For Women who Write
A podcast for women who write or want to write.
For Women who Write
28: Why Structure Changes Everything When Writing a Book | Interview with Kristin Haluch
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In this episode of For Women Who Write Podcast, Mikaela sits down with leadership coach and strategist Kristen to talk about the real behind-the-scenes journey of writing and publishing her first book, The Mama Bear Leader: How Human Centered Leadership Can Reimagine the Way We Work.
From navigating self-doubt and stop-start momentum to finding clarity through structure, Kristen shares how she went from “I think I want to write a book” to completing a manuscript that now serves as the foundation of her coaching business and speaking platform.
Together, Mikaela and Kristen dive into:
- How to know if your ideas are meant to become a book
- Why structure and outlining can completely change the writing process
- Balancing writing with motherhood, work, and everyday life
- Using your book to clarify your message and build your brand
- The mindset shifts required to finally finish your manuscript
- What it really feels like to prepare for your first book launch
If you’ve been sitting on a book idea, struggling to organize your thoughts, or wondering whether your story and expertise are “enough,” this conversation will encourage you to keep going.
Because your book doesn’t just change your business — it changes you.
Welcome to For Women Who Write Podcasts. I'm Mikayla, a certified writing coach, editor, and self-publishing expert with over a decade of experience, helping women turn their ideas into powerful, best side books. If you felt the call to write, share your story, share your experiences, how you can help other people, then you can write the idea. Here we talk about the real process of writing and publishing, finding your voice, to structuring a budget, to overcoming resistance and cluster theorem, and launching it into the world with a deck. I'm excited to study that published and best-selling author if it's possible. It's absolutely difficult. Your story matters, and chances are you're closer to holding a finished book in your hand. Hello, welcome to another episode, you guys. I have a really fun guest today. Kristen and I have been working together for the last couple of months. Her book comes out in June. We are so excited about it because she has been working so hard on this. And I'm really excited to share with you guys a little bit more about her journey today because it has not been linear by any means. There's been a lot of this way, that way. Should we, you know, what should we do? Lots of questions. And yet, when a couple of things clicked for her, it all came alive. And so I think this will be a really helpful conversation for any of y'all who have been wanting to write a book but feel like it's start stop a little bit. And, you know, I hope that this conversation really encourages you. So I am so excited to welcome Kristen. Kristen, thank you so much for coming on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm super excited to be here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Okay. Tell us a little bit more about yourself. What do you do? And then we're going to talk way more about your book.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I spent the first 20 plus years of my career in corporate healthcare and taught me a lot about leadership. And so today I am a leadership coach and strategist helping women entrepreneurs and women leaders harness human-centered leadership and really leverage their intuition as their leadership superpower. So this kind of culminated into a book that I'm super excited to talk about now.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I love that. Okay. Okay. So let's get started at the beginning. When did you start thinking, hey, I would really love to write a book? Because lots of people have, you know, long corporate careers, but they don't necessarily want to write a book. What was it about a book in particular that really excited you?
SPEAKER_00Well, I've been a bookworm since as long as I can remember. Like the library was where my mom and I spent all my time as little kids. So I love books. But what really made me want to write it is I actually joined a public speaking workshop with Jess Ekstrom. She's an incredible public speaker. And I was creating a key keynote talk. And I realized, like, oh, I actually have way more content than I could ever get out in a single talk. And it like sparked the ignited kind of the idea in me of I might want to write a book. Yeah. And then simultaneously saw you on Instagram through somebody I followed that was writing a book and was like, oh, okay, interesting. So it started the spark for me.
SPEAKER_01I love that. I think that's so cool. And I feel like for so many people, it starts because they were influenced by books growing up, that books like changed them. Books were mentors for them. And they have just felt the power of books for so much of their life that it's like now when they have a little more experience, a little more things that they would want to talk about, it's like, okay, now I can actually put all of that into a book. And especially with all of the like life experience you've had, corporate experience that you've had, you know, now it's like I have so much that I could talk about, way more than a speech. And I think that's a really interesting point that you make too, because a lot of people I talk to are like, I don't know if I have enough, you know, to write a book. But when you sat down to like write a speech, you're like, oh, I could do like 10, 15 of these easily. Because there's so much, you know, that I'd want to say. And that's a really good sign of like, hey, this may be time, you know, for a book. Maybe I have enough to actually, you know, write and get all into a book. So okay, we start chatting. I remember this. We start chatting. And at the time I had a cohort program. Were you in the cohort or okay?
SPEAKER_00No. Um that's right.
SPEAKER_01We just started coaching.
SPEAKER_00I don't remember. I think I did like one-on-one coaching for like a month or two. And then I was like, I don't know what I'm doing with my life. I need to take them on.
SPEAKER_01100%, which is totally normal. And I think we yeah, we coached for just a little bit, and then we took, I don't know, six months, a year break, probably.
SPEAKER_00Closer to a year. Yeah, off.
SPEAKER_01And so what happens in that time? Are you still thinking that you want to write a book? Are you not sure? What's going on during that time?
SPEAKER_00I think it was a little bit of like self-reflection. And am I actually gonna do this? Was I gonna follow through on my word and like really complete the project? Because it's not easy to sit down and write every day. And so, like, was I really I wanted to, I think I was wrestling with them the mindset of like, was I gonna actually follow through on this? It's a it's a cool idea in theory. Yeah, but you have to sit down and and do the work. And so I think for me it was when I decided, okay, I I really actually want to write this book. I just need help because I would sit down and try to write, and without any structure, it just felt I it felt way too overwhelming. And so that's when I came back to you almost like, I need like proper structure on how to write a book.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I can't do this on my own. Yes. Well, and I love, I'm so glad that happened because it was you and a couple of other people I was talking to who were saying the exact same thing. They were saying, Hey, I need help with the structure of it. And that's when things started clicking into place for me of saying, Oh, I need to create outline intensives, where we just literally create an outline together to give you that structure. So talk me through a little bit of that moment when you and I, we kind of were going back and forth a little bit of like, hey, what would that look like? And then I pitched you this idea of an outline intensive where we come together and we create an outline. What's happening for you in all of that?
SPEAKER_00So for me, it was the answer to me writing the book. And like I will say today, as a person who is at the end of the uh race about to publish her book, like that my book would not have happened without that intensive. It just wouldn't have. Because for me, I had all these ideas, I knew I had enough content, but like structuring it is just hard. And for me, it wasn't structuring like the chapters, it was structuring like how to make the beginning, middle, and end of the chapter flow together. The transitions were really hard for me. And so spending time with you on that intensive, what I loved is like we spent two days literally back to back together. And I felt like in a very short period of time, I accelerated this project like tenfold. And then I all I had to do after that was just open up and fill in the blanks, like open up the Word document and type in what I needed to fill in. And it just felt so easy. At that point, I was like, I could write 10 more books.
SPEAKER_01Well, I know you've got some more up your sleeve after all this. But so what was so it sounded like it was the transitions was the hardest part for you of like you've got these kind of pieces in place for your, or you've got these pieces for your book, but you don't know how they all go together, kind of like a puzzle. It was like, where how do they all fit? And that's a lot of what we talked about in the intensive was like, let's look at all of this. Cause you had like a kind of a manifesto of, you know, ideas, but it was like, how do we fit them all together and make them flow logically to trake take people through like a transformation journey? Because really that's that's the whole point of a good book is how can we take people from point A to point B? And we want to do that in a logical way. And so it sounds like that was one of the hardest parts for you. But once after that, like you were good to go. It was almost like plug and play for you, wasn't it? Where he was like, you open up your word and go.
SPEAKER_00It was exactly plug and play. So like then it was just I have to make time for it, which at that point I was invested and I wanted to make the time for it. But prior to that, it was just like all these ideas on paper, and I couldn't make sense of what was a chapter versus a thought within a chapter. And how do I, yeah, like I didn't want the book? A lot of I find especially leadership books, which is my topic, are just they're a lot of fluff. They don't have like a lot of tactics. And one, I think one of the first things I said to you is like, I want people to actually have tools inside this book to apply immediately to their leadership. And so how how do you both storytell and change perspective, but also weave in tools? I really felt like the intensive helped me like flush all of that out. And that felt really hard for me to figure out before the intensive. For sure.
SPEAKER_01When you're so close to it, you know your content so well, it's so hard to like see that thorough line and that structure in place. It's there. You just have to find it. And once you find it, boom, like everything just opens. So let's talk more about like the actual writing process itself. Did you feel like what was your biggest hurdle after the intensive?
SPEAKER_00Um, I think the hurdle was like I was not great at like sitting down every day from you know, X hour now to Y hour and writing. It just I have a toddler, I was working full time, it was a lot. And so what worked for me is we went on a week-long trip to the mountains for Thanksgiving week, and all the grandparents were there watching my son. And two hours every day, I was like, I'm going to the room and writing my book. And I wrote probably 40 or 50 percent of my book on that trip. It's amazing. And then now that I had that 50, I was like, Oh, the momentum's here. And then it was so much easier for me to sit down and and then we also agreed on a deadline. Like my husband kept saying, You just made that deadline. Like, you don't have like it's okay if you miss it. And I was like, it's not like this is a this is a commitment to myself that by January 26, 2026, Michaela is gonna have that book in her hands and she's gonna start editing it for me. And so it was really important to me to like, you know, I'm I made a commitment in a timeline. And for me, if I didn't meet that timeline, that book was not gonna see the light of day.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 100%. And I think that's when you don't have like a quote unquote traditional publishing deal and you're you're not having these like deadlines with them. It's easy to just kind of push it off and push it off. And so that's why, you know, you and I, you did exactly what's the best thing to do is like let's make a deadline. And then you have to meet it because an editor is waiting for you to submit this book, and it's time to go. We're not procrastinating on it, we're we're making it happen. And of course, life happens, but like you you make it happen.
SPEAKER_00And but life is gonna happen always. Yes. Like you're gonna have travel, your kids are gonna get sick, you're gonna have problems at work. Like, I've I mean, that's more of a life lesson I've learned. It's just like it's always gonna happen. And so if you want to accomplish a thing, you have to do it in spite of life happening.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. And I have found a lot of writers too, they're either like sprinters or marathoners. And so you may be a bit more of a sprinter, in which it was like, let me buckle down and just like make it happen. And other people are like, let me have like 30 minutes every day or three times a week to like, you know, get a little bit done. And so you're either a sprinter or a marathoner, sometimes also like a combination of both, depending on life, you know, because I'm sure you had like spots in your day where you're like, Oh, I'm gonna do this real quick or fill this in. But it definitely seemed like you were more than a good one.
SPEAKER_00But that's why the intensive was so great. Because if I had 30 minutes, I wasn't sitting there wondering what to write or where I was gonna go. Like I literally wrote that chap the chapters in numerical order. I wrote one, two, three, like I just followed the book and wrote the book page by page.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. And that's what's so great about the intensive and really having an outline too, is that it's your blueprint. Like you just go back to it. You don't have to sit down and like think about things. It's like, no, I know exactly what I need to write today, and I'm going to write that and move on. You're not trying to do multiple things, like think about it, structure it, plan it, edit it, all of that. Like you just sit down and you write and make it happen. I love that. Okay, so you submit it, you'd make it happen January 26th. You do submit it to me and we start editing. How is the editing process for you? Like while I was working on the edits for you, were you anxious? Were you excited? Like, what was all of that for you?
SPEAKER_00So, for me specifically, I was really busy because this book I'm leveraging as like a lead like magnet to bring in people to my coaching business. So I was like, now that I wrote the book, I had the formula and framework for how I was gonna build my coaching business. So I was like deep in the throes of building my actual business and recording my first course. Um, that's a companion course to the book. And so I was really busy and I I just trusted like uh working with you is incredible, it's so easy. So I just knew like you told me you were gonna get it back to me on this day, and I was just like, great, that's when she's gonna get it back to me. Like I knew what I needed to do before then. And but I will say when I got the book back, it was really fun because when you're away from the book for so long, like you're in it too deeply to even see it as a book. Like it's just it's you're so in the throes of it. But when I got it back and I hadn't looked at it for months, I was like, oh my, I think I voice memo you this. I was like, I wrote a good book. Like I was so excited because I hadn't like I was able to be in it in a new perspective. Yeah, and it was really fun.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. It's so fun when you read something, you're like, dang, I wrote that. That was good.
SPEAKER_00Like I was like, okay, they edited it because like grammar's not my thing, but like I wrote this. Like, it's good.
SPEAKER_01Proud of this work. I know it's so fun and empowering and be like, this is good. This is so good. And the editing is there to just polish it up. It's not there to like change your voice or anything, it's there to just make sure the message gets communicated clearly. And um, it's intended to empower you, honestly, and not make you feel anything. And that's exactly what happened, which was so fun. I want to go back just a little bit though and talk a little bit more about kind of your book being like your core message of your business. Talk to me more about that. What are you planning on using your book for with your business? And the reason I ask is because I talk to a lot of people who are like, hey, I haven't been in business for too long, but I've been working with clients for a really long time in my practice or in corporate settings and things like that. Is it time for me to write a book? Is it too early? You know, things like that. So talk to me a little bit more about why you wanted a book at the beginning of launching your business.
SPEAKER_00I think because I had already like sort of decided I wanted to write this book and I felt like I knew I had enough to write one. And I decided, like, even if this business fails, which it will not, but even if it fails, like I wrote the book. Like, you know, like I accomplished a really big thing. Like you talk about like the three percent club, like I want to be at a cool club like that. Yes, so that was that was it for me. But for me, I really I've done a form of leadership coaching like ad hoc or kind of on the side of my business, my career, my healthcare career for over a decade at this point. Like people come to me and they're like, Oh, I'm like having, you know, can you coach me or whatever? And so to me, like I I always knew I was good at leading and coaching people, but I could never quite figure out like what was my perspective. And I've learned like I'm in Macy's sales girls program and like the specificity of it all, like you need to be specific in terms of what your perspective is. And if you don't have a perspective, people can't like really identify with you and um they don't know what they're buying from you, like it's confused buyers, one that doesn't make decisions. And so for me, the book ended up what came out of the book was seven core principles of my leadership style. And I was able to figure out what that looked like from how do I coach? What topics do I speak on if I want to speak at a conference? What don't I speak on? Like, what is my perspective? If I'm gonna make a reel on Instagram, like what do I believe what do I stand for and what do I stand against? Um, and to be honest, it's scary. Like it's scary to say this is my perspective because people will disagree with you and people will not, you know. So for me, it was a bit of like getting over the fear of putting yourself out there. Like I already started to kind of be like, okay, if I get negative book reviews, like it's okay, people have perspective, you know, opinion. But for me, it was really the decision to write the book. I wanted to, and then I was like, okay, if I know I can build a business around this, and so it will help the book will help me have a very clear perspective as a business owner and entrepreneur that they will say, okay, well, if I work with Kristen, this is what she believes in, and I want to be more like that, or I want to believe in that. And so this is, I want to work with her. And if if it doesn't align for someone, they know that and they know that I'm maybe not the right coach for them. And so it gave me a lot of clarity, I think, around like my own perspective and belief system and what I really want to focus on, like what's in my lane and what's out of your lane. Because sometimes as a business owner, you can just want to do anything that will pay you. Um, and you have to eventually say, you have to say no to some stuff. You have to say yes to a lot that feels uncomfortable, but we also have to say no to things. And so it really sort of helps shape that for me.
SPEAKER_01100%. There is nothing like writing a book that forces your messaging because you have to have a clear takeaway. You have to have clear people that you're talking to, you have to have a clear problem that you're helping them solve. And so so many people that I work with are like, well, I have to like draw a line in the sand. And that can be scary, but there's people will work with you when you draw a line in the sand because they know where you stand exactly and they know what they're getting. They know the flavor that you're going to bring. And so your book, the way that we did the cover, the way that we did some of the interior work, the way that um even the photos you took are all communicating a very specific message to your audience. And so they know exactly what they're getting, and it makes you stand out in a way that everyone else who is starting a consulting company isn't going to stand out. Like they don't have a book, they don't have this specific message and the way that you are saying it, you know, exactly as you're saying it. And so there's just it makes you stand out too in a way in a sea of a lot of other people. And exactly what you're saying, it forces the messaging. I don't think you will ever ever have issues with creating content. Like you are always going to have something that you can go back to, and your book is kind of that like foundational piece that you always come back to. And it sounds like you and I were talking about this a little bit beforehand, that it also breeds more creativity because you've got even more book ideas after this book, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's crazy. I I had to actually stop myself. I opened a Google Doc today and like started, I was like, I just want to write down some ideas for book number two. So once you know you can do it, you know, I I it's probably the same as like running a 5K, right? Like if you've never ran before, like it's really hard. You have to take baby steps. Maybe your first time is walking for four minutes. Like, but eventually you do it and you you accomplish it. And it might take you a month, it might take you two years, but you accomplish it. And then you have that belief in yourself of like, oh, I could do this, like I can do this. I did do this, like this is who I am. Like, I can't I run five Ks. It's just an example, right? And so um, I feel like that is how I felt writing this book is like now that I've written the book, it's not scary anymore. Like it's exciting. I know how to do it. I would need to do another intensive with you because it's a new book. Sure. So we need to workshop all the time. Like, need help, but it's just not scary. I'm like, oh yeah, like I know we have to get like the ISBN number and like you publish to Amazon. And like I learned all the tactics, like all the scary things, right? And so, and like back to the you know, the conversation, the point prior is like this book, the my first book will live on Amazon, like I'm assuming indefinitely, unless Amazon wants to take it down. So, like as a business owner, business people who are thinking about writing it, or if someone's like Amazon is essentially like a Google search engine at this point. So, like if you're looking for help on leadership, like my hope is that you find me. And if I'm a good fit, I can help you. Um, so whatever your business is, like if you're in real estate or whatever, like everybody has a perspective and it's just a way for people to find you. And so I'm excited about I'm excited about that that aspect of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it's just such a long-term asset for your business. Like you, you know, I know speaking is a big deal for you, and you want to get speaking engagements. And so you can use your book to get those speaking engagements and then hand out your book. You know, I just went to a conference and she had her beautiful book out on the table with like, you know, QR code to work with her. And it was such a great way to make a great impression because people grab that book and then they take it with them home, they keep reading it, and then they want to work with you, and it just creates this really like a beautiful experience for people. And so it's just a long-term asset for you that you can use over and over again. And because you're self-publishing, if you're like, hey, I want to tweak one of these principles or add another chapter, you can absolutely do that. And so it can still mold in shape with you as you're growing your business versus if you traditionally publish you have to run it through a publishing company and it's just not as flexible with you as you, you know, evolve and change with your business. And so it just goes with you so many places. And I just I'm so excited for you, Kristen. So uh I can't wait. I know. Okay, so tell us what you're most excited about. As of this recording, we have not yet launched your book. So what are you most looking forward to? We are going for bestseller, Amazon Bestseller, which I have, I really think you're gonna get it. So exciting because you've done so much hard work. And it's just a beautiful cover, so beautiful. But what are you most looking forward to with your launch?
SPEAKER_00I think there's two things. Opening the box of the first, like of the books and like holding it in my hand. I think I've said this to you a thousand times now, but I'm like, I can't wait to hold it like physically in my hand. I have so many books on my bookshelf behind me. Like it just, I just can't wait. Like, so I'm really excited about that. And then I'm really excited. I mean, I'm excited for everyone to read it, but I'm super excited for the first person to read it that doesn't know who I am. Yes. Like a total stranger to read my book and like hopefully have some sort of like value out of it. They can disagree 90% of it and have like one thing that like resonates with them. Just like strangers reading my story, it makes me like nervous and it makes me really excited because I'm really proud of that work. And I think if yeah, I think it can change people. So I'm really excited to hold it in my hand, and I'm really excited for like the first person to read it that I've like never met before. They just find it on Amazon and pay with their hard-earned money to read it. I'm really excited about that.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh, yes. I just talked with somebody who launched her book a couple months ago, and she just had that happen to her. Somebody reached out to her. She had no idea like how they got connected. It was through the book, was how they got connected, but how she saw the book, she's not entirely sure. And they just scheduled a call together, and it was so exciting for her because she was like, this person like highlighted it and was like underlining things and like dog earing it, you know, because there was just so many. I haven't even thought of that. Oh yeah, oh yeah, it's gonna get highlighted, girl, and it's gonna be on somebody's end table right next to their bed. It's gonna be on their desk. Like it's just such a cool thing. And they're like mini works of art, really. Like you get to have change people through your words and through like the design as well of the book. Like, I just it's just it's the coolest thing, and I cannot wait for you, Kristen. So exciting. Okay, so for everybody who is like, hey oh, Kristen, come speak to our group. I want to learn more from her, I want to read your beautiful book. Where can they find you?
SPEAKER_00My website is Mama Bear Leadershipco.com. I'm sure there's a way to like put them in notes or podcast. And yeah, we're thinking our my book will come out somewhere around June 2nd. So we're finishing formatting now. So I can't wait for it to come out.
SPEAKER_01Yes, wonderful. Okay. Well, thank you so much, Kristen.
SPEAKER_00This is so and just I just throw it out there the title of the book. So it was like it. Yes. So it's called The Mama Bear Leader: How Human Centered Leadership Can Reimagine the Way We Work. So I'm really excited about it.
SPEAKER_01It's really, it's an excellent book, guys. I've read it, structured it, outlined it multiple times with Kristen. And it's just, it's a beautiful, excellent book. And it applies not just to corporate settings, it can apply in so many different areas of business and life, truly. And it's it's incredible. So thank you so much, Kristen. This was such a joy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you so much.