'd finished this interview bursting with ideas.

Karrie is extremely easy to talk to. Even though this was a podcast interview for a large audience, she made it feel like it was just the two of us at a cocktail hour.

In other words, she’d created a space where I felt super comfortable—which meant that instead of me giving her my usual answers, the questions she asked me generated something entirely new.

Amanda Pisetzner calls this “the third thing.” The ideas, thoughts, and stories that are generated in the interview space where the interviewer and the subject overlap.

(She had a great graphic illustrating this in the training she did for us yesterday. Replay link below.)

I’ve experienced this as subject, like in that interview with Karrie Lemansky. And I experience it all the time as interviewer.

One of my favorite moments when I’m working with a ghostwriting or book coaching client is when they have an insight during a call. When they say something like, "’ve never told anyone that story before!" or "Huh! I’ve never explained it that way."

This kind of insight can be hard to get on your own, but it’s not impossible. (Amanda and I talked about this a bit, and gave a few ideas for how to do that at the end of our conversation.)

The full interview will be free and available for 72 hours, after which it will only be available to Story Rebel Club members.

​So go watch it here.

I'd love to hear what you think!

By the way—while we covered the topic of using real people's stories, I want to be clear that neither Amanda nor I were giving any sort of legal advice in this conversation. But there certainly are legal considerations to keep in mind.

That's one of the reasons that I have been so happy to be introduced to Amira Irfan, who's a business lawyer, blogger, and coach.

She and I had a great call the other day about the nuances of legal protections that authors need, and I intend to get her on one of these trainings come spring.

In the meantime, if you are wondering what you can do to make sure your online presence and book are complaint and protected, she's got a few resources.

1. ​A free training on the 5 specific pages you need on your website to shield your business
2. Tons of plug-and-play legal templates for coaches, including a copyright and disclaimer template for ebooks, digital products, and printables

Check them out!

Now go forth, ask good questions, and make something new with your writing.

Jessie