What Does “Mulberry & Range” Mean?
What's in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet.
We’ve all heard this line a zillion times but did you ever think about what it means? He’s implying that a name is mere window dressing, a formality that lacks impact.
With all due respect, Mr. Shakespeare, I disagree.
One of the first tasks I assign a new writer is to decide on a working title for their book. A working title is important. It matters because naming a project gives it form and shape. It helps define the book's concept.
The same is true for a business.
So here is what's in our name. I think what it stands for is, well, pretty darn sweet.
Mulberry
Eaten fresh, mulberries are absolutely scrumptious. But they’re too fragile to make it to market. Their juice makes a rich natural dye that lasts.
Like the mulberry, a fresh idea can be fragile. It’s vulnerable to bruising, especially when handled by too many rough hands.
Using our voices, whether through storytelling or shared expertise, is how we leave a lasting legacy behind us. Our words have meaning and impact. They give our world color and richness.
The paper mulberry was integral to early papermaking, a process which required a handful of specific materials and elements to be combined in a certain way.
The richest and most rewarding work is created in the combination and collaboration of ideas.
Through a willingness to experiment and refine an idea, a final, meaningful end-product can emerge.
The mulberry tree is the preferred home and food for silkworms.
Just as silkworms digest the rough leaves of the mulberry to produce a material that eventually becomes the fine fabric we know as silk, the book-writing process begins with a rough idea that gets chewed on and digested until it’s transformed into the refined work we share with the world.
Revision is part of writing. A draft requires refining just as the raw material produced by a silkworm requires does to bring it to its full potential.
Range
A mountain range is an obstacle to cross, but also a place to play. It’s full of peaks and valleys, challenges and beauty and discovery. A guide can make navigating unknown territory easier, safer, faster (and they likely know where all the secret swimming holes are!).
Like any long-term project, writing a book can be deeply challenging, containing unforeseen obstacles. It will, inevitably, require great effort. A guide can help.
It’s also full of untold delights — the kind that only unfold on the page. Writing a book is the experience of creating something meaningful and rewarding, the fun of experimenting, and playing with the ways an idea can take shape.
An area of variation between upper and lower limits on a particular scale is known as range, like an opera singer’s vocal range, or a range of temperature.
There is an enormous range of topics and ideas about which to write a book. Homing in on the one you want to write this book about can be daunting and exciting.
Just as a choir requires tenors as well as altos, the world needs the full range of voices to be heard and shared. In fiction, memoir, and nonfiction, the more diverse the range of experiences and stories, the richer the telling becomes.
On a shooting range, you aim for a specific target. You also need ear protection, to protect your hearing but also to help you pay attention. Success requires a steady hand and laser-sharp focus.
To successfully finish a book, you must commit to the book you are writing — not the other 947 possibilities floating around in your head. To get it written, you have to concentrate on the point you want to make, block out the noise of what other people are doing and keep your eye trained on the “target,” even when it feels far away.
You’ll probably “miss the mark” initially. You write a draft that requires a total rewrite or realize partway through a proposal that new research has mooted our point. You need to stay focused and recalibrate your aim, remaining steady and grounded.
