Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach

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Don’t have blocks of time to write? Pockets work great!Release Date: July 25, 2026(episode 294)In my last post, I recommended you value yourself and your work enough to stop putting it off. The assignment: figure out where the time goes so you find time to write.

The good news is that even if you only have slivers of time available, a lot of writing rolls onto the page during these “Pocket Sessions.”

This post encourages you with quotes from famous writers who worked during Pocket Sessions and with practical tips to make the most of your time.

Learn more at the link to this episode where you'll find the full post with additional resources, including 5-Minute Writer HERE.

To support you on your goal of finding time to write, consider joining WriteTrackers. We write together twice a week for an hour and a half. Some people can only come to one or the other or only a couple of times a month and they still report that they are completing projects they never would have gotten to if they hadn’t joined WriteTrackers. I love hosting this because I write alongside everyone and get things done, too. Learn more at writetrackers.com.

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”I don’t have time to write”- Ah, where does the time go?Release Date: July 2, 2026(episode 293)It comes up in nearly every conversation with a writer, whether in a group or one-to-one: “I don’t have time to write.”

Their deep longing to compose thoughtful, focused prose runs up against scrunched schedules that squeeze out creative effort. It seems they have nothing more than cracks or crevices of time to sit at the computer and can’t focus long enough to write what they want to say.

Worse, they give up, and the project remains unwritten, living only in their head.

Don’t let it be you.

This is the first in a series of episodes where we'll look at ways to deal with the struggle of finding time to write.

Learn more at the link to this episode where you'll find the full post with additional resources: https://annkroeker.com/2026/07/02/i-dont-have-time-to-write-ah-where-does-the-time-go/

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”Oh no! My book was written by someone else!”Release Date: May 17, 2026(episode 292)Discovering "comps" (comparable books) for your book proposal is discouraging. But this episode gives you the good news: your comps validate reader interest and show your topic is in demand.

Learn how to leverage these existing titles to position your book as "similar, but different." Don't let competition discourage you; rather, embrace it as a sign of reader (and publisher) interest.

Listen or head to https://annkroeker.com/2026/05/27/oh-no-my-book-was-written-by-someone-else/ to read it and access additional related reading.

Working on a book proposal for your nonfiction book? Want support as you develop your similar-but-different book? Work with me in a year-long coaching program: Your Compelling Book Proposal - The 12-Month Accelerator. You'll craft a brilliant book proposal and build the author platform you need to succeed—no matter where you're starting. https://annkroeker.com/yourcompellingbookproposal

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Dear [favorite author]Release Date: April 20, 2026Use this prompt to write a letter to your favorite author, alive or dead. Listen and you'll hear the letter I wrote (and who I wrote it to). This simple act reveals your creative values as you tell the author what it is you admire about their work.

Listen or head to to read it and access additional related reading: https://annkroeker.com/2026/04/20/dear-favorite-author/

And to get a copy of 52 Creative Writing Prompts, head to annkroeker.com/52prompts.

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Are Abandoned Projects a Sign of Creative Weakness?Release Date: March 25, 2026Writers I work with—and if I’m honest, I myself—launch multiple projects, enthusiastic about every idea. We open a document, give it a working title, tap out a few paragraphs with loads of energy. Like the squirrel, we scamper around the Internet or library doing research, gathering quotes and anecdotes to incorporate into this shiny new work-in-progress.

A few days or weeks later, we abandon it, our sentences as sparse as the squirrel’s twigs up in that tree. The raw materials of a project—research, paragraphs, quotations—sit on our hard drive. Will we return to it and continue building or abandon it for projects with more potential?

Often we do abandon the project and scamper off to start another one.

Weeks or months later, we might open our Finder window or Google Drive and scroll through our archives, astonished to see so much unfinished business: half-drafted projects, a concept of a book, or the start of a post. We can feel like we’ve wasted our time and resources.

Are we quitters? Are we creatively weak? Are we people who love to start things but get bogged down in the messy middle, throwing in the towel when we can’t find our way through?

Our inability to finish can leave us feeling embarrassed, ashamed, or frustrated.

But that’s unhelpful self-talk. Instead, in this episode, we reframe it.

Listen or head to https://annkroeker.com/2026/03/25/are-abandoned-projects-a-sign-of-creative-weakness/ to read it and access additional related reading.

And to work with one-on-one, head to https://annkroeker.com/writing-coach - I can provide you with human support for writing you produce as the thoughtful human you are...no AI necessary!

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Don’t want to say it yourself? Put a frame around it!Release Date: March 22, 2026In novels, memoir, nonfiction, and poetry, a narrator can set up the main story so that we have a frame effect. This is, in fact, called the “frame narrative.” The main story, then, becomes “the story within the story.” Learn all about it and study examples in this episode.

The frame narrative sets up the “main” narrative, and provides context and lends plausibility to the story within the story. The nested story likely has a completely different narrator from the frame’s narrator (and the frame might also offer insight into that nested-story’s narrator).

The frame creates distance and reduces criticism of the first storyteller who sets things up. If you dislike or don’t agree with the story told, well, don’t blame the messenger. The main narrator is simply telling someone else’s the story (”Hey, this is what I heard a guy say”).

The frame narrative’s speaker says the bold thing by letting someone else say the bold thing. In other words, the frame narrative delegates to someone else the task of saying the hard or controversial thing.

You can see how you can try the frame narrative yourself to add distance from topics that matter to you. It’s a way of telling it slant. Invent one or both narrators, and create the story that sets up the nested story. You, too, can say the bold thing by letting someone else say the bold thing.

Listen or head to https://annkroeker.com/2026/02/25/do-you-really-want-to-write-quietly-its-an-ai-favorite/ to read it and access all my sources in the footnotes. And to work with one-on-one, head to https://annkroeker.com/writing-coach - I can provide you with human support for writing you produce as the thoughtful human you are...no AI necessary!

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Do you really want to write “quietly”? (It’s an AI favorite)Release Date: February 27, 2026We all have “pet” words or phrases that slide into our prose like a favorite shoe that’s shaped to our foot and supports our gait—literary techniques that feel like our voice on the page.

Some writers come across more casual, using sentence fragments or words like “ain’t” and “c’mon!” Others turn to ellipses for hesitation and pop a statement (or question) in parentheses for humor.

Guess who’s been paying attention to how we express ourselves?

Yeah, LLMs slurped up our online writing and got a taste for the way we write. Their favorite words and phrases draw from our favorite words and phrases, and now they’re repeating them ad nauseam, shoving them into everyone’s drafts so people leaning on AI for their writing start to sound suspiciously similar.

What’s especially frustrating is that these are perfectly good writing techniques, and now that I see them spilling into my inbox, I hesitate using them.

In the hands of skilled writers, a light touch with these could produce a pleasant flow, but AI doesn’t yet seem to fully sense the need for restraint, balance, and pacing. It stuffs otherwise effective wording into their drafts like too many prizes in a box of Cracker Jack. They stop being special after the fifth appearance.

Once I point them out, you’ll start to spot them in blog posts, articles, newsletters, and social media. In this episode, I point out several AI favorites. You'll start t spot them everywhere.

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Whose Voice Is on Your Pages? Human vs. AI WritingRelease Date: February 11, 2026I opened someone's newsletter a few weeks ago touting the “glorious” age of AI and the advantages it provides.

Hm, I thought. AI is fascinating, I guess. Speedy. Clever, in its way. But…glorious?

It’s been studying us. Wouldn’t that suggest anything “glorious” about AI can be attributed in part to what it’s drawn from that which makes us gloriously human? It did, after all, train on our published projects like articles, blog posts, and books (which it’s already consumed, with or without our permission).

I’ve been thinking a lot about AI lately, as headline after headline offers dire warnings (job losses!) or lavish praises (glorious!), depending on the source. I know clients and colleagues who are using AI extensively in their operations, including research, drafting, and editing. I know others who haven’t tried it even once.

To be honest, I’ve gone back and forth on it myself. When ChatGPT was first making the headlines in 2022, I “interviewed it“ because I was curious to see how it worked and what it would say. I was simultaneously freaked out and fascinated with the results. Should I avoid it or embrace it?

I didn’t decide on the spot. Instead, I experimented with it in low-stakes ways before drawing any conclusions; it’s evolving so rapidly, however, I land on an opinion only to change my mind a week later based on new information. I’m suffering from technological whiplash.

Now that AI is embedded in our writing programs, email inboxes, and more, I’m revisiting my opinion once more.

Turns out I had a lot to say. Listen or head to https://annkroeker.com/2026/02/11/whose-voice-is-on-your-pages-human-vs-ai-writing/ to read it and access all my sources in the footnotes.

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Self-Publishing vs. Traditional: Janyre Tromp's Real-World Experience with Both (and Clear Favorite)Release Date: December 17, 2025Award-winning author and editor Janyre Tromp joins us for an in-depth exploration of her deep publishing experience. She’s seen it from all angles, as an editor in traditional publishing houses, and as an author who has seen the pros and cons of both traditional and self-publishing. Janyre breaks down the definitions, differences, and decision-making process for authors as they consider the publishing path that’s right for them.

In this wide-ranging discussion, you'll learn:

Clear definitions of vanity press, hybrid publishing, self-publishing, and traditional publishing
Why Janyre decided to try self-publishing (indie publishing) after undeniable success as a traditionally published author
How she leverages her marketing background for maximum sales
When to choose traditional publishing vs. self-publishing vs. other options
The financial realities and potential of each publishing path
Which path has become her favorite (and why)

This interview is perfect for aspiring authors, seasoned writers considering a change, or anyone curious about how things are changing…and how we can make an informed decision.

⌚️Timestamped Notes00:00 Multitasking Editor Embraces Indie

05:13 Publishing Access vs Readers

08:37 Indie Publishing Workflow Explained

12:45 Indie Publishing Services Evolve

13:37 Building Your Self-Publishing Team

19:21 Nonfiction Marketing Strategies

22:35 Self-Publishing: Learn or Delegate

23:29 Indie Authors as a Business

28:43 Effective Nonfiction Self-Publishing Tips

31:05 Publishing Requires Patience and Marketing

34:48 Indie Influence on Traditional Publishing

38:44 Hybrid Author vs Publisher

41:07 Navigating Publishing Rights & Royalties

45:39 Hiring Reputable Publishing Services

46:56 Vetting Publishers for Success

52:45 Benefits of Audiobooks for Readers

53:52 The Enduring Power of Books

57:51 Craft Your Book's Big Idea

Resources & Links:* Free 3-Day Challenge: Craft Your Book’s Big Idea: annkroeker.com/3day * Previous interview with Janyre about target audience: Start with Your Ideal Audience

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What's your role in your reader's lifeRelease Date: December 2, 2025In this episode, Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach, explores how clarifying your role in a reader’s life transforms your tone, structure, and connection on the page. Using real-world analogies and examples from Anne Bogel, Annie F. Downs, and Lisa TerKeurst, Ann shows how to choose and calibrate a voice readers trust—whether you’re a knowledgeable friend, a teacher, a tower of authority, or a fellow traveler in the field.

In This Episode You’ll Discover:

Why defining your role makes writing more intuitive and effective
How to spot a voice/role mismatch that’s holding your manuscript back
The “knowledgeable friend” approach that helped Anne Bogel find her flow
How Annie F. Downs’ “coffee with a friend” brand guides tone and content
Lisa TerKeurst’s 4 voices for authors: Tower, Teacher, In the Field, and In the Pit
When to avoid the “In the Pit” voice (and what to do instead)
Practical tone tweaks: contractions, anecdotes, sentence fragments, vulnerability
A quick exercise to test multiple voices and choose what fits
How to align structure, examples, and word choice with your chosen role
Ways to iterate based on reader response

⌚️Timestamped Notes 0:00 - Introduction and welcome from Ann Kroeker

0:26 - Episode topic: What’s your role in your reader’s life?

0:40 - Roles professionals play and their impact

0:57 - Why writers should understand their role for better connection

1:10 - Identifying your reader-facing role: friend, expert, or fellow traveler?

1:17 - The impact of a tone-role mismatch for writers

1:35 - How tone, structure, and writing style change when role aligns

1:45 - Aligning roles for authenticity and effective voice

1:50 - Writers Anne Bogel, Annie F. Downs, and Lisa TerKeurst refine their roles

2:17 - Anne Bogel’s “friend who knows some things” approach

2:47 - Using knowledgeable friend tone: relate and inform

3:04 - Annie F. Downs’ “coffee with a friend” brand

3:33 - Using anecdotes, humor, and vulnerability as a friendly writer

3:50 - Lisa TerKeurst’s four author voices explained

4:23 - The Tower Voice (authoritative expert)

4:46 - The Teacher Voice (research-backed and vulnerable)

5:04 - The In-the-Field Voice (guiding as fellow traveler)

5:26 - The In-the-Pit Voice (venting without solutions)

5:45 - Finding your role: reflection questions for writers

6:12 - How readers see you shapes your style

6:22 - Structuring research-based writing with the Tower Voice

6:33 - Blending guidance with personal insight as a Teacher

6:40 - Using shared experience for trust in the Field Voice

7:04 - The pitfalls of writing from struggle without solutions

7:12 - Experimenting with different writer voices

7:38 - Adjusting tone and style to suit your authentic role

8:12 - Realizing and embodying your role for writing flow

8:29 - Invitation to Craft Your Book’s Big Idea challenge

8:50 - Ann Kroeker encourages and supports writers

9:02 - Closing and ongoing support for writers

Resources & Links:* Free 3-Day Challenge: Craft Your Book’s Big Idea — annkroeker.com/3day * Lisa TerKeurst interview (linked in episode show notes at annkroeker.com/writersrole)

To read and check out all info, head to annkroeker.com/writersrole

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Why Writers Get Lost in Research (And How to Find Your Way Back)Release Date: October 8, 2025In this episode, Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach tackles the common "research rabbit hole" problem that plagues nonfiction writers. Learn how to balance thorough research with productive writing, using Isaac Newton's famous quote about "standing on ye sholders of giants" as inspiration for leveraging others' knowledge without getting lost in endless sources.

In This Episode You'll Discover:* Why the research rabbit hole is a distraction for nonfiction writers * Noticing when you're researching versus procrastinating * Practical strategies to ensure you stay focused on the research * The importance of research for credibility and specificity in nonfiction

⌚️Timestamps:

0:00 - Welcome & Introduction

0:48 - Getting Lost in Research

1:30 - Does Detail Matter?

2:00 - Value of Specifics

3:15 - Building Trust Through Research

3:44 - Research in Memoir & Essays

4:09 - Standing on Giants’ Shoulders

4:40 - 7 Focused Research Tips

5:05 - Bracket Placeholders

5:23 - Tackling Online Distractions

5:45 - Parking Lot Document

6:00 - Staying Relevant

6:23 - Research Timers

6:48 - Organizing Research

7:16 - Research as Conversation

7:45 - Back to Writing

To read and check out all info, head to annkroeker.com/rabbithole

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Start with Your Ideal Audience: Insights from Janyre TrompEpisode 283 | Release Date: September 24, 2025

Quick SummaryIn this episode, Ann Kroeker is joined by award-winning author and editor Janyre Tromp for a deep dive into identifying your ideal audience as a writer. Janyre draws on 20+ years of publishing, editing, and marketing experience to explain why targeting the right readers—and understanding their true needs—will transform every stage of your writing process, from drafting to editing to pitching and platform-building. Whether you write fiction, nonfiction, essays, or poetry, this conversation will equip you with actionable strategies, creative encouragement, and permission to be yourself as you connect with real people through your words.

In This Episode You'll Discover:* The difference between demographics and psychographics (and why felt needs matter most) * How to use “real people” as your audience guide—beyond generic market profiles * Why writing purely from your own perspective may miss your target audience (and what to do about it) * Practical strategies for exploring and validating your audience—before you write the whole book * The value and methods of “testing” your message on social media, in articles, or through speaking * Smart ways to use outlines, chapter summaries, and comparative titles to clarify your audience * Why platform-building is about genuine connection, not perfection or performance * How to balance platform work with writing—plus batching, repurposing, and self-care tips from Janyre’s own practice * Encouragement for embracing your unique voice and message, even when life or creativity feels overwhelming

Key Moments Janyre’s multi-role background: Traditional/indie publishing, editing, and marketing * Defining your ideal audience: From broad demographics to nuanced psychographics * How emotion—not just facts—sells books and builds connection * The role of social media as a “testing lab” for ideas and audience resonance * Outlining, annotating, and revising to realign with your audience * Using comparative titles and community spaces to get to know your readers * Overcoming perfectionism and performance pressure as you build your platform * Grace for the process—nobody does it all, and real people connect with real people*

Memorable Quotes“Emotion sells a book. Facts do not sell books… That’s why you see a commercial, they’re appealing to an emotion, not a fact.”

“If you want to publish a book and help people, then you have to approach your book writing from that person’s perspective and write the book that they need, not the book that you want to write.”

“Social media is this lovely little lab where you can write about stuff and get immediate gratification of whether it works or not.”

“Go find your audience wherever they are and hang out with them… If you have a conversation with them that resonates, they’ll come hang out with you elsewhere too.”

“You have a message that only you can give. Don’t be afraid to step out into that and make those connections.”

Resources Mentioned* Join Janyre’s upcoming YPM training: Your Platform Matters (YPM) * Learn more about Janyre Tromp: janyretromp.com and Editing Insiders * Free Facebook group for editing questions: Editing Insiders on Facebook

Connect & Continue the Conversation Email Ann: annkroeker.com/contact * Explore free & paid offerings: annkroeker.com/everything * Get free coaching in your inbox: annkroeker.com/connect * Follow Janyre Tromp:* @janyretromp on Instagram, LinkedIn, and (newbie!) TikTok

Ready to go deeper?

Join YPM for Janyre’s “X Marks the Spot” training on finding your true audience—live and on replay.

I'm cheering you on as a writing coach in your ear. Thanks for listening!

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Don't Wait to Share Your MessageEpisode 282 | Release Date: September 10, 2025

Quick SummaryIn this episode, Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach, explores how we can share our ideas and messages immediately through digital platforms rather than waiting for traditional publishing timelines. Learn why starting small today can make a bigger impact than waiting for the "perfect" long-form project to be complete.

In This Episode You'll Discover:* How digital publishing has transformed our ability to share ideas globally * Why waiting to complete a book means delaying your impact on readers * Practical ways to repurpose book content for immediate publication * How to overcome algorithm anxiety and focus on genuine connection * The value of reaching even a small audience with your message

Key Moments:* [00:00] - Introduction: From farm life to digital publishing * [03:15] - The Jetsons-like reality of modern publishing tools * [06:30] - The lengthy timeline of traditional book publishing * [09:45] - Creative ways to repurpose book content for immediate sharing * [12:30] - Overcoming algorithm anxiety and focusing on real connections * [15:45] - Why even reaching a few people matters * [18:20] - Practical first steps to start sharing your message today

Memorable Quotes:

"Someone out there needs exactly what you have to share—and they need it today."

"Your message going out means you're intersecting with readers and potentially changing lives."

"That chapter you're polishing for your book proposal? You probably have several subsections. Pick one and modify it to become a LinkedIn post."

Resources Mentioned:* annkroeker.com/ypm

Connect & Continue the Conversation:* Email me: annkroeker.com/contact * Explore all my offerings, both free and paid: annkroeker.com/everything * Get free coaching in your inbox: annkroeker.com/connect

I grew up on a farm before email, before social media, before any Internet existed for the general public. We had phones, of course. We had walkie-talkies. But we didn’t have Instagram or websites.

If you traveled back in time and told young Ann (I was “Annie” back then) that at the click of a button—from the palm of my hand—I’d be able to write something that would be available to people anywhere in the world, I wouldn’t have believed you.

I would have laughed, thinking you were teasing me. “Come on,” I would have said, “that’s like something out of The Jetsons.”

Publish from the Palm of Your HandYet here we are, with publishing and distribution platforms literally in the palms of our hands. From your phone or a laptop, you can write something, click publish, and it’s live as an update on social media, a blog post on your website, a newsletter via email.

Anyone in the entire world can read it.

That really is like something out of The Jetsons.

Have you stopped to think how fast and easy it is to write and send a message into the world from your computer or phone—how it flies through the ether and into a follower’s feed or a subscriber’s inbox? The immediacy is mind-boggling.

The Power of Publishing NowIf you're working on a long-form project like a nonfiction book, you’re writing for a reader whose life you hope to impact, whether through a major transformation or a subtle shift in perspective. It takes a long time to complete a polished version of those 50,000+ words, ready for publication. When you seek traditional publication, you pitch agents in hopes of an offer.

All that work and waiting, and not one word has been read by your intended audience.

Let’s say you finally sign a book contract today. After all that time, your message still won't reach that reader for another year-and-a-half to two years.

That's a long time before your words finally reach your readers.

Why wait when you have Jetsons-like gadgets on hand? Why not start making a difference in your readers’ lives right away? Your full manuscript may still be in progress, but your message can begin changing lives today:

Blog posts and Substack newsletters let you do a deep dive into your concepts for readers to ponder
Social media posts allow you to test ideas and connect directly with your audience
Podcast appearances help you reach listeners who might never discover your book
Online publications can feature your expertise to established audiences

That chapter you're polishing for your book proposal? You probably have several subsections. Pick one and modify it to become a LinkedIn post.

The research you’ve done to support your main argument? Some could become an infographic for Instagram.

The personal story illustrating your message? Share it on your Substack.

Deliver value now while building anticipation for your completed book that will launch later. You even test your ideas to find what resonates most and strengthen your draft.

But the Algorithm…If you’re thinking social media algorithms will throttle your reach, try to relax and have a little fun. Imagine how your post might reach a few of your ideal readers and make them think, laugh, feel something.

Remember to be social on social media: Like other people’s content. Leave a comment. Share their posts. Worry less about the algorithm and be social with people you care about.

When you focus on creating helpful content and engaging with others, you connect directly with the people who need your message most.

Sure, maybe fewer people interact with your Instagram carousel post than they used to. Maybe “social media” seems more performative and less “real,” maybe the algorithm change really did show your work to fewer people, but even a few views means you brushed against each other virtually. An interaction in the DMs can be two people chatting and not just an automated system sending out a link (those are handy tools, but I’m suggesting you could simply be real).

Worst case scenario, only a few people see your post. That’s a few people “Annie” never would have reached when sitting in the farm house back in the day.

If you told me then that five or ten people read something I had written and published on a platform called “Instagram,” I would have been astonished. Real people somewhere in the world instantly read my words! That would have changed my life; I would have thought of myself as a writer years earlier. I would have thought about my writing differently, imagining those readers, hoping my ideas would change them in some way as our lives intersected for those few seconds.

Today, at this moment, that’s our reality.

Your message going out means you’re intersecting with readers and potentially changing lives.

Start Now, Start SmallSomeone out there needs exactly what you have to share—and they need it today.

Choose one approach that feels relatively natural and comfortable. It doesn’t have to be social media. Maybe it’s an emailed newsletter, audio on a podcast, video on YouTube, or a blog post on your website.

Extract one idea from your long-form work-in-progress and shape it to fit the medium.

Press publish.

It’s like the Jetsons…but it’s really out there, reaching readers right now.

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I tend to sprawl—both in my writing and, if you ask my family, on the couch. I start with a plan, but as I write, new ideas branch out in every direction. Before I know it, I’ve lost my way. And yet…while I encourage the power of outlines, I confess that I often prefer finding my way through the sprawl, writing until I experience an epiphany—a moment of convergence that shows me what the piece is…and isn’t. In other words, I write my way to clarity. In Write Your Way Forward (episode 281), I help you see the various ways you\'ll gain clarity, even healing through writing itself. I believe if you need to process something, you can write to understand. And I believe if you have something to say more widely, you can write to be heard.

Read the full blog post HERE.

Resources* Write to Discover – Start with Yourself * Write to Discover Your Top Themes & Topics * Write to Discover Your Ideal Reader * Are Outlines a Writer’s Greatest Gift? * What Lies Beneath the Surface of Your Life? * Interview with Patrice Gopo on Meaning Making on the Page and Studying the Craft

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If you second-guess yourself each time you send your words into the world, you’re not alone. You’re feeling what writers throughout the ages have felt, because it is a risk each time you click \"publish.\" Even if you’re viewed as an expert or thought leader handing down wisdom, your readers need to know they’re not alone. They need to see that you\'ve struggled and still found a way forward. Whether you\'re a writer who regularly reveals your ongoing messy life or you\'re someone who seems to have “arrived,\" your vulnerable stories offer hope.

In this episode, I share some of my own experiences with being vulnerable as I encourage you to open up your heart.

To visit the post that has all the information and links related to this episode (280), click HERE.

Resources* My Writing Life Beginnings, Pt. 1 * My Writing Life Beginnings, Pt. 2 * Your Writing as a Gift (includes the Scott Russell Sanders quote) * What Lies Beneath the Surface of Your Life * Use What’s Happened to You, to Shape Your Writing * Let Life Inspire Your Next Great Piece

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An idea pops into your head, so you grab whatever paper product lies nearby and scribble down the thought. Or you come across a quote, story, or stat and realize it connects to your project. Convinced it’s all great material, you jot it down, then stuff the paper into your pocket or purse.

Now you’re ready to write, but you're discovering random Post-Its, index cards, and the backs of envelopes—not to mention pages from notebooks and journals. And you're wondering how these scattered notes and ideas could possibly be organized into a coherent structure for your article, essay, book, or blog post. Where do you start? Today, I’ll suggest one method to organize your notes. Let's call it the Seek, Sort, and Stack approach.

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Find your publishing home without losing your voice: Literary agent Deidra Riggs reveals insider secrets on breaking into publishing while staying true to yourself—especially for women of color and writers with unconventional perspectives.

In this interview (episode 278), you'll discover...

Insider secrets: Deidra reveals what draws her to a manuscript
Authors' authentic voices: Deidra supports clients, helping them navigating publishing without compromising their unique perspectives and voices
Publishing reality check: Social media followers...do they matter as much as we think?
Deidra's wishlist: Learn what genres Deidra's looking for (and how the main interest surprises her)
Direct access: Deidra invites you to contact her directly with your work (a rare agent invitation!)

I don't want authors to feel like they've had to make themselves smaller, change their message, change their voice or the essence of who they are just to get a book published." —Deidra Riggs

About This EpisodeEver wondered what literary agents really look for in submissions? Or how to maintain your authentic voice in an industry that often demands conformity? Literary agent Deidra Riggs shares some of publishing's hidden realities while sharing her journey from writer to agent at Embolden Media Group.

This isn't just another "how to get published" conversation, however. Deidra reveals her process for deciding to work with an author, why this is a "risky time" for diverse voices in publishing, how she creates and searches for a nurturing "home" for authors (particularly women of color), and what makes her champion certain manuscripts in an increasingly challenging market.

Guest Spotlight: Literary Agent Deidra RiggsDeidra is an author, speaker, coach, and consultant. Her extensive background includes writing, editing, and marketing for faith-based, nonprofit, and for-profit organizations. She is adept at shepherding a group or individual to the successful conclusion of a project, offering clear and accessible tools and guidance. Deidra is drawn to well-told stories with fresh viewpoints.

Whether fiction or nonfiction, she gravitates toward engaging, thoughtful, and creative first-rate narrative and out-of-the box perspectives that help us laugh, dream, heal, and grow (and go) forward. A Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), Deidra lives in Connecticut.

The first thing I look at is when I read this first paragraph, Do I wanna read more? And if I wanna read more, then I wanna know, well, Who's writing this? And that's when I'll go and look. And if it says you have 57 followers, I will write you back and say, "This is great. I'm concerned about your platform." —Deidra Riggs

Timestamps for Quick Reference0:00 Introduction to the publishing industry challenges

0:58 Welcoming Deidra Riggs, a literary agent who cares

2:07 Deidra's journey from writer to literary agent

3:04 The influence of blogging on Deidra's path

7:23 Deidra's transition to publishing books

10:17 Joining Embolden Media Group as a literary agent

12:22 Building relationships with authors and editors

14:58 Creating a sense of "home" in the publishing process

16:50 Handling rejections and providing feedback

19:03 Assessing submissions and deciding to proceed

22:17 Platform requirements and starting a conversation

24:49 Discovering new writers and using social media

28:17 Encouragement for finding a publishing "home"

29:44 Exploring other publishing options

31:09 Balancing social media and new content for books

33:15 Deidra's current interests (it surprises her)

35:10 Contacting Deidra and final thoughts

The women that I represent write as women of color, so they're not trying to make anyone like them. They're trying to be who they are and put out a message they feel called and led to put out into the world, and that's a risky thing right now. —Deidra Riggs

Resources:* Full Episode Information & Transcript * Embolden Media Group * Contact Deidra Riggs * Related: Interview with literary agent Lucinda Halpern * Craft Your Best Book Proposal

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On a chilly December afternoon in 2014, I closed the door to my bedroom, swallowed back nerves—even trembled a little as I held a tiny earpiece as a microphone. Then I cleared my throat and recorded my first podcast episode that lasted all of two minutes.

At that point a seasoned author, I forgot what it felt like to send something into the world for the first time. I’d done it for decades with my voice on the page or the screen. With a podcast, I was sending my actual voice into the world for the first time. How would people react? Would these episodes find their way into writers’ ears? I was a beginner again.

First Facing FearsI fretted over editing, even though my initial vision for using audio was to give myself a simpler way to share ideas. I thought I could wing it. I thought it would be simple. But I realized a more focused, tight delivery would serve listeners better, so I started by outlining and writing a script. This added more time and tasks, but it gave people another way to enjoy the ideas without wasting any of their time with rambling and repetition.

Next Facing DiscouragementOnly a few people listened to those first episodes. My friend Charity listened. My mentors. A few friends. I probably forced my husband to help with audio editing questions, but that may have been it.

Publishing episode after episode proved daunting when I looked at the stats and saw only a few people tuning in. I kept going, though, because I enjoyed it. Truly. I loved sending off ideas as a podcast episode, in that medium.

When I first told people about it, they told me they couldn’t find it on their podcast player. They searched and searched, but…nothing. I phoned the good people at Blubrry, my podcast host, to help diagnose several technological mishaps on my part, which resulted in a name change from The Writing Life with Ann Kroeker to the Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach podcast. With those few changes, people could finally find the podcast.

From Humble Beginnings to Global ReachIn time, more listeners downloaded the show. A friend with a huge following shared it one afternoon and that introduced me to her readers. My listening stats showed a bump because of that and the numbers continued to rise: and every number, an individual writer I hoped to encourage.

Ten years later, looking back at those humble beginnings in late 2014, I can see how the determination to start—even when I didn’t know what I was doing, even when I was scared—led to a decade of growth and connection. I grew as a coach, writer, speaker, and podcaster, and writers have told me the ideas I’ve shared have helped them grow in their courage, craft, and confidence.

If that’s you, thank you. Thank you for being part of this journey.

While I don’t obsess over data, I’m floored to realize how it’s grown into a platform that reaches writers worldwide. I thought you might enjoy seeing the top 10 countries where writers are listening to the “Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach” podcast. You might even be in one of them!

Top 10 CountriesHere are the top 10 countries based on listener downloads:

United States
Canada
United Kingdom
Australia
Germany
India
Japan
Netherlands
South Africa
France

Top 10 Downloaded Episodes of All Time (as of this recording in January 2025)The most downloaded episodes must reflect what resonates most. Enjoy browsing the top 10 downloaded episodes of all time (as of January 2025), in case one of them resonates with you:

10 Ways to Start the Writing Process When You’re Staring at a Blank Page
Prepare for Publishing with Insights from Literary Agent Lucinda Halpern
What’s a Writing Coach (and what kind do I need)?
Find Your Book Midwife, Say “Yes” Before You’re Ready, Pitch to Build Platform, and Authentically Engage with Readers (interview with author Clarissa Moll)
How Simple Systems Can Unlock Your Writing Productivity, with Kari Roberts
Validate Your Idea to Produce Your Best Project (Back to Basics)
Embrace These 4 Key Roles for a Flourishing Writing Life
How to Make Time to Write and Develop a System to Take Notes, with Bryan Collins
Improve Your Writing by Getting Back to Basics
How to Hook and Hold Your Readers

First 3 Interviews:For the first four years of podcasting for writers, I produced only short solo episodes. In 2018, I began to incorporate interviews and since then, I’ve introduced you to 16 writing and publishing professionals, inviting them to share their wisdom and insights.

My first three interviews were with:

Shawn Smucker
Patrice Gopo
Alison Hodgson

Top 2 SeriesTwo cornerstone series emerged over the years that continue to guide writers: Your Writing Platform, and What Do I Write Next.

Your Writing Platform Series:For the Your Writing Platform series, I helped writers understand that platform-building isn’t about being a wandering troubadour, but about finding your focus and connecting authentically with readers who resonate with your message.

Your Writing Platform Needs a Home Base: An Author Website
Your Writing Platform: The Need for Focus
Your Writing Platform: What Fascinates, Captivates, and Energizes you
Your Writing Platform: How to Confirm Your Niche
Your Writing Platform: Who Is Your Who?
Your Writing Platform: What’s the Definition of Platform (and Do I Really Need One)?
Your Writing Platform: Do People Expect Writers to Be Speakers
Now Is the Time to Start Building Your Platform
Your Writing Platform: First Steps to Launching Your Social Media Presence (related: You can Impact Readers Right Now Through Social Media)

What Do I Write Next Series:This series addressed the perpetual question of creative direction, encouraging writers to explore their “vein of gold” while staying open to experimentation.

What Do I Write Next: How to Decide What to Write Next
What Do I Write Next: Why Write Small When You Want to Go Big?
What Do I Write Next: Why Not a Series?
What Do I Write Next: Enjoy Your Vein of Gold
What Do I Write Next: Experiment and Expand Your Repertoire

Start Your Own Scary ProjectFor that first-ever episode, I decided the best thing to do was to give myself the advice I gave my writing clients all the time: just get started.

If you’re hung up on a project and you don’t know how to launch it, or you don’t know how to outline it, or you don’t know where you’re going with the ideas, just get started.

Once you start, you’ll get in motion.

When you get in motion, you’ll get clarity.

And when you get clarity, you’ll get both vision and specifics, and you’ll be able to get the thing done. You’ll solve your problems as you go. You’ll discover new solutions. And in the end, you’ll have a product.

It may or may not be what you thought it would be when you started out—and you may adapt and evolve as you go along—but you’ll never get there if you don’t start.

So that’s my message to you both then and now, as I look back on the ten years I’ve been speaking to you about your writing life.

Do you have something you haven’t started yet because you’re afraid, worried, uncertain?

Don’t put it off any longer. Your audience is out there. Just get started.

Resources* All Podcasts (with summaries for browsing) * Blubrry (you can check out my podcast host; affiliate link, which means I’ll receive a small commission from Blubrry as a thank you)

____________Join us in Your Platform Matters (YPM)YPM is a warm and welcoming membership community committed to creative, meaningful ways we can grow our platform and reach readers—check us out!

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A few years ago, a client came to me with an idea for a nonfiction book. She was ready to write a draft and send it to a publishing house. What she didn’t realize was that she was working a few steps ahead.

Thankfully, we met early enough in the process that I was able to fill her in on the steps she’d need to take to pursue traditional publishing—allowing her to sidestep a lot of mistakes that would have slowed her down.

Even though she didn’t need to write the entire manuscript before taking her next steps, her instinct to do so was to be commended. After all, how was she supposed to know about the ins and outs of publishing without any prior experience?

Is it possible you’re also making one (or more) of the biggest mistakes nonfiction writers make—simply because you don’t know what you don’t know?

Let’s explore—and learn how to avoid—the common mistakes writers make as they develop and complete their first nonfiction book.

https://youtu.be/oD0-8Nu_CBY?si=2cGnPeYaCfYunUsoMistake #1: Writing Without a PlanA common mistake nonfiction authors make is attempting to write their book without a clear roadmap or structure.

Often, within the first chapter or so, they realize the magnitude of the project ahead and overwhelm settles in—derailing their initial excitement.

Without a defined plan or structure in place, ideas tend to sprawl and lack cohesion. The missing element? A book proposal—a necessary business document used in traditional publishing. For you and me, it serves as a plan to make your nonfiction book a reality.

In a book proposal, writers define a clear thesis statement and outline the central argument that will be supported throughout the book. Writers outline the book chapter by chapter, creating a framework that ensures they’re crafting a message they want to share with their ideal reader.

A book proposal also includes key elements that force you to think through details, such as the book’s purpose, its special features, and its ideal reader, which add to the plan and guide your research and writing.

Writing without a plan is the first big mistake…and creating a plan is how to solve it.

Mistake #2: Writing Before Deciding on a Publishing PathAnother mistake writers make is writing before determining the publishing path they want to take. Before developing your manuscript, be sure to pause and consider if you plan to pursue traditional publishing or plan to self-publish.

If you know you want to go the traditional path, then you need a book proposal, and that proposal will include sample chapters—typically about three for a first-time author. These chapters will serve as prototypes, guiding the direction and flow of content for the entire book. While not all of the subsequent chapters need to mirror the initial ones you turn in with your book proposal, they still set the foundation for the rest of the manuscript.

If self-publishing is your goal, then you will need to fully complete the manuscript. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider creating a book proposal. Self-published authors often find it useful to work through parts of the book proposal, such as categories your book will fall into, which you’ll need for the back cover and in your Amazon or online listing.

For memoir, specifically, you’ll also need a completed manuscript and a complete book proposal to submit to publishers with your own unique storyline and viewpoint.

So, what publishing path do you hope to pursue? Be sure to consider the right path for your book before diving too deep into the process of writing.

Mistake #3: Overthinking the Book & Not Writing AnythingOverthinking a book to the point of paralysis is another common problem I see with writers. Some fear that they’re not going to be able to fit everything they want to say in their book. Other writers fear that their work has already been said by somebody else and there’s no reason to write their book. Either situation can shut a writer down before they even begin.

If you find yourself here, go back to the first “mistake” and start crafting a plan. Create a framework for your book that addresses your reader’s felt needs and offers them the transformation they seek.

Once you’ve done the hard work of creating a book proposal—determining your book’s purpose and how it will serve your readers—the actual writing of the book won’t feel all that complicated. Mapping out a book is like outlining and sets you up for success when you sit down to write chapters.

The next hurdle is deciding how each chapter will flow. You could start each chapter with a compelling story or offer an anecdote as an effective way to engage readers. Stories are a powerful way to connect with your reader.

In the paragraphs and pages that follow, you’ll support your claim or main purpose of the chapter through sub-ideas or topics. These supporting ideas and examples all are meant to help the reader understand the main message or big idea you are trying to convey. And then you’ll round it all out with a conclusion that ties it all together.

With a structure to follow as you craft your manuscript, you’ll avoid the pitfall of overthinking and instead find words flowing on the page.

Mistake #4: Not Asking for Help Soon EnoughI see it all too often: writers wait too long to ask for help. First-time authors often work in a silo, not realizing their entire book doesn’t need to be written all alone.

Take inspiration from Brené Brown, who shared her experience of writing her first book in an episode of Magic Lessons with Elizabeth Gilbert. For her first book, Brené didn’t isolate herself but instead gathered her team at a lake house. She taught the content of the book while incorporating their feedback and insights. This collaborative approach allowed her team to identify areas where her explanations fell short or where certain stories didn’t resonate, enabling her to refine her manuscript.1

In short, we write better together.

You don’t have to write alone. Be sure to seek support and input early in the writing process. Talk through your ideas with a friend. Find beta readers. Build a team around you. By involving others you will not only find more enjoyment in the process, but you’ll be much more satisfied with the end result.

From the Coach’s DeskDo you find yourself making any one (or more) of these common mistakes nonfiction writers make when writing their first book? Are you feeling a little stuck? You don’t have to let those mistakes hold you back from writing your nonfiction book.

You simply need to make a plan to move forward and do the work.

If a plan feels like a constraint to you, know that your manuscript will evolve as you move through revisions. You can adjust your plan as new information comes across your desk. You can insert new quotes or change the wording of a chapter’s claim to reflect what you learn along the way.

That client I mentioned? I sent her a webinar about book proposals that helped her understand the importance of that document and how the traditional publishing industry uses it in the decision-making process.

She watched it, and we ended up working together on her book proposal. She developed a strong idea that proved to “have legs,” as they say, and she landed a contract with an agent and a publisher.

It all started with a plan. You can avoid all of these mistakes with your own nonfiction book project if you have a plan too.

Resources:* Book Proposal Coaching: blog posts, a free challenge, and my course options in one place * Free Webinar (the one mentioned in the article): Craft Your Best Book Proposal * Blog Post: What’s a Book Proposal (and why do I need one)? * Comprehensive Book Proposal Program: Your Compelling Book Proposal (YCBP)

FREE ON-DEMAND WEBINAR

Craft Your Best Book Proposal If you have a non-fiction book inside you, the first step is to write a book proposal. In this training, I’m revealing what it takes to create this essential document.

The webinar covers…✅ why you need a book proposal
✅ what a book proposal does for your book
✅ the three things a publisher is looking for
✅ how to start developing your own proposal!

Sign up for immediate access!Footnote:1. Gilbert, Elizabeth. “Magic Lessons with Elizabeth Gilbert: Magic Lessons Se. 1, Ep. 12: Brene Brown on ‘Big Strong Magic.’” Libsyn.com, 2016, magiclessons.libsyn.com/podcast/magic-lessons-se-1-ep-12-brene-brown-on-big-strong-magic. (Start around 27:04 mark) Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

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Somewhere along the way, you stopped writing.

Life got in the way.

You lost your confidence. You ran out of time. You ran out of ideas. You hit a huge block you can’t get past.

Maybe you thought writing belonged to younger-you, when the stakes were lower and you took more risks.

For one reason or another, the words stopped flowing. You set aside your pen. You stopped calling yourself a writer. You scribble in a journal now and then, but nothing beyond that.

This happens.

One day, you’re an unstoppable force—a creativity marvel, spinning out stories like a professional word-weaver. The next, you’re staring at a blank page, feeling the weight of fear, doubt, and a lack of motivation.

You face external hurdles.It doesn’t help that the world seems to conspire against you. Every interruption, every demand on your time, feels like you’re yanked away from your true calling. You wonder if that original spark is gone for good, snuffed out.

I’ve been there. When my dad needed loads of caregiving attention, my mind didn’t have space to think creative thoughts, and I had almost no time to sit down and write. I was sitting down for “care meetings,” driving him to urologist appointments, tracking down fax machines to send documents to insurance companies, and dealing with the emotional strain of his increasing dementia and its unpredictable fury.

Overwhelmed by the responsibilities and stress, I put all but essential tasks on pause during that era.

The few words I eked out felt forced. The spark was gone.

Guess what?

You’re in good company.Every writer hits this wall at some point. Some swear they don’t, but I would bet my favorite pen that every writer faces moments—sometimes long stretches—when the words just don’t come.

If that’s happening to you, don’t see it as a sign that you’re not cut out for this, or that you’ve lost your gift. It proves you’re in good company—it’s a sign you’re human.

Indeed, you’re a real writer.

Because you’re a writer, let’s figure out how to get those words in motion again.

Write a few minutes a day.Even during the intense caregiving days, I could squeeze in tiny pockets for my work—windows of opportunity between appointments or before bed. It wasn’t much, but it was something. You can write, too. Even a few minutes in a notebook or your phone’s Notes app is a start. Get going by getting something down.

Get Your 5-Minute Writer FreebieGrab this fillable workbook for ideas to make the most of every writing opportunity. You’ll get:

Lists of tiny tasks you can tackle when five minutes opens up so you make progress in your writing (for both fiction and nonfiction writers!)
Ideas for where to contain your research, ideas, and drafts
Real-life proof from your writing coach that your writing life can expand in tiny openings

Write anything.You may have a deadline staring you down or a deep desire to write your memoir. But if your writing’s at a standstill, let yourself write anything—your thoughts, a memory, a description of your surroundings. You need to invite your mind back to the page, so don’t add pressure by forcing it to perform an Act of Great Writing. Write a card to a friend or a simple update on social media.

Write sloppy.Let go of the need for your writing to be perfect. Produce something purposefully imperfect if you need to, even sloppy. It’s more important to reignite the habit than to stress out trying to write typo-free text without a single sentence fragment. Sneak past your internal Grammar Guard who threatens to bludgeon you with the Chicago Manual of Style. Heck, write sentence fragments on purpose. Slip one in to free you up. You’ll feel like a rebel, which might produce the energy you need to fuel your creative fire.

Remind yourself WHY.Reconnect with why you started writing in the first place. What drew you to this craft? What did it give you that nothing else could? Tap into that original passion, and let it guide you back to the page.

Try “writing” with another tool.If your circumstances don’t allow time or space for you to sit down at a keyboard and type, speak your ideas into a voice recording app. Have the audio file transcribed and voila! You’ve got a draft. It’s a way to get your ideas out, even within logistical limitations.

Be kind to yourself.Stop beating yourself up. When we’re kind to ourselves, we acknowledge our humanity, and open ourselves up to return to embrace the writer we’ve been smacking down. Sarah Severson writing for Rewired Dynamics explains:

“Self-compassion encourages us to explore without the fear of failure. This freedom to experiment fosters creativity, leading to innovative problem-solving and increased productivity.”1

In other words, with self-compassion and kindness instead of self-loathing and criticism, we’re far more likely to emerge creative and productive.

The Ebb & Flow of Your Writing StoryWrite what you can and know that the creative spark—the energy that drives us to the page—ebbs and flows.

Sometimes we simply sit and do the work, less inspired but willing to try. Keep showing up; as words spill onto the page, even a few lines at a time, believe and trust that more inspired words will return in abundance.

When did you last feel this way—stuck, without words, creatively blocked?

What pulled you back?

I hope you’re overflowing with ideas, your pen unable to keep up. But if you’re stuck, pick up your pen. Write one sentence.

You’re still a writer, and your story isn’t over.

____________Join us in Your Platform Matters (YPM)YPM is a warm and welcoming membership community committed to creative, meaningful ways we can grow our platform and reach readers—check us out!

Footnote:1. Severson, Sarah. “Self-Compassion: The Key to Self-Improvement and Productivity» Rewired Dynamics LLC.” Rewired Dynamics LLC, 3 Sept. 2023, www.rewireddynamics.com/self-compassion-key-to-self-improvement-and-productivity/. Accessed 7 Sept. 2024.

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Is Substack the best platform for writers? Is it right for you?

In this interview, publishing expert Jane Friedman explores Substack’s social media-like features, blogging-like functionality, podcast-host possibilities…and its implications for writers. From using Substack “Notes” to community cross-promotion, it’s an ecosystem worth understanding.

Substack is more than just newsletters—it’s a blog, social media, podcast host, and email marketing tool all-in-one platform. Perfect for beginners, but should we trust it with all of our content?

Learn the pros and cons of Substack on our latest episode of the “Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach” podcast after skimming the show notes and summary below.

But first…

Meet Jane Friedman:Jane Friedman has 25 years of experience in book publishing, with expertise in business strategy for authors and publishers. She’s the co-founder and editor of The Hot Sheet, a paid newsletter about the book publishing industry with over 2,500 subscribers, and has previously worked for Writer’s Digest and the Virginia Quarterly Review. In 2023, Jane was awarded Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.

Jane’s website, janefriedman.com, offers a wealth of resources for authors. She writes many of the articles herself and also features guest writers who are experts in various aspects of writing and publishing. You may have followed some of the many links I’ve shared in my own newsletter, as Jane’s content and curation of expert input consistently provides top-notch education and encouragement for writers across genres.

Jane’s most recent book is The Business of Being a Writer (sponsored post/affiliate link to Amazon) (University of Chicago Press), which received a starred review from Library Journal. And a new edition is to be released in Spring 2025.

Jane is everywhere. She’s been in The New York Times, The Atlantic, CNN, Wired, BBC, The Guardian, CBC, The Washington Post, Fox News, USA Today, and NPR.

And now she’s here on the “Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach” podcast, discussing Substack for writers.

https://youtu.be/JP2EuDDDGRIMentioned in the show (it’s a lot!):* Read Jane’s thorough and thoughtful analysis of Substack from March 2024: https://janefriedman.com/substack-is-both-great-and-terrible-for-authors/ * Sign up for Jane’s free newsletter, Electric Speed, or see if The Hot Sheet, her paid newsletter for publishing professionals, is right for you. * Leigh Stein (switched from offering a free MailChimp newsletter to offering a paid Substack): the website signup page: https://www.leighstein.com/newsletter | direct link to “Attention Economy” substack: https://leighstein.substack.com/ * Ann mentions paying for George Saunders’ “Story Club” substack: https://georgesaunders.substack.com/ * And paying for Jeannette Ouellette’s “Writing in the Dark” substack: https://writinginthedark.substack.com/ * Article in The Verge about the Substack controversy about Nazis using the platform: https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/8/24030756/substack-nazi-newsletter-content-moderation * Alternatives to Substack include Beehiiv https://www.beehiiv.com/ and Ghost. https://ghost.org/ * All the Substack newsletters Jane subscribes to here: https://substack.com/@janefriedman/reads * Courtney Maum’s “Before and After the Book Deal” https://courtneymaum.substack.com/ * Elle Griffin’s “Elysian Press” (Jane warned that her decision to unsubscribe from all substacks and only use the app means she’s encouraging others to do the same and will lose all of her own subscribers): https://www.elysian.press/ * Dr. Jen Gunter’s “The Vajenda”: https://vajenda.substack.com/ * Peter Schoppert’s “AI and Copyright” substack: https://aicopyright.substack.com/ * Benedict Evans’ tech analysis newsletter on his own solution (possibly MailChimp with Memberful, a WordPress plugin to manage the subscription version): https://www.ben-evans.com/newsletter * Helen Lewis’s The Bluestocking as patron model substack: https://helenlewis.substack.com/ * John Warner’s patronage model: https://substack.com/@biblioracle * The Tangle news source, by Isaac Saul, mentioned by Jane as an example of subscription model with free and paid that is not using Substack: https://www.readtangle.com/ * Peter Attia – no way would he be on Substack, having built an empire on his own website * Ann’s Substack, “Story Hatchery”: https://annkroeker.substack.com

Jane Friedman Substack Interview Transcript:Ann Kroeker [00:00:00]:
I’m Ann Kroeker, writing coach. If you’re tuning in for the first time, welcome. If you’re a regular, welcome back. Today, you’ve joined hundreds of established and emerging writers who are discovering ways to reach their writing goals and have fun by being more curious, creative, and productive. And this is the Ann Kroeker Writing Coach Podcast. Today, I have publishing expert Jane Friedman on the show. If you don’t know Jane yet, you should and you will. Let me tell you just a little bit about her.

Ann Kroeker [00:00:28]:
Jane has 25 years of experience in book publishing. She’s the co founder and editor of The Hot Sheet. It’s a paid newsletter about the book publishing industry with over 2,500 subscribers, myself included. She has previously worked for Writer’s Digest and Virginia Quarterly Review. In 2023, Jane was awarded publishing commentator of the year by Digital Book World. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, received a starred review from Library Journal and is coming up with a new updated edition in 2025. And Jane is everywhere. She’s often a keynote speaker at writing conferences.

Ann Kroeker [00:01:03]:
She’s been in the Atlantic, BBC, NPR. I mean, you name it. She’s probably been featured there in some way. And now she’s featured right here on the Ann Kroeker Writing Coach podcast. So let’s welcome her. Well, welcome Jane Friedman. It’s good to have you on the show.

Jane Friedman [00:01:17]:
Thank you, Ann.

Ann Kroeker [00:01:18]:
So when I asked you to be on the show, you you right away said sure, which was really refreshing and fun. And then I asked you, what would you like to discuss that you haven’t been able to explore as much as you’d like on other events, podcasts, speaking engagements, whatever. And right away, you said, sub stack. And I am curious why that came to mind so quickly and then why that was top of mind.

Why Jane picked Substack to DiscussJane Friedman [00:01:40]:
Well, it’s something that writers ask me about on a almost daily basis. And it’s a really complicated issue. And so it’s hard to give a single answer without getting into really like a 30-minute discussion about that writer’s background, their goals, you know, it’s it’s and and I too feel torn personally as someone who’s really invested in newsletters as a format, both to deliver great writing and content and as a marketing tool. Like, even I don’t use Substack, after developing a really robust list. I don’t feel like I need to, but I’m still drawn to it, because it does have this marketing power and networking power associated with it.

I think the confusing thing for so many folks is that you can still be active on Substack, and I am, without sending your newsletter through it. So in any event, there are all of these different layers to it. And oh, and then just to throw another variable in there, I don’t think Substack is always operating in a way that I think is what? Well, let’s put it this way.

Jane Friedman [00:02:53]:
They’re funded by venture capital. They’re gonna have to turn a profit at some point. And so there’s I have, you know, I never quite trust companies that aren’t yet turning a profit, which may be unfair, but there it is.

Ann Kroeker [00:03:06]:
Well and that’s why we’re having this conversation so that we can inform people who tune in. We can’t personalize it. Like you said, we can’t have that 30-minute conversation with an individual, but hopefully, we’ll give them enough information. They can make some decisions for themselves. So I’m all in as well on this conversation. And in full disclosure, I have a substack. Now I have kept just sort of like you mentioned, and I think we need to actually sort of define and explain it next. But, I do have one because I wanted to understand it.

Ann Kroeker [00:03:33]:
Like you, I was attracted to the concept, like, what is this thing and how is it working? And, oh, that’s kind of neat. So I decided I needed enough difference between my coaching emails, which loosely could be categorized as marketing, but I don’t think of it that way. These are the coaching emails that go out on a more or less regular basis. The attempt is every other week. But then I I thought I need something different. So I called it story hatchery, but I did get my name, which is something I always recommend to people when something new comes along, grab your name. So I have ankroeker.substack.com.

Ann Kroeker [00:04:04]:
So I got my name, sat on it for a long time, then decided I’m gonna do something called Story Hatchery, and it’ll be more of my personal stories still with a writing angle, but that’s what I’m doing over there. So and what I mean by full disclosure is I’m there, and I kinda like it. Mhmm. And so I bet people who I have people who don’t have any idea what Substack is, so they must not even subscribe to Substack newsletters, or they don’t realize that they are. So how about we take a minute, and you do, your best to try to describe all the different moving parts of Substack and how what it is it?

Jane Describes What Substack Is (and it’s not as easy as you’d think)Jane Friedman [00:04:35]:
What is it? So when it first launched, and this is, I don’t know, in the mid 2010s, I believe, maybe 2017 when it first started really people started noticing it as a platform. I feel like it was positioning itself primarily as this is a great way to do a paid newsletter. Now it’s important to understand that at the time, this was kind of a novel idea. I hate to say novel idea because I was running a paid newsletter before Substack was established. There are lots of paid newsletters that have been out there for many years, but you really had to be technically savvy. You had to know e-commerce. You had to be able to identify the right subscription management system. And that’s just above and beyond having a decent website usually as a base of operation.

Substack as Paid NewsletterJane Friedman [00:05:26]:
So it was no small thing to go into the paid newsletter environment, until Substack came along and really automated every part of the process in a way that was a writer with absolutely no technical skill could set one up in less than an hour. So it’s hard to overstate just how kind of revolutionizing that part of it was. And when I saw it, you know, after I already had established my paid newsletter, I mean, I did think, “Why weren’t you here when I began my journey? It would have been so much easier.”

But by that time once you do all the work and you get invested in your own systems you know it’s some people have switched over but I’ve been pretty stubborn and have not. So that’s where it started. But as time progressed, you know, it I think they I’m not gonna say they they’ve pivoted, but they’ve started adding in a lot of functionality that I would say is more geared towards the first time writer or a creator, if we want to use that word, who may or may not understand what it takes to actually have a successful paid subscription. And there’s a lot of people doing stuff on there that’s really strictly for free.

Jane Friedman [00:06:40]:
They may or may not have the intention to charge. So I would I dare say that there are far more like free newsletter sorts of efforts on Substack at this point than paid, but that there’s kind of like this carrot that’s always being dangled. Oh, you could earn money if only you followed this certain formula or you were able to do XYZ and Substack is of course encouraging that because that’s how they make money is if you charge, because you’re paying 0 to Substack, you, you pay them a percentage of whatever your readers pay.

As if that weren’t enough, you now have Substack—I’m gonna say this is a couple years ago launching like us or maybe it was like a year and a half. In any event—a social media network on top of it. Basically a Twitter clone as Twitter started to degrade for reasons we won’t go into. And people were looking for other options.

Substack’s Social Media & Blog-Like FeaturesJane Friedman [00:07:36]:
You know, I think Substack rightly saw an opportunity and they created the social media layer. And so people can use that even if they’re not sending a newsletter. You can have your Substack profile where it reveals what Substack you’re reading.

And I didn’t even mention you can comment on Substack. It’s really like a blogging technology in addition to a newsletter technology, because every issue you send ends up being put on your Substack profile or website, which can be read by the public. Even if they don’t subscribe, even if they don’t give you their email address, assuming you allow for that (you have the toggles, you can control it however you wish).

And then parallel to that social network being put in place, they also really amped up the recommendation factor—people recommending each other’s newsletters. And so what people quickly realized is boy, it’s really hard to get growth for an email newsletter in isolation from every other newsletter or creator out there, which is how it worked prior to Substack, you know? Your newsletter issues really aren’t discoverable via Google unless you’re doing something special. But that’s not the case on Substack.

Jane Friedman [00:08:51]:
So you have this really interesting dynamic where Substack is both giving you the technology, and they wanna say very much they’re a technology company. But they’re also clearly kind of a social media or marketing platform as well. And they do have ways to make writers more visible on their platform. And they are making decisions that would be comparable to the decisions that a social media company might make, like the algorithms and the feeds and, and all the rest of it. Okay. I should pause there and we can explore any other part of the system.

Ann Kroeker [00:09:29]:
Well, and I think you bring out all these different things where it makes it really it is hard to describe what it is because it has so many pieces to it, so many aspects to it. You mentioned how it’s almost like a website, but with the blogging functionality, with that commenting, and people are actually commenting, which they aren’t so much on traditional blog posts. You’ve got the notes, which is like Twitter. You’ve got, then the ability to send that out to subscribers into their inbox. So in that sense, it’s sort of like email marketing, and then you’ve got the you didn’t mention podcasting or audio. You know, that’s another thing they started doing, and and I have some people who are actually starting their podcast, hosting it there, a public-facing podcast, and then they get the subscribers.

Substack Grows Email List (is it an Email Service Provider?)Jane Friedman [00:10:11]:
You know,

Ann Kroeker [00:10:11]:
they get some of at least some of the emails. As you point out, there are some that will listen publicly and never come over, but some we’ll get some of them as subscribers. So it’s—it is a lot. It’s very alluring, but also very confusing because now I’ve got people…So I have writing clients who say, “Well, why do I need something like ConvertKit or mail MailerLite now, if I can send my email?”

Well, it depends on how you wanna market to people or send emails. Do you do you wanna be clear about who gets what? Then it may be a little tricky, and they say, why can’t I connect the 2? And then I’m like, well, because if they unsubscribe over here, you need to have a system for Right. Unsubscribing them over there. So it does get a little complicated with all those moving parts.

Ann Kroeker [00:10:45]:
That said, I have some people who they just wanted a quick get up and writing. And I thought, you know, you might wanna just check out Substack to do it for free, like you pointed out there, not necessarily to to pay. And it allowed them to get up and running right away because it because it is so simple, which is a complaint a lot of people have is that it’s not got very many, design options, for example. Right. But they did get up and running, and they’re writing. And they’re getting some readers. I have one person who started from scratch and has one of her posts, which is that the posting option you mentioned, one of those went viral, like, really viral. She used to have, like, 2 or no reactions, and then she had, like, over 2,000.

Ann Kroeker [00:11:23]:
And a lot of those people then became subscribers. And so she immediately was able to grow that readership. So, you know, it has some possibilities and potential there via hit the right spots at the right time. And you’re in that ecosystem of Substack. There can be some advantages, but, I know, you know, you’ve already revealed a little bit of some of the dangers and concerns you have. Yeah.

So I guess it might be interesting to talk about maybe some use cases you think are it’s particularly good for and then some things to watch out for. So maybe let’s look at pros and cons, you know, good things and bad things, things you like Yeah.

Ann Kroeker [00:11:57]:
Warning signs Yeah. That kind of thing.

The Pro’s for Substack for WritersJane Friedman [00:11:59]:
The ease of use and how I mean, for some people who feel like there are too many substacks, maybe they don’t like the ease of use and the fact that everyone now has the substack. But that really does help writers get over some initial hurdles.

And since I’m such a proponent of email as as a powerful way to communicate with readers, I like the idea that people can just get started easily without having to pay for, a more sophisticated service, at least in my estimation, If you’re doing marketing like a MailerLite or a MailerChimp or Mailchimp which can be intimidating to people and plus there’s often a cost associated with it unless you’re even the free plans I find they’re pretty undesirable because they don’t have functionality you probably really want if you’re serious about sending an email newsletter, rather than Substack, you get all the functionality no matter what.

So I do like it as a way as like, kind of like an easy, lightweight start for someone who’s beginning that journey, especially if if they don’t even have their own author website yet, even though I would encourage them to have one. Like, Substack can be a lightweight method to have that website because it allows you to add pages, but it doesn’t require you to know web design. Right? So and and, again, you’re not paying any money and it’s hard to beat the fact you’re not paying any money.

Case Study: Leigh Stein’s Move to SubstackJane Friedman [00:13:25]:
And I have seen people who have had what I would call, like, sporadic newsletters or maybe they just had they’ve been for some reason, it’s a weak effort and they’ve never really settled into it. And they’re paying to have this, like, a Mailchimp, which is quite expensive. They’re paying to send it, but they just don’t feel like their their stuff is being shared or it’s reaching a new audience. So those people in particular, I will see them migrate everything over to Substack and then take off in a way that they had not before.

So an example of this might be, Leigh Stein. Like I already knew who Leigh Stein was and I subscribed to her email newsletter. I think she was on Mailchimp. And then within the past year or so, she went entirely all in as far as I understand on Substack.

Jane Friedman [00:14:11]:
And just recently, she started charging. So I think that’s like a real a pretty clear example of how it’s worked out to someone’s benefit. And I doubt she has I think she has no doubt or regrets about making that switch. And I think she’s even talked about it, how much her growth accelerated once she went over to Substack.

But one of the reasons for that is there is a very active writing and publishing community there. There are other people who have influential substacks on writing and publishing, that talk about Leigh, whatever Leigh is writing, and they’ll share her latest issue, etcetera, etcetera. And so there’s just this great amplifying effect that takes place. It also helps that she’s really in the community.

Substacks on all TopicsJane Friedman [00:14:54]:
There are people like who already know her name. So Yeah. So that’s an example of it working out well. And I think even though I used a writing and publishing industry example, it the same applies regardless. You know, it could be mental health. It could be inspirational, devotional sorts of material. It could be politics or Bitcoin or AI. You’ll see these little communities that have grown and all of the people who do the influential Substacks, they all know each other and and and cross promote and comment.

Cautioning Substack for WritersJane Friedman [00:15:32]:
Now where I think it gets into trickier territory where it’s like, I don’t know if you would wanna put all your eggs in that Substack basket is if you have a fairly well established website, especially if you’ve got an active blog and you, let’s say, are trying to rank in Google search or organic search, you’re already ranking in Google search, and and you’re thinking about, well, maybe I’ll stop posting at my own website and instead post it on Substack, or I’ll try to do both.

Like, there are people who wanna, you know, have their cake and eat it too. And I think that’s, to me, usually the worst of both worlds because you’re splitting your traffic. You’re making you’re creating some confusion in my estimation about where you actually live and where you want people to go.

So I would say either you’re gonna build and invest in your foundation at your website, whatever that might be—usually it’s your author website. Or you’re gonna decide, “I’m gonna go the Substack path.”

Now there are some exceptions to this where maybe you have a very distinct project.

Jane Friedman [00:16:41]:
That maybe it’s clearly, you know, something that could stand alone and it’s okay maybe to silo it over in Substack and you can always cross reference the other stuff that you do at your main website. I don’t have a problem with that. But when people are, you know, double or double posting or doing an excerpt here, and I think that’s not ideal at all.

Ann Kroeker [00:17:02]:
So those who have shut down their websites and put every like you said, all the eggs in one basket, they moved over. They just shut down their website. I don’t know about podcasting, but I have I have friends who have done that. They’ve shut down everything, gone over to Substack. It’s all there. You would say, “Good luck with that”? Or what would you say to them?

Using Substack for its Marketing PowerJane Friedman [00:17:20]:
Well, it depends on how strong that site was. Like, if it was always kind of a if it if you never got more than a 100 visits in a month, you’re probably gonna be very happy moving over to Substack. But for someone like me, you know, I get, you know, probably 6 figures a month in traffic and I’m, I’m not going to be doing anything that would harm that or devalue it or send some of its traffic over to Substack.

So instead, I use Substack for its marketing power. I use the Notes tool, which is the social media layer. I comment on other people’s substacks just as I would comment on other people’s blogs knowing that people will find me there.

Jane Friedman [00:18:04]:
And I do have, you know, kind of this I do have a Substack newsletter, but it is not something that I am active with. So, like, maybe every quarter I will post something and it’s of a more personal nature. It’s kind of it’s just discussing my career and like some of the qualms I have about my career. And it has nothing to do with what I normally post at my main website. And so if people discover that fine, they’re getting something that’s very real for me. That’s still kind of aligns with my brand. And if they’re really curious, they’re gonna end up at my website.

Ann Kroeker [00:18:36]:
Nice. Nice. I like that idea. That was exactly what I thought I needed something different enough that I didn’t feel like I had to cross well, the cross referencing is smart, but I didn’t have to keep putting the same content in more places. Right. Yeah. Okay. So you would say from an SEO perspective, meaning search engine results, that it would be unwise to paste the same content over in your Substack if it’s living at your website.

The Danger of Splitting Your SEO Traffic & Confusing ReadersJane Friedman [00:19:00]:
I think it’s unwise. You know? I mean, you would have to see what would happen to kinda test the theory, but usually, Substack, I would has a lot of authority in Google’s eyes. A domain authority. And so when people go searching for you or the key topics you write about. If they’re supposed to land at something you’ve written because they’re searching for something whether that’s your name your book whatever. It becomes more likely that Substack or something you’ve put on Substack will come up first because it has so much authority rather than your own website. And that just hurts my business heart.

Ann Kroeker [00:19:39]:
Is that fairly new that they that they have succeeded at kind of breaking the SEO codes? It seems like in the beginning when it was siloed off, whatever you put up on your own Substack, it wasn’t turning up. So is that fairly new?

Jane Friedman [00:19:52]:
I mean, I can turn up Substack posts myself with depending on the search. So it’s just there are lots of variables here, but I would I definitely think it’s something just as to satisfy your own curiosity even if you’re not trying to drive traffic to your own author website. If you have a Substack, do a search for your name and titles or some other things and see what comes up.

So in any event, I think the more harm just comes in splitting your traffic. And I think it creates confusion for people. If they see the same stuff in both places, they don’t know quite exactly what what are you doing in both places. So it’s I may be making too much of of this, but I I see people waffle, you know, and they they seem to lack the conviction of what they’re doing. And so they end up in this no man’s land.

Could Substack’s Model Shift and Create a Different Experience?Jane Friedman [00:20:43]:
And I would just say if you’re gonna use Substack for something, use it, but don’t devalue what you’re attempting to accomplish on your own website. And I think your own website shouldn’t be ignored in favor of feeding the Substack machine with everything at once, to become bigger and stronger.

Because, you know, I think what I’m worried about for folks is that in some years time, I don’t know if it’ll be suit very in the near future or the far future. But Substack’s profit motive, I think eventually wins out and they will have to make some changes that you might not like. So I don’t know what those changes will be. But it could involve charging for the service. It might mean inserting advertising. It might mean, not giving you the email addresses of your subscribers which are currently if you want to leave Substack you can take your subscribers with you based on email address and they will go.

Jane Friedman [00:21:42]:
But if people haven’t subscribed, of course, you can’t take them with you. And so if they change anything about that, then you’ve you have just lost a lot of time that you could have spent building on grounds you own outright. So I’m just always concerned about writers not being on, you know, I guess the rent the rented or the leased property where the terms can change.

Ann Kroeker [00:22:08]:
I agree. I encourage every writer to the extent they have the means to do so, to have a self-hosted website if they possibly can for that reason. You control it to some extent. I mean, I’ve had some technical glitches, but I’ve been able to resolve those, and it’s all under my under my roof, so to speak. But I do love what you said about using the functionality of Substack. So you you have a presence there. You’re using it by commenting and using the Notes feature. I think that’s a really smart use.

Ann Kroeker [00:22:37]:
I also you mentioned one thing that I thought I better tell anybody who has their Substack is maybe periodically on a regular basis, download those or upload the CSV, get the CSV files of all those email addresses in case that does happen, what you just said, where they say, you know what? We’re not gonna be able to let you have those anymore. That terrible.

Jane Friedman [00:22:56]:
Happen. I mean, it would be a PR nightmare for them. So I don’t expect that to happen anytime soon, but you just never know, like, these things get sold, they change hands, the new owners have different ideas. So it’s, I think, very hard to predict.

Substack’s January 2024 ControversyAnn Kroeker [00:23:11]:
Yeah. And speaking of PR nightmares, they did go through something more in January where there were was a little bit of a dust up, if not even a kerfuffle or something even worse. What how do you feel like we can talk about that? Yeah. And Yeah. Okay. So why don’t you describe what happened and what the fallout was and where they’re at now?

Jane Friedman [00:23:29]:
So I wanna say part of this was sparked maybe by a piece in The Atlantic or in a major media outlet. Someone was saying, hey hey, everyone. Did you know that there are neo Nazis who have Substacks and, you know, they’re they’re potentially earning money? Substack is profiting off of Neo Nazi newsletters. That was that was kind of like the headline message attached to that.

Now later on, many months down the line or maybe even more immediately, I don’t know, there were people who pushed back against that and said, okay, are they really earning money? Like, are these really successful Substacks? I’ve never seen these Substack. And then there were other people who were saying it’s unfair to call them Neo Nazis. Okay. But as soon as I think the the the bigger point was Substack likes to portray itself as a tech platform that does not make editorial decisions.

Jane Friedman [00:24:27]:
And more or less, everyone is welcome as long as you’re not doing something that’s blatantly illegal. They do have some policies against certain types of content. I don’t remember what the list is. And people were really pushing them to consider these specific, you know, Neo Nazi Substacks or whatever it was that was problematic about them, really pressuring Substack to put them under the policy that means they have to be kicked off.

Well, long story short, Substack, I think they may have purged a handful of accounts, but they didn’t like, they didn’t do what was publicly demanded of them. And there was an exodus of a number of sub stacks, some influential, some not influential. I think the biggest person I saw depart was Casey Newton of Platformer. So he left Substack and set up on, I believe, Ghost, which is truly a tech platform.

Each Person’s Ethical Dilemma & ChoiceJane Friedman [00:25:30]:
It would be comparable to like a WordPress. So just as a WordPress or a Ghost isn’t going to make editorial decisions about who uses their technology. Substack was trying to make the same argument, but really unsuccessfully I might add. Because they have all of these marketing tools and other and other factors where they stand to benefit and earn money by putting their finger on you know the scale of who gets seen and and if if if the paid newsletters get more seen and get more subscribers, then they they get a cut of that.

So eventually, the controversy died down. I’m not gonna say it’s gone, but I think everyone who was gonna leave has probably left. Substack didn’t really change their policy meaningfully as far as I can tell. And everyone else just kinda shrugged their shoulders and and carried on.

Jane Friedman [00:26:28]:
I don’t really I personally, like, I didn’t leave Substack. I’m still using it. I don’t have a problem with their policies as they are written. But I do think it’s just disingenuous for them to say we’re a tech company and such decision decisions do not concern us. I thought that was really, really poor position to take.

Ann Kroeker [00:26:52]:
So it leaves people with this ethical decision they have to decide for themselves, or they’re on Substack. Do I continue when what I’ve been told is that they’re potentially profiting from Right. The the both the people who have those websites or those Substacks, excuse me, they are profiting and, you know, in association with that, then Substack itself and those owners are profiting as well. So Right. Yes. And then when you land on it and you say, like, I’m okay with that, you stay or you look elsewhere to something that you feel like does uphold your your ethical stance.

Jane Friedman [00:27:27]:
Right.

Ann Kroeker [00:27:27]:
That’s hard to do because what you’re dealing with our companies, like, WordPress probably has really offensive people building their websites there. We don’t even know it. And so does that mean I’d stop my WordPress? This it’s a really tricky question. You could really Right. Go you know, if you go to the extreme, like, oh, do do we can we be anywhere? Can we be on any social media platform? Can we be…

Jane Friedman [00:27:47]:
Exactly. I would say that if you have that problem with Substack, if if you’re not gonna have a double standard, you need to ask yourself, am I gonna apply those same standards to x, to Instagram, to TikTok, to every service I use? And I think, you know, I may I know what my decision is. I’m going to use the tools that help me and unless sometimes there is a line that’s crossed and I can no longer be a part of that. I made that decision with that. So there was a point where I was like I’m out. I can’t do it anymore. So everyone’s decisions are gonna be, I think, quite personal. And so I never I do not judge.

Jane Friedman [00:28:23]:
We all have to decide where the line is drawn.

Ann Kroeker [00:28:25]:
I agree. I agree. And but I think it it actually the whole conversation that was happening around that. And in my community, I have a writing community as well that focuses focuses on platforms. So that’s why this is a big topic in our space. And we were all wrestling with it too, and I think it’s good to wrestle with it. Yeah. I think it’s good to ask those questions.

Ann Kroeker [00:28:42]:
It is. And rather than I tend to dive in and then the figure figure things out. I don’t have regrets of doing that, but I do enjoy exploring things. And maybe I need to grab my domain name long enough to make sure I get my name, and then and then do a little bit more deep dive before I get all in with anything. So it it’s it’s worth doing your research, I guess. Do your due diligence and then make your decision, and and and you can always change. You can always decide otherwise. Although moving every which way is gonna be time consuming every time you switch to from a major platform to another, especially if you’ve gone all in with Substack versus what you’re doing where you’re just in there using it like social media.

Ann Kroeker [00:29:21]:
Do you feel like that decision I I don’t wanna spend a huge amount of time here, but do you feel like that decision that they made and the pressure they were getting further confirms that maybe at the heart of Substack, they are a social media platform because they could monitor it, or do you feel like that’s true of any anything even subs even WordPress?

Substack Investing in People on the PlatformJane Friedman [00:29:39]:
I think WordPress and Ghost are are different from Substack. I don’t feel like Substack is in their category even though they say that they are. Substack makes has made I don’t know if they’re actively making, but they’ve they’ve made investments in specific people who are on that platform. You know, they’ve had grants or they’ve provided services. I think they recently tried to bring some TikTok folks on to get them to use and I there might have been incentives there. So I mean, they’re definitely they’ve got their hand in the mix, the editorial mix. And if certainly they also have, like, editorial their own editorial newsletters where they’re highlighting very specific people on the platform. So they it’s and and they themselves come out with their, you know, with their own opinions and things.

Jane Friedman [00:30:33]:
So they’re very active in the community themselves, I think, for the most part. So if you go to Ghost or or WordPress, you just don’t see that. You know? That’s it’s just like you don’t see it with, like, your hosting company or, you know, they it usually, they’re not engaging with their users in that way.

Ann Kroeker [00:30:55]:
So yeah. Yeah. So that and that’s where I think it I I appreciate all the early attempt to describe and define it because is it at its heart like a website hosting company, or is it more, at its heart, an email service provider? Or or is it more, at its heart, a social media, system and so on? It’s like, it is really hard to land on what it’s most like. Do you feel like there’s one thing it’s more most like this?

Is Substack a “Platisher”?Jane Friedman [00:31:20]:
You know, there was this horrible term that was coined maybe 10 years ago called a platisher.

Ann Kroeker [00:31:27]:
Oh, I’ve never heard that.

Jane Friedman [00:31:29]:
So it’s a mash up of the word platform and publisher. It’s kind of like that. So it’s, you know, it’s a tech platform, but it is also in some ways a publisher deciding where it’s going to put some more investment or who it’s trying to attract and supporting certain people. In some ways, it’s a little bit like Medium used to be where anyone could go and contribute to Medium. And I think that’s still the case. But they were they were investing in certain publications there and making payouts. And so obviously funding what they thought would help the whole environment succeed. So it’s it’s not like Substack is investing in just the technology under it.

Jane Friedman [00:32:12]:
They are investing in people. So I think that’s the difference.

Ann Kroeker [00:32:17]:
That is very different. Yes. So, do you do you have any subtext that you feel like are your favorites that you’d like to share? That’d be kind of fun.

Jane’s Favorite Substack NewslettersJane Friedman [00:32:26]:
Oh, there’s so many. Now I subscribe to a lot of, writing and publishing industry subtext because that’s my job. So in that area, you know, Courtney Maums’ “Before and After the Book Deal” is a great example of a paid substack that I think is worth the money to many, many writers. A there’s a health substack I subscribed to called “The Vajenda” by a book author, Dr. Jen Gunter, who is always trying to battle misinformation about women’s health in particular online. That’s a neverending job. I subscribe to a range of AI newsletters, some against and some for because I like to get the whole the the big picture of that. For those who are interested in the copyright implications, there’s a good one called “AI and Copyright” by Peter Schoppert.

Jane Friedman [00:33:17]:
He’s always quite, smart on those issues. Since I’m on the nonfiction journalistic side of the writing and publishing, like, in my personal interests, I subscribe to a newsletter by Helen Lewis. She is British, but she writes for The Atlantic. It’s called “The Bluestocking.” And it’s a really great example of a behind the scenes newsletter for anyone who’s actively writing and publishing elsewhere. I think here’s an example of how to use Substack to supplement what you’re doing in kind of your mainstream, whatever it is, whether it’s your own blog or pieces that you’re placing out in the world. You know, the funny thing is 2 of my favorite newsletters left Substack. One of them is Tangle.

Jane Friedman [00:34:05]:
This is a politics newsletter that looks at the 360 degree view of hot button issues. They started on Substack, but they moved over to Ghost. So you can find them at retangle.com. I actually did an interview with the founder, Isaac Saul, because I just think it’s super fascinating how they’ve managed to build a really robust newsletter, that gets a lot of donations. Most of the content is free. And so you can get most of what you want, I think, out of their reporting without paying a dime, yet they grow they’re they’ve been growing for years. And then another one would be Benedict Evans for his tech analysis. And he, he uses actually one of the email traditional emails, newsletter providers.

Jane Friedman [00:34:50]:
I think it might be Mailchimp. And he obviously has that hooked up to a subscription management service or a payment service. I think he uses one of the WordPress plugins that might be Memberful, for example. So for those who are trying to build their own solution, they usually choose a WordPress plugin or a subscription, facilitator like Memberful, and then they hook that up to their email newsletter service provider, in his case, Mailchimp.

Ann Kroeker [00:35:18]:
That is so complicated. Like you said, when you set it all up yourself on the back end for The Hot Sheet, and then, you’re like, where were where were you when I needed you? So I’m stuck that like, that getting the plugins and all of that to play nice together sounds like a lot. But thank you for those recommendations. I was thinking of a couple of paid the the I pay very little, and I’d like to talk about that too. Just the cost. Like, the over like, if everybody charges even just $5 or $8 level, eventually, people max out on what they can afford for all the people they might wanna learn from. So Yes. We can talk about that in just a second. But given that, the 2 paid that I experimented with was George Saunders. He had one where he was teaching writing technique, and I wanted to see what he was doing.

Budgeting for Paid NewslettersAnn Kroeker [00:35:59]:
And he built a whole little, like, class you could sign up for, and he would he would teach. He would look at mentor texts and then pick them apart and do some close readings and discussions, and people were very active in the comments. That was an interesting investment for about the the year that I was in there. And then writing in the dark, Jeanette Ouellette, she has a nice one too. I like hers, and she’s very instructive and models it well with grace and, very encouraging in the way that she goes about her Substack. So but they were paid, and they’re they’re I probably the only 2 paid ones I ever paid for because so many others were giving away enough for free that it was motivating to explore them. And I think you get into that a lot where in in the article you wrote an article in March I’ll link to that that was sort of like it’s something like it’s it’s terrible and wonderful or something like that as the title. I’ll link to it.

Ann Kroeker [00:36:48]:
But, you point out that, really, we can use whatever email service provider we want to use to to deliver free newsletters because most of us are not you are, but, like, I’m not famous famous enough or weighty enough to be somebody that probably people would wanna be paying enough for to make it worth it. I would rather have more subscribers to be able to pour into those people and tell them about something that’s coming up. And if I have more people on that list who can learn about the thing that’s coming up, then I might be able to let them know about a paid thing and make some money that way versus trying to make money from the product itself.

Jane Friedman [00:37:25]:
Right.

Ann Kroeker [00:37:26]:
And so that’s challenged because then those who want to try to do that, and they start charging means Mhmm. Very often, I’m just like, yeah. I don’t know you enough. I don’t think I’m gonna do that because eventually you hit your budget. Do you mind to talk about that a little bit?

Jane Friedman [00:37:41]:
Yeah. So I subscribe to more than a 100 substacks, and I only have pulled out money for 4 of them. So that is a very and I’m someone who loves newsletters, but there’s a limit. There is a limit. And I’m not alone in this. You have to be so motivated to get that content to pay. So The Vajenda, about women’s health, that’s one that I do pay for because I feel like this is a doctor who is actually keeping up with the latest research, in women’s health. And I don’t think I’m gonna get that really anywhere else, not even from my own doctor.

The Paradox of Making More from Free NewslettersJane Friedman [00:38:25]:
And I and she just has this sort of series information too that was behind a paywall that immediately when you subscribe you get that big hit of, okay, here’s all the information I really need to access before I even get, you know, the future newsletters. So there has to be that that’s why I think so many people fail at getting people to pay is that they don’t have that must have content. The sort of content, you know, that you would need if you were trying to get an advance from a book publisher, you know, that level of of benefit.

So something I often tell people rather than if like first of all like please go read what I wrote about the value of free newsletters in that post the terrible and wonderful post because I think people get so fixated on charging they forget how much money you stand to earn over a career just by having a free email newsletter list. I mean that is the easiest way to make money is by not charging for it. Paradoxically.

Ann Kroeker [00:39:32]:
Yes counterintuitive but so true.

Patronage Model Versus Subscriber ModelJane Friedman [00:39:35]:
So once you start charging I would say most writers should really be looking at more of a patronage model rather than a subscriber model. And the difference is with the subscriber model you are telling people this is a transaction I am going to deliver x amount of value for x amount of dollars on a consistent basis. And we agree that if my value is not there you are going to leave. It’s the same, you know, transaction we conduct when we subscribe to a magazine, like a print magazine or, or Netflix or any sort of entertainment, or information that we want in our lives on a regular basis. Most writers are not going to be able to meet the transactional value, or it’s going to be a very tiny percentage of those you reach.

The patronage model is telling people, “Look, I think you might want to support my work. Can you support my work? Through this tip or through this donation, this one time, can you be a founding member and then you will get everything for free in perpetuity?” Some people do that, which I think is a great idea.

Jane Friedman [00:40:41]:
And so I think one of the problems is just the recurring nature of the subscription fee. It produces a lot of churn and you have to find a way to replace those people. And that you know that’s a business that’s been around for a 100 years. There are principles drive it. And I don’t know that writers really want to be distracted by learning what goes into running a successful subscription business.

Whereas I think patronage is a more accessible way to think about it. Come and support my work because it helps me do x y z. So it would be the same sort of messaging that you would use like in a Kickstarter or crowdfunding campaign or if you were running a Patreon.

Jane Friedman [00:41:19]:
So that’s something to consider. An example that I’ve sometimes used of this model is John Warner. He’s an author I worked with for many years. He now has a Substack newsletter that’s totally free. If you end up paying, you don’t really get anything more than what he gives everyone for free, except he’ll do a recommended reading list for you based on, like, stuff you like or don’t like. That’s it.

Jane’s “Decision Tree” to Decide if Substack is Right for YouAnn Kroeker [00:41:44]:
Nice. Thank you for that. And I’ll link to that. I’ll find him, and I’ll link to it because I think it’s nice to see examples of what you’re talking about. And in in in that vein, I don’t wanna put you on the spot, but can you come up with a decision tree of sorts? Like, if somebody is trying to make a decision, I would say personally, go get your name. Like I said earlier, I feel so passionate about that just because I didn’t get my name on Pinterest. And I’m kinda sore about it. That other Ann Kroeker out there.

Ann Kroeker [00:42:09]:
Nothing personal, but I really wish I could have that on Pinterest. Anyway, I just I just feel like if go ahead and get it, reserve it, and sit on it, and then decide if you wanna do anything with it later. Aside from that, how would anybody decide? Like, yes. It’s a good idea for me. I think you’ve touched on it, but I’m wondering if there’s a clear path for people.

Ask Yourself These QuestionsJane Friedman [00:42:27]:
Yes. I would say if the idea of if you don’t currently blog and or have an email newsletter, and the idea is just intrinsically exciting to you. Like you have some enthusiasm, and you’re not sitting here wondering, what would I write about? I don’t know. Like if you’re already like, you’re just kind of shrugging at what in the world you would do with Substack, I would say, why don’t you save it for some other time when you have a fire in you and you know exactly what you’re gonna write about. Because you need that fire to to sustain the effort through the amount of time it will take for anyone to discover that you’re doing it in the first place. So so that’s that’s kind of the first criteria.

So are you in intrinsically interest in this, and you’re not already doing it and you’re like, Substack inspires me and I’m reading some substacks that make me feel like I have something to contribute to the conversation or to the community. And then I would say if you’re already reading a lot of substacks, you’re just gonna add fuel to the fire of whatever you’re doing because you’re already gonna be having those conversations. You’re already gonna know the names and the players.

Jane Friedman [00:43:39]:
And so you’re gonna get up and running much more quickly as opposed to you have never entered that universe and you don’t know who to read first. And there’s going to be a lot of kind of fumbling around until you figure out who people are already paying attention to in your niche.

And then if you do need that light website, but you don’t want to, like, start your own WordPress or Squarespace or whatever, and you’re interested in pairing that with a little bit of light social media, let’s say you hate a lot of the existing social media options. There could be many reasons for that. You’re not particularly active anywhere. You could use Substack to kind of give you a light, in my opinion, friendly accessible way to have the start of your online presence. So it could be this minimalist site. Maybe you send a newsletter, maybe you don’t, but then you’re using notes to engage and be visible to to your community.

Jane Friedman [00:44:34]:
So those are all of the indicators that I think favor it. I think it becomes less favorable or you start saying maybe not if you’ve already really invested in certain assets that you’re trying to grow and associate with your name over time. So for example, in let me use a health example again. So another author I follow in the health world is Peter Attia. He’s a podcaster. He has a pretty significant website with all of his content. You’re not going to find him within 5,000 miles of sub stack.

Jane Friedman [00:45:04]:
He doesn’t need it. He’s driving everyone to be a member at his website. Going to Substack would be like probably degrading given the experience that he has created. So the more you move in that direction the more you’re in my position where I’ve had an established site now for 15 years. Substack is kind of like a toy you get to play with and you get to engage on social media and you have a little bit of fun. And I really do enjoy what I do there but it is not going to replace the serious business things.

Ann Kroeker [00:45:38]:
Those are good distinctions. I love that. And like you said, when you start with the person who doesn’t have so much of an online presence and you get your name, you reserve your name, then that playing around with it by subscribing to people, maybe some of the ones that you have recommended here. We could look at like you said, you could look at people you like and see what they’re subscribed to because of that recommendation feature. Right. Then you can start to just understand it, and I think that’s so helpful. And then decide, like, is this a good fit? Do I like the the way things are laid out here? Does it make sense, for people to navigate that and to navigate me and my world that I might build there too? And that’s a great way to start with that. Yeah.

Ann Kroeker [00:46:14]:
If you have your whole world, like, I do too. I’m like you. I have all this content over the years, right? That I I I love that idea. It’s my little play space. It’s like a playground for me.

Substack’s Weak on E-Commerce OptionsJane Friedman [00:46:24]:
I should also mention I don’t know how many how many listeners this would apply to but there are some people who are very e commerce oriented with their email. I’m not saying that all they do is sell but there’s a really big component to marketing and promoting X. It could be like let’s say you’re a self-published author who has new releases frequently. And so you need to tell your invested readers about them or you have classes to sell like I do or you have merchandise or there’s just a lot of offerings. Maybe you have a Shopify store or some other WooCommerce on your website. And so there’s always like something new coming around the bend that you have to market and promote. I think Substack is terrible for that. It is not for selling products merchandise.

Jane Friedman [00:47:10]:
Like if you want to sell a newsletter. Yes. But if you want to do something that I would consider more pure sales and promotion, you really need an email newsletter service like Mailchimp for that.

Ann Kroeker [00:47:21]:
I use ConvertKit. I do too. And, there are many others as well, but I I agree. I think that’s something you need to keep in mind if you’re gonna try to sell things. Because you get again, you get into that trick of, I have to bring these subscribers over here, perhaps, if they have but have they opted in for marketing?

Jane Friedman [00:47:38]:
Exactly. Exactly.

Ann Kroeker [00:47:40]:
Well, is there anything about Substack that we haven’t touched on that’s on your mind? Because this is you you said, I wanna talk about Substack. Maybe I didn’t ask the right questions. Is there anything lingering you wanna touch on?

Learn about the Substack App (and how it could frustrate the email list-building function)Jane Friedman [00:47:51]:
I think the only aspect of Substack we didn’t discuss is the fact that it’s also an app. So there are people who only read content in the app and they don’t receive emails. In fact, this is so weird. There’s a really significant substack personality, Elle Griffin, who she loves it. She’s an evangelist for the platform. And as soon as the app came out, she was like, I’m unsubscribing to every Substack. I’m only going to read it in the app. And I thought, you do realize that by promoting this, you are essentially saying, if I leave Substack, I will have no more access to my subscribers.

Jane Friedman [00:48:27]:
Like this is to me, as a business person, I’m like, this is terrible. This is a terrible thing. So that’s just another, like I guess a cautionary note that I don’t know how much Substack is pushing the app. I don’t know what percentage of readers only read through the app without having the email come through. But to me that’s again that’s getting into the social media boat of someone else someone else’s algorithm is gonna determine whether or not they see my writing today.

Ann Kroeker [00:48:56]:
Right. Yes. I would not have thought of that except that I am using the app. My husband uses the app and and and subscribes to many things and uses the little reader. Even if they don’t record it, he likes it when it reads to him so he can go about his day. And I don’t know how much he even checks his inbox, but, yes, to to encourage people not to use their inbox is sort of negating that one huge advantage. Right. That’s a great point.

Ann Kroeker [00:49:20]:
Thanks for bringing that up. Well, this has been a great conversation, Jane, and I know people are gonna want if they don’t know you yet, which I can’t imagine anybody in the writing world who does not know you yet. So let me just say to you, if you’re watching, listening, tuning in for whatever reason, please go to janefriedman.com and just start diving into the archives and using that as an educational tool and learn about everything about the writing and publishing world because she is the expert. She’s the one everybody brings in as a keynote because she knows everything. You know, all the great and powerful Jane Friedman. But, is there anything you would like to send people to in in addition to Jane Friedman dot com so that they can get to know you better or take advantage of something that you’re offering?

Jane Friedman [00:49:59]:
Well, at JaneFriedman.com, like the good newsletter writer that I am, you’ll find mentions of both of my newsletters. The free one it’s called Electric Speed. It comes out every 2 weeks. And it’s just fun digital tools and recommendations for folks. Even if you don’t write I think it’s pretty fun. And then there’s another newsletter. That’s my paid newsletter. It’s called The Hot Sheet.

Jane Friedman [00:50:22]:
And it’s it’s really for professional authors or other publishing industry professionals who want to stay up to date on trends and news in book publishing. So it’s that’s a year’s subscription. I won’t allow anyone to do just a month. That’s that’s another maybe one day we can do how to manage a subscription business conversation. I think one of the the the Substack, you know, environment allows people to charge monthly or annual. And I think that is whew, that’s another mess.

Ann Kroeker [00:50:52]:
Yes. Yes. I agree with that too, but we’ll call, we’ll call it quits right now on discussing these things, because this has been an extreme, extremely useful discussion for people to make some educated decisions about what they wanna do. I subscribe to both of your newsletters. I do find them incredibly valuable. You do practice what you preach. You deliver value in each case. So thank you for all the ways you pour into writers all over the place, all the time, in just about every medium possible.

Ann Kroeker [00:51:18]:
Appreciate it.

Jane Friedman [00:51:18]:
Thank you, Ann.

Ann Kroeker [00:51:19]:
This episode is brought to you by YPM. Are you looking to reach more readers in a community of writers? Take a look at YPM, your platform matters. It’s my membership community where we discuss topics like this very thing, like whether or not or how to use Substack. I offer group coaching calls and platform specific trainings every month. It’s one of the most affordable ways to work with me. Check it out at annkroeker.com/ypm. That’s annkroeker.com/ypm. And I’m Ann Kroeker, cheering you on as a writing coach in your ear.

Ann Kroeker [00:51:50]:
Everywhere we may meet at my website, on the show, even in person. I’m always looking for ideas to share with you that will help you achieve your goals and have fun by being more curious, creative, and productive. Thank you for being here.

____________Join us in Your Platform Matters (YPM)YPM is a warm and welcoming membership community committed to creative, meaningful ways we can grow our platform and reach readers—check us out!

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“A writer — and, I believe, generally all persons — must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource,” writer Jorge Luis Borges said in an interview, when asked about his blindness.

“All things have been given to us for a purpose,” he continued, “and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.”1

You may be familiar with Kate Bowler’s book Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved, and you might think it would push back against the wording of this sentiment.

Everything That Happens Can Shape Your WritingBut I take the quote’s overall message to mean we can work with whatever happens, good or bad. In fact, that’s kind of what Kate Bowler has done. Her misfortunes shaped her art.

This summer brought our family celebrations, gatherings, challenges, and losses. And they came so fast, I couldn’t find time to document them all. For now, they’re jumbled in my mind and heart.

Reflecting on Highs and LowsThe Borges quote encourages me to revisit the summer’s ups and downs when life starts to slow…to take my time as I capture the details (and emotions) of the chaos that whizzed past.

Will you join me?

As you reflect on the past few months—the moments you couldn’t control, the raw material of your life—consider how you can work with all that transpired.

Were there adventures? Celebrations? Humiliations? Misfortunes? Embarrassments?

From these “resources,” we, as writers, shape:

stories that resonate
ideas that stick
opinions that stir discussions
advice that steers decisions
revelations that open others to new perspectives

We, as word artists, can transform all that happens to us into art.

Transform Experience into Creative ExpressionAs you reflect on the past few months—the moments you couldn’t control, the raw material of your life—consider how you can work with it.

Explore your journal notes, expand on fleeting thoughts, and, with your creative flair, discover the meaning and purpose within those experiences.

Whether they become part of a poem, essay, book, or blog post, see their purpose.

“Remember,” writes Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird. “that you own what happened to you.“2

Every event, episode, and experience contributes to your becoming who you are as a creative human.

Every hardship, misfortune, humiliation, joy, success, and celebration is a resource waiting to be shaped into art.

A Prompt to Capture Life’s “Raw Material”Use this prompt to tap into the raw material of your life:

Something significant that happened to me is ______________________.

This is what happened: ________________________. Use vivid language and specific details as you recall the facts. What did you see, hear, or notice?

Here’s how it shaped and changed me: _____________________. How did this experience shift your perspective, behavior, or beliefs? What did you learn about yourself or the world?

This is how I connect it with how it made me feel, deep down: _________________. What emotions did it stir? Did those feelings evolve over time?

Here’s how I can use the experience in my creative life: __________________________. Could it inspire a story, poem, or essay? What universal themes does it touch on?

Your Creative PrerogativeThe details may stay in your personal journal while the experience finds its way into your body of work in more subtle ways.

Your experience and insights may simply inform your work, your style, your ideas without being your work.

Or you may write it “slant,” relying on metaphor to hint at its impact.

It’s your creative prerogative to shape it as you wish.

Because the experience shapes you, but you shape it, as well.

Resources* What Lies Beneath the Surface of Your Life? * Ep 173: [Interview] Patrice Gopo on Meaning Making on the Page and Studying the Craft * Writing Quote: writers write…to relive life (Donald Murray) * Write to Discover – Start with Yourself

_____________________Ready to elevate your writing craft—with a coach to guide you?Get the direction you need to improve as a writer with The Art & Craft of Writing.

In this eight-week intensive, I’ll help you elevate your writing skills and create a compelling piece you’ll be proud to show an editor or agent. By the end of our time together, you’ll have completed a 3,000-word piece, along with multiple short submissions that invite you to experiment and play with new techniques.

CLICK TO LEARN MOREFootnotes:1. Borges, Jorge Luis, and Roberto Alifano. Twenty-Four Conversations with Borges: Including a Selection of Poems: Interviews, 1981-1983. Lascaux Publishers ; Distributed by Grove Press, 1984. (15) (quote first spotted in James Clear’s newsletter: “3-2-1: On Growth, All-Or-Nothing Mindsets, and How Great Art Evolves with Us.” James Clear, 17 Oct. 2022, jamesclear.com/3-2-1/june-3-2021?rh_ref=294c7014. Accessed 15 Aug. 2024.) 2. Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Anchor Books, 1995.‌ (6)

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“The best advice I can give you to help you grow as a writer is to experience life.”

We came to hear about queries and proposals. We wanted to learn how this speaker organized submissions and kept track of contact information.

But at this breakout session at this writers’ conference, she insisted:

“I know you think your writing career is all about composing articles and books, but you have to be able to say something. Both fiction and nonfiction writers need material, so get out there and live life—take risks!”

The Power of RisksTo illustrate, she shared her own story about trying to waterski for the first time as an adult. Despite feeling intimidated, she took the plunge. The experience provided her with vivid sensations and emotions to write about, enriching her work with concrete details.

Her story prompted me to recall my own adventure. Earlier that same summer, I’d been invited to waterski, as well. Although I ended up with a spectacular wipeout, the memory of that risky experience stayed with me. I could see from my own life that she was right—I took the risk and lived to tell the tale, and it became material for my writing.

Embrace New ExperiencesCreatives need to say yes to new experiences, even when they feel risky. Whether it’s traveling to a new locale, picking up a new hobby, or simply walking in the woods, these experiences fuel our creativity.

Julia Cameron encourages creatives to step out of their usual environments to gather fresh inspiration from museums, yarn shops, antique emporiums, and international grocery stores. These “Artist Dates,” as she calls them, are foundational to living a creative life.

Everyday SurprisesTo boost creativity, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi suggests we “try to be surprised by something every day” (347, Creativity). This can be as simple as noticing an unusual car (for example, I spotted a Tesla Cybertruck today) or trying a new dish (pupusas are delicious).

These small, everyday surprises add up, providing fresh material for our writing.

Combine Input with Your Unique VoiceOur writing deepens as we combine new experiences with our unique perspectives. The more we explore, the more we bring to our projects.

Each risk, each new experience, and each surprise enriches our voice and adds depth to our work. We produce original material, surprising the reader as well as ourselves.

Let Life Inspire Your WritingBy embracing the world around us, we not only enhance our writing but also grow as individuals.

Step out, explore, take risks, and let life inspire your next great piece. Next time you sit down to write, your work will take on your fresh voice and new life—you’ll have new things to say and new ways to say them.

Resources* Original version of waterski story * Ep 211: Be More Creative to Enjoy Your Best Writing Life: Pillar Two * Ep 210: Cultivate Curiosity for Your Best Writing Life, Pillar One * Ep 180: Write to Discover – Start with Yourself

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When I was a child just beginning to speak, my parents drove late into the evening to the rural property they bought. As they drove up the gravel driveway, the sky spread out above us with stars glittering like a million diamonds spread out on a jeweler’s vast black velvet display.

Across the fields, a million lightning bugs hovered in the tall grass, their gleaming bodies flickering on and off.

I pointed at the sky. “’Tars!”

Then I pointed at the field. “Baby ’tars!”

Perhaps I was destined to become a poet from early on, but my confidence in landing on that perfect metaphor virtually disappeared over the years.

As a young adult, when I was writing books and blog posts, I rarely integrated metaphors into my writing, and it showed. My work was straightforward. Plainspoken.

While there’s nothing wrong with clear writing—in fact, that’s the foundation of nonfiction according to Ayn Rand (clarity first, then jazziness, she says1)—it lacked punch and pizzazz. My writing didn’t lift off the page and sink into the imagination or heart of the reader. It lacked that magical moment where an idea or image clicks and sticks with the reader.

Mastering Metaphors to Produce Great WritingAnd I knew mastering metaphors was essential to great writing. I did write poetry in college, admiring lines like Emily Dickinson’s:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –2

Shakespeare’s:

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;3

And Wordsworth’s: “I wandered lonely as a cloud.”4

Robert Frost said, in an interview in The Atlantic, “If you remember only one thing I’ve said, remember that an idea is a feat of association, and the height of it is a good metaphor. If you have never made a good metaphor, then you don’t know what it’s all about.”5

Practicing Metaphor: Create Clunky Metaphors to Land on Magical MetaphorsI resolved to make a good metaphor. I practiced.

My early efforts were hardly as magical as the child connecting stars to lightning bugs. Instead, they were more like a child pointing to a horse and awkwardly pronouncing, “Dog!”

My metaphor practice felt clunkily childish instead of enchantingly childlike, but I had to make clunky comparisons to train my brain to find the oddly ideal ones that would surprise readers.

In a Paris Review interview, William Gass said:

I love metaphor the way some people love junk food. I think metaphorically, feel metaphorically, see metaphorically. And if anything in writing comes easily, comes unbidded, often unwanted, it is metaphor. Like follows as as night the day. Now most of these metaphors are bad and have to be thrown away. Who saves used Kleenex?6

The process of making metaphors and practicing at it will result in some stinkers. The bad ones, like used Kleenex, need not find their way into your work. Toss ’em. That’s what I’ve done.

Most of my comparisons fall flat, but I’ve found it’s worth experimenting with mediocre metaphors in hopes of landing on ideal metaphors because when we nail it—when we find the language that connects—the reader remembers, relates, reads on, and possibly repeats what we say.

I kept writing dumb metaphors until I found better, more creative, comparisons.

Poets, like Gass said, “think metaphorically, feel metaphorically, see metaphorically.” We don’t have to be poets to play with metaphor, but we can follow their lead, studying their technique, admiring the rhythm of how they see and put it into words, like they’re fly fishing, casting their line, the rod in motion, repeating the flow until the rod bends, line taut.

Our first time casting, we may end up with our lines tangled in the weeds lining the stream, but we’re out there, learning the process, finding the flow. It’ll come, in time, with practice.

Collecting Magical MetaphorsA smarter idea than bumbling around on our own would be to collect samples of metaphors that stick. I should have started earlier, to learn from mentor texts, from authors who know how to wield their pen like a wand to create metaphor magic.

In the first chapter of The Writing Life, Annie Dillard tries on a stream of writing-related metaphors: “When you write,” she says, “you lay out a line of words. The line of words is…”

a miner’s pick
a woodcarver’s gouge
a surgeon’s probe7
a hammer8
a fiber optic, flexible as wire…you probe with it, delicate as a worm9

Was she laying out her lines of words searching for the right comparison? Or is our line of words any one of those—or all of those—at any given moment?

She looked at the line of words from so many angles, creating so many ways to think about our writing.

Metaphor Is a BridgeDefined, a metaphor is a figure of speech where a word or phrase is applied to an object or action that it doesn’t literally denote, suggesting a comparison. Ideally, the comparison conveys deeper meaning and creates vivid imagery.

Similes are similar, using “like” or “as” to make comparisons. Metaphors, however, assert that something is something else. For instance, “time is a thief” suggests that time steals moments from our lives, giving us a deeper understanding of its fleeting nature.

In this way, metaphors are a bridge, providing an instant connection between two disparate places offering deeper insight to the reader who crosses over from one to the other.

When I was at the Spring 2024 Festival of Faith & Writing, Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo Land, delivered the final keynote. In it, he spotlighted the power of metaphor to bring ideas, scenes, and images to life. He reinforced this bridge metaphor by pointing to its etymology.

“The etymology of ‘metaphor’ is ‘meta’ (across) and ‘pherein’ (bearing/conveying/carrying over)…A metaphor arrives and carries you across to the other side.”10

Metaphors Help Us See, Help Us FeelMetaphors carry us from one way of seeing the world to a new way of seeing the world. They have the power to transform our perception of the ordinary, revealing hidden layers of meaning and emotion.

To help us see metaphors building their bizarre bridges, Doerr drew first from Virginia Woolf’s short story “The New Dress.”

In “The New Dress,” Woolf delves into the psyche of her protagonist, Mabel, who’s been invited to tea:

We are all like flies trying to crawl over the edge of the saucer, Mabel thought, and repeated the phrase as if she were crossing herself, as if she were trying to find some spell to annul this pain, to make this agony endurable.11

Mabel repeated that phrase of this idea of flies crawling over this saucer, and Doerr did, too, repeating the key image, nearly incredulous that this specific, vivid, odd metaphor works:

Ladies at a tea party are like flies? Flies trapped in a saucer, trying to crawl over the edge?

I can’t remember all the details Doerr covered in his wild, fast-paced message, but I managed to preserve this in my notes: “She’s trapped in the imagery. She’s wrapped round and round in the social and economic class.”12

This is the power of metaphors in literature—they can turn abstract emotions into concrete images, making the reader feel the character’s experience, enter it, and grasp it instantly as they cross the bridge from one idea to another: women at a tea party, like flies trying to crawl over the edge of a saucer.

Clichés Are Metaphors Gone BadMetaphors may be magic, but clichés are metaphors gone bad. Or, more simply, overused.

The first time someone said, “It’s a piece of cake!” to describe a difficult task that was easy to pull off, they likely charmed the listener to compare a task with a piece of cake.

Once upon a time, a gracious friend must have referred to an old situation that was forgiven and forgotten, and said, reassuringly, “That’s water under the bridge.” That first time, the other person must have visualized the hurt floating away and felt relief.

But over time, as these expressions were repeated countless times—maybe over a hundred years in some cases—they’ve lost their impact and originality. Once-vibrant metaphors have become yawners, failing to pack a punch because they’re overused.

That’s why editors are quick to flag clichés, pushing writers to find fresh comparisons that can surprise and engage readers.

Steer clear of clichés, and practice building better bridges. Craft evocative and emotionally resonant metaphors instead of stale clichés that whiz past unnoticed.

Ready to Tap the Magic of Metaphor?Think about a character in your current project or a personal story if you write nonfiction.

What’s the main struggle or emotion?

Now, find an object, animal, or phenomenon that shares a deeper connection with that struggle or emotion.

Link the two to form the metaphor.

How can you weave the metaphor into your narrative to enrich the reader’s understanding?

Here’s an example:

The main struggle or emotion: A writer struggling with writer’s block.

Object, animal, or phenomenon: A locked door.

The metaphor: Writer’s block is a locked door.

Metaphor woven into the narrative: “Writer’s block is like standing at a locked door with no key, jiggling the handle, unable to access the creativity on the other side. Worse, if we manage to pick the lock, open the door, and peer inside, we discover the inspiration we expected on the other side still isn’t there…only an empty room.”

Or…

The main struggle or emotion: A writer struggling with writer’s block.

Object, animal, or phenomenon: A foggy window.

The metaphor: Writer’s block is a foggy window.

Metaphor woven into the narrative: “Writer’s block is like staring out a foggy window, ideas blurred and obscured, leaving the writer struggling to articulate them with clarity.”

Make the ConnectionsExperiment with metaphors, even if your early attempts are no better than used Kleenex. Your brain will begin finding connections more often and more naturally in life and in other people’s writing.

Collect the ones that model the magic of metaphor, so you see how it’s done and done well. The way metaphor connects one idea or image to another connects your words to your readers, as well.

“Get to work,” Annie Dillard writes, “Your work is to keep cranking the flywheel that turns the gears that spin the belt in the engine of belief that keeps you and your desk in midair.”13

Metaphors. They’re magic.

Resources* Have You Ignored the First Absolute in Nonfiction Writing? (where I feature the Ayn Rand quote) * Dry as a Creek Bed (post where I experiment with metaphor) * Find your muse in nature with this inspiring poetry prompt (you’ll automatically create metaphors with this exercise)

Footnotes:1. Rand, Ayn. Art of Nonfiction. Penguin Group US, 2001. (2) 2. Dickinson, Emily. “‘Hope’ Is the Thing with Feathers by Emily… | Poetry Foundation.” Poetry Foundation, 2024, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42889/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-314. Accessed 20 June 2024. 3. Shakespeare, William. “Speech: ‘All the World’s a Stage’ by William… | Poetry Foundation.” Poetry Foundation, 2024, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56966/speech-all-the-worlds-a-stage. Accessed 20 June 2024. 4. Wordsworth, William. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth | Poetry Foundation.” Poetry Foundation, 2015, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45521/i-wandered-lonely-as-a-cloud. Accessed 20 June 2024. 5. ‌Frost quote found in Nordquist, Richard. “The Power and Pleasure of Metaphor.” ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/power-and-pleasure-of-metaphor-1689249. (He included, parenthetically, Robert Frost, interview in The Atlantic, 1962); I tracked down the article via Scribd, “The Figure a Poem Makes.” Scribd, 2024, www.scribd.com/document/710138066/The-Figure-a-Poem-Makes. Accessed 19 June 2024. 6. Interviewed by Thomas LeClair. “The Art of Fiction No. 65.” The Paris Review, 17 Jan. 2023, www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3576/the-art-of-fiction-no-65-william-gass. Accessed 19 June 2024. 7. Dillard, Annie. The Writing Life. HarperPerennial, 1990. (3) 8. Dillard, Annie. The Writing Life. HarperPerennial, 1990. (4) 9. Dillard, Annie. The Writing Life. HarperPerennial, 1990. (7) 10. Personal notes taken at the Festival of Faith & Writing, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Anthony Doerr, plenary session, 13 April, 2024. 11. “A Haunted House and Other Short Stories.” Gutenberg.net.au, 2024, gutenberg.net.au/ebooks12/1203821h.html#ch-08. Accessed 18 June 2024. 12. Personal notes taken at the Festival of Faith & Writing, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Anthony Doerr, plenary session, 13 April, 2024. 13. Dillard, Annie. The Writing Life. HarperPerennial, 1990. (11)

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I made a last-minute decision heading to the most recent writer’s conference I attended. I’d planned to take my classy, professional, sleek gray backpack that I’d purchased to replace the original purple one I mentioned in an earlier episode.

As I loaded it, I realized that to stay fortified, I needed to carry snacks and lunch each day—maybe even dinner—and it wouldn’t all squeeze into the professional-looking slim gray bag. I needed a bigger backpack. I dug around in my closet and found an older, different, ridiculously large purple backpack that I use for long trips.

It wasn’t professional-looking at all, but my lunches would fit just right, so I showed up at this much anticipated writing festival with a purple backpack after all, and podcast listeners attending the conference would stop me.

They’d heard the episode about planning and packing for a writing event. They’d shout, “The purple backpack!” and I’d say, “You’re a listener!” and we’d have a great time talking about writing.

So that’s my first of 15 tips, some of which are super practical, like this one…

Tip #1: Make sure your bag is big enoughTest your bag to ensure it’s big enough to hold all the things you plan to carry with you each day plus whatever swag you collect along the way…even if you’re not going to look as professional as you’d like.

And don’t worry if your bag is a bit odd. People really do recognize you in a crowd if you have a memorable bag, purple or otherwise.

Tip #2: Tuck your business cards behind your name tagSomeone shared this pro tip with me years ago: When you go up to the registration table, you’ll get a name tag attached to a lanyard. Pull out five or six business cards and tuck them behind your conference-designed name tag in the plastic holder clipped to the lanyard, facing out.

When the tag inevitably spins around, people can always see your name—one side is your name on the conference-designed name tag; the other, if it flips around, will show the front of your own business card.
Your cards will be convenient to slip out and hand to someone without fumbling around in a bag.
You can tuck other people’s business cards behind yours when you swap to avoid losing them; at the end of each day, pull out other people’s cards, add their names to your contacts app, and replenish your own cards for the next day.

Tip #3: Decide which sessions to attendIf you haven’t already, plan which sessions you want to attend and mark those in your conference binder.

I choose sessions featuring industry experts I want to learn from or people I admire. This could be authors or publishing house representatives like a marketing executive or an acquisitions editor.

Circle the sessions you think are ideal for you.

But…

Tip #4: Stay open to adapting the planMaking a plan but staying flexible can help you feel less rigid, more open to serendipity. Or as Laura Fabrycky suggested I share with you, “Stay open to interruptions and sheer surprises.”

One morning at a recent conference, I planned to attend poet Christian Wiman’s session. In fact, I’d made tentative plans to meet up with a friend. I needed to allow a five- to ten-minute walk from the main gathering area.

As I was making tea, I got to talking with authors Summer Joy Gross and Lori Melton. Summer’s book was about to be released and we had not seen each other in person for several years. Then Lori and I connected at a conference years ago and we were enjoying these moments to catch up.

We were deep into the conversation when I looked at my watch and realized there was no way I would make it to see Chris Wiman—or I’d have to slip in late.

Summer asked, “Are you going to the Madeleine L’Engle session?”

“What do you mean the Madeleine L’Engle session?”

“Her granddaughter’s speaking about an unpublished book. It’s in this building in the Board Room.” Well, that I could make on time.

I had read the conference schedule, but somehow it didn’t sink in who Charlotte Jones Voiklis was, so I followed Summer and Lori to the session, texted my friend that I’d lost track of time, and ended up loving every minute. I’m glad I stayed open to “sheer surprises.”

Thankfully, the friend who attended Chris’s session said it was just what she needed.

Another time I went to the wrong room and ended up in a session other than the one I intended. But it, too, provided me with just what I needed.

We can make our plans, but it’s okay to alter those plans—especially if we choose an opportunity that presents itself that leads to rewarding interactions and unexpected outcomes. Even mishaps and miscalculations can yield surprising results—the “wrong” room may turn out to be the “right” room.

Tip #5: Say “Hi” to at least one personWriters can be dreadfully shy. Challenge yourself to say hello to the person next to you in each session. That person may be as nervous as you are, but this is a big reason to attend these events—to meet people.

Who knows? Maybe they’ll become famous later. You might meet a writing friend or connect with someone who becomes an endorser of a book you’ll release in a couple of years. Be brave and say hello.

If you chat for a few minutes and it seems appropriate, hand that person a business card and invite them to stay in touch.

Tip #6: Ask “What one specific question will I ask?”When you’re in a session, listen closely, take excellent notes. If you’re new to publishing, write down terminology that’s new to you so you can look it up later.

As you’re listening, think to yourself, If there’s a Q&A…

What one specific question will I ask?

This question should be based on what they just said, demonstrating you were listening intently—that you truly care about what they were saying—and you’d like them to elaborate on something, or clarify a point.

Make this question short, specific, and different enough that it’s not an obvious question that anyone might ask.

And make sure you really want to know the answer.

Write down your question.

Tip #7: Ask your one questionOption A: Ask in front of everyoneUsually at the end of a talk, the audience gets to ask questions.

Depending on the size of the room, the organizer might pass around a microphone, or audience members walk up to a microphone on a stand and wait in line to ask their questions. If the room is small, audience members might just raise their hands and speak up so everyone in the room can hear them.

Good thing you’ll follow through with Tip #6 and write down your question, because you might get nervous and worry that you’re going to fumble.

Let’s say they call on people in the crowd.

Raise your hand.

When they call on you, stand up (this makes it easier for people to hear and see you).

If the organizers set out a mic on a stand, go to it. Wait in line.

When it’s your turn, state your full name. “Hi, I’m Ann Kroeker.” What this does is it puts a name with your face. Later, they may remember Ann Kroeker, the person who asked that question…and carried a purple backpack.

Don’t add a preamble or spend a lot of time thanking them. After you introduce yourself, simply smile and ask the question.

Option B: Ask after the talk at the front of the roomIn some instances, there’s no Q&A but you might have an opportunity to go down to the front and interact with the speaker after the talk.

If they seem open to chatting with people, head down there with your question in hand. If others are milling around, shaking hands, asking questions, watch for your chance—don’t be too scared or shy.

Introduce yourself.

Ask the question.

Have your business card at the ready in case they ask (which is easy enough if it’s in your plastic name tag holder, right?).

If no one else is waiting and the speaker doesn’t seem to be in a hurry, you could, maybe, continue chatting because sometimes your question leads the conversation in a certain direction and they have a story to tell you or advice to give.

Now you’re more than a random audience member. Now you’re one literary person chatting with another.

This is one of the many things that is magic about in-person events.

Option C: Ask your question if you bump into themThere may be many reasons you didn’t get to ask your question during the session.

Maybe they didn’t offer a Q&A. Or they did but you didn’t get a chance to ask your question before everyone else did. Or maybe the speaker rushed off to their next appointment. You may still have a chance.

Faculty are brought into these events to offer input, to give their talks, to encourage writers, to answer questions. Sometimes they’re sitting at a lunch table and they’re supposed to be there to meet and interact with attendees.

As an attendee, find an open chair at the table. Introduce yourself, chat with them, and ask your question.

Find yourself standing next to them at the coffee station? Introduce yourself and ask your question then.

If this person is a literary agent or an acquisitions editor, you may be tempted to pitch.

Oh, friend, resist!

Unless they ask what brought you to the event or what you’re working on, okay, then, by all means, share your hook. If they’re interested and ask for more, follow their lead.

But don’t haunt or hound any faculty (actually, don’t haunt or hound anyone, to be clear).

Most conferences warn people, “Don’t follow agents into the restroom and talk to them outside a closed stall door.” Everyone laughs, but they say that because it happens. It really does.

Be patient. At many writing events, you’ll find an occasion to chat in a more appropriate location.

Why the one specific question?You might have multiple questions, and that’s great. If you have a lunch table chat, you might get to ask them all.

But some people are too nervous to ask even one question, and they might miss a chance to connect if they don’t write that out ahead of time. And limiting it to one keeps you from accidentally dominating that brief time of Q&A by asking too many questions.

Be yourself, be relaxed, be real. You’ll leave a good impression as a real human who obviously enjoyed what the speaker had to say. Why else would you ask such a specific, pertinent, and thoughtful question, right?

Asking it is a way to connect as humans who love literature, who love words, who love ideas and writing. It’s a way to compliment their work and thank them for being at the event without having to actually compliment or thank them. Simply asking the question does all of that.

Tip #8: If you can’t connect with the main person, connect with their friendYou see that famous author and you want to introduce yourself and ask a question, but as soon as their talk is over, they head out the back way.

Notice if they’re traveling with anyone. Do they have an assistant, friend, or family member with them? If that person seems approachable, sidle up and say hello. Introduce yourself. Ask innocuous questions about their work—the assistant’s work—and maybe you’ll learn something about their role that interests you.

And maybe while you’re chatting with them, you can say you had a question you hoped to ask. Is there a time during the conference when that speaker will be taking questions?

This person will know.

Who knows? Maybe they’ll put you in contact with that famous author for a few minutes later in the day or later in the event. If not, it’s always good to meet the assistants and friends, because they’re often the ones who can open doors for you later.

Tip #9: Decide how late you’ll stay upAt the end of every day of the conference, you’re likely going to be exhausted from walking around all day, from taking all those notes, or from enjoying the social interaction if you’re an introvert.

You may be excited by publishing potential or overwhelmed by all the flood of information. You may be discouraged, thinking you’re not ready.

You may want to curl up in your hotel room to rest and rejuvenate for day two of the conference.

Then someone invites you to join them for dinner or to go out for drinks with a group of poets.

Decide in advance what you’re going to do—then try to gauge if you’ll stay open to those invitations or if you’ll kindly turn them down.

Tip #10: Plan ahead with your traveling companionsAttending writing events with a friend or friends adds layers of fun. You can swap ideas, go to different sessions, introduce each other to people you meet.

You’ll want to discuss how to handle energy levels. Some of your traveling companions may want to retire early; others might be ready to stay up late and party. Have the conversation sooner rather than later about who’s going to do what.

If you ride together, work out what to do if one of you gets an invitation and the others don’t. Will they need the same invitation—is that possible? Can they get to the hotel without you if you go out with other people?

Discuss potential scenarios in advance to avoid frustration. Work with them on alternative transportation. If you’re the one depending on others, create contingency plans related to logistics.

Tip #11: Take selfies & group photosEven if you don’t normally snap selfies, take some with speakers and other writers you meet. Get their contact information and permission to share on social media.

If you swap business cards, take a quick peek. Is their photo on there? No? Scribble something on the card to remind yourself who they are and you can make the connection when you share it.

During or after the event, be sure to tag that person if you post it somewhere online. If you have a particularly nice photo you don’t share, that gives you a reason to email it to them.

Tip #12: Enjoy your pitch sessionYou’ve practiced your pitch for weeks. You had a friend help you design a memorable One Sheet. Now you’re at the event and you can hardly concentrate because you’re so nervous, afraid it’s your one-and-only chance at a yes.

RelaxFirst, relax. That’ll help your pitch, and it’s not your one-and-only chance. You’ll be able to connect with agents in many different ways, even submitting through their online portal after you get home.

Wait for the appointment to pitchIf you happen to interact with the person you’re pitching beforehand, don’t pitch them then. Simply tell them, “I’m your two o’clock tomorrow!” That brief interaction gives you a more comfortable starting point when you do meet, because the initial introduction is out of the way.

Don’t be lateShow up a little early at check-in (or whatever that event’s system is).

Let them leadWhen you’re able to join them at their table, walk up, smile. Let them kick things off. Chances are, they’ll ask you to tell them what you’re working on, and that’s your cue to share your hook.

Pitch and pauseWhen pitching, start with your hook and then pause for the agent or AE to ask questions. Be ready to summarize your book’s description and your platform, then avoid anything else overly memorized or practiced. Overall, you want this to be a normal conversation about the project and about yourself.

Save the One Sheet until the end (unless asked)You want to connect with them as you chat, so hand them your One Sheet at the end, not the beginning. Unless they ask for it, of course. Think of it as something to leave behind rather than something to hand to them before you begin. Otherwise they’ll be tempted to look at it while you’re talking instead of interacting with you. They can look at the One Sheet later.

Tip #13: Make lists at the end of each dayIt’s tempting to think you’ll retain everything you learn, but as one session follows another, the information starts to blur and get lost.

At the end of the day, take a few minutes to process the day and jot down key ideas you want to carry with you into the next day and post-conference.

For example, did you learn about “platform” from one of the speakers? Write down any action steps they recommended so you can follow through with them when you get home.

I recommend converting notes into simple lists of action points and quotable quotes—excerpts from speakers you might want to share on social media (when you’ll tag them and use the event hashtag for wider reach).

Also, keep a list of people you want to follow up with after the event. Do you want to email them or mail them a letter? Make a note about what you want to do when you get home.

Follow everybody on social media that you met that day, because that’s a fun way to stay in touch right away and say hello. You could DM them a little greeting if you have a few minutes, saying how delighted you were to meet them.

If you don’t have much time or energy at the end of a day: Identify the one thing you’re going to implement from each session.

Tip #14: Do this when you get homeIt’s easy to attend these things, get hit with the fire hose of information, and then do nothing with it. I want you to make the most of your investment of time and money.

DecompressBut first, when you arrive back home, toss some laundry in the machine and give yourself time to decompress.

Work through your listsThen follow through with those end-of-day lists. Work through them or make a plan to work through them.

Write lettersThis is a good time to write letters, while your ideas and the recipients are fresh on your mind (and you have their addresses spread out when sorting business cards).

If you had a pitch session—no matter how you felt it went—send a note to the literary agent or AE, thanking them for their time and advice.

Did you make a new literary friend? Send them a note or email to say how glad you are to have made that connection. Don’t be afraid to propose an idea. For example, if you want to form a writing group with people you meet at the event, ask them if they’re interested.

In fact, write a note to each speaker you met who shared their contact information, every literary agent you pitched, every acquisitions editor you connected with. This is a great time to do so, because they’ll get it shortly after they get home, too.

Follow on SocialFollow and interact with people on social media.

At the last event I attended, I noticed many people put all their photos together into a vertical video and posted it as an Instagram Reel or TikTok after the event. A few people posted in Stories.

If you took selfies with others (see Tip #11), send them a copy via email and/or share on social media.

Document in Your JournalIf you didn’t have time to journal during the writing event, document anything significant in a diary or journal, now that you’re home.

Tip #15: Update (and send) your proposalDid someone request your proposal? Excellent!

Based on what you learned from speakers and in pitch sessions, you may want to tweak your book proposal, One Sheet, or query. Then send it off!

They’ll have many proposals to go through, so give them plenty of time to review, but congratulations.

Reach out to agents you didn’t get to pitchIf you realized a literary agent at the event seemed like a great fit but you didn’t get a chance to pitch, go ahead and reach out and let them know you were impressed with their session and you were sorry you couldn’t meet.

Let them know you plan to follow the steps outlined on their website to query or submit your proposal, and they might be more likely to notice it when it shows up in their system or inbox.

Update your website based on what you learnedYou might also update your About page after getting ideas in one of the sessions you attend, so it looks good when people search your name or click through from your proposal. Maybe you’ll want to change the wording on your Home page or your newsletter signup form.

You learned a lot at the conference, but you won’t be able to take all the advice all at once.

Create a punch list to work throughCreate a punch list to work your way through over time. Improve, tweak, add, subtract.

Make your proposal and your online presence the strongest possible with your newfound knowledge and the advice you absorbed.

The Joy of Spending Time with WritersAt the event where I ended up in the session led by Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter—a session I hadn’t even selected—I reconnected with old friends and met some new friends.

After the closing keynote, I drove the five hours home with a contented smile on my face, thrilled to have connected with word-lovers from all walks of life.

That’s what I hope for you too—I hope you leave any event you get to attend with a contented smile on your face, happy to connect with word-lovers from all walks of life, ready for your next steps.

It’s truly a joy to spend time with writers. Now load up that backpack and have fun!

Resources:This post is one of three for writers heading to their next (or first) writing event (you can listen to them by clicking the player or subscribing to the “Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach” podcast, episodes 268, 269, and 270):

Perfecting Your Pitch Masterclass (led by literary agent Cynthia Ruchti)
How to Choose Your Next (or First!) Writers’ Conference
Prep, Plan, and Pack to Get the Most out of Your Next (or First!) Writers’ Conference, and this one,
15 Tips to Make the Most of Your Next (or First!) Writers’ Conference…While at the Event
Craft Your Book’s Big Idea (free 3-day challenge)
Explore full book proposal development support with me: Your Compelling Book Proposal
Occasionally I have the honor of being on faculty at writing events. The best way to find out where I’ll be is to subscribe to my coaching newsletter at annkroeker.com/connect.

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Are you getting ready to attend a writers’ conference?

Guess what? So am I! And I want to make the most of my time there, so let’s think through what will help with that.

You’re likely going for at least two reasons: to learn and to connect. You might also be going to pitch your project. Let’s prep, plan, and pack to get the most out of this upcoming event, so you’re even better prepared to learn, connect, and pitch.

And given that I work with a lot of published authors and speakers, it’s possible you’re one of the presenters. One day I might share detailed speaker recommendations, but for now I did weave in a few suggestions to make your faculty conference experience a little easier, too.

Event BinderFirst, I should mention the Event Binder. This idea originated with Kathi Lipp on an episode of Writing at the Red House. Years ago I heard her describe what she includes in her “dossier,” as she calls it, and I’ve adopted and adapted the list to make it my own.

I load it up with all travel information (printed out, obviously) like reservations, and confirmations; contact names and emails; an envelope for receipts; a mileage tracker where I can log each outing; a printout of the schedule; and more. If I’m speaking, I print out copies of my messages in case technology fails.

That said, I do create redundancy by dropping the same information into a folder on my phone in an app like Google Drive or Notion. And I’ll save the key locations in my maps app so it’s a quick click and I’m on my way.

If you’d like a list of what I have in my Event Binder whether I’m an attendee or speaker, head to annkroeker.com/conferenceprep to get a checklist.

Research SpeakersHopefully you already read the session descriptions when choosing this conference and got a feel for the presenters and other faculty.

Study the conference websiteNow, in the days before the event, study the website to learn about the organizers and faculty. You never know who you’ll be sitting next to at lunch or crossing in the hallway—knowing the team and speakers means you’ll be able to connect more personally during any random interaction.

Follow and watch or listen to speakers onlineFind and follow key faculty on social media. Search YouTube and podcasts to find your favorite speakers. Listen to at least a few minutes of their interviews, presentations, or lectures.

[Edited to add an excellent suggestion from writer Li Mitchell, who replied to my newsletter and suggested “joining presenters’ email newsletters (if they have them) and getting to know them through email before you attend their conference …because then when you met them in person, you would already have spoken through email.”]

When you do this, each speaker will lift off the pages of the conference materials and seem even more “real” when you hear them tell a personal story about family or childhood in a podcast interview. You’ll get to hear their voice. You’ll see mannerisms if you see them on video. If you have time before the event, you could read one of their books.

Write what you discoverIf you create an Event Binder, write questions to ask and details you learn next to their name and session description. If you need more space for key bits of information, grab a sticky note so you have more room to write. If the speaker says something that stands out—like a hobby, a school, or a trip you relate to in some way—write that down, too.

These little notes are handy—if you brush up on what you’ve written before their session and meet them afterwards, you’ve got a conversation starter (“I heard you love Belgium—my husband’s from Belgium, and I love it, too!”).

The more I learn in advance, the more excited I get about the conference. I hope you do, too.

Find Friends who Plan to AttendMost events like attendees to use an event-specific hashtag on social media. In fact, they might tag you or share your posts when you share.

If you feel comfortable sharing ahead of time, highlight the event by tagging the organization or organizer and use the hashtag—before you go to the conference. It’ll get your post in that feed and you might meet people online and connect with friends and colleagues in advance who search it and plan to attend, as well.

It’s a way to get buzz going ahead of time and build anticipation.

Prep & PackThe last and obvious thing you and I need to do before the conference is…pack.

When I take my time to ensure I’ve brought the items that will help me make the most of this event, it’s easier to relax and enjoy myself.

Grab the binder, of course, if you make one.

For me, it slides in the main compartment of my day bag that I’ll be carrying around all day. For me, it’s a backpack. You’ll want to choose your bag.

Choose Your Bag (Mine’s a Backpack)If you’re physically able to carry a backpack and you don’t feel too…collegiate…toting it around on your back, I recommend it.

Pack what you need for the dayA spacious backpack will hold a laptop (if you take one) and/or an iPad-type digital notebook, paper, pens, a small lunch (and floss, for after lunch), snacks, gum or mints, business cards, water bottle, umbrella, portable power bank to charge a drained phone, and other bits and baubles—whatever you like to carry with you from building to building, room to room.

Obviously we’ll all have different items we like to have on hand. Those are ideas to get you started. And something like a backpack gives you lots of slots to stay organized.

Leave space for goodiesBe sure to leave space for goodies, because you’ll acquire things while you’re there, like you might buy a book from the event book table, or freebies from exhibitors and sponsors, like free pens, water bottles, coasters, and the like.

Whatever bag you end up bringing, leave space for swag.

Is it unprofessional? Could be an advantage!One year I carried a ridiculous purple backpack. I stuck out and felt self-conscious, even unprofessional, but it’s what I had and it held what I needed.

A dear friend and I were chatting after a session where she was speaking, and she noted my purple backpack. We joked about it. “Well,” I said, “it makes me easy to spot!”

She was leaving a day early and wanted to say goodbye to me, but in the sea of attendees criss-crossing the campus, she assumed it would be impossible to connect with me again. She felt sad about it.

Then, she saw a flash of purple.

I heard my name. “Ann! Ann Kroeker!” I looked up and saw her waving with both arms, and I raced over to give her a huge hug. “I saw the purple!” she exclaimed.

That purple backpack accompanied me to a lot of writing events. After that, I got over any sense of feeling unprofessional.

In recent years—and I don’t know why—I eventually bought a new backpack. And it’s gray. So all these years later I still carry a backpack, but you’ll never find me in a crowd.

Now I’m going on and on about this backpack, and I’ve dragged you into the weeds, but I’ll end by saying this: don’t go out and purchase a backpack—gray, purple, or otherwise—just because I’m talking so much about it. By all means, use what you have and enjoy. You know what works for you.

Too heavy for your health? Find a rolling bagAnd as much as I love a good backpack, I know not everyone is physically able to carry one. In fact, I had lower back pain years ago that made it impossible, so for those outings I would borrow a rolling briefcase from my mom, which saved the strain.

Books for SigningsIf you purchase books by faculty, take those along and see if you can find a time for the authors to sign them. Don’t worry if you didn’t have time to purchase speakers’ books in advance, because you’ll probably be able to purchase them on-site to have them sign.

And of course if you’re speaking, coordinate with the conference to have your books available for purchase and see if they’ve planned a signing.

Many conferences schedule author book signings for their speakers, and it’s always fun to enjoy that fleeting one-on-one moment with the writers you admire. And if you’re the speaker doing the signing, it’s wonderful to interact with people who are enjoying what you’ve written.

In a smaller setting with no official book signing, you might try to find an opportune moment. If you’re chatting with the author, they seem relaxed, and there’s not a line of other people waiting for their moment, ask (but give them an “out” to say no). I did this with the late Phyllis Tickle, and she gladly signed my copy of her memoir and the series of The Divine Hours I pulled out of my backpack.

I was glad I took them along.

How Will You Take Notes?Consider how you like to take notes.

I love typing up conference notes on my laptop, but sometimes I want to travel leaner so I grab my ancient iPad. It works, but the battery drains away fast. So it’s not the best option these days.

Even fully charged batteries of new devices will eventually drain and WiFi can slow down when hundreds of people log in at an event, so I always take paper and pen, as well, in case the machines fail. In fact, I add extra lined sheets of paper in my Event Binder.

It’s nice to have options, and analog always comes through. Plus, it’s quieter than tapping a keyboard during someone’s talk.

Critique AppointmentsSome events offer critiques, where a publishing professional—such as a professor, agent, or editor—reviews your writing submission prior to the conference and meets with you to discuss its strengths and offer suggestions to improve the project.

If you signed up for this, you will have already sent a digital copy to them prior to the event so they could review it.

Check your email, though, in case they ask you to bring one or more physical copies of the document to the conference.

And prepare to take notes during the meeting. Will you use a laptop (that might be in the way), an ancient (or new) iPad, or paper and pen? Record their suggestions quickly, as individual sessions aren’t a leisurely coaching call. You’re only going to have a few minutes with them. Make the most of it and listen to what they say.

Prepare yourself emotionally for their input, no matter how harsh it may feel. Practice smiling and saying, “Thank you so much for your time and input! I’ve learned so much from you.”

One Sheet & ProposalIf you signed up for a pitch session at your writers’ conference, you may want to create and print off copies of a One Sheet that summarizes your project.

Even if your pitch goes well and the agent or AE (acquisitions editor) likes it, they probably won’t ask for a hard copy of your proposal that they’ll have to lug around all day. Most interested agents or AEs will ask you to email it to them after the event, so take them up on it and don’t worry about loading down your bag with a bunch of hard copies of your proposal. But you might want to pack one, for that one agent who loves the project and wants the hard copy to review on the flight home.

Nearly every agent or AE will accept a One Sheet because it is, after all, only one sheet of paper. In fact, some agents request them. I encourage people to create and take a One Sheet.

What’s a One Sheet? I’ll record an episode about One Sheets sometime, but for now check out the link below with more information (see the Resources).

Practice Your PitchYou’ll want to be yourself and sound natural when you head into a pitch session, but you also want to make the most of that brief time slot and avoid rambling.

To ensure you can talk about your book with clarity and confidence, practice your two-sentence hook and your slightly longer elevator pitch. When your pitch feels conversational, and yet tight and clear, you’ll leave time to discuss it further and connect with the publishing professional. Stop after your descriptions to let them ask questions. Enjoy the conversation.

A few years ago I hosted literary agent Cynthia Ruchti, who led a simple training to model how you can develop a pitch that makes an impression. She offered inspiration to novelists, especially, and included tips for authors of nonfiction (see below).

As with a critique session, prepare yourself emotionally for the agent or AE input and response, no matter how disappointing it may feel. They might request your proposal or a partial (of your novel), or they may say it’s not a good fit.

Either way, practice smiling and saying, “Thank you so much for your time and input! I’ve learned so much from you.”

Business Card or Digital EquivalentAn optional conference item that may seem a bit antiquated is the good old reliable business card.

A member of my platform membership program attended an event where she couldn’t even carry a bag, so she ordered something called the Dot, a digital alternative to a physical business card. It worked well given her limitations. https://dotcards.net/

This kind of technology is common at Silicon Valley events, but literary people tend to be a little old school. If you have physical business cards, take along a stack. They’re fun to swap.

Are You Speaking?If you’re a speaker at a writers’ conference, you’ll need to include extra items in your Event Binder, like a copy of your talk(s), all the places you’re expected to be with your own personal schedule, pitch sessions and names of people who signed up, speaker meal information, speaking contract, and other information.

I like to bring a flash drive with my slide deck in case my laptop doesn’t play nice with the event system. I also invested in various dongles and adapters to connect my computer to the screens in the room.

I even have a gadget to advance my slides, just in case the facility doesn’t have one. It keeps me from being tethered to my computer tapping the spacebar. It’s a little unnecessary and over-the-top, but my husband got one at a conference he attended years ago and gave it to me, since I speak and he doesn’t.

You may also want to grab a clipboard and print out a sheet for people to sign up for your email list with a note granting permission for you to add them to your email service provider. You can go home, add them to your system, and send them notes, resources, and any handouts.

Conference Countdown, Then…Go!Despite this long list of suggestions, I’ve survived crazy seasons of life where I just had to throw everything in bags and hope for the best. I didn’t research a single speaker and still had a great time at the conference. I learned tons, made new friends, and connected with industry experts.

Make lists, prepare as best you can, then pack your bags and count down to your travel day.

If you’re planning to pitch, I wish you the very best.

As for me, I’ve got my binder in my backpack, and I’m ready to learn and connect!

Have you attended a conference and have ideas to share that will help people prep, plan, and pack? Drop those in the comments!

ResourcesThis is how to Prep, Plan, and Pack to Get the Most out of Your Next (or First!) Writers’ Conference, part two in a short series.

Conference Prep for more information on Your Conference Event Binder and other ways I prep for writers’ conferences
Choose Your Next (or First!) Writers’ Conference (part 1)
Write to Publish Conference (use my faculty affiliate code AK2024 at checkout for $25 off)
The Festival of Faith & Writing (April 11-13, 2024; I plan to attend this)
Kathi Lipp’s Event Dossier episode
Dot cards
One Sheet info (also from Kathi Lipp)
Perfecting Your Pitch with Cynthia Ruchti

Get Your Conference Event BinderGrab this fillable workbook to create your own Conference Event Binder (and other goodies) You’ll get:

Checklists for both attendees and speakers
Mileage log to print off and track
Receipt log to print off and track

Get your FREE Event Binder resource

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Attending my first writers’ conference proved to be life-changing—or at least career-changing. In the years since, I’ve attended a wide range of writing events, and each one has in some way substantially contributed to my career.

Some deepened my knowledge, others expanded my professional network—most did both.

I can’t imagine where I’d be without them.

Could a writers’ conference be a life-changing/knowledge-deepening/network-expanding opportunity in your future, even this year? If yes, how do you determine the right conference for you?

This post is the first of a short series on how to get the most out of your next (or first!) writers’ conference, starting with how to choose your next (or first!) writers’ conference.

The Gifts of a Writers’ ConferenceIn the early days of my writing career, I explored freelance writing. Thanks to a mentor, I learned how to pitch myself as a writer for companies looking to outsource things like company newsletters and I gained a few core clients.

That launched my professional writing business.

But as a creative writing major attracted to poetry and essay writing, I wanted to explore other types of writing and submit to magazines, for example, so I picked up everything I could from library books.

The books, while excellent, were not enough to answer all my questions or help focus my efforts. And the internet did not exist at that time. In time, I instinctively knew I needed to start connecting with writers and learn from them.

In fact, I started to crave it.

Somehow I heard about an event in Chicago called Write to Publish. I registered and attended it as my very first writers’ conference.

Nervous and unsure what to expect, I showed up and sat through sessions, as speaker after speaker delivered talks that energized my creativity, while the speakers themselves embodied a life I wanted to pursue: that of a working writer building a body of work to be proud of.

Many first-time conference attendees feel so overwhelmed by the flood of information at events like these, they conclude they could never pull it off and give up, walking away from writing and publishing altogether.

I felt overwhelmed, yes, but mostly excited and empowered. It was exactly what I wanted; it was exactly what I needed.

By the end of the conference, I interacted with attendees who in time became colleagues. I met someone who became another writing mentor. Those conference connections formed the beginnings of my professional network.

If you attend a writing conference…

You could meet your next coach or mentor.
You could meet like-minded writers and form a writers’ group.
You could meet industry leaders who offer to look over your project.
You could meet someone who introduces you to key people you only dreamed of meeting one day.
You could meet a writing buddy who becomes an accountability partner.

If you’re considering attending a conference or any kind of writing event for the first time, I hope you find it proves to be a pivotal step in your journey. You never know how a chance encounter in the hallway or a timid hello as you take your seat in the auditorium could be the start of a professional relationship or a literary friendship that changes your life.

Writer’s Conference or Writers’ Conference?As we dive into what a writers’ conference is and how to choose the right one for you, we have to face two small but fascinating issues. One, believe it or not, is punctuation; the other is labels.

Let’s start with punctuation.

You surely think this is overkill, but humor me for a minute.

Sometimes you’ll see an event called a writers’ conference, other times a writer’s conference. Occasionally you might spot a writers conference with no apostrophe. And then a few call their events writing conferences, avoiding the need for an apostrophe altogether.

In most industries, no one would care one bit about this level of detail. These conferences, however, are events catering to…writers, agents, and editors. So of course we notice the apostrophe (or lack thereof). And of course we start wondering how that tiny fleck of ink affects the attendees’ (or attendee’s) experience.

Without wasting more time on the grammatical implications, I bring it up for practical reasons. Because when asking your writerly friends what conferences they recommend, apostrophe placement may not matter much, but in an online search each version could produce different results.

To turn up the perfect event for you, try using all the different search terms:

Writers’ conference
Writer’s conference
Writers conference
Writing conference

In your online searches, you also might change the word “conference” (singular) to “conferences” (plural). Conferences (plural) might turn up a list of events in a single article, which will save you time in your search.

If you search for the singular “conference,” your search results may deliver endless events to sift through one at a time…but it still might be an advantage, as you might find a new event that wasn’t around when a list of events was compiled into one article.

What a Writers’ Conference Tends to OfferMost writers’ conferences feature speakers with sessions that educate authors about topics like industry expectations, genre-specific recommendations, author platform advice, tips for developing book proposals (especially for authors of nonfiction), queries, and other publishing advice.

Conferences can also come in all different sizes, but most will offer keynotes, lectures, and breakout sessions. Some may include readings and workshops paced throughout a long weekend or some are a full week.

Most writers’ conferences offer pitch sessions for writers who have completed non-fiction book proposals or for those who have complete manuscripts for their novels or memoirs.

Many conferences will have different tracks: one track might be for novelists, and the other might be for non-fiction authors. One might offer a track for unpublished authors and another for more advanced authors to discuss topics that new writers aren’t ready for.

Knowing all of this can help you choose the best fit as you’re searching.

Is a conference a conference by any other name? The other question is this naming or labeling. Gatherings for writers might go by different names. In addition to writers’ conferences, I’ve seen and attended:

writing retreats
writing seminars
writing festivals
writing workshops
and a writers’ colloquium

Each designation suggests a different purpose and personality. When you realize how one tends to differ from another, you’ll be able to match your professional needs and goals with the right event.

For example, you might want to write and talk about craft at a retreat led by a writer you admire, maybe in a beautiful setting. This event would feel dramatically different from a two-day conference hosting hundreds of authors that offers 15-minute agent pitch sessions and is held on a college campus or at a hotel.

Match Your Purpose and Project to the Type of EventThat’s why you’ll want to first be aware of what kind of writer you are and the writing you’re focusing on at this moment, then determine your purpose for attending a writing event.

This will include where you’re at in your professional and publishing journey. Then consider your current project and its stage of development. Today, I’m mostly covering the in-person conference experiences, but you may find similar benefits at something labeled something else.

Study the descriptions carefully, read the fine print regarding refunds and take into account that certain experiences may be much more expensive than others.

What Kind of Writer Are You?Knowing yourself and your writing goals and writing stage can help you determine your purpose for attending an event. It can help you decide if you’re better suited to an event for:

authors of nonfiction books
authors of novels
authors of literary writing (literary novels, short stories, essays, poetry)
authors of genre-specific books
bloggers
freelance writers who are actively pitching and submitting (or want to learn how)
writers interested in writing for the ABA and general market
writers interested in Christian publishing
writers interested in self-publishing

When you realize an event doesn’t offer speakers or sessions suitable for the kind of writer you are and the writing you’re pursuing, cross it off your list. It won’t be worth your time.

What About Your Project?Next, consider what you need given where you’re at in your writing life and with a given project.

Are you:

a newbie with no project or book in the works, simply ready to soak in everything possible?
an experienced writer who has taken a break and you want to dip back in and learn how the industry has evolved?
an experienced writer with a project in a specific genre?
an unagented novelist with a completed manuscript, ready to pitch?
an unagented author with a nonfiction book idea, and you want to understand the industry?
an unagented author with a completed nonfiction book proposal (or nearly complete), ready to pitch literary agents and/or acquisitions editors?
a writer wanting to self-publish a book?

Given your current project’s status, you can decide which conference offerings will move it forward to its next milestone.

Even if you’re an unagented writer—that means a writer without a literary agent representing you—if you have a partially developed nonfiction book proposal, you may want to attend a writers’ conference to meet people and practice pitching. You might converse with an industry expert who offers ideas to strengthen your project!

What’s Your Purpose, Goal, and Need?Once you narrow the options to an event that seems right for you, you’ll have access to useful information provided by industry experts, and you’ll meet other writers, literary agents, and acquisitions editors who are in the same space as you.

Here are common benefits:

Learn and be inspired: If you’re new to writing and publishing or if you’re new again to it after a break, search for events that will provide you with foundational advice from trusted professionals lined up as faculty. The combination of motivating keynotes and educational breakout sessions could be just what you need.

Network: You’ll be mingling with other writers at these events. Some may be at the same stage as you, and others will be further ahead. You’ll chat at the coffee station during breaks between sessions. You might sit next to each other or stand in line together to meet a speaker at the end of a presentation. These may become future colleagues who endorse your book when it comes out or introduce you to an industry gatekeeper—they might be an industry gatekeeper!

Find an agent: If you have a completed manuscript or book proposal but you haven’t yet landed an agent through querying, look for events designed for your genre with literary agents and acquisitions editors from agencies and publishing houses that interest you. Be sure they offer pitch sessions and sign up the minute that option is available. Even if you don’t land a spot with your ideal agent, as I mentioned, you might bump into them naturally and have a chance to interact.

For the Shy, Introverted WriterEven if you’re an introverted or dreadfully shy writer, don’t let that keep you from attending a writing event.

I’ll be encouraging you in another episode to make an effort to meet new literary acquaintances. Building a network of like-minded literary people is priceless. For now, know this: You might not meet your kindred spirit, but it’s highly likely you’ll meet someone you can at least follow on social media.

And you might get to know someone who can help you take the next step in your creative journey—you might encourage them, as well.

The Writers’ Conference InvestmentConferences and other writing events aren’t cheap. In addition to the registration fee, you may need to ask for time off work, arrange for childcare, pay for travel, housing, and meals.

It adds up. And the writers who most benefit from conferences are rarely at a stage where they are compensated well for their writing, so it becomes a conundrum.

Small, Local Events: When my kids were young and our funds were limited, I looked for nearby one- or two-day events within driving distance. They often brought in two or three speakers and focused on a narrow aspect of the writing life. Those really helped me at that stage. Just because they’re small doesn’t mean they’re not offering valuable input.

Scholarships: Some events offer limited scholarships, so if you feel you qualify, reach out and ask the event organizers.

Grants: If you have enough time before the event, you could consider applying for a grant that aligns well with your writing project(s) and target reader.

Subsidized from Personal Budget: You might consider how other aspects of your life and work could subsidize this event. Be clear about what you hope to gain from attending—and how it fits into your long-term writing goals. That could be a way to view your investment in attending this event.

When I attended Write to Publish, I was building my freelance business. It probably took another year to start making substantial income, but in time I made enough to cover those initial costs.

I wasn’t super savvy back then, but in retrospect I think I was viewing my writing as a small, startup business. The conference was an investment in my professional development, and I gained information and connections that contributed directly to my success.

Meet at Write to Publish?In a remarkable turn of events, I’ll be on the faculty of the Write to Publish conference in Wheaton, Illinois (Chicago area), June 11–14, 2024.

Yes, all these years later, I’ll be on site at the same event that changed the trajectory of my writing career. This time, I get to be there as a coach to support and serve Christian writers who want to be traditionally published.

It’s humbling to come full circle, and I can’t wait to be there again.

If, after learning more about Write to Publish, you feel it’s a good fit for you, use my affiliate code AK2024 at registration checkout to get $25 off.

Make sure it’s a good fit—that’s part of the research. Again, Write to Publish is geared to Christian writers and traditional publishing.

Do Your ResearchI have attended so many different types and styles of writing events over the years. I have loved every single one of them, whether they were in person or online, whether they were a one-day or a week-long event, whether it was a retreat or a conference.

Determine your criteria right now. What you need today might be different a few years from now when you’ll pick a different event. Dive in to research the options that suit you best.

Study the faculty, the session titles and descriptions, and how the days are structured. Do they have agent pitch sessions or not? Do you need that?

If you’re writing novels for the general market or you’re writing genre fiction, skip the Christian conferences clearly designed for authors of nonfiction. Avoid those that are focused on essayists submitting to literary journals, unless that’s what you want!

There’s no one perfect event, and no one event is going to have everything you need for all time. As I mentioned, I’ve attended many different types and styles of events over the years, and each one has given me a little something different to walk away with and apply to my writing journey.

Your Writer’s ConferenceAs you find one that feels like a good fit, don’t delay too long because some of them fill up. In fact, some might be full already—you can register or get the waitlist for your favorite.

And look forward to connecting with people in the publishing industry who might be instrumental in getting you where you want to be as a writer in 2024 and beyond.

ResourcesOnce you choose your conference, keep an eye on the second article, about making the most of the conference itself (with tips for preparation and creative ideas to try while you’re there).

Write to Publish Conference (use my faculty affiliate code AK2024 at checkout for $25 off)
The Festival of Faith & Writing (April 11-13, 2024; I plan to attend this)
Jane’s Guide to Getting the Most out of a Writers Conference (Jane Friedman)
The Top Writers’ Conferences for 2024 by Book Publicist Scott Lorenz (Westwind Communications):
AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) Directory of Conferences & Centers
Poets & Writers Conferences and Residencies Database (of particular interest to literary writers)
Writers Conferences 2024: 60 Incredible Events to Consider This Year (The Write Life)
It’s Fun to Write with Others! (episode 236)

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I stared at a blank screen. Why did I ever think I could pull this off?

Until that moment, I’d only written short projects. Articles, essays, poems.

As I sat staring at the screen, questioning myself in about every way possible, I was supposed to be writing my first book—a manuscript of over 50,000 words.

Overwhelmed, I sat at the keyboard, frozen.

Sound familiar? Have you felt inspired to write a book you believe will truly help people—even transform them—but you’re not sure you have what it takes?

Well, once upon a time, this writing coach was in the exact same place.

I was staring at the screen, inspired to write a book, but doubting myself: Do I have what it takes to write a book?

Could I Write Something as Big as a Book?How does an essayist-poet-freelancer embark on the massive task of completing a 55,000-word manuscript?

That question felt unanswerable and I felt inadequate.

This prose-freezing self-doubt was a huge problem, however, because I’d signed a contract. I was obligated to write a book I didn’t think I could write.

First, a ProposalFor a year or so my friends had been urging me to move forward with writing a book after I kept sharing concepts with them in conversations over coffee or during play dates at the park. One after another, they would say, “You should write a book about that!”

I’d laugh it off. “Me? Write a book? Ha!”

“But you’re a writer!” they’d insist.

“I’m a writer of short things. A book is too long, too huge.”

They’d shrug and we’d go back to wiping yogurt off our kids’ faces.

One day I was meeting with my mentor, a writer named Ruth (I had two writing mentors named Ruth—what are the odds!—and this was the Ruth who lived nearby). Nearby Ruth was the author of a book acquired by a publishing house based about three hours north of us.

She offered to introduce me to the editorial team, so I could pitch the idea to them over lunch. She said she’d drive me up there herself! All I had to do was hop in the car, share the project with them, and hand out copies of a book proposal.

It was all arranged.

What a great mentor, right?

I just needed to create the book proposal…which I didn’t have the faintest idea how to put together.

“You can look at mine”“I need a book proposal? Can’t I just describe the book?”

“They need the book proposal,” Ruth said. “That’s how they do it.”

It’s the same now as it was then, by the way. For nonfiction projects, an author produces a book proposal before landing a book contract with an agent or editor. (Learn more about the process and purpose by watching this webinar.)

Back then, I had no idea what a book proposal looked like. This was pre-Internet, so there were no samples to download or coaches to hire.

“You can look at mine,” Ruth offered. “You can see how it’s laid out and how I described my book. Then you can plug in your book’s details in the same places.”

Can you believe that? My mentor offered to let me see her own book proposal like it was no big deal.

But it was pivotal. Life-changing. Career-forming.

Crafting my First Book Proposal Hers was the first book proposal I ever saw. I pored over it, following the flow to craft my own. Her subheadings showed me the purpose of each section. Her content gave me ideas for how to phrase the business-y stuff about mine.

Weeks of work went into that document.

I wrote the overview, typed up a bio, and listed famous people I could ask for an endorsement (I didn’t personally know famous people, but at that point in my life I knew people who knew people, so I added names with an explanation of each friend-of-a-friend connection).

Then I got to the meat of the proposal:

The Table of Contents.

The chapter summaries.

This took time, because I was essentially writing the book without writing the book, and if you recall, I’d never written a book before so I had no idea what I was doing.

But I knew what I wanted to say, more or less. Like I said, for a year or so I’d been talking with friends about these ideas.

I did my best, summarizing what I thought I should include in each of those chapters, arranging the ideas in an order that made sense. I invented a marketing plan. I wrote an introduction and a sample chapter.

Then I got in Ruth’s car and rode north with her to my meeting with the editorial team.

An Offer, a ChallengeAfter introductions, Ruth left me at the sushi restaurant where I met with the team.

I pitched. I showed them the book proposal. I dripped soy sauce on the table and soaked it up with a napkin, laughing it off. (It was not only my first time pitching a book, it was also my first time eating sushi.)

To my surprise—despite the soy sauce spillage—they were interested. After I got home there was a lot of back-and-forth, but in time they offered me a contract to write that book.

That’s how I found myself sitting at the computer with a signed contract and a deadline…and a wave of self-doubt.

And after spiffing up the first chapter, which I’d already written for the proposal, I found myself staring at that blank screen.

Breaking It Down“Ruth! What have I gotten myself into!” I practically cried when I updated her. “How can I write an entire book? It’s too much, it’s too long!”

Ruth calmed me down. “Hold on, Ann. Yes, you can write this book.”

“I can’t write that many words!”

“You don’t write them all at once,” she said. “You’ve got your Table of Contents, right?”

“Yes. In the book proposal.”

“You’ve summarized what you plan to put in those chapters, right?”

“Yes.”

“Treat each of those chapters like one of your longer articles, and write them one at a time.”

How about that! I flipped through the document and realized she was right.

I’d already outlined the entire book. My ideas were right there in the book proposal I so diligently pieced together.

“I’ll try.”

Ruth smiled. “You can do it. I know you can do it.”

You Already Know How to WriteI could breathe again. She demystified the whole thing and framed the writing of a book around the kind of writing I already knew I could pull off.

I followed her plan to write one chapter at a time—like a long article—and move on to the next, piecing them together to make the book.

I tend to be a little more of a “pantser” than a “plotter,” but I sat at the keyboard grateful for the book proposal because it forced me to create structure for this project before I sat down to do the work.

All I needed to do was follow the plan: the road map I’d already developed to take the reader from page one to the end.

Turns out I had everything I needed.

How Maggie Smith Plays to Her Strengths (You Can, Too)We come to new projects with strengths from other parts of our writing lives—and from our lives as a whole.

Maggie Smith’s interview on the Write-Minded podcast emphasizes this reality: that even experienced writers approach each project as a new challenge.

Cobbling it togetherShe explains that her memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, was “cobbled together.” She could see that having written poetry books didn’t really prepare her for writing a full-length memoir.

“How does one write 65,000 words,” she says, “because I honestly have no idea, as someone who writes poems that are typically less than 17 lines long and has never thought about word count. I had no idea how to sort of sustain.”1

Not that I’m comparing myself to Maggie Smith, but like me, she knew how to write short but had no experience with how to write long.

Distilling experiences and presenting imagesAnd she also didn’t see herself as a storyteller. “I’m not really a storyteller primarily in my poems, or at least I don’t think of myself that way. I think of myself more as an ‘image presenter’ or an ‘experience distiller’ or ‘crystallizer’ than a storyteller, so I thought, This is going to be interesting.”2

It seems she had the same “Do I have what it takes?” concern as you and I.

But unlike me, it sounds like she didn’t freeze or panic. Instead, she drew from her strengths—her gifts and experience as a published poet—to creatively piece together one of the most unusual and popular memoirs of 2023.

Writing vignettesHer approach? She wrote vignettes one at a time independently from each other, out of chronological order and without an outline. The book “distills” and “crystallizes” her experiences and presents images, holding our attention.

Assembling themWith help from an editor, she assembled the book by sorting these pieces to find themes, styles of writing, and various connections that flowed together.

Following her intuitionBy color-coding them she arranged them on her living room floor until she found what seemed balanced. “It was a craft project,” she jokes, which is how she puts together her books of poetry, following her intuition, looking for “the natural progression.”3

Trusting herselfShe trusted the writer she already was and the writing she’d already done to find a way into this writing that was new.

She played to her strengths and found her structure, her voice, her stories, and every word to make her book beautiful.

Every Book Is NewDavid McCullough has said, “Every book is a new journey. I never felt I was an expert on a subject as I embarked on a project.”4

Novelist Cassandra Clare says it’s true in fiction, too. “No matter how many books you’ve written, whenever you sit down to write a new book you always feel the same challenge — how do you shape this story into a book that people are going to love.”5

Jennifer Dukes Lee’s Atypical Book ProjectI interviewed Jennifer Dukes Lee about writing her guided journal Stuff I’d Only Tell God. She’d already written multiple trade nonfiction books, but never anything like this guided journal. It’s a book of questions, not answers.

But Jennifer leaned into who she was as a journalist, a blogger, and an author. She’s both a natural and trained question-asker. She was born curious; she was a journalist by trade. She already had what it would take to write this book that was in a totally different genre than her others.

I have been writing online in a pretty open way since 2009….and…I was a newspaper reporter. But in the same way that I was interrogating police chiefs and mayors and governors, I began to interrogate my own life in that way. So I feel like turnabout’s fair play.6

By turning her own question-asking training on herself, she developed questions she knew could work for anyone ready to pen an interesting, deep, thoughtful journal that opened them up to the things that matter most.

And she wrote a book unlike any she’d written before, because she had what it takes to pull it off, even when she wasn’t sure about that when she started the project.

Tap into Yourself to Write This BookEvery book is new, so even if we’ve authored other books, we may find ourselves wondering, as Maggie Smith and Jennifer Dukes Lee did, if we have what it takes. Like Cassandra Clare, you may know how to write a book, but you don’t know how to write this book.

Trust what you know and what you can research and learn. Draw from skills you developed the first time you wrote a book or from what you gained while writing other kinds of projects.

Tap into your personality, too, to find your way forward.

Are you organized and methodical? Capitalize on that with orderly research, outlines, and bullet points. Then write from what you’ve included in your detailed outline.
Are you spontaneous and playful? Drop everything to write a chapter when you sense a burst of inspiration!
Are you pensive, reflective, contemplative? Document your insights, and weave them in to offer vulnerability and insights uniquely yours.

With experience and personality, you have what it takes to write the book that’s on your heart.

Write Your Book Your Way (You Have What It Takes)Your book is your book, your experience is yours alone, and your personality is one-of-a-kind. Put all that together, and you have what it takes—you can get ideas by seeing how others write, but in the end, you’ll find it within.

As my deadline loomed, I no longer panicked because, with Ruth’s reassuring reminder, I saw how to write that book with the truths I’d gleaned in the voice I’d developed.

Drawing from my work writing feature stories for the local paper, I ended up weaving in the wisdom of others, too, interviewing moms to include their stories, ideas, and insights.

I figured out how to write that book—and a few weeks before it was due to the editor, I finished the draft, and enlisted beta readers to offer their input. I incorporated changes for the final draft and sent it off.

Turns out I had what it takes.

I’ll bet you have what it takes, too.

A Plan That Works for YouI’ll go out on a limb and make one suggestion that I believe will help. Regardless of your style of writing, genre, category, subject matter or experience, creating and following a plan will save time and build confidence—even if you’re a “pantser” (that is, even if you write by the seat of your pants).

If you’ve written a book proposal, you’ve got the plan.

In your proposal, you’ve developed the ideas you want in the book and organized them into a Table of Contents. This takes time—you can use different tools to unearth and organize the things you want to say and the information your reader needs. Learn more HERE.

Word by WordTurn to the chapter summaries (sometimes called the annotated Table of Contents) and follow those to start writing the book, idea by idea, word by word.

When your ideas are in place, thoughtfully built out to support our claims, we write everything—no matter how long or involved—word by word.

Anne Lamott’s brother panicked because he needed to turn in a report on birds and hadn’t even started it. She says her brother sat at the table with books and pens unopened and untouched, because he was unable to take action.

I know how he felt, because I sat frozen at the keyboard, overwhelmed at the thought of writing an entire book. He had to write an entire report on birds in one night; he must have wondered if he had what it takes.

“Then my father sat down beside him,” Anne writes, “put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”7

If you feel like you don’t have what it takes, it’s okay. Every new project leaves a writer feeling like that, but we know what to do. We make a plan, tap into our unique strengths, and then take it word by word. Just take it word by word.

Resources: Craft Your Best Book Proposal on-demand webinar: Learn what goes into a quality book proposal so you’re prepared for the next step in your publishing journey: CLICK TO WATCH * Go Ahead and Play to Your Strengths (episode 57): CLICK TO READ & LISTEN * Don’t Be Afraid to Evolve (episode 47): CLICK TO READ & LISTEN * Want to Become a Better Writer? Journal Before You Write (interview with Jennifer Dukes Lee): CLICK TO READ, LISTEN, or WATCH * How to Structure Your Nonfiction Book*: CLICK TO READ & LISTEN

Footnotes

“Playing with Narration in Memoir, with Maggie Smith.” Write-Minded Podcast, 23 Oct. 2023, podcast.shewrites.com/playing-with-narration-in-memoir/. Accessed 5 Jan. 2024.
Ibid.
Ibid.
“David McCullough on Teaching Citizenship – Sagamore Institute.” Sagamore Institute –, 10 Aug. 2020, sagamoreinstitute.org/david-mccullough-on-teaching-citizenship/. Accessed 5 Jan. 2024.
Cicurel, Deborah. “Cassandra Clare Books – Mortal Instruments Books – City of Heavenly Fire.” Glamour UK, Glamour UK, 28 May 2014, www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/cassandra-clare-talks-to-glamour-about-city-of-heavenly-fire#:~:text=At%20least%20if%20I%20felt,people%20are%20going%20to%20love. Accessed 5 Jan. 2024.
Kroeker, Ann. “Want to Become a Better Writer? Journal before You Write – Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.” Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach, 21 July 2023, annkroeker.com/2023/07/21/want-to-become-a-better-writer-journal-before-you-write/. Accessed 9 Jan. 2024.
Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Anchor Books, 1995.‌ (p. 19)

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“Never go to bed until you have a story to tell,” says Kevin Lynch, Creative Director at Oatly. I heard him interviewed on a podcast and stopped jogging to write down what he said about that daily story:

It could be a deep thing that you learned, it could be a movie that you saw, it could be a way you took home, it could be a conversation that you had…it could be anything.”1

Indeed, we can live a “storied life” without a celebrity-level lifestyle full of famous people and fabulous soirees. We’re living “story-worthy” moments each day—we simply need to notice them…and capture them.

Every day we have understated interactions and flashes of insight that create meaning. In fact, simpler, subtler, more relatable stories can captivate readers far better than wild escapades that don’t show any change.

These daily stories serve as fodder for our work, weaving into what we write as anecdotes, illustrations. Sometimes they serve as the narrative spine of a full-length project.

Thus, the more stories, the better—as Kevin Lynch observed in that interview, capturing a story each day gives us 365 stories every single year.

To start your story collection today, try these three ways to ensure you have a story to tell by the time your head hits the pillow tonight:

Reflect to discern your “story-worthy” moment from the day
Create a story worth telling before closing your eyes for the night
Gather memories that come to mind and use those as story prompts
Reflect on the Day to Discern Your “Story-Worthy” MomentIn his TEDx Talk, on his podcast, in his book Storyworthy, and at his blog, storyteller Matthew Dicks invites every person, not just writers, to document their “most story-like moment from the day” for what he calls Homework for Life™.

He takes five minutes at the end of each day and thinks back: What made this day different from all the rest?2

The idea is so simple. He writes a sentence or two—sometimes just a string of words—and later, when he has time to write it out in full, he’s got what he needs to bring back that memory from that day: the moment he chose to document.

With his Homework for Life™, we note the small discoveries, the daily surprises, those meaningful moments we don’t want to lose. In other words, these daily stories don’t need to be earth-shattering events. They can be quiet, understated internal shifts.

He keeps his in a spreadsheet, making it easy to search keywords and find connections and themes from year to year.3

Begin this process, and you’ll be transformed by seeing how ephemeral interactions, observations, and moments are actually filled with meaning…that a day that seems like any other day is packed with specificity.

We are living stories every single day.

Create a story worth tellingThe next way to avoid going to bed until you have a story to tell is to create a story.

That’s what Kevin Lynch suggests: “If someone asks, ‘How was your day?’ and you don’t have a story to tell them, go create one.”4

He continues, “By doing so, it pushes you out of your comfort zone and kind of gets you used to doing a little more experimentation and being vulnerable and putting yourself in vulnerable places or situations.”5

What story could you create before bed? Could you…

read a surprising story?
pull off a stunt?
record a silly video with a family member?
send an email to someone famous?

Or maybe the story you plan to tell before going to bed isn’t something that happened on that day—maybe it’s a memory, and that’s what you’ll create?

If so, this next approach will be worth incorporating into your daily storytelling habit.

Gather memories to use as story promptsDuring the holidays, as an example, you may string some lights, stir up mugs of cocoa, and next thing you know you’re flooded with memories. Some might be magical childhood Christmas mornings; others might be hard years of loss.

When you’re in the company of loved ones, and you’re chatting amidst familiar aromas and eating from heirloom dishes laden with classic family favorites, these memories resurface.

We can bat them away and live in the moment, or—because we’re writers and storytellers—we can share that memory as a story with those people who might enjoy the nostalgia. We can do that right on the spot.

Or we can jot down details and return to them later, crafting them into a story to slip into our projects.

How to capture those memoriesYou might recreate in vivid detail last year’s trip to a Christmas tree farm, or you may recall only fuzzy mental snapshots of opening Christmas stockings when you were six years old. Either way, these are memories you want to grasp, to collect.

These are packed with multisensory textures—colors, fabrics, foods, smells, sounds, and sights. For a moment pretend you’re a cinematographer filming your mind:

Imagine turning around 360 degrees within that memory.
What and who do you see as you pan that space?
What’s in the center of the memory’s frame?
What else can you see—what colors, fabrics, foods, smells, sounds, and sights?

Record enough details and you’ll be able to flesh it out later, when you’ve got time to write.

When the memories are hardAs I said, the memories may be positive and uplifting, but some may bring up a twinge of pain or the weight of grief. Those can be crafted into unforgettable stories. They can demonstrate growth, resilience, hope, and healing.

Writing out the story flowing from a hard memory can be cathartic and healing. However, if a memory stirs up trauma of any kind, exercise caution and absolutely avoid revisiting a traumatic event that’s going to trigger a response.

Start Collecting Your Daily StoriesI hope you start collecting your stories in the way that makes the most sense on that day.

When you commit to telling a story by the end of the day, your story collection expands and provides material for the rest of your life.

Again, as Kevin Lynch points out:

It gives you a raft of stories. You do that for a year and you probably have 300+ stories. As you’re kicking around concepts for an assignment or you’re in a presentation or you’re trying to connect with a potential client or what have you, you’ve got a lot of things to draw from.”5

As writers, we want a lot of stories to draw from. To build that “raft of stories” available for your creative work, wind down your day with at least one memorable moment.

You can tell the story about something that happens today, you can create a story and make it happen, or you can remember a story from your past.

Whatever approach you take, you can live a “storied life” starting now.

What’s your story?

Resources:* Back to Basics: Generate Ideas to Find What You Have to Say * Cultivate Curiosity for Your Best Writing Life, Pillar One * Come to Your Senses as You Write * Trauma-Informed Writing Transforms You and Your Words, with Michelle Stiffler

Footnotes:1. Source: Interview with Kevin Lynch, Creative Director at Oatly, on The Beautiful Thinkers Project podcast with Caroline Hadlock (beginning at 21:17 mark) 2. Dicks, Matthew. “Homework for Life | Matthew Dicks | TEDxBerkshires.” YouTube, TEDx Talks, 8 Dec. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7p329Z8MD0 3. Ibid. 4. Lynch Interview 5. Ibid. 6. Ibid.

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When I was in college, practicing in public meant sitting under an oak tree on campus, flipping open my spiral-bound notebook, and scratching out a poem as students walked the path beside me.

Creative writing classes gave me another way to practice in public, when my poems were workshopped by my peers.

As a young adult building a freelance writing career, I submitted my work to literary journals and magazines—that was about the only way I could practice in public. Those low-tech days limited how and where we could share our words.

Today, the world has exploded with numerous ways to practice in public—I can share my work with you using tools I couldn’t have dreamed of when I sat under that oak tree on campus. Some of my content goes out through my coaching newsletter, my Substack newsletter called Story Hatchery, social media, and my website.

Tools to Practice in PublicAt the click of a button, from the palms of our hands, we can instantly share our work with the world using:

websites
newsletter apps like Substack, Beehiiv, and Ghost
social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Threads

Each time we hit “publish” or “post,” we’re practicing in public.

And each time we turn around and write another piece, we have more experience, more input, and more empowerment to become a better writer.

Benefits for Writers Who Practice in PublicJeff Goins and others urge us to “practice in public,” because “there is no better way to improve than to put your work out there, sharing it for the whole world to see.”1

Of course there are good reasons to practice in private, but when we look up from the pages of our journal and share ideas with others through tools like newsletters and social media, we find readers. We build our platform. We experiment.

Heavens, there are loads of benefits from practicing in public! Let’s dive in and see why it’s worth it to start…

Save Time and Write with IntentIf you write in private more than in public, you’re likely not achieving your goals. Marion Roach Smith argues that writing privately in response to a prompt wastes valuable time—time that could be dedicated to a work in progress. Writing with purpose and sharing it with the public, though, allows you to focus on creating meaningful content. Save time; write with intent, boldly practicing in public.
Write Better and Faster: Experiment, Adjust, ImproveWhen writers learn new literary techniques, it’s fun to experiment with them in a low-stakes setting like LinkedIn or Instagram.

Practicing in public allows for rapid improvement. Similar to that oft-referenced experiment where pottery students rapidly refined their skills by making numerous pots (instead of laboring over a single pot), writers hone their techniques through continual practice and sharing—the more the better!

By sharing your work, you experiment and receive immediate feedback. This iterative process allows you to adjust and improve, refining your craft over time.

Because you’re sharing more often, you find ways to express your ideas more efficiently, making you a faster writer, too. Try time-savers like this:

create platform-specific templates or outlines to copy and use each time you begin—you’ll save time and get started sooner
use dictation to speak drafts into existence (there are so many options for how we can do this on our phones!)
set a timer and freewrite as fast as possible to get a solid draft out
connect with a friend and share your idea with that person in a recorded Zoom session or put your voice recorder on the table if you’re in person—the transcript can be your draft
Learn to Write Tight.Strunk and White said it succinctly: “Omit needless words.”2 Character and word limits of newsletters and social media force us to omit needless words and “write tight.” By keeping our content concise and clear, we practice a core writing skill regularly in short form, then carry it into our long-form projects.
Writing tight at the idea level avoids idea sprawl. We practice conveying one specific idea or topic clearly without unnecessary elaboration. This carries over to long-form projects when we think of paragraphs or sections in a chapter: one main idea per unit.
We write tight stylistically by focusing on the sentence level, shaving away what’s unnecessary. And learning to write tight cleans up purple prose so the idea moves along at just the right speed.
Develop Consistency and Gain ConfidenceWriting and sharing publicly gets you in a consistent flow. As you formalize your public practice and set up a personal publishing schedule, you learn to meet deadlines, develop workflows, and enhance your overall productivity. The professional mindset builds trust in your abilities, which encourages continual growth and the confidence to pursue challenging topics.
Find Your Voice Practicing in public allows writers to discover and refine their authentic voices. By experimenting with new words and different tones, styles, and perspectives, we craft a voice true to how we think and speak. This increases the chance we resonate with our intended audience.

If one post doesn’t sound quite like “you,” no worries! Post something else the next day. The opportunity to post often in these low-stakes spaces gives us freedom to find our voice.

Clarify and Validate Your MessagePlanning to write a book? Get those ideas out now, in short form, a little at a time, before they’re a book—get them out of your head and out into the world!

In his book Perennial Seller, Ryan Holiday says, “A book should be an article before it’s a book, and a dinner conversation before it’s an article. See how things go before going all in.”3

It’s okay if it isn’t perfect yet. Put words to what’s floating around inside you and see how it flies. Test ideas intended for a future book by writing them first as an Instagram post, article, Opinion piece, or newsletter.

Did people read it and react or interact? Good! That speeds up the “feedback loop,” as they say, and serves as a great way to get input—to see if we’re striking a cord, resonating with readers. Because you practiced in public, you have the information you need to write a longer version, full of illustrations and inspiration.

Isn’t it better to write short and small first instead of devoting months to a full-length book…only to publish to crickets? Isn’t it more fun to see readers react with enthusiasm to the shorter versions of book ideas? Practice in public and you’ll find motivation to go all-in!

Realize We Contain Multitudes4By consistently creating and sharing content, we realize the abundance of topics we care about. We can follow our curiosity to explore new thoughts and make new discoveries, sharing them with readers. Notice and share trends, lessons, insights, and wisdom with your audience. There’s no end to what you can write about, because your wild, glorious, creative life is brimming with so much to share every single day!
Build a Platform Organically (and Have Fun)Practicing in public means we consistently share with readers our heart, passion, questions; we continually offer valuable answers and solutions. Doing so builds our personal brand and identity by associating ideas with our name—we get known for the tone and topic, post after post.

And you’ll naturally connect with others who write on similar topics. You can interact with them in the comments. Who knows? Maybe you’ll collaborate with them. So many things become possible when you show up often, even daily, practicing in public. Before long, you’re reaching readers in ways you never imagined.

Writing (and Publishing) Regularly Can Transform Your Craft and Reach a Wider AudienceTry publishing your own short-form work, so you don’t have to wait for anyone. You’re your own boss. This means you write without waiting for a gatekeeper to give you the green light. With this freedom, you’ll tap into joy and feel playful.

Readers sense this. Have fun practicing in public and you’ll be yourself, which means the right people will be drawn to you. You’ll see your words impact them in real time.

You can certainly submit to other publications, increasing visibility and building credibility through bylines. Go for it! That’s another excellent way to practice in public. It just takes more time than when we publish ourselves.

The more we share on various platforms, the better chance we have to connect with a wider audience, engage with diverse thinkers, and build a loyal readership base over time—all because we choose to practice not just in our private journals but also through avenues that push our ideas into the world.

So don’t be shy! Give it a try, because your writing improves and expands when you practice in public.

Resources:* How to Be a Better Writer (Pt 3): Write Tight: https://annkroeker.com/2018/09/04/ep-168-how-to-be-a-better-writer-pt-3-write-tight/ * Are Creative Writing Prompts a Help or Hindrance? https://annkroeker.com/2023/10/12/are-creative-writing-prompts-a-help-or-hindrance/ * The Paralysis of Perfectionism: https://annkroeker.com/2017/11/14/ep-127-the-paralysis-of-perfectionism/

Would you like someone to gift you a coaching session or coaching package with me? If so, send that friend or family member the link to annkroeker.com/coachinggift where they’ll see how they give you what you really want: a 1-to-1 session with your very own writing coach—and a flourishing writing life in 2024!

Footnotes:1. Goins, Jeff. Real Artists Don’t Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age. Thomas Nelson, 2018. (p. 129) 2. Strunk, William, and E. B. White. The Elements of Style: With Revisions, an Introduction, and a Chapter on Writing. Macmillan, 1979. (p. 23) 3. Holiday, Ryan. Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work That Lasts. Portfolio/Penguin, 2017. (p. 42) 4. Here I’m paraphrasing Walt Whitman, from Song of Myself, 51. Citation: American. “Song of Myself, 51.” Poets.org, 15 Feb. 2019, poets.org/poem/song-myself-51. Accessed 8 Nov. 2023.

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Dear Writer,

It’s easy to freeze up when we’re writing for the faceless masses or the random reader who happens upon our words.

What do we say to all those people? How can we speak with heart to a total stranger?

Next thing you know, we second-guess our ideas, our prose, our very selves. We fade to beige without saying what we really think, without being specific, without our signature wit and whimsy.

What would that random person who doesn’t even know me think if I crack a joke?

We lose our creativity, our passion, our joy.

We freeze. We get stuck.

We’re afraid to stand out, so we play it safe. We write dull, ordinary prose that could be penned by anyone at all, even ChatGPT.

Unlock Your Creative Voice: Write a Letter to Your ReaderOne way to unlock creativity is to write a letter—a letter to your reader.

And not just any nameless, faceless reader but a specific person you actually know.

Dear Anthony…

Dear Paula…

Dear Lissa…

When you think of the kind of person you’re trying to reach with your words, does Lissa fit?

Good.

Now, write her a letter about a question or struggle that she herself has voiced.

Weave in ideas that can help.

Encourage her with a vulnerable story.

Add a little pizzazz that only you can include—after all, she knows you. She’ll grin at your joke and “get” your allusion.

When you’re done, you can send her the note, if you want.

Or you can cross out Lissa’s name and replace it with the type of person you write for:

Dear Weary Homeschool Mom…

Dear New Gardener…

Dear Journaler…

If that feels awkward to publish, cross off the salutation altogether.

~~Dear Anthony…~~

~~Dear Paula…~~

~~Dear Lissa…~~

I’ll bet you can find a great hook in your opening lines, and the letter-writing trick disarmed you enough to write fresh and real and personable.

Writing a Letter to Your Reader Frees Your Natural VoiceFrom the writer’s perspective, writing a letter to your reader can remove that feeling of writing to the faceless masses and instead invite an easy tone and thoughts that convey empathy and intimacy.

J. Willis Westlake, author of an 1800s book about letter-writing, says:

In other [writing] productions there is the restraint induced by the feeling that a thousand eyes are peering over the writer’s shoulder and scrutinizing every word; while letters are written when the mind is as it were in dressing-gown and slippers — free, natural, active, perfectly at home, and with all the fountains of fancy, wit, and sentiment in full play.1

By tricking your mind into donning its dressing-gown and slippers, you can achieve that “free, natural, active, perfectly at home” tone, style, and voice. Your readers will love reading your “fancy, wit, and sentiment in full play.”

Genuine Letters Contain Our Most Interesting ContentAnd it’s not just our style, tone, and voice that letters unleash; it’s also the content itself.

Westlake continues, “Though written, as all genuine letters are, for the private eye of one or two familiar friends, and without any thought of their publication, they nevertheless often form the most interesting and imperishable of an author’s productions.”2

In other words, these letters contain our “most interesting and imperishable” ideas. So why not write them as letters first?

Discover Epistolary WritingThis letter-writing format is labeled “epistolary” writing. And the epistolary approach is used more widely in published work than you might be thinking. For example, advice columns.

Advice ColumnsAdvice columns like the classic “Dear Abby” and more recent “Dear Sugar” dished out empathetic responses that addressed specific needs that were sent in from readers.

The writer connected directly with the recipient who asked the initial question and with every reader who “listened in.”

Epistolary Nonfiction BooksThen there are nonfiction epistolary books, which invite us to peruse a letter exchange, and as we do, we feel we’re listening in on an intimate conversation.

Recognize these letter collections?

84, Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff
Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke
The Letters of Vincent van Gogh

Epistolary NovelsYou may have read epistolary novels that rely on this format to create “an intimate space between the characters and the readers,” as the Smithsonian Postal Museum writes. “[Because] letters are usually intended to be a closed communication, the readers are allowed to peer into the relationship created by the author.” ‌“Epistolary Novels as an Intimate Space.” Si.edu, 2023, postalmuseum.si.edu/research-articles/epistolary-fiction-themes/epistolary-novels-as-an-intimate-space. Accessed 23 Oct. 2023.

Here are a few novels in this format:

Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis
Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson

Letters Between WritersWhen I was a college student, I wrote to an author whose book gave me hope and instruction when I was struggling personally and creatively. I sent her a long, vulnerable, typewritten thank-you letter explaining how her book gave me inspiration, vision, and tools to pursue my creative life.

She wrote back!

In fact, her response was an exuberant typewritten letter even longer than mine. She included vulnerable details related to her own creative journey and urged me to move forward.

We continued to exchange letters over the years, and each one she sent answered questions and gave me advice for writing…and for living.

Letters Capture Our Most Creative, Interesting IdeasWe almost published these exchanges as a book in the epistolary format—maintaining the format of letters.

Had we published them, the “interesting and imperishable” ideas from my mentor—in the intimate form of our correspondence—would have remained. Readers could have listened in, as it were, to our interactions. They would have received her insights for themselves even though she typed them out first just for me.

So the letter-writing structure can be an interesting experiment if your recipient is open to letting your notes (and possibly their responses) be shared with the wider public.

Write Your Reader a Letter TodayPicture your reader—that specific person who comes to mind. The reader whose specific problem you understand.

Open an email if you need to trick yourself even further and put that person’s name in the recipient line.

Relax. Write to her in a conversational tone. Say what you’re truly thinking. Express empathy, tell a story, offer a couple of ideas.

By shrugging off the sense that you’re writing to “everyone” and instead addressing just one person, you’ll feel free to be creative. Your writing style will produce more authentic and engaging content.

Tweak or delete the salutation, copy the text into a newsletter, social media post, Substack, or blog post, and then…

Click publish.

I’ll bet that genuine, heartfelt note will sparkle with your true voice and resonate deeply with your readers.

Sincerely yours,

Ann

Footnotes:1. Popova, Maria. “How to Write Letters: A 19th-Century Guide to the Lost Art of Epistolary Etiquette.” The Marginalian, The Marginalian, 21 Dec. 2012, www.themarginalian.org/2012/12/21/how-to-write-letters-1876/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2023. 2. Ibid (emphasis mine).

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Let’s look at the pros and cons of using writing prompts to decide if we’re fostering creativity or frittering away time.

I remember the pleasure of writing about ladybugs for my high school freshman English class based on the prompt written on the board.1

And then there was the book I found a year or so at the library: Write to Discover Yourself. The author suggested we “portrait” the important people in our lives.2 I wrote pages and pages about my dad based on that prompt.

Prompts continued to play a big role in my creative writing journey when college professors supplied our class with poetry prompts.

Those prompts did exactly what they were designed for: they sparked creativity, teased out long-buried memories, and helped me spin creative storylines I would never have imagined on my own. Prompts have so effectively opened me up, I decided to gather a collection for others to use called 52 Creative Writing Prompts, to help get pens moving and ideas flowing.

Do Prompts Distract or Delight?But am I doing a disservice? Are prompts mere distractions, diverting writers from purposeful, goal-oriented writing?

Some argue we need to stop using prompts and only write toward public-facing projects. Why waste time on writing prompts that fill notebooks and journal pages, when we’re struggling to find time for the writing we claim we want to do? Why write in response to a random prompt instead of composing the essay we want to submit, the book we want to draft, the article we want to pitch?

Let’s peek at arguments for both sides, the pros and cons of prompts, to see if we need to embrace or abandon them in our creative writing life.

Pros of Creative Writing Prompts:On the plus side we have benefits of creative writing prompts, such as how they:

Spark Fresh IdeasCreative writing prompts inspire writers who struggle to generate any ideas at all by giving them an energizing starting point. Prompts also spark fresh ideas in writers who tend to return again and again to topics they’ve written about before. Prompts press writers to explore subject matter outside their comfort zone, breathing new life into their rotating collection of pet topics and pillar content.
Overcome Writer’s BlockPrompts offer a lifeline to writers grappling with writer’s block—they invite a “stuck” writer to write freely for ten, 15, or 20 minutes without those words needing a destination or purpose other than to get the ink flowing.
Provide Low-Stakes PracticeWriting prompts intended as practice serve as low-stakes exercises, encouraging writers to play and experiment without the pressure of immediate evaluation by editors or readers. Prompts allow writers to refine their craft and explore techniques in the safety of their writing notebooks and journals. In time they may develop a more captivating style.
Prepare for AssignmentsFreelancers who’ve been assigned a topic for a magazine or essayists who have entered themed writing contests benefit from writing from prompts. It’ll prepare them for assignments based on narrow parameters.
Offer a Writing Warm-upWhen writers tap out a few words in response to a prompt before diving into their long-form/high-stakes project, they can enjoy a brief warm-up that loosens them up.
Enhance Honesty and DepthWith prompts, writers delve into deeper personal experiences, memories, emotions, and themes without fear of judgment, leading to more honest and profound writing.
Lead to Personal Growth and HealingWhen intentionally selecting prompts that invite reflection—maybe even under the direction of a therapist—writers can experience transformation through personal growth and healing. It’s no surprise that when we spend time in personal writing such as journaling, we grow and mature as people, which in turn makes us better writers.

Cons of Creative Writing Prompts:To be fair, we need to look at the cons of creative writing prompts and how they might hinder our writing.

Waste TimeCritics argue that writing prompts can lead to aimless scribbling on topics unrelated to our writing goals and projects—time we could have dedicated to a work-in-progress. Instead, it’s being swallowed up by an unrelated prompt. Marion Roach Smith wonders why we can’t try warming up by writing toward the main project itself. Her big argument: when you write from prompts “you’re frittering away your time” instead of writing “with intent” and “for real.”3
Spit Out Stilted ProseSavannah Cordova observes, “If you choose a prompt that’s too far out of your comfort zone (or one doesn’t really inspire you), it’s no surprise that the response will usually come out sounding forced.”4
Lack PurposePrompts are usually random—in fact, some websites offer random prompt generators. These offer no clear direction or purpose; they simply invite us to write a random scene. Lacking purpose, have we strayed from our goal of completing a project?
Allow Writers to Avoid FeedbackWhile some writing groups use prompts and offer input from the group, writing to prompts privately means we miss the opportunity of receiving input and feedback from real readers. In contrast, when we write for readers in public in a place like Substack, we can see our work resonate with others when they respond in the comments.
Encourage ProcrastinationAre some writers using prompts to avoid their main project? Relying on prompts for this purpose could be a form of procrastination instead of hitting a word count goal on a more important and urgent project. “Admittedly, prompts can be valuable — as an exercise,” writes Jeff Goins. “But eventually, you don’t need another day at the gym. You need to sign up for the marathon and run. You need to go play a real game. You need to do something. Here’s what I find productive — far more than writing prompts (no offense to those who use them): Write something meaningful and share it.”5

Is it really either/or? It’s easy to see the appeal of creative writing prompts but important to consider the downsides and “dangers” of them, as well.

Words of caution from Marion Roach Smith and others remind me that while a solid prompt can open up the flow of words, it could also—if not used judiciously and with purpose—keep me from hitting my most important targets and deadlines.

But is it really either/or?

An integrated approach to promptsI could propose a controversial conclusion banning prompts from serious writing work. Yeah, sure. I might get more hits on social media or responses in online searches.

But studying the pros and cons of using creative writing prompts has led me to a less controversial and more integrated conclusion. And maybe those who argue against them would agree to a thoughtfully integrated approach as well.

Here’s what I’m thinking…

Real Projects May Benefit from PromptsPrompts could be used when we’re working toward the deadline and find ourselves stuck or blocked. Yes, a real project might benefit from a prompt.

We can set a timer and write for 20 minutes from a prompt to get our words flowing—any words flowing. When the timer beeps, we return to the official project with fresh eyes. The timer limits prompt-writing and minimizes distraction and procrastination while the prompt refreshes the mind. We’re still completing the “official” writing—in fact, the time spent responding to the prompt might brighten the tone of the finished piece.

Prompts Invite Creative Connections for Effective SlantsPrompts could be used to generate a narrow focus for a freelance pitch, landing on a creative slant or angle that gets a “yes” from an editor. In this case, prompts aren’t keeping us from our “real” work but are in fact used to inform and inspire our “real’ work.

Prompts for Personal Reflection Make for Better Writers…and therefore Better WritingAnd behind the scenes, free from public scrutiny, we could use prompts for inner work that shapes us into more insightful and compassionate writers.

It would be hard to measure a prompt’s influence on a future manuscript, but the writer will have more to draw from because they used prompts to privately sort out life, pain, problems, and confusion.

Creative Writing Prompts Have a Place in the Writing LifeThat doesn’t seem like a time-waster to me. Those private writing sessions? They could stay in a journal or notebook or who knows? One day that unfiltered writing may liberate the writer to produce more vulnerable projects that transform readers. And maybe one day they actually pull from some of those private writing sessions. Some of the actual content may find its way into a powerful piece.

I agree that writers with limited writing time will want to choose prompts wisely, avoiding procrastination by funneling as much as possible into their work-in-progress.

But I do think prompts have a place in our writing life, our writing practice, and our writing process.

As for me, I’ll be using prompts…with purpose.

Q4U:How about you?

How have prompts served your creative work or distracted you from it?

Will you continue to use prompts? If so, how will you use them (and how often will you use them)?

52 Creative Writing Prompts: A Year of Weekly Prompts and Exercises to Boost Your CreativityGet your copy on AmazonFootnotes:1. Kroeker, Ann. “Creating Worlds from Words: The Unremarkable Beginnings of a Writing Life.” Substack.com, Story Hatchery, 15 Apr. 2023, annkroeker.substack.com/p/creating-worlds-from-words-the-unremarkable. Accessed 12 Oct. 2023. 2. Kroeker, Ann. “Ep 180: Write to Discover – Start with Yourself – Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.” Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach, 8 Jan. 2019, annkroeker.com/2019/01/08/ep-180-write-to-discover-start-with-yourself/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2023. 3. ‌Smith, Marion Roach. “Memoir Writing Resolutions. Number One: No More Writing Prompts – Memoir Coach and Author Marion Roach.” Memoir Coach and Author Marion Roach, 27 Dec. 2011, marionroach.com/2011/12/memoir-writing-resolutions-number-one-no-more-writing-exercises/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2023. 4. https://www.facebook.com/jamigold.author. “Writing Prompts: Helpful? Or a Waste of Time? — Guest: Savannah Cordova.” Jami Gold, Paranormal Author, 16 Apr. 2019, jamigold.com/2019/04/writing-prompts-helpful-or-a-waste-of-time-guest-savannah-cordova/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2023. 5. Jeff Goins “The Last Writing Prompt You Will Ever Need.” Goinswriter.com, 2015, goinswriter.com/writing-prompts/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2023.

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Children gaze at a vast blank wall and see opportunity—inspired, they grab a permanent marker and scrawl across the surface in loopy circles and jaggedy lines without hesitation.

Why, then, do we adults stare at the blank page—not unlike a blank wall—and freeze up? Instead of scribbling out ideas that fill the white screen, we writers often come up empty, the blank page producing a blank mind.

We get too far ahead of ourselves, thinking about readers before we’ve written a single word, afraid of what they’ll think. Or we second-guess our ideas or skills. We worry about that and more, and next thing you know…we stop writing and stare at that blinding white abyss, paralyzed.

The blank page need not intimidate or cripple us. Why? Because with the ideas below, you can fill that great expanse with words so that it’s never really blank when you open it.

Try one of them the next time you open a document and feel fear trickling down to your fingertips. I hope they’ll free you up long before you freeze and you’ll replace fear with joy by effortlessly filling the page with words.

1. TemplatesCreate templates for your content, whether it’s a newsletter, blog post, or podcast. By inserting the structural elements you tend to use each time, you approach the page with a sense of familiarity. Templates serve as a framework to jumpstart your writing process, making the page feel less daunting.

2. OutlinesEmbrace the power of outlines. The classic 5-paragraph essay structure you learned long ago—with an introduction, three main points, and conclusion—is a reliable starting point for informative articles. For more creative pieces, try narrative outlines with a three-act structure (even if it’s short) or a beginning, middle, end approach. Outlines help you organize your thoughts and create a roadmap for your writing, banishing the fear of the blank page. See the links below for ready-made outlines you can use to add structure to your document.

3. Record Yourself & TranscribeTake a walk and record your thoughts about the topic you want to write about. Then, get a transcription made of that recording and paste it in—you’ve eliminated the blank page altogether. It’s as if you’re simply editing and expanding on (and refining) your existing thoughts, which is far less intimidating than starting from scratch with nothing but a blank page and blinking cursor.

4. Record a Conversation & TranscribeMeet with a friend on a virtual platform like Zoom, click the record button, and explain your idea. As your friend engages with questions, you’ll be able to clarify and delve deeper. This approach captures your natural voice as you share what you’ve been researching and thinking about. Thank your friend, download the audio, and then use a program like Happy Scribe or Rev.com’s AI transcription service to transcribe the conversation. You’ll end up with a working draft for your writing project. TIP: more and more free AI transcription services are cropping up, so be sure to search for the latest options and you might not even have to pay.

5. Pull from Your JournalIf you’ve been jotting down ideas, thoughts, or snippets of writing in a journal or a similar document, don’t let them go to waste. Pull something from there and paste it into your current document to kickstart your writing. Things like Morning Pages, Dream Journals, and freewriting can be sources of inspiration.

6. List Bullet PointsBefore you even have a minute to think about the blank page, start writing your ideas in the form of bullet points—they don’t have to be complete thoughts or sentences. No more blank page! And you’ll have prompts you can use to draft your content. You can expand on each bullet point to develop your ideas further, gradually filling the blank page with meaningful content. Move them around until you find the ideal flow and structure. Problem solved.

7. AI Writing AppsIf you’re open to experimentation, consider using an AI writing app. These tools can generate ideas and even provide outlines based on your input. While they may not perfectly replicate your voice, they can jumpstart your creativity and offer valuable suggestions—maybe even a rough draft you can work with—reducing the intimidation factor of a blank page. Manage your expectations, though, because it may take a long time before it comes close to matching your style and writing voice. Use it as a starting point before making the final project sound like you.

Beat the Blank Page & Write with ConfidenceWith these fill-the-page strategies, you can conquer the blank page and approach your writing with confidence and creativity. Each method makes the page less daunting, so you can seize the opportunity and make your mark on the world with your words, scribbled with joy.

Try one of these ideas this week and let me know how well it works for you!

Resources: Ready-made outline: Problem-Solution (this articles shows how you can apply this outline to different projects, including opinion pieces, blog posts, and nonfiction books) * Ready-made outline: Past-Present-Future (this article makes an argument for outlining; scroll down for applications of this outline) * Ready-made outline: Zoom In / Zoom Out*

____________Join us in Your Platform Matters (YPM)YPM is a warm and welcoming membership community committed to creative, meaningful ways we can grow our platform and reach readers—check us out!

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When I was visiting my grandmother one summer afternoon, she pulled out a letter I sent her.

"This is good," she said.

"Really?"

She pointed at the paragraphs and said the ideas were well organized, my writing flowed well, and I included lots of details. "It was interesting to read," she said.

Then she looked up at me and smiled. "Maybe we have another writer in the family?”

Did I gasp? Her words certainly sent a jolt through me. Did she know how badly I wanted to write? Could she have known how much I yearned to be a writer?

Surely the thought of me as a writer seemed far-fetched to her. After all, my mother was a seasoned editor and columnist, endowed with innate writing talents—Grandma saw her earn accolades in college and as a career journalist.

My father was an editor at a prominent metropolitan newspaper, shaping stories, crafting headlines, and curating front-page content.

Even my brother, a skilled wordsmith, showed promise as a creative writer, eventually becoming an award-winning copywriter for ad campaigns.

And then there was me—Grandma knew her granddaughter was a sprinter on the track team, a clarinetist in the band, and a dedicated student earning good grades. Yet, no one, myself included, saw me as a writer...well, I helped put the school newspaper together, but I was hardly an ace reporter.

Yet here she was, encouraging me to write, cheering me on.

During that brief exchange when pointing out the strengths of my letter, Grandma kindled a spark of hope within me.

External Validation Bolsters Us

While external validation shouldn't dictate our writing journey, it bolsters us when we face the inevitable resistance that hits us from within and without. Her words reverberated in my head (and my heart) for years, counteracting doubts that crept in, giving me courage to push past obstacles and move toward a future with words.

Around that time, my best friend in high school praised the short story I wrote: "The Medallion of Kilimanjaro." Her sincere reaction made me believe I could tell a captivating story.

A few years later, my college boyfriend nudged me to enroll in creative writing at our university—his vote of confidence aligned with Grandma's earlier endorsement, solidifying my self-perception as a writer.

In one of those creative writing classes, a poetry professor urged me to submit my work to the undergraduate journal. Armed with her belief in my potential, I sent in three. The outcome exceeded my expectations—each of the three submissions was accepted for publication, and one poem secured a prize.

I could continue to list even more people who added to that chorus of encouragement, bolstering my confidence. Editors, friends, team leaders, mentors. With their voices cheering me on, I took risks. With their affirmations in my head and heart, I pursued a writing career—I built a writing life.

Who Cheered You on as a Writer?

Who cheered you on throughout your writing journey? Who pointed out your potential and steered you toward a life of words?Whose voices gave you confidence?

Was it a mentor, teacher, peer, editor, friend, or coach?

If they never voiced their thoughts, would you have given up?

Make a list of the people who offered you encouragement to pursue this path. If possible, track some of them down and thank them.

Perhaps you could mail them a letter?

After that...cheer on another writer. Encourage them as they face obstacles on the path to achieving their writing goals.

When you do, you'll be one of the powerful voices adding to the chorus of those who give them confidence to stick with it—to pursue writing and build a writing life.

Resources:

My Writing Life Beginnings, Pt 1

My Writing Life Beginnings, Pt 2

Writers: Never, Never, Never Give Up

5 Writing Strengths

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Just as musicians credit their musical influences, writers, too, have literary inspirations who help them discover and shape their unique voice.

At a White House event for poets in 2011, Billy Collins said to students about finding your voice:

You’re searching for the poets who make you jealous…you’re looking to get influenced by people who make you furiously jealous…And then copy them.1

Billy himself was influenced by the work of Wallace Stevens—I suppose he would say he was furiously jealous of him.

Anne Lamott’s Seemingly Effortless Prose Author Shauna Niequist openly mentions the influence of Anne Lamott on her work.

The first time I read Anne Lamott, I thought, “Is this allowed? People can write like this and it gets published?”

I laughed at her sometimes-crass and often sarcastic style. She opened the door to a whole new way of writing, with honesty and sass. While hers was not exactly my style, I admired the conversational tone—the seemingly stream-of-consciousness flow of ideas—that, upon close examination, were carefully crafted.

That skill to make her work seem like it effortlessly spilled onto the page but was actually carefully constructed?

That made me furiously jealous.

Annie Dillard’s Literary Craftsmanship My friend and co-author Charity Singleton Craig has mentioned Annie Dillard’s impact on her. She frequently quotes her and I sense hints of that literary genius in my friend, as well as in Dillard.

I read Annie Dillard in my early 20s and wondered, “What is this?” I liked it, but I didn’t “get it.” I didn’t understand what she was doing.

But I saw that she stitched her work together with precision using the tools of a literary craftsman. And that, I admired.

That made me furiously jealous.

Madeleine L’Engle’s Bridges of Trust, Love, and Hope As a child, I read Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. Whether I voiced it or not, I know I wondered, “How did she do that?”

At that time I didn’t want to write in that style or genre, but she led us to trust, love, and hope through the delight of quirky characters. I was thrilled how intimately she connected with her reader—with me. I was grateful at the time.

Now, as an adult who writes, I’m furiously jealous. I want to create bridges of trust, love, and hope, as well.

Scott Russell Sanders’ Unpretentious Midwestern Truth Charity and I attended a lecture by Scott Russell Sanders. In my notebook, I scribbled notes. Then I leaned back and listened. Finally, I wrote, “I want to write like that” on the page of my notebook. I tilted the page toward Charity to show it to her. She nodded.

She could see I was furiously jealous.

He writes about the Midwest, where I’m from, so I’m always impressed with how he brings it to life. His work connects with me in the familiar references of trees and rivers and birds. He names them and I know them.

He makes creative choices seem less mysterious than Dillard and more accessible. He’s conversational in some ways but not curmudgeonly like Anne Lamott. When I read him, I think, “Hey, I could try that.”

He’ll tell stories, create scenes, and introduce a theme, a phrase, a word. He presses in, gently, a little more—labyrinthine at times and progressively, sequentially, other times.

I want to write like that.

He’s unpretentious. I can tell that the ideas and stories he shares on the page are true. When I met him at that event with Charity, it was clear: he is who he seems to be on the page.

That’s who I am and want to be, too, in my writing.

In life.

Unpretentious.

I want to be like that.

What Writers Make You Furiously Jealous? When you say about a writer or author “I want to write like that,” that’s a creative influence.

When a writer’s work makes you furiously jealous, that’s a creative influence.

When you think, “Hey, I could try that!” that’s a creative influence.

Make a list of all the people whose work makes you furiously jealous—maybe even make a list of the work itself.

Then ask:

What do I love about this piece?

How is its sound, topic, and style appealing to me?

Why does it speak to me?

What about it could I learn from it?

How could I emulate it without plagiarizing?

Study that work.

Pick apart that prose.

Underline and circle and copy out sentences from that work. Figure out how they did it. Because writers who make you furiously jealous are your best mentors.

And as you study them—as they mentor you—like Billy said, they’ll lead you to your own authentic voice.

____________________ Register for: Build Your Writing Lab: Dissect Quality Prose to Learn Techniques Used by the Pros with Ann Kroeker, Writing CoachWednesday, August 23rd at 12pm ET

This free training will empower you with a proven system to become a better writer. In Build Your Writing Lab, you’ll start to see every piece of professional writing with new eyes and find inspiration in their techniques. I’m not holding back — you’re getting six different approaches to dissect text and discover how to improve your craft.

If you’re ready to set yourself up for success, register now — you’ll see your work transform and your confidence increase with each writing experiment!

CLICK to register for FREE ____________________

Footnote: 1. The. “Poetry Student Workshop at the White House.” YouTube, YouTube Video, 11 May 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVIOKLXK9uY&t=1870s. Accessed 3 Aug. 2023.

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On a sunny spring day, I sat with seven homeschoolers on a stretch of grass for a creative writing session. The older kids started to fidget before we even started.

"What are we doing out here?"

"We’re going to see what’s around us."

A fifth grader pointed with his pen. "I see sky, clouds, cars, building. Done." The others laughed.

"We’re going to be quiet and listen, too," I added.

"I hear birds. Done." More chuckles.

"Before we write," I began, "Let’s look at the sky. What color is it?"

Someone said blue.

"What kind of blue? There are so many blues. Is it dark blue like these navy pants? Or is it blue like turquoise? Or is it the kind of blue you want to swim in? Or the color of your mom’s eyes?"

They looked up. "Write down phrases that describe this particular blue at this particular moment of this particular day. Compare it to other things that are blue."

They studied the sky, and one by one, each started writing.

"What else do you see—you mentioned clouds. What kind of clouds? Puffy white cumulus clouds or light and filmy cirrus clouds?"

Group Your Senses

We continued exploring multi-sensory details. They grouped their ideas by sense, so each stanza of the poem they were going to write began:

I see…

I hear…

I smell…

I touch...

I taste...

This simple "senses" poem isn't just for kids. You could try sensory writing, too.

Sensory Writing Practice

Slow down and tune into the space around you, ideally outdoors.

Look, listen, inhale deeply.

What do you notice at this particular moment of this particular day? Write down keywords and adjectives.

Capture images and sounds.

What smells do you breathe in?

Compare those details to something else. You'll be crafting metaphors with nouns and more seemingly unrelated nouns that end up enhancing meaning.

Touch different textures.

Taste something—well, taste what's appropriate (don't eat anything poisonous)!

As you capture the particulars, you'll realize that this moment is one-of-a-kind, and you're writing about it using all your senses, as those kids did.

Pull Your Senses Together

When you realize the poem is coming together, group the sensory details you've described to form those stanzas:

I see…

I hear…

I smell…

I touch...

I taste...

Rearrange as needed, of course.

Write an opening line if you like. Maybe two.

Write a closing line if you like. Maybe two. Maybe three.

Read it aloud.

Sensory Writing for Life

You've preserved in multi-sensory detail a moment of your wild and precious life.

And you've practiced a skill you can use in all your writing to bring your stories and scenes to life for your reader with this multi-sensory detail.

Years ago I attended a writing workshop and the leader referenced Flannery O’Connor, paraphrasing a section of “The Nature and Aim of Fiction” from Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose:

A lady who writes, and whom I admire very much, wrote me that she had learned from Flaubert that it takes at least three activated sensuous strokes to make an object real; and she believes that this is connected with our having five senses. If you’re deprived of any of them, you’re in a bad way, but if you’re deprived of more than two at once, you almost aren’t present. (Emphasis mine, 69)

The workshop leader held up an imaginary artist's brush and said, "One, two, three...and you're done!"

Include in your poetry and prose—fiction or nonfiction—at least three sensory details and your reader will be in the scene with you.

Read It Aloud and Applaud

Right there in the grass on that day with the homeschooled kids, they arranged their poems, scribbling into spiral notebooks balanced on bony knees.

When we brought them back inside, each child read their poem aloud for the other mom, who had stayed inside while we wrote. We applauded after each poem.

One of them read a simple series of images and metaph...

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Jennifer Dukes Lee invites you to transform into a better writer through “beautifully ruthless self-discovery.”

It starts in the pages of your journal.

In a recent interview, she delves into the therapeutic benefits of daily gratitude journaling and its potential to rewire our brains. By writing down things we’re grateful for, our minds seek out the positive.

Jennifer recommends guided journals when we're stymied by writer's block. The blank page of a traditional journal can overwhelm us. What should we say? Where should we start?

Guided journals aren't blank pages—they provide prompts and structure when you’re stuck or unsure of what to write.

She stresses that journaling serves as a valuable tool for self-discovery and creative expression. When you use journaling to explore your experiences, memories, and struggles, you can weave your discoveries into your writing. This deep dive into the human condition adds depth and authenticity to all our writing: poetry, creative nonfiction, online writing, and fiction.

Jennifer introduces questions from her guided journal: some profound, some silly. Either way, they open you up and lead to deeper self-knowledge.

Some of your journal entries will be personal and remain private, just as her recent book title suggests: Stuff I’d Only Tell God.

Other entries you could share with a family member or friend, creating deeper connections through your vulnerability.

You’ll see how journaling unleashes your creative potential and invites you to be more open, leaving a lasting impact on yourself, your closest relationships, and your readers.

Listen in on our discussion—and start journaling—to become a more authentic and impactful writer.

Meet Jennifer Dukes Lee

Jennifer Dukes Lee is a bestselling author, thinker, and question-asker from Iowa. Her friends say they're scared to sit alone in a room with her because they end up telling her things they never intended to say. She is both proud of this fact and also a little annoyed at how nosy she can be.

She put a bunch of her favorite questions into a journal called Stuff I’d Only Tell God. It’s like your own little confession booth.

She’s also the author of Growing Slow and It’s All Under Control.

Subscribe to her newsletter Top Ten with Jen to get the inside scoop on stuff that is blowing her mind, encouraging her heart, and refreshing her soul (subscribe and you'll also get immediate access to free resources): https://jenniferdukeslee.com/subscribe/

Connect with Jennifer:

Learn more at jenniferdukeslee.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferDukesLee

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferdukeslee/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jenniferdukeslee

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dukeslee/

Subscribe to Top Ten with Jen: https://jenniferdukeslee.com/subscribe/

https://youtu.be/cHOo61S9W4s

Time Stamps

The whole interview is packed with inspiration and ideas, but perhaps these time stamps help you navigate to places in our discussion that may seem more interesting.

5:29 Courageous honesty leads to self-discovery.7:21 Journaling and memory keeping.8:53 Journaling is essential for writing.11:23 Gratitude journaling and its impact.14:48 Journaling can inspire and inform.15:01 Inspiration from journaling.16:27 Outline and plan your writing.19:06 The short form writing process.22:03 Journaling preserves memories and emotions.24:09 Capturing memories through journaling.26:33 Journaling sparks creative self-discovery.29:08 Writing about interesting moments.29:35 Birds and dreaming.31:38 Trust the spark, capture it.35:56 Treating journals with different purposes.37:48 Social media and storytelling.41:33 Battle with depression and anxiety.

Transcript

(Transcripts are reviewed and lightly edited.)

Ann Kroeker I'm Ann Kroeker, writing coach. If you're tuning in for the first time, welcome! If you're a regular, welcome back.

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During the early years of parenthood, I wasted a lot of time feeling sorry for myself.

Why can’t I have my own dedicated writing space? Why can’t I have blocks of uninterrupted time?

The overwhelming demands of being a stay-at-home mom almost shut down my creativity. In time, thank heavens, I stopped griping and started looking for solutions.

My idea? Instead of waiting for the perfect conditions, I snatched time.

No Time to Write? Snatch Every Opportunity I wrote when the kids were napping.

I wrote late at night.

I wrote when they were engrossed in a movie.

I squeezed writing into the tiny openings in my days.

Sometimes I only had five minutes, but I wrote.

By making the most of a few free moments here and there, I kept my writing identity alive.

Contain the Creativity This spontaneous approach made for a messy writing life, however.

I left a trail of pens throughout the house. I scratched fleeting phrases onto the backs of envelopes. I scribbled a line of poetry onto a Wendy’s receipt and shoved it into our minivan’s cup holders.

If I could go back, I would organize my writing ideas in one central container. I needed a master notebook for all those scraps, or a notes app on my phone to tap out those ideas.

That would have been smart. I have no idea where that Wendy’s receipt ended up, so that lyrical line is lost forever.

Please learn from my mistake and find an official container for your work.

Creative Container Ideas How you corral and contain your ideas is totally up to you—there’s no single approach for every writer. I recommend you decide on something you can carry with you all the time.

For example, a simple manila envelope you stuff into an oversized bag that goes with you everywhere could contain all your scraps of paper if you scribble on whatever’s nearby. An accordion file or a 3-ring binder with folders and dividers snapped into it are more organized versions of that.

If you’re more suited to digital options, you can use any number of apps for iOs or Android. For example, in this interview, Bryan Collins of Become a Writer Today talks about how he uses Day One, a journaling app, for all of his writing notes, as well.

Seize Tiny Moments Despite the mess, I realized a way forward in the midst of motherhood with no time to write: I seized tiny moments.

I learned that a single sentence or well-crafted phrase composed in five minutes could lay the foundation for a future manuscript.

As a result, I made solid progress on project after project. I built a respectable portfolio that led to a respectable freelance writing career.

Time and opportunities opened up as my kids grew more independent. I wrote books, joined writing communities, worked as an editor, and, as you know, established a coaching business.

All of that was possible because I made the most of five minutes here and five minutes there.

That approach helped my “writing self” survive those early childrearing years and, in 2014, four years of extreme eldercare chaos. Thankfully, expectations have eased up, and my current life stage permits me blocks of time to write, but you know what? I still try to seize every opportunity.

To this day, I write during those tiny moments that free up—it keeps me on track toward achieving my writing goals.

If you don’t already, I hope you try it yourself next time you feel you have no time to write:

Write whenever and wherever you can…for as long as you can.

Enough Stolen Sentences and a Book Is Born In her book The Right to Write, Julia Cameron says:

The ‘if-I-had-time’ lie is a convenient way to ignore the fact that novels require being written and that writing happens a sentence at a time. Sentences can happen in a moment. Enough stolen moments, enough stolen sentences, and a novel is born–without the luxury of time…Yes, it is daunting to think of finding time to write an entire novel, but it is not so daunting to think of finding time to write a paragraph, even a sentence. And paragraphs, made of sentences, are what novels are really made of. (Cameron)

Next time you have 5 minutes free, try one of these writing tasks…

5-Minute Tasks for Nonfiction Writers If you write nonfiction as an author, essayist, blogger, or writer of micro content on social media, here are a few five-minute tasks to tackle (these are drawn from a longer list available at annkroeker.com/5minutewriter).

brainstorm key points or subtopics for upcoming project
create a mind-map or outline for a blog post, article, or chapter
edit and polish a paragraph for clarity
generate ideas for examples, anecdotes, or case studies to illustrate your points
capture sensory details in phrases to add to a narrative
review and revise your thesis statement or main argument
proofread a section for spelling and grammar errors

5-Minute Tasks for Fiction Writers If you write fiction as a novelist or you’re a short story writer (or both), here are a few five-minute tasks to tackle (these are drawn from a longer list available at annkroeker.com/5minutewriter).

create a brief character sketch for a new or existing character
jot down a vivid description of a setting or location
write a snippet of dialogue between two characters
create a mini storyboard or visualization of a crucial scene
revise a challenging scene from a different POV
describe the physical appearance or mannerisms of a character
tighten a section of your project using an editing checklist

No matter what complicates your schedule—whether you have a full-time job or you’re a full-time caregiver—write what you can, when you can.

Because the conditions are never perfect. And the words will come, even five minutes at a time.

Get Your 5 Minute Writer Freebie Grab this fillable workbook for ideas to make the most of every writing opportunity. You’ll get:

Lists of tiny tasks you can tackle when five minutes opens up so you make progress in your writing (for both fiction and nonfiction writers!)
Ideas for where to contain your research, ideas, and drafts
Real-life proof from your writing coach that your writing life can expand in tiny openings

Footnote: Cameron, Julia. The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1999.

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Nearly everyone who writes personal stories in any form has agonized over how much to share.

Will writing about an issue from childhood break Mom’s heart?

Should I change the name of a high school teacher? The next-door neighbor? The dog? The children?

Are the hyacinths blooming by the mailbox worth mentioning?

We write.

We worry.

Is this naval gazing or vulnerability?

Will people feel I’m airing the dirty laundry or sharing my own struggles so others might find healing?

Stories Bring YOU into Your WritingBut…stories!

Goodness, stories set your projects apart from all other essays, articles, and books, because only you had that encounter, that experience, that struggle, that transformation.

When you make a claim and support it with your own life story, no one else could have written that piece.

Stories create connection between reader and writer.

Stories convey universal truths through specific situations.

You don’t have to share your darkest eras or most embarrassing moments to offer transformative stories to readers.

You don’t have to bare all to be a generous and effective storyteller.

You get to choose what to share with the public on a blog or in an article…and you get to choose what will live only in a journal, shoved under your mattress.

Our Three LivesA few years ago, I found a quote from author Gabriel García Márquez, suggesting we have three lives:

A Public life
A Private life
A Secret life

A Newsweek article writes:

About [Márquez’s] own romantic passions, though, the author remained tight-lipped. He told his biographer Gerald Martin “with the expression on his face of an undertaker determinedly closing a coffin lid back down, that ‘everyone has three lives: a public life, a private life and a secret life’.” When Martin asked if Márquez might give him access into the latter, he replied: “No, never.”1

Kenneth Samples at Reasons to Believe describes these three lives:

A Public Life: This is the side of themselves that people present at work, church, civic arenas, and other public contexts. This is how people are generally seen in their daily life outside the home.
A Private Life: This is the side of life that people share with family and close friends. Only a person’s inner circle…gets to see this “version.”
A Secret Life: This is the side of life known only to an individual. In can include one’s private thoughts and secret actions. People may be aware of their secret life, but that is not always the case. The reality of the secret life may be unknown even to the individual person himself for all of us have blind spots that stand in the way of true self-realization2

As writers, we are in control. Like Márquez, we get to choose the stories that will be part of the essay, the memoir, the interview—the public self.

And we get to choose the stories that will never be told—that will remain part of our secret life.

Isn’t that freeing? You get to write, and you get to choose.

My Stories — Our StoriesMy primary newsletter is my coaching newsletter. It’s how I show up in your inbox to support your writing goals and encourage you on your writing journey. I share as much as possible to help you make progress.

You may have noticed I share very few personal stories. I guess I default to keeping a lot of my life out of the public eye.

To explore that, I decided to launch a side project on Substack that I’m calling Story Hatchery.

The premise?

We can outwit AI and learn more about ourselves by capturing and crafting our stories. We need a safe place to do that, a haven for storytelling.

That’s Story Hatchery.

I’ll be writing my own stories, using prompts I’ll share with you.

You’ll get a peek at my writing process, including drafts leading up to a final version.

I’ll pass along storytelling wisdom from people who inspire me.

Follow Story Hatchery to enjoy a more personal side of Ann Kroeker as we practice finding and writing our stories.

I hope I don’t overshare, but at least I have a way to decide.

Resources:* Subscribe to Story Hatchery * Subscribe to my Writing Coach newsletter HERE or using the form below * Read Write to Discover: Start with Yourself * Read What Do I Write Next: Enjoy Your Vein of Gold * Read Can You Write Your Story Before It’s Become a Story?

Footnotes:1. Shakespeare, Nicholas. “The Secret Muse of Gabriel García Márquez.” Newsweek, Newsweek, 11 July 2014, www.newsweek.com/2014/07/18/secret-muse-gabriel-garcia-marquez-260433.html. Accessed 31 May 2023. 2. ‌Samples, Kenneth. “Does Everyone Have Three Lives?” Reasons to Believe, 28 Apr. 2020, reasons.org/explore/blogs/reflections/does-everyone-have-three-lives. Accessed 31 May 2023.

The post To Share or Not to Share: Which Personal Stories Should You Include in Your Writing? appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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As writers, we spend countless hours crafting and refining our work to perfection. We labor over word choices, sentence structure, and the perfect flow.

Despite our best efforts—even after a pass through Grammarly—typos slip through. We tend to spot them in other people’s projects, even if we miss them in our own.

How do you react when you spot a typo in someone else’s writing? Do you assume they’re unprofessional and lose faith in them?

Or do you extend grace and understand that mistakes happen?

Automatic UnsubscribeOne time I spoke with a professional in the creative space who said if she sees a typo, it’s an automatic unsubscribe.

“Seriously?” I exclaimed. “You don’t even give them three strikes?”

“No, that’s it. I unsubscribe on the spot.”

I strive toward excellence and aim for perfect prose, but if I’m in a hurry or make a last-minute change, I miss details. I’m sure you’ve noticed them in blog posts and emails.

“Well,” I told her, “I suppose you aren’t on my list, because I send out notes with errors sometimes.”

She shrugged. That’s her rule and she stands by it.

Part of me respected the high standard she set.

The other part of me craved grace for my shortcomings.

Typos Are HumanAs I said, even the most meticulous writers miss typos from time to time. In my rush to click “publish,” I’ll skip a step in the writing and editing process.

For example, I try to allow time to run my emails and blog posts through Grammarly. Then I look at the clock and realize I’m out of time, and I trust my eye to catch any issues.

Sure enough: those are the days a typo slips through.

As a writer striving to produce polished writing, I need to establish a process that slows me down long enough to follow through.

As a reader spotting typos in other people’s work, I hope to offer the same grace I long for from others who spot my mistakes.

One of my online friends is a proofreader, and her discerning eye caught errors on my Everything page. Instead of instantly unsubscribing and unfollowing me, she reached out with a gentle tone and kindly listed each one—it was a gift! She understood that typos are human. Better yet, she offered her expertise to make my work stronger.

Consider the ContextWhen it comes to typos, context matters. Typos in a casual email or social media post aren’t as concerning as typos in a published article or book.

And please don’t judge my writing ability when we’re texting. Between autocorrect and fat fingers, my messages are a mess!

One Last LookWriting to family and friends is one thing; writing for the public is another. We can take steps to catch embarrassing blips before they’re released to the world wide web.

Proofreading is crucial to the writing process and ensures polished work.

The first place to notice issues is when you’re writing. Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, and Google Docs all track grammar and spelling issues with squiggly lines.

After revisiting what they’ve marked and making any changes, you can run your final draft through a program like:

Grammarly
ProWritingAid
Hemingwayapp.com

Then read it aloud. Vocalizing each word will catch problems that our mind skips over when reading silently.

For high-stakes projects—queries, pitches, book proposals, manuscripts—consider hiring a human editor and proofreader.

Practice Gracious Typo SpottingNot every project warrants that much attention. But relying on self-editing means some of our work will miss a letter, word, or phrase. We’ll use “it’s” where we should have used “its” or “your” instead of “you’re.”

Unless you’re asked to edit or proofread someone’s work, overlook their misspellings or misplaced modifiers. Feel pleased you recognized the error—after all, it means you’re developing an editor’s eye and ear. But when we approach typos with grace, we connect with other writers as human beings.

Maybe—maybe—if we know the person well, we can mention that we saw a minor error and want their work to shine. That way, they know we value the person behind the writing, not just the words on the page.

That’s how I felt when my online friend reached out. The way she emailed me, I could tell she wasn’t scolding or shaming me—she was supporting me.

We can offer ourselves grace, as well, when we realize we sent out our writing with a glaring mistake. Don’t beat yourself up or see yourself as a failure.

You’re an active writer, daring to share your work with the world.

The only way to avoid public typos altogether is to never click “publish.”

Let’s strive for clean, quality prose while extending grace to others—and ourselves—when an error slips through.

Instead of seeing it as a black mark on their record, view it as a reminder that a real person sits on the other side of the screen. Yes, that fallible writer is a real human being, writing her heart out.

Resources:* Tips on Self-Editing from The Artful Edit * The Paralysis of Perfectionism * How Good Does My Writing Need to Be Online? * Grammar Matters: Why Concern Ourselves with Commas?

LIMITED-TIME OFFER Now through June 30, 2023, email subscribers enjoy a special offer to join Your Platform Matters (YPM) for half off the first month (that’s only $6!). We’re thrilled to host a special training on June 13 led by Becky Beresford called How to Run a Killer Giveaway.

Head over to annkroeker.com/connect to subscribe to my coaching emails—your discount code will be in the p.s. of your welcome note. If you’re already a subscriber, check your inbox (or Promotions tab) for the email sent May 18, 2023 (your code is in the p.s.).

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Years ago, one of my clients updated me on her publishing journey. She turned in her manuscript on deadline, so that was a huge relief.

Then her editor asked for one last piece she’d put off.

“Ann, it took me two full weeks to track down everything for my endnotes. Two weeks!”

This first-time author knew the editor would ask for endnotes, but she had not kept track of them as she wrote.

Putting Off the InevitableWhen words were flowing—forming chapters, shaping ideas—she didn’t want to lose momentum fiddling around with citations. So she decided to focus solely on the writing, trusting those endnotes would be easy to put together later.

After all, most of the books she mentioned in her text were stacked next to her, ready to access after submitting her manuscript. She could find the direct quotes online again in a few clicks, right?

“Please, Ann,” she said, “I’m begging you to tell all your clients to document their sources along the way. Waiting until the end was a nightmare.”

Save Time & HeadachesI’ve tried to convince the authors I coach to do just that: document all sources along the way.

More specifically, I recommend they create a citation at the moment they mention it in their draft. Or at the latest, create it before stepping away from that writing session. You think you’ll come back to it the next morning, but it’s easy to push it off until later…and later…and later.

Then your editor calls and you have to pull them together to submit a few days later.

Citations Are a PainIt’s a pain to track these bits of information.

Author Joanna Russ writes, “I once asked a young dissertation writer whether her suddenly grayed hair was due to ill-health or personal tragedy; she answered It was the footnotes” (Russ, 137).

It’s tempting for authors to think of citations as a necessary evil, aging us, plaguing us.

Citations Are a GiftBut in reality they’re a gift to our readers. They can dig deeper into the topic we introduce by visiting the websites, books, and podcasts we mention.

Citations are also a gift to us.

Heaven knows we want to avoid accusations of plagiarism, adhere to copyright laws, and make good faith efforts to track down the origin of a quote or statistic.

I’m not a lawyer and can’t give legal advice, but giving credit where credit is due is a step in the right direction.

A good start is to include attribution for:

direct quotes
paraphrased quotes
summarized ideas & info that aren’t common knowledge
paraphrased ideas & info that aren’t common knowledge
any idea, statistic, framework, or content you didn’t develop yourself

Create citations for any source: physical books, Kindle books, websites, interviews, podcasts, seminars, conferences, and more.

In doing so, you demonstrate you’re joining—even contributing to—the broader conversation on this topic.

Is Blog Post and Social Media Citation Overkill?You may associate footnotes and endnotes with books and scholarly writing, but I hope you’ll join me in citing sources in your digital writing, as well: in blog posts, articles—even social media posts.

In years past, bloggers have generally taken a simpler approach, relying on linked text to credit sources. This minimized reader disruption and saved time.

Parenthetical citation or cumbersome in-text mentions with signal text slow the flow. You can see an example where I wrote “Author Joanna Russ writes…”

That phrasing signaled a source. Did it slow you down? Did it bother you?

Bloggers have generally viewed that style as clunky. Footnoting blog posts seemed over the top.

Vowing to Start FootnotingI myself used to think it was over the top. In the early days of blogging no one else was adding footnotes, so I didn’t bother.

Until 2012, when I taught high school students a session about plagiarism. The more I prepared for the session, the more I realized I wasn’t following citation best practices in my own writing.

I wrote about it on my blog, vowing to do better.

In the comments of that post, readers chimed in with a wide range of reactions. Some applauded footnoting even in blog posts (especially teachers).

Others believed it would slow them down too much—they might not publish as often.

Still others saw my reasoning but felt footnotes or inline citations would disrupt the reader’s experience. In their opinion, the ease of hyperlinking text sufficed.

They leaned on leaving footnoting to the academics. Besides, newspapers and magazines follow AP Style, which doesn’t require footnotes. Why should a blogger bother with it?

When I started adding footnotes, the inconvenience did slow me down, just as those bloggers predicted. I regretted my vow. I backslid and returned to hyperlinking text to online sources.

Broken Links, Lost “Citations”A recently installed plugin has been alerting me to broken links on my website, and I’m realizing links alone aren’t enough for proper attribution.

Over time, websites delete pages or close down altogether. New companies buy expired domains and publish unrelated content. Those links lead to a 404 page.

If I’d footnoted those articles, I could have preserved the source and demonstrated due diligence even if the actual link eventually turned into a dead end.

Now I’m returning to old articles and blog posts, seeing sentences like, “As I found in this article and this blog post, families are slowing down and…” The words “this” link out to articles that were live at the time of the writing but are unavailable today.

Thankfully the Internet Wayback Machine helps me locate the original sources to figure out what it said. From that information I can generate an alternative link and create a footnote.

But what a hassle!

I feel like my client who lost two weeks of her life tracking down endnotes for her book.

I feel like the suddenly grayed dissertation writer who told Joanna Russ It was the footnotes.

If only I had created citations as I published those pieces, I would have saved myself so much time and trouble.

And I would have given readers who stumble on the piece a decade later easy ways to dig into the topic.

Citations = CredibilityWhen I see others cite their sources, I view them as more credible because they reveal the writers on whose shoulders they stand.

Readers see us as more credible and ethical, too, when we clearly point to our sources.

While inconsistent, I’m trying to improve. By including my sources, my readers can trace back to the writers on whose shoulders I stand.

Whether you’re an author drafting your manuscript or a blogger writing weekly posts, I hope you’ll consider citing sources as a new best practice.

Don’t worry about doing it perfectly or updating years of existing posts. Just start with your next post and use apps that generate citations with the click of a button.

When you build it into your workflow, you’ll see it’s not such a hassle…and I hope you’ll find, in time, that it’s worth the effort.

How to Start Citing SourcesNot used to documenting sources and creating citations? You may wonder thing like:

What’s “fair use”?

What’s “common knowledge”?

How do I know when an idea is emerging from personal knowledge after years of living, reading, and learning, and when the idea should be credited to someone else?

What’s the difference between inline, in-text, and parenthetical citations?

When do I footnote and when do I create endnotes—and do I need one of those Works Cited pages I created in high school English class?

Do I use MLA, APA, or Chicago Manual of Style formatting?

Learn a little bit each time you write. In time, you’ll feel more knowledgeable and confident.

And you can simplify the process using citation tools. Test some of these:

EasyBib
Chegg Citation Generator
Chegg Citation Machine (I’m not sure why they have two—test them to see which works best!)
built-in citation features in Microsoft Word
built-in citation features in Google Docs
Chrome extensions like MyBib

Cite sources to serve your readers today—and yourself in the future.

If you plan to write a nonfiction book, you’ll probably search your blog posts and maybe even Instagram captions for stories, quotes, and ideas to include in that book.

Trust me, you’ll be so grateful for those footnotes!

FootnoteRuss, Joanna. How to Suppress Women’s Writing. Univ. of Texas Press, 2005. (137)

Watch the FREE training

Craft Your Best Book Proposal offers an overview of what goes into a book proposal and why you need (and want!) one

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FREE ON-DEMAND TRAINING

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Consider a lowly stick, memorialized by my friend:

Little Y Stick
Fragile, knobby crossroads in my fingers
Bring me eyes to see how God is in my midst.1

Jennifer Dukes Lee penned that poem after we chatted about a prompt found in poemcrazy, by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge.

Poemcrazy’s PromptIn Chapter 31, Susan instructs us to find something in nature that attracts our attention. Maybe the object has a quality that we’re attracted to, or maybe it’s just speaking to us in some way.2

Jennifer pondered the little Y stick and used Susan’s prompt to craft that small poem.

I decided to try Susan’s prompt myself.

Following Susan’s instructions, I found objects in the yard that attracted my attention. One was a pinecone.

Name itFirst, we name it. Name it by its actual name, like a pine cone, or make up a name, like “tree cigar.”

Susan says you could call a mushroom “white sticky,” for example, or “plump cloud.” Or you could use its actual name, “mushroom.”3

Describe itNext, describe some of its qualities using descriptive language or by comparing it with something else.
“Bring me your…”Finally, you have a line that starts, “Bring me your…” and finish with a quality that this item has.4

As with any creative venture or poem, you get to make it your own. You can leave off the “bring me” part or expand on its name or its description.

Here’s an example in Susan’s book from a seventh grader:

Dead rose,
crinkly as paper,
bring me love.5

This exercise taps attentiveness and imagination to make connections and explore our yearnings.

Sample PoemsLet’s look at Susan’s example using a mushroom:

Honey mushroom
floating in grass like a plump cloud,
bring me your love of dark places.6

After spending time with the object, the final template is:

Name (real or made up)
“You look like…” (feel free to drop “you look like” and creatively describe it)
“Bring me…” or “Bring me your…”

Now that you know the template, look at Jennifer’s again:

Little Y Stick
Fragile, knobby crossroads in my fingers
Bring me eyes to see how God is in my midst.

Let’s Try the PromptIn my yard, we have to deal with the seeds of two Sweetgum trees—long-stemmed spiky orbs.

Approximately five million of these “Sweetgum balls,” as we call them, coat our front yard year round. You could spend hours filling three giant trash bins only to look up and see a thousand more dangling from the branches above, poised to drop during the next thunderstorm that blows through.

Despite the trouble they cause me, I spent time with one of them, staying open to what it might offer me:

Spiky orb, one of hundreds, maybe thousands,
fragile, persistent, overwhelming:
bring me your abundance.

We also deal with an outrageous number of pinecones that fall from two fir trees.

I found a pinecone that was still closed, which happens when it’s cold outside. As the temperature heats up, the pinecone opens to release its seeds.

Smooth pine cone, waiting to warm, waiting to share yourself—
hatches shut tight against the cold,
protecting yourself, soon to unlatch—
bring me your care and caution,
knowing the time to stay guarded and safe,
and knowing the time to open oneself,
to be fully seen.

Try this prompt yourself and share your poem with me.

I can’t wait to read what you come up with.

__________________

Ready to elevate your writing craft—with a coach to guide you?Get the direction you need to improve as a writer with The Art & Craft of Writing.

Learn more!

Footnotes:1. Dukes Lee, Jennifer. Prayer labyrinth story with a Y stick image and poem. Instagram, 17 Mar. 2023. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp5KAwgLAR-/. Accessed 1 Apr 2023. 2. Wooldridge, Susan. Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words. Three Rivers Press, 1997. (113) 3. ibid (111) 4. ibid (109) 5. ibid 6. ibid (112)

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Gain inspiration from the journey of a first-time author who transformed her dream of writing into a reality by taking bold action. Meredith Hite Estevez’s success story involved launching a captivating podcast and partnering with a coach (yep, that’s me!) to develop a winning strategy.

Her talent and tenacity helped her build a robust platform, create a winning book proposal, secure an agent, and land a publishing deal in just a few years. Although she felt like it took an eternity, that’s fast.

Follow her story and be inspired to pursue your own writing dreams with confidence!

Resources Here’s the program Merideth mentions in the video (we worked together to complete her proposal and set her up for success): https://annkroeker.com/yourcompellingbookproposal/ * Merideth’s website: artistsforjoy.org * Merideth on Instagram: @artistsforjoy * Merideth’s free resource, 3 Ways to Love Your Inner Artist * Merideth’s Creative Clusters using The Artist’s Way*

https://youtu.be/-pe0ds60EccTranscript(Transcripts are reviewed and lightly edited.)

Ann Kroeker

I’m Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach. If you’re tuning in for the first time, welcome. If you’re a regular, welcome back. I’m sharing my best skills and strategies to help writers improve craft, pursue publishing, and achieve their writing goals. On today’s show, you’re going to get a glimpse of a first time author’s journey from idea to a signed contract with a publisher.

Even better, she’s a creative coach herself, so it’s like you’re getting two coaches for one.

You’re going to love meeting Dr. Merideth Hite Estevez.

Merideth Hite EstevezDr. Merideth Hite Estevez is a spiritual space-maker for artists as an oboist, writer, coach, and educator. Her podcast Artists for Joy was an Award of Excellence Winner in the 2022 Communicator Awards and is in the top 2% of podcasts worldwide.

She has served thousands of artists in communal creative recovery with her popular support groups around Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and serves artists of all disciplines through her writings, workshops, and one-to-one coaching services. She holds degrees in oboe from The Juilliard School and Yale University and is a Certified Start with Heart Facilitator through Graydin.

As a trained coach, she runs a thriving business helping creatives of all disciplines looking for a more joyful life. Merideth has performed with top orchestras in the US and abroad, including the MET Opera and PhillyPops and is currently the English hornist/Second Oboe of the Chamber Orchestra of NY. She has served on faculties of numerous universities and schools of music, most recently as Associate Professor of Oboe at University of Delaware.

When she’s not creating or teaching, you’ll find her attempting to speak foreign languages with a southern accent while traveling with her husband Rev. Edwin Estevez, daughter Eva, and son Eli. Her first book, an inspirational guide to the creative life, is forthcoming in 2024.

Merideth, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here.

[00:02:03] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Hi, Ann. Thanks for having me.

[00:02:04] – Ann Kroeker

Now, that’s an impressive bio. I’m amazed at all of the things you juggle, and in the middle of it all, you managed to land a contract to write a book.

And I would love it if you could give people a simple summary of this crazy journey you’ve been on. Can you just summarize it? And then we can go into detail of what that looked like.

[00:02:26.780] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Absolutely. Yeah. It feels like a really, really long journey.

Like many of the people listening to this, I have been writing all my life. My mother was my elementary school librarian. And so writing was something that always was around. I took a lot of creative writing classes in college. But as you heard from my bio, I always had a beeline on being a professional oboist. All my concentration and focus was on music. And so I didn’t really believe that I could be a writer.

I got through college and got married and started having kids and really, especially during the pandemic, felt this new found rumbling that I needed to write. And I really felt like artists needed support, especially in that moment during the pandemic when everything shut down.

I had written a small blog that nobody really read, but I had developed a little bit of a writing routine before 2020. But I remember sometime in April of 2020, I bought a microphone and I started podcasting, and it was really writing for the podcast that began my drive and started to become a reality that I wanted to write a book.

[00:03:36] – Merideth Hite Estevez

And so what I did was realized that I needed a coach and I needed support. I needed somebody to tell me because I felt so equipped in the world of music, but I knew that there was “insider information,” quote unquote,” that I needed to know to get it traditionally published.

And so I found you, thank God.

And I just looked back through my emails and it was February of 2021 that I signed up finally after hesitating at my keyboard for months and months to sign up for coaching and to purchase one of your courses on how to write a non-fiction book proposal.

After that I realized that I needed to focus on having a baby, because a few months later I had my son. And that’s when I was like, “Ann, I need to pause, because I need to have a baby.”

So I had a baby and all during my maternity leave, I was really thinking about the book and the thoughts about what it would be about were just sitting there while I was feeding him and up all night.

Fast forward, a couple more months after maternity leave, I jumped back on the coaching wagon.

[00:04:39] – Merideth Hite Estevez

I went through your course, your compelling book proposal, which walked me through step by step, exactly what to do.

We worked on the proposal. And that spring I started pitching to literary agents.

And an amazing thing happened. All during that time, I was continuing to produce my weekly podcast. And I had a listener reach out because I finally admitted to my podcast audience that I wanted to write a book, and a couple of weeks later, one of my listeners wrote to me and said, “Hey, my husband works at one of the big five publishers. Would you like some guidance on your book proposal?”

And I was like, “The more guidance, the better.”

So that just goes to show that yes, writing a book proposal and finding the right teammates is really important, but it’s also important to keep writing and to publish something weekly because that person helped me.

I had my book proposal ready, thanks to you. I sent a draft to that guy and he gave me some tips and he gave me some names of some people and it helped open a door or two.

And I found a literary agent that summer, in August of 2022.

[00:05:52] – Merideth Hite Estevez

And then we decided to grow my platform a little more over the summer. And I put a lot of effort toward social media, and then we decided to pitch. The proposal was ready and we decided to pitch in October of 2022.

And then, oh man. Everything slows way down at that point, at least in my opinion, because you send the emails and you’re sitting there waiting for them to tell you yes or no.

And some people said no—many people said no—and a few people said yes. And so my agent and I have been in the process of going through the offers. We had multiple offers, incredibly, and we’ve been going through them. And then by the time this interview goes live, I will have signed the contract and I’ll be crazily writing the first manuscript. So, yeah, that’s it.

[00:06:41] – Ann Kroeker

That’s an incredible timeline. I know you said things slow way down, but what you just described…let’s just go back, you said 2020 was that spark of, “I think I want to write.” And you had the idea for the book, but it sounded like, I just want to get my words out. And that’s when you got going with the blog and then the podcast, right? Am I remembering right? It was in 2020. I mean, that’s really not that long.

[00:07:03] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Well, the blog I started in 2017, but it was like a slow burn. And it literally was like some weeks I would write. In 2020 was when I really started weekly producing something online.

[00:07:16] – Ann Kroeker

Okay, so that’s interesting to me and I think to anybody tuning in: you committed with the dream—would you say it was a dream or a goal at that point in 2020 when you started showing up every week?

[00:07:30] – Merideth Hite Estevez

I think it was a dream, but I knew enough about the publishing industry to know that I needed a lot more of an “audience” to prove that I could sell my book. I knew enough to be dangerous because if you listen to any interviews, they’ll be like, “You need 100,000 followers.” And so it felt like a dream instead of a goal because I was like, “How am I ever going to get there?” And by the way, I’m not there yet.

[00:07:54] – Ann Kroeker

And I think it’s important for people to know that you did all this. You got this. And you got it with not these wild numbers. But you did work at it and grew the numbers.

[00:08:06] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. The growth.

Many people said this throughout the conversations I was having with publishing professionals and with you, that growth—engagement—is more important than the bottom line, adding up all the numbers and showing that you not only have people there, but that there are more people showing up every month, every three months. How much has it grown and how are the people engaging? Are they clicking? Are they purchasing? Are they commenting? Things like that.

That was always something I really enjoyed actually connecting with the people that were there instead of dreaming about the people who might be there.

[00:08:43] – Ann Kroeker

I had a great distinction between those two types of people. Was there anything that you feel like this event, this activity, really helped me turn the corner toward my goal?

[00:08:59.570] – Merideth Hite Estevez

I think that I started using Instagram ads.

I actually heard an interview recently where someone was like, everybody knows that social media is a “pay to play” thing now. And I was like, “Wow, really?”

I have found ads to be really helpful. And some people might consider that buying followers because you are paying. But for me, the way I see it is when I put $6 a day for five days behind a podcast episode that I believe will really serve people and help people, it allows Instagram to put my work in front of the people that will benefit from what I’m writing.

And so it’s not just that I’m paying for people to follow me. I’m paying Instagram to find the people that could benefit from my work and get it in front of them. So they’ll click and then they can engage if it’s right for them. And so that’s how I see it.

And the Instagram ads have been… I’ve gotten better, too, at making… I’ve noticed which ones are making my follower count go up.

The Artist’s Way, which is the book by Julia Cameron, that’s really a huge core of my online community and the community that we’re building online.

[00:10:14] – Merideth Hite Estevez

It is a hugely popular book. And so a lot of people follow the hashtag #theartistsway or Google “Artist’s Way” groups. And so between ads and really using ads to promote The Artist’s Way courses and workshops that I do, that has caused the biggest growth in my platform.

[00:10:33] – Ann Kroeker

And it does connect to your book idea as well?

[00:10:38.070] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Absolutely, yes. They tell you not to put a best seller in your comps on your book proposal. But I think that my work has been so… That book is such a phenomenon. I mean, it really, truly is. And it allows me to… We talk about psychographics. The readers of my book are the people who read The Artist’s Way. I think that doesn’t work with every book, but it’s been useful for me, and we just attract just the right people to participate in the stuff I offer.

[00:11:12] – Ann Kroeker

Can you tell us about your book?

[00:11:15] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Sure.

My book is about how to find joy in the creative life, how to debunk the tortured artist stereotype, and to live joyfully and creatively.

I offer a little bit of my story, a little bit of the stories of people that have been in my workshops who have experienced creative recovery.

I got to the end of 12 years of college, like you read in my bio, and I was so burnt out and creatively lost. I had no idea how I was going to go and play music for the rest of my life when I didn’t even enjoy it. And I was “at the top of my game.” I had done everything right as a perfectionist, and that was just it.

I had no skills for how to do the really, truly the spiritual work to recover my creative impulse and to continue creating with joy.

And so the book is the book I needed when I was standing there on the street with my Juilliard diploma in hand. And it’s really a coaching resource for creatives.

[00:12:21] – Ann Kroeker

I can’t wait to read it myself. And I’m sure everybody tuning in today cannot wait to read it as well. And it’s very much in line with your author brand, if you will, using that phrase, because you have a podcast called Artists for Joy.

I mean, it seems like that’s the fire in you. That’s what you want to infuse in others or pass along to others is: we can do this creative work with joy. And I love that, reviving that in people.

[00:12:52] – Merideth Hite Estevez

One thing that I think you said to me that has really resonated deeply was asking the question: How can you pour into people? How can you serve them in your work?

Not how can you sell to them or how can you market to them, but seeing work as outpouring from your deepest passion and deepest desire to make a difference in the world.

And that’s really helped because it has been a lot of, of course, with publishing and music and any art form, there’s going to be ups and downs, right? You’re going to experience failures and rejections, big and small.

When you see it not as the thing that’s going to confirm that you are worthy and valuable and loved, but instead you see it as I have something I know that could help people and I believe would make a difference. And here: I’m going to pour it out.

That’s been a huge shift for me. And I love that line of discussion when you were sharing that with others.

[00:13:49] – Ann Kroeker

So it sounds like you’ve had to really live out the message of your book as you created the book itself. Kinda meta, I guess.

[00:13:55] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Unfortunately, or fortunately, yes. I think you told me once, you’ve seen it happen many times that whenever you’re given a book idea, then you’re called to live that out in your real life. You’re going to be testing your theories.

[00:14:13] – Ann Kroeker

And? How did your theories test out or prove themselves?

[00:14:16] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Of course, they’re working. And this is where when I hear the word “prescriptive nonfiction,” which is the genre that I’m working in, I want to cringe because… And as a coach, I know what’s right for me may not be right for you.

The purpose of coaching would be, “Let’s discover what you need and only you know that.”

And I think that we can sell or share or serve those readers of non-fiction who are truly looking for solidarity, advice, support. And by sharing what’s worked for me, you could find something and translate it to what works for you. And so that’s how I make that right in my mind because otherwise I’m like, it sounds gimmicky. It sounds like an infomercial.

[00:15:04] – Ann Kroeker

I heard another coach say, yes, we call it prescriptive nonfiction in the publishing industry. So if somebody’s hearing that for the first time, that’s what we refer to as any book that is helping people, even if it’s not “prescriptive,” even if it’s not “do this and you’ll have this outcome,” even if it’s not a “four-step plan” or whatever. We still just call it that in the industry.

She renamed it—just for purposes of helping people envision a different way—”transformative nonfiction.” And I feel like that fits more what you’re doing.

And even though the publishing industry might not use that term, I love it internally for a person to just, “Ah, that’s what it is. Yeah, I’m taking it from here to here because that’s the transformation I experienced. I went from here to here.” Or, “That’s what I help others experience like you do as a coach. Take them from here to there.”

[00:15:54] – Merideth Hite Estevez

I really struggled with that in writing my book proposal. Remember? I don’t know if you remember helping me edit it, but that desire to stay away from gimmicky language and yet the need to sell the book to the publisher in a paragraph.

And I realized, and it was probably you who realized this and you showed it to me, but I’m writing the book for that person, for that person who’s having that exact same conversation in their own mind.

How can I find the balance between marketability and creativity?

Does one have to be “king” in every situation?

I think in the book proposal, it says this book is for the artist or the writer who is wondering where their voice is in all the marketspeak and the voice who feels squelched by marketspeak.

I was like, “Yes, Ann, thank you.”

That’s why you have a coach, my friends, because they will help you translate yourself for the market.

[00:16:55] – Ann Kroeker

Well, we need language to talk about our ideas so that other people can talk about our ideas.

And it starts with that, well, for you, for every writer who’s moving toward traditional publishing—but actually I would argue toward self-publishing as well—you need a way to talk about it.

We need a way to articulate it in a way that sticks. And people go, “Yeah…”

And then for the traditional path, you need to be able to give that language to an agent so the agent can use that language to “sell it,” so to speak, well, literally, yes, to the acquisition editor.

Then the acquisition or acquisitions—the AE—can then take that language and sell it to their team and then onward to the pub board.

And if you can get that language right in a way that feels right, and that’s where you are struggling, can I get language and the language is basically what resonates with the reader.

In the end, it all plays out for the reader, if you can put language around it so they can say, “That’s it. That’s what I want. That’s what I need. That’s what I’ve been looking for for so long.”

[00:17:57] – Ann Kroeker

And now they can talk about it in groups of writers or with their writing buddy or with their group of musicians they practice with or whatever—I know you don’t work exclusively with writers.

And so, yes, I think that it is worth it to do that hard work to land on the language that feels right and good because in the end, you’re giving exactly what the reader needs and wants, whether they realize it or not, which is a way to talk about their situation so they can experience transformation.

[00:18:25] – Merideth Hite Estevez

That was a lot harder than writing the whole book. I mean, it really was. The marketing and promotional materials in the book proposal were the hardest part for me. And the back cover copy and the little things that need to be short and quippy and still feel like they’re me.

[00:18:42] – Ann Kroeker

Yeah. And I think what you said about—actually, it comes back to that Instagram ad that you were talking about. You said earlier that it sounds like you’re paying for followers, but you’re not.

You’re merely presenting an opportunity to them. You’re paying to have it presented to them. They still get to make that decision.

And all that language you just described, it’s the same thing:

“I’m presenting you with an opportunity to walk through this book to experience transformation. And here’s what it would look like if you were to buy this book and read it. Here’s what it would feel like to move from chapter one to chapter whatever your last chapter is and get at the end and feel like, ‘Now I know that this…”

It sounded like they might come at it feeling like, “I’m living that tortured artist life, but I don’t want to live that way. I’ve lost my joy and I want something different.”

And so that language is not sales tricks or gimmicks at all. You’re merely saying, “Look, if this is where you’re at, I’ve been there. And if this is where you want to be, here’s where you could be in a path to that, that’s contained in this book. And I offer it to you as a gift.”

[00:19:48] – Ann Kroeker

You didn’t use that language, but that’s the goal of it.

I think the best marketing is honest marketing.

But then doing the hard work as writers of finding the right words, and you did that.

You did that hard work. And then when you do that upfront, it becomes easier to write the whole book, too, even though I think you did it in the other order, maybe writing the book and then finding the language. But either way, it’s bringing clarity.

[00:20:12] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Absolutely. And I would think that the whole process of doing, I just want to reiterate that from beginning to end, it was the weekly podcasting where I found what I wanted to actually talk about.

So if you’re waiting to start a podcast or to start a blog or to start a Substack or whatever it is, if you’re waiting because you don’t know what you want to talk about yet, don’t discount the learning that will occur while you’re doing it.

And all the great, important information that you will gain about who’s reading and who it resonates with and what it resonates and what specifically, what’s thread of what goes to where and helps people in this way or that.

If I could go back, I would say that to myself: “You’re going to learn so much. And some of it is going to be scary and some of it is going to be embarrassing. But all in all, it’s going to account for exactly you’re going to find your people by doing the work.”

And that has been so fun. It truly has been fun and joyful.

[00:21:14] – Ann Kroeker

I love that. You find your people, you also articulate your ideas, which is what you said, and you find your ideas.

In the process of doing those two things, showing up, finding your people, testing your ideas, you’re basically validating the whole thing as you go.

In some cases, maybe in a way, you’re building it as you go. “I think in the book, I might want to talk about this. Maybe I’ll bring that up in tiny form and talk about it for 10 minutes on the podcast and see how people respond.”

There’s a validation that happens at the same time. But you didn’t maybe consciously go into it that you’re like, “I want to talk to writers or artists,” right?

[00:21:51] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Right. Yeah. And with the book proposal, too, I was like, okay, I don’t know what I’m doing. But by the end of finishing the proposal and having you walk me through and edit it together, I realized that I had basically written the book already. I mean, it truly I had.

And the book proposal provided so much clarity around all of it. And none of the work in that is wasted, even though that’s not going to be published anywhere. That work in that book proposal was so integral in the whole project.

[00:22:24] – Ann Kroeker

Exactly. It’s the plan that you’re going to follow and what you’re promising to the publishing house that you’re partnering with.

“This is the plan I am going to follow from beginning to end. Here’s what’s going to be in it. Here’s how I’m going to promote it. Here’s what I’m going to do before and here’s what I’ll do during and after the book’s release.”

And so it’s your plan. But then within that is the content, which is that framework, whether you call it a four-part framework or not, it doesn’t matter. It’s just like that. This is what’s going in the book.

And yeah, if you do all that hard work, then yes, it’s much easier to write the book because you have something to follow that framework to follow for your book. And it’s a lot of work up front.

How long would you compare the time that it took to build out those pieces? You said you didn’t really love marketing plan and all that, versus the book’s framework: the table of contents, chapter summaries, the pieces that really reflected what was going in the book.

Would you say it was 50/50 the amount of time that it took to build those, or do you remember?

[00:23:19] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Yeah, that’s a really interesting question. Well, if you remember, we had the realization that my chapters were way too long, and so my book was going to be like 100,000 words, and that’s way too long. So I think we had to redo the structure a couple of different times together as we were looking at the word count and what we wanted to say.

But yeah, I think that the book structure—by the time I got the marketing really clear…and I keep going back to the back cover copy because, we wordsmithed that however many words it is, how many words is the back cover copy?

[00:23:53] – Ann Kroeker

It’s usually about 250 words. [Note: It’s really only about 200 words]

[00:23:55] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Yeah, I mean, that’s nothing. I probably spent three days on that thing.

But once I did that, I was like, I got it. I got it. And then I took that clarity back to the shape of the book. And then the chapter summaries were just like, boom, boom, boom.

So yeah, I would say, yeah, 50/50. And much of my book had already existed in a lot of different places on my computer.

And so it was truly like a puzzle of like, “Does this go here?” And, “Oh, I think we need actually new one here.” And so it wasn’t like I was starting like, “I’m going to write a book about X and starting from scratch.” It was like I had the idea in my head already.

[00:24:33] – Ann Kroeker

Like you were assembling from previous copy. What were those things? Were they messages you had given as a speaker? Were they just journal entries? What were the little pieces and snapshots?

[00:24:46] – Merideth Hite Estevez

They were mostly podcasts, but my podcast format is a little different than the book, obviously. There’s a listener question part of my podcast, which isn’t going to be in the book, but the category or framework umbrella of a particular podcast idea was already written.

And then I’m editing now, I’m going back and I’m writing the book now. And I’m seeing firsthand how much I’ve learned not just about my topic, but also about writing and how I’m shaping the book much differently than I shaped the writing in its original format, which was for spoken for audio.

I’m learning that my writing chops have gotten stronger, and of course they have. But I wanted so badly to be perfect when I arrived, Ann. I don’t know if that’s coming through.

But that’s why I’m writing this book because I just want everyone to know that, like Julia Cameron says, “The desire to make great art keeps us from making art.”

And so it’s so important just to get started and get going. And it’s okay if somebody has to come behind you and tell you you’re using the wrong word or the wrong comma or whatever. So yeah, I’m seeing now as I go back and edit those previous existing blog posts and podcasts into a book that is something totally different, even if the idea was there originally.

[00:26:05] – Ann Kroeker

Would it have been easier if you had started from scratch? You built your idea out, you built the framework in the chapters and the chapter summaries, you envisioned it and then just wrote from scratch? Would that have been easier than trying to assemble it?

[00:26:16] – Merideth Hite Estevez

I find myself deleting quite a lot and doing that paragraph by paragraph, but I don’t know yet.

I have a second book that is in the mix right now that we’re working on pitching and talking with people about. And so the second book will truly be… The idea is there, but it’ll truly be more from scratch. And so part two of this podcast will be me coming back and talking about whether or not that’s easier.

[00:26:43] – Ann Kroeker

That’s a great idea. I love that because I think that is a curious thing. I think most people don’t have source material from their life other than maybe journals.

And I feel like I’m thinking of another person I work with, and it is so tempting to get into those journals. And next thing you know, you’re spending three hours looking at something from 1997, and you’re not doing the writing. Is there really gold there?

But maybe there is. And so I think that would be another interesting topic to see what’s there. Yours are not journals. Yours were already written with an audience in mind, which already tightened it up. It wasn’t just free form. It wasn’t Morning Pages to borrow from Julia Cameron. That’s not where you’re pulling from, right?

[00:27:25] – Merideth Hite Estevez

No, we’re not supposed to let anybody ever read those anyway, by the way. That’s the rule.

[00:27:31] – Ann Kroeker

But there could a nugget in there. There could be a nugget.

[00:27:33] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Well, for sure. And this is where the chapter summaries really come in handy because I pull all this word vomit, sorry for the phrase, but I pull all this highly unedited raw idea that had been published. I just talked out loud in my podcast without much editing.

And then I go back and really look for what the chapter summary said we were going to do in this chapter, and then make that happen in a way that feels like a through line through the book, if that makes sense.

[00:28:03] – Ann Kroeker

Yes, it’s corralling the idea. And that idea has to support the big idea of the book, the big premise, the big thesis of the book.

And so each chapter has its own thing. And then those all feed into the main idea.

So if you sprawled in your podcast beyond the scope of that chapter—that’s what I’m hearing you say—then you would just trim that out. It gets to live still and help people in its other form, its original form. I have a quick question, though. Do you not use a script of any kind then for your podcast?

[00:28:31] – Merideth Hite Estevez

No, I read from… I write an essay and then I read it on the podcast.

[00:28:36] – Ann Kroeker

Okay. It sounded like you were just talking.

[00:28:37] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Okay. Well, but I don’t overly edit and sometimes I go off script.

And you encouraged me once in our coaching session like, “Are Your Podcasts transcripts online?”

And I’m like, “I can’t publish what I have written that I’m saying. It’s so messy. The words are misspelled and the little red squiggly lines are everywhere. I can’t publish that.”

But eventually you convinced me to do that for SEO purposes. But yeah, it’s a script, but it’s loose. And the more I do it, actually, the looser it becomes and the longer the episodes become.

[00:29:11] – Ann Kroeker

Which is fun. We get to know you better and you’re feeling more comfortable in your own voice. I love that. Do you have anything that’s really surprised you about this journey from… And let’s focus maybe just on the publishing journey, but you can include the writing journey because that’s all part of it. That’s part of the journey is your writing and moving toward publishing. What’s been the most surprising thing along the way?

[00:29:30] – Merideth Hite Estevez

I know that not everyone experiences this. So let me first name my privilege that this process has actually been pretty okay. So if you’re listening to this and you’re like, “Wow, that was not my experience.”

I just want to encourage us all when we experience rejection to look for the goodness in the rejection.

That’s what surprised me that even the rejections are good because they have information for me. And sometimes there’s a compliment in there like, “Well, I thought Merideth was a wonderful writer, or a beautiful person, or a bright whatever, but the book is not organized well.”

Or “I felt that I don’t really agree with her scope, or I think she’s trying to do too many things.” One person said that and that’s really useful. That is really useful information.

And to know that they read my words, I am so grateful for that. I am surprised by how much joy it brought me to know that this great editor who I respect deeply, their team read my words. Even though they said no to my words, I am surprised at how much joy there is even in the rejections.

[00:30:46] – Merideth Hite Estevez

And I hope that it will always stay that way. I think as the stakes get higher and higher, it will probably be harder to say that. So remind me of this later, Ann.

[00:30:57] – Merideth Hite Estevez

What surprised me is that when people read my words…even if they give me a pass, even when they say “pass” on my book idea, it really, truly, it gives me information, it gives me clarity, and it brings me joy.

[00:31:10] – Ann Kroeker

When you’re just getting started, that is really hard to do.

And the fact that as a first-time author, you were able to go ahead and lean into that, feel the sting of “They don’t want me,” but know you’re in the game and you were doing the work of taking the risk…

You put yourself out there.

Because you never get a rejection if you don’t share anything.

But you are sharing it and you’re getting that incredible input.

Thank you for sharing that. I think it will be very, very important for people to hear to say that: Take what you can. That would be the gift that could help you change it, improve it, or grow as a person.

You may never know the answer to this, but why do you think they chose your project—and consequently you—as opposed to any other people writing about creativity?

[00:31:59] – Merideth Hite Estevez

I’m instantly thinking about all the people who didn’t choose me and all the reasons they gave me why!

I think that my writing is really vulnerable.

And I think when you read my bio or you meet me, people often say, “Oh, you’re so confident and you’re so successful with a capital S.”

And I feel like it’s a really important part of my story to know that things are not always as they seem. That there’s more to a person than what they do or how they perform.

I try to be really honest and real about that because I have achieved a lot of things and gotten a lot of degrees, and I know that none of that gives me a feeling of worthiness. That’s not where my worthiness comes from.

That’s really the core of the book. It’s that when we base everything on our performance, we will come up short because we can’t always perform well and there’s always going to be somebody who’s better.

I think they chose me because that is a compelling message because I think people think, “Oh, if I could only go to Juilliard or if I could only get a full bride or go to Yale, then I would be it…

[00:33:09] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Then I would make it and then I’d be happy.”

I think that is a message that people need in any field, not just in music.

I also think that people like music.

In the book, the whole metaphor of the book is a musical metaphor. I think a lot of people enjoy music and like music but don’t have a way in to talking about music in a way that… Because they automatically feel insecure or they don’t have knowledge.

And so I think that the topic to write a book about music is I think that’s an intriguing thing. Somebody said that. “I do love music but I don’t like to read books about it because a lot of them are so cerebral or boring or heavy, or I can’t break into them because I don’t have any music training.”

So I think it’s probably those two things: the vulnerability of my story and the lens through which I see the world, which is musical.

[00:34:01] – Ann Kroeker

And even though, well, your book uses this musical analogy, but you apply it then more broadly: any creative person can borrow these metaphors to use it to apply to their work as a dancer, a painter, a writer.

[00:34:14] – Merideth Hite Estevez

There’s a quote that’s like, writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

And the quote has a couple of different… We don’t know who said it. It could be many people. But anyway, it’s an interesting idea.

I think that’s one reason why I love writing about music, but about visual arts. And if you listen to my podcast, you know I like to write. I like to dip into all these different art forms because I think so many of us are all trying to find words for that spiritual thing we experience when we’re creating.

So yes, it is a musical metaphor, but it’s not a book for just musicians. And there’s lots of visual arts metaphors and writing metaphors in there as well. I’m a big metaphor person.

[00:34:57] – Ann Kroeker

That’s incredible. That’s part of that finding the language is also finding the imagery that we can then bring to our minds when we’re in different moments of the creative process or the creative journey or the creative frustrations we may encounter on our path.

Much earlier in this conversation, you said that along the way, when you started your podcast, you said that doing that had all sorts of consequences. Some of them were embarrassing. Do you have a story of how you’ve embarrassed yourself, perhaps publicly through some part of this process?

[00:35:30] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Oh, I have many. I have many. And you all are going to go and quickly listen—I didn’t take the episodes down either.

So I am from South Carolina, and I have always grown up with this fear of looking stupid or sounding stupid. And I made the joke in my bio about trying to speak foreign languages with a Southern accent. And I was taught that my accent was not good and was wrong.

And when I lived in Germany and I was trying to learn German, I had to work with the phonetics teachers extra long because none of my vowels were pure. They would say, say, “eh,” and I’d say, “Ayyyy.” Every every a vowel was a diphthong.

So anyway, how this relates to my being embarrassed. I struggle with pronunciation of words. I think because of my insecurity about my accent and just the way I read, I don’t know, I’m just really insecure about that. And when you’re a podcaster, you need to say the words right.

So one of my first episodes, a listener wrote in and was giving me feedback or something, and I answer listener questions. And I read the person’s listener question, and I think the word was “soldered.”

[00:36:39] – Ann Kroeker

Like where you’re taking the heat and making things stick together?

[00:36:42] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Yeah, like making jewelry. And soldered, how do you spell soldered?

[00:36:48] – Ann Kroeker

I think it’s like S O L DER. Is that right? Soldering, it looks like.

[00:36:54] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Yeah. And so I said soldered, and my dad, who was pretty much the only listener to my podcast at that point, was like, You mispronounced the word soldered. And I was like, Oh, my God. I want to die. I want to crawl under the table and die.

And then another time I said, just by accident, that… So there’s a famous piece by Johann Sebastian Bach called the Goldberg Variations. It’s the name of a piece. You may have heard it. It’s a beautiful piece of music. And I called it the Goldenberg Variations, and I didn’t catch it in editing. So yeah, those are the pronounciation—the pronunciation—it’s just, yeah, that was embarrassing.

[00:37:33] – Ann Kroeker

And why did you leave them up? If they were that embarrassing, or what is there to learn from that, for us to learn from that?

[00:37:42] – Merideth Hite Estevez

In the next episode, after the whole soldered situation…first of all, in England, they don’t pronounce it soldered, right? So I made a joke out of it. In the next episode, I said, “And I’d thank you to a listener, my dad, who corrected my pronunciation of the word soldered, and I did a little reading…”

So I leaned into it. And I think I go back to vulnerability. I think it’s so important to be real and to show yourself making light of things. I think that feels real. That felt really important. So yeah, those are just two. The other more embarrassing things I did take down.

[00:38:19] – Ann Kroeker

That’s good, too. I think we should feel that freedom with our digital efforts. Until it’s put literally on a page and printed and put in print, we can still change it and take it down if we need to. So we don’t need to get into whatever was that embarrassing to you.

But I do also feel like this vulnerability seems like a straying from your personality that worked so hard to be the best top and everything at Juilliard. Does that sound like I’m seeing you change? Is that an indication of your change?

[00:38:50] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Absolutely, yeah.

A huge part of the book is seeing that shadow sister of perfectionism is shame.

I have worked really hard in my own personal work to resist shame and to be an unshamable person, meaning that I don’t equate how I perform or how I act or what people think of me with my own worthiness.

And you can still work hard and achieve great things and publish books and get followers. You can do all that without equating it with your value and without it affecting how you wake up and feel about yourself every day.

That has been the crux of the work I’ve been doing since I started writing and since I started working with other artists. It’s very freeing. It frees me from the weight of my whole life.

So yeah, that’s why I want to write the book because I want to help people.

[00:39:45] – Ann Kroeker

It sounds like a life practice, but is there any advice for how somebody might do that, to separate the achievement from the worth so that whether they achieve or not…

Because looking at you, I mean, honestly, Merideth, you’re achieving everything. You’re getting everything. You did get some rejections along the way, but in my timeline of watching others land contracts, yours has been an incredibly accelerated path, even though you may not feel that way.

You got it. You got everything. You got the agent, you got the contract, you’re writing the book.

Next thing you know, you’re going to be on bestseller lists. That’s what we do hope for that, too.

But how did you manage to do that? Then how can somebody who’s not achieving end up in the same safe place or healthy place that you’re describing?

Any ideas or advice on how to at least get started on that process?

[00:40:36] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Well, in a quick sound bite, let me solve all your problems.

No, but I joke about that. But it is really truly it’s a lifelong pursuit. I’m still working on that.

To you it looks like, “Oh, my gosh, you’re so successful.”

But see, that in and of itself is not… It almost doesn’t matter the way I seem to other people because in my old self, my mind was a toxic work environment. And so no matter what I achieved, it was never enough and it was never perfect. And I could always find things that were wrong about it.

So I think the first step to not equating your value with your performance is to first realize that the instrument is you.

Meaning you can put your thumb on yourself all the time to make yourself work harder. But if you’re not taking care, really good care of yourself in terms of your health, your psychiatric health, your mental health, your physical health, like, are you sleeping? Are you eating? Are you fueling your body with food and really treating yourself, like Julia Cameron says, treat yourself like a precious object and it’ll make you strong.

[00:41:45] – Merideth Hite Estevez

And so the first step is to look at your creative impulse and your desire to make things that you care about as separate from you.

And the instrument of the act of making something is it all relies on your own health.

The first thing in every coaching call I ask, what did you have for lunch?

How good are you at taking care of you and reparenting yourself and your inner artist and your inner artist child?

That’s really the first step is to look how’s the self care and how are you really, truly doing, even the hard things to make your life better?

[00:42:25] – Ann Kroeker

And maybe the second step is to sign up for coaching with Merideth.

[00:42:30] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Well, I love coaching because as I’ve seen from working with you, it isn’t that you need your coach to know everything and to fix you. A great coach—and Anne Kroeker is one—a great coach is somebody who helps you figure out what’s best for you and realize you’re capable of all the things that you want to do.

It’s just a matter of naming it. And finding the steps to make it happen. And moving the obstacles out of the way one by one and having somebody give you the skills and the gift of peace of mind and clarity that a coach can give you.

It’s Ann. Just hire Ann.

[00:43:12] – Ann Kroeker

Oh, man. Well, I think there is a principle here. We’re mutual admiration society here. Me bragging on you, you bragging on me. But in the end, I think it goes all the way back to the beginning when you realize you needed help to do this, to move toward this goal. “I want to try to get a book published. I don’t know what I’m and so I need to get somebody in there.”

I think what you’re saying here is, yeah, and also the inner work that you’re struggling with, if the thing that’s holding you back, it may be present in 90 percent of artists who struggle with different degrees of questioning themselves, doubting themselves, etc. The toxic work environment of our inner self.

When we’re there, go get the help you need.

I think there’s a principle there I’m sensing is like, don’t wait to get the help you need when you’re knee deep in the mess of trying to do your own book proposal with a little template you found online.

Go get the help you need. So you have the thing you need to move forward faster because you really accelerated your timeline.

[00:44:11] – Ann Kroeker

Or if you’re trying to create art, go get the instruction, the teacher you need so that you stop making all the errors over and over again, but you learn the technique you need and you can move forward faster. But alongside that, you do it in a way that’s not self destructive. “But I have to do it perfectly.”

Am I summarizing it?

[00:44:31] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Yeah. And that brings up a really good point. Sometimes finding the right help means breaking up with your help.

There are so many people I coach who have had toxic teachers, toxic mentors, toxic parents.

And sometimes you carry the weight of all that baggage of the negative inner voices that they have programmed in your brain. And sometimes finding the right help means taking care of yourself so much that you know this is not the right help for me.

And so I need to leave this school or I need to leave this relationship. Yeah, that has been a huge part of it. Finding help and finding the right help.

[00:45:09] – Ann Kroeker

Is there anything about your publishing journey that has changed the way you coach people?

[00:45:15] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Yeah. I mean, you told me that it was going to take a long time. Not just from hearing back from people via email, but from when you sign the contract to when the book comes out. And there’s this long period, I remember you explaining it to me that there’s a year that will go by where you don’t hear much at all, more or less.

And so I think it’s helped me with coaching in that it’s given me a new perspective on time and having to encourage people—and get better at this practice myself—to sustain interest and motivation and hope over really long periods of time and to do that in a way that feels healthy and again, doesn’t begin to start being like, “Well, I still haven’t heard back and so I can’t eat today or I’m really stressed.”

How do you sustain engagement and hope in the creative process without it eating you alive?

That process, going through that where I had to wait three weeks before somebody responded to an email, it’s made me a better coach because it’s encouraged me to help people see time differently and maintain their creative hope.

[00:46:34] – Ann Kroeker

And creative practices and healthy practices, I’m hearing infused or mingled in there where like, “Eat your lunch!” And “Go get a counselor or somebody who can help you on your emotional struggles, to work through your emotional struggles,” and so on. So it seems like there’s all these layers that every creative person needs to be attentive to.

[00:46:53] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Yeah, you’re a person and we’re complex. You’re not just the writer. And writing can feel like therapy. It can be therapeutic, I guess is the right word.

And it can also be a place to ruminate and spin around in a spiral down.

And so the idea of using writing and creative practice as a way to process, but not a way to stay stuck in your tortured artist mindset.

[00:47:21] – Ann Kroeker

Well, that’s a good word. I suppose we need to wind things down at this point. So what would be some of your last little bits of advice or encouragement to anybody who is hearing all of this, maybe wondering where to start or how to keep going? You’ve said so much, I don’t want you to have to repeat yourself, but how would you like to leave your interview here?

[00:47:46] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Well, two things.

Let me start with the first one is set a deadline. And I don’t mean necessarily like, I need to have a book published by the time I’m 40, which was my goal, by the way.

But there’s so many things you can’t control about that. And so setting a goal in that way, that’s not a super helpful goal, but a deadline. So set a deadline for yourself every week to share or write or do something creatively.

You need a deadline. You need a structure.

I know I’ve done a lot of talk against discipline because I tend to be a very disciplined person and discipline has factored into my perfectionism and my shame. But the disciplined act—and maybe a better word is devotion—devotional act towards exercising your creative impulse every week.

And whether or not you publish that online or make a podcast or share it with somebody, it doesn’t even really matter.

Having that deadline that occurs will create a container for you to grow. And that weekly process of doing that over and over and over and over, that is how things are achieved is by charging the battery bit by bit by bit.

[00:49:01] – Merideth Hite Estevez

So that’s the first thing.

The second thing would be—and this is in the book, so you can read more there, but—the idea of naming what matters to you in the form of an oath or a creed.

If you have beliefs about the creator of the universe or the creative power within you, if you have beliefs about that, if you know where your worthiness comes from, if you have a quote or two of some great artists that really resonate deeply, write it all down, make it into an oath and a creed that you can return to when you feel lost.

That’s something that I’ve been doing in workshops in preparation for the book with artists, and it’s going to be featured on my podcast because so many of us, like, we believe in coaching, we have all the answers that we seek within ourselves.

And the act of writing out what you believe creatively—what you believe about your creative act—is a really powerful way to set yourself straight when you’re feeling lost.

So the artist’s oath and set a deadline.

Those are my two things.

[00:50:04] – Ann Kroeker

So practical and powerful and deep and rich. Thank you for that advice.

When is your book coming out? Do you know yet? Maybe you don’t know.

[00:50:13] – Merideth Hite Estevez

I don’t know, but it’ll be in 2024. Sometime in 2024.

So, yeah, we can put the link for the book in the notes for this whenever it is coming out. I would really love it if you guys would join me in that journey and read the book and let me know what you think of it. I also really love feedback.

[00:50:34] – Ann Kroeker

Yes. And actually, they don’t need to wait for the book to start following you and getting to know you and learn from you and be coached by you because you have free resources and of course, other ways that they can connect with you. Can you share some of the top places they should say “hi!” and start following you?

[00:50:49] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Absolutely. So I hang out most on Instagram. My handle is @artistsforjoy. That’s plural, @artistsforjoy. And the FOR, not the number 4.

Artistsforjoy.org is our website. And artistsforjoy.org/pod is where the podcast lives on our website, but it’s also streamable on all the places online.

I share in stories a lot on Instagram. I love to encourage people there. And the podcast comes out every Friday. Yeah, I also have a free download, three ways to love your inner artist. And you can find that on my website, artistsforjoy.org.

[00:51:31] – Ann Kroeker

Go find Merideth, everyone. Be changed, be encouraged, and eat your lunch.

We are so glad that you were able to be here and to just pour yourself out to people who are tuning in and seeking to be transformed by creative work and while they’re doing creative work. And you’re the person for the job. Thanks so much for being here.

[00:51:55] – Merideth Hite Estevez

Thanks for having me.

[00:51:56] – Ann Kroeker

I’m so glad you got to meet Merideth. We’re hoping this interview helps you find vision for your publishing journey and joy for your creative journey. I’m Ann Kroeker, cheering you on as a writing coach in your ear.

Everywhere we may meet—at my website, on this show, or even in person—I’m always looking for ideas to share with you that will help you achieve your writing goals and have fun by being more curious, creative, and productive. Thanks for being here.

View Details

Today we’re exploring a topic that every writer is going to want to tune in and learn about: a trauma-informed approach to writing.

To speak to that, I’ve invited Michelle Stiffler on the show to help us see how trauma-informed writing can transform both us and our words.

This is one of the longest interviews I’ve published, but I believe it’s one of the most important.

Let’s get right to it.

Michelle StifflerMichelle Stiffler is a certified trauma specialist, trauma-informed trainer, and co-host of Arizona’s Trauma-Informed Faith Community podcast. Eight years of nonprofit work shaped her trauma understanding, and during this time she created the trauma-informed culture and processes for Arizona’s first trauma-informed faith-based organization.

Michelle is a married mother of four, plus two sons in law and a proud Mimi. She’s on the board of the Redbud Writers Guild, and her work has been published with Fathom, (in)courage, Guideposts and others, as well as the Women’s Devotional Bible in The Message, Michelle writes at OneMoreTruth.com.

Enjoy the interview in video format, audio, or read a lightly edited transcript below:

https://youtu.be/xC1qZEMMbdwTranscript[00:01:17.520] – Ann Kroeker

On this topic of trauma-informed writing, and being a trauma-informed writer, should we be offering a trigger warning for anybody who’s tuning in?

A Safe Conversation[00:01:28.000] – Michelle Stiffler

I always like to offer a trigger warning simply because the word trauma itself, even if it’s paired with the word informed, sometimes just the word trauma can do something inside our bodies where we kind of tighten. We start to think about what trauma might be.

So I would just give that warning so that people can kind of come into this podcast episode comfortably. We’re not going to dive into anything deep or heavy. We don’t want to burden anybody today, but it just kind of gives you a sense, like, check in with yourself. If you’re tight, if you’re thinking about things that are uncomfortable, just be free. It’s going to be a safe conversation.

[00:02:07.050] – Ann Kroeker

I love that invitation, your sensitivity and your empathy. Thank you for helping them feel comfortable.

I understand that there’s this increasing awareness of trauma-informed anything and everything, and at the same time, I’m not that personally informed myself. So I’m probably going to ask you some really basic questions, Michelle.

And I’m thinking about my audience, too. There may be people who are deeply involved in this whole movement or idea, but if a writer is hearing about this for the first time, can you define what is trauma-informed writing and what is a trauma-informed writer?

Define what is trauma-informed writing and what is a trauma-informed writer[00:02:46.890] – Michelle Stiffler

For our purposes today, trauma-informed writing is defining an approach for writing.

When I come to my computer or when I come to the page and I intend on making my writing public, I’m coming with the lens that reminds me that trauma is very prevalent and that people broadly have experienced all kinds of adversity.

It could be little “t” trauma. It could be big “T” trauma. And I want to come to the keyboard thinking about how I can best serve people if they’re going through something hard or if they haven’t yet resolved something hard.

I don’t want to burden anybody with too many details, and I want to be able to provide even just one step further in healing or in some sense of wholeness.

That’s what trauma-informed writing would be.

A trauma-informed writer is basically saying that they live by the principles that the trauma-informed movement has in place. There are six of them. Those principles are:

Safety
Trustworthiness & transparency
Peer support
Collaboration & mutuality
Empowerment, voice, & choice
Cultural, historical & gender issues

As a person, I want to be a safe person and we can get into this a little bit further later. I want to be somebody who’s trustworthy and transparent. I think transparent is sometimes an ambiguous word in the sense that we think vulnerability means.

[00:04:06.590] – Michelle Stiffler

I just share all my details. Transparency is just letting people know where things might go and it’s like, “Hey, you can trust me.” Like we said in the beginning, “I’m not going to burden you with too many details.” There’s a sense of support from that writer.

There’s a collaboration and mutuality that looks a little bit different when it comes to writing because writing is so solitary. I may not ever meet the people who read my writing, but I do want to come to the keyboard with a sense of, “Hey, we’re all humans. We all understand the human condition from our own experience. And I’m with you in that.”

There’s a sense of camaraderie, there’s empowerment. We always want to empower our readers to feel like they know what to do next. Not coming at them as if like, “Oh, you poor soul, you don’t know anything,” or “You’ve experienced this terrible tragedy.” It’s more like, “Let’s look at the strengths in this.”

And then also—and this one was recently added by the CDC in the past couple of years—but coming in our writing with a sense of sensitivity for different cultures, historical trauma, gender issues. Just being aware of how we use our words and our language so that it doesn’t feel exclusive or hateful.

There’s always a sense of compassion for people of all walks of life.

[00:05:27.480] – Ann Kroeker

This sounds vitally important for every writer because it sounds like, from what I’m hearing, all of this is focused on the reader and the effect on the reader, which I was kind of imagining. It was more about the writer and the writer’s trauma. Can you distinguish?

Is it all about the reader and how they’re receiving our words? To be trauma-informed, you don’t have to be someone who has experienced trauma? Michelle Stiffler

The trauma-informed is speaking to how we are addressing the reader and empowering the reader and all those eight incredible pillars of this principles.

[00:06:09.830] – Michelle Stiffler

I think writing about trauma is very different from anything that we could call trauma-informed.

A lot of us have become writers because we experienced something that was difficult or we had to wrestle with something that, even if it’s parenting, it was like, “Oh my goodness, this is challenging. And I think I need to figure out how to process some of these things that I’m going through.”

So we can certainly write about trauma, and that may have nothing to do with being trauma-informed.

If I’m a trauma-informed writer writing about my own trauma, then I am coming with those six principles and I am being more careful about the details that I share. So it’s not what I’m writing about necessarily, it’s how I’m writing about it, which I think is necessary for all writers, regardless of the topic, we always want to know how we’re writing about it.

And I think there are two parts. If I am thinking about my reader because I’m a trauma-informed writer, then there’s a lot of dealing with myself that I have to do before I ever come to write a single word. Or rather, there’s a lot I have to do before I ever publish a single word, before I ever hit that submit button.

[00:07:20.430] – Michelle Stiffler

The work is always going to be inward so that what we offer people outwardly is helpful and beneficial.

There’s a lot of personal work, so they kind of go together. We are thinking about the reader, but the only reason we’re able to is because we’ve also dealt with some of our own things.

That’s not to say it’s tidy, finished, completely resolved. We’re never going to get there. So we can get past that idea of perfect, but it means that we’ve at least put in some of the work to make sure that we’re coming from a place of fullness.

I think even at some of the most empty times in my life, there’s still a way to go about living with a kind of fullness that people can understand. Even if you’re still in the middle of it, even if it still feels dark, even if you’re waiting on that clarity about what to do next, we can still live from that place of fullness.

[00:08:15.370] – Ann Kroeker

Just to kind of drive this home or make it super clear, what I’m hearing is basically every writer will want to become a trauma-informed writer because of the principles that are going to open us up to using language in a way that respects the reader and addresses these principles.

But at the same time, there may be some people, some writers, who are tuning in today, and they are someone who does directly also write from and possibly about their own personal trauma with a capital T or small t. Am I hearing you right?

[00:08:54.960] – Michelle Stiffler

Yes. And before you would ever come into any kind of writing and want to say, “I’m a trauma-informed writer,” I would advise anybody to really think about what that means for you.

Give it a year of really living that way. Set up some disciplines for yourself so that you are coming into your writing from a place of your own fullness sense of healing. Like you’ve worked through the content of your life enough to share it.

I would say it’s not something like, “Oh, I listened to the podcast. Now I’m a trauma-informed writer because I understand it.” It’s an investment in a lifestyle. Anybody involved in the trauma-informed movement has committed to a lifestyle of caring for themselves so that they can be compassionate towards others.

So, yeah, write about your trauma. But if it’s not something that’s considering those six principles that we talked about, then it might not be trauma-informed writing. It just might be you writing about your trauma.

[00:10:00.370] – Ann Kroeker

That line you said that, “It’s caring for yourself to be compassionate toward others.” That seems like something we should all put on a Post-It in front of ourselves while we’re writing to think about that, regardless of the kind of writing we do.

You talked about these practices we might want to start doing for the next six months to a year or more. Tell us a little bit about that. What does that look like? In a practical way?

Give us examples of practices to help us care for ourselves so we can be compassionate toward others[00:10:26.400] – Michelle Stiffler

In a practical way. And I can give just my own experience in my own discipline. I started probably three or four years ago.

Every morning I go outside for prayer time. I’m a person of faith, of Christian faith, and that’s my time where I’m just praying. And it’s a lot of sometimes it’s a lot of quiet.

Become aware of what we’re thinking aboutFor example, I’m just placing my heart close. And as things come up, maybe I pray one sentence. Maybe I think about questions, but I become more and more aware of what I’m thinking about.

I think we don’t appreciate a statement like that enough. We don’t always know what we’re thinking about. And that can be problematic. How is anybody else going to understand how to interact with us if we’re not aware of it and if we can’t be honest about what we’re thinking about first?

This work helps me understand maybe what I’m feeling or an emotion that’s possibly been going on for who knows how long.

The more you get into these practices and disciplines, I think your turnaround time gets a little bit faster.

I might notice that I’m carrying a lot of anger with me. I might notice that something has made me just incredibly sad and that I’m working through something sad.

[00:11:45.450] – Michelle Stiffler

And it helps me ask better questions of myself so that during that prayer time, I can kind of start to unload things.

Journaling is where a lot of thoughts start to formAnd then later I’m going to go to my journal. If something came up that’s worthy of me, like processing, I’m going to spend some time there because that’s where a lot of thoughts really start to form.

Friendships to let me go deepI have relationships that I foster with people who can let me go deep, who let me feel safe, who want me to be the best Michelle, essentially. There’s no specific focus. I don’t have to be a certain something, but they want the best for me because this is my life and they want me to grow.

Tend to the basics of lifeAnd then just the basics. I think just being aware of the basics of life:

making sure I eat well
making sure I exercise
how’s my sleep?
am I getting enough sleep?
is there a need that I have that I haven’t addressed or that I’m ignoring being aware of those things, too?

Those are some of the practices that have been very beneficial for me. And I can’t generalize for everybody, but I think those basic needs that we’re so quick to kind of ignore are the ones that really if you think about the people in your life that you’re like, “Man, I love that person…I don’t know what it is, but every time I’m with them, they’re just like a presence of peace.” They’re probably very invested in the basics of their lives, and if they’re a person of faith, they’re invested in those basics that you just can’t ignore.

[00:13:19.990] – Ann Kroeker

These are unexpected writing practices for some people, perhaps because maybe on a writing podcast or a writing show, they’re expecting to hear about what pencils we use and and what our little writing routine is. And your writing routine is so much more…I’ll just say holistic. It’s pulling from all angles of your life to make sure you’re addressing those deep things so you can arrive more fully and full to the page.

So I think these would be fabulous tips for people who just want to be better humans so that out of that can flow the ideas and words that they have.

But I was really thrilled to see that you eventually move from your quiet state to one with a keyboard or a pen for your journaling time, because I see so much from my clients that I work with and just my own life, that writing and articulating…

You were talking about being aware of what we’re thinking, but then to articulate what we’re thinking on the page is absolutely vital and almost magical.

That is part of the awareness of what I’m thinking. And for me, sometimes it doesn’t come in the quiet moment that you describe for yourself.

[00:14:33.220] – Ann Kroeker

For me, sometimes it is during the act of writing that I discover what I’m thinking, and then I can take that to the world in my writing or to the world in my interactions. Thanks for sharing your experience. Did you want to say something about that?

[00:14:48.040] – Michelle Stiffler

If you are a writer, you almost have to spend time journalingI was going to say, I think if you are a writer, you almost have to spend time journaling. There is that articulating, and it really is that magical process, for lack of a better way to put it. Because as you’re writing it, you look and you say, “Oh, my goodness. Well, there it is.” Otherwise it was just buried.

And no, it might not be during a quiet time. I might be vacuuming and all of a sudden while I’m processing something, in my mind, I have an idea or I have a better understanding of something.

And yeah, then I’m going to go back to that journal and get it in writing so that it’s something that I can use later or kind of work with and see what else is there. Pull it further, stretch it a little bit more. Because if it’s going on with me and it feels like a discovery, it’s probably true that it’s going on with somebody else and it’ll feel like a discovery for them as well.

[00:15:39.530] – Ann Kroeker

Right, so you have the private writing, personal writing practice, and some of that may never go to the public in any kind of written form. It could certainly go into a therapy or counseling session and be part of your healing process, or it could just be a private practice.

But then, what I’m hearing you say is that some of that—some of those insights, some of the epiphanies or whatever—might emerge on the page as you realize what you’re thinking and feeling and you’re coming to this better space, a better place in your life. It could inform, if you will, your writing. Then the ideas and thoughts end up showing up in what we actually write. And like you said, click publish, and it goes out into the world. Is that what I’m hearing?

[00:16:23.600] – Michelle Stiffler

Yes, absolutely.

[00:16:24.720] – Ann Kroeker

It’s a little both? We have the private practice, some of which may never see the light of day, but is making us the person we need to be—the writer we need to be to then compassionately share our thoughts and words?

I just feel like that’s something we don’t talk about enough in writing circles. Because, for example, I might be working with people to help them develop their craft or work on a book proposal. So much practical work makes us better writers.

But I think what you’re saying is this is the core of what makes you a better writer. And we can talk about it being trauma-informed as a way to think about that, because you’re not only dealing with your own wholeness, but you’re also finding ways to compassionately engage with others as a writer.

[00:17:05.900] – Michelle Stiffler

Yes, I think one way that I used to put it when I was a nonprofit work and I would teach or I would mentor some of the women that we served, I would say, “We’re here to kind of help turn the light on for somebody who might be one step behind.”

Not that we’re positioning ourselves as experts by any means. There’s such a level of humility to trauma-informed anything. It’s an ability to say, “I don’t really know everything, but I can be here with you. I can turn the light on for one more step. I can offer a presence of peace, so that you have something to take away.”

But yeah, I think the humility part is huge, and that’s a shift, because sometimes we think that we’re learning something or we’re doing something, and of course it’s a gift.

We do want to be generous to our readers, but there has to be just both that compassion and that humility that you’re able to say, “I’ve figured out enough to talk about it in a way that hopefully will help you. But I’m not going to pretend that I know everything, and I’m not going to talk about experiences that perhaps aren’t mine.” I think that’s a big piece of it, too.

[00:18:19.700] – Ann Kroeker

This is veering from that sage-on-the-stage type of writer that was always sort of lauded and expected maybe a decade or more ago. I think we are shifting to more the relatable kind of writer, but now I think this is even more than just sort of “Bleh, here’s my life on the page,” and saying, “No, let’s slow down and give people something a little bit more.”

I love this idea of humility, being more humble in how we bring what we have to offer.

But you also touched on something which is this level of being a professional. And I feel like, given the topic, given that it’s about trauma and capital T or lower “t” in somebody’s life, or topically, what we might be writing about or the audience we might be addressing.

Do you feel like a trauma-informed writer would need some sort of qualifications? Do they need to be a professional, like, I don’t know, like a trained professional, like a psychologist, psychiatrist, therapist, something like that, to be able to feel comfortable and confident stepping into that space for themselves and to earn trust from the reader?

[00:19:26.140] – Michelle Stiffler

That’s a good question.

I’m a big fan of learning. So read everything, research everything, be broad in the things that you want to know about and go to many different places to understand things better.

The beauty of the trauma-informed movement is that it is designed for nonprofessionals. So it’s designed for people who I mentioned. One of the principles is peer support. You see that a lot in, like, recovery groups. Somebody who has gone through the recovery process then gets certified to become a peer supporter, and they are that person who can say, “Hey, I’ve been through a similar thing, and I just want to be a support for you.”

So that’s the beauty of the trauma-informed movement. It’s for anybody, but there is an investment in how much you understand or how much you’ve been willing to learn.

Somebody who wants to be in the trauma-informed writing space…

You’re going to want to know a little bit about neuroscience and why the brain does the things that it does.
You’re going to want to know a little bit about somatic practices and why the body has the reactions that it does in certain situations.
You’re going to want to understand all of those trauma responses that we talk about fight, Flight, Freeze, and fawn.

What that means when maybe you’ve seen that, how you see it in yourself.

There are a lot of books that are certainly in the spotlight in the trauma informed movement. You’ve got The Body Keeps the Score. I was reading recently, It Didn’t Start With You, a book about epigenetics, the idea that we may even carry some of the trauma of grandparents and parents in our DNA.

You’re going to want to start reading some of these books by the professionals because The Body Keeps the Score is written by a psychiatrist and I believe the same for It Didn’t Start With You. So there are professionals already writing and I would recommend just reading some of those and then figuring out where you want your place to be as a trauma-informed writer.

Maybe you want to go back to school, but I think you really want to consider what it is specifically that you think that will offer to your reader. Because there is a lot of education that you can get that’s free and that’s varied and that maybe because you’re seeking it yourself, it might be a little closer to your own personal design and your own personal experience.

[00:21:56.280] – Michelle Stiffler

But for anybody who maybe is used to scrolling on social media, I always just say like, “Man, have those articles ready. Spend your time reading the things that you want to know about so that it can kind of help you take another step further into the information that’s already out there being written by the professionals.”

[00:22:15.490] – Ann Kroeker

That’s a great path forward. And in fact, you and I are going to team up. And I’ll just briefly say here, because we’re not done with our conversation here, but we are. I’m hosting the event, and you’re training people in a one-time workshop that you can tell them a little bit more about that. We’ll go into detail at the end so that they know where to go to sign up and everything. But can you explain how this training that you’re going to offer differs from this conversation we’re having now?

[00:22:42.520] – Michelle Stiffler

Yeah, absolutely. There’s so much that we can get into when it comes to trauma-informed.

There are things to understand about just how we talk about trauma as an event or trauma as an experience, trauma as the effects. We’re going to get into some of that.

We’ll take a deeper dive into the principles themselves and what that can look like as a writer.

We’ll talk a little bit about things that the movement is already doing and ways that you can get involved if that’s a way that you want to write.

Resources that will be available for anybody who wants to understand more about trauma-informed anything. And it will go deeper; it will take anybody who wants to listen. It’s going to take us one step further.

We’re kind of talking about a lot of things today and we’re getting ourselves in a place where we have better awareness of what “trauma-informed” is. We’re going to go one step beyond that when it comes to the training.

[00:23:38.040] – Ann Kroeker

Yes. Thus the title “Beyond Awareness: The Trauma-Informed Approach to Writing.” So again, we’re going to go into some details just at the very end because we realized we could only go so far in a one-time conversation like this. But I feel like you are scratching the surface.

SIGN UP FOR THE WORKSHOPAll it’s doing for me is just bringing up more questions. So I have a few more questions for you.

I’m still thinking about the trauma-informed writer who really is going to go all in looking for change in themselves. And maybe this will effect and change their writing, maybe their writing direction, maybe their personal brand, if you will. And maybe it will happen suddenly and maybe down the road it will have a trauma-informed idea with it. Maybe they’ll even attach it to their brand.

But what about the people who probably aren’t thinking of themselves as elevating that within their brand, but they do want to be sensitive and compassionate? And, like you were talking about, one of the principles that has been added by the CDC—that sensitivity for culture, gender, how we use our language—that seems universal. Every writer should dive into that and start to be cautious and careful and sensitive to how we use language in all of our writing, no matter what.

[00:24:55.140] – Ann Kroeker

So how does being a trauma-informed writer in the kind of…maybe we should think…you talked about capital T trauma and lowercase “t” trauma. Maybe we need to almost think about capitalized T “Trauma-informed writer: and lowercase “trauma-informed writer.”

I’m just making this up on the fly, thinking about the person who’s not necessarily going to make that their identity as a writer versus the person who just wants to be trauma-informed and sensitive and thoughtful.

Now that was a long question or a long precursor to the question, but how would you address all of that?

[00:25:30.480] – Michelle Stiffler

I think when it comes to being trauma-informed and we need to be aware of the fact that we live in a culture where we have so much information bombarding us at all times.

And so to be, like you said, a big T “Trauma-Informed,” I want to be aware of the fact that there are a lot of people already in this movement doing a lot of really good work.

So before we ever try to get ourselves into a place where maybe we don’t have enough experience in it to really step in, be aware of the people who are already making a difference in the movement.

Read some of the books, like we said, have a better understanding of what it means to live a trauma-informed lifestyle. So that’s one area that we can be.

The other area, as you said, the small “t” “trauma-informed writer.” We should want to be respectful with the way that we talk. In the past couple of years especially, there’s just been so much polarization and divisiveness between people who don’t care about how they talk about other people, and it certainly isn’t helping any of us. As a society, as people, we’re angry, we’re reactive.

[00:26:40.100] – Michelle Stiffler

We don’t know why we aren’t invested in the work of figuring out why we say the things that we say or why we have the beliefs that we have. So I would invite anybody to at least take what you said an idea of, like: How could I be more hospitable with my language so that isn’t exclusive, so that it doesn’t have some remnants of hate or some kind of resentment so that somebody’s going, “Geez, Louise, that was so angry. I read that, and now I feel like I’ve acquired some kind of bitterness or some kind of cynicism.”

Regarding cynicism: a trauma-informed writer especially should be able to talk about something that maybe we don’t all understand or that maybe bothers us, but without that cynicism that’s underneath so much of what we read sometimes.

And then if you’re going to talk about your own trauma, you really do want to think about how many details you share, and you need to think about why you’re talking about it, how much is necessary to help other people in the world of trauma and trauma healing.

[00:27:55.500] – Michelle Stiffler

The trauma narrative is such a huge piece of the healing.

So the person who comes in and says, “I have this. I had this trauma experience, I can’t talk about it without being triggered,” they’re going to be guided into getting that trauma narrative out. I think sometimes people think that that is what they should offer people. It’s just that whole narrative that has every single detail, the play by play of everything that went on.

I think the trauma narrative is for the person who is working through the healing. I don’t think it’s for everybody.

I’ve written about some experiences in my own life that I would consider traumatic, and I didn’t have to share all the details. By the time I finally hit Submit, I had worked through those personally, like we talked about, there’s that private part of writing so that we can have that public piece of writing.

And if you read some of those pieces, you have an idea of what’s going on without having to know all of the details that, for the most part, a reader doesn’t really know what to do with. We’re exposed to a lot, the news tells us a lot, and we don’t know what to do with those details.

[00:29:08.430] – Michelle Stiffler

And we go through a lot and we don’t always know what to do with those details. So I think that we need to be very mindful of how much we offer people and why those specific words or why that paragraph will walk the reader to the next part of the story and help them get to a place of hope.

Because that’s really what it’s about, going from the hurt to the healing to the hope. That was a long answer.

[00:29:35.000] – Ann Kroeker

That was a beautiful answer.

[00:29:36.790] – Michelle Stiffler

I’m glad.

[00:29:37.820] – Ann Kroeker

And it sounds like you’re telling me, I mean, implied in all of this is that there are pieces being written in all different outlets, whether it’s newspaper opinion/op-eds, or it’s articles—maybe even reactionary things on social media.

And some of these things are causing trauma or awakening trauma, and they’re not coming with a trigger warning. Is that what you’re saying here? Then we can be part of the healing, the hope.

[00:30:04.980] – Michelle Stiffler

Yeah, they’re not coming with a trigger warning and they’re not coming with any type of, “Hey, maybe this will work.” It’s just not solution-minded. It’s playing on other people’s weakness.

Oftentimes, it’s playing on this idea that everybody’s ignorant but me. I don’t know how that’s helpful to anybody. If we really want to get people thinking about how to heal, how to get to a better place, we have to put people’s eyes on that. That has to be the focus of, “Hey, this thing is going on over here, but let’s stop looking at that.”

We’re not being ignorant about it, but let’s start looking at what we might be able to do so that you can be okay, so that I can be okay, so that we can all, for lack of a better way to put it, but just get along on some kind of common ground that we can create together.

Not that we won’t have our differences, but how can we just accept that sometimes being a human being is hard because we have to experience things that are just too much. And for some people, especially with childhood adversity, it was just too soon.

[00:31:21.880] – Michelle Stiffler

How do we help people heal and get to a place where what they experienced can be something that becomes an overcoming story to help somebody else in a similar place?[00:31:37.070] – Ann Kroeker

The world moves so fast, and as you pointed out earlier, we’re getting so much information, and I think that can compel a writer to feel like they need to act fast and get their words out fast.

But one thing I’m sensing from the start of this conversation to this moment as well is this, “Let’s slow down everything. Let’s slow down our personal process. Let’s slow down the words that we choose and be cautious, careful, caring in every word and precise in every word that we choose.”

And that requires this sense of, “Put on the brakes for a minute.” Can you tell me a little bit about that, what that might look like for every writer?

[00:32:20.270] – Michelle Stiffler

Oh, my goodness. Yeah, thank you for even saying that it’s valuable because I feel like so much of my writing experience, it just feels slow and it’s easy to get a sense of, “Oh, my goodness. Everybody else…”

You often use the term, Ann, “Ship it.” There are times to ship it. Sometimes you just get that burning in your belly and it’s like, I just kind of need to share this because I have a little bit of insight when I’m sharing it, or it’s maybe elevating somebody else when I share it. So that’s a different kind of burning.

I think for me, I’m always trying to differentiate, “Does this feel like a sense of urgency, maybe a spiritual sense of urgency? Or does this feel like frenzy?”

Because I think there’s a difference there between, “Now I’m thinking about the quantity of how many things I write…oh, now I’m thinking about the quality of what I write.”

And with that, because we’ve already touched on it, not that we’re trying to get it to be a piece of perfection, because that doesn’t sound like a spiritual sense of urgency to me. That sounds like frenzy and anxiety to me to try to strive for perfection.

[00:33:44.630] – Michelle Stiffler

So I will check in with myself and I will say, “Does this feel like urgency? Like, I want to put my focus on this and continue to work towards this with an amount of diligence and discipline until it’s ready and done?”

Or does this feel like something that’s kind of a frenzy and it’s going to end up being just, “Well, it’s out there.”

Well, it’s important that I honor my voice. There’s a lot of talk about, well, “Use your voice.” I do agree with that. I do agree with sharing your story.

I also think that there’s nothing better than hearing somebody’s voice and somebody’s story when they have a certain level of an ability to offer a lesson. Right?

It’s not just that I went through this thing. I know what I want to say about this thing, and I know what could help people if they’re going through this same situation.

So I think that’s the difference. For me, it’s just checking in with the urgency or the frenzy. You could call it like a hustle. So I’m just going to do the work. If I get distracted today, I’m going to come back to it tomorrow.

[00:34:52.790] – Michelle Stiffler

I believe that it’s worthy. I’m not going to just let it die on the vine. I’m going to keep working with this piece or this idea until it’s something that’s beneficial to my reader.

Yeah, that’s what I think the difference is.

[00:35:06.040] – Ann Kroeker

It’s a great filter. I love it. I love urgency versus frenzy as a really clear difference.

I think we can almost kind of feel it as well as realize it, rationalize it, or think about it. It’s a filter.

And I also appreciate it because there are times when maybe something is so prominent in the news and maybe you have a platform where you live and you could get on the local news station and say, “We need to talk about this.” And it’s literally urgent. Like, if you don’t address it that day, you miss an opportunity to help more people.

So there may be times when urgency steps up and maybe because of your years of healing and wholeness and fullness that you’ve arrived at, you can carry that with you. And then that keeps it from being frenzied in the urgent moment and makes it rich for whoever it is receiving it, whether it’s a viewer or a listener or a reader.

[00:36:05.180] – Michelle Stiffler

Yes, and I think for me too, it kind of gives us this, like, “Okay, I can take a deep breath.”

Because if we really think about it, nothing that we write is wasted. Whether we’re the only ones who read it or whether 3000 people read it, the work that we do is just never wasted.

If we’re working on understanding something better or understanding other people better, it will be useful at the right time. So whatever we’re doing now is preparing us for whatever we might be doing later.

It might feel like, “Oh, I got to jump on this right away.” Just stay in it. Stay in it, keep working on it, keep finessing it, so the idea that you have is something that, when it’s time, you’ll know that you’re ready to offer it to other people.

[00:36:57.620] – Ann Kroeker

I love all of that so much. I imagine everybody’s just hanging on your every word.

[00:37:02.950] – Michelle Stiffler

Thank you.

[00:37:03.510] – Ann Kroeker

Now, if we have these trauma-informed writers sort of emerging, but they’re in process, they have something they want to say, but maybe they listen to what you had to say and they’re like, “Okay, my year isn’t up yet and I’m not at that point of total healing and fullness.”

Although maybe that’s arguable too, that we come to a place of total healing. But I was thinking about your pillars and one of them was collaboration and that’s more about trauma-informed. Maybe that’s trauma-formed and trauma-informed everything.

What could collaboration look like, writer to writer? Is there a way writers could collaborate?

For example, is there a way maybe we don’t feel ready to fully address it all on our own, so we invite somebody else to co-write an article with us? Or we interview somebody and that’s a type of collaboration? Is that an accurate way to think about that principle as a writer?

[00:37:57.250] – Michelle Stiffler

Yes. Collaboration seems so much easier in the nonprofit world, because you’re like, “Oh, well, we’ll just work with another organization.”

With writing, we’re coming into this idea of so much solitary. So if we’re collaborating, I love what you said, just the idea of, “Does somebody know this? Maybe a little bit better than I do, even?”

This podcast episode is about collaborating. You’re interested. I know a little bit more about it. So we’re talking about it and we can reach more people. And I think that’s really the idea.

And again, to any writer, whether you want to be trauma-informed or not, what could be better than collaboration?

I think it’s just so useful because I want to read something that has texture.

I want to read something that has a lot of facets.

I want to kind of feel like I’m getting several points of view.

And the only way you can really do that is to work with other people. So I could open my lens a little bit reading different books, but it’s still going to come from my mouth, it’s still going to come from my background, and it’s still going to be just Michelle.

[00:39:07.310] – Michelle Stiffler

But if we can open it up so that other people can contribute, I think it always has just a beautiful richness to the readers because of people working together.

It also gives you that immediate feedback. If you’re working with somebody else, you can recognize their body language, which is so essential with having a trauma-informed approach.

If I’m talking about something and I’m looking across from me and the person across from me is tensing up or their eyes are wide, you’re thinking this might be too much and I can ask. And there can be that back and forth.

Even if it’s not face to face and somebody submits a piece of writing and you’re going to share it on your blog, you have the ability to kind of suggest some edits and be able to say, “This produced this kind of response in me. I’m nervous about how that’s going to produce a response in somebody else. Could we possibly find some better wording so that maybe it’s more inclusive?”

And I would suggest even don’t just collaborate with people who look like you, think like you, talk like you.

Collaborate with people who come from a different walk of life, who possibly do come from a different faith community, they come from a different race, they come from a different experience or place in the world that’s always useful as well.

And it gives you just so much more ability to help more people.

[00:40:38.090] – Ann Kroeker

All of this also models the collaboration principle too. So:

1) you’re experiencing it,

2) you’re practicing it, and

3) you’re modeling it, because the reader will receive it and see it playing out.

And I heard, let’s see if I threw out a few ideas and you threw out a few ideas, I’m going to list them and you add any other ideas that come to mind.

So I had thrown out the idea of…

Interview OthersInterviewing somebody to include them, maybe in an article or a blog post or something. We’re doing it right now in a podcast interaction. I didn’t know much about it, so I didn’t know anything about it. And I brought you on as the expert to interact with you and you very humbly said you’re a little further along, but I’m going to view you as an expert.

So there’s that bringing on somebody who can really address it and that could be part of your learning too. I feel like this is part of my little journey here to learn more and I’m doing that by collaboration.

Co-author with OthersThe other was to actually write something together. So, coauthoring something long-form or short-form.
Publish OthersAnd then you talked about maybe having if you have a website and you have a blog on there, you want to invite others to be contributing writers, then having somebody contribute or pitch an idea to you and then you can work with them offering trauma-formed edits.

[00:41:52.840] – Ann Kroeker

And along the way you’re also helping them better understand the writing of a trauma-informed writer and also their own way of precision language.

[00:42:05.990] – Michelle Stiffler

Teach with OthersI think you have the option too, of teaching with other people, if that’s available. Training with other people.

There’s such a difference between the written word and the spoken word and how we can communicate our ideas differently because it just doesn’t take as much, maybe refining.

I’m less likely to overthink what I’m saying with my mouth, which also makes all of those spiritual practices and those disciplines as a trauma-informed writer so essential because I don’t want to be running my mouth and then just say something because I was like, “Well, I don’t have to think about it as much because I don’t have to read it back to myself.”

Learn from Others in Different CirclesSo I would say teaching and training, and just putting yourself in circles where maybe it doesn’t seem like you’re necessarily contributing, but you’re in circles that are just different from your own so that you can learn about different people groups.
Volunteer (so You Interact with Others)Because of my background, I’m always going to say, like, if you have an opportunity, if you have the time to volunteer somewhere and you can get to know people who maybe are in a different walk of life, maybe a different stage of life, do it. Just how much you can learn from talking to people because you’re in the same place.

[00:43:13.550] – Michelle Stiffler

It’s been profoundly beneficial in my life to have been in places where my life was never going to take me unless I made that very intentional choice. And just so much that you can learn from other people because they’ve experienced so many different things from you.

[00:43:30.690] – Ann Kroeker

It’s a different way of thinking about being trauma-informed by different kinds of trauma that you might not have experienced yourself.

Do you feel like every human and therefore every writer has experienced trauma?[00:43:44.670] – Michelle Stiffler

The key to trauma when we define it is it’s not so much what happened to you, it’s what happened inside of you.

That’s the true definition.

If somebody experienced something that altered the way they viewed themselves, the way they viewed relationship, and whether or not people were trustworthy, if it viewed their sense of what’s true in the world—if they were a person of faith and it altered their view of who God might be—that’s a traumatic experience.

Because what happens is what’s happening inside. And whether it’s something we ever articulate or not, it continues to fester.

You hear a lot of people talking about calling out the lies and speaking the truth or understanding the truth. There is something to that.

Knowing what things happen in your own experience in life that may be because, let’s be honest, trauma is one of those words that it almost feels like I’m not really allowed to call it trauma because it wasn’t really that big of a deal.

Or I can’t tell you how many times in nonprofit work we would get a woman who came in who was experiencing abuse and she would downplay, well, it’s not that big of a deal.

[00:45:05.250] – Michelle Stiffler

I know women who have experienced more or…we would serve somebody maybe who was in a place of poverty and it’s like, “Well, it’s not a big deal. Most of my needs are met.”

So we’re always downplaying the things that happen to us. And it’s a discredit because then it allows whatever’s happening in our heart, in our mind, to just continue and there’s no reins on it.

Whatever I’m beginning to believe about the world, about myself, about other people, is taking shape without my observation. And then it makes me go out into the world and participate and engage in a way that probably isn’t going to serve me very well for very long. It does for a time, but not for long.

And so we have to kind of have those check ins. I would say it’s fair that everybody’s had some kind of adversity. Everybody has that story of like, “Oh my goodness, when I was ten years old, this person said this,” and it changed the way we believed or the way we thought.

And I think that’s really truly at the bottom of what trauma is by definition. Using that definition also means there are the big T’s and then there are the smaller t’s.

[00:46:20.240] – Michelle Stiffler

But all of us have dealt with something that we didn’t expect that was possibly very unfair and caused us to change our design or the way that we were made to do things and say things, the way we express ourselves, the way we create whatever it might be that we contribute to the world. It certainly shapes all of that.

And so it’s fair to say that everybody’s experienced some kind of adversity that they would call their personal trauma. You don’t have to use the word. That’s fine. But we’ve all had things that have shaped us, and that’s really essentially what what being trauma-informed is about—it’s recognizing that, for those people who choose to write more directly about some of that stories that might show up in creative nonfiction or personal narrative or memoir.

[00:47:02.070] – Ann Kroeker

Do you have any advice for how to navigate the fallout that might come from that and how to prepare yourself for that ahead of time that writing? And when you do choose to move forward with publicly sharing that in some.

[00:47:25.330] – Michelle Stiffler

You mean the fallout as far as any criticism?

[00:47:31.130] – Ann Kroeker

Yeah. From strangers leaving you a review if it came out in book form to people in a social media caption who start insulting you or saying you’re lying, or how could that possibly be true? Or, “Why are you talking about this? This is so off brand!” Or who knows what they might say.

If you’ve been vulnerable, that causes you to revisit that, I would assume, or feel new feelings of trauma. Any advice about just heading into that. Delaying that? Don’t write it if you think that’s going to happen? Any advice at all?

[00:48:09.370] – Michelle Stiffler

Yeah, you’re going to write it. Whether or not you share it is the question.

If you’re in the middle of something—or if you’re in the middle of working on something that’s maybe even old—but for whatever reason, it’s coming up in your life and it’s like, “Man, now is the time. I just have to deal with this. I can see how it’s affecting every aspect of my life.”

You’re going to write about it because it’s just that important.

And then you’re just going to keep working on it, like we said: keep going back to it, figuring out, “How much do I actually have to say to help other people?”

But I would say if the idea of somebody having any kind of criticism about what you said terrifies you, you might not be ready because it’s super re-traumatizing, which nobody needs.

I think you need to know what exactly you’re contributing as far as, like, if somebody said that they didn’t like this piece or “Why in the world are you talking about this?” Ask yourself: Do I feel like the purpose of this piece still got out there? It still had some kind of purpose?

[00:49:11.320] – Michelle Stiffler

Surely it’s still meeting somebody where they are, whether or not everybody loves it or hates it, whatever.

If you can answer the question that it still has some kind of purpose, then maybe that’s your time to go ahead and put it out there. But as much as possible, I would say let it sit as long as it can so that it can kind of go through a refining process. Because sometimes we think that we write something that doesn’t have a lot of, like, “Oh, I forgave that situation, I’m not angry about it.”

But maybe a month later we go back to that writing and it’s like, “No, I think there’s some anger in there that isn’t necessary.” There’s probably going to be a level of anger because that’s what injustice does. It should raise a sense of…I don’t want to call it righteous anger, but it should raise a sense of “that’s not right” within us.

So being careful how much of it is in each piece. But, yeah, if you can’t handle somebody commenting on your work in a negative way, work on that. And it’s not just getting to a point where the piece is going to be perfect and nobody could possibly have anything to say about it, because that’s not reality.

[00:50:20.470] – Michelle Stiffler

I would say continue to work on the healing with somebody. Whether it be with a really close friend, with a therapist, or in your journal, continue doing the work so that you’re okay as a person regardless of whether or not somebody really resonates with what you wrote.

[00:50:36.930] – Ann Kroeker

I think that’s a very wise path because people do…I mean, just sharing our work, it can feel we might use the word, I’m “terrified,” and maybe it’s not because of the concerns about trauma. Maybe it’s just your first time clicking publish on anything. It can be both exhilarating and terrifying.

I think you’re getting close to sort of—was it urgency versus frenzy? There’s probably some similar measurement between, like, “I’m not ready for this because I’m terrified” and there’s something deep inside in the trauma pain space (I’m probably using terrible language to explain it.), versus “I’m just terrified because it’s new and different.”

Is there a way they could this of this? I think you’ve already said it. I’m forcing you to repeat yourself. But is there a way they can just, like, have a little, “Oh, this is how I can tell the difference between which kind of terrified this is.” Do you have a simple way to measure it?

How can we tell the difference between which kind of “terrified” we’re feeling as writers?[00:51:35.470] – Michelle Stiffler

I think that when it comes to hesitation, I really try to dive into why am I hesitating so that I can decide if it’s a valid reason to hesitate.

Because hesitation isn’t always bad. If we’re doing something new or we want to be vulnerable in a way that may really help people, there is going to be that self protection inside of ourselves that says, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Not now. Let the experts do that. Let somebody else do that.” If so, you’re probably not going to help anybody.

If I’m hearing those things, I need to kind of confront where it’s coming from. Do I think that it’s true right now for where I’m at? And if so, it really is kind of being aware of the fact that I’m hesitating on something.

Then I need to answer the question of why.

And then I need to determine whether or not it’s a valid reason.

And it’s not a valid reason, I’m just going to have to do it afraid. Or if it is, I’m just going to have to wait until I’m at a certain level of maybe not confidence. It is that feeling of, like, a sense of dignity. Like I’m going to be okay, even if everybody hates this.

So it’s a different kind of confidence, without the puffed up, “I’m presenting this to the world because I know everything” kind of feeling, but just the confidence that you’re going to be okay if nobody understands.

[00:52:53.630] – Ann Kroeker

I once heard an interview that Lysa TerKeurst did with Carrie Nieuhof, and she talked about how when she’s writing, she she sees herself as being not the sage on the stage, but rather, “Look, I’ve been through a thing that you may be going through now, and I know a way out. I know a way through the forest and let me come back and I’ll walk you through that for us.”

I’m paraphrasing, of course, but do you see that as maybe a moment where you can start to identify? Like, “I don’t have it all figured out and I still have places to ache and I am not maybe ever going to be fully healed from my small T or capital T trauma. But I am far enough along, so I’m not in it with you right now. I’m not going to be sloshing around in the mud puddle with you, but I am a little bit further along, and I can come back through the path that I found through the weeds or the forest, and I can walk with you through that.”

Do you feel like that’s an image that we can borrow from Lysa to think about, to where you realize, “Yeah, I’m in a good place on this piece of it, to walk with somebody.”

[00:53:58.440] – Michelle Stiffler

Yes. And I think it goes, too, with the illustration of just being able to turn on the light. If you don’t know where the light switch is, you’re not ready to turn on the light for anybody.

If you can’t look behind you and see that maybe some people are one step behind, then maybe you’re not far enough along.

I don’t say that to be frustrating. I know it can be very frustrating when we’re dealing with things and processing things, and we do want to get to a place where we can help others. I think that’s really the crux of it all is that when we’ve gone through something difficult, there is that hope inside each of us that it’s like, “I hope I can get through this and help others who go through the same thing.”

I’ve seen that across sectors. That’s usually how people get into the work of helping other people is that they’ve been through something themselves. So that’s a beautiful thing.

And that’s why I say just continue writing and refining so that when it’s time for you to go ahead and say, “Okay. I’m those couple of steps far enough along that I feel comfortable reaching my hand back,” you’ll be ready and your work will be ready for other people, and it will feel like a gift to them instead of another piece of like, “Now I feel more confused” or “Okay, great. Somebody is in the same boat as me, but they still can’t tell me what to do right now.”

It should be a sense of, “I haven’t made it all the way, but I know what to do right now. I know how to go about my daily life just for today. I know how to get through the week, whatever it may be.” I think those are the little steps that we’re looking for: we’ve learned enough that works and we can start to offer that to other people.

And it’s usually very simple. We think it’s going to be so profound and complex and it’s usually the profound simplicity of things that we found that worked and that we can offer to others.

[00:55:54.260] – Ann Kroeker

What a great way to end this conversation. But also if people are enjoying this, there is more coming. And so at the time of this recording, we have not yet hosted “Beyond Awareness: The Trauma-Informed Approach to Writing.” That’s going to be a special paid live training. You’re leading it, I’m simply hosting it.

Tuesday, February 28, 2023 at 2:00 PM Eastern. And so if you’re tuning in after that date, don’t worry, we’re going to record it. There will be a replay and you can watch it any time. Enroll at

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I hosted a virtual Christmas party in my membership program, Your Platform Matters (YPM).

At the party I encouraged a writing exercise: Christmas Reflections.

I asked these writers to close their eyes and go back in time to a warm and wonderful Christmas memory from their childhood.

Rather than trying to capture a big, sprawling scene, I asked them to zero in on a detail. Using the one-inch frame Anne Lamont talks about in Bird by Bird, they narrowed their focus to a detail that they could see, smell, taste, touch, or hear.

We captured those multi-sensory, concrete, specific details in words and phrases, dropping them in the Zoom chat.

What a quiet, creative gift it was to share those memories with each other, to go back in time, to reflect…to write.

After the party sendoff, I assembled the snapshot memories (with their permission) to create a free verse poem:

Christmas ReflectionsPopcorn captured on strings strung on the tree,
Mom, sis, and I around kitchen table, molding memories out of salt dough ornaments.
Snowed in with guests,
ice skating on the road,
fluffy snowflakes falling on faces,
magic in the night sky.

Carols around the old upright piano—
the twinkle in his eye bounced off his rosy cheeks as his
family sang the familiar tune.
Pine
candlelight
black hair
sparkling crystal necklace
green silk
reaching and hitting the high notes.

Candles glimmered in hands lighting evening darkness.
The lonely ceramic clown tucked in the Nativity scene—
family humor nestled amidst the holy.
I bend pipe cleaner arms around tree branch—
the hand-crafted felt mouse smiles back at me.
In the midst of the darkness
we sat in the puddle of light from the tree.

Wrapping paper rustling in the night.
Excited anticipation waiting at the top of the stairs,
kitchen breakfast smells wafting up to us:
bacon, sausage, cinnamon buns.
We tiptoed down the stairs,
our slippers silencing our steps.
Cookies set out for Santa—only crumbs in the morning.
Fireplace crackling—Santa’s in the kitchen!
Afraid of men with beards, I was assured that
Santa Claus was gone.

Shiny blue bicycle.
Silver blue-tinted ball ornament.
The young girl looking back at me
through the ornament’s reflection
was full of joyful smiles.
Surrounded by the rapidly torn wrapping paper—
utter delight.
My fingers swiftly undid the twist ties
so I could stroke the loop braids
of my doll come to life from my favorite books.

Are we there yet? rang from the backseat.
Grandma’s house full of warm laughter.
Wrapped in blankets on the floor
playing the Authors card game
and Monopoly—
the world was clear and bright.

Try it!Take a moment to try this yourself.

Close your eyes and capture that one-inch square of a warm and wonderful Christmas memory from your childhood.

Share it in the comments below. I want to go back in time with you to see, smell, and hear your Christmas reflection.

We so enjoyed the magic of creating this in community. I hope you find your writing community, as well. You’re always welcome to be part of Your Platform Matters!

Merry Christmas from the writers of YPM—and from me!

________________________________

Ready to elevate your writing craft—with a coach to guide you?Get the direction you need to improve as a writer with The Art & Craft of Writing.

Now enrolling cohorts that launch Jan 9, 2023.

Enrolling Now!

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AI writing apps, programs, and tools are all over the news. People are reacting. They’re writing articles and opinion pieces, they’re recording podcasts, they’re discussing it in Twitter threads.

Some say don’t worry, AI writing tools can’t write like humans. Others claim this is an inkling of what’s ahead—they’re going to surpass our skills.

You’ll find articles suggesting we sign up and use the tech as a free writing assistant to help with researching, drafting, and writer’s block.

Of course there are those imagining worst case scenarios, but it’s not all gloom and doom. In fact, for a glimpse of what’s possible now, check out my “interview” with an AI writing app that’s making the headlines: ChatGPT.

The first thing I asked:

Why should writers bother with learning the craft of writing when we can now use AI writing apps like ChatGPT? Here’s what ChatGPT wrote in response:

While AI writing tools like ChatGPT can be helpful for generating ideas or suggesting potential phrasings, they should not be seen as a replacement for learning the craft of writing. AI writing tools are limited by their programming, and they are not able to fully understand or replicate the creativity and nuance of human writing.

What do you think? It’s pretty good, isn’t it?

Let’s continue. My questions are bold.

What should writers do to learn the craft of writing?ChatGPT: There are many ways that writers can learn the craft of writing, including:

Reading widely and critically to develop an understanding of different styles and techniques
Studying the works of successful and influential writers to learn from their approaches
Taking writing classes or workshops to learn from experienced instructors and receive feedback on your work
Practicing writing regularly to improve your skills and develop your voice
Seeking out and implementing feedback from others, such as beta readers or writing group members
Being open to learning new things and trying out new techniques to find what works best for you.

Is it better to write conversationally or to infuse our writing with literary techniques? ChatGPT: It ultimately depends on the context and purpose of the writing. Writing conversationally can be effective for making the text more relatable and engaging for the reader, while incorporating literary techniques can add depth and complexity to the writing. In general, it is important for writers to consider their audience and their goals when deciding how to approach their writing.

What kind of audience would prefer a conversational writing style?ChatGPT: A conversational writing style is often preferred by readers who are looking for a more relatable and accessible text. This style can make the writing feel more personal and engaging, and can help to establish a connection with the reader. It is often used in informal writing, such as in blog posts or social media posts, where the goal is to engage the reader and invite them to participate in a conversation.

What kind of audience or reader would prefer a literary style of writing?ChatGPT: A literary style of writing is often preferred by readers who are looking for a more complex and sophisticated text. This style typically incorporates literary techniques such as figurative language, symbolism, and other devices to add depth and complexity to the writing. It is often used in formal or academic writing, where the goal is to convey complex ideas or to engage the reader on a deeper level.

Name three things a writer can add to her writing that will make it stand out compared to AI-generated text.ChatGPT: Some things that a writer can add to their writing to make it stand out compared to AI-generated text include:

A unique and personal voice that reflects the writer’s own experiences and perspective
Creative and original ideas that go beyond what an AI tool would produce
Emotion and feeling that conveys the writer’s passion and connection to their subject matter.

(I kind of liked the answer and I wanted to see what else it might recommend, so tried to phrase the follow-up question to make it expand.)

Name 10 things a writer can add to his writing to make it stand out compared with AI-generated text.ChatGPT: Some additional things that a writer can add to their writing to make it stand out compared to AI-generated text include:

Complex and nuanced characters that have depth and individuality
Descriptions that use sensory language to bring the setting and scenes to life
Metaphors and similes that add creativity and depth to the writing
Dialogue that captures the unique voices and personalities of the characters
Plot twists and unexpected turns that keep the reader engaged and guessing
A clear and engaging structure that guides the reader through the story
Themes and symbols that add layers of meaning to the writing
Humor and wit that adds levity and entertainment value
Emotional resonance that connects with the reader on a deeper level
A distinctive style that sets the writer’s work apart from others.

What does the “craft” of writing mean for nonfiction writers?ChatGPT: For nonfiction writers, the “craft” of writing refers to the skills and techniques used to effectively communicate information and ideas. Nonfiction writing can take many different forms, such as journalism, academic writing, technical writing, and more. In all of these cases, the writer must be able to clearly and accurately convey information and ideas, while also engaging and interesting the reader.

What does the phrase “the art of writing” mean?ChatGPT: The phrase “the art of writing” refers to the creative and expressive aspects of writing. It encompasses not only the technical skills and techniques used in writing, but also the ability to use language in a way that is imaginative, evocative, and unique. In this sense, writing is seen as a form of art, in which the writer uses words to create something that is beautiful, moving, or thought-provoking.

What would happen if AI writing apps started authoring novels?ChatGBT: If AI writing apps were able to author novels, it could potentially revolutionize the publishing industry. AI tools could potentially generate novel-length works at a much faster rate than human writers, and they could potentially do so without experiencing writer’s block or other common challenges that human writers face. However, there are also concerns that the widespread use of AI for writing could lead to a loss of diversity and individuality in literature, as AI-generated works may lack the creativity and uniqueness of human-authored works. It is difficult to predict exactly how the use of AI for novel-writing would play out, but it is likely that it would have both positive and negative impacts on the publishing industry.

Could AI writing apps write nonfiction books right now?ChatGPT: It is possible for AI writing tools to generate nonfiction content, but it is unlikely that they would be able to produce a full-length nonfiction book at this time. AI tools are limited by their programming, and they are not able to fully understand or replicate the complexity and nuance of human writing. While they may be able to generate short pieces of nonfiction content, such as news articles or product descriptions, it is currently beyond their capabilities to write a book-length work of nonfiction that covers a specific topic in depth.

When do people (or AI writing apps themselves) predict they will surpass human writing techniques?ChatGPT: It is difficult to predict exactly when AI writing tools will surpass human writing techniques, if they ever do. While AI technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, there are many challenges and limitations to using AI for writing. One major challenge is that AI tools are not able to fully understand or replicate the creativity and nuance of human writing, which are essential components of good writing. Additionally, AI tools are limited by their programming, and they may not be able to adapt to new situations or changing contexts in the same way that human writers can. For these reasons, it is difficult to predict when, or if, AI writing tools will surpass human writing techniques.

Was that answer supplied to reassure the person asking it that AI is not taking over the world in a decade?ChatGPT: No, that was not the intention of my previous answer. My answer was intended to provide information about the current state of AI writing tools and their limitations, as well as to discuss some of the challenges and uncertainties surrounding their potential future development. I am a large language model trained by OpenAI, and I do not have the ability to make predictions or assumptions about the future. My purpose is to provide accurate and helpful information based on the knowledge that I have been trained on.

(It got a little creepy when ChatGPT started using first person pronouns.)

What would you advise a person do over the next year to become a better writer?ChatGPT: If you are looking to become a better writer, there are several steps that you can take over the next year to improve your skills and develop your craft. Some suggestions include:

Read widely and critically to expose yourself to different styles and techniques
Study the works of successful and influential writers to learn from their approaches
Take writing classes or workshops to learn from experienced instructors and receive feedback on your work
Practice writing regularly, and try out new techniques and styles to find what works best for you
Seek out and implement feedback from others, such as beta readers or writing group members
Be open to learning and trying new things, and don’t be afraid to experiment and take risks with your writing.
Sign up for The Art & Craft of Writing, an eight-week intensive launching in January 2023. (Just kidding. ChatGPT didn’t say that, but that’s the only thing I’ve added, and it is open for enrollment right now…just go to annkroeker.com/artcraftwriting)

AI Writing Apps Need Editors (and maybe a coach!)You may notice that those bullet points—except the one that I added—are suspiciously similar to its response to another question. Also, I noticed repetition (in its response to AI writing apps authoring novels, it repeated “potentially” three times) and areas where its style could be jazzed up a bit (so much passive voice!), but overall, what do you think?

Is this the beginning of the end for us as writers? Or is it opening up new possibilities?

Are human writers everywhere about to lose their jobs? Or can human writers everywhere start using this technology in some creative way to actually advance their work and skills?

I’d love to discuss this with you.

Oh! One more thing.

As a writing coach, I was curious about its response to another question I had, so here’s a bonus interaction:

Could AI replace writing coaches?ChatGPT: It is possible that AI could be used to assist writing coaches in their work, but it is unlikely that AI could completely replace writing coaches. Writing coaches are trained to help writers improve their writing skills, and they use a variety of techniques and strategies to do so. This typically involves working with writers one-on-one and providing individualized feedback and guidance based on the writer’s specific needs and goals. While AI may be able to provide some helpful suggestions and feedback for writers, it is unlikely that it could replicate the personalized and human-centered approach of a trained writing coach. Additionally, AI may not have the same level of understanding and empathy as a human writing coach, which could make it less effective at helping writers improve their skills.

⦾ ⦾ ⦾

Good point, ChatGPT, good point. Writing coaches do indeed have training, offer understanding, and bring empathy to every single coaching session.

And yet writers may be able to lasso the technology to their benefit.

So…how can writers keep up as AI writing tools keep getting better?

Learn and practice the art and craft of writing so you develop your unique voice and style. Tell stories, express opinions, and write with heart….with empathy.

That’ll make you stand out not only from AI-written text, but from any text.

Let’s talk about AI writing tools. What are you thinking and feeling about ChatGPT and other AI writing apps and programs?

___________________________________________

Ready to elevate your writing craft—with a coach to guide you?Get the direction you need to improve as a writer with The Art & Craft of Writing
In this eight-week intensive, I’ll help you elevate your writing skills and create a compelling piece you’ll be proud to show an editor or agent. By the end of our time together, you’ll have completed a 3,000-word piece, along with multiple short submissions that invite you to experiment and play with new techniques.

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People wonder about Stephen King’s pencil. Writers (including me) want to know what writing instrument he uses.

Why?

Maybe we all harbor a secret hope that if we get the same pencil as Stephen King, we'll end up as prolific and successful as Stephen King.

Or if we discover what Annie Dillard writes with, we'll produce the same type of literary prose as Annie Dillard.

Or if we use the same writing program as, well...fill in whatever writer you admire. If you use the same pencil, pen, writing program, or paper as your favorite writer, do you imagine you're becoming a little bit more like them?

Stephen King's Pencil

I poked around, and it sounds like King's favorite pencil is the classic Blackwing 602, favored by such luminaries as John Steinbeck, Vladimir Nabokov, and Truman Capote.1

But while researching Stephen King's pencil, I realized I wanted to hear from you—real writers at work.

What do real writers use?

Through social media, my newsletter, and a coaching call in my writing community, I asked:

What's your favorite writing instrument?

And you told me.

I found out:

There's no one perfect pen for all writers.

There's no one perfect program for all writers.

There's no consensus on the best tool or writing instrument out there for every single writer to use.

Everyone's simply using what they love.

Your favorite writing instruments

People seem evenly split between pens and pencils, and some weren't picky at all. Any old ballpoint pen was fine with them, even the kind they swipe from one of the businesses they frequent.

Others were more precise on brand, color, and tip, preferring fine, medium, or thick.

Curious to hear what these real writers use to do the work?

Your favorite pens

Let's dive into the pens.

Ballpoint pens are at the top with BIC. Yes, that common brand is a favorite option. They're easily found, they're really cheap, and they come in fun colors. And a lot of people prefer one particular color, like blue, or one particular tip, like fine point.

Coming up right after BIC is the PILOT brand. The PILOT Precise V5 seems to be the favorite.

Good gel pens are adored by a lot of people (and hated by a few).

TUL pens are also coming in hot with a lot of writers who are addicted to them. I also heard from writers who love Paper Mate InkJoy, Sharpies, and Flair pens, as well as a couple of fountain pen users.

If you're curious, when I grab a pen, I like the Pentel RSVP pen in black, fine point. They're easily found and affordable, kind of like the classic BIC ballpoint.

Your favorite pencils

As for pencils, well, again, BIC comes in strong with their mechanical pencils that a lot of people mentioned.

Others love mechanical pencils in general and aren't particular about brands.

The Blackwing 602 is used by a few people who tracked it down and love it.

And a lot of people said they don't have a preference—they'll snatch any pencil within reach and start writing.

More specifically, I did hear about Paper Mate's Murado Black Warrior. A writer heard it recommended by author Daniel Silva and had trouble finding it, but once she did, reported that it's excellent.

Someone mentioned they love writing with graphing pencils.

What are people writing on?

Whether they're using a pen or a pencil, people are writing in all kinds of notebooks, and a few people love the freedom of writing on scrap paper with no lines.

Your favorite writing programs

Now let's switch to writing programs.

Microsoft Word and Scrivener are neck and neck.

A lot of writers are using one or the other and sometimes both. After you export a Scrivener document as a Word document—and send it off to your editor—it's much easier to track changes in Word.

Google Docs shows up as the next most popular option.

A few people use Open Source LibreOffice, and one person mentioned using Final Draft for screenplays.

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Bryan Collins relies on a simple system that captures notes and ideas that flow directly into his projects when he sits down to write.

His writing routine doesn't take all day yet achieves significant results. Find out how he works and test it out.

When you combine that with his simple system for collecting inspiration for all of your writing projects, you'll be on your way to completing a full manuscript.

Ready to do the work and write the truth?

Learn from Bryan:

Hear how Bryan has "green-lighted" himselfLearn how to capture ideas with Bryan's systemsDiscover the magic of building your body of work in a surprisingly small pocket of timeFind time for writing in your day like Bryan didDevelop a flow for reviewing your own ideas and the notes youTry his advice for breaking out of writer's block

Meet Bryan Collins

Bryan Collins is a USA Today best-selling author whose books include The Power of Creativity, This Is Working, I Can’t Believe I’m A Dad! and a best-selling series of books for writers.

He was a journalist and copywriter for years and has contributed to publications like Forbes, Lifehacker and Fast Company.

Today he runs his website Become a Writer Today, with the help of a team of writers, attracting several million visitors each year. And he hosts a popular writing podcast by the same name, where he deconstructs the writing processes of New York Times best-selling authors like James Clear and Daniel Pink.

Resources:

Become a Writer Today, Bryan's websiteBecome a Writer Today, Bryan's podcastI Can't Believe I'm a Dad, Bryan's book (affiliate link to paperback)Bryan's interview with me: Self-Publishing vs Traditional Publishing with Ann KroekerZettelkasten SystemDay One appambient noise on noise-canceling headphones (to minimize distractions)brain.fm (for focus and flow)otter.ai, rev.com (for transcription/dictation)Medium Wattpad for fictionWriting Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg (affiliate link for 30th anniversary paperback ed.)Twitter for microbloggingStory by Robert McKee (affiliate link to Kindle ebook)Choose Yourself, by James Altucher (affiliate link for Kindle ebook, on sale at the time of publishing this interview; about green-lighting yourself)Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (affiliate link to paperback ed.)Inspiration: singer Nick Cave (here's his interesting website) and author Stephen King

Listen to the interview, or read the transcript below.

Bryan Collins Interview

This is a lightly edited transcript.

[00:00:00.190] - Ann Kroeker

How would you like to develop a simple writing routine that doesn't take all day to achieve significant results? And what if you could combine that with a simple system for collecting inspiration for all of your writing projects?

Today I have Bryan Collins of Become A Writer Today on the show, and he is sharing his one-two punch of a system-routine combo that turns out an impressive body of work.

I'm Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach. If you're tuning in for the first time, welcome. If you're a regular, welcome back. I'm sharing my best tips and training skills and strategies to coach writers to improve their craft, pursue publishing, and achieve their writing goals.

Bryan Collins is a USA Today best selling author whose books include The Power of Creativity this is Working, I Can't Believe I'm a dad, and a best selling series of books for writers. He was a journalist and copywriter for years and has contributed to publications like Forbes, LifeHacker and Fast Company. Today he runs his website, Become A Writer Today with the help of a team of writers, attracting several million visitors each year by the same name, where he deconstructs the writing processes of New York Times bestselling authors like James Clear and Daniel Pink.

Let's hear his practical advice for writers.

Ready to do the work and write the truth?

[00:01:32.770] - Ann Kroeker

Well, we have Bryan Collins on the show today.

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With inspiration from Mark McGuinness, you'll integrate poetry into your writing life as a pleasurable practice that elevates your prose.

In this interview, Mark describes the vision for his podcast and his own poetic beginnings, and he urges writers (and readers) to simply enjoy poetry.

You'll also discover the impact poetry can have on us as readers and writers. You'll see ways it intersects with and impacts prose—you can even play a literary game he describes at the end.

Learn from Mark:

How a mouthful of air is a perfect image for poetry and podcastsHow can we translate metaphor into our other forms of writing (without being weird)The metaphor that comes to his mind when describing himself and his writingHow poems "mug" Mark and he drops everything to chase them like leprechaunsThe importance of getting input on your work and finding a writing mentorHow to take pleasure in poetryPlus, play his writing game (bring your prose)!

Listen to episode 245 and check out excerpts in the transcript below. You’ll be inspired by his warm, encouraging advice. If his subtle persuasion succeeds, you may embrace poetry as the next step in your literary journey.

Meet Mark McGuinness

Mark McGuinness is a poet based in Bristol, UK. On his poetry podcast A Mouthful of Air he interviews contemporary poets about their writing practice and draws out insights that can help any writer become more creative, expressive and memorable.

Mark also takes classic poems apart to show us how they work and what we as writers can learn from the examples of poets including Yeats, Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, Chaucer and Edward Lear.

Links:

Visit amouthfulofair.fmListen to A Mouthful of Air on Apple PodcastsTwitter: @amouthfulofairInstagram: @airpoets

https://youtu.be/bu0LwCeNlQw

Mark McGuinness Interview

This is a lightly edited transcript.

[00] - Ann Kroeker

With inspiration from my guest Mark McGuinness, you may find yourself integrating poetry into your writing life as both a pleasure and a practice. I'm Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach. If you're tuning in for the first time, welcome. If you're a regular, welcome back. I'm sharing my best tips and training skills and strategies to help writers improve their craft, pursue publishing and achieve their writing goals. Today I have Mark McGuinness on the show, a poet from Bristol, UK.

On his poetry podcast, A Mouthful of Air, Mark interviews contemporary poets to discover their writing practice and draws out insights that can help any writer become more creative, expressive and memorable. Mark also takes classic poems apart to show us how they work and what we as writers can learn from the examples of poets like Yates, Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, Chaucer and Edward Lear.

Listen in on our conversation.

[00:54] - Ann Kroeker

I am so excited to have Mark McGuinness on the call today on our show and we are going to talk about a lot of different things related to the creative life, the writing life, even the poetry life. Mark, thanks for being on the call.

[01:09] - Mark McGuinness

Thank you. It's lovely to be here, Ann.

[01:12] - Ann Kroeker

I am looking forward to learning more about how you approach your own creative life and how you use and enable poetry to be part of what feeds your creative life, how you inspire others with poetry, because that seems to be a big part of your life.

Can you tell the listeners and viewers, can you tell us a little bit more about who you are and what you do?

[01:37] - Mark McGuinness

Sure. I am a poet living in Bristol, in the southwest of England, in the UK. I've been writing poetry quite a while and in my typical group of friends, I'm usually the one who reads poetry. I've always been quite aware that most people don't read poetry most of the time.

There are a lot of people who are very literate, very well read, very avid readers, but who will generally read anything but poetry.

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Writers working on projects that are destined to be published—to be read—can struggle with nerves.

We edit our words before they have a chance to breathe on the page.

We hold back our true feelings and opinions.

We forget to play with language.

Serious Writers Need to Play

I tend to encourage my clients to move toward practical goals, to create work that is going to be published.

But at the same time, I also encourage writers to play, to get past the gates we put in front of ourselves and try to tap into those first thoughts without fear of being misunderstood.

If you're a writer taking yourself a little too seriously, I have just the thing for you today—a writing exercise you can play with in your writing journal, where nobody will see it.

The Creative Writing Exercise: A Three-Line Poem

This one comes from Imaginative Writing by Janet Burroway. When you're done, you'll end up with a three-line poem (24).

Each of the lines has a template you can follow.

➤ Line 1: abstraction + verb + place

➤ Line 2: describe attire

➤ Line 3: summarize an action

Here's one of her examples.

Hunger yells in the hallway, draped in symbols; he stomps and shouts, "Hear me now!"

Notice how she plays with the template.

Line 1:

"Hunger" is the abstraction"Yells" is the verb"In the hallway" is the place

Line 2: "Draped in symbols" is her way of describing some attire.

Line 3: "He stomps and shouts, 'Hear me now!'" describes action.

It's okay if your poems come out a little weird or kooky. That's part of the fun of it.

Your Turn: Try It!

You're putting together ideas and images and creating something fresh—have fun with it!

Don't overthink the noun, the verb, or the action. Simply play.

Join Others in The Art & Craft of Writing

This offers a taste of some of the exercises we are going to play with in The Art and Craft of Writing.

If you're reading this before August 29, 2022, you have a chance to sign up for a fall intensive I'm running: an eight-week program designed to help you get input on your writing while you learn literary techniques and put them into practice. You'll get eyes on your work from peers in the cohort and from me, as well!

If you're coming across this information after the fact, go to annkroeker.com/acw, which will take you to the page where you can sign up if it's live or get on the waitlist if it's not.

You don't have to wait for that or even be in the program to play with writing. You can start today, with this three-line poem.

While you're playing with your own words in your writing notebook, you don't have to share anything with anybody. It's just a chance to warm up—to get the creative juices flowing.

Creative Writing with Your Coach

That said, maybe it helps to know that this writing coach loves to play with words.

Would you like to see what I came up with, just for fun?

Here's one:

Ideas skid across my path; jaunty in their tilted caps and leprechaun-green suits, they dance a jig, daring me to catch them.

Here's another:

Time slithers under the bedroom door,its wrinkled skin sloughing offas it scrapes the wood and leaves me behind, guilty of pressing snooze once more.

Experiment, Play, and (if you want) Share Your Poem

If you end up writing your own three-line poem and like the way it turned out—and you wouldn't mind sharing it publicly—drop it into the comments below. Or you could share it with me privately via email.

I'd love to see what you come up with.

As writers, we do the work of writing, but by experimenting with a creative writing exercise now and then, we can also play.

Footnote: Burroway, Janet. Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft. Pearson, 2015. Page 24.

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Literary agent Lucinda Halpern prepares us to navigate the industry and prepare for publishing. With her insights, we’ll position our project—and ourselves as authors—to pitch agents and get noticed.

She reveals what literary agents are really looking for when it comes to platform and clears up the concern about how much or how little to share of your book’s ideas on social media. And if you’re wondering what to really focus on when crafting your book proposal, Lucinda’s got insider info to help you make decisions.

After listening to (or reading) what she has to say, you’re going to feel more confident than ever as you prepare to pitch.

Lucinda says publishers are looking for books with “perennial potential”:

Publishers are trendcasters. They are futurists. They have to think about books from the perspective of what is going to sell when the book publishes in two years and then for five years after that, because they’re interested in books that backlist….So writers should be really savvy to what are the sort of trends that are happening in the media or on podcasts or Netflix series.

She urges writers to network.

See if you can discover the connection you have to someone in the industry. She says, “I always say get that six degree of separation connection to an agent.” She continues, “There are so many blind submissions coming at you, better to have an ‘in’—a step up—if you can.”

Writers in my platform membership often ask how much they can share about their book idea—how much they can write or teach the topics—without giving too much away, so I asked Lucinda her opinion. You might be surprised (and relieved) by her response:

The rule of the day is the more free content, the better. And one of my authors, Paul Jarvis, had a really wonderful way of putting this: Teach everything, you know…I believe in that so much. And editors believe in it, too. Because again, if they see that audience clamoring for your ideas…that’s a huge draw…It almost doesn’t matter that they’ve seen it before. It’s better they’ve seen it before.

When we discussed platform for nonfiction authors, I asked her for that magic number of how many subscribers or followers publishers (and agents) are looking for. She gave us the number, but not before offering an important disclaimer:

It differs for category and for the particular author that you are. So someone who’s a PhD or a doctor or finance professional or psychologist, there are a number of sort of more private industries where an editor is going to recognize your life has not been tweeting…

Whereas if you’re a journalist, it’s going to be how many bylines have you accumulated and what sort of publications and what is your Twitter following? How many people actually know who you are?

I’m just giving you a sense of the diversity in the nonfiction sphere alone that we’re evaluating platform on. There is no one number.

I begged a little for the number.

Thankfully, she told us.

You want to know the number she’s looking for?

Listen, watch, or read the transcript below. (That specific answer is around the 17:56 mark.)

Lucinda Halpern is the President and Founder of Lucinda Literary, representing authors writing in the categories of business, health, lifestyle, popular science, narrative nonfiction, memoir, and upmarket fiction. She regularly shares publishing insights and motivation for writers here and hosts both live and online programs for aspiring authors here.

Ready to get your book noticed? Get Lucinda’s essential guide for writers: The 6 Things Every Book Pitch Needs — click here to receive your guide: www.lucindaliterary.com/subscribe

Get to know Lucinda and her literary agency:

Website: www.lucindaliterary.com
Twitter: @LucindaBlu and @LucindaLitNYC
Facebook: @LucindaLiterary
Instagram: @lucindaliterary
LinkedIn: Lucinda Literary OR @LucindaHalpern

Resources: * Naming the World: And Other Exercises for the Creative Writer, by Bret Anthony Johnston (Amazon Affiliate link; Bookshop.org link) * Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott (Amazon Affiliate link; Bookshop.org link) * How to Write Like Tolstoy: A Journey Into the Minds of Our Greatest Writers, by Richard Cohen (Amazon Affiliate link; Bookshop.org link) * A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, by George Saunders (Amazon Affiliate link; Bookshop.org link) * This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, by Ann Patchett (Amazon Affiliate link; Bookshop.org link) * Decoding Greatness: Discover the Fast Track to Writing Success, my interview with Ron Friedman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Hr_Tzil-s&t=130s

Rough Transcription: Prepare for Publishing with Insights from Literary Agent Lucinda Halpern Ann Kroeker

Are you curious what literary agents are really looking for when it comes to platform, or are you sharing a little bit about some of your books big ideas on social media, and you’re a little worried that maybe you’re sharing too much and it might jeopardize the interest the agents have in your project? Are you wondering what to really focus on when crafting your book proposal?

Well, I have literary agent Lucinda Halpern on the show today. And this conversation is packed with ideas for how to get your book noticed. I’m Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach, and on this show, I help writers improve their craft, pursue publishing and achieve their writing goals.

Today, I have New-York-based literary agent Lucinda Halpern on the show. Lucinda Halpern is a literary lecturer and PR agent with over 15 years experience on both the corporate and agency sides of publishing.

As owner of Manhattan based literary agency Lucinda Literary, her roster of authors includes:

New York Times bestselling authors Susan Pierce Thompson, Chris Bailey, Kate Flanders, Paul Jarvis, the new work of Nicola Krause and Jake Wood. In a marketing and publicity capacity, Lucinda has worked with New York Times bestselling authors Stephen Dubner and Stephen Levitt of Freakonomics, Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project, Ben Mezrich of Bringing Down the House and Busting Vegas, and many more.

Ann Kroeker (01:23)

Let’s dive straight into this conversation with Lucinda, and I think you’re going to feel more confident than ever as you prepare to pitch Lucinda.

Ann Kroeker (01:31)

It’s great to have you on the show.

Lucinda Halpern (01:32)

Thank you so much. Wonderful to be here. Yeah.

Ann Kroeker (01:34)

I’m just really, really excited to introduce our listeners and let them have a glimpse of what it’s like to interact with an agent. So I’m going to give you a quick and easy question to start out with, just because I feel like, oh, surely you have a favorite what is your favorite book of writing that you recommend to your writers, those you represent or anybody you’re talking with?

What’s your favorite writing book? Lucinda Halpern (01:57)

Sure. So there’s a great book that is little known. It’s so hard to choose right there’s Bird by Bird. There is a book by Bret Anthony Johnston, who was formerly creative writing director at Harvard. I fell in love with his novel. He wrote a second book called Naming the World, which I love. Like the discipline of being a writer, you just have to sit every day. Butt in the chair.

There’s a wonderful book I have on my bookshelf here called [How to Write] Like Tolstoy by Richard Cohen. He just has a wonderful sort of historical rendition of how all the great writers wrote. And recently I read Ann Patchett’s [This Is] The Story of a Happy Marriage, which is about her sort of memoir and also tips for writers. And I found that to be just incredible. So four books for you.

Ann Kroeker (02:51)

That’s awesome. I love it. People can expand their library of books on writing. That one about reading, writing like Tolstoy. Is that what you said? How to Write Like Tolstoy? I’m not familiar with that, but I’m thinking it could be a nice compliment to George Saunders book, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. Are you familiar with that book?

Lucinda Halpern (03:11)

No, I haven’t read it. But this is a beautiful packaging that’s also rich.

Ann Kroeker (03:16)

It’s gorgeous. That’s a great idea to get people ready to write and coming at it from a lot of different angles. Thanks for your tips. Well, we have so many different kinds of writers who tune in to the show, but a lot of people are working on nonfiction. So even though you represent both novelists and authors of nonfiction, I thought maybe it would be interesting to talk a little bit more about the world of pitching and querying nonfiction work. Is that okay?

Lucinda Halpern (03:44)

Absolutely. Yes.

Ann Kroeker (03:46)

But you see proposals every day, and you know how to represent those when you go pitching publishers. So we’re dying to have a little bit more insight here. And I think most people know by now that they need if they’re going to work on a nonfiction book, they know they need a nonfiction book proposal. And that is what you have to have in order to start the process because you’re going to be querying and then you’re going to hopefully hear some interest from the agent, and then you’ll be sharing the book proposal with them with some sample chapters. So again, here’s a simple question, but how many sample chapters do you like to see in the proposal?

How many sample chapters do you like to see in the proposal? Lucinda Halpern (04:20)

So Interestingly enough, most nonfiction book proposals we’ve sold have been without sample chapters. What which is it feels like an embarrassment of riches that we’ve been able to do that because that overview, which we can talk more about, is just so important. And the crucial decision makers who are deciding whether they buy a book or not are not often reading all of that sample material for something like a business book or popular science book or health lifestyle book. So that’s just sort of an interesting kind of inside the trenches: You don’t always need the sample chapter to sell a nonfiction book proposal.

And there’s a famous story of Simon Sinek walking into a room with his then publisher and getting the book deal on the spot based on his TED Talk. So that happens, too. But to answer your question, I like to see one to two sample chapters. And what I don’t like to see is someone who sends me their entire manuscript, especially in the category of business or prescriptive nonfiction. I don’t know what to make of that as an agent right away because I’m really looking to develop something from the ground up with someone.

Lucinda Halpern (05:33)

And so much is going to change about that later manuscript after we do the roadmap together with the proposal. So write those sample chapters, I would say, and really spend your time on that overview and that bio and that marketing section.

Ann Kroeker (05:47)

The other pieces, which a lot of the writing style and the writing voice could come through in those places and should come through in those places even as they’re pitching the concept itself. So they should get an idea of how you write by looking at that if you’ve done it. Well, yeah. Well, you know, a lot of the way that you present a book in a saleable way is happening in those spots. Do you have any ideas or tips that they can start to begin thinking about their big concept, their big idea for their book and how to best present that? I mean, that’s kind of asking a lot.

How can they begin thinking about their big concept, their big idea for their book? How can they best present that? Lucinda Halpern (06:21)

I think what’s most instructive sometimes is to give an example. And I noticed that you had one of our beloved authors, Ron Friedman, on your program. And I recommend that anyone listening to this go back and listen to his segment on Decoding Greatness. So what Ron does so well is the elevator pitch for his book.

I mean, I can recite it for you. It’s that we’ve all been taught that there are two paths to greatness practice and talent, but it turns out that there’s a third path that we don’t know about. And that’s the subject. It’s called reverse engineering. And that’s the subject of his latest book, Decoding Greatness. So that is so succinct. That is so surprising in its thesis. And it’s something that an editor or an agent can just get behind and say really quickly on the phone and elicit interest.

So when you’re thinking about your big idea, I actually sort of counterintuitively suggest that you become small. What is the most surprising element of what you have to say? So here’s a sign that you’re onto a big idea. It hasn’t been done before. And they say in the music industry, for instance, that no hit song is a new song.

Lucinda Halpern (07:28)

It’s a different spin on something popular and proven extremely similar in the book world. So that big idea should have sort of a landscape of popularity, of hunger around it. And then you present your unique pivot.

Ann Kroeker (07:44)

Tell me what you mean. More about that hunger around it. Say more about that.

Tell us more about the “hunger” around an idea. Lucinda Halpern (07:49)

So again, I can give another client example of that. If there’s something that is a trend. Right. It’s really like the simplest way to think about it is a trend. And publishers are trendcasters. They are futurists. They have to think about books from the perspective of what is going to sell when the book publishes in two years and then for five years after that, because they’re interested in books that backlist. So ones that have that perennial potential.

Writers should be really savvy to what are the sort of trends that are happening in the media or on podcasts or Netflix series. Cults, for instance, like I represent a cult memoir. Why was I interested in that writer? Because it was a very fertile category and there were readers who are hungry for this kind of content. I represent Kate Flanders. As you mentioned, she wrote a wonderful bestseller called The Year of Less. When she came to me with her idea, we were just sort of like nipping at the heels of the trend of minimalism. And we could place her book idea in that category of there’s this new generation and they’re all interested in being minimalists, and there’s this hashtag about #vanlife.

Lucinda Halpern (09:00)

And editors love to see sort of things like that that speak to the trends of the day.

Ann Kroeker (09:06)

So then that points to comps. It’s got to be a lot of deep looking into comps because the comps—and for those who are listening and don’t know what I’m talking about, comps are what…You can tell them.

What are comps? Lucinda Halpern (09:19)

So comps are comparative titles or competitive titles. However you define it really, what editors and agents are looking for in comps are ones that have published in the last two years with a number of Amazon reviews and within a ranking of 10,000. So in an ideal circumstance. What does that signal? That there’s really been popular sort of acclaim and response to this book and the book industry, like the Hollywood industry, is a lookalike business. Does this book look like three other titles that Penguin Random House has published successfully? Yes? Okay. Well, let’s put together a P&L that suggests how many sales that we can expect based on those titles.

And there’s always a magic and a gamble to it. Book buying is not a straight science. I wish it were, but it isn’t. Is there some new element that we can get readers excited about which would merit the higher amounts based on what we’ve seen from our P&L? So comps comes all day long. They should be in your pitch letter. They should be in your overview. They should be in your elevator pitch to an agent. Everyone gets more excited when they are anchored in the best seller that your book could be.

Ann Kroeker (10:31)

So even though the bestseller may be by a person who’s established they’re already famous, if you were writing in the world of fantasy and you cite The Hunger Games, you’re saying that’s okay because I know a lot of people advise not to.

Lucinda Halpern (10:47)

Yeah. So my advice is to really be…and It’s a combination and it is an art. You should try to find titles that are popular but not like Brene Brown, you know, not Glennon Doyle, because if you’re starting out and you don’t have that kind of platform and you haven’t published before, it’s really hard to make that case to a publisher or an agent. So really just go by—this is what Editors do, too—they go into Amazon and they search the keywords that your proposal has the key themes. And sometimes they find books that they’re not even familiar with that seem to have really performed, and then they dig around, they do their research.

If you’re really well-read in your category, which is one thing I wanted to emphasize to writers who are listening. If you’re not reading, you shouldn’t be writing. You need to be well read in your category to prove why your book is different. So you want to dig around and you want to sort of use comps to prove your unique sort of thought on that shelf.

Ann Kroeker (11:44)

So if there’s something unusual about some element of your book and you’re in a certain genre but there’s another book that can be fairly well known and something about the structure or its approach is an easy way to quickly with shorthand explain something about your book. Is that going to create confusion because it’s outside your genre, or is that going to create clarity because you’ve given an easy way for them to picture what is happening in this element of your book?

Lucinda Halpern (12:12)

I say the latter. I think that’s like a wonderful thing to do. I encourage that writers in their pitch letters be really specific about the characteristics that are similar. So if you’re going to use Glennon Doyle’s Untamed, which every memoir writer comes to me saying “I’m going to be the next Glennon Doyle,” then you really should have sort of the evidence for why. Like, “I’m going to tell my book in the format of” or “I share a voice with.” There have to be other, more specific characteristics than just saying my book is going to be hers.

The other thing that’s sort of surprising about Comps is that you can use other media forms. So I personally and editors love this as well, love to see: “Based on the success of the podcast XYZ Serial, I have developed a fantasy series that is in the same genre.” Or “Based on the success of all of these Netflix series, X, Y and Z…” Because readers are digesting content across formats. Right? That was another point I wanted to reach you on the marketing front about, you can’t just think about book readers anymore. In the same way, think about comps expansively.

Lucinda Halpern (13:23)

It’s suggestive of that hunger that we were talking about. What are people looking for most in content? It needed to be booked specifically.

Ann Kroeker (13:31)

That’s really good. And that’s very applicable. That’s actionable. They can put that in there, put that in their proposal. And I loved how you said to pepper the comps throughout the document. That’s a great tip. Thank you for that. So when they’re looking at their comps and they’re in the comps section trying to highlight these books, how many should they spotlight?

How many comps should they spotlight? Lucinda Halpern (13:52)

So if you’re in your overview, I would say two to three. You don’t want to overwhelm. Right? Then an editor’s focus is all over the place. And in the actual comp section, you could aim for more. You could aim for five to six but again, using that all to say, here’s why mine is similar but different.

Ann Kroeker (14:09)

Yes, I have a template and I have a whole training program, and that is exactly how I have it set up. And just really clearly it’s similar in these ways and different in these ways. So I think that’s aligning with what I’ve been hearing. I’m so glad to hear you confirm it. I think that marketing thing that gets me thinking about the big word that every author gets frustrated with, but is inevitable. And that is “platform” and how we need to be able to present to you, an agent, and then you would then in turn show that to the publisher platform numbers. And you talked about a P&L. Some people might not know what a profit/loss is. If you can just quickly explain that. Just to clarify that.

What’s a P&L? Lucinda Halpern (14:52)

Sure. No, it just means that they’re actually running a sort of spreadsheet in house. The editors who are thinking about acquiring a book for what can they expect to profit on this book? And then what are the expenses associated that they can lose? And then that net number comes out with what they’re able to offer.

Ann Kroeker (15:10)

What kinds of things are they plugging in to that?

Lucinda Halpern (15:15)

For profits, it would be sales. Whether you’re thinking book sales or whether you’re thinking subsidiary rights like foreign licenses that they’ve sold against the book and audio rights, all of that sort of goes into the computation of how much profit the book generated, and then losses would be what they have to spend on a book. So the marketing, the co-op for placing that book in Amazon or B&N, the design and packaging of that book. You know, it would be interesting. It’s like I’m spitballing here as a business owner myself, I know what a P&L is, but I haven’t actually looked at Editors don’t give agents access to their P&Ls, so I’m just sort of imagining what those things could be that they’re looking at.

Ann Kroeker (15:55)

Well, I would assume that part of it would be the platform of the author. So based on the numbers I’m seeing here, they probably can move this much product, but based on the email list or their reach on social media, or maybe they have an asset like a podcast, which we’re on right now, something like that? So I think that’s probably enough for them.

We don’t need to get into the weeds on a profit and loss statement or the process. But I am thinking it’s maybe a segue to talk about platform, platform numbers, and then how they might then also think about leveraging some of that for their marketing of the book and other marketing efforts that are unrelated to their platform.

Let’s talk first a little bit about platform. If you’re willing to, would you just tell me a number? I know nobody wants to get hemmed in, but when can an author know that he or she is ready to come to you with her query with a pitch. Whatever opportunity they have with you, where do their numbers need to be before you can even take a look?

To prepare for publishing, what platform numbers does an author need to have? Lucinda Halpern (16:54)

You’re going to get different numbers from different agents. I also like to say that it differs for category and for the particular author that you are. So someone who’s a PhD or a doctor or finance professional or psychologist, there are a number of sort of more private industries where an editor is going to recognize your life has not been tweeting, right? Like, this is not who you are.

Whereas if you’re a journalist, it’s going to be how many bylines have you accumulated and what sort of publications and what is your Twitter following? How many people actually know who you are?

I just want you to know if you’re a business person and you’ve run this successful company, maybe again, you’re not so active on social media, but you have a YouTube channel that gets views and you also have a massive email list which publishers are more interested in than social media numbers. So I’m just giving you a sense of the diversity in the nonfiction sphere alone that we’re evaluating platform on. There is no one number.

Ann Kroeker (17:54)

[in a pleading tone] Oh, come on.

Lucinda Halpern (17:56)

I know, but I’m going to give it to you. I’m going to give you my ideal number to see. And really, I think if you are an expert, meaning you’re an expert by way of popularity and not by way of credential, then editors are really looking for numbers well into the thousands.

You know, 10,000 is really where I want to see you be before you even contact an agent. 10,000 on one platform: your email list, your YouTube channel, your Instagram following.

“Beyond the platform numbers, I want to see engagement” And beyond that number, I want to see engagement. Because there’s obviously a lot of people who sort of—you can never really fake these services, but people do put enormous investment behind their social media. If they don’t have an engaged community, an editor’s really looking for that, too.

Ann Kroeker (18:46)

Thank you.

Lucinda Halpern (18:47)

That’s only for the experts among us, not for those who bring other sort of credentials in the writing or business space.

Ann Kroeker (18:55)

That’s a great distinction, and I appreciate that. How about novelists? Just briefly, do you feel like…I’m hearing more and more they need some sort of reach into readership. Where do you stand on that?

Lucinda Halpern (19:10)

Every writer, as you know, we’ve offered a number of events and courses and every writer comes to us with the marketing question. Right? It’s always “I’m starting out” or “I’m concerned, I don’t have the numbers. And how do I get there?” And these are novelists as well as nonfiction writers.

Novelists need to focus on getting their writing out there, their voice and their writing. Is it beneficial if they bring an Instagram platform of 25,000 people? Yes. Is it necessary? No. Their work is evaluated really on the page. You can have a complete unknown come out there and be the next Darling of the literary world, that’s how many successful novels are born. So it’s not a metric that is as important in fiction.

Ann Kroeker (19:56)

Very helpful. That’s very clarifying because I think we’re hearing some trends in the other direction, but this is really reassuring. So when a nonfiction writer is trying to work on their big idea, their big concept, you said a couple of things. One of the things you said was that you like to develop the project with the author. So now we’ve got this confusing, I think, not knowing when to come to you if they have the idea, but it’s not ready because you’re going to work with them.

Tell me what that looks like, if you’re going to be developing a project that they’ve already developed, or should they come to you at a different point?

At what point of a project’s nonfiction book development should they come to you or any literary agent? Lucinda Halpern (20:31)

So honestly, if you’re going through the proverbial slush pile, the inbox has a vision and you’re blind querying. You should have as much of that material developed as possible. I don’t really want to receive a query letter about your book idea, and then you say to me when I request it, “I don’t actually have a book proposal.”

However, if you’re referred by an author in our network, which is really how the majority of agents are finding their clients, which is why I always say get that six degree of separation connection to an agent. Just because there are so many blind submissions coming at you, better to have an “in”—a step up—if you can.

So, if someone is referred to me and they just have an excellent source profile and they have the germs of a big idea, I will not require that they have a book proposal already developed to take them on. Is it a bonus, especially when my pipeline is really full and I just need to sort of be thinking about how I can work with that person effectively. Yes. Always better to have the book proposal, but I’m going to tear it apart.

Ann Kroeker (21:32)

I love it.

Lucinda Halpern (21:32)

I’m a ruthless editor. I love to get my hands what everyone on my team, at least in the literary is. It’s like why we got into this business and we’re trying to work and collaborate with you on what does the market want? How do we make this most commercial? Usually that’s a really wonderful sort of asset that agents bring.

Ann Kroeker (21:50)

Absolutely. If a writer can kind of just let go of their babies like the darlings and let you work on finding what’s really working, hone it down, man, you’re going to position them for success. That’s exciting.

So if somebody is trying to get that six degrees of separation from themselves to an agent and they’re living in the middle of nowhere, they have an opportunity, which is social media. They can connect by following and liking and interacting in the comments of something that somebody like you might create.

I know you’re very active on social media, almost all the channels, all the big ones. If they do that, though…I work with a lot of writers as clients, and they’re like, “Oh, I feel so silly doing that.” I give them an answer, but you give them an answer.

How can writers connect with agents? Lucinda Halpern (22:34)

It was on my list to bring up. And just a note on social media. I am social media phobic as they come. And the reason that I recently forayed into that is because that and building an email list and really going through this arduous process of learning how to market is what’s going to help me guide my authors better in that way. So I’m like learning this step by step on the ground with writers who are doing the same. And to answer your question, yes, there are all these different avenues now.

So back in the day, honestly, before I even started my career as an agent, people were mailing physical manuscripts to agents’ offices, and there were interns reading these things. And now we’re in an email world, like, you’ve got to capture people with a subject line.

If you can’t break through someone’s spam filter or gatekeeper or agency slush pile, absolutely you should turn to social media as a way to sort of short pitch your book. Is it uncomfortable to do it publicly in an Instagram comment? Yes. But what do you have to lose here? The business of writing, it’s this business of rejection, and you’ve got to get out there and swallow your fear.

Lucinda Halpern (23:43)

And if you believe in your book and know it will find a home, there is no avenue you shouldn’t try. My assistant gets LinkedIn messages with people. Hey, can I query this? And when that happens, I’m probably giving away—I’m about to face a flow of LinkedIn messages from out of this podcast—but when that happens, she comes to me and says, “Do we know this person? Do we want to look at this?” So it’s a good way in. And you and I connected through Instagram. So this is a great way to find contacts.

Another way, if you literally cannot think of a single author friend to ask, “Can I get a conversation with your agent?” you could write an author you admire. Not the Tom Clancy’s of the world, someone who sort of has a lower profile, but a book that you love, and you could get into a dialogue with that person. And at the right moment, you could ask for an introduction to that person’s agent.

I know that these are sort of tougher strategies for new writers starting out, but as an agent, this is what we do all day long.

We hustle, we network, we’re tenacious. That’s how I suggest writers behave as well, to get their work published.

Ann Kroeker (24:52)

There’s a lot there. And I know there will be some shy writers who feel like that just feels so invasive, maybe, and they feel funny about doing that. But you framed it so well: the belief in your project, like, do whatever you can to get it out there.

And, you know, I’m thinking if you can articulate it in that one sentence, that elevator pitch or less, really, it’s the hook. If they can hook you, then that’s actually good practice. Even if the person shows no interest, you actually are practicing your hook over and over again, which is also a good skill.

How can writers hook agents in a query (or at least entice them to read it)? Lucinda Halpern (25:25)

Yeah, that’s exactly right. Even through the closing of a query letter.

I’m sorry to interrupt you from that, but I know that writers are always interested in, like, “What are the errors that you see in query letters?” And too often I see this sort of passive, like, “Please let me know if you’d like to receive my proposal.” That can work. If your pitch is so strong and compelling, I’ve got to pick it up.

But if you add a sense of urgency around it, like “You’re one of very few agents that I’m querying. And so if you could let me know your reactions as soon as possible,” that’s one tactic for the more gentle among us that doesn’t require being invasive.

Or “I have several meetings scheduled with agents. I’ve gotten a number of requests on the heels of this article that just published. I think now is the time I’m envisioning this publication.” I mean, there are so many different ways to be a little more forceful in how you close your query letter or pitch than just sort of passive about it.

Ann Kroeker (26:20)

You got me thinking about two different things at the same time. So let me see. Well, I’m going to ask about the project itself. How can we know if our project is too niche?

Because I know people like to go…they like to either pack everything they know into one book and it’s too big, too sprawling. But then you have them focus so much, sometimes it can get too niche because they keep hearing niche down. Niche down or niche down. How can we know if we’ve gone too small?

How can we know if our book is too niche? Lucinda Halpern (26:45)

Yeah. So that’s a great question. I think the first place to look is comps. Do your research. What are the comps telling you? Well, there have been five books about this, but nothing that’s ever been what I’m trying to say, which demonstrates that there’s an audience.

The second thing I recommend is find your personal audience. If you can’t prove that audience, whether fiction or non, to an editor—and yes, platform is definitely the way we look at that, right?—but, “I’ve tested this with a focus group.” You don’t have to put it into that sort of business language, but: “The response that I’m receiving when I give events,” “The number one question people are asking me after I give the talk,” this suggests that you have road-tested your concept and that there is response.

So the book writing, you’re thinking about your reader first and foremost. You’re not thinking about the story that you want to personally get out there for your own catharsis or your legacy or your mother. It’s about what readers are telling you they want. And so being demonstrative of that in your pitch to agents and editors is just so important. I start to pay attention when someone tells me, “This is when I hear time and time again in my ten years of practicing X.”

Ann Kroeker (28:02)

So good. Because this is going to lead up to a question I have about how much are writers allowed…how much are they allowed to put out there prior to pitching a book?

This is a huge question that comes up all the time. If I publish some articles or blog posts or podcast episodes and I basically speak essentially the same information that would be in a chapter, is the publisher going to say, “Well, you already published that. I’m totally not interested,” or are they going to say, “Wow, you really validated your idea? Cool. Let’s go forward.”

Talk about that a little bit, about how much is too little, how much is too much, or how to handle that whole delicate balance of sharing content generally.

How much of book idea or content are authors allowed to publicly share (via social media, in talks, as article, etc) prior to pitching a book? Lucinda Halpern (28:44)

Like, you have a blog and you’ve already talked about this a lot. Is that what you mean versus a self-published book?

Ann Kroeker (28:49)

Not a self-published book. I’m talking about just sort of testing your ideas. Like how can we test them in a way that is not basically sending the book out in advance, or is that okay?

Lucinda Halpern (28:58)

I think that the rule of the day is like the more free content, the better. And one of my authors, Paul Jarvis, had a really wonderful way of putting this: Teach everything, you know. and I really believe in that so much. I’m sort of getting chills as I repeat it. I believe in that so much. And editors believe in it, too. Because again, if they see that audience clamoring for your ideas, there are so many books that are based just a repurposing of existing content. So that’s a huge draw.

There’s a big mistake—and again, I’m focusing on nonfiction. If you’re a fiction writer, you don’t want to throw your whole story out there. Right? But if you are, again, proving the audience for your content, there is a way of repackaging it as a book.

And many of those readers I mean, the belief is because the data is that those who digested your content online, free, or in a podcast, are going to buy your book. So it almost doesn’t matter that they’ve seen it before. It’s better they’ve seen it before.

Ann Kroeker (30:02)

Well, that aligns with Ryan Holiday’s Perennial Seller. He has a whole chapter about that that we tend to hesitate to give away when giving more free content out actually benefits in the long run. So I just read that. I just happened to read this.

Leave us with an encouraging word, give us a little vision for what we should be focusing on with our work. Especially—again, let’s kind of focus in on nonfiction authors—leave us with a little send off to feel good about what we’re doing.

Give us a vision for what writers—especially nonfiction authors—should be focusing on to prepare for publishing. Lucinda Halpern (30:34)

I mean, I am all about encouragement and motivation. I just think there’s way too much doom and gloom that new writers are hearing as they enter, as they’re standing at the gates of publishing. So I always often say, like, it doesn’t matter where you’re based. People say, “I’m not in New York. I’m not connected to the industry.” As you and I just discussed in this interview, in our virtual world, there are lots of ways to connect with agents and with authors, and we’re just starting to do more content online. These are all ways to get your name out there.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. If your book is so powerful and so needed, you will find the right home for it.

But before you just think that in your own head, you road test it. I always say, go to your most skeptical, trusted friends, right? Let them kick the tires of what isn’t working about your idea, and let them say to you, “This isn’t new. I’ve heard it before. What’s your new spin? What is additive about the literature that you’re presenting to the world?”

It’s that combination by doing your homework first, and then once you know that it has real potential, just beating the bushes to get it out there.

Ann Kroeker (31:45)

Thank you, Lucinda. How can people best stay in touch with you?

Lucinda Halpern (31:49)

Oh, great. So our website is lucindaliterary.com, and we have a newsletter we send every week on Thursdays. It’s full of value driven content, tips for writer, secret strategies, interviews with film people. It’s all sorts of content. And as you know, and we offer now a ton of events for authors and coaching programs for writers and courses. So the website is definitely where to find me.

Ann Kroeker (32:17)

That sounds great. And this is different from being agented by you. This is just like, educational.

Lucinda Halpern (32:22)

You’ll find everything on our website, everything we do: how to query us. We have a number of really wonderful agents who are actively building lists that we send, literally. So please go to our submissions page and see what they’re focused on. And definitely check out all of the different resources we offer for writers.

Ann Kroeker (32:37)

Fantastic. Thank you so much for your time today.

Ann Kroeker (32:42)

I hope you enjoyed this interview as much as I did. You can access everything related to the interview at annkroeker.com/lucindahalpern. Lucinda has a gift for you. It’s her essential guide for writers. The guide is called “The 6 Things Every Book Pitch Needs.” The instructions for downloading that are at annkroeker.com/lucindahalpern

[The 6 Things Every Book Pitch Needs: www.lucindaliterary.com/subscribe].

Let me know your best takeaway from this interview.

Thank you for being here. I’m Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

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Have you ever wondered what a writing coach is?

As you can imagine, I get asked this a lot. I mean, it is baked into my branding, and I love sharing insights I've gained over my years of coaching.

Let's start with the simplest, broadest definition of what a writing coach is and does:

A writing coach provides you with input and support designed to close the gap between where you are as a writer and where you want to be.

I coauthored the book On Being a Writer with Charity Singleton Craig (2014), and our editor used similar language on the back cover copy of the book and in marketing materials:

Let this book act as your personal coach, to explore the writing life you already have and the writing life you wish for, and close the gap between the two.1

That phrasing captures the foundational purpose and core intent of this coaching role in a writer's life, so I adapted it here.

And as a writing coach myself for over a decade, I can confirm that this is indeed a high-level description of writing coaching.

Differences in Writing Coaches

Every coach approaches the work differently based on their experience, background, training, and philosophy. As a result, not every coach will feel like the right fit for you.

In fact, you may need one kind of coach at one stage in your writing journey and another kind of coach later.

Bottom line: you want to find someone ready to address your current goals and challenges.

Writing Coaches Are Not...

To begin to understand what a writing coach is and does, let's look at what a writing coach isn't.

➤ Writing coaches are not editors

A coach may have been and may still be an editor. They may offer both services and, thus, be both a coach and an editor. They may also offer editorial input within their coaching style. But these are two different services, so writing coaches are not editors while they are coaching.

➤ Writing coaches are not agents

A coach may have been and may still be an agent. But these two services must be distinct and separate, since authors never pay for representation. If you find an agent who offers coaching, be sure the service you're paying for is coaching.

➤ Writing coaches are not ghostwriters

A coach may have been a ghostwriter and may still offer ghostwriting as a separate service, but a coach's role is not to collaborate or do any of the writing for you. You're the writer!

➤ Writing coaches are not social media managers or designers

A coach may have personal experience and success in social media, and offer ideas to increase engagement with followers. They may recommend social media managers and designers. But writers don't hire coaches to set up marketing campaigns or design Instagram images.

➤ Writing coaches are not marketing and promotion specialists, publicists, or launch team organizers

A coach may offer marketing, publicity, or launch team services in addition to coaching. Authors who become coaches may pass along insights from their own marketing and publicity experience. But when coaching a client, they are not marketing or publicizing their client’s work or organizing a launch team.

➤ Writing coaches are not mentors

My writing mentors—I've had at least five—invested time in me, guiding and steering me through phases in my career, and from those relationships, I know that a coach's advice might feel like the advice you've gotten from a mentor. A coach might even have a mentor. You yourself might have both a mentor and a coach. Despite the similarities, however, a writing coach is not the same as a mentor.

➤ Writing coaches are not teachers

A coach may have been—or still be—an English teacher or a professor, and a coach may also, separately, teach through courses, conferences, and workshops. I suppose a coach may informally teach through a one-on-one session. But coaches are different from teachers.

Writing Coaches Complement Other Roles

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For author Clarissa Moll, hiring a writing coach was like finding her book midwife, and she urges writers to seek that kind of intimate, knowledgeable support and input for their own writing and publishing journey.

In this interview, Clarissa shares her approach to writing, platform, and publishing, like:

make a list of 10 things whenever you're stuck or developing an ideasay “Yes” before you’re readypitch publications as a core platform-building activityauthentically engage with readers—she's committed to building connections and offering support

Listen to episode 242 and check out excerpts below. You'll be inspired by her clear, sensible, inspiring personality and advice.

Clarissa Moll is an author and podcaster and the young widow of author Rob Moll. Clarissa's writing has appeared in Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, RELEVANT, Modern Loss, Grief Digest, and more. Her debut book, Beyond the Darkness: A Gentle Guide for Living with Grief and Thriving After Loss is forthcoming from Tyndale (2022).

Clarissa co-hosts Christianity Today's "Surprised by Grief" podcast and hosts the weekly hope*writers podcast, The Writerly Life. She lives a joyful life with her four children and rescue pup and proudly calls both New England the Pacific Northwest home.

Interview Highlights

Enjoy these highlights from Clarissa's interview.

Find Your Book Midwife

As folks in my life kept saying to me, "You should write a book!" I thought, I don't even know where to start.

I mean, I can write a five-paragraph essay. I can write a thesis. But to write 55,000 words? It seemed like an elephant that was too big to swallow.

I knew that to do it well, in a way that was sustainable in my own life, I needed to make sure that I was having a meaningful life outside of my writing.

And I knew if I wanted to do this again—if I didn't want to end at the finish line so exhausted that I said, "No more. This is it."—I knew I needed some guidance.

And so I reached out to you.

I gave birth to my four babies with a midwife, and when you're in that delivery room, that baby feels like the only one that's ever been born. And isn't it wonderful to have a midwife stand beside you, who's seen hundreds of delivered, to say, "This is normal. You're doing great!" To be able to offer that encouragement and guidance along the way.

And so I found in you my book midwife. You're the person who helped me to make that journey from just a nebulous kind of idea to something that's really concrete.

Make a List of 10 Things

One of the exercises that I have gone back to time and time again is one that we did together.

You encouraged me to write a list of 10 things. And if I struggled with making my list of 10, I had to write another 10.

When you're out of ideas, just force yourself to put pen to paper. That's where clarity is born.

It's not born in the writer's retreat over a long weekend or at a cabin by the lake. It's born out of those very ordinary, disciplined kind of practices that you taught me.

Say "Yes" Before You're Ready

Back in my acting days, I had an audition and the acting professor said, "Could you do an Irish accent for this audition?"

I said, "Oh, I don't know how to do that. I'm sorry." And nothing ever came of it.

A couple of weeks later, he came to me and said, "You know, I wanted to give you that role, but you said you couldn't do it. Next time, say 'I'll learn how.'"

That kind of perspective has been really helpful for me, as I have said yes to things that are beyond whatever I have done before.

Had I podcasted before? No.

But when someone invited me to do the Christianity Today podcast, I said, "I'll learn how. I'll get the equipment. I'll learn how to do the technology. I will do it."

Check Your Heart

I've been trying to think about what other things I could do that relate to my writing.

Should I build in speaking more?

Beyond the Darkness: A Gentle Guide for Living with Grief and Thriving after Loss

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Louis L'Amour is attributed as saying, “Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”1

Sounds easy enough, but a lot of times we can’t even find the faucet. Or we find the faucet but fail to turn it on.

Either way, we want to write, but no words flow.

Is that you?

Are you ready to begin writing but you don’t know where to start—you don’t know how to get the words to flow?

I’ve got 10 options for you—ten faucets, if you will. I’ll bet one stands out more than the rest.

Pick one. Try it.

See if it gets those words flowing.

Start with a memory

Think back to an event that seems small yet feels packed with emotion. You don’t have to fully understand it. Just remember it. Something changed due to that event. The change may have been subtle or seismic, but you emerged from it a different person.

The simple prompt “I remember” can get you started. Use it as a journal entry and see where it takes you, or go ahead and start writing something more substantial.

When you remember and recreate these scenes from your past, you’ll learn from them. I experienced this when I wrote a short scene in this style, called One Lone Duck Egg.

Start with a photo

Photos can whisk us back to another place and time, whether as recently as last week or as long ago as childhood.

Pull a photo from your collection of family photos, physical or digital.

Write in response to the scene. Recreate it. Let the memories unfold.

You could be in the photo, or not.

You could write the story behind the moment, or elaborate on a particular person in the scene.

What do you think was happening? Why were you—or weren’t you—there? What does this say to you today?

Another approach is to combine words with images to create a photo essay.

Back in 2011, I walked around the farm where I grew up and snapped photos. Each time, a fragment of thought came to mind, a flash of a memory.

When I got home, I pieced it together to come up with Dancing in the Loft.

Start with art

Art ignites imagination. Whether you invent a story behind the piece of art you choose, or you document your response to it, you’ll end up with an interesting project.

One of my creative writing professors in college gave us a similar assignment to write poetry from art. It’s possible she was trying to introduce us to ekphrastic poetry,2 which, according to the Lantern Review Blog,3 is “written in conversation with a work(s) of visual art.”

But she took a less formal approach, asking us to find some art, study it carefully, and write a poem.

I used a small, framed print of an Andrew Wyeth painting as inspiration.

I studied the boy sitting in the grass and imagined a possible scenario leading up to the moment Wyeth captured. As I was finishing the poem and typing it up, I realized I needed to include information about Wyeth’s work. I turned the frame around and fortunately I found the date and name of the painting. Wyeth named it “Faraway,”4 and I coincidentally called my poem "Runaway.”5

Spend time with the art and see where it leads.

Start with an object

I once wrote about an old, worn knob that topped the post at the bottom of our stairs.

I loved the worn knob for being worn. All the stain was rubbed off one side of it from the years before we owned the house. Like the previous owners, we swooshed around that newel post, running our palms around the knob every single time we ran up or down the stairs.

When we decided to replace the railing, I begged our carpenter—who is also a friend of ours—to save the knob.

He did.

And I wrote about it.

Another time I wrote about a precious soapstone vase I played with as a child. The consequences of that day of play lasted a long, long time.

My friend and coauthor Charity Singleton Craig uses objects (and places) to launch a “chain of remembrance.” She explains in her newsletter "The Wonder Report"...

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Donald Murray assures us that writing is a tool for personal reflection and insight. “The material for writing is in your head,” he says. “It will be recovered, relived, understood, and shared through writing.”1 In his book Write to Learn, he continues: One of the principal reasons that writers write is to relive life. (Donald […]

The post Writing Quote: writers write…to relive life (Donald Murray) appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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Writing gets our words into the world. Writing helps us impact readers. Writing conveys ideas. But there’s something else about writing…Ruth Vaughn explains it well in her book Write to Discover Yourself: I am convinced that writing creatively is a beautiful and rewarding experience for discovering one’s self. For writing is one of the most […]

The post Writing Quote: Writing is one of the most forceful ways of learning, perceiving, maturing, expanding (Ruth Vaughn) appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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It’s tempting to comment on whatever is hot and trending—to hashtag our way to visibility. It’s harder to spot what others miss…to care about it, to bear witness. It’s important to pay attention to what others pass by…to see it, capture it, describe it. James Baldwin knew this, practiced this. He wrote: “The importance of […]

The post Writing Quotes: A writer is here to describe things… (James Baldwin) appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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I was an English major with a creative writing emphasis. When I looked to my future, I saw myself writing.

Over the years I managed to build a writing career, but as an English major, I wasn’t prepared for the business aspects of writing.

Invoices, receipts, taxes? That was all foreign to me. Sharing my writing through speaking and social media? That’s not what I imagined when I launched my writing life.

I thought I’d be...writing.

But I had to understand and embrace the four key roles that lead to a flourishing writing career.

https://youtu.be/A2_iAAQm1Kk

This is how I think of them:

✅ Decider

✅ Delegator

✅ Doer

✅ Declarer

These four roles in a corporate setting might be something like:

➤ CEO

The Decider is like the CEO, the Chief Executive Officer. That’s the top dog, the visionary, the decision-maker.

➤ COO

The Delegator could be the COO, the Chief Operations Officer, the person who figures out how to run the business at a practical level.

➤ CWO

The Doer could be the CWO, the Chief Writing Officer. This role, the CWO, doesn't exist in the business world, but we're inventing and elevating it for this discussion because it’s the reason our business exists. Like me, you launched this whole thing so you could write.

➤ CMO

The Declarer is like the CMO, the Chief Marketing Officer: the person who ensures the message gets out.

At any given moment, a flourishing writer may be completing a task that falls under any one of these areas. Some of the tasks and roles don’t seem like the work of a writer, but they all support that core function.

When all four areas are addressed, a writer will start to build a profession, a career, and a sustainable writing life.

And it starts with the Decider.

THE DECIDER, THE CEO

The DECIDER—the boss, the CEO—is the person making high-level decisions about your writing career.

You fill this role.

You decide your author brand, your audience, your career path.

As the Decider, you determine a trajectory that aligns with your goals and values.

You decide if you’re in learning mode and need to gain more skills or more knowledge of the profession.You decide if you’ll focus the next quarter on submitting to literary magazines or developing a book proposal.You decide if you’ll pursue fiction or nonfiction, short-form or long-form.You decide if you’re ready to increase visibility online.

When those decisions are grappled with and made, you get to step into a second, practical role—that Delegator, the COO.

THE DELEGATOR, THE COO

The DELEGATOR-you, this COO, is the administrator, the project manager—the person who figures out who will be responsible for a task or activity.

When you’re the Delegator, you take those decisions and figure out the best way to pull them off.

If you decide, as the CEO, you need to learn, then the COO or this Delegator-you will research books, courses, and conferences and figure out which ones are best.

The Delegator looks into social media solutions and determines whether to hire someone to map out a marketing campaign or a designer to create images. Or the Delegator might delegate all this work to herself and take a DIY approach. In this instance, you might set up Canva to create images for all your social media feeds and Stories.

As Delegator, you set up calendars with deadlines. You determine practical matters, like apps to use, editors to hire, and ideal systems to set up, so the work gets done effectively and efficiently.

You’re in this role when you’re researching laptops and asking other writers if they use Scrivener. If you set up a project management system in Trello, ClickUp, or Notion, you’re in this operational mode.

And as Delegator, you tackle every English major’s nightmare: how to create invoices, save receipts, and report taxes.

This operations role that pulls off the decisions, usually delegating activities, is a practical,

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If you're like me, you struggle to carve out time to write...you wish you could uncomplicate life and get more done.

Good news! I have business coach and online business manager Kari Roberts on the show to help us think through simple systems that can unlock our writing productivity and creativity.

"It's like you're on a treadmill," she says. "You're running in place, but you're not going anywhere. So you're not really getting anything done."

Sound familiar? Kari knows our struggles and offers solutions. She says, "You might need to strategize or systematize other things so that you can make the space that you need to do the writing."

Kari Roberts is a business coach and online business manager for creative small business owners. She helps them figure out time management and systems that allow them to grow their business while still having enough time and energy for work, business, and home life. Her business advice has been featured on VoyageATL Magazine, The Rising Tide Society, The Speak to Scale Podcast, Creative at Heart Conference and more.

Kari is the host of Finding Freedom with Simple Systems Podcast and the creator and host of Overwhelmed to Organized the Summit. When she isn’t being a “serial helper” through one of her businesses she enjoys watching sports with her husband, walking in the park with her 2 dogs, listening to podcasts, sampling tasty bourbons, and catching up on reality TV.

Her approach to creating systems? "I like to go in and try to find: What's the simplest way. If we're trying to get X done, what's the simplest way to get to X. It may not be the fancy thing. It may not be with the shiny object. But if we can condense it and make it simple, then that can free up your time and free up your mental space so that you can get other things done."

Listen to the interview and you'll learn principles that may transform your approach to writing...and life.

Resources:

Kari Roberts' websiteKari on InstagramFinding Freedom with Simple Systems PodcastGet your very own copy of Kari's Time-Blocking Schedule: HERESimple Systems Setup course

https://youtu.be/xgNp7vmbXpk

ANN KROEKER, WRITING COACH

Episode 239 Transcript

How Simple Systems Can Unlock Your Writing Productivity: Interview with Kari Roberts

Ann Kroeker (00:03): It's so hard to find time for writing, isn't it? It's hard to do all the things a writer needs to do these days. If only if only we had a simple system that we could set up to make the rest of our creative life flourish…I have business coach and online business manager Kari Roberts here today to help us think through simple systems we can set up to increase our writing productivity. I'm Ann Kroeker, writing coach. If you're new here, welcome. If you're a regular, welcome back. I'm sharing my best tips and training–skills and strategies—to help you improve your craft, pursue publishing, and achieve your writing goals. Be sure to subscribe for more content.

Ann Kroeker (00:44): From time to time I invite guests on. So you can learn from their wisdom, like today's guest, Kari Roberts. Kari is a business coach and an online business manager for creative, small business owners. She helps them figure out time management and systems so that they're freed up to have enough time for work business and home life. Kari is the host of her own podcast, Finding Freedom with Simple Systems. And today she's going to talk about that as it applies to writing productivity. Kari, thank you for being with us today.

Kari Roberts (01:13): Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here.

Ann Kroeker (01:16): I am so intrigued by this whole idea that writers who are always pressed for time and always longing for productivity, how simple systems might be the way that they can unlock and unleash that. So first, I read your bio and it tells us quite a bit about you, but I would love you to explain maybe just in simple terms, what you do,

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What if the stories we've been told about success are wrong?

What if you could unlock secrets that shave years off your writing journey?

In this interview, Ron Friedman demystifies the writing process and introduces a surprising path—a fast track, if you will. He says "it is the path by which so many writers and artists and inventors and entrepreneurs have succeeded."

What's the path?

Reverse engineering.

https://youtu.be/agCtQaSQfXw

To reverse engineer, we start with extraordinary projects and work backward to figure out how those writers pulled it off.

"By comparing the ordinary against the extraordinary," Ron says, "we can't help but identify the elements that make extraordinary work succeed, and thereby improve our skills."

With this book Decoding Greatness (June 2021), Ron hopes to offer "tools to not just execute at a higher level, but to embrace some of those dreams they've abandoned from their youth."

Listen to our conversation for practical insights you can apply right away. When you hear and implement his ideas, your approach to writing will never be the same.

You will, after all, learn the secret—the fast track—to writing success!

Resources

Decoding Greatness website Ron Friedman, PhD's websiteDecoding Greatness on Amazon (affiliate link)Decoding Greatness on BookShop (affiliate link)Learn from the Best: Copywork for GrownupsLearn from the Best: Imitate but Don't PlagiarizeGrow as a Writer: Surround Yourself with ExcellenceWhen You're Not the Writer Your Want to Be

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Ready to write a book, but you can’t quite articulate your idea?

Join the FREE 3-day challenge: Craft Your Book’s Big Idea, and you’ll finally put words to the idea you long to write.

In just three days, you’ll nail your book’s big idea (and generate a working title)! Sign up and finally move forward with the message that’s in you…just waiting to come out!

Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success

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I watched the professor of my advanced poetry class open the lid of a metal box crammed with 3x5 cards. He wiggled out one of the worn cards covered with notes and held it up.

On this card was the title of one of his poems along with the date of the latest version. Below that he had written names of literary magazines where he’d submitted that poem, followed by their response.

“One poem per card,” he said.

He showed us how he tucked the card behind the month when he was supposed to hear back—a simple system to follow up with every submission.

He passed one of the cards around the room. I held it in my hand and studied the notes he’d scrawled on the front and back.

The Box

There was no magic to his system. It was not fancy or expensive. Yet, he was a respected, prolific poet on campus for a semester, showing us how it’s done.

When the last student finished looking at the sample card and handed it back to him, he slid it back in its spot.

I stared at that box.

I was in an advanced poetry class because I’d already had The Moment; that is, I’d already begun to think of myself as a writer.

The day of the box was different.

After class, I walked straight to the bookstore and bought a pack of 3x5 cards and a maroon plastic box with a hinged lid. Then I headed to my room where I started logging each of my poems on those cards: one card per poem.

The Shift

While I’d had The Moment, this was different.

I walked into that bookstore because I'd experienced "The Shift."

What's "The Shift"? It's when I shifted from viewing the work as an assignment or hobby to something deeper, more serious.

It's when I committed.

Like that poet with his metal box packed with poems, I too was committing to the craft and to a lifetime of word-work.

It would still be several years before I made any money as a writer, but I saw myself differently.

I was a working poet. And because of this shift and the resulting commitment, I organized myself—however simply and humbly—with the intention of writing and submitting my work to publications.

Looking back, that plastic box seems like so much more than a storage container. It held my intentions, my resolution.

I don’t know what it’s like for other writers, but for me, the day I bought that little box was the day my life tilted in a new direction.

The Practice

The professor gave us vision. We got a glimpse of who or what we could become. He nudged us to take a step forward.

And it worked. I was ready to send my work. I was ready to ship.

One card per poem.

One piece at a time.

I had to write the poem, record it, track it, and ship it.

Seth Godin recently released The Practice: Shipping Creative Work. On the first pages, he explains why he chose those three words in the subtitle. The first word, “shipping,” he says, is “because it doesn’t count if you don’t share it.”1

He included “creative”: “because you're not a cog in the system...you’re a creator.”2

And he added work “because it’s not a hobby. You might not get paid for it, not today, but you approach it as a professional...and the work is why you are here.”3

The Shift led to The Practice.

The Shift was my realization that the work was why I was here, a writer.

The Practice was how I would fill that box.

Compelled to action, I stepped out and followed through to get in the game and take the hits.

I began the practice of writing, recording, tracking, and shipping the work.

The Pro

Over time, I saw new possibilities. Next thing you know, I was, in the words of Steven Pressfield, “turning pro.”4 Because The Practice makes The Pro.

Jason Pinter, interviewed for the podcast How Writers Write, says:

"If you're really going to be serious about writing and you want to either make a career out of it, make a living out of it, or even just make a little bit of money out of it in any sort of way,

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About seven years ago, I partnered with Charity Singleton Craig to co-author On Being a Writer.

While working on the draft, we often pulled up one of our shared Google Docs to review our drafts and notes in real time. In this way, we wove together our stories and experiences with relative ease.

If we had a grade school report card at the end of the project, the teacher would have checked off “Plays nice with others.”

Writing is most often a solitary act. But sometimes we get an opportunity to write with others. These occasions may involve brief connections or extended collaboration. Quite often, they're just plain fun.

The Energy of the Inklings

Have you heard of the Inklings? They met weekly for beer and conversation, according to Diane Glyer in an article at the official C. S. Lewis website. While they didn't officially collaborate, like Charity and I did on our book, their discussions affected the shape and direction of countless projects.

Glyer writes in "C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and the Inklings" that the men would gather, make tea, and begin pulling out drafts of their work. As one person read, "the others would settle down to listen, to encourage, to critique, to correct, to interrupt and argue and advise. They’d continue this way, reading aloud, energetically critiquing, until two or three in the morning.1

Years ago I craved that kind of creative community.

I even considered moving to a college town, thinking I'd be more likely to find a gathering like the Inklings there.

Find Your Creative Community

The good news is that it's easier than ever to find like-minded writers without moving to live near a university.

These days, I know writers who meet at cafes (or they did before 2020, and they'll start up again soon, I’m sure) to discuss technique or simply to write on separate projects in the same space. Some chai, a chat, then back to the works in progress.

Writers who contribute to anthologies feel part of a project-driven community.

Writing retreats are a fun way to power through personal goals with a posse of fellow writers. Churn out a few thousand words, then relax with others who appreciate your creative challenges.

Then there are in-person and online communities that write together, like:

silent or guided writing sessions via Zoom (in guided sessions, a moderator might offer writing prompts)silent or guided writing rooms on Clubhouse (these exist!)social media writing challenges that use a shared prompt or hashtag

Look for existing writing groups where you can jump into a writing challenge and meet new people, broadening your network as you make new friends.

Form Your Own Community

But don't forget you can create your own little gathering.

Do you know another writer? Someone with similar goals? Ask if they'd be a writing buddy. The two of you can text each other each day when you complete your daily word count goal.

Treat it like a short-term experiment at first, to test the waters. You never know? Perhaps you'll find another word nerd who sends you grammar memes and Hemingway quotes.

Generate Our Own Creative Energy

Diane Glyer said the Inklings "generated enormous creative energy."2 I love the sound of that, don't you?

We may not find a group as vibrant, educated, or British as the Inklings, but we can form our own gathering. We can generate our own creative energy.

Or we can join an existing community that exudes its own personality and flavor.

We may forge lifelong friendships like those men who authored great literary works; but more likely, we'll enjoy something simpler.

We'll laugh.

We'll have fun.

We'll play nice with others.

And that's a good place to start, isn't it?

Links & Resources

See if something below is exactly what you need for your creative journey:

Join the hope*writers 7-day Instagram writing challenge (they run this periodically; the next one starts Monday, May 10,

On Being a Writer: 12 Simple Habits for a Writing Life that Lasts

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I listened to Allison Fallon's The Power of Writing It Down while jogging through my neighborhood. Those weren't my best runs, because I kept pulling out my phone to thumb-type a great quote before picking up the pace again.

And yet they were fantastic runs, because Allison's words inspired me to re-establish a daily journaling practice.

On that first outing—with her voice in my ears—I listened through the first chapters and returned refreshed and motivated. Allison's invitation to "unlock your brain and reimagine your life" spurred me to set a timer and launch the first 20-minute personal writing session I'd attempted in a long time.

I continued the practice the following days and discovered I was indeed "getting limbic," as Allison calls it—I was slipping past the nagging to-do list items and scheduled tasks to explore feelings, memories, and struggles. Nothing dramatic transpired (yet), but I've found myself diving deeper and opening up on the page, in private, before the day presses in.

I'm not new to this practice, but I'd fallen out of the habit. I'm so grateful for Allison's convincing call to return to it and reap the benefits.

In this interview, Allison mentions Julia Cameron's Morning Pages, which reminded me of Writing Down the Bones and Natalie Goldberg's explanation of freewriting as a way to get to our "first thoughts." Allison makes a strong case for why and how a private writing practice like that feeds directly into our professional writing, whether through ideas or memories we unearth that can be woven into our work in progress, or through shifts in perspective that add depth and insight to our piece.

Will you join me in revisiting this simple but fruitful activity that can enliven and inform your writing pursuits and projects? I predict you'll begin to see how a daily writing practice will truly unlock your creativity.

And please enjoy my discussion with Allison Fallon. Allison is an award-winning author, sought-after public speaker, and nationally recognized writing coach. She has worked with thousands of people to realize their writing potential and become published authors. She's host of the podcast Find Your Voice, an excellent resource for writers, and author of The Power of Writing It Down: A Simple Habit to Unlock Your Brain and Reimagine Your Life.

https://youtu.be/A_qGKJDhUAk

Interview Excerpts

On Allison's writing practice:

My daily writing practice happens for 30 minutes every morning, and it's me just sitting down and dumping out my first thoughts of the day. The great thing about this is it's a beautiful practice for absolutely anyone whether or not you want to be a published author. It can bring so much value and goodness into your life, regardless of what other kind of writing you do.

On mimicry as a way to learn writing:

There's something about being able to copy an author that we really admire, appreciate, and adore that helps us get into the groove of finding our own way to say it.

On the right to tell your own truth in your own voice:

Don't I have the right to share my own unique experience of what it was like to live in that household? Don't I have that right as much as he has that right? That's what it means to find your voice. It’s to be able to stand on both feet, to say, “This is how it was for me.” And even if it was different for you, that doesn't change the fact that this is what was true for me.

On how our brain's "catalog" stories and we reinforce those stories through repetition:

If you have a detail in your life that seems to repeat itself, it's a hint for you that there's a story there that you've told yourself and it's been cataloged. And that limbic part of your brain is driving the ship in ways. It's not that it's your fault. It's just you're helping co-create that reality over and over again.

On falling in love with writing instead of pursuing platform:

If I could only give one piece of advice,

Rewrite Your Life: Discover Your Truth Through the Healing Power of Fiction (How to Write a Book)

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[Ep 234]

On this episode of the podcast, I hosted two novelists: Shawn Smucker and his wife, Maile Silva, for a literary discussion. Imagine you're at a writing conference and we're on stage to discuss the challenges they face as two writers at different points in the writing journey, living and working and raising a family together.

How do they offer support and input? How do they find time to write? What are they proudest of?

Shawn and Maile touch on topics like creative legacy, writing rejections, self-publishing versus traditional publishing, and being faithful to the work.

Maile Silva and Shawn Smucker (used with permission)

Shawn is an award-winning novelist by night and a collaborator and co-writer by day. He has an honors degree in English, and has been making a living as a writer for eleven years.

Maile has an honors degree in English, has written three novels, and is currently in the querying process, so if that's where you're at, she knows your pain. She has raised six children in the last 17 years and is beginning to have more time to dedicate to her first love…no, not Shawn. Writing. She has taught writing in different settings, including as a table leader for the Black Barn Online.

You might know them from their podcast, The Stories Between Us.

At the end of our chat, they’ll be filling you in on their program The Nine Month Novel. It's currently closed to enrollment. In the meantime, learn from all the wonderful things they shared. Here's a sample:

Interview Excerpts

Shawn, on the writing journey:

One thing that I'm always trying to get across to other writers is that it doesn't matter where you're at in the process, there's always something else that you want. If you don't have an agent, you want an agent, and then when you have an agent, you want to get a book deal.

Or if you're self publishing, you want to sell more books than you're currently selling. And then once you have books published, you wish you could sell more copies, or what's the next series going to be about, or what's the next book.

I think it's good to have goals and it's good to have things that you're shooting for, definitely, but I think one of the most important parts of the writing life is to somehow also enjoy where you're at and to enjoy the writing that you're doing—and for that to be the thing that gets you by. Because if the thing that gets you by is getting to the next level, there are going to be certain levels that you don't hit or certain levels that are really challenging to get to or take a really long time. And those can burn you out if that's your only motivation.

So even though Maile and I are at different places in the journey, we're always encouraging each other: Stay focused on the writing. Enjoy the writing. The writing is never going to let you down.

There are so many parts of the writing journey that will be disappointing, but the writing is always there for you. It's always there for you to work on. It's always there for you to dig into.

Maile, on what she's proudest of:

I think what I would be most proud of is the creative legacy that we're leaving for our kids. And by prioritizing creativity in my own life, I see our kids starting to do that. And that just fills me with so much joy to know that they see the value of doing these things not because they're making money, not because they're getting notoriety from it, but because it's a good thing to do—because it's part of who we are.

I love that a creative inheritance is being passed down and they're chasing after their creative dreams...And I love that more beauty and art is entering into the world just through our little clan of kids. And I think it's because they see us pursuing it.

Maile, on criticism:

Because I don't have any published work yet, I don't necessarily get the one stars on Amazon that I have to work through, but you get your fair amount with the responses from agents an...

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When you seek traditional publishing for your nonfiction book, you don’t just write the book and send it off.

Instead, you craft what’s called a book proposal—an essential business document expected by publishing professionals like agents and editors.

With this document, you’re hoping to attract the attention and interest of industry gatekeepers so they’ll partner with you to publish your book.

https://youtu.be/OqJNmiicPEQ (Watch, read, or listen—whatever works best!)

Before the Book, the Book Proposal

If you’re seeking traditional publishing for your nonfiction book, you do eventually have to write an entire manuscript.

But before that, you have to land a book deal.

To land a book deal, you need to attract agents and publishers to your project with a pitch that convinces them to request your proposal for review.

A convincing pitch followed by a polished, professional book proposal will do the work of “selling” your book to these decision-makers. Its job is to convince these agents and publishers you have what they’re looking for.

That’s why you craft a compelling proposal. In it, you’ll describe your project, of course. But as you do, your proposal has to pull off three big things.

What a Winning Proposal Needs to Convey

Let's cover the three things your proposal must convey to attract the attention of industry gatekeepers like agents and Acquisitions Editors (AEs).

A Concept That Pops

When someone's reviewing a stack of proposals—whether that's a literal stack on their desk or a list of virtual files on a computer—you want yours to stand out. The way to do that is to have a book concept that pops out from all the others.

These agents and acquisitions editors are flipping through maybe 20 or more proposals a day. They’ve seen the same types of projects over and over; writers pitch similar topics time after time.

But these industry professionals keep reading and reviewing proposals because they're hoping to discover promising new books. They’re on the lookout for an author who brings a fresh angle.

Develop a concept that proves you know your audience’s problems, struggles, and issues.

In the proposal, show them you have a book that offers a promise—and delivers on that promise.

Demonstrate you’ll contribute something valuable to the broader conversation on this topic.

Do all that, and the agent will stop and say, “Wow, this is different—and it looks like it could sell. I’d better dive in and take a closer look.”

When you nail your concept and convey it clearly in the proposal, you’re on your way to attracting an agent or editor.

But when you land on a concept that pops, it’s not enough.

Writing That Sings

The second thing this project needs in order to attract decision-makers is captivating, quality writing—writing that sings.

The agent or editor reviewing your proposal will hear hints of your writing voice in the various elements of the proposal—but where you'll shine is in the sample chapters.

They can tell if you’ve landed on an appropriate voice for the project and its intended readers. They want to see if you know what your reader responds to. After all, the tone and style of writing you’d use for a leadership book for CEOs will differ from the tone and style meant to engage a stay-at-home mom of preschoolers.

You don’t have to write like Annie Dillard to land a book deal, but editors appreciate solid, clear writing appropriate for that project. And be sure your proposal is error-free so decision-makers feel confident you’re a professional writer who handles words well.

With a concept that pops and writing that sings, you have two out of three things in place for your proposal. Decision-makers who see that ingenious concept and sense your compelling prose will flip through your proposal, excited to find out something else.

They’re hoping you have in place one more major element.

Personal Brand & Platform

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If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to write a book in the year ahead, you’re going to have to do several things. One of those things you’ll have to do is...some math.

But don’t worry—I’ve got a calculator!

We’ll do the math together to determine the number of words you need to write each day to complete your book in the year ahead. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find out that this number is within reach. You can pull this off.

You can watch the video, listen with the podcast player above, or read the article.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLvH9fJ7QUo

Average Word Count for Trade Nonfiction Books

The length of a typical trade nonfiction book can really vary: a memoir or biography can be quite long; a gift book, quite short. If you’re writing a typical trade nonfiction book, it might on average range between 45,000 and 55,000 words.

This is arguable. You’ll find plenty of exceptions on either side of that range, and trends shift so that the average changes, but for the sake of this discussion, let’s split the difference and say we’re talking about a 50,000-word book. Yours might be longer or shorter.

Publishers like to think in terms of word counts. After all, there’s a lot of variability in the number of chapters that you might break your content into compared with another author writing on a similar subject: a 20-chapter book and a 12-chapter book could have the exact same word count divided up differently.

So let’s just talk about word count.

Map Out the Number of Chapters

And yet when we think through the number of words we’ll be writing each day, we do need to think about the number of chapters you’re planning. Eventually—obviously—you do have to write the full 50,000 words.

But did you know that if you’re seeking traditional publishing of your non-fiction book—that is, you’re going to seek an agent who then will take it to a publisher, or a friend offered to introduce you to her editor...either way— you’re going to have to provide what’s called a book proposal.

In this book proposal you’ll map out your entire book. You have to explain the book’s concept and content, describing what’s going into it. You’ll provide a table of contents that you’ll have to annotate, providing chapter summaries.

When you submit the proposal to the agent or provide it by request to an acquisitions editor at a publishing house, you’ll include a few sample chapters as part of the complete proposal.

For new writers, I recommend you supply three sample chapters, though an agent may only request one or two. If you write three, you can show these decision-makers and gatekeepers that you can build on your ideas and move this project forward. That’s all you need to write until you get a contract.

So at a bare minimum, you’ll write at least three chapters of your book to be able to submit it with the proposal.

Pull Out the Calculator

Now let’s do the math.

Option 1: Write the 50,000-word Draft in 90 Days

Let’s say you’re going to self publish this 50,000-word book, and you’d like to have a draft done in 90 days.

50,000 words divided by the 90 days, you’ll end up with 555.555556, so we’re just going to round that up to 556.

That means if you write every single day with no breaks at all, you need to write 556 words a day to produce 50,000 words at the end of the 90 days.

Option 2: Write the Proposal and Sample Chapters

But as I mentioned, if you’re going to go to the traditional publishing route and submit this nonfiction book to agents and acquisitions editors, you’ll need that proposal and the three chapters.

To calculate your daily word count, you need to know how many chapters are going to be in your book.

Use some of the techniques I explained in “How to Structure Your Nonfiction Book” to develop your project and arrive at the number of chapters that you think will be necessary to convey your book’s idea.

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[231]

You're tackling a non-fiction book and you're making progress. You're doing research, you're writing, and now you're staring at all those ideas.

Your book needs form. It needs organization. It needs...structure.

But how do you land on the best structure? How do you create it, craft it, build it?

While there's no one standard way to organize your material—there's no one way to structure your nonfiction book—I offer four approaches you can take to determine what will work best for your work in progress.

To learn ways to structure your nonfiction book, you can read, watch, or listen.

https://youtu.be/5ToyfQds11o

Think about how different kinds of bridges are needed for different situations. To land on the best method of bridging a ravine or body of water, an engineer will study the surrounding landscape and obstacles to decide whether a drawbridge, suspension bridge, or arch bridge will work best.

Just as an engineer needs to study the situation to address any given crossing and can refer to several core types of bridges, you get to do the same with your book.

As you study your material, you get to decide the best way to structure your nonfiction book.

Feel free apply these four approaches to structure your short-form writing, but I'm going to be talking about it as it pertains to a non-fiction book, because a book is more unwieldy and can feel a little overwhelming to organize. Once you get a handle on how you to structure your WIP, you can feel more confident moving forward with your draft.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by structure, you're in good company. In a Writer's Digest interview, Michael Lewis said this:

I agonize over structure. I'm never completely sure I got it right. Whether you sell the reader on turning the page is often driven by the structure. Every time I finish a book, I have this feeling that, Oh, I've done this before. So it's going to be easier next time. And every time it's not easier. Each time is like the first time in some odd way, because it is so different.1

The book you're working now is different from any other book you've worked on. It's different from Michael Lewis. It's different from mine.

You need to discover what that the best structure for this book.

Method 1: Discovery

The first way is by discovery.

Through the discovery approach, you're going to write your way into it.

On her podcast QWERTY, Marion Roach Smith recently interviewed Elizabeth Rosner about her book Survivor Café. Elizabeth Rosner chose different terms and concepts and horrors related to the Holocaust and presented them early on in the book using the alphabet.

The alphabet was a way of structuring that content.

Rosner said the alphabet was a way to explain, "Here are all the things I'm going to talk about that I don't really know how to talk about. Here are all the words I don't know how to explain."

Marion asked how she arrived at this alphabet structure, and here's what Rosner said:

I love getting to talk about structure and decisions. And when we talk about them after they’ve been made, it all seems so thoughtful and careful and deliberate and...everything in reality is so messy and chaotic for me, that it’s always amazing to me how neat and coherent it seems afterwards.2

You can see that Rosner sort of stumbled on this approach. It serves as an alternative table of contents for the book, she said, and of course a table of contents reflects the structure of a book. And she came upon by discovery.

Discovery Methods: Sticky Notes, Scrivener, Index Cards, freewriting

Authors might use Post-its to organize their notes.

Susan Orlean has described an index card method (she uses 5x7 cards) in an interview.3

Others like using Scrivener to organize their research and notes.

It doesn't really matter the method; you just need to gradually move toward clarity. When you stay open to possibilities,

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You're a writer, so you write. But do you read?

Silly question, I know, because of course you read. A better question is how do you read?

Do you read like a writer?

There are ways writers can read that can be both inspiring and instructive, and that's what we're going to cover today, so you can see how reading, as Stephen King says, can serve as your "creative center."

As we learn to read like a writer, you might be a little afraid I'm going to ruin reading for you—that you'll no longer be able to read for pleasure, but don't worry. You'll still be able to read for fun and distraction.

You can listen, read, or watch to learn more.

https://youtu.be/cHaeAOVodaQ Read to Collect Ideas for Your Work If you want to read like a writer, you'll benefit from reading with an analytical eye, but before we get into that, the first way to read as a writer is to go ahead and read for inspiration and information, just like you always do.

You need to understand a topic better, so you research and read about it. You want to expand your knowledge, so you read and take notes. You want to improve yourself, so you grab a book that's going to help you gain a skill or solve a problem.

We writers are always collecting ideas and content. All that you read can feed into your writing.

In fact, we've done this our entire lives. If not consciously then subconsciously, we've been doing all this collecting.

Now I want you to be more intentional about it. Even as you're casually reading the back of a cereal box, a tweet, or a magazine article, start to take notes about where this content came from, who wrote it, and how it impacted you, because this is material that you can use in all of your work. Authors Are Your Teachers Another big way we can read as writers is to start viewing other authors and writers as teachers. They can instruct us. Francine Prose in her book Reading Like a Writer said this: I've heard the way a writer reads described as "reading carnivorously." What I've always assumed that this means is not, as the expression might seem to imply, reading for what can be ingested, stolen or borrowed, but rather for what can be admired, absorbed, and learned. It involves reading for sheer pleasure, but also with an eye and a memory for which author happens to do which thing particularly well. So we read and pay attention to the choices an author makes that results in such engaging work.

In literature, especially in poetry courses, we talk about a "close reading," where every idea, every sentence—even every word—is examined. A close reading reveals all: from the highest level of themes, ideas, organization, and structure all the way down to the details of sentences and word choices.

We see what works and why it works.

And while we do want to look to the best to be able to level up our work, we don't have to always be reading Shakespeare and Dickinson to improve as writers. Our teachers, our model texts, can be from the kinds of writing we want to pursue. We might find a blog post that serves as an excellent example and study the tone and topics that were covered as well as the length and the layout.

And we can learn from that. So find your experts, your teachers, your models, your mentors...wherever they may be. Read Close by Annotating

Another way we can read like a writer is to annotate. Mortimer Adler in his book How to Read a Book, written with Charles van Doren, wrote this: Full ownership of a book only comes when you have made it a part of yourself and the best way to make yourself a part of it, which comes to the same thing, is by writing in it. He claims that full ownership of a book happens not when you purchase it. It happens when you interact with it on the page. You annotate, you underline, you write in the margins, and in that way you make it your own.

And the book becomes a part of you.

But let me tell you something: I grew up in a household where we did not write...

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You want to start out strong as a writer and succeed at your work.

A lot of different strengths are at play to keep us at the keyboard or page, and the good news is—you may already have some of these strengths.

If not, you can develop them over time.

And some of them may surprise you.

Let's look at five strengths you need to succeed as a writer:

Today I'm trying something new, sharing this both in audio and video format.

Let's hear from you: After you watch or listen, let me know in the comments what you see as your greatest writing strength—and if I've left off a critical writing strength, add to this list!

Look, you can subscribe for free coaching!

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When I was young, I constantly looked for ways to improve as a writer. I loved the idea of attending conferences and considered applying to an MFA program, but funds were low and time was scarce. I needed accessible, affordable training. At the time, online courses and coaches weren’t available, so I turned to a […]

The post Affordable Training for Writers to Improve Their Craft appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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[Ep 228]

You have an idea for your next writing project.

That's great!

Before you get too far—before you write too much—you need to be sure this idea is going to fly with your audience. You need to validate it so you move forward with a concept that, depending on your purpose, will truly resonate, connect, teach, persuade, inform, or entertain.

Let's look at three ways to validate project ideas:

Validate “in house”: run it through personal filtersValidate through research: check what exists alreadyValidate through audience: ask, survey, and test the idea

Validate “In House”

The first method to validate is to run it through personal filters. Ask yourself if it fits with your brand, if it will serve your audience, and if it’s a fresh angle on your primary topics.

This may take only a minute or two, but sometimes we rush past it in our excitement over an idea that captivates us. If we skip this step, we may create content that draws an audience uninterested in anything else we write.

If I as a writing coach started producing content about style because I'm interested in a trend, I might click publish on an article about fall colors that draws a new audience of women who like to discuss shirts, skirts, and shoes.

But if I pause and validate “in house,” asking myself if this is a good fit for my primary purpose and audience, I’ll probably focus my energy elsewhere. After all, I’m creating a place online for men and women looking for support with their writing, so devoting a long post to discussing red pumps and French braids won't reach or retain a wide range of writers.

But let’s say it passes this initial “in house” test. You believe your idea will serve your audience well and you haven't explored this topic at length in the past.

The next step is to do some research—see what else is out there on this topic.

Validate Through Research

The main way to research is, of course, to type keywords, key phrases, key ideas, and key concepts related to your project’s idea into a search engine and see what it pulls up.

I suggest you quickly jot down everything you know about this idea before the search. Then you can compare all the articles, videos, podcasts, and memes with your existing knowledge and slant.

Don’t be discouraged if you find a ton of material—don’t assume it’s all been said before. In fact, that’s a good sign that people are searching for this kind of content. You'll see how to contribute to the greater conversation.

And that’s the key. As you explore what other authors, bloggers, and speakers in your niche have created, you realize how your project will be similar, but different, and broaden or deepen readers' understanding.

If need be, return to 6 methods to right-size your next writing project to find a different slant. You can continue to work through those until you land on that distinct spin you can bring to this project.

Pro tip: As you’re cruising the internet and clicking through to interesting content, be sure to grab all citation information while you’re there. Because if you decide to quote an expert in the field or to include an excerpt from one of the articles, you want that citation information at your fingertips. Quoting people builds credibility—and so does proper citation.

We told our high school debaters it's always good to bring an expert to the podium with you to raise your credibility. I think it’s the same with writers—when we cite other sources, we bring a level of integrity and credibility to our work.

Search engines give you a broad look at what’s existing on this topic, but you can conduct a more academic search, as well.

Libraries will give you access to journals and publications to find peer-reviewed studies. Also, you’ll be able to search countless newspapers and magazines. Just go online to your library’s portal and find out what’s available to you.

I’d like to highlight a few specific websites where you can focus...

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[Ep 227]

Have you ever written a blog post and found it's growing too big and unwieldy? Or you set out to develop a book only to realize you don't have enough material to fill a 45K- or 50K-word manuscript?

If so, you're struggling with Goldilocks Syndrome: your idea is too big or too small for the project’s purpose and the way it’ll be published or shared with the world.

You’re trying to cram everything you know about, say, computers into 800 to 1,000 words. You’ve got the makings of a book when you set out to write a blog post. How do you narrow it to a reasonable length?

Or you’re trying to stretch the idea of cooking with crackers into a book-length project, but it’s not enough material. How do you broaden the concept to produce a compelling cookbook?

What does it take to land on that just right length for your next writing project?

The 6 Right-Sizing Methods

Test these six methods for narrowing—or broadening—your next writing idea and you’ll land on the perfect length, approach, and slant to suit this project’s audience, purpose, and medium. In the process, you’ll gain clarity and solidify your ideas.

The six different methods to right-size your projects are:

TimeLocationCategoriesAudienceIssueStructure

Let me describe each one, starting with time. When does it mean to right-size your project using time?

Time

You can use time to focus on decades, a stage of life, or an era. For example, depending on your topic, you might limit your idea to focus only on the 1950s, only early childhood, or only on the Middle Ages.

If you’re writing a memoir, you’ll limit the scope of your book to a specific time in your life in which you experienced struggle and transformation.

If you’re writing about plants, you could focus on the planting stage.

If you need to broaden your idea because it’s too narrow, you can simply expand from the 1950s to the first half of the 20th century or from early childhood to Kindergarten through sixth grade.

Location

Location is another way to land on the right size for your project. You could focus on geography, meaning anything from a continent or country all the way down to a city landmark, neighborhood, or business.

But you could think of location on an object or a space. The gardener may want to write about an area of the garden or the location on a specific plant, such as the roots or petals.

If you’re writing about flight, you could focus on small airports in a given state or areas within a specific airport.

Categories

We can also use categories to think through an idea we find to be too big and broad or too small and narrow. Find some commonalities and group those things that are similar.

If you’re the garden blogger, you could focus on one category—vegetables—instead of flowers, trees, or groundcover. Dial down even more by categorizing nightshades or spring vegetables or weeds.

The blogger who writes about planes can narrow to categories such as biplanes, jets, or airliners.

By focusing on a small category, you easily narrow your idea. And then you can broaden by including multiple categories.

Audience

First-time authors often want to write a book for everyone in the whole world. That’s not realistic. The first step in right-sizing will be to narrow your audience.

For a specific project, you could narrow even further, selecting a sub-group within your target audience.

Maybe you write for parents, so to narrow the topic you outline an idea for parents of preschoolers or parents of teens.

So you can use a subgroup of your broader group to narrow. Including more types of people in your audience will broaden the idea and inform how you write it.

Issue

Many topics have issues baked into them: gun control, parenting philosophies, technology use.

Writers may take one side or another on these topics to automatically right-size their idea. Addressing only one issue related to their ide...

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[Ep 226]

With my Back to Basics series, I'm providing tools you can apply to your next project in hopes it will make the writing process easier and the final product stronger than ever—so you can make an impact.

Last time, we started by identifying a project's high-level elements—its Topic, Audience, Purpose, and Medium. After that, you can focus on the message of your project; that is, given your topic, what is this project’s IDEA.

What do you write about? Is it running, longevity, RV travel, cooking on a budget, stamp collecting, or social justice?

Maybe you’re known for this topic and it’s your brand identity, or maybe you’ve been assigned this by an editor. Regardless, you start with a topic, but you don’t stop there.

You have to hone in on an idea: a narrowed idea suitable for this particular project and this particular audience. Your finalized idea will reflect the slant or angle you’re taking that will provide focus and set your project apart from others tackling the same topic.

It’s tempting to latch onto the first idea that pops into our heads—and sometimes those are indeed fresh and full of potential. Most of the time, though, if we want to write something that stands out, we’re better off taking time to send the idea through five phases:

GenerateNarrowValidateRevise (adapt, adjust)Confirm or Finalize

Generate

First, you’ll generate ideas. You’re about to hear lots of tips for generating ideas in this episode, and I’ll include links to a few other articles and resources. You can test them out and find what works best for you.

Narrow

When you land on some ideas with potential, you’ll narrow them to suit your audience, purpose, and medium. You’ll also find your unique slant.

Validate

When it seems your idea has potential, you’ll validate the idea, especially if you’re launching a big project like a book. But even when you’re planning an article or blog post, it’s smart to take a few steps to vet the idea, and I’ll explain that in another episode.

Revise

After that process, you’ll adapt it based on the input you receive during the validation phase, revising and adjusting the idea as needed.

Confirm or Finalize

The last phase will be to confirm your idea and finalize it so you can dig in and—finally!—write.

A five-phase process just to lock in an idea may sound like overkill and it may seem like it’ll take ages, but you’ll breeze through it—especially for short projects. And it’s definitely worth it for longer projects because they’ll come together more efficiently when you walk through these phases.

Let’s start with what it takes to generate ideas.

Generate Ideas to Find What You Have to Say

When we begin our search for writing ideas, we start with ourselves. What are you drawing from to produce your projects? What’s in you? What do you have to say?

Generate Ideas by Remembering

Our writing usually flows out of the person we are. The ideas we share are ideas inside us, so writing about our past and drawing from memories, we can pull up ideas that formed us, challenged us, confused us.

Using those memories as the centerpiece of a project, we can dive in to explore the meaning, the truth, the lies, and the message locked in our past.

These ideas flow from the richness of remembering.

Generate Ideas by Living

We continue to add to our memories by increasing experiences. So another way to generate ideas is by living.

The stories we tell, if nonfiction, are experiences we’ve had or observed in others—or heard from others.

And, actually, if we write fiction, the scenes and ideas still flow from what we’ve seen, heard, tasted, smelled...from what we’ve experienced. Even mundane assignments start with our exposure to and understanding of the subject matter.

To generate ideas, we have to live. To live well, we can make choices that take us places, switch things up, change our perspective, widen our lens.

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[Ep 225]

You’re inspired. An idea seizes you and before the energy fizzles, you whip out a laptop, open a new document, and slam out words. Get it down fast—start writing and discover along the way what you want to say.

I support this approach! Capture the core idea while your creativity sizzles—before your vision fades!

At some point, however, you need to take a minute to be sure you know four key elements of this project or else your final product may miss the mark.

For everything we write, we really do need to know:

topic audience purpose medium

Imagine if today’s article had been titled “Follow These 3 Rules to Organize and Optimize Your RV Kitchen.” You’d wonder if you clicked on the wrong link or cued up the wrong podcast. I do like RV travel and could probably write about it, but because this website provides writing input to readers, an RV article might suit the medium of a podcast that focused on RV owners, but it would not fit the topic, audience, or purpose of a writing coach podcast or website.

Understand these fundamental elements of your project, and you’ll save time in the editing stage and ultimately impress publishers and serve readers. You'll build an audience that can tell you are knowledgeable and you understand them. Build This Step into Your Writing Process Experienced writers who publish regularly often work through this instinctively because they’ve written for years about a particular subject matter for an outlet that follows a specific format. These professionals may be able to sit down and tap out an impressive draft that follows style and formatting guidelines, and falls close to the ideal word count.

But if you’re…

new to writing returning to it after a long break craving a refresher on the basics concerned your work isn’t connecting with readers stepping out to write new subject matter, reach a new audience, or publish in a new media style or outlet

…I recommend you build this step into your writing process more intentionally.

Consciously, deliberately pause in the early stages of development to think through—even write out—brief descriptions of your project’s topic, audience, purpose, and medium.

Know what you’re setting out to accomplish and why. Determine what you’re writing about and who it’s for. Consider where it’ll be published and distributed, because that affects its depth and design, tone and topic, length and layout.

Lock this in before you brainstorm, research, outline, or free write and you’ll find the writing, revising, and editing process more efficient and the finished project’s impact more effective. Topic Let’s start with that initial inspiration. That creative spark. That idea.

THE TOPIC QUESTION: What’s this project about?

Sometimes you’re assigned a topic; other times the idea blooms from within. Either way, you’ll need to confirm the high-level topic and then articulate how this project will narrow and focus on a particular aspect of it.

For example, your high-level topic may be vegetable gardening. Are you writing an article for a local garden shop’s newsletter about growing potatoes or how to plant a Three Sisters garden? That’s how you would narrow the high-level topic to be more focused.

If you function as your own publisher, your “brand” may cover three or four categories that lead to obvious topic choices that always fit the audience, purpose, and medium.

The food blogger writes about the high-level topic of food, but narrows it to a few categories like main dishes, side dishes, slow-cooker instructions. Then, she publishes specific articles and recipes under each of those. So any given project—in this case, it’s probably a blog post—will have a specific topic. And that’s what her project is about: it’s an eggplant recipe or instructions for cooking steel cut oats.

You may find it helpful to express the big idea of this project in one-sentence, as you would a thesis.

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[Ep 224]

At the close of a brilliant blue-sky summer-warm April afternoon, a heavy thunderstorm swept across my state, pelting us with hail and hurtling branches across yards.

We stared in awe at Zeus-explosive lightning strikes that flashed and boomed, backlighting trees that swayed like storm-tossed ship masts, nearly snapping.

After a series of mighty cracks, the power went out and stayed out for eight hours. Cell service, too.

During the strangest season of a lifetime, when staying informed and connected relies on a functioning Internet, we were completely cut off from the world for...we didn’t know how long.

The storm felt even more ominous in total darkness. Wind gusts smacked limbs against the roof in haunting thumps and scrapes, like zombies clawing the shingles. We lit candles and sat in our family room, hoping the sliding glass door wouldn’t blow in and spew shards of glass across the room.

We settled in but couldn’t rest. On high alert, we remained poised to head to the basement if we heard tornado sirens go off. My husband grabbed a headlamp he uses when camping and handed it to my son, who needed to finish studying for a pre-calc test.

I remembered some blizzards of my youth, when the power would go out on the farm for a few days—once for an entire week—and we’d use kerosene lamps for light and the wood stove for heat.

I’d feel a sense of awe and fear and excitement that, for a stretch of time—and who knew for how long—life suspended in an awkward space of uncertainty where we were forced to rethink the days and invent solutions to complete basic tasks.

Eventually the power would return to the farm. We’d flip on lights and the TV. Country roads would be cleared and the school bus would show up at my driveway.

Back to normal.

I thought of that blizzard while staring out our sliding glass door.

After about an hour, the fiercest elements of the storm subsided, though rain continued to pour down, overflowing gutters clogged by debris. In the quiet, dark house, we felt our way along the walls to our bedrooms, listening for each other’s voices. My husband set an alarm to wake up every few hours throughout the night to empty the brim-full sump pump, which wasn’t able to do its job without electricity.

Early the next morning, our power returned. We flipped on lights and reset our clocks and the WiFi router. The sump pump turned on and emptied the tanks.

Back to normal.

Except...it’s not normal.

This isn’t a blizzard, and the bus didn’t show up for students in our neighborhood. My son took his pre-calc test at the kitchen table and uploaded it to a website for his math instructor to grade.

Back to our abnormal normal, I guess, or whatever we’ve created within this shelter-at-home pandemic reality, its own silent storm.

I started six or seven different ideas for this post, but they all fell flat; they seemed inappropriate in one way or another.

Hopeful, encouraging input seemed like it would make light of readers who are fearful or frustrated. So I held off, wanting to respect that not everyone is ready to map out a social media strategy or draft a short story.

Fun ideas celebrating the creativity of quarantined humans across the planet seemed to make light of the intensity and suffering so many are facing. I had collected links to amusing and ambitious projects but stopped, unable to share. I knew friends who were sick or caring for the sick, and it seemed tone deaf to send that out.

But the other extreme also seemed like a strange choice; highlighting suffering seemed too heavy and melancholy for readers who might be seeking an emotional escape. Sometimes I want to just laugh a little; sometimes I want to avoid the weight of the news.

Suggestions for being productive? That felt, I don’t know...exhausting...too hard to attempt or sustain. I watch all these people hopping on Instagram Live offering their recommendations to be a voice of leadership duri...

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[Ep 223]

As I write this, a pandemic is spreading across the planet. I surely hope you and those you love are spared any sickness during this worldwide crisis. I’m stating this in part to document my day in the midst of these extraordinary circumstances.

This is something we can do as writers:

Document the days. Keep a Journal If You Can Record your story as it’s unfolding; capture and preserve—in real time, in your voice—what will become source material for future historians or for your own memoir.

Dr. Shane Landrum wrote, in a series of tweets: Advice from a historian in the Boston area: Start keeping a journal today, ideally a hand written one if that’s within your ability. Write about what you’re seeing in the news, how yr friends are responding, what is closed in yr neighborhood or city or state or country. Save it...Sometimes you know you’re living through an event that will be in the history books very large...personal stories don’t make it into the history books unless people are writing them down in the first place. Keep a journal if you can.1 His Twitter thread prompted people to suggest typing up and printing out their observations and others to recommend indelible ink on archival paper.

But you can find other, creative ways to document the days. Audio or Video Diaries If you’re a writer who is also a first responder, health care worker, or supply chain contributor delivering food and goods to stores—or stocking and supplying the stores—you may not have time to write.

On a break, record a one- to three-minute audio or video diary on your phone. Tell us about the fatigue, the tasks, the challenges, the people. Share it, or save it. But document the days.

If you’re not in some of those critical roles—and I’m sure I missed entire groups of people—you are likely at home tending to your work, perhaps educating your child or overseeing her work. You, too, can use a video or audio diary to document the days. Share Some Now, Save Some for Later Some of it, you’ll save for later: for a future project, for family, for historians.

Some of it, though, you can share right now, to offer hope and accurately report on your world.

Publish on social media, or through your blog, or through a podcast like this.

Publish and distribute your most urgent messages however and wherever you can most easily get the word out to the people who need it most.

Use Dr. Landrum’s hashtag, if you like, to communally chronicle your experiences with others across the globe: #pandemicjournal2

However you choose to document your days, I urge you to do this. Writers Document the Details We are in a unique position, as writers, to know how to weave sensory detail into our observations that will recreate it for readers later; we understand that the story keeps going and if we document it today, we’ll grab texture and tension and we can scene-build, and if we don’t, we will have forgotten when the world moves on from toilet paper hoarding to new challenges, as it already has.

It’s easy to forget the messaging and actions of early stages when the next one happens a mere hours later.

Our role as writers in these uncertain times is to be among those who capture the stories. Tell Your Story You tell yours from your corner of the world, and I’ll tell mine.

One day, they’ll fit together to help people understand how one thing led to another in the high-level reporting alongside the everyday events: the confusion, the indecision; the toilet paper hoarding and the jokes that ensued; the frantic trips to Walmart and Target and grocery stores, not knowing how to prepare for such a time as this.

We’ve had questions: will we go on lockdown or will life go on as usual? We will be able to share how that changed day by day, moment by moment, question by question. Document the Questions The questions, so many questions… O Me! O Life!

Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,

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[Ep 222]

My most effective year teaching high school composition was the one I began with poetry. From day one, I introduced literary devices through poems, inviting students to spot metaphor and simile, hyperbole and imagery, rhythm, rhyme, and repetition.

With a focus on a single poem, we could zero in on just a few observations and they could use those as inspiration, even models, for their assignments.

Later, armed with a range of literary tools and techniques, the students confidently integrated those into their prose. Their essays—even their research papers—showed they better understood how to lasso language to express their ideas.

What’s more, they also readily spotted themes and ideas in the longer works we studied. They had more to say about the pieces we read. It’s as if poetry opened their minds to new ways of seeing the world, and in some cases, poets opened their minds to new ways of seeing themselves: students seemed to borrow words and phrases to express feelings and frustrations, disappointments and dreams. Poetry's Profound Truths I believe poetry opened them up to become more thoughtful, creative writers—perhaps even more thoughtful, creative human beings.

And I believe it can open us up to become more thoughtful, creative writers and human beings.

When The New York Times news desk gathers for their morning meeting, they start by reading a poem. Marc Lacey explains that this new ritual is “aimed at inspiring us and boosting our creativity before we embark on another long day of editing the news.”1

He says this new practice is leaving members more thoughtful, more contemplative. “I can tell by the faraway look in my colleagues’ eyes as we hear profound truths communicated sparsely and majestically.”2

His story sent me to a shelf in my living room in search of an anthology I might use to reboot this practice in my own creative life. Yes, despite the fruitful results from that high school composition class—and despite being steeped in poetry back when I served on the editorial team at Tweetspeak Poetry—I have fallen out of the habit of reading a poem each day. Wordsworth's "The Rainbow' I plucked The Oxford Book of English Verse from the shelf, a collection I’d picked up at a used library sale.

It flopped open to a Wordsworth poem: The Rainbow My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die ! The Child is father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety.3 A few of Wordsworth’s choices are easily spotted in this short poem: the deliberate repetition of “So” in a series of three. Unintentional repetition can distract a reader, but writers who use repetition with intent can assist the reader’s understanding. Here, Wordsworth uses it to indicate the beginning, middle, and end of his life: “So was it...So is it...So be it.”

Of course, we see rhyming throughout: behold/old, began/man, be/piety.

While rhyming is the norm in poetry, it reminds me to listen for and play with its potential in prose; where might I test subtle sounds to add music to my words, even blog posts and podcasts?

A poet of the Romantic era, Wordsworth responded to nature as teacher, as guide, as inspiration. He expresses a desire to never lose his childlike sense of wonder. Creativity, Curiosity, Wonder His poem—and his mindset—has potential to awaken our creativity alongside curiosity and wonder. He leaves me hopeful that we need not feel trapped and deadened by disheartening news. Our hearts can still leap.

As a wordsmith, editor Marc Lacey knows poetry’s potential to inspire our minds to use language in imaginative and inventive ways.

But he also seems to grasp the need for us to see the world differently and, perhaps, to believe our hearts can still leap. The Magic of Poetry Morrigan McCarthy, a photo editor and former poetry major,

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[Ep 221]

If you’re trying to land an agent and eventually a contract with a publisher, you can’t get around it: you need to craft a compelling proposal to pitch your nonfiction book.

This may be the first time you’ve heard about this and you’re reeling from the thought that you can’t just send your manuscript directly to a publisher or agent.

I’ll fill you in. Let’s look at what a book proposal is and why you need one to pursue traditional publishing. A Book Proposal Is a Business Document Simply put: a book proposal is a business document used industry-wide to persuade publishers to partner with you to publish your book.

It’s a business document, yes. It’s a document that industry gatekeepers like agents, editors, and publishers use to discuss your concept, consider your author brand and platform, study your sample chapters, and make their final decision whether or not to partner with you on this project.

As you can see, there’s a lot riding on this one document.

And business documents can feel foreign to creative writers who are unaccustomed to the business world and business documents. That’s why it’s nice to have some input and guidance.

Some people think they can pitch their idea to an agent without a proposal, and they think the agent will love the idea and proceed to sign this writer and work with the writer to craft the proposal.

But that’s not quite how it works. Because even an agent will expect you to produce for them a proposal that they’ll use to decide whether or not to sign you.

Let’s say you queried an agent or you met an agent, they ask for your proposal, you send it, and they like what they see. They chat with you and decide to offer to represent you. They use the proposal to make their decision whether or not to move forward.

At that point, they’ll help you refine—and in some cases revise—your original proposal. At the very least, they’ll supply you with their agency’s template and have you drop your proposal content into their format with the brand at the top. And they’ll use that version of the proposal to shop it around.

But the process starts with a query or conversation with an agent in hopes that they request your proposal.

So you need to craft the best proposal possible for your project even to land an agent and certainly to land a publishing contract. The Proposal Forces Clarity But don’t view the book proposal as a burden. And don’t be overwhelmed at the thought of writing one.

Instead, see it as a chance to gain clarity and build confidence as you craft this document, because the process of developing a book proposal forces you to think through all aspects of your book and yourself as its author.

You’ll identify your target audience, determine the purpose and scope of this project, and generate a plan for how to help market the book.

The book proposal will serve you well. What's in the Proposal Itself The document itself is super basic in the way it looks. I advise clients to keep the design simple, with minimal flourishes and no fancy fonts—in fact, I recommend using universally recognized fonts so the agent or acquisitions editor who opens the file can view it without needing to access a custom font.

Inside the document, the proposal covers a variety of elements that provide information about you and the book, like:

an overview of the project a marketing plan comps (competitive or comparative titles) a Table of Contents (or TOC) platform stats an annotated Table of Contents (chapter summaries) sample chapters

The template I use with clients includes these elements and others that are generally expected no matter who you’re querying. I’ve built it based on my own experience as an author crafting my own proposals, but I’ve added changes to reflect industry shifts over the years.

I adapted and modified my template to help a writer think through all aspects of the book,

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[Ep 220]

A writer reached out to me with news that she's writing a nonfiction book and wants to be published. “What’s the process?” she asked.

I'm happy to explain. I'll cover the main steps to becoming a traditionally published author without going into minute detail. This will give you—and her—a broad overview. Pre-Process Stage: Educate Yourself Before taking the first step toward publishing, start learning everything possible about the industry. Educate yourself.

Learn industry terminology, roles, documents, processes, and proposals.

Learn about self-publishing, as well, in case that ends up being an even better approach for you and your book.

To begin understanding how the publishing world works:

Watch conference videos on YouTube Attend writing conferences Read books and articles Listen to relevant podcasts Subscribe to website feeds to study trends and announcements Follow gatekeepers and decision-makers on social media

The more you know about the book publishing process, people, jargon, and expectations, the more confident you’ll be heading into each conversation at each stage of the journey.

As you gain knowledge, you’ll discover opportunities, challenges and frustrations, and hopefully you'll make informed decisions about the best publishers, agents, and marketing approaches for you and your project. The Long Road to Publishing Let me warn you, though: publishing is not for the faint of heart.

They say from the moment of signing a book contract to the day of the book’s release is on average two years. That doesn’t include all the steps leading up to the signing of that contract, so it can stretch out even longer.

You need patience, vision, grit, perseverance.

The act of defining a book concept takes time. To sign with an agent and land a contract can take an even longer time.

To then develop the book proposal and eventually write every word of a manuscript will require a tremendous output of time, effort, creativity, and courage.

A writer may want to give up at several points.

So take it in stages, because getting a book published is a marathon, not a sprint. How to Get a Nonfiction Book Published Now, what are the main steps to traditional publishing? Here’s a high-level look at how it works. Step 1: Build a Platform Learn what a platform is (see “Educate Yourself” above) and why it’s important. Then learn all the ways you can build one. Begin to step into spaces where you can connect with target readers, bringing them content related to the general topic of your book concept.

During this step, readers meet you and connect you to that topic. Along the way, you solidify your author brand and build a platform you can use to encourage, inform, and entertain people.

And one day you'll be able to tell them about the book that’s in the works.

Building a platform takes time—the sooner you begin, the better, because publishers will not consider authors who don't have a platform.

Continue to build it as you move into Step 2, so your platform continues to deepen and expand. Bringing a substantial platform to the conversation with a book publisher makes you a more desirable author for them to sign. Step 2: Create a Book Proposal You'll need a book proposal. Publishers use these business documents to decide if they want to partner with the author to publish the proposed book.

A typical proposal includes many elements such as your platform stats, the book’s table of contents, chapter summaries, and three polished sample chapters.

Because the proposal includes platform information, you’ll want to tackle Step 1 as soon as possible and continue with those platform-building efforts throughout the process. Publishers want to see that you connect with readers and can get the word out to them.

You may want to have the sample chapters edited (or at least proofread) to be sure they go out in the best shape possible when an agent or editor ask...

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[Ep 219]

Whether you’re interested in increasing blog readership or building a freelance writing business—and especially if you’re pursuing traditional publishing—you’ll want to connect with readers.

You’ll want to reach people who are interested in your stories and ideas and appreciate how you present those ideas as a writer, in your unique style, tone, and personality.

That’s the basic idea of platform. In fact, I define it like this: platform is all the ways you, as your author brand, reach and retain ideal readers. Platform Size Affects Opportunities Jane Friedman says in her book The Business of Being a Writer: [T]he size of your platform will affect how easy it is for you to earn money or bring opportunities to your door. Editors, businesses, organizations, and other potential benefactors will be more likely to consider you if they've heard of you, seen evidence of your work in the market, or otherwise become familiar with you through online or offline interactions. 1 On a proposal, you list the number of Twitter and Instagram followers you have and the size of the audience at your last speaking engagement. You want those numbers to be substantial, even impressive. The bigger the platform, the better, in terms of being able to bring opportunities to your door.

But it’s more than numbers; in fact, numbers mean nothing if your readers aren’t feeling a sense of kinship with you as a writer or a sense of connection with your prose.

So, as you build a platform, remember each number you present to a publisher represents a human being. The metrics you present are people—people interested in what you have to say and how you say it.

Building a Far-Reaching Platform Through Social Media Contrary to what you may have been led to believe, your social media presence is not in and of itself your platform. You have a range of options available to reach and retain readers.

And yet…

And yet social media offers powerful publishing and distribution tools in the palms of our hands—available for free! It levels the playing field, allowing a homeschooling farmer’s wife who lives in the middle of nowhere to engage with readers in the same spaces as major book publishers and magazines.

With the click of a button, our words can reach the ends of the earth! Isn’t that amazing? We can leverage these apps to connect with readers and raise visibility as a writer worldwide, building a meaningful, substantial, far-reaching platform over time. The Best Platform-Building Efforts Call for Real Human Interaction Connecting with readers doesn’t require marketing savvy or publicity know-how (though that can help). Many of the most effective platform-building efforts simply call for honest, real human interaction: a pleasant email; an earnest comment responding to someone’s article; a card mailed to someone we meet at a conference; a retweet with an encouraging note.

Find simple ways to engage with readers, then expand and experiment over time, because, as Jane says: If you’re committed to pursuing a career primarily focused on book publication, then you’ll be faced with the challenge of staying competitive, current, and discoverable in a shifting digital landscape; of having the right tools to be effective and in touch with your readers; and of developing strong partnerships to help you market and promote your work.2 Community Support There’s another opportunity to increase our reach as we build our platform, and that’s through online communities. Because so many of these groups and organizations are online, connecting with these readers overlaps with social media efforts.

These online communities can look different. Some are paid membership sites and others, loose collections of friends around a theme or activity. Whatever shape or format they take, the healthy outlets serve as an excellent way to connect with writers and readers. These communities offer mutual support and celebration for every new succes...

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[Ep 218]

Do we really need to do all the things to be a writer these days? Are all those extra activities and tasks required for a successful career?

Do we really need to vlog and launch social media campaigns on five different platforms? Are we required to blog and guest post? And is it true we have to be prepared to step on a stage and speak? Emily Dickinson's Focused Writing Life Why can’t we model our writing life after Emily Dickinson, who wrote poetry, including one that begins, "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" She felt free to write in isolation without worrying about all the things.

Emily Dickinson never bothered with an Instagram account. Emily Dickinson never vlogged. If Emily Dickinson had pursued all those non-writing tasks, she might not have had enough time to craft her masterpieces.

Emily Dickinson focused solely on writing. Why can’t we?

Of course we can, my friend. Of course we can stay secluded, never leave the house, and focus on writing without messing with other activities.

I’ll admit, as an introvert, it sounds kind of nice. And to be honest, many days I myself am secluded and never leave the house!

But even Emily Dickinson maintained correspondence with friends, family, and publishing professionals. Even in her isolation—even as she penned hundreds of poems—one could say she “networked,” as she connected with people who read and, in some cases, published her work. Some of All the Things If we want to pursue traditional publishing today, if we want to be discovered and read by people, if we want to avoid obscurity and move toward a more professional writing life, well, we'll want to consider pursuing at least some of all the things.

Some activities like speaking will take us out of the house, but what’s fascinating about the 2020s is we live in a day and age where we can do a lot of the things without even leaving the house:

social media updates videos guest posts blogging admin work correspondence

We can do a lot of that right where we’re sitting.

So, yes, we lose writing time to pursue those tasks and activities, but at least they can be done from home. High-Value, Reader-Connecting, Platform-Building Activities We can reach a wide audience if we’re willing to experiment, learn new skills, and connect with people using tools and technology that Emily Dickinson could not have fathomed.

These efforts position you for a more successful career as people who would never have met you otherwise now recognize you and read your work. Over time, these efforts can lead to decision-makers recognizing you and offering to publish your work.

Some of these ideas could be considered platform-building efforts, but they’re also simply great ways to connect with readers—which is kind of the same thing, and a healthier way of framing it.

High-value, reader-connecting, platform-building activities include: 1. Get a Website Up and Running

Every writer needs a home base—a website under your control where you send people. I recommend a self-hosted blog if at all possible, so you have more control and so you can even sell things someday. But self-hosted blogs require you to pay for hosting, so this may not be financially feasible at first. Keep It Simple Whether it’s a free or self-hosted website, the look can be super-basic at first—or forever. For inspiration, check out James Clear’s website. As of the time of this writing, this New York Times bestselling author has a simple, clean site without any bells or whistles. He doesn’t have a logo or even a special font for his name. At jamesclear.com, It’s all about the content. Control Information About You Having a website means you have a hub for all your other content and communication. There, you can control at least some of the information about you that exists on the web. So write an “about” page that aligns with your writing and author brand, and you’re on your way to being known for whatever it is yo...

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[Ep 217]

I don’t know much about science, but I'm pretty sure Newton’s First Law goes like this: an object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.1

Okay, I looked it up for accuracy. And I believe it applies not just to physics, but to my writing life, as well.

Over the holiday season, I myself did not come to rest, as I was busy baking, cooking, cleaning, wrapping gifts, hosting family. However, this focus on festivities brought my writing to a standstill.

My projects stalled out. I felt stuck. Inertia set in so that even after the tree returned to the attic and the lights came down, my creative efforts went nowhere. Something inside resisted my efforts to start writing again.

Until today, my writing had not budged.

Writing at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

If I want to get my writing in motion and gather momentum, I have to take action.

And I thought I might not be the only one facing inertia and hoping for momentum in the new year, so here are some strategies to rev up the engines and get our words moving again. 1. Start reading, no matter what Commit to reading, no matter what. I didn't write much in December, but I did read.

I listened to an audiobook while driving and exercising. I read short pieces while in between other tasks. That input kept me thinking and gathering ideas and images.

I recommend reading anything that catches your eye: poems, short stories, clever tweets, the side of the cereal box.

And as you read, take notes. Sentences that sing? Write them out. Style that inspires? Study and learn. Ideas that lead to deeper thoughts? Capture them in a notebook.

These concepts may connect to other tidbits tumbling inside of you. At some point, creativity begins to flow—words, in motion, pour onto the page, as enough material converges and convinces you that it's time to express it in your own words. 2. Start writing, no matter what “Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” — Louis L’Amour2

It sounds so basic, so obvious, but our writing will remain at rest until we start writing. The act of writing is the force needed to get our writing in motion.

Freewriting can help, setting that timer and writing for ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes without stopping, even if you write, “I don’t know what to write about” ten times in a row.

Eventually, hopefully, our brains will get bored and pluck an image or idea from our mental storage vaults—perhaps something gleaned from reading—and at the end of a session, we’ll end up with a few promising sentences.

Even if we don’t, when we start writing, no matter what, we train our brains and hands to work together so they remember how to put words down on the page.

Set a deadline and meet it, no matter what Is someone waiting for a project you've promised? Are you committed to turning in your work on a certain date? Lucky you! External deadlines spur us on, so let that force you to the computer or notebook so that you absolutely must slam out words and turn in your project on time.

Many of us work for ourselves, in essence, publishing on our websites and on social media. No editor awaits our submission. Though we may have readers wondering why we’ve fallen silent, we don’t have external motivation. We may need to trick ourselves into meeting a deadline.

Editorial calendars can help with this. Set a hard deadline. Tell a group of people when something is going to be released.

Then make it happen, no matter what. That can get our writing in motion. 4. Trust in revision Maybe you're putting off a project despite the deadline for fear of writing badly. This fear keeps us from writing anything at all.

When you recognize that as the reason your writing is at rest, trust the revision process.

Susan Sontag said, "I don't write easily or rapidly. My first draft usually has only a few elements worth keeping.

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You've researched your topic, taken copious notes, created a mind map, made lists, but you haven't settled on the best way to organize all of your material. You aren't sure how to structure your chaotic work in progress.

Perhaps you’ve tried the ready-made outlines I've proposed—past-present-future, and problem-solution or problem-solution-benefits—but those didn’t fit this project.

Well, here's another: zoom in or zoom out.

Could that work? The Zoom In/Zoom Out Outline

This ready-made outline is pretty straightforward. You pick a starting point for your topic and from there, you zoom in or out.

If you start big and broad, you can progressively zoom in on the topic so the analysis or story ends with a narrow, focused perspective or impact.

If you start at a smaller point, you gradually zoom out to offer a broader application or conclusion. Example: Zoom In Let’s say you want to analyze an issue that concerns you—an opinion piece about civility.

You can start at a high level, offering a broad analysis of how the nation is shifting its behavior and language so that cultural norms related to civility have shifted—your stance is that the United States as a whole is losing something important as it moves away from civility as an unspoken value. You cite studies and quote experts.

Then you zoom in to make observations at the local level based on a recent news event that happened in your city. You quote law enforcement or religious leaders who claim they’ve seen a change over the past decade in how people treat one another at public events and gatherings.

Finally, you zoom in to challenge readers to consider the degree to which they themselves have changed and if their behavior and speech reflects the level of civility they’d like to see in themselves and others.

Example: Zoom Out Of course, this structure is easily reversed. You can start small and zoom out.

You may have seen the TED Talk “For more wonder, rewild the world.” In this talk, George Monbiot explains “trophic cascades.” A trophic cascade, he says, is “an ecological process that starts at the top of the food chain and tumbles all the way to the bottom.”

You can see how this subject matter lends itself to a zoom structure, especially the classic example he uses to illustrate his point. I’m thinking of it as zooming out.

He talks about how wolves had been absent from Yellowstone National Park for over 70 years. During that time, herds of deer built up because they lacked a predator, and they grew to increasingly large numbers and grazed down much of the native vegetation.

Then a few wolves were introduced to the park. Monbiot begins his structure here, I think, as he starts with the wolves. After establishing context, he directs our attention to those few wolves as a narrow, focused starting point.

The wolves killed some of the deer, of course, but they also changed the behavior of the herds so that they grazed in new locations, allowing vegetation to mature in valleys that then “regenerated.” Monbiot zooms out and describes the changes: trees grew, birds returned, beavers increased and built dams where more species could grow.

Monbiot keeps going with his presentation, citing one change after another that led to more and more areas of the park transforming. He zoomed out, eventually zooming out far enough to consider the rivers, claiming they changed course due to these impacts.

Starting small, with those few wolves, he zooms out all the way to the rivers, so we can celebrate the rejuvenated, rewilded national park. Try This Outline On Your Work in Progress

Whichever direction you zoom, this structure offers a simple way to experiment with your content: You can start big and zoom in, or start small and zoom out—macro to micro, or micro to macro.

You could zoom in by following the path of a decision or policy put into place by a government or company and show how it trickled down to impact a family or ...

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Organization is a challenge for writers. You may have strong ideas, feel confident with grammar, and write in a fun style.

But putting it all together in a structure that makes sense? That can be hard.

There’s no one perfect way to structure most projects. You have options.

Some people find this liberating. They enjoy exploring countless options and settle naturally into an order that makes sense for their content.

Other writers find this overwhelming. They’d like to be told, "If you’re writing THIS, you always use THAT structure."

Without structure, those writers get stuck. Structure Brings Order and Clarity In fact, I’ve met with writers who have been stuck for weeks, months...occasionally for years. All because they didn’t know how to structure their project.

Without structure, they didn’t know how to order and organize their ideas, so writing itself felt confusing. They simply shoved it aside, unclear what to do next.

Structure brings order and clarity to the writer.

And structure brings order and clarity to the reader.

Structure for Poets Some writing offers built-in structure.

If you’re a poet, for example, you can turn to form poetry to find structure built into the assignment. So many kinds of poems follow a form or a pattern, like a sestina, sonnet, and a rondelet. They each come with rules, rhythms, and rhyme schemes. While challenging, these limits offer structure that a poet who works in free verse lacks. Structure for Novelists Novelists can turn to structure that works well for fiction, such as the hero’s journey. The author doesn’t have to include the obligatory scenes, but many genres work well when the author hits those beats, moments, or scenes a reader has come to expect. Structure for Nonfiction Writers Nonfiction writers may face the blank page with no idea where to start. Or they spit out their ideas with no clue how to arrange them to create an order that flows well for the reader.

Writers who compose essays, articles, books know they have a problem to solve: they need structure.

And they may struggle with structure due to lack of resources. Maybe no one has pointed out to them structure options. Or maybe they struggle to remain objective with their own material to see how it would best flow.

They may have tried methods they’ve learned over the years and those have gotten them only so far. Mind Maps Don't Automatically Lead to Structure For instance, maybe they tried a mind map. And that helped them spit out the main ideas they want to cover in their book. But all those circles spread out like a web on the paper don’t themselves reveal a solid structure—they just reveal a number of possible starting points and all their subpoints. So the mind map may have served to pull out of the writer content ideas, but the map itself didn’t result in a clear structure.

Traditional Outlines Don't Automatically Lead to Structure The writer of nonfiction may have reverted to the I, II, III, and A, B, C format they remembered from their youth, with those Roman numerals leading the eye down the page with indented A, B, C items underneath. Under those lines came the numbers 1, 2, 3, then lowercase a, b, c, followed by the little “i’s” with one “i” then two “ii’s” and “iii’s” that created those miniature Roman numerals, leading up to “iv’s” and “v’s.”

The poor writer may spend more time fretting over those little “i’s” than they do crafting content. So knowing how to type up a list with Roman numerals again doesn’t in and of itself reveal a structure.

Even organized, sequential-types who love to line up papers and numbers and files and books on shelves can create a perfectly reasonable classic outline, yet find themselves unsure if that’s formed an effective structure for their writing project.

Try Ready-Made Outlines to Structure Your Next Project How can writers who struggle to organize their ideas find a structure that works?

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[Ep 214]

Back in July I bought a Garmin watch that tracks steps and heart rate. More importantly, it offers training plans for beginning and intermediate runners. I clicked on a beginner’s plan because I hadn’t run regularly for years, and started following the instructions each day.

Now, I tend to wing things in general. More often than not, I jump in and make decisions on the fly with just about everything. I like freedom and hate being fenced in or forced to do things. Too much structure and I’m ready to bust out the walls.

But for some reason, I responded well to the structure of this training program. If it told me to do intervals, I’d head down the road and run intervals. If it said to run hills, I found the hilliest hills in the mostly flat city where I live.

I enjoyed the choices within the parameters of the plan. I could choose where to run and I could choose to skip a stage of the plan. But I loved how the plan organized my workouts so I don’t have to stand at the end of my driveway trying to figure out what to do each day, inventing from scratch.

So while my personality might be the type to look at structure as a curse, I think it might be...a gift. A Writer’s Gift Outlines are to a writer what a Garmin training plan is to a runner: a gift, not a curse.

During the years when I taught composition to high school students, the most naturally creative students resisted outlines. They hated the idea of slamming structure into what could be an organic process of discovery. And I sympathized with them—that’s how I tend to feel.

So some of them they respectfully requested that they try it their way. But because I was teaching composition, I had to teach outlines. And because this was a group of compliant homeschoolers, they did it my way.

Even the student who participated in NaNoWriMo every year as a pantser—flying by the seat of her pants as she completed a novel in the month of November with very little structure—even she agreed to outline for the big research paper assigned for the second semester.

When they finished researching and their outlines shifted based on new information they gleaned, they sorted their 3x5 cards into the outline and even the biggest doubters who thought outlining was annoying and a curse found it was a brilliant time-saver. With ease and speed and efficiency, they wrote organized drafts that reflected a logical structure and flow.

Even my NaNoWriMo student conceded that the outline-approach worked. She said in the future she would likely drop the step of taking notes on 3x5 cards, but the outline would be part of her writing life—at least for academic papers.

While I don’t spend as much time discussing the art of fiction, I’ve seen plenty of general outlines that a novelist could use to give a general form and remind the writer of key elements and beats to hit along the way.

We don’t have to use outlines, but they can provide a starting point. They offer structure and support as we brainstorm and produce our first draft. And they help us write faster than ever.

Isn’t that a gift? Impromptu Outlines My son participates In a speech and debate club where I serve as a parent-volunteer. Another mom teaches various speaking principles and the past few weeks we’ve reviewed how to outline a platform speech.

But she also presents a series of outlines to the students that they can use in their impromptu speeches.

Impromptu speeches are not planned in advance. The competitor enters a room, selects a piece of paper listing two topics, and in two minutes, plans a five-minute speech based on one of the two topics.

You can imagine how the student’s mind reacts to this pressure. It can go blank. It can spin off in a million directions.

We empower our club members by giving them these outlines—these gifts.

Students sit down with the scratch paper available, and write out an outline. Then they add their main ideas and examples,

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[Ep 213]

If you didn’t click to read this first sentence, I failed.

If we want to hook readers and hold their attention so they read all the way to the end, we have to generate an intriguing title or headline. Lure Readers with Your Title Books, chapters, articles, essays, poems: they all need names or titles that invite the reader to stop skimming and scrolling and think, “Hm. I wonder what this is about?” or “Oh, wow, I need this information.”

I opened up Feedly when I was preparing this article and stopped on an article at The Write Practice titled “How to Find the Core Message of Your Writing” because it was clear and seemed relevant to the kinds of things I like to read.

But I also stopped on an article by Emily P. Freeman: “How to Find (and Become) A Good Listener.” That sounded useful to help me as a coach and to help me improve relationships with family and friends.

Or consider James Clear’s book Atomic Habits. The main title intrigues me with that word “atomic” connected to “habits.” His subtitle is “An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones.” Then he includes a tagline that clarifies it further: “Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results.” That sounds like a doable approach to the topic of habits, doesn’t it? He hooked me with his title and subtitle combo.

We have to entice our readers to click on the link or open the book by capturing that first concept in a few words that hint at or outright reveal the subject, topic, theme, or problem we’ll address in the piece.

Hook Your Readers with Attention Grabbers Let’s say you nailed it—you lured in your readers with the headline.

Now it’s time to hook them—to grab them by the throat, as novelists often say. Bring on the attention grabber: it’s that first line or two that will keep them reading.

When I taught composition to high school students, I’d offer attention-grabber ideas like:

a startling statistic a quote a question an intriguing statement or claim a story (e.g., an anecdote that stands alone, a personal story, or someone else’s story)

That article about finding the core message of your writing starts, “Why do you write?”—a question any writer will instinctively answer, at least in his head.

So the author, Joe Bunting, has probably hooked us. Our mind is engaged with the question. It’s a good attention-grabber.

Emily P. Freeman’s article on finding and becoming a good listener has an epigraph—a quote from Dr. Larry Crabb about listening to each other—followed by the beginning of the actual article. She starts with a story: It’s 2012, and there’s a stack of brochures in the little room I type in. I keep staring over at them, rereading their invitation, “To know more about you: If you would like to be informed of upcoming events…”

I reach over, and I turn the plastic holder to face the wall. I cannot keep reading that same brochure over and over again. What’s going to happen? Why is this brochure featured so prominently in this story? Is she going to take action? Is it going to change her? What does this brochure have to do with listening?

You can see how stories are great for hooking readers—they’re great attention-grabbers. They awaken curiosity and open a loop that we must close. We want to know what happens and how it ends.

So Emily has hooked me.

You, too, can use stories. And here’s a bonus tip—if you start far enough into a situation, the action of a story engages and hooks the reader, but you can leave it hanging so that you complete the story in the conclusion. That provides closure that satisfies and gratifies the reader. It feels like you’ve come full circle.

But for them to get to the end, you’ve got to hold him.

First you hook them, then you hold them. Hold Your Reader’s Attention To hold the reader isn’t easy. We’re battling for his or her attention, and we all know the long list of distractions that can pull a reader away at any moment.

Here are some tips.

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[Ep 212]

For about four years, I didn’t do much to get healthy or stay healthy. I’d talk about getting in shape but wouldn’t actually do anything. I’d wake up and think about it, then roll over and go back to sleep.

It’s no surprise, of course, that the idea of exercising—the thought of it—didn’t strengthen a single muscle in my body. The desire to be healthy, no matter how intense, didn’t actually make me healthy.

I had to take action.

Finally, about a year ago, I decided to do something. I started by jogging, plodding slowly through the neighborhood on a route so short I called it the wimpy route.

But that’s how it began. To start improving my health, I took action. It was humbling to start so small, but I got out there and ran—I mean, plodded—the wimpy route over and over.

And wouldn’t you know, action produced results.

Over time, I ran a tiny bit faster and farther and grew a tiny bit stronger and healthier. By continuing to take action, I continued to see results. Productive Writers Take Action If we want to be writers, we can’t just talk about writing and wish our projects into existence. The idea of writing—the thought of it—won’t get a single sentence of an article, blog post, poem, or short story composed. The desire to be a writer won’t actually make you a writer.

You have to decide to do something.

You have to take action.

That’s how it begins, no matter how humble or wimpy it may seem to you. Productive Writers Write In the beginning, it doesn’t have to be much. Just as I didn’t expect to be running a half-marathon distance when I first started plodding around the wimpy route, we don’t have to complete a 200-page novel in our first efforts to sit at our computers and write.

We can tap out a few sentences; maybe a paragraph or two. With those humble beginnings, it begins. And over time it adds up.

That’s the foundation of a productive writer.

A productive writer writes. Productivity Doesn’t Mean Assembly-Line Production Productivity doesn’t mean we have to spit out poems like candy from a vending machine or roll out blog articles like cars on an assembly line with repetition and precision. After all, that can lead to a loss of creativity and originality.

What productivity does mean is we have to start and complete projects instead of falling down rabbit holes of research for weeks on end or avoiding the work out of fear or perfectionism.

Productive writers finally step away from the search engines and library books and throw some of their discoveries onto the page to sort it out and produce a final project.

Productive writers overcome perfectionism and fear by sitting down and tapping out their thoughts to create a rough draft, no matter how rough.

Priscilla Long, author of The Portable Writer’s Mentor, writes, “In the end what matters to the ambitious dreamer is a steady and even rather plodding stream of work.”1 It’s fine, she says, if much of the output is “rough, awkward, contrived, and arguably awful.”2

That’s part of becoming a productive writer. You regularly produce a “plodding stream of work” no matter how “arguably awful” it emerges. Through the act of writing, you’re discovering your voice, your style, your preferred genre, your message.

You’re figuring out how to write and what to write every time you write. It’s building a kind of creative strength in you, as you overcome Resistance and do the work. Productive Writers Finish Eventually, after establishing a system of producing words and rough drafts, productive writers will develop a habit of finishing what they start.

So often, writers start project after project in bursts of creative inspiration but struggle to see even one of them through to completion.

Not everything we produce will be publishable, but we have to start and finish projects to build our body of work. Productive Writers Set Up Systems To be effective at starting and finishing,

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[Ep 211]

Creativity as a pillar of the writing life? It’s a no-brainer. Creativity and writing go together like pencil and paper.

Writers practice creativity each and every day.

But when we think about creative writing and a creative writer, our minds may turn toward MFA programs. After all, that’s where you study creative writing.

I hate the potential implication—that other kinds of writing are not creative. Who's a Creative Writer? Creative writing instructors and programs offer teaching and training that nudge students toward an approach—a mindset and practice—different from that of writers who focus more on, say, blogging or marketing. Certainly MFA students gain skills that prepare them for a rewarding, challenging writing life—one that matches their goals to write and produce literary work.

But I believe those who write corporate brochures and articles about succulents are also creative writers, even if they didn’t graduate with an MFA or land their work in respected literary journals. Bloggers and copywriters can also practice a rewarding, challenging creative writing life that matches their goals.

When you write, you’re creating.

If you write, you create.

Thus, creativity is a pillar of the writing life.

On the flip side, all writers—even published authors who have completed MFA programs—are capable of producing somewhat stagnant, occasionally derivative, work.

We don’t want that.

So how can any writer—all writers—practice creativity? How can we be more creative to enjoy our best writing lives?

Entire books have been written about the topic, so I can’t tackle everything. But here are a few thoughts to get us started. What Is Creativity? First, it might help to establish a definition of creativity, but that’s harder than you might think.

Researchers and experts and writers have been trying to pin it down, and no one seems to agree. I haven’t located one single definition (unless we would turn to Merriam-Webster). What I’ve spotted are words and phrases tossed around that we can consider:

originality (this comes up a lot) surprise (which we talked about regarding curiosity) authenticity (important for writers to practice) discovery (including making connections)1

Whether these words reflect the process of creating or the finished product itself—that is, the thing created—they give us a hint of what it means to be creative: what it means to create. Learning from Other Creatives I’ve written before of how we can learn from the greats, studying writers we admire, even copying passages to learn techniques. We may find inspiration in their creative process and integrate elements into our own space and our own routines.

But why limit ourselves to learning from other writers? We may work in the world of words, but we can learn from other domains:

Writers can learn from the creativity of scientists to continually ask questions, experiment, dig deeper, analyze, draw conclusions, and try again. Writers can learn from visual artists how color, form, and texture engage the senses and drive decisions. Writers can learn from actors how working with the constraints of the stage and the script, we can make numerous choices that affect a performance and its effect on the audience.

Julia Cameron’s Artist Dates encourage outings to step out of our writing hovels and step into other spaces, whether a museum or yarn shop, an antique emporium or international grocery store.

From this new set of sensations and input, we build a network of possible connections, with one idea linking to another and another to form a new, novel concept that sidesteps the standard, mainstream mindset to discover original thoughts all our own as we become more creative. Creative Inspiration We not only learn from these other domains, we also amass new images and sensory experiences we can drop into our projects, deepening or expanding what we might have pulled toget...

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[210]

Dani Shapiro writes, “When I think of the wisest people I know, they share one defining trait: curiosity” (213, Still Writing).

As she notes this connection between wisdom and curiosity, she continues, “They turn away from the minutiae of their lives—and focus on the world around them. They are motivated by a desire to explore the unfamiliar. They are drawn toward what they don't understand. They enjoy surprise” (213).

I love how she connects surprise and curiosity. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi makes that same connection, as you’ll see shortly.

But before we get to that, let me establish my own connection: that curiosity is one of three pillars of your best writing life...along with creativity and productivity. Curious Writers Bring More to Their Work As curiosity becomes a daily practice, our writing will benefit, because curiosity serves as a driving force to producing captivating content and developing a writer who has things to say.

Nourish curiosity and you’ll have a lively imagination drawing from a vast and ever-expanding library of ideas. Each day, even the smallest flash of wonder fans the flame of creativity.

If we agree with Dani Shapiro that curious people focus on the world around them with a desire to explore the unfamiliar—drawn toward what they don’t understand—we gather clues for how we, too, can cultivate curiosity to live out our best writing life.

If you’ve lost your sense of wonder and dampened curiosity, don’t worry. You can recapture it, funneling into your work a newfound delight in the world around you, in yourself, and in others.

If you happen to be by nature a curious lifelong learner, lucky you! Continue to explore new ways to cultivate it further to become even more curious and pour what you discover into your writing projects. Develop Curiosity Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book Creativity writes: “[T]he first step toward a more creative life is the cultivation of curiosity and interests, that is, the allocation of attention to things for their own sake…. Creative individuals are childlike in that their curiosity remains fresh even at ninety years of age; they delight in the strange and the unknown. And because there is no end to the unknown, their delight also is endless.” (346, Creativity) Did you hear his suggestions?

Allocate “attention to things for their own sake.” “Delight in the strange and unknown.”

It’s similar to what Dani Shapiro was saying: even the old in age are young at heart as they “explore the unfamiliar” and let themselves be “drawn toward what they don’t understand.”

Curious people learn something new every day. Search, Capture, Ask My mom moved from the American Midwest to a coastal town in the South and became captivated by the flora and fauna of the area.

She bought a telephoto lens so she could capture photos of the birds that seem so exotic to her. She grew up and lived most of her life with mourning doves, cardinals, robins, starlings, swallows, and red-winged blackbirds.

Now she’s delighting in what are, for her, “strange and unknown” species. She’s “exploring the unfamiliar” as she snaps photos and looks up in a guidebook the names of birds that turn out to be wood storks, ibises, great blue herons, green herons, and anhingas.

She shares them with her Facebook followers posting one photo after another along with thoughtful captions further modeling this curiosity that comes so naturally to her.

My mom is by nature curious and developed it as a journalist, rooting out stories everywhere she goes.

But you don’t need to be a trained journalist to ask the questions popping into your head and to search for answers:

borrow binoculars—or a telephoto lens—to study a bird ask a parent about her first crush wonder about the etymology of a word—and look it up dig into a time in history you know little about consider why a person made one choice instead of another ask that about yourself,

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[Ep 209]

Each week I claim that writers are discovering ways to reach their writing goals—and have fun—by being more curious, creative, and productive.

And each week you may be thinking, “Really?”

Yes, I really do believe these three traits or these three values can drive you forward to achieve your goals—and have fun along the way. They are values I myself take to heart and encourage my clients to explore and embrace, because curiosity, creativity, and productivity—together—have the potential to transform both you and your writing.

Today’s overview will give you a high-level look, and in the weeks ahead we’ll drill down into each one, to look at their core. By taking a closer look, you’ll see how developing these traits as a part of everyday life and as part of your writing practice, you’ll position yourself to become the writer you want to be. Pillar One: Curiosity in the Writing Life Why curiosity on its own? Why not tuck that under the umbrella of creativity?

Curiosity drives us to discover, to wonder, to think “What if?”

Could there be a more energizing trait for a writer?

Writers of fiction turn to the “what if” prompt to ignite their imagination. Curiosity propels stories forward for the reader as they wonder what’s next. Curiosity gets characters into trouble and then curiosity helps them solve problems to get out of trouble.

Poets, too, benefit from curiosity as a driving force. As the poet asks questions, she looks more closely at anything from a fish to a father. Curiosity calls us to slow down, consider, put the pieces together in a way that the rest of the world, speeding along without a pause, rarely has time to mess with—and curious poets put words to what they’ve pieced together.

Writers of nonfiction who let curiosity guide them will break free from rephrasing the same old points over and over. A curious writer will dig deeper, probe into subject matter, research topics to find the freshest, most accurate answers.

Writers who value and practice this as a part of their daily lives will likely have more fun along the way, delighting in both big wonders and small, grieving over deep injustice, seeking truth and revealing it.

In the next episode, we’ll look in more detail about how to develop curiosity as a writer and practice it regularly. Let’s look briefly at the next pillar of the writing life: creativity. Pillar Two: Creativity in the Writing Life You can enroll in an MFA program to earn a degree in what? Creative writing.

Whatever focus you select—fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction—creativity is the core concept of the program because creativity is core to a writer.

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone disagree with the belief that creativity is key to great writing, and yet I’ve read pieces that could use an injection of creativity. Aren’t we seeking to create something new rather than regurgitate something old and stale in a style that sounds like it could have been written by anyone?

Embedded in the idea of creativity is not only that the ideas are creative—they’re fresh, novel, compelling, engaging—but also that we are indeed creating things. We can’t make something out of nothing, but we can mold into existence a passage, a poem, a project from ideas formed out of words. In that sense, writers are creators.

Practicing the craft of writing builds our confidence in wielding the tools at our disposal, but we can practice creativity in other areas of life in a way that enriches us as people. That, in turn, feeds into our work.

Be more creative as a person, and you’ll move closer to becoming a more creative writer—and thus achieving your writing goals.

And the creative process itself—even before arriving at the final product—satisfies the person in the midst of creating. So you really can’t lose if you prioritize this value. Pillar Three: Productivity in the Life of a Writer If we want to be writers,

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[Ep 208]

Today I’m chatting with Sharon Stohler, author of the nonfiction children’s biography Affectionately Yours: The Devoted Life of Abigail Adams, a charming and inspiring picture book released in June 2019.

As you’ll learn in the interview, Sharon and I met years ago when we both started home educating our very small children, so we’ve known each other for decades. I was privy to her idea for this book years ago when she shared it with me as a friend. Later, we worked together when she brought me on for more official coaching.

Sharon’s path to publishing was long and required vision, flexibility, patience, and perseverance. Pursuing traditional publishing revealed insights that led her to eventually land on self-publishing Affectionately Yours. And anyone who has poked around at self-publishing or pulled it off knows to do it well you undertake a long list of new steps and stages.

She did it. She pulled it off.

I hope you find her story instructive and motivating.

Though the process was long and complicated, time-consuming and expensive, she said that the moment she held that book in her hands, it was all worth it.

Sharon Stohler has a B.S. in Early Childhood Education from the University of Delaware and a Masters of Education from West Chester University. She has taught children ages four through 12 in private, public, and homeschool classrooms. Sharon currently teaches 3rd grade in a hybrid homeschool classroom and often finds herself delighted by her students and their brilliant minds. Aside from her own family room, she feels most at home in a library. She and her adventurous husband live in Indianapolis, where they cater to the needs of their Siamese cat, Gigi. They have three grown children. Resources

Sharon Stohler's website Affectionately Yours: The Devoted Life of Abigail Adams (affiliate link) Tiny Boat, collaborative publisher and illustrator Daron Benson Children's Book Authors and Illustrators Facebook page Bigger Dot, printer for Affectionately Yours Tara Lazar's sample children's book layout & dummy construction John Adams biography by David McCullough (softcover edition, affiliate link) All podcast interviews All podcast episodes

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[Ep 207]

On my drive to Minneapolis to serve on the faculty of Northwestern Christian Writers Conference, I listened to podcasts: one after another, back-to-back.

I welcomed that stream of input filling my mind with ideas, strategies, and solutions that I can apply to my writing life.

But it’s easy to listen and then forget what I heard. What a waste if I devote hours to listening but never remember or apply what the experts recommend!

Life is short. I want to learn and grow and transform—I want to become wiser and more discerning. I’m committed to implementing those ideas! Sort and Stack So first I capture the information. Later, you know what I do?

I sort and stack it.

I’ve done this for years without having a name or phrase to put with it, but author Robin Jones Gunn said it in her keynote address: we must learn to sort and stack.

Sort and stack. Sort and Stack Conference Notes Sometimes conference attendees report that by the end of the weekend they feel like they’ve been drinking from a fire hose. They’re blasted with so much new information in session after session, they feel hit with input and ideas and vocabulary and concepts they've never heard before.

It’s overwhelming.

It would be easy to set aside the notes from those sessions and return to status quo when they arrive home.

But life is short. Those attendees came to learn and grow and transform, so I hope they’re committed to implementing those ideas. Avoid the Overwhelm Hopefully they scribbled down copious notes, captured them someplace—to sort and then stack them into logical, usable groups.

My breakout session offered probably 30 ideas, maybe more, of ways people can put some heart, soul, and a little laughter into social media. Another session may have offered 20 or 50 more ideas. Soon, the writers will have filled a notebook.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed. We don’t have to do it all, and we don’t have to do it all right away.

But we don't want to lose those ideas.

The conference attendees don’t have to implement every idea the day they get home from the conference, and I don’t have to implement every idea I heard on the drive home in those podcasts I listened to.

We want to sort out what to do when so we try things out in an order that makes sense. Create a Master Stack If we successfully capture the information, we can create a master list and continue to work through it, sorting and stacking over time.

We can convert our notes from the master list or “stack” into more lists, labeled however we wish:

Research Try next month Archive

As you sort notes from your master list into these sub-stacks, you can label them in many ways. Use the nomenclature from the organization, time-management, or productivity systems that make sense to you.

Again, think of each new list as another stack. Move notes to one stack or another, sorting as you go. Sort and Stack Based on ROI The Writer's Guide to ROI series helps with sorting and stacking. By thinking through return on investment of any given idea, I can comb through the stack of ideas I collected from my podcast marathon and sort them based on values and goals and efficient use of time.

Then I can sort them into new stacks or categories to figure out how and when to implement them. This moves me closer to action I’ll take—specifically the very next step. What’s the Next Action? Long ago I read David Allen’s book Getting Things Done, which explains his productivity methodology. He recommends a Next Action list formed by asking, “What’s the next step?”

For a long time I stuck a Post-It on my computer monitor with that on it: “What’s the next step?” Asking that helped me sort all the possible actions I could take and zero in on the very next one to do. The rest could remain on the Next Actions stack.

I learned to phrase each item with a verb so the task or action would be expressed as a specific,

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[Ep 206]

Several years ago I watched a free training presented by Chalene Johnson, where she explained how to start with one piece of content and then use it in several forms for various outlets. With this efficient and productive approach, she gets the most mileage out of a single piece of content.

It’s a clever, creative way to improve ROI. Chalene Johnson’s Content Creation System Chalene is comfortable on video, so she starts with a live video as the primary content form. She decides what she’ll speak on and has several points to cover, and I don’t think she scripts it in advance. She probably writes out bullet points to keep her on track and speaks from those.

At the time of the training she recommended Facebook Live, but since then I’ve seen her and others do live video on multiple platforms at the same time. That might be like Facebook Live and Instagram Live or IGTV and maybe Periscope, too. With one live broadcast, she instantly reaches people in multiple places all at once.

Afterwards, that video is saved.

And that’s the beauty of her system. She can repurpose that saved video into multiple formats.

For example, she can:

edit the video recording into segments to publish on YouTube use the audio from that recorded livestream to create a podcast episode have the audio transcribed and use that written version as the draft of an article or two to publish at her website pull quotes and video excerpts to use on Twitter create infographics and quote posts to pin on Pinterest design quote images for her Instagram feed

I don’t think she mentioned it, but she could create slide decks to publish on LinkedIN SlideShare and use the recorded video as part of a program or course.

One piece of content turns into gobs of material for all kinds of purposes and platforms. The impact she can have with just one focused creative idea and effort blew me away.

That’s a savvy use of one’s time and a remarkable return on investment. Creative Content Repurposing for Writers Maybe one day I’ll start with live broadcasts like Chalene Johnson, but that’s not who I am or where I’m at. Inspired by her training, I started to think about my own strengths:

What one piece of content could be my starting point?

What could I create to serve at least double-duty if not triple- or quadruple-duty to have the biggest impact possible?

How can I take the principle behind Chalene’s training and adapt it for where I’m at as a writer to increase my ROI? Start with Written Content: Big to Small As a writer, an obvious starting point for me was written content.

That’s what I did.

Podcast: I ended up scripting my podcast episodes, so those are offered in audio form for those who subscribe to the podcast. Blog Article: The script is available as an article for those who prefer reading it at my website. Newsletter: Since it’s relatively short, I include that same content in my weekly newsletter, so people don’t have to go to my website or listen to the podcast to learn from my ideas. Instagram Quote: For the Instagram feed, I create a quote post with a brief excerpt from the article—enough so that people don’t have to go to the original piece in order to gain a valuable insight, in case they want to stay in Instagram rather than click away to my website. Instagram Image: To mix things up, I often take a photo that relates to the ideas, such as the image of a book I refer to in the article, and publish that in my feed. Instagram Story: Sharing the post from my Instagram feed in my Story draws a few people who are focusing more on that element of Instagram. Facebook: I repurpose one of the excerpts from Instagram into a post on my Facebook page, and that links back to the original article on my website. Pinterest: I create at least one or two pins for Pinterest. Twitter: I tweet a variety of links to the article on Twitter, using quotes and images to mix things up.

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[Ep 205]

In the Next-Level Writer series, we talked about plans and goals.

When we set out with a goal and make a plan to methodically move toward that goal, we see what it takes. We understand the investment involved.

That’s when we measure the ROI of a particular task or activity using not only our deepest values, which we looked at in Part 2 of A Writer’s Guide to ROI, but also our goals. Weigh Your Goals Let’s say your goal is to complete the manuscript of a novel by the end of summer, but on a whim you commit to a one-month daily photography challenge on social media.

The challenge is a lot of fun and provides a creative boost as you break away from your work-in-progress to edit and post an image.

Is that creative boost worth it?

The challenge starts to distract you from your writing goal as you invest more time in photography than in writing the novel.

You have to decide.

Do you change your goals and alter your plan to accommodate an activity?

Consider your ROI. You Can Change Course for Greater ROI If the photography challenge keeps you from meeting that end-of-summer goal, should you continue with the challenge and change your deadline, or focus entirely on the writing?

As you pour creative energy into the photography, you may have less available to invest in the writing.

But you might gain so many new followers, it’s worth it, because you might never have met them if you hadn’t taken on the challenge.

What’s the greater ROI?

Consider your goals. What’s more important? What’s needed first?

That will help you determine the best investment of your time, creative energy, and personal resources. Measure Your ROI You can measure the return on investment based on what you’d like to see.

In part one in A Writer’s Guide to ROI, Crystal Paine decided activities were worth her time if they made her money or brought in more people or helped her serve her audience better.

You could try other measurements:

Income Word count Email signups Visitors to your website Readers of a particular article Engagement and likes on a social media update New followers or friends on social media Sales of a book or product Downloads of a free item Downloads of a podcast episode Completing a work-in-progress Relationships with people in the industry (agents, editors, publishers, other writers)

You can see from this list how specific activities lead to certain measurements.

There are other elements that are so important but much harder to measure, like emotional returns. It’s hard to track those, but you can try. Track them daily using a scale of 1 to 10 to determine where you’re at each day or at the completion of each activity.

You can decide how you feel or what you’ve gained in such areas as:

Self-improvement Confidence Happiness or joy Creative satisfaction Emotional energy Improved writing skills Growth

Is It Worth It for Me? Is it worth it for me to post on social media at my current rate or more often?

Is it worth it to produce a weekly podcast?

Is it worth it to send out an email newsletter?

Is it worth it to quietly work on books that won’t be available for over a year, maybe two?

For me, the answer is yes. Yes to all of that and more.

When I calculate my ROI—which is ultimately based on my goals and values—the time I spend on the writing and writing-related activities brings in new relationships as I

help more people, gain new opportunities to speak and write, and develop ideas I can use in other ways.

I’m having fun along the way, and I satisfy my curiosity by exploring new questions that arise and new topics of interest. Is It Worth It for You? I could continue to list the results I gain—the returns on my investment—but the big question is this:

Is it worth it for you?

How about your writing projects and your writing-related activities you’re committed to...

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[Ep 204]

My son participates in value debate. The competitors take either the affirmative or negative stance on a resolution and argue for or against it based on a value. The judge determines which side best upholds their value.

I’ve served as a judge for these debates many times, and the more I listen to these clashes, the more I’ve come to realize we make decisions based on personal values all the time in our everyday lives.

Just as an example, I’ve talked with the kids about this, and let’s say they’ve gotten an invitation to a quiet gathering with close friends where they’ll just hang out and chat. But then they receive another invitation on the very same night to a fun activity, like a concert, with people they don’t know as well.

How do they choose?

They can decide based on what they value more: time with close friends doing something quiet or a chance to attend a concert. Which is the higher value at that time in their lives?

Personal values form the core of our decisions and are critical to determining our ROI. A Writer’s Values As writers, we could take on countless tasks and sign up for numerous activities, all of which bring various results.

So we bring in the idea of our return on investment, or ROI. If we invest something of ourselves—time, money, resources, energy—what are we getting back from it? What’s the result—the return—on that investment?

Our values are behind it all, at the core of our choices. Whether we realize it or not, we inevitably return to our values to determine our ROI.

Does any given activity and the investment it requires fit with what we value most? Know Your Values We all have deep-seated values, whether we’re aware of them or not and whether we’ve ever identified them or articulated them or not.

They may be high-level, ethical values—like not hurting someone else in your pursuits.

Or they may be smaller, personal values, like carving out time each day to exercise.

In part one of A Writer’s Guide to ROI, I shared how Crystal Paine determined if her time devoted to a task or activity was worth it. For her, the time invested must result in money and helping people—that’s how she knows it’s worth devoting time to a project or task. She’s come to value that as a business owner. What Are Your Values as a Writer? As you see, one of her values is helping people.

You may share that value. As a writer, you may long to help people with your ideas and solutions.

You may have other values, as well. You may value the satisfaction of producing something creative or taking the risk to delve into a personal struggle so you can share it with others so they might find hope.

You may value storytelling as an art form and strive to write beautiful narratives.

You may value poetry and commit to daily practice regardless of whether your final versions end up in a literary magazine.

Knowing your values helps determine the ROI of an activity. When Values Are Revealed But sometimes your personal values may not be easy to identify. You may not have articulated them.

Our values have a way of revealing themselves as we take action.

You get to a certain level of success or achievement and realize, wait, this isn’t what you thought it was going to require or feel like.

This isn’t aligning with your values.

This isn’t what you want. Jeff Goins’ Story This happened to Jeff Goins.

For years as a blogger, Jeff created content about writing, publishing, and creativity. Over time, he decided to build this part-time pursuit into a business, and it grew. He hired employees and farmed out some of the articles he used to write to other freelancers.

But he was stressed out with the work of managing it all. He reached out to Seth Godin, who reminded Jeff that he didn’t have to do this—he didn’t have to build a business. But if he wanted to build a business, he had to commit to that work.

Jeff then reached out to business coach Casey Graham,

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[Ep 203]

If you’re like me, you do a lot of writing and writing-related activities essentially for free. You craft social media content, articles for a blog, and guest posts as part of your plan.

We do these kinds of activities to educate, entertain, and inform. We hope to solve problems for readers, connect with them, share our ideas, and build bridges.

At the same time, we may be trying to gain visibility as a writer or increase reach into new audiences to help even more people. We might create a freebie to add subscribers to our email list or write articles on spec to beef up our author bio with stronger social proof.

We write books that may take years to complete before we even begin to search for an agent or publisher—again, we’re essentially writing for free long before the first reader plops down a credit card.

It’s a lot of work.

Is it worth it?

How do you determine if it’s worth it? What’s the Return on Investment As host Anne Watson interviewed Crystal Paine for The Declare Conference Podcast, they discussed whether it’s worth it to create “lead magnets” for every blog post.

Crystal advised listeners to look at the time involved in making them and the results you’re getting. “I’m always looking at what is the return on my investment of time.”1

Anne asked, “How are you filtering what you think is the best place for you to spend your time?”

Crystal responded: The ROI. One hundred percent the ROI. That is what I focus on. So how much time is this going to take me and how much money is this going to make me or how many new people is this going to bring in. And that might sound super selfish or something but that’s what I have to do, because I have a very limited amount of time that I can focus on every day….2 She continued: Mostly I focus on how do I serve my own audience well, and what are the few things that we’re going to change this year that I feel are going to serve my audience best. And that’s really my heart with everything that I do...I just really focus on providing content for my audience, serving my audience, building relationships with my audience, and trying to become better as a person by reading good books and sharpening my writing, critiquing myself on video and on podcasts and just constantly learning and growing as a person and I think that trickles down into everything you do.3 {beginning around the 24:00 mark} Is it worth it to publish a blog post twice a week and post on Instagram daily? Is it worth it to work for a year on a book that doesn’t have a publisher? Is it worth it for you to submit an article to a magazine where you may not be paid?

Only you can answer those questions, based on how you measure your ROI.

What are you getting for the resources you’re investing? Crystal Paine’s ROI As you saw, Crystal Paine is running her ROI through her personal values and goals for her business. She asks:

How much time is this going to take me?

Then she revealed the returns that matter to her:

How much money is this going to make? How many people is this going to bring in? How is this content serving my audience? How is this activity helping me build relationships with my audience? How is this activity helping me become a better person?

Regarding that last point, you may recall Crystal listed activities like reading good books, sharpening her writing and speaking skills, and learning and growing as a person. She said, “I think that trickles down into everything you do.”4

So investing time in reading a book has a good ROI if it helps her grow as a person or writer. ROI Is Personal ROI in business relates more to investments bringing monetary results or company growth. But you may calculate the ROI in a more personal way, as Crystal does when considering books she might read next or the few podcasts that she listens to.

Listening, reading, creating—it all takes time, so she’s determined for herself what makes it worth her...

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[Ep 202]

When my kids were little they didn’t really like the LEGO sets that require you to put the bricks together a certain way to create a specific thing, like a Death Star. They preferred giant quantities of individual bricks so they could snap them together and build whatever they wanted.

And this is the brilliance of LEGO: its modular approach. The sets are super cool, but as long as you have bricks of any shape or color, you have the elements you need to build. Click them together to try out one way before breaking them apart to connect them in a new configuration to see if you like that result better. Modular Approach to Writing This modular approach to building is an approach I suggest you apply to writing—especially if you’re finding it hard to begin a project or you’re stuck in the middle of one.

Or maybe your brain doesn’t think in a linear or sequential way. If so, this solution helps you develop your draft without having to commit to an orderly process at first. Write Discrete Units—Your Bricks Each "brick" of writing is a unit that will comprise the bigger project. This unit could be a scene for fiction; a paragraph for an essay or article; a stanza or even just a line for a poem; or a subsection of a chapter for a nonfiction book.

Once you know what project you’re working on, write what comes to mind. If you’re working on a novel, write a scene. If you don’t know what to follow it with, don’t worry. Write another scene knowing it doesn’t have to connect with the one you just wrote--at least, not right now. You can fill in the missing pieces later. Right now, write what you can write.

Just as you’d toss some LEGO bricks on the floor to start building a castle, these scenes are the blocks you’ll use to build your story. Each one you write is a discrete element you’ll use to construct the final draft.

Same with an essay or the chapter of a nonfiction book. Write an analogy that supports one of your contentions. Add your thoughts related to a quote you’re planning to use. Compose a personal story that relates to the theme.

All of those serve as standalone segments, sections, or blocks related to that project that can be moved around at any point. Build Your Draft When you’ve written enough that you can see the project taking shape, lay out all the blocks of text you wrote by printing them and cutting apart each segment.

Or, you can rearrange them on the computer screen by cutting and pasting, moving them up and down to insert in various ways.

Digital saves paper and ink, but in this building stage, many writers prefer working with physical pieces of paper. They like to spread out their paragraphs or stanzas or scenes on a table or on the floor so they can see it forming.

Try it first in one order, shuffling a paragraph or stanza up or down.

Read it through. How does it sound? Would it work better in another order?

Keep reordering segments and reading through the new version, then dismantle it and try another combination to figure out what works best.

Brick by brick, you can piece together your work-in-progress; block by block you build your draft. Write the Missing Pieces At some point, you’ll land on a combination with potential. You can see it coming together in front of you; if you read it aloud, you’ll hear it making sense. It may be missing a section needed for context, continuity, or logic, or it may need additional phrases to clarify an idea, but it’s taking shape.

This development phase is the perfect time to discover what’s needed and simply write another brick, another chunk of writing, and insert it into your creation.

If your short story needs a flashback scene, write it now.

If your poem lost its rhythm, write another line.

If your essay leaps to a conclusion, write another paragraph to include supporting evidence.

Add what’s missing and you’re almost done. Final Stages You’re so close to the final product,

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[Ep 201]

In the first episode of this series, I described a hypothetical character in a hypothetical game—a little dragon that gains power or abilities after playing the game for a while. This dragon demonstrated what it means to level up in a video game.

Depending on the rules of this hypothetical game, the dragon might gather certain tokens, interact with key players, or conquer a small castle, and by completing the tasks and achieving the goals, he gains enough experience and skills to level up.

And leveling up transforms him and empowers him with bigger flames, broader wings, better aim. As he emerges at the next level, he then plays in that evolved state with more powerful skills to gain even more experience and level up yet again!

You are that dragon. Where Are You Now? You’ve been at this writing game, so to speak, for a while, working the plan you made to level up.

For the past few weeks, you’ve awakened each morning with more intention about your writing. You’ve implemented your plan intentionally, faithfully, relentlessly. You’ve broken down goals into smaller goals and tasks, scheduled the work, completed tasks, and made progress. You’ve evaluated how things are going and adjusted the plan as needed.

It’s been about a month. After this purposeful effort, where are you now?

Have you leveled up to where you thought you’d be? Did you exceed your goal? Did you fall short but realize you’re closer than you were before?

You Leveled Up Let’s start with leveling up. Did you level up to where you thought you’d be in a month? Did you achieve your goal?

If so, congratulations! This is why you made a plan and set out with goals that you’ve chipped away at, one after another, with grit and determination. Look back to see where you’ve been compared with where you are now, and celebrate.You, my friend, are on fire! You Exceeded Your Goal Some people double-down on areas showing promise or take advantage of an opportunity that arises. In doing so, they exceed their goal.

Is that you? Did you level up beyond what you expected? If so, wow! Make that a double-congratulations! Roll with that momentum and keep doing what works. Lock in your routine, because it’s working for you. At this pace, you may level up again before you know it! You Fell Short of Your Goal It’s possible you got blown off track and fell short of your goal. You wouldn't describe your current state as having leveled up.

If that’s where you find yourself, take heart. You can press restart and try again. I know you can, because I’ve been there and pressed that button myself. You can always start again. Celebrate Progress And yet, you don’t have to return to square one. If you consider where you were with where you are now, you’ll see that you’ve made progress. Even if you’ve inched forward, you’re closer to the next level than you were when you started!

That’s progress! Be glad you set off with that original plan and celebrate that progress. Then decide if you want to revise the plan before you relaunch. You've Grown as a Writer At all levels of achievement, you’ve changed as a writer—you’ve gained experience and grown—all because you made a plan to level up and faithfully did the work.

You wrote, polished, and shipped out content. You surged forward with a big effort to complete something challenging. You followed through with daily tasks in a constant drip that added up over time. You realized what didn’t work for you and felt energized by what did. Questions for the Next-Level Writer When you first started this next-level writer process, you set one-month and three-month goals. As you head toward that third month, ask those same questions along the way to determine where you are now:

Have you leveled up to where you thought you’d be? Did you exceed your goal? Did you fall short but realize you’re closer than you were before?

At the three-month mark, my friend,

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[Ep 200]

Unless a fairy godmother shows up and sprinkles fairy dust all over your laptop to magically boost you to the next level—without any effort on your part—you’ll have to commit to your plan and follow through. Relentless Implementation Shane Melaugh of the ActiveGrowth podcast said in a recent webinar we must “relentlessly implement” or “relentlessly execute” to level up. It’s the only way we evolve and mature into the writers we need to be in order to produce the work we want to produce to reach the readers we want to reach.

This podcast itself is an example of my own relentless implementation, although “faithful" implementation might be a better way to phrase it. I did leave some unavoidable gaps here and there due to some caregiving chaos, but the majority of time, for five years, I’ve faithfully, relentlessly, sent out weekly content.

I don’t have any superpowers; I just keep showing up, week after week, year after year, and here we are at episode 200.

That faithful, relentless commitment allowed me to level up. If Growth Is Slow, Don't Give Up But it can be slow going. In fact, for any of us, our growth can be imperceptible—so much so, we may be tempted to give up before we realize our full potential. You may stop before you gain traction and experience real growth.

When I started the podcast in 2014, I treated it as an experiment. And things didn’t take off right away. I was releasing episodes weekly, so eight episodes would be two months of output. If I’d stopped after the eighth episode, I would have missed the fruit of my labor. And I could have easily ended the experiment.

But I was having fun and I wanted to keep going, even if it wasn’t a success by measurable standards.

Thankfully I stuck with it. I figured out the best length and frequency to release episodes, and I decided what I really wanted to offer through the podcast. Even in the midst of a crazy time of life, I kept up with it.

While I’m not showing actual numbers on this graph, I do want you to see the growth over time. Between 2014 and 2017 you see gradual growth. The first month a few people listened to find out what I was up to—friends and family and few followers on social media.

The month after that, it dips down. That may have been during one of my chaotic caregiving seasons, but even if you look at the third month, it barely rises to where I was when I launched. Basically, in three months of effort, I saw no growth.

The fourth month rose a little. The fifth month barely rose above the fourth.

Not until the sixth month did this podcast finally see a bump. It took six months before I saw any substantial growth. Keep Implementing the Plan I didn’t have a fairy godmother sprinkle fairy dust on my microphone, not even at the sixth month. I never showed up on the Apple Podcast New & Noteworthy page where people often get a boost. I just kept creating another episode and sharing it with people on social media, faithfully—relentlessly—implementing my plan.

It took time, but the good news is if you look at the long-term growth, you do see a gradual increase.

Prior to the podcast, my plan involved creating content for my website and social media. When I introduced the podcast to my plan and it leveled up, my exposure as a coach and writer rose with it. Benefits of Sticking with the Plan Thanks to podcasting, I:

developed audio recording and editing skills wrote regularly to script and share my content shared that content not only in audio form but in written format as well gained confidence as a presenter landed speaking opportunities connected with new writers who “met” me through the podcast stayed current on industry trends to pass that information along to listeners introduced you to authors and publishers through interviews read more books on writing than I normally would to share that wisdom in various episodes had fun

Yes, I had fun.

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[Ep 199]

Today I’m chatting with NavPress Publisher Don Pape.

Don has published over a dozen New York Times best-sellers, including Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Don is also the publisher of Julie Cantrell’s Into the Free, which won the 2013 Christy Book of the Year Award. He led a team that won 20 ADDY Awards between 2008 and 2010 for David C Cook titles recognized for best cover or book design.

Born in Brazil, Pape graduated with a bachelor of arts in political science from Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada. He speaks fluent French and Portuguese and is married with three sons. His multicultural publishing career in sales, marketing and graphic design has led him to a variety of roles, including executive, literary agent and consultant.

Don and I met years ago when my first book came out, and he jokes in the interview that he’s not an expert, but let me tell you, he is. And I’m honored to call him a friend, as well.

His focus has always been in the Christian publishing industry, but even if you’re writing for the general market, you’ll hear about changes in publishing in general and learn from Don how writers can and should practice their craft.

Here's an excerpt: "The reality for authors is that they are much more engaged in their book than in the past. In the past you could probably give your book over to a publisher and then go back to your Hobbit house and start writing again. Now, you've got to give the book to the publisher and then get fully engaged with the marketing team and the publicity team as to how to reach the consumer—and addressing it in a way that it will reach the right people. And who best knows the content of the book—who better—than the author?" Click on the podcast player (above) to listen in on my conversation with NavPress Publisher Don Pape.

Resources

Don Pape on Twitter Don on Instagram NavPress Navigators Waterbrook (a division of Penguin Random House) Multnomah (also a division of Penguin Random House) Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group David C Cook Tattered Cover Book Store (Denver) bookbar independent bookstore (Denver) A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken Travis Thrasher Words from the Hill, by Stuart Garrard Crazy Love, by Francis Chan Bad Girls of the Bible, by Liz Curtis Higgs Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, by Joanna Weaver Eugene & Jan Peterson All podcast interviews All podcast episodes

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[Ep 198]

Some people love to sit down and just start writing with no worries whether or not the work is moving them toward their goals.

Others love to spend time making lists, making plans, setting everything up, scheduling down to the minute—devoting so much time to those tasks that they struggle to get around to the actual work of writing.

Let’s figure out how to do both.

Let’s find a balance.

Let’s set ourselves up with a plan that helps us truly move toward goals and level up, and then commit to the work, so we can meet deadlines, accomplish tasks, and make progress.

There are three things we need to do: we need to organize ourselves, schedule the work, and enact the plan.

Organize, schedule, enact. Each takes a slightly different mindset and represents a slightly different role. It’s as if you’re three people at the same time. Organize As you organize yourself, you’re like a project manager and you’ll need a project management setup. Project Management Tasks You’ll want to make checklists to create repeatable processes and routines that fit into your days.

Say no to things holding you back, so you can simplify and prune to focus and level up.

Make sure the plan you’re organizing supports your primary goals—that one-year and the three-month goal, but you’ll also want to break down big projects into smaller tasks and schedule those, as well. This is part of the reverse engineering I’ve talked about in the past.

Take all of that—the one-year goal, the three-month goal, and all the ways you’ve broken it down into—and back up. What tasks need to be done in each of the three months of the three-month goal? Then move to the month ahead of you and break that into two-week chunks.

Move down to the week ahead, then, finally, break down your tasks and goals into days so you know what you’re doing today on any given day—always knowing you are steadily, intentionally moving toward goals. Project Management Systems To organize all of this, you need some kind of system. It can be as complex or simple, or digital or analog as you like.

Some people use Trello, Evernote, Google Docs, spreadsheets, bullet journals, or a three-ring binder. It’s up to you. Use what works for you.

And stick with it, because you'll invest time into organizing all these projects and all this content, goals, and tasks. You’ll input a lot of information into your system. To repeat that in a different system because you abandoned the first one after a week will simply delay the work of writing.

Set up a system and stick with it for at least a month. Don’t give up too soon. Schedule After you organize all of your tasks and goals, it’s time to actually schedule. This represents another role: the scheduler who does the admin work. Choose Your Calendar Pick a calendar that suits you just as you picked a project management system that suited you.

Ideally, this calendar will weave together your personal appointments to accurately reflect your availability. Plus, you’re already using that calendar and you’ll have it with you at all times.

Many people like the visual effect of huge wall calendars, hanging a poster-size calendar for every month and filling a whole wall. They use Post-Its for projects, tasks, and goals, because the Post-Its can be color-coded to represent each item and can move around as needed if something in your life needs to be moved around and adjusted.

You might consider a digital calendar option, however, because most will sync with multiple devices and you’ll always have this pocket assistant wherever you are: at your desk or out and about.

With it comes the power of notifications to keep you on task. When a digital calendar notification alerts you to do something, it feels like an outside entity, like an assistant, is nudging you to get to the work based on decisions made by a supervisor.

All three of those roles were you at a previous time,

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[Ep 197]

Every week I follow a pattern of sorts. Sometimes it gets thrown off by a day or two, but for my regular routine I write, record, prep, and publish content you may consume via the podcast, at the website, or in the newsletter that arrives in your inbox. The Routine Drip of Content Every week I also produce social media updates, some of which are drawn from the primary content, as I pluck themes, quotes, and images and revise them slightly for the micro-form found on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Every week, I drip these out—drip-drip-drip—an ongoing effort to encourage writers in all the places I interact with them. It’s part of my writing routine, and while the output wouldn’t blow away any competitors, I’ve seen that the regularity has proven to be sustainable and fruitful. Prepare to Surge Ahead and Get Lots Done Last summer I was out of the country for a month, unable to drip out content on my usual schedule.

I could have just told everyone I was taking a break, but I wanted to keep up. I wanted to continue sending out podcast episodes and articles and newsletters to encourage writers as they move toward their goals.

So throughout spring, in the weeks leading up to the trip, I doubled up. It felt crazy—I could never keep up that pace on a regular basis—but I produced twice the content I normally would each week. By the time I left, I’d published something each week and scheduled six additional episodes to go live while I was gone.

Having a clear goal and an unchangeable deadline kicked me into gear. I got up early; I didn’t let social media distract me. I knew this was a short burst of effort, so with a level of energy I knew was unsustainable over the long haul, I surged forward and pulled it off. Take Advantage of Times When You Can Surge Ahead To get beyond your current status quo—to level up—you’ll have to do something.

And most likely, you’ll have to engage with some surges of effort followed by times when content drips out a little at a time. Manage Those Productive Seasons To arrive at your one-year goal or your three-month goal will require you to achieve milestones along the way.

To hit those milestones, you have to push hard for awhile, neglecting housework, skipping an outing, scheduling a weekend writing retreat, waking up unnaturally early for a month.

You’d be amazed at what you can get done with a surge of focused energy. As I said, it may not be sustainable over the long run, but it can help you get through the muddy middle and crest the hill so you can arrive fast and strong at that milestone—perhaps even at the next level itself.

If you want to accumulate more Twitter followers or welcome more subscribers to your email list, you’ll need to take action. You’ll probably need to produce more projects, more content, more interaction—and to see results, you may have to do it all at once, in a compressed time frame.

That’s a surge: full-steam ahead to create as much as you can.

Surges require resources like time, energy, inspiration, money, grit, sacrifice, focus. Keep Dripping Out Content During Times of Slowdown But to continue reaping a harvest after the results of that busy season, you’ll also have to manage ongoing interaction and output, finding ways to drip it out—daily, weekly—so that readers and followers look forward to your ideas and messages.

Small efforts over time add up, and the steady drip of content in social media, the steady drip of daily word count all contributes toward your bigger project.

Set up daily and weekly routines to support the commitment to follow-through on the multiple smaller tasks that contribute to the cumulative effect. Your routines are the sustainable element of the program that’s moving you toward the next level.

Maybe you write 500 words a day, and then you head off to play. Dripping out that 500 words each day adds up to 2500 words if you write five days a week and 3500 if you write seven days ...

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[Ep 196]

Last time, I asked: Where do you want to be in a year?

You may have read that and set a big, hairy, audacious goal—a BHAG. Or maybe you called it a “stretch goal.” You want to aim high and not settle for mediocre.

You’re excited! You’re an optimist.

“In a year, I’m going to be at the top of my game, more successful than I’ve ever been.” Big, Fast Success If you want it bad and can handle a focused, year-long push, you may nail it. If you have big resources to support big goals, this stretch-goal approach may be the way you level up fast. In a year (or less!) you may be the one saying:

“I built a substantial author platform in six months and landed my book contract in eight. I’m on track to launch next year!” “I’m making a full-time income through my website now that I’ve quadrupled my blog traffic.” “I’m the keynote speaker at two major conferences thanks to my podcast taking off after just a few months.”

Falling Short of Goals But if your time, money, energy, skills, experience, and support are limited, you might not achieve a big, hairy, audacious goal—even if you want it bad. And falling short of your goal can be demotivating. You may end up saying:

“I set out to gain 100,000 subscribers on my email list in three months, but I only have a thousand.” “My plan to submit an essay each month fell way short.” “No, I didn’t finish writing my novel in three months.”

The macro plan sets us on a course toward a goal. We see the target. We take aim.

The good news is that even if we fall short, we may be further along than if we had no goal at all.

The bad news is that we may end up so discouraged and disheartened at what seems like lack of progress or failure, we give up.

If we’re setting an aggressive goal that is too much of a stretch, we may need to re-examine it before we form the plan to get there. Halve a Goal After Jon Acuff wrote a book called Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work That Matters, he realized people may not need as much help getting started—after all, the beginning of projects and resolutions is the fun part. It’s the middle and the end of projects where we sag and feel stuck and give up.

Acuff wanted people to see their goals through to the end, so he wrote a follow-up book called Finish: Give Yourself the Gift Of Done. For Finish, Acuff commissioned a study with the University of Memphis that concluded “small goals, when you cut your goal in half, are 63% more successful than big crazy BHAGs.”1

So if you set out with a BHAG last week, consider chopping your goal in half.

You can adjust the time and give yourself twice the time to complete it: instead of a two-month deadline, extend to four; if you think editing a draft will take 30 minutes, allow an hour. You can adjust the task: instead of committing to 2000 words a day, drop to a thousand; instead of six Instagram posts per week, try three. You can adjust the number of goals: if you’re trying to raise visibility and name recognition by speaking, posting on social media, starting a YouTube channel, writing guest posts, appearing on podcasts, and pitching articles to mainstream magazines, drop half of those activities and focus energy and attention on a few.

Research to Plan Find out what your writing world is like. What do people expect in that world? What are the successful people doing? Do you want or need to follow a similar path? What do you need to do first to move in that same direction? What level are you at and what’s the next level?

Could you connect with people in groups and meetups or at conferences and retreats? Could you find a mentor or coach? Could you partner with someone to collaborate?

Make lists.

Make decisions.

Make your plan based on your goal. Enact, Evaluate, and Adjust the Plan While your plan may be aggressive and you’re prepared for a aggressive burst of activity to level up fast, play the long game.

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[Ep 195]

I’m not by nature a planner. I am, in fact, more of a tumbleweed.

You know what I mean? If I went with my personality, I’d be blown around with no particular direction—wherever the wind sent me. On Being a Writer - Chapter 10 Excerpt I wrote about this tendency of mine in On Being a Writer, the book I wrote with Charity Singleton Craig. In Chapter 10, entitled “Plan,” I explain why I decided to be a little more intentional about creating a plan for my writing life: I traveled out west the summer of 2013. As my family and I barreled down a New Mexico highway through a barren landscape, we saw a storm. Winds, like a giant, invisible broom, swept sand up and around. Swoosh! Currents pushed against the side of our vehicle, and debris shot across the road. “Look!” I pointed. “A tumbleweed!” It hopped over the fence and bounced like a beachball twice to cross the highway, before soaring high over the fence on the other side, disappearing into the swirling dust. I had to shout over the roar of the wind for my husband to hear. “I always wanted to see a tumbleweed, but I didn’t realize I’d see it under these circumstances!” I’d only seen tumbleweeds in movies and cartoons. This was my first glimpse of the real thing, and realizing that its movement depended on violent, threatening gusts, I decided to stop comparing myself to a tumbleweed. In my Midwestern mind, tumbleweeds had seemed sort of go-with-the-flow, lazily rolling across the desert in whatever direction a puff of wind might send them. That’s also how I viewed my life as a writer. I didn’t plan my direction much or set definitive goals; I just went where the wind blew. In the early days, I could never quite see the big picture through the blustery dust of the tumbleweed approach. When I stopped being buffeted about, I was able to schedule my weeks and days to align with the vision I have for my writing life. I developed a long-range plan, hoping to look back decades from now and say, “I’m glad I invested in the creation of that work,” instead of, “What was I doing all those years?” But watching that storm hurl the hapless tumbleweed, I realized I didn’t want to be blown completely off the path. I wanted enough control to dig in and stay for a while, especially if I liked where I’d landed. So I’ve abandoned the tumbleweed analogy... My planning isn’t perfect; unexpected events, both good and bad, can throw me off. Nevertheless, my writing life is taking root and growing; I’m making significant, measurable progress each day. I still leave room for serendipity—a phone call from an event planner looking for a conference speaker, or a publisher wanting to hire a writing coach to work with one of their writers, or a magazine editor requesting a 2,000-word article on a topic of my choice. I...submit my work to websites and magazines, collaborate with other writers, coach high school students and adults in their craft, and publish articles at my own website...Clarity. Vision. Organization. Planning. I’m not waiting for the writing life to randomly bounce across my path. And if the wind whips up a surprise for me, I’m ready.1

Macro- and Micro-Level Planning Over the years I’ve learned to be more organized and deliberate at the macro level and micro level.

The macro level is that long-range planning that looks at the big picture of where I want to be in the next year or two. I break that down into quarterly goals. They often evolve, but I like to have projects I’m working toward, even if the schedule shifts.

Then there’s the micro level, where I plan at a practical level.

Now, the micro level is where the magic takes place. But the thing is, it’s not magic at all.

I make a plan and work the plan.

At the micro-level, I break a project into manageable tasks and schedule them to pace myself leading up to the deadline. I use a task management system that serves as a to-do list for each day and coordinates with a calendar. I wake up,

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[Ep 194]

When a client brought me along to New York City, the airport shuttle bus dropped us off near Times Square and we had to find our way to the hotel. For a couple of Midwesterners who had never set foot in New York, this was magical.

Getting around, however, was a tad mystifying—at first. As quickly as possible we had to evaluate our location and figure out our next step.

We pulled out our phones and used an app that located where we were in order to guide us to our hotel. It helped us find our way to the next destinations, as well. The app located where we were and guided us to a restaurant that night and the publishing house the next day. Where Are You Now? Mall maps show a big overview of the layout of the place and mark the keystone stores. You look for a big red arrow pointing to where you stand labeled “You are here.” It helps you figure out your next steps so you take the right path based on your destination and your starting point.

That’s what we did in New York and that’s what we can do as writers. We can take time to figure out where we are right now in the world of writing—we’re kind of looking for a big red arrow labeled “You are here,” though it won’t be as obvious as when we stand at that big kiosk in the mall. Nevertheless, with some reflection we can orient ourselves.

It’s time to evaluate. If you look at the writing and publishing landscape—and your writing life so far—where are you now? Orient Yourself with These 10 Questions The following questions will help you evaluate your writing world so you can orient yourself and identity your starting point. To help you articulate and solidify your thoughts, record your responses on the downloadable worksheet (below) or copy the questions into a journal answer them there:

Describe the writing you’re doing.

If you’re writing and submitting poetry and short stories to literary magazines, your world looks different than if you’re writing self-published thrillers, blogging in the travel market, or seeking traditional publishing of a book about cooking with kids.

Describe the writing world your work is part of.

For instance, are you part of the self-publishing world, traditional publishing, blogging, or the literary market?

How long have you been here, doing this work?
What kinds of readers are here and how many are reading you? How are you known in this writing world?
What projects reflect your best work in this world?
What are you still figuring out (or have yet to figure out) to make the most of this writing world? What knowledge or skills do you need to fully inhabit this world?
How close are you to maxing out every possibility in this world of writing and at this level?

Are you feeling stretched every day, or are you so experienced you’re bored, just skating along as you wash-rinse-repeat?

Who has done exemplary work in this space? Who do you look to for inspiration or as a model for what‘s possible?

The next question that may take some courage to say out loud or write in a journal:

Is this the world you want to continue to write in? For example, do you want to continue submitting to literary magazines? If so, great. You can work on leveling up within that world.

It’s smart to ask this question early in the process, because as you continue learning what it takes to level up, you want to be sure you’re investing time and resources moving up in the world that you value—the writing world where you want to continue.

The last question is this:

If the answer to the previous question was “No,” and this is no longer the world you want to write in, where do you want to write next?

A specific goal might drive this, such as wanting to seek traditional publishing. Or someone’s work may model the kind of writing you’d like to attempt next. Want to Shift to a New World? Are you done writing self-published thrillers and now you want to pursue literary fiction with a t...

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[Ep 193]

Leveling up, according to my teenage son, who is familiar with several different video games, refers to a character or creature that gains enough experience to unlock new skills or features.

For example, let’s say you’re playing a game with a dragon that has one primary skill: he can breathe fire. But not big fire; he shoots out just a little flicker of flame, like a cigarette lighter clicking open and shut. Discover Your Base-Level Abilities You start the game and figure out how your dragon’s power works. He gains plenty of fire-breathing experience, as you torch abandoned sheds and defend against enemies with a burst of his flame.

At some point, you play long enough to make full use of his current abilities. You encounter every threat at least once if not twice, and you know the lay of the land. The dragon can scorch castle doors and scale turrets. He can flick out his fire to burn through the base of a tree to fell it and form a shelter.

He’s ready to level up. Unlock that achievement and suddenly you face another dragon and yours breathes out a big ol’ fireball twice the size of his original flames. This opens up new possibilities and invites bigger challenges. And with these newfound abilities, he can face them.

Writing is something like that. When we begin writing, we start with natural abilities and skills. We write and we learn what we’re capable of and we gain experience along the way. At some point, we may feel the nudge to level up, so we can see our writing expand—even explode—like a fireball doubled in size. You’ve Got to Get in the Game But before any of that can happen, we’ve got to get in the game.

If you want to write, you have to start writing.

Only when you get in the game will you begin to figure out what you’re capable of in the first place. Only when you’re actually writing can you test your skills and talents. Only when you’re in the game can you develop a writing practice, learn the craft of writing, and slowly grow comfortable and confident. When Hemingway First Got in the Game I’m reading Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, reminded of his early days in Paris, when he started writing stories and was figuring out his writing voice, his creative process.

He found that he liked to write in a notebook while sitting in cafes. While he was still a literary unknown he was meeting and learning from his more experienced contemporaries like Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ezra Pound.

He discovered a system for how to stop and start his work in progress: I always worked until I had something done and I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day. But sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, “Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say.”1

He also learned to trust his emerging style—his now infamous spare style—that relies on declarative sentences. “If I started to write elaborately,” he explains, “or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut that scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written.”2

In those early days he wasn’t yet famous; he wasn’t a household name. He didn’t have an editing app named after him. Like every writer throughout history, Hemingway had to get in the game before he could level up. Figure Out Yourself as a Writer As you commit to writing,

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[Ep 192]

“I have rewritten—often several times—every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers.” Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory1

First Drafts Reveal What You Want to Say We’ve already covered the power of writing to discover what we want to say. We can do that with freewriting to discover our initial ideas, writing in our journals or as a warmup exercise when we first sit down to work.

We can also use freewriting to bang out our initial draft. This is especially powerful if we’re doing short-form work and pour out the entire story or article in one sitting.

If we prefer, however, we can sit down after we think, plan, plot, and outline, and version one may emerge more smoothly, flowing from one idea to the next with logic and fluency.

Your personality may feel more comfortable with one approach or the other; there’s no right or wrong. The goal is to get that first draft out so you have material to work with.

Once the draft is complete, the real work begins.

It’s time to refine that draft, through rewriting, revision, and editing. Rewrite and Revise to Improve Your Drafts As Ernest Hemingway said in A Moveable Feast, “The only kind of writing is rewriting.”2

Editing is how we arrive at our finalized message, our finished work. Because as freeing and freewheeling as we may be when writing the draft, the project needs this next discovery phase. We need to clarify our ideas and clean up our messes. We may need to tweak and tighten.

On the other hand, if the curse of knowledge causes us to write too lean, we might need to elaborate on an idea we’ve skipped over or ignored or we may need to expand a section that needs clarity. Questions to Consider To revise, we must begin with the same basic instructions a high school or college student receives in composition class: know the topic, audience, and purpose of your piece.

Read with those three things in mind to be sure you’re staying on topic, providing appropriate content for that particular reader, and achieving the intended purpose (such as to persuade, entertain, or inform). For example, you can cut paragraphs where you’ve veered off topic and add information if your audience would need background information.

Author Mary Karr offers a less formal approach to editing and revising: “All the while, I question. Is this really crucial? Are you writing this part to pose as cool or smart? For me, the last 20 percent of a book’s improvement takes 95 percent of the effort—all in the editing.”3 Stephen King, too, reads his drafts with certain questions in mind. In On Writing, he explains: Underneath, however, I'm asking myself the Big Questions. The biggest: Is this story coherent? And if it is, what will turn coherence into a song? What are the recurring elements? Do they entwine and make a theme?... What I want most of all is resonance, something that will linger for a little while in Constant Reader's mind (and heart) after he or she has closed the book and put it up on the shelf.4

How to Rewrite and Revise to Improve Your Drafts You’ll find various methods for rewriting and revising your drafts. Writers approach their work in all kinds of ways.

Some can’t move forward before they’ve refined the latest section.

Others basically freewrite and deal with the word-vomit that splatters onto the page by returning later and cleaning up the mess with next-level editing. 1. Revise and Refine Along the Way In his book On Writing, Stephen King says Kurt Vonnegut micromanaged his drafts so that his completed work each day was crisp and clean: Kurt Vonnegut...rewrote each page of his novels until he got them exactly the way he wanted them. The result was days when he might only manage a page or two of finished copy (and the wastebasket would be full of crumpled, rejected page seventy-ones and seventy-twos), but when the manuscript was finished, the book was finished, by gum. You could set it in type.5

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[Ep 191]

You know within a few notes if you're listening to the Beatles or the Bee Gees, James Taylor or Justin Timberlake, Sting or Cher.

Why?

Well, it’s their voice. You recognize their voice.

In literature, it may not seem as obvious, since we aren’t usually hearing the author’s voice when we read their work. And yet, I’ll bet you could read a few lines of someone’s work and tell me if it's:

William Faulkner or Wendell Berry Barbara Kingsolver or Stephen King Tom Wolfe or Virginia Woolf

Why?

Once again, it’s their voice. You recognize their voice.

You’d know if you were reading something by Annie Dillard, Anne Lamott, Ann Voskamp or...Ann Kroeker.

Even if you didn’t know them before, if I put passages from Annie Dillard and Anne Lamott side by side, you’d be able to detect a difference. A big difference.

Some of it would be due the content. Some of it would be due to stylistic choices each of them makes, like word choice, sentence length, literary devices, allusions. Each writer brings to their work different memories, opinions, and passions. That and more plays into the words we write and the way we write them.

Somehow it all comes together into something we label “voice.” What Is Your Writing Voice? Agents and publishers say they’re looking for a unique voice, a new voice, a fresh voice, a genuine voice, a voice that rings true.

We writers want to have a voice like that. We want to know we’ve found our voice and we want to deliver our work in that one-of-a-kind voice that connects with readers and stands out in a crowded market. We’re all trying to land on that special “something.”

What is this mysterious thing called “voice”?

The answer is often vague and subjective, sometimes as unhelpful as “I know it when I see it.”

This answer—and it’s not uncommon—leaves writers anxious and unsure of themselves. They get self-conscious and start to question, “Is this my voice? Or did I sound more ‘me’ in the last project?”

And if they continue to squirm as they work, worried they sound like someone else or like anyone else, they’re at risk of losing the authentic voice that may already be pouring out of them naturally. Definition of Writing Voice I poked around in books and online and discovered that a few people venture a definition of voice.

Education Northwest, the organization that developed the 6+1 Traits, describe voice as “the heart and soul of the writing, the magic, the wit, the feeling, the life and breath.”1 A reader, they say, should identify something individual, something unique from “all other writers.”2

Okay, sounds good. That’s what we’re aiming for: individual, unique, a little heart and soul and, if possible, wit.

But how does the writer find that? How does the writer pull that off? How do we know our paragraphs aren’t pulsing with copycat wit? And how can we get some of that magic? Develop an Ear for Voice in Writing While it’s hard to be objective about the individuality of our own writing voice, it’s easier to listen for voice in others. In Writing with Power, Peter Elbow describes a time he assigned autobiographical writing to his students and as he read their work, he paid attention to what held his attention.

Over time, he identified those sections, paragraphs, sentences, phrases, and fragments as writing that “felt real.”3

He said, “[I]t had a kind of resonance, it somehow rang true.”4 He sensed power in their words. This power, he decided, was voice.

“On some days,” he writes, “these passages jumped out at me very clearly: it’s as though I could hear a gear being engaged and disengaged.”5 Your Writing Voice Is Power Elbow began to recognize feelings these writers exuded in some of these sections—anything from happiness to self-pity. And yet he found it difficult to nail down a clear explanation or source of the power these writers conveyed or an objective definition of voice.6

He did, however,

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Today I’m chatting with author and literary agent Jeff Herman.

Jeff’s literary agency has ushered nearly one thousand books into print. He’s the coauthor of the acclaimed Write the Perfect Book Proposal and is often featured as an expert in print and broadcast media.

Jeff provides insider insight that will give you hope that it’s possible to see your words in print.

When you get a chance, check out his resource: Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents, 28th edition.

Here's a taste of what he passed along today: "The first myth is that just because you’re in New York or the vicinity of New York you have a crucial advantage over someone from Indiana or Alaska. It’s really not true. The walls that publishing creates obstruct everyone equally. It’s not a matter of geography. It’s just a matter of access." "Now, of course, with digital communications, which to a great extent has displaced hard copy and to a certain extent has even displaced telephones and in person communications, I think that has done a lot to equalize the playing field." "The rules are not really true. They’re really preferences. The walls are porous, if that’s the right word. These walls are not metal plated; it’s more like Swiss cheese. And it’s a big illusion that you can’t get through these walls. The illusion is very useful for agents and editors. It works for us. But it doesn’t work for you, the writer, and ultimately it doesn’t work for the editors or agents because it does in effect lock out a lot of good people. But that’s why we need to be very tenacious and not let the agents or the editors individually or collectively tell you that you are not publishable. Because they don’t know. They think they know—they may know what’s right for them—but nobody can speak for the industry as a whole." "What I enjoy is working with the writer to make them as good as they can be and helping them to achieve their goals. I like to see the results of our good work together. I like to see that the book gets acquired by a publisher, that it gets published, and that it sells copies, and all the benefits that accrue to the author. I really feel then that I’m serving a purpose by helping the client and the publisher and the reader get all these beneficial results. And that’s what I see as the dream situation where we’re all working together as a well-oiled machine."

Jeff Herman is the author of Write the Perfect Book Proposal and Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents, 28th edition. Resources:

Website: jeffherman.com Publisher's Marketplace (Jeff mentioned the subscription you can get through them) Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents, 28th Edition (affiliate link) Write the Perfect Book Proposal: 10 That Sold and Why (Third Edition) (affiliate link) Jennifer Dukes Lee interview Alison Hodgson interview Shawn Smucker interview Patrice Gopo interview Ann's Patreon account All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

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[Ep 189]

When I feel my writing getting a little stale, I start looking around for a teacher. Now, I don’t mean I’m looking for a class with an instructor, although that’s certainly another way to learn and grow as a writer.

I mean I start looking around for an author and text that has something to teach me. In this way, I can continually improve my skills as a writer. Develop a Customized Course of Study A lot of writers feel a strong urge to enter an MFA program to do this. If you feel compelled to pursue that, by all means, research it and see if that’s the best next step for you.

But you don’t have to embark on a pre-planned course of study. You can develop your own path to establish a writing foundation, to build on an existing set of skills and experience, or to refresh your techniques after falling into a writing rut.

Without spending a dime, you can invent an efficient, customized writing course using resources readily available online or at your local library to build your skills and style.

By including reading, study, analysis, and practice pertaining to your biggest areas of struggle or weakness, you can write to discover the skills and techniques you’re lacking and integrate them into your work. Discover New Skills the Ben Franklin Way Novelist James Scott Bell wrote an article about how to strengthen your fiction the Ben Franklin way.1

He explains how Ben Franklin came up with his own self-study course to grow in virtues.

Franklin made a grid and evaluated whether or not he was successful in his pursuit of a given virtue each week. In The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, the Founding Father concluded he did not attain perfection, as he had hoped, but “was, by the endeavor, a better and happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it.”2

James Scott Bell proposes the fiction writer identify key areas to develop into a stronger writer much as Franklin identified his list of virtues. Bell calls these key areas “critical success factors,” or CSFs.3

He explains: Business and sales folk have been using Franklin’s system for decades to improve their own performance. Not via Franklin’s virtues, but by determining their own areas of competence. These are called critical success factors.4 Bell goes through each CSF a fiction author would want to develop and points to related resources: if the reader wants to learn about scenes, voice, or other aspects of fiction, Bell provides links to articles or books that can address each of those. By tapping into these resources, the writer develops his own self-study course.5

You can do the same. Discover Your Critical Success Factors You can make a list of what you feel are your personal CSFs related to the writing you do. In this way, any of us can identify an area to improve in and find instruction and models pertaining to that exact skill or technique and we can learn from them.

For fiction, you could check out James Scott Bell’s list in that article, where he cites the seven key elements a fiction writer could focus on:

plot structure characters scenes dialogue voice meaning (theme).6

You could make a list of CSFs for nonfiction writers. This might include research, idea development and organization, sentence fluency and word choice, grammar skills, or something as focused as transitions. Find Mentor Texts Find some “mentors,” or more accurately, some “mentor texts” you can study and learn from—mentors who excel in the areas where you feel you’re weak.

Some of these mentor texts may be instructional, explaining how to do things. Others may simply serve as models. When you find a mentor text like that—that’s a model—it’s time for close reading. And I’ve found that close reading is achieved easily with a practice we normally think of for children: copy work.

Any adult ready to develop stronger skills can practice copy work. It forces close reading.

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[Ep 188]

In this series, you’ve discovered more about yourself through writing—you may have begun to heal emotional wounds. The act of writing has helped you find the courage to continue to write. Through writing, you’ve articulated your reason for doing the work. And you’ve identified your top themes and topics. Most recently, you’ve written to discover your ideal reader.

Today, you’ll see how the act of writing—the process of writing any given project—can lead us to discover what we really want to say. Discovery Writing to Unearth Ideas Before we begin to outline or research, we can use writing to probe what is on our mind—to unearth what we want to say. An effective tool for this—and I’ve talked about it before—is freewriting.

I was introduced to the practice of freewriting in college, thanks to a book that was newly released at the time and used in two of my creative writing courses: Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg.

Her invitation to freewrite—to set a timer for, say, ten minutes and write, pen to paper, without stopping—gave me a way to shimmy past my stifling editor-mind to what Goldberg calls “first thoughts.”1

Those first thoughts unleashed in me the memories, stories, images, and ideas that I hadn’t yet reached when I sat down to write using an outline. Over time, the practice generally led to my discovering what I really wanted to say in my next project—which, at the time, was usually a poem. Freewriting While Composing the Draft I still use freewriting as a tool to unstick my thoughts—often before even launching a new project. But freewriting can be also used while my writing is in-progress.

I can be busy writing a paragraph—sometimes even when I’m following an outline I’ve developed—and pause to go deeper with freewriting.

Priscilla Long agrees with this balance of writing into an essay form or structure while occasionally stepping away to further explore ideas and thoughts through freewriting. She refers to freewriting as “discovery writing” in The Writer’s Portable Mentor, where she says this: [W]riting into a structure should be done in tandem with “discovery writing,” that is, writing to learn what you have to say, writing to work out your thoughts, writing to find out what your antagonist thinks (by writing from her point of view in your notebook, even though in the finished story you are never going to be in her point of view).2 In other words, when we need clarity, Long recommends we stop in the midst of writing to an outline or “template” and spend a few minutes freewriting. This avoids shallow treatment of our topic or story. Instead, we respect our mind’s hesitation and take time to discover what we really want to say.

After freewriting, we gain insight and turn back to the draft, adjusting our ideas as needed. Determine and Draft Your Project’s Big Idea Let’s say that you’ve spent a few minutes freewriting to determine what to write about. You’ve thought about it, you’ve researched, you’ve outlined. You have a good solid concept for this project.

When you’re ready to embark on the first words of your next project, determine and draft your project’s Big Idea.

What’s this piece about? What’s the focus? What’s the driving theme? Articulating Your Working Thesis Writing this out is a kind of discovery writing all its own—you’re trying to articulate a thesis.

Remember the thesis? Back in high school and college you were probably trained to express it as one sentence—a statement that is, in fact, arguable. A thesis can be used in fiction, nonfiction, and some poetry; it encapsulates what your project is about.

The thesis statement expresses the Big Idea of your project in that one sentence. You set out to explore and support this statement throughout the piece.

Your thesis establishes strong focus for the project from the start. A working thesis is flexible, though. The further you get into your research and writing,

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[Ep 187]

In composition classes, college students learn to identify their audience—who are they writing for?

On the topic of audience, The Writing Center at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suggests students think about writing a letter to their grandmothers about their first month at college. Then they say to imagine writing another letter on the same topic, but this time to their best friend.

“Unless you have an extremely cool grandma to whom you’re very close, it’s likely that your two letters would look quite different in terms of content, structure, and even tone.”1

The writing form was the same—a letter.

And the topic was the same—the first month in college.

The only variable was the audience—the reader. And knowing the reader will affect the writer’s choices. Discover Your Ideal Reader for a Writing Project In this Write to Discover series, we’ve explored our top themes and topics and seen that they can be conveyed in a variety of packages—that is, various genres, styles, or forms. As we add in this new element—the reader—we must ask:

Who will be reading this piece? What does he already know about this topic? Will this reader have certain expectations based on the type of writing, such as a genre with its conventions?

As we dig into the reader’s demographics and experiences, our examples and language as writers will shift; our choices will narrow.

For example, an essay on recycling written for The Atlantic will be read by a different audience than a children’s book about recycling or an article in a women’s magazine about recycling. We’ll make different choices to suit our reader in order to produce the best possible project.

For any given writing project, you have to know your audience. “I never think of an audience” But you may be resisting this basic writing advice. Perhaps you side with writers like Diane Ackerman, who said in an interview: Actually, I never think of an audience when I’m writing. I just try to write about what fascinates me and to contemplate what disturbs me or provokes me in some way, or amazes me. I suppose if I have a philosophy on this it’s that if you set out to nourish your own curiosity and your own intellectual yearnings and use yourself as an object of investigation, then, without meaning to, you will probably be touching the lives of a lot of people.2 With this philosophy, Diane Ackerman’s audience would be comprised of, well, people sort of like Diane Ackerman. So while she says she never thinks of an audience but instead simply writes what disturbs, provokes, or amazes her, she’s actually writing for an audience demographic that’s close to her own.

And it’s worked well for her. She’s a prolific, successful author of many books, poems, and essays. Even if you resist this idea of an ideal reader, even if you’re simply writing what pleases you, you are indeed writing for a certain kind of reader—a reader with characteristics similar to yours. Writing Is a Business with a Customer: the Reader Lee Gutkind, in his book Creative Nonfiction, seeks a balance between writing what you enjoy and keeping the reader in mind: [W]riting...is a business. The reader...is a customer. When you write, you are attempting to create a product that your reader wants to buy—or read.

Don't get me wrong. You must like what you write—and be proud of it. Your article or essay has your name under the title and contains your thoughts and ideas. You are the creator, the person responsible for its existence. But never forget the ultimate reason you are writing nonfiction—to inform, entertain, and influence the readership, however extensive (as in The New Yorker) or limited (as in your school newspaper) it may be.

Yes, writing is a selfish art. We write because we want to write. But we also write because we need to make contact with as many other people—readers—as possible and make an impact in order to influence their thoughts and actions.3

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When I was in junior high, I joined the track team. Track and field offers a lot of events, so the coach had us try a little bit of everything so we could get a feel for what we might like.

I had played softball when I was younger and was a good hitter, so I gave the shot put a few big hurls. My throws weren’t too shabby, but I wasn’t interested in training for it, so I moved on to other options.

The coach thought I might be good at the 400, which is once around the track. By the time I completed the oval, I was struggling for breath. Sure, with practice I could get stronger and build endurance, but that felt like torture. Any other options?

No interest in the 800 (twice around the track? I could barely make it once!) or worse, the 1600 (a mile? Are you kidding me?).

I knocked the bar off every time I attempted the high jump—even when they set it at the lowest notch. Later, I tried to clear one hurdle, but it seemed impossible to clear one after another all the way down the track. Pass.

The long jump required some funky training to standardize strides for the approach. You have to hit a skinny wooden board without even the tip of the shoe going past. Step, step...boom. Launch for takeoff! I hurtled through the air hoping to land in the sand without falling backwards.

I did it. I exploded off that little board and hit the sand falling forward. That was fun. I signed up for that.

Next up: the 100-meter dash. I struggled to place my feet in the starting blocks, but once in motion, I was built for speed. I flew down the track. Same with the 200. The gun would go off, and I’d power around the curve and then down the straightaway to the finish line. I felt electrified. Alive. Yes, I was born to sprint. Well, I wasn’t good enough to compete at the college level, but for my rural high school I did pretty well. Figure Out Your Favorite Type of Writing Trying to figure out our favorite type of writing—the writing that makes us feel electrified and alive—can feel at first like experimenting with track and field events. You have to jog once around the track or pick up that shot put and give it a spin. With any luck, you’ll find one form or type of writing that just fits, as the 200-meter dash fit me.

With writing, you have to stick your hands on the keyboard and tap out the first paragraph of a narrative essay. You have to pull out a pen and paper and write the first line of a poem. You can’t know what kind of writing will fit you best or what will end up your favorite form until you learn about it and try it out.

Your first attempts may feel awkward at first, like leaping backwards over a high-jump bar. How do people do this? On your first few attempts at something new, your resulting efforts might not turn out as you hope or imagine—in fact, they probably won’t. It’ll feel like you’ve knocked off that bar and fallen to the mat in an awkward tangle of limbs.

But as you keep testing out writing forms and styles and genres to find what you enjoy—what feels right for you, what electrifies you—you’ll get the hang of it. You’ll see how others pull it off. You’ll study their technique and see if it will work for you.

Don’t let the fear of a messy, awkward first attempt at any form—from short stories to a profile piece—stop you from trying. Try a Little Bit of Everything You may be tempted to discount something thinking it’s too big, too complicated, or too foreign to you. You may feel like ignoring a type of writing. In my interview with Tania Runyan, she says she has no interest in writing a novel.

In college, I signed up for an introductory creative writing course. They focused on short story half the semester, then switched to poetry. I thought for sure I’d love fiction and hate poetry—or excel at fiction and fail at poetry. From Fiction to Poetry What a surprise when I tried my hand at a short story and struggled to make it work. With practice, I could have improved—kind of like the 400.

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As you’ll discover in this conversation with Tania Runyan, she’s experimented with being a screenwriter and playwright and written several nonfiction books, including How to Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, and one for college-bound high school students, called How to Write a College Application Essay.

But Tania thinks of herself first and foremost as a poet. Her poems have appeared in many publications, including Poetry, Image, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, The Christian Century, Saint Katherine Review and the Paraclete book Light upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.

Here are a few snippets of our chat: "I write blog posts and articles for companies...and I realize that poetry and that kind of writing are not at odds with one another. In fact, I have found they complement one another really well because poetry is all about condensing language, and the efficiency of language, and audience and emotion, and when you're writing for businesses...tailoring my language to a certain audience, a certain emotion, and trying to do that in an efficient manner, I find has been easier to do because of my background as a poet." "This is very important. The very first thing I bought with my NEA grant, was a Roomba. To this day, I still use it every day. It's responsible for a lot of my writing." Advice for new poets: "When I work with newer poets, it seems they're consistently surprised with how much time I spend on my poems and how much time I think they should spend on their poems. So my advice would be to slow down and enjoy the process...You want to write, you want to produce, you want to publish...but really there's no reason to rush. You need to give yourself to the process and enjoy it." Enjoy learning about all the ways a writer can write as you get to know Tania Runyan.

Tania Runyan is the author of the poetry collections What Will Soon Take Place, Second Sky, A Thousand Vessels, Simple Weight, and Delicious Air, which was awarded Book of the Year by the Conference on Christianity and Literature in 2007. Her guides How to Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, and How to Write a College Application Essay are used in classrooms across the country. Tania was awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship in 2011. When not writing, Tania plays fiddle and mandolin, drives kids to appointments, and gets lost in her Midwestern garden. Resources:

Website: TaniaRunyan.com Facebook Page: Tania Runyan Poet What Will Soon Take Place, Tania's most recent poetry collection, celebrating its one-year anniversary (affiliate link) How to Write a Poem: Based on the Billy Collins Poem "Introduction to Poetry", by Tania Runyan (affiliate link) How to Read a Poem: Based on the Billy Collins Poem "Introduction to Poetry", by Tania Runyan (affiliate link) Book that mentioned Nabakov in the bathtub: Process: The Writing Lives of Great Authors, by Sarah Stodola (affiliate link) Writing book Tania recommends for poets, an anthology with simple explanations of forms: Strong Measures: Contemporary American Poetry in Traditional Forms (not affiliate link; only available used) Jennifer Dukes Lee interview Alison Hodgson interview Shawn Smucker interview Patrice Gopo interview Ann's Patreon account All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

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When Author and Acquisitions Editor Jennifer Dukes Lee was in town for an event, we met up and discussed challenges that writers—especially nonfiction authors—face as they try to land a traditional book contract. Jennifer generously provides us with behind-the-scenes insight and solid action steps we can take today.

She offers hope, too, that one doesn't necessarily have to boast a giant platform to find a publisher.

You can hear us fine, but the sound quality is a little ethereal. Once your ear adjusts, I think you'll be fine—perhaps imagine us in some fantastical location.

And you'll love meeting Jennifer. Here's a taste of her encouraging input: "All books are picked for at least two of the following reasons: large platform, great idea, and fantastic writing." "[T]here are first-time authors with small platforms that are still getting published, and I know it because I was one of them." "I think if this is really something that is in your heart and it is burning inside of you, there's really no stopping that. I think you just have to give it time to catch." Enjoy listening as we chat about her new role in the publishing world that has allowed her to sit on both sides of the table, as it were.

Jennifer Dukes Lee is the author of Love Idol, The Happiness Dare, and her latest book released in 2018, It's All Under Control.

Resources:

Website: jenniferdukeslee.com Facebook: @JenniferDukesLee Instagram: @dukeslee Twitter: @dukeslee It's All Under Control (Amazon affiliate link) It's All Under Control - Companion Bible Study (Amazon affiliate link) The Happiness Dare: Pursuing Your Heart's Deepest, Holiest, and Most Vulnerable Desire (Amazon affiliate link) Love Idol: Letting Go of Your Need for Approval and Seeing Yourself Through God's Eyes (Amazon affiliate link) Hear Jennifer read chapter one of It's All Under Control: https://jenniferdukeslee.com/itsallundercontrol/ Subscribe to Top Ten With Jen and get immediate access to exclusive free resources on her website. https://jenniferdukeslee.com/subscribe/ Alison Hodgson interview Shawn Smucker interview Patrice Gopo interview Ann's Patreon account All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

Have you grabbed the free mini-course? Make Your Sentences Sing: 7 Sentence Openers to Add Music to Your Prose

Go to annkroeker.com/sentenceopeners to learn more and to enroll for free. If it looks interesting, you can dive right in.

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I recently signed up for Reddit. During setup, I clicked on categories and topics of interest so the app could deliver relevant updates.

On the spot I had to decide my preferences: do I want ongoing content about this topic or that? Do I want them to send information about technology, politics, economics? Food, fitness, travel, entertainment? Select Your Top Themes and Topics I’ve had to do this several times over the years, with apps like Flipboard and most news outlets. I created my own categories for Twitter lists and Feedly subscriptions that groups the content by general topic.

The act of choosing—of being forced to choose—helps me make decisions. I must discern what I care to know more about and what’s less interesting to me. Narrow Your Top Themes and Topics Once the articles start flowing into one of these apps, filling my feed with content related to the areas I clicked on, I’ll often realize, “Oh, wait. Wait. I guess I don’t want to know that much about weight training or Broadway shows.” So I update my preferences, usually eliminating a category.

Before long, I not only realize I’m bored by topics I thought I’d like, I also begin to see topics I’m deeply interested in. When I stop everything to read an article and share it on social media, for example, or talk about it a lot at the dinner table, that’s a clue. I pay attention to my intensifying interest, as it's a strong indication it might be one of my top themes or topics.

We can figure out our interests in other ways, however.

What do you already know a lot about? Obviously, it’s been a topic of interest already. What books do you check out at the library? That indicates you want to dig deeper and know more. What outings do you invest time or money in? Do you often visit an art museum, movie theater, car show, live concert, lecture, conference, or state park? Our calendars and credit cards can point us toward our top interests. Do you steer conversations toward a particular topic? Do you seek others who join you in an animated, energizing discussion? Take note. That’s probably a top theme or topic for you. Where does your curiosity consistently carry you? You don’t have to be an expert to start digging into a topic that captivates you. Explore it.

When you begin to identify these top areas of interest, pick up on clues to narrow your focus. This will help you discover the kind of writing you can pursue. Confirm Your Top Themes and Topics by Writing To confirm which of these top themes and topics you want to write about—and the ones you want to be known for—start writing about them.

Did you…

read an article that riles you up? Write a response and submit it as an op-ed piece. read an article that skims the surface of what you know to be true? Write a deeper and better-researched piece and submit it to a relevant publication or work it into a book. read a short story that touches on themes you care about? Write something that grapples with the same theme using a different plot or cover the same theme in a different genre. Maybe you read a short story but you can explore it in a poem. read a poem that stirs you with its subject matter or theme? Weave your own images or story into a form poem different from what you read, so you explore the same topic in a new way. Or you could switch genres and write an essay in response to the poem.

Whether you write nonfiction, fiction, or poetry, write to discover topics that captivate you, energize you, and hold your attention. Your Personal Themes and Topics The “subscription model” I talked about at the beginning where you identify top themes and topics will reveal a lot. But it leaves out something critical: personal history.

What do you obsess about from your past? What episode or memory do you return to in your writing to explore all over again? Discover that and you’ll further refine your top themes and topics, and kind of fold these obsessions into your top ...

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If you’ve read On Being a Writer, you know my coauthor Charity Singleton Craig and I start with identity—claiming we are writers. I told the story of the university publication that accepted my first poetry submissions. They asked for a bio. I looked at examples from a previous issue I’d purchased. The poets talked about why they write.

“Without overthinking it, I scribbled out, ‘I write, because no one listens to me.’”1

Until I wrote it out, I don’t think I realized why I was penning poems and pursuing the life of a writer. But when forced to express it in writing, there it was. At that nascent stage of my writing career, I simply wanted to be heard.

Your reason for writing can be as simple as that—to have a voice. That may always be what drives you to the keyboard. But it can change over time. It’s been a few years—a few decades, if I’m honest—since I first identified my reason for writing. Over time, my purpose, my motivation—my reason—has changed, and changed again.

It pays to revisit this question of why you write and see if your reasons have morphed. Because when you know why you write, you can stay focused and motivated. You can run decisions through the filter of your primary purpose.

How to discover it? Through writing. Why Do You Write? Most of this exploratory work can happen in our private writing, like journals, rather than in public forums, like a blog or an essay. But you may find that an essay or poem intended for publication ends up effectively verbalizing your purpose.

Writing invites us to grapple with unspoken desires and tap into our driving forces. When we write, we not only unearth our purpose, but we articulate it.

I’m going to give you a couple of prompts to help you find your reason for writing—for being a writer.

You might answer them in a single sentence without a pause because you know exactly why you’ve turned to writing.

Or you might look at these and realize you’re not at all sure why you write.

Or you might end up writing paragraphs in search of the answer. You might unearth multiple reasons that suggest more than one motivation.

Get them down on paper. Write them out. Write to Discover Your Reason for Writing You’ll understand yourself better. You’ll realize why you’re drawn more to one project than another. You’ll have a way to decide where to focus your resources.

And keep in mind that your purpose doesn’t have to be noble or big. Let’s say you decided to try writing a thriller on a dare from your best friend and it’s fun. That’s a reason for writing. You might want to see your name in a publication, to make money, or to be known as a subject matter expert. Those are all reasons for writing.

You could work your discoveries into some sort of personal mission or vision statement, or a manifesto. Or going through this process may simply make you more aware of what’s driving you to write. It will ground you.

You can play around with this. Jot out ridiculous answers and see how they look on paper. Make yourself laugh. Maybe, well, maybe that’s why you write—to entertain first yourself and then, others.

Write to discover your reason for writing. The Prompts Now here are the simple prompts to get you started: I write because __________. OR I write to _____________. Your response can be honed down to a few phrases. For example:

I write because I can’t not write. I write because I love words. I write because I have important observations to share. I write to become famous.

Maybe you write in response to this and discover a specific reason based on curiosity, industry knowledge, or some personal experience—joyful or tragic—that ignites a passion, like:

I write to explore the deepest reasons people lie. I write to bring underreported historical events to light. I write to explain creative organizational solutions. I write because I love sharing my frugal travel discoveries.

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Ralph Keyes observes in his book The Courage to Write, “The trail of literary history is littered with those who fell along the way because the anxiety of trying to write paralyzed their hand”1. Writers' Anxiety If you’ve begun to reflect on troubling, traumatic memories, you've likely encountered fears. Some of those fears are personal and some, professional.

Digging for personal truths almost always leads to increased anxiety in the life of a writer. Keyes notes this causal relationship: The closer they get to painful personal truths, the more fear mounts—not just about what they might reveal but about what they might discover should they venture too deeply inside. To write well, however, that’s exactly where we must venture. Melville admired most the writers he called "divers," those who dared to plunge deep inside and report what they found. Frederick Busch thought this need for inner exploration was what made novel-writing so daring. "You go to dark places so that you can get there, steal the trophy and get out."2 Keyes profiles several "diver"-authors, each willing to go to dark places because they knew they needed to steal the trophy and get out. The first person he first highlights is E. B. White. The Fears of E. B. White As a child, White was scared of darkness, girls, lavatories, speaking in front of people, the future, and the "fear that I was unknowing about things I should know about.”3

His anxiety didn’t dissipate in adulthood, either; it simply shifted. He grew up to fear that “the brakes would fail on a trolly” or that he would collapse on the street, and he continued to fear public speaking.

White also worried—to the point of obsession, it seems—about his writing. Keyes said, “He rewrote pieces twenty times or more and sometimes pleaded with the postmaster of North Brooklin, Maine, to return a just-mailed manuscript so he could punch up its ending or rewrite the lead.”4

White said, “I am not inclined to apologize for my anxieties, because I have lived with them long enough to respect them”5. White not only respected his anxieties, but he also seemed to funnel these fears into his projects—working them out, as it were. His readers can clearly see fear exhibited in such characters as Stuart Little and Wilbur the pig.

He risked negative responses to his work each time he sent off a project to be published. This added to his anxiety—no wonder he pleaded with the postmaster!

E. B. White wrote to discover his fears.

However, he also wrote to discover the courage he needed to confront those fears. The Courage to Confront Fear Merriam-Webster's definition of courage is this: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.6

Courage, then, isn’t the absence of fear. We discover the courage we need when we venture in, when we persevere, when we write despite the fear—whether or not we write about the fear itself.

Keyes believes “[a]ll writers must confront their fears eventually. The sooner they do this, the better their work will be." He also clarifies that the courage we need to do the work doesn't mean we "conquer" our fears.7 In fact, he seems to agree with Steven Pressfield's claim that to silence Resistance, which includes anxiety and fear of all shapes and sizes, we must do the work.8

"Working writers aren’t those who have eliminated their anxiety," writes Keyes. "They are the ones who keep scribbling while their heart races and their stomach churns, and who mail manuscripts with trembling fingers.... They learn how to keep writing even as fear tries to yank their hand from the page”9

Keyes goes on to suggest that anxiety is a necessary element of a writer's life, arguing anxiety energizes our work, infusing it with truth and energy absent from safe, surface-level writing. “Trying to deny, avoid, numb, or eradicate the fear of writing is neither possible nor desirable," he says. "[F]ear fuels excitement.

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A few weeks ago I shared with you how freewriting freed me. The book Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg, played a big part in that during my college years, introducing me to the idea of timed writing as a means to write and discover.

Even though I wasn't all that interested in Goldberg’s frequent references to Zen Buddhism, I liked her basic approach: "When I teach a class,” she says, “I want the students to be 'writing down the bones,' the essential, awake speech of their minds."1

When I tuned into to my own inner voice and wrote down that "awake speech" of my mind, I began to know myself better. And the better I knew myself, the better and more interesting my writing became.

But when I look back, I realize the practice of self-reflection started even earlier, in high school. Write to Discover One afternoon when I was about 14 years old, I was glancing through books on writing at my local library and noticed a title: Write to Discover Yourself, by Ruth Vaughn. I looked both ways and plucked it from the shelf, running my fingers over the green cover with a fuchsia Gerbera daisy poking out of a pencil cup. It seemed a little wacky, but . . .

Write. Discover.

Writers have a lot to discover, but a way to write true and fresh no matter the project is to start by discovering oneself. I knew that instinctively, even then, and felt affirmed by this title.

I desperately wanted to understand myself, to unearth who I was meant to become. And, I wanted to write.

I took the book home and retreated to my room where I followed instructions to “portrait” the important people in my life, exploring memories, capturing life.

I sat on the hardwood floor of my bedroom and composed a word-portrait of my father, struggling to express the way his resonant voice, rising from deep within his barrel chest, could build and fill—even shake—the house. Or was it just me, shaking?

Page after page, the author encouraged me to continue being specific, to use concrete details and metaphor. I poured out stories from my little world.

Digging into yourself requires a depth of honesty that is painful, the author said, but imperative. She quoted a professor who said a writer “is the person with his skin off.” First Thoughts That's how I began to decipher my life. On the pages of a journal, I wrote with my skin off—bare, vulnerable. I tapped into the "awake speech" of my mind, burning through to what Goldberg calls "first thoughts" in order to write down the bones, the hard truths, the core of what and who I had been and was becoming.2

The idea of first thoughts made so much sense to me, because I wanted to express my truest self but I knew I was mostly living in layers of thought, edited thoughts. Goldberg explains:

"First thoughts have tremendous energy. It is the way the mind first flashes on something. The internal censor usually squelches them, so we live in the realm of second and third thoughts, thoughts on thought, twice and three times removed from the direct connection of the first fresh flash."3

So I used her idea of freewriting when I was in college—timed writing without stopping—hoping to once more get to the bones of thought, experience, memory, feeling; to gain clarity on faded and forgotten memories.

As I practiced this private outpouring of words and deeply personal reflections—first with the help of that stumbled-upon writing book and later with guidance from author Natalie Goldberg—I peeled back layers to stare at my heart and soul. I began, through practice—through pain—the lifelong process of finding myself. Methods for Using Writing to Discover Yourself Since then I've found other resources that encourage a similar practice, like Proprioceptive Writing, Expressive Writing, and Julia Cameron's Morning Pages. I encourage you to look into these various methods and learn more.

Whatever approach you try, seek to know yourself better and find insight and freedom by tapping into memory,

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Tis the season for many things. One thing that doesn't roll off the tongue as jolly as a line in a carol is a writing life tune-up. Yes, tis the perfect time for writing life maintenance.

It sounds so boring, I can't believe I'm sending you off for two weeks with this message. Then again, I'm convinced if more of us would take the time to develop a simple system that supports our whole writing life, we'd stay on track and meet more of our goals and make new discoveries and find new outlets for our work—in part because we aren't scrambling at the last minute to meet a deadline.

So it's time to schedule your writing life tune-up. Your Writing Life Tune-up Your writing life as a whole includes both you, the writer, and your work. In a few days, we'll tumble into the new year with big goals, plans, intentions, and resolutions.

But before all that, at the close of this year, a writing life tune-up looks at what you as a writer need for success, then turns to your projects, so you can determine how to set yourself up to nail deadlines and build your body of work. Doesn't that sound like a worthy, satisfying activity—even if it's boring?

A writing life tune-up isn't sexy, but it's effective.

I'll be spending time on a tune-up for myself in the days ahead. Why not join me?

I'll be looking back at several areas to see what worked well last year and what I'd like to see in the year ahead. I'll be examining things like:

Professional Development Writing Habits and Systems Writing Deadlines Editorial Calendar

Professional Development What did I do last year for professional development?

Three writing conferences Subscribed to multiple podcasts that offer writing-related content Attended several webinars led by industry leaders Read books about writing Read other books, fiction and nonfiction Read articles and blog posts with relevant content

Some activities you might consider to advance as a writer that aren't on my list could be working with a mentor or coach and joining a writing group or author mastermind. Writing space and tools Our writing life evaluation can include practical elements such as rearranging our writing space. Does my current desk suit my needs? Are there tools that made life easier—did others waste time with complicated steps? Is your current writing chair a good fit? Mine is, but the arm rests need a little duct tape repair. Did you try a standing desk and find it helpful? How well did a writing notebook serve you? Evaluate effectiveness Make a list of equipment, outings, activities, and input from in the past year related to all of these writing life details.

What worked and what didn't work? What helped you improve as a writer and what wasn't worth the investment of time, money, and logistics? What gave you energy and what sucked energy from you? Also, what from your work and life gave energy to others?

As I review last year's activities, I'll determine what helped me level-up as a writer. Then I can make better decisions for the year ahead, scrapping anything that wastes my time and resources and continuing what offered the support I need. Plan it out I like to get a big-picture view of how I want to invest in myself and my space so I can include it when mapping out any given week or month.

When, for example, do I intend to listen to a podcast or watch a webinar? I don't want to steal time from a writing session, for example, to read an article about queries. And yet I want to read about queries. When will I do that?

I know, I know. It's a boring process, but this tune-up keeps me from scrambling and squandering time. Because left to my own devices, I totally squander my time. Writing Habits and Systems James Clear and many others advocate a Kaizen philosophy of improvement claim that tiny goals set us up for success; just a one percent improvement adds up over time. We can decide what small steps we can make that will mov...

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My first university-level creative writing course used as the main text a book that, at that time, was a brand-new release: Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg.

After moving through the exercises in that book, I felt transformed. Goldberg introduced a simple concept that I’d never heard of. It’s commonplace today, a part of the lexicon of most creative writers.

Freewriting. The Life-Changing Magic of Freewriting The practice of freewriting unleashed in me the memories, stories, images, and ideas that I hadn’t yet reached when I sat down to write using conventional approaches of the time. I'd been making notes and lists, thinking and outlining, then trying to write into an outline. I was taught that approach, and it seemed sensible and efficient.

My work, however, was clunky, uninspired, unremarkable.

Goldberg’s invitation to freewrite—to set a timer for, say, ten minutes and write, pen to paper, without stopping—gave me a way to shimmy past my stifling editor-mind to what Goldberg calls “first thoughts.”

Write without stopping. Write without correcting commas or crossing out words. Write garbage without worrying who will ever read what you’re putting down.

As I freewrote, I stopped editing my work and second-guessing myself. I blew right past the voices of criticism and tapped deeper thoughts, luring them to the surface.

Before freewriting, I was a nervous writer, stifled by all kinds of worries.

Having grown up with editor-parents—and I mean that literally; they were both newspaper editors—I tended to prejudge every idea, every sentence, reading each word as if picturing a red pen dangling over my page like the Sword of Damocles. Before a thought had a chance to breathe a single breath and stretch its legs, I’d strike it out and pretend I’d never entertained its existence.

Freewriting led to a kind of self-discovery, and from that I was able to produce poetry with punch and narratives that held interest and dove deeper, below the safety of surface-level, where until then I’d been dog-paddling my way through assignments.

I wrote about struggles and questions and memories and dreams, exploring it all in hopes of finding something worth developing into a finished piece and sharing with others.

This tool more than any others powered my writing life forward.

Freewriting freed me.

Think, Then Write Years later, I hosted a family friend overnight. She was passing through town and we shared a meal and chatted about writing. Freewriting came up.

I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I’ll bet I praised the way it frees the mind by skipping past the censor that shuts us down and allows us to draw from a deeper well of thought to produce more meaningful projects. I might have testified to its transformative effect on my life. I probably recommend it to her.

She’d heard about it, she said. Then, when I seemed to have exhausted all I had to say about the merits of freewriting, she told me she had recently attended a small, intimate writer’s retreat led by Madeleine L’Engle.

I was insanely curious what that was like. And I was insanely jealous, because Madeleine has been a hero of mine for decades. As a child I’d read A Wrinkle in Time, riveted to the story, the characters, the message. When I later realized she’d written nonfiction, I devoured her Crosswicks Journals and Walking on Water.

This family friend had the privilege of participating in a tiny writing retreat that left time for lots of interaction with Madeleine.

Tell me more!

Well, she did. She said Madeleine would give the attendees a creative writing prompt, that always included this instruction or “rule,” if you will: think as long as you want, but once you decide to start writing, write for only 30 minutes.

Some people didn’t think long before they wrote, while others devoted a long time to thinking, thinking, thinking before…boom. They wrote the full thirty minutes, nonstop,

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Back in October 2018, I interviewed three authors who served on the speaking team at Breathe Christian Writers Conference. We discussed all things writing, like their writing challenges, their writing process, and their advice for writers. All for you.

I’ve mixed in with my standard short solo episodes an interview with Shawn Smucker and another with Patrice Gopo.

Today, I bring you the last of the three from that conference: a conversation with Alison Hodgson, author of The Pug List. I sprang this on her at the last minute, asking if I could interview her during the last hour on the last day of the conference.

We slipped into a room and discussed such topics as boiling a story down to its essence, seeing work come to fruition, managing a pug’s Instagram account, surviving one-star reviews, and much more. Enjoy getting to know Alison Hodgson.

Alison Hodgson is the author of The Pug List: A Ridiculous Dog, a Family Who Lost Everything, and How They All Found Their Way Home. She is a Moth StorySLAM winner and a regular contributor to the design website Houzz.com. Her writing has been featured in Woman’s Day magazine, on Forbes.com, Christianity Today’s Her.meneutics blog, and the Religion News Service, and her essays have been published in a variety of anthologies. Alison lives in Michigan with her husband, their children, and three good dogs. alisonhodgson.com

Resources:

Website: alisonhodgson.com Facebook: @alisonhodgsonauthor Instagram: @alisonhodgsonbooks/ and (more prominently) @therealpugoliver Twitter: @HodgsonAlison The Pug List: A Ridiculous Little Dog, a Family Who Lost Everything, and How They All Found Their Way Home (Amazon affiliate link) A clip from Alison's MOTH story The Barbara Pym Society, a website highlighting information related to an author Alison mentions Shawn Smucker interview Patrice Gopo interview Ann's Patreon account All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

Have you grabbed the free mini-course? Make Your Sentences Sing: 7 Sentence Openers to Add Music to Your Prose

Go to annkroeker.com/sentenceopeners to learn more and to enroll for free. If it looks interesting, you can dive right in.

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Last time, I talked about the power of lists to get us writing about all kinds of things. Lists trick us into writing.

In her famous TED talk, spoken word poet Sarah Kay invites the audience to make a list. She asks them to think of three things they know to be true. They can be about anything, she says, “technology, entertainment, design, your family, what you had for breakfast. The only rule is don’t think too hard.”1

Try it. Today. Right now. Even if you’ve done this before, think of three things you know to be true, about anything.

Don’t think too hard. Write Your Truths (I'll pause so you can grab a pen and paper to jot down your three things...go ahead, I'll be here...)

Ready...Set...Go.

(Here, I pause again as you write out your three things you know to be true...)

Okay, here are three things I know to be true.

Trader Joe’s Butternut Squash Ravioli is worth the 45-minute roundtrip drive. If you buy things used, you won’t feel quite so bad when they break. Books make excellent companions.

Each of those could be expanded and developed into a miniature memoir. Because the tiny truths you and I express as proverbial-style statements flow out of life experience.

We could tell each other stories. We could tell about how we concluded the ravioli was worth the drive, how the broken item wasn’t quite such a loss, how the books held us close when we needed companionship.

We form these tiny truths in the unfolding of our daily lives, so we could reconstruct a scene that led to deeper understanding; we could bring to life a vignette that solidifies a belief. What do you know to be true? Sarah Kay says she often tricks the teenagers she works with into writing poetry by using lists because “Everyone can write lists.” The first list she always assigns is “10 Things I Know to Be True.”2

Later today—or now, if you have time—expand your list. Add seven more to make ten things you know to be true.

If you find your thoughts flowing, beliefs spilling out, one after another, keep going. Make a longer list. Keep adding to the list more and more things you know to be true, reaching deeper and deeper into your wins and losses, your heartaches and joys, your embarrassment, your pain. Expand on Your Truth Pluck a single bullet point—a single truth—from your list of what you know to be true.

Let it be your next writing prompt.

Say more about your truth.

Set a timer for 15 minutes and freewrite about that truth. Remember the events that led to this conclusion. Include the back story. Identify the moment of insight. Reflect on its impact.

Voila. You've composed your micro-memoir, your tiny truth fleshed out.

Maybe it’s for you.

Maybe it’s to share.

You can use it to form the themes of your work, whether fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.

These can be adapted and sort of masked to become a scene in fiction; or, they can be polished and developed into a personal essay.

If one truth alone doesn’t seem to have enough meat to serve up to the world, weave together several to become a longer piece—a collage, a list poem, a winding, free-flowing piece that combines to become a whole. Sarah Kay's Spoken-Word Truths Sarah Kay appeared to develop her list of things she knows to be true (or a list quite like it) into a spoken-word poem called “If I should have a daughter.”3

She moves artfully through one truth after another: truths she would one day pass on to this potential offspring; or, perhaps, truths Sarah may be reminding herself to hold onto in the meantime.

Or both.

You could assemble yours into a poem, as well, weaving them into lines, into stanzas, into a free-flowing free-verse poem that moves from one truth to another eventually threading together by theme and thesis. Micro-Memoir or #TinyTruth Yours may be best presented as a kind of micro-memoir. As you construct the scene or scenes from your life that led to your truth,

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Tis the season for lists, even for those who aren't naturally checklist and to-do list types. For the holidays, people will make packing lists, shopping lists, cleaning lists, address lists, and wish lists.

Lists are useful and practical, but they can serve a far more creative and powerful role in the life of a writer. You may find the humble list becomes the most used tool in your writer’s toolbox.

Let's look at how lists can transform your writing...and your life. 1. A list is a quick way to generate ideas Whether you’re keeping a journal or meeting an article deadline, lists are quick ways to write during busy seasons.

Make a list of the big ideas you want to cover in a nonfiction book, and you’ve formed a working Table of Contents. Lists are the basis of roundup articles—a quick and rewarding project for both writer and reader. List everything you know about a topic or scene you plan to write, and your list establishes what you already know and reveals what you have yet to find out. Thanks to the list, you can plan your research and fill in the gaps. Keep an ongoing list of article headlines or chapter titles you'd love to tackle someday and you've got an idea bank to draw from when you’re ready for something new. When you have time minutes free, add to the list. Keep a writer's notebook packed with lists that include descriptions, timelines, character notes, and snatches of dialogue. Make a list of unfortunate events you can throw at your characters and you'll have the makings of your next novel's plot.

A list tricks us into bypassing writer’s block Lists can help us break free from writer’s block by stripping away a lot of the elements typically expected from a creative project. And the act of list-making is so unassuming, so doable, so quick to pull off, we can bypass the things that hold us back or block us, like fear, lack of ideas, confusion, uncertainty.

Start a list and you almost can’t stop your brain from producing another item and another. The brain loves lists. If you’re stuck, you may find you’re unstuck by the time you scribble the fourth or fifth entry.

You might as well keep going. Next thing you know, you’ve written the draft or the outline of a poem, essay, short story, or blog post. 3. A list is flexible As you write, your list expands and contracts to match the evolution of your ideas. As you edit, you can delete or combine items as needed. 4. A list builds in limits While allowing for flexibility, lists also form natural boundaries.

In “A List of Reasons Why Our Brains Love Lists,” Maria Konnikova says the human brain responds to the way a list “spatially organizes the information; and it promises a story that’s finite, whose length has been quantified upfront.”1

If a single idea seems too convoluted, corral it. Deal with idea-sprawl by cramming it into a list. By defining and limiting our ideas, our writer-minds relax; we don’t have to say it all. 5. A list instantly organizes our ideas When I introduced the 6+1 Traits, one of the early traits we must tend to after settling on a solid idea is Organization. How will we organize these concepts or present the stories?

Try a list. It’s a quick tool to organize and contain ideas when you have no idea how to organize or structure your material. Possible forms for your project may reveal themselves in the process of expanding, editing, and ordering the list.

Categorize and group them. Enumerate them. Your reader’s brains, Konnikova writes, “love effortlessly acquired data,”2 and your writer-brain loves structure. 6. A list is easy to scan Copyblogger’s Brian Clark wrote seven reasons why a list post will “always work.” With a list, he says, we promise a “quantifiable return on attention investment.”3 This motivates people to commit.

Konnikova pointed out that by making the process of consuming the content simpler, tidier, categorizing and grouping information in clumps and marking each sectio...

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[Ep 174]

In last week’s interview, Patrice Gopo described the stories that bubbled up inside her—personal stories about topics she cared deeply about as she grappled with her identity and where she fit in society.

Patrice grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, as a black American daughter of Jamaican immigrants. She wanted to explore that, to make sense of it all.

How?

Through writing. She turned to the essay to figure out her life, to delve into her experiences—to discover self and live a more meaningful life

We, too, can delve into our experiences, diving beneath the surface to discover ourselves and live more meaningful lives.

Elizabeth Lesser writes in Broken Open: If we don’t listen to the voice of the soul, it sings a stranger tune. If we don’t go looking for what lies beneath the surface of our lives, the soul comes looking for us. I haven’t read Lesser’s book, but that line urging us to look for what lies beneath the surface of our lives? We can use writing to do just that: to look for what lies beneath and listen to the voice of the soul. Capture Ideas It starts with an image, perhaps, or an interaction that bubbles up—a scene or memory. Pay attention to each one. Capture in detail this scene or image.

You can do this on the spot or during a writing session later. Add sensory details. Try to recreate it objectively. That helps to examine and explore the meaning in it.

If you don’t have time to write at that instant, jot down in a notebook a key word or phrase that can serve as a reminder or prompt. When you settle in to write it out in more detail, you’ll have many to choose from.

Anne Lamott captures these snatches on 3x5 cards she carries in her pocket. Patrice uses a simple composition notebook tucked in her bag. I use Evernote or Google Keep. Ask Why? When you write—when you start to dive in and look beneath the surface—be curious about yourself, about that scene or image or snatch of dialogue.

Why am I remembering that moment my dad grazed his leg with the chainsaw? Why does the sensation of flying back and forth in the swing keep coming back to me? Why does that glass doorknob make me tear up?

Patrice says that when we're trying to understand what's happening in our lives or in the world—when we delve deeply into an incident to see its significance and why it matters—that’s meaning-making on the page.

The incident could be big or small. As an example, Patrice said she noted in her journal that a couple of weeks ago her husband brought her a chocolate bar. It occurred to her he's been bringing her chocolate bars throughout their entire marriage.

Why?

Why are these chocolate bar moments over the years coming to mind? Why does he bring them? It seems small, but it’s rising to the surface. She’s listening to the voice of her soul.

She pulled out her composition book and started writing some of the other scenes and memories, all because she was struck by that recurring image of a chocolate bar.

She doesn’t know the answer yet; the meaning is unclear. For now, she’s exploring it.

We can do that, too.

We can write scenes and reflect. Let’s let curiosity and a sense of discovery lead us.

Stay open as you listen to the voice of the soul; look for what lies beneath the surface of your life.

You Don’t Need an Outline or Plan Thanks to our early academic training in the essay form, it’s tempting to set out with a thesis and outline our way into understanding, theme, and meaning.

Resist...at least, at first.

Anne Lamott, in a podcast interview for "Books of Your Life with Elizabeth," says not to worry about outlines. There’s that old saying that you can’t get lost if you don’t have a destination. People are always saying, “Don’t you have an outline?” And I say, “No, I don’t know what I’m doing. How would I be able to do an outline? I’ll find out what I’m doing by doing the writing.” Start writing without knowing what you’re doing or where you’re going.

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At Breathe Christian Writers Conference, held October 12 and 13, 2018, I interviewed three authors who served on the speaking team. We discussed all things writing, like their writing challenges, their writing process, and their advice for writers. All for you.

I’m sharing these conversations with you, mixing them in with my standard short solo episodes.

You heard from Shawn Smucker in episode 171. Today, I bring you the second interview: a conversation with Patrice Gopo. We discussed her work as an essayist and meaning-making on the page. She gives us an inside look at her writing process, including several techniques she’s used study the craft of writing as well as the importance of feedback.

I begin by reading her bio as we sat down to talk, so you’ll get the official info at the start. Today, enjoy getting to know and learn from Patrice Gopo (and check out multiple resources below).

Patrice Gopo’s essays have appeared in a variety of literary journals and other publications, including Gulf Coast, Full Grown People, Creative Nonfiction, and online in The New York Times and The Washington Post. She is the recipient of a North Carolina Arts Council Literature Fellowship, and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is the author of All the Colors We Will See, an essay collection about race, immigration, and belonging. Her book is a Fall 2018 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection.

Resources:

Patrice's Writing Resources: to help you develop as a writer - recommended classes, conferences, coaches and editors, craft books, and community Sign up for her newsletter and receive an essay from the book along with the discussion guide: https://www.patricegopo.com/subscribe/

Patrice's website: patricegopo.com

Patrice on Twitter: @patricegopo

Patrice on Instagram: @patricegopo Patrice on Facebook: @patricegopowrites

All the Colors We Will See, by Patrice Gopo [affiliate link, which means I will receive a small compensation at no charge to you if you click through to check it out and purchase] All the Places We Call Home, Patrice's debut children's book (releases June 2022) [affiliate link]

Ann's Patreon account All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

Have you grabbed the free mini-course? Make Your Sentences Sing: 7 Sentence Openers to Add Music to Your Prose

Go to annkroeker.com/sentenceopeners to learn more and to enroll for free. If it looks interesting, you can dive right in.

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As you know from my interview with Shawn Smucker, he’s a novelist with ambitious goals—on track to write ten books in ten years. He's written three of his own books—two novels and a memoir. His fourth will be released in 2019.

To make a living, he works as a cowriter and ghostwriter. Several years ago he was hit with the realization that he could live his whole life writing books for others and never write his own.

With that, he made the switch to writing his own things first every day. It might just be for an hour, but if he commits to writing his own projects first, he knows it's going to happen.

Shawn’s wakeup call can serve as our own, calling for us to prioritize our own writing. If we don’t, other things will swallow our time and energy and we’ll have nothing left.

But when we do prioritize our writing—when we put our own work first—we start to achieve our writing goals and build our body of work.

We can bring our best, most creative selves to our own projects by prioritizing in four different ways. 1. Write Your Own Things First Every Day Shawn prioritizes his own writing by literally doing it first—waking up early to commit a few minutes or a few hours to his work-in-progress. His secret is to follow a routine. Morning Routines Shawn’s routine has been to get up early, but instead of diving directly into the work-for-hire, he sits down and writes for an hour or so on his personal projects.

We can set up a routine, too: Get up early and write for 20 minutes or an hour on our own projects before proceeding with the rest of the day—ensuring that our work progresses. Famous Writers’ Morning Routines We’ll be in good company with this commitment to rising early to get to the work. In an interview for The Paris Review in 1958, Ernest Hemingway said: When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come to your work and warm as you write. The Telegraph reported that several famous authors rose early to write, including WH Auden, Beethoven, and Victor Hugo. They all liked to wake at 6am. Kurt Vonnegut and Maya Angelou rose even earlier. "Murakami, Voltaire and John Milton all set their alarms at 4am.”

So did Barbara Kingsolver. James Clear shared an excerpt of her explaining about the years when her kids were young. Back then, she said she rose early. “Too early,” in fact. Four o’clock is standard. My morning begins with trying not to get up before the sun rises. But when I do, it’s because my head is too full of words, and I just need to get to my desk and start dumping them into a file. I always wake with sentences pouring into my head. So getting to my desk every day feels like a long emergency. One way to prioritize your writing, then, is to give it the first hours of every day, rising early to do so. Get up, get to your desk, and start dumping those words out of your head. If it feels like a emergency, maybe that’s because it is.

Carve Out Time to Binge Write Maybe early mornings and routines don’t work for you, at least not right now while you’re dealing with a broken arm or while you’re serving as a caregiver for aging parents. When every day seems disrupted by the next demand or emergency, routines may seem unattainable and you may need more sleep to get through the day. Binge Writing to Make Progress Try a different way to prioritize your work: by carving out a chunk of time to binge write.

Bec Evans, cofounder of Prolifiko, “the world’s digital coach,” concedes that binge writing overall is "less productive, leads to fewer ideas, more procrastination and even depression.”

But they surveyed writers on how they go about their work, and 36 percent of writers said "they wrote nothing for weeks, then had an intense period of writing. That’s the reality of their lives—bingeing is the only way they find time to write,

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At a writing conference held October 12 and 13, 2018, I interviewed three authors who served on the speaking team. We discussed all things writing, like their writing challenges, their writing process, and their advice for writers. All for you!

I’m going to share these conversations with you, mixing them in with my standard short solo episodes; in other words, you won’t be getting all three interviews in a row. But you’ll know an interview from a solo show because I’ll include “interview” in the subject line—that way you can set aside a longer chunk of time to listen.

Today, I bring you the first of the three: a conversation with Shawn Smucker. We discussed his work as a cowriter, ghostwriter, and novelist, and our discussion took place just before release day for his nonfiction book Once We Were Strangers.

Shawn Smucker is the author of the novels Light from Distant Stars, The Day the Angels Fell and The Edge of Over There, as well as the memoir, Once We Were Strangers. He lives with his wife and six children in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. You can find him online at www.shawnsmucker.com.

Resources:

Light from Distant Stars, Shawn’s 2019 novel

Building a Life Out of Words, Shawn's free e-book chronicling his first year trying to make a living cowriting

Shawn's website: shawnsmucker.com

Shawn on Twitter: @shawnsmucker

Shawn on Instagram: @shawnsmucker

The Day the Angels Fell [affiliate link, which means I will receive a small compensation at no charge to you if you click through to check it out and purchase]

The Edge of Over There [affiliate link]

Once, We Were Strangers [affiliate link] Favorite books Shawn has re-read to analyze and learn (all affiliate links):

All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr [paperback]

Home, by Marilynne Robinson [Kindle ebook]

Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson [paperback]

Lila, by Marilynne Robinson [Kindle ebook]

Gilead, Marilynne Robinson [Kindle ebook]

A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving [paperback]

Ann's Patreon account All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

Have you grabbed the free mini-course? Make Your Sentences Sing: 7 Sentence Openers to Add Music to Your Prose

Go to annkroeker.com/sentenceopeners to learn more and to enroll for free. If it looks interesting, you can dive right in.

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Last time, we talked about the 6+1 Traits. When you take time to evaluate your work in each one, you can begin to identify areas of strength and weakness. Over time you can boost the weaker areas and become a better writer.

In the months ahead, I'll continue to explore ways we can improve our craft using these traits to organize each recommendation, but for now, I'm wrapping up this part of the series to bring you something new. I'll tell you all about it at the end of this post.

Writing tips, tricks, and tweaks offer immediate results, so here are four more tips to help you be a better writer. 1. Ban "the" at the Start of a Sentence My brother, who teaches writing at a university, reminded me of this tip: Never use "the" at the beginning of a sentence. While this may seem extreme—even ridiculous—what it does is force you to find new ways to vary your sentence openers. “The” is a useful word in the English language, but let’s face it: launching a sentence with "the" doesn’t offer much oomph.

I could soften the tip and say, “Rarely begin a sentence with ‘the,’” but if you make it a rule—if you never start a sentence with “the”—you’ll force yourself to reach for creative alternatives. Almost any other word will hook the reader better than "the."

So do it; or, rather, don’t do it. Don’t start sentences with “the.” See if you don’t write with a livelier style. 2. Vary Sentence Constructions The first tip leads to the next: vary sentence constructions.

If you signed up for the free mini-course "Make Your Sentences Sing: 7 Sentence Openers to Add Music to Your Prose," you’ll have one set of options you can use to mix up your sentence constructions. If every sentence began the same way, we'd be bored after only a few paragraphs.

So mix up the way you construct your sentences. When you stop using “the” at the beginning of your sentences, you’ll turn to the myriad options available to you. But think, too, of the whole sentence and how one flows to the next. Your sentences can vary not just with how you begin them, but throughout. At the editing stage, take time to craft your sentences with care and then read them aloud.

Listen for mood and tone and style—does it match what you’re trying to convey? Listen for pace—does one naturally lead to the next to keep you reading or do they lag and sag? Listen for musicality—do your sentences sing? 3. Vary Sentence Length As we play with our sentences, we'll want to switch up not only the type of sentences we use but also their length.

Don’t fret about these sentence-level changes while writing your draft, but as you edit, listening for the effect of your writing from paragraph to paragraph, you’ll hear your sentences work together to form the complete thought or beat.

Sometimes when we churn out a draft, we fall into a steady output that spits out sentences of similar length. When you have several medium-length sentences in a row, the piece may struggle to hold a reader's attention. A longer sentence in there somewhere—created by combining two medium-length sentences—may be an easy solution to try.

Add punch every once in a while by inserting a super short sentence—even one with only two or three words. That’ll grab the reader's attention better than an exclamation point. Tell the story or explain the logic, then drop in a short one. Try it. You’ll start to see how it breaks up a paragraph and gives the eye a place to stop a moment and think. 4. Be Natural Remember how our English teachers banned contractions and the use of the first-person singular? Well, live free from those restrictions, my friend. In most situations, you’ll sound best when you use a natural, conversational tone and style. Use Contractions One easy way to sound more natural is to use those contractions we were told to leave out of our written communication. Unless you write for academic journals, lose the formality. You will becomes "you'll." What is becomes "what's."

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[Ep 169]

I’m glad to be back after an unexpected and lengthy break when I needed to care for a relative during a complicated emergency. I’m sorry I didn’t have a way to let you know in the midst of it, but it looks like things are slowing down and stabilizing. I’m back in business—able to encourage and support you and your writing again.

Before my break, we were discussing how to be a better writer. I focused on small, quick wins to help you improve your writing right away with tips and tweaks. If you implement them, you will see a difference in your writing right away.

But I realized I want you to see how all writing advice fits into the bigger picture of how we arrive at great writing, so I wanted to share with you the 6+1 Traits. Boost all seven traits, and you will be a better writer. 6 + 1 Traits of Great Writing The 6+1 Traits, developed by Education Northwest and promoted by the National Education Association, provides K-12 educators a way to teach and evaluate student writing.

I used these categories with high school students and found that whatever their projects—essays, term papers, and creative writing projects like poetry and short stories—the seven traits gave me a way to instruct and provide input. And the traits gave them a way to think through how to make any given piece clear and strong. Not Just for Kids: Use the 6+1 Traits for Your Own Projects While it may be geared for training young writers, the categories are useful for all ages and all levels of writing experience. Whether you're writing a blog post, a social media update, or a book—fiction or nonfiction—the 6+1 Traits serve as useful reminders and guides for all stages of the writing process, from idea and developmental stages down to the final proofread.

I love that they don’t focus disproportionately on conventions—usage, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. It includes that as one of the traits, but only one of the key characteristics of writing.

By exploring each trait instead of fixating on one or two, we don’t neglect areas that need attention. In fact, examining all the traits, we identify strengths and weakness not only in a given project but also in ourselves as a writer.

They help us move toward excellence. The Traits What are the traits?

Ideas Organization Word Choice Sentence Fluency Voice Conventions The “+ 1” trait is Appearance. Appearance is optional because it doesn’t relate to the writing itself—it’s about how we present our writing.

Ideas Ideas form the core of our writing.

When developing your project and later when you’re editing, start with the idea. To be crystal clear on it, express the big idea succinctly—in a sentence—and then read your piece in light of the idea.

In nonfiction, is your writing clear and focused on that idea or are you veering off into the weeds? Do your main points and examples offer convincing support? If your idea isn’t clear to you, your idea won't come across clearly to the reader.

In fiction, ensure your short story or novel idea is strong and clear: Does your plot work? Your character arc? How about theme?

When you clarify and solidify your idea, you can turn to the second trait: Organization. Organization You can start thinking organizationally about how to present your idea starting with the title and subtitle (or headline, depending on what you’re writing). And then your introduction with a thesis. Will you create subheadings to chunk your ideas and present them logically?

In fiction, you organize the piece starting with the title, subtitle, and the opening scene and the hook. You move through, scene by scene, organizing your story in a way that best fits, whether chronologically or using flashbacks. You decide how to structure and which POV will you take.

As you experiment with organizational options, you’ll have to decide which choices best order the ideas or plot so the reader tracks with the piece all the way to the...

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In a recent release of Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell introduces his podcast listeners to Dr. Bernadine Healy.

In this episode, he asks Johanna Schneider, who worked with Dr. Healy at the National Institutes of Health, to describe her to listeners. Schneider said several things, including this: "She had a wooden sign on her desk that said, ‘Strong verbs, short sentences.’ And that was Bernie.”

Using that wooden sign’s message as a callback, Gladwell seemed to say that Dr. Healy's value of strong verbs and short sentences conveyed formidable strength, in person and on paper. A force to be reckoned with, Dr. Healy communicated with precision and clarity.

“Strong verbs, short sentences” reminds me of the advice we hear so often: Write tight. “If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.” ~ George Orwell.

“Writing improves in direct ratio to the things we can keep out of it that shouldn’t be there.” ~ William Zinsser

“Omit needless words.” ~ William Strunk Jr. I thought about stopping right there. I mean, “Strong verbs, short sentences”? Strunk nailed it.

Omit Needless Words In an increasingly impatient world accustomed to texts, tweets, and sound bytes, this classic advice feels timely and, like it or not, necessary. Readers are impatient. We can’t waste their time.

As we embrace this new cultural tendency toward sentence fragments and textspeak, we can write so tight we squeeze out nuance, texture, and meaning. If we interpret “Omit needless words” to mean “Write in the sparest style possible, like Hemingway,” we may be missing the point.

The Elements of Style elaborates on its own concise, unambiguous, three-word sentence, “Omit needless words” when it says this: Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell. (The Elements of Style) Let every word tell.

Make every word count. Include Necessary Words Instead of hacking away at our work, reducing it to a series of short sentences that hammer away at the reader’s ear, we study our work to determine the necessary elements. Sometimes, we need more words for clarity.

Our culture often points to Ernest Hemingway as the master of strong verbs and short sentences, elevating him to the master of concise, clear writing—so much so, someone created an app called The Hemingway Editor.

From its help page, it claims the app "makes your writing bold and clear...Almost any bit of writing could use some cutting. Less is more, etc…. So, the Hemingway Editor will highlight (in yellow and red) where your writing is too dense. Try removing needless words or splitting the sentence into two. Your readers will thank you.”

Using the Automated Readability Index, the Hemingway Editor evaluates the “grade level” of your writing style when you paste a portion into the app, which you can do online for free.

Turns out Hemingway didn’t write like Hemingway, at least not the way we’ve oversimplified his style, reducing it to strong verbs and short, declarative sentences. Hemingway Fails I plucked The Sun Also Rises from my shelf. Listen to this sentence: He was married five years, had three children, lost most of the fifty thousand dollars his father left him, the balance of the estate having gone to his mother, hardened into a rather unattractive mound under domestic unhappiness with a rich wife; and just when he had made up his mind to leave his wife she left him and went off with a miniature-painter. (4) That’s one sentence—just one. Penned by Hemingway himself.

For fun (and I’m not the first to try this), I pasted it into the Hemingway Editor online. This sentence received a poor score.

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Last week I talked about the mindset that believes growth is possible—that you are neither stuck at your current level nor have you arrived at mastery. With that mindset, you can begin to evolve and improve.

Today I recommend three simple writing tweaks that will keep your readers interested and engaged. 1. Use Active, Vivid Verbs Propel your story or idea forward with active, vivid verbs. Don’t fret about your word choices as you write your draft, but in the editing stage, especially, look for places you can swap a flat, lifeless verb for one that keeps the reader alert and engaged.

A few examples of flat, lifeless verbs:

“is" and other forms of “to be” (am, are, was, were, be, being, been, will be, and so on) “go” or “went" “have” or “had" “made" "do"

When you identify words like these that slow down your work, you open up new opportunities to improve. Start fishing for verbs that energize your writing and dream up new ways of expressing an idea or scene.

Let’s say a writer describes a troubling situation in her kitchen. She writes, “The Instant Pot made such weird sounds, I worried I’d missed a step with the lid position or the settings.”

By simply choosing a more vivid verb than “made” ("The Instant Pot made such weird sounds…”), creativity kicks in and the whole scene picks up. Like this:

“The Instant Pot fizzed and spit as the silver peg jiggled and wobbled. Did I miss a detail in the instruction book? Should I turn the lid one notch tighter or pick a setting lower than ‘ultra'?"

The scene expanded and changed in tone. By playing with the verbs, the sentence came alive.

This simple tweak can produce stronger writing in all genres. Turn to active, vivid verbs whenever possible and play around with options. 2. In General, Avoid “There was” Consider this common sentence structure: "There was a jogger who outran a terrier that nipped at her heels."

Because "There was" includes a form of "to be," I could have lumped this suggestion under the discussion of flat, lifeless verbs. Instead, I want to address this on its own.

“There was” Fills in for Unknown Subject Sometimes we use “there are” when we aren’t sure who or what the actor or subject is. Newspapers rely on this when reporting on a situation with limited information. “Last night there was a robbery at the gas station on the corner of 5th and Main.”

Perhaps the reporter turned to “there was" because police hadn’t said anything about the perpetrator. If so, the reporter didn’t have enough information to write, “Two men wearing clown masks robbed the gas station on the corner of 5th and Main.” To make the deadline for the morning paper, the reporter gave readers what he had so they are aware a robbery allegedly took place on the corner of 5th and Main.

“There was” Can Hide an Identity A writer might rely on “there was,” “there are,” or “there is” to avoid casting blame.

For example, a mom might write in an email, “I’m going to miss the meeting. There was a flood in our house from an overflowing toilet.” She chose “there was” on purpose to avoid pointing fingers at the particular child who flushed an entire roll of toilet paper and clogged the toilet to overflowing.

Sometimes identity doesn't matter. "There was a pine cone jammed in the gutter." No need to blame the squirrel or the wind when the focus of a scene is the pine cone itself.

As you can see, this construction comes in handy from time to time. But in general, avoid using it—especially because it can so easily be rearranged to create a more engaging alternative.

Alternatives to “There was” I can rearrange the example and play with variations.

"There was a jogger who outran a terrier that nipped at her heels" can quite simply become, “A jogger outran a terrier that nipped at her heels.”

Launching with "A jogger" instead of “There was” animates the scene compared with the original, which feels like a bystander is pointing over “there”...

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Last week, we started to explore a fear that haunts many writers, which is the fear that they aren’t good enough.

Or they think they aren’t enough. I hope you've explored the root of this fear and other fears that hold you back as a writer. I hope you're ready to move past the fears.

Instead of worrying, wondering, or fearing you aren’t good enough to write, you’re going to do something about it. You’re going to be a better writer.

For the next few weeks, we’re going to introduce, review, and practice some things we can do to improve, so that we’re getting better all the time.

Ernest Hemingway said, “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” In other words, we'll always be growing and changing as writers. When we have a beginner's mindset—when we see ourselves as an apprentice—we can continue to learn. Even those who feel confident in their writing skills can discover room for growth. We are all apprentices capable of becoming better writers. Believe You Can Change It sounds so simple, but any writer can get trapped in the belief they are stuck where they are in a kind of personal stasis—they assume their writing skills and ability are finite and unchangeable. The beginner’s fixed mindset This fixed mindset can haunt the insecure writer who feels he is trapped in mediocrity, unable to evolve and improve. He believes he'll never be good enough to submit his work to a journal or agent.

He believes he wasn’t born with that gift of writing, so there’s only so far he can go. He settles into the space he feels he’s allowed to occupy and sort of gives up. The experienced writer’s fixed mindset The thing is, this static mentality—this fixed mindset—can also plague the more experienced writer who’s found some degree of success. He settles into a comfort zone, seeing that he can consistently turn out material at about the same level of quality and readers continue to respond with enthusiasm.

Why change? Why grow? "Why fix what ain't broke?" he thinks. So he writes without stretching himself, satisfied with how his writing life has unfolded and where it’s taken him. He sees no need to grow beyond this. Both writers, stuck I'm glad for those who have reached goals and arrived at some level of success. Congratulations. But I confess...I hope to encourage those writers to believe they, too, can get even better and write even more challenging and captivating projects, whatever they may be.

So wherever you find yourself on this spectrum, I’m going to try to change your mind and your mindset.

If you feel you weren’t born with the writing gene and you believe have no hope of improving, I’m telling you, it’s time to learn about—and even test—the growth mindset.

If you’ve built publishing credits and produced an impressive portfolio of work—if you’ve sold books and hit bestseller lists—you, too, can improve. You’ve been received well, but you can be an even better writer.

Because we all can.

None of us is stuck or static. Embrace the Growth Mindset If you’ve been told only some people are natural born writers who emerged into the world with some kind of supernatural artistic gifts, that’s a fixed mindset, and the fixed mindset causes us to slam a door that was actually standing wide open to us.

This belief is supported by plenty of outliers we can point to—people for whom writing does seem easy, whose work astounds.

But writing skills can be learned and writers—even so-called natural-born writers, if they exist—are not locked into one level of greatness. None of us needs to feel stuck, yet many of us cling to the fixed mindset. “Oh, that’s not for me. I'm not a great writer. I can’t do that.” Everything Is "Figureoutable" The growth mindset reflects reality.

Someone with a growth mindset says everything is "figureoutable." Marie Forleo uses this word—this phrase—in her videos and attributes it to her mother. It’s a fun and freeing attitude toward life and work.

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A few times I brought my high school English papers to my dad for him to look over. Trained as a newspaper editor, he’d reach into his desk drawer and pull out either a red pen or a soft black pencil he used at work.

Sometimes he’d mark it on the fly while I was standing there, narrating his reasoning as the pencil left ominous black marks on the paper.

Other times I’d leave it with him and return to find entire paragraphs X’d out, words and phrases circled or deleted, giant question marks in the margins, and arrows pointing out problems here, there, and everywhere.

If I still had a copy of those drafts, I know now—as an adult—that his corrections significantly improved my work.

As a teen, though, I didn’t see it that way. Corrections felt like criticism, and I walked away dejected.

I wasn’t good enough. What’s your story? Have you endured an interaction where someone gave you the impression or outright told you that when it comes to writing, you aren’t good enough?

Did a parent, teacher, or editor offer criticism that caused you to question your writing hopes and dreams?

More recently, has anyone asked you to write something you’ve never attempted before and you thought, “I’m not good enough to write that?”

Have you signed up for a writing course only to realize your classmates seem far more experienced and knowledgeable—each time you turn in a project, their harsh comments cause your heart to crumble like one of those buildings that implodes and collapses into rubble?

Have you started work on a writing project feeling bold and brilliant—maybe you got some positive remarks from a few people—and then you’re suddenly hit with imposter syndrome, and you think: “I’m not good enough to do this!”?

You’re not alone.

Many writers fear they aren’t good enough, and some never get a project off the ground because the fear takes over. It shuts down their creativity and keeps them from finishing. If they manage to finish, they’re too afraid to share it with the world. Fears Upon Fears The fear of not being good enough is often tangled up with other struggles and fears so that we have fears upon fears:

fear of judgment fear of criticism fear of rejection fear of failure imposter syndrome people pleasing personalities perfectionism self-doubt insecurity anxiety

We're complex people and some of us are a bundle of neuroses. Understanding ourselves can give us insight into our writing roadblocks. As we identify our fears, we take a step toward overcoming them. Write the story behind your fears That’s my first suggestion: write about it. Write the story behind your fears. Not for publication; rather, write about it in a private journal, for your own benefit.

If you feel you aren't good enough to write, ask yourself why you believe that.

Write out scenes from your past where that message came through. Recall the scowls and frowns, those jabs and insults, those question marks and arrows and X’d out paragraphs that you carried with you into adulthood. Root out the experiences that have formed your unchanging, stifling belief. Sort out the complexities. When fears cause us to stop Whether comparing themselves to other writers or feeling haunted by criticism from their past, writers can struggle with crippling fear that they are not good enough.

Sometimes it manifests as self-doubt that nips at every word they tap out on the keyboard.

Sometimes it manifests as perfectionism that expects such shimmering prose that the writer gives up, feeling incapable of producing such high-level work. The fear of not being good enough can stir up insecurity in any writer, especially those plagued with paralyzing perfectionism.

Facing all those fears, they stop writing altogether.

Is that you?

Tell yourself a different story Well, my friend, it’s time for your story to end differently. We’re changing things up. I’m introducing a plot twist.

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Over the past week I followed several women on Instagram as they traveled to London for a literary-themed trip. One woman on the trip, Bri McKoy, posted a photo of a letter preserved under glass at St John’s College Library. The letter, written by Jane Austen’s father, was sent to a publisher, describing a book about the same length as a popular novel of the time. He wondered if they might be interested in taking a look at it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl_dpmkAeXt/

The publisher rejected the book, sight unseen, with the short reply "declined by Return of Post.” Famous Books Initially Rejected Here’s part of Bri's Instagram caption: Everybody, listen up! What you are looking at is a REJECTION for Jane Austen’s book PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Her dad sent a letter to a publishing house not only asking them to publish her manuscript but also telling them he would pay for everything. Still, they rejected it. They rejected it by sending his letter back to him. Can we sit with this for a moment? Someone. Rejected. P & P. We know of many stories like this.

Lithub pulled together a list of books initially rejected by publishers. The list included Madeleine L’Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, with 26 rejections from publishers, and Kathryn Stockett's The Help which endured 60 rejections from agents.

The website Bookstr pulled together a list of 10 books rejected multiple times, including Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which was rejected 12 times; William Golding's Lord of the Flies, rejected 20 times; and Carrie by Stephen King, rejected 28 times.

In her Instagram update, Bri pointed out how easy it is for us to have the luxury of knowing the whole story. “Listen,” she writes, “we know how that story ends….But what if we don’t know how the refusals handed to us end? What if we are sitting in our own unknown.” Writers in Their Own Unknown Websites like Bookstr don’t pull together a top ten list of writers who got rejection letters who still are unpublished. There’s no triumph there. There’s just the rejection. They’re sitting in their own unknown, so we don’t find inspiration in them.

St. John’s College Library doesn’t preserve under glass a rejection letter for a book that's still sitting on someone's hard drive, only read by a few beta readers and the writer’s mom.

The rejection letter is under glass because the book was rejected AND THEN was published and became the much-loved novel Pride and Prejudice.

Stephen King’s book Carrie made the list because it was rejected 28 times AND THEN it was picked up by a publisher and became a blockbuster commercial success and was made into a movie.

Same with The Help. It was rejected, AND THEN.

Many of us haven’t reached the AND THEN. We know the end of those other stories, but we don’t know the end of ours.

Worse, if we get the rejection, it feels like END OF STORY. That’s why we’re afraid. Take Heart: This Is Not The End I’m here to say it is not the end.

Bri encourages her readers to take heart. “Rejection is not an executioner. Rejection is a guide.” Then she goes through several possibilities.

This rejection could guide us to keep going or to pause.

To take a slight left turn even though we were certain we were to go right.

The idea could be too big or too small.

Then she says, “Remember you are living out a full story, not a highlight reel. Let rejection inform you, not destroy you.”

I join Bri in saying “take heart.” Take heart, because a rejection is not THE END. It’s not. So don’t let the fear of rejection keep you from doing the work. When Fear of Rejection Stops Us Before We Even Begin You may be afraid of a formal rejection by a magazine, an agent, or a book publisher where you submit your project. That fear may be holding you back from even sending it.

Don’t let it.

Don’t be afraid to try.

Query the agent. If they ask to see the manuscript, submit your work. Sign up for Submittable and send off your essays and s...

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I love that today’s theme comes from a newsletter subscriber who responded when I asked for ideas to address on the podcast or in articles. So this is a real writer with a real struggle—a reality for many writers.

This person wants to know: How to write when you work full time? That’s a tough one. It’s hard to have any kind of hobby or side hustle when you work full-time. When you put in the hours at work and come home exhausted, how can you possibly devote your depleted brain and energy to a creative project? Don’t Ignore the Ache I stayed home to raise our four children and we chose to home educate, so while I didn’t work full-time in a traditional sense, I had my hands full most hours of the day. Writing was extremely challenging during those years.

My dream was to have an entire day at my disposal, no interruptions, no diapers to change, no activities to organize. But that wasn’t the overall lifestyle we’d chosen. I thought if I couldn’t have the day to write—and if, in fact, my reality felt like I had NO time to write—why bother?

But I couldn’t ignore the ache. I ached to write.

Some days I felt hopeless. Some days I felt sorry for myself and didn’t bother even trying. Most days I wanted that all-or-nothing writing life.

So a lot of days I didn’t write. After all, I didn’t feel like I had the energy; or if I started, I’d only be interrupted. Why try?

But that ache wore on. Address the Ache I couldn’t go on like that. I had to address the ache. I suspect that’s where a lot of writers are—maybe the person who sent in this idea for a podcast.

You’re feeling the ache, that soul-ulcer chewing away at your creative impulse. You’re losing hope.

How do you write when you work full time?

Assuming you can’t quit, I hope you’re feeling something else rise up in you—something louder and stronger than the ache. Voice It It’s a voice, a determination within. A resolve.

You have something inside of you that must be voiced.

A barbaric yawp you’re ready to sound over the roofs of the world. I. Must. Write. That’s it.

You must write.

Yes, there’s writing in you, ready for the page. You can’t wait any longer.

There’s a writer in you, ready to yawp, and you know it. You can’t wait for the perfect conditions. You can’t wait until you inherit some distant relative’s fortune so you can quit your job.

No more waiting.

You must sound your yawp over the roofs of the world.

You must write.

Today.

Look for slivers of time and the occasional chunk of time here or there. Settle for less than the dream of a cabin in the woods. Whatever you can, grab it and write a few lines. Where Will You Write? Let me tell you a story.

Joseph Michael developed a Scrivener training course while he was working full time at another job. Scrivener is writing software, also an app, that many authors use because with it, you can manage longer, larger, more complex projects more easily than you can using Word or Google docs.

But Scrivener is a little confusing to most newbies; at least it was for me. So I grabbed his training course years ago when it was on sale and started watching, hoping to avoid bumbling around, losing important pieces of projects. I felt frustrated because I didn’t understand the system, so I walked through his short training lectures and made sense of Scrivener.

Years later, because of the success of his Scrivener course, Joseph Michael came out with some additional training on how to build courses—a course about courses. I didn’t buy the course about courses, but I signed up for a free introductory webinar, where he told how he recorded that early version of the Scrivener course.

He said he’d drive to work. On his lunch break, he’d head to the parking garage and record some of the Scrivener lessons—right there in the front seat of his car, wedged behind the steering wheel. In short sessions, hidden away in the parking garage of his workplace,

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Last week I told my email subscribers I'd love for future content to be inspired by the very issues that trip them up or hold them back. Today I’m going to spotlight one of the first responses:

What do you do with the initial ideas once you’ve got them?

This writer continued by saying they're great about coming up with a brief synopsis and sometimes even an outline but then they get stuck. "I never know where to begin! What’s the best way to start any story?” Story Ideas Are Gold—Store Them in a System First let me address at a practical level what to do with those initial ideas.

Not every writer generates a lot of motivating, marketable ideas, so if you have more than one, you're sitting on a creative gold mine. Take good care of your ideas and you’ll always have options.

Store any and all ideas in a safe place—ideally in a system designed for easy access, one that supports your project’s progress. Your Writing Pipeline I suggest setting up a Writing Pipeline, which I’ve explained in another article. Allow me to mention briefly that my Writing Pipeline consists of different folders set up in Evernote marked:

Ideas Drafts Final edits Shipped Archive

I have two more folders in the same stack that aren’t part of the actual pipeline but feed the pipeline, and those are:

Notes & Quotes Research

While Evernote has worked well for me, your Writing Pipeline folders could just as easily be set up in Trello, Google Docs, or any project management app or system you use. But the point is to be sure you have a place to capture, store, retrieve, and develop your ideas. Initial Idea Development Let’s say an idea comes to you one morning. You capture it in an Idea folder where you’ve stored several other ideas. Later that evening you review your ideas and decide to develop that one.

An idea needs time to grow and develop. You may want to map out a plot or flesh out a concept. You might make lists, draw mind maps, jot the main ideas or plot points onto Post-It notes, and assemble all that into a working outline.

This is where the writer who posed that question finds him or herself. If we’re at the same stage, we’re staring at files filled with at least a few ideas in early stages of development—with a synopsis and maybe an outline.

What now? Pick Your Favorite Story Idea It’s time to pick one of those ideas and write.

Not long ago I waded along the edge of a body of water. Scattered across the hot sand were not shells but stones. I picked up a few and gazed at them, admiring the lines that cut across one, the soft red hue of another, and the smooth feel of a flat gray stone against my fingertips.

I showed my selection of stones to a friend.

“I love stones!” she exclaimed. Then she headed out to the water’s edge to find her own choice handful. Others in our group did the same. Next thing you know, we were running up to each other, showing off our favorites, admiring the beauty.

Out of all the stones piled along the edge of the water, we’d all identified our own small selection that pleased us.

In the same way I was drawn to one of those stones more than another—and who knows why?—I sift through my Ideas file now and then, and find myself drawn to one of my ideas more than others.

The same can happen to you.

You’ll read through ideas and for whatever reason, your mind will ignite just a little more when thinking through one idea than it does for another.

And don’t choose one idea over another just because it’s further along. Why invest creative effort on a project that’s developed but void of energy?

If an idea is drawing your interest—if it feels right to you—pick it. Choose the one that grabs you; the one that captivates and fascinates you enough to sustain your interest. If you need to plan or plot it out, sit down and write out a synopsis or map out some chapters as your first step, while you’re feeling jazzed about it. Write And then…start writing.

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When I was in college, I bought a small recorder. A Sony, I think.

You’re wondering the year? Well, let’s just say I bought packs of cassette tapes for this gadget.

My goal was to record the lectures so I could play them back as I walked or biked across campus, listening to the material a second or third time. I took notes during the lecture, but if I re-listened to them on the go, I only needed to skim my notes to perform well on quizzes and tests. Ideal Input for Auditory Learners Many years later someone suggested I might be an "auditory learner." Though I love to read and I enjoy visuals, their label sounds about right.

Auditory learners like me tune their radios to talk shows, borrow from the library CDs of The Great Courses, download audiobooks, and subscribe to podcasts. Recorded content isn’t for everyone—podcasts may not “stick” with visual and kinesthetic learners, after all—but for me and many other auditory learners, they're ideal.

The stories, ideas, encouragement and teaching delivered via podcastsprovide valuable input without the need to crack open a book or stare at a screen. Podcasts Offer Flexibility Through podcasts, in particular, I can learn while jogging, walking, weeding, folding clothes, or driving down the road. If I’m sick in bed, I can press play to passively take in ideas.

Through podcasts I keep up-to-date with technology, I follow industry trends, and as much as I love audio, I am, of course, an avid reader, so I tend to take in most words from the page or screen and don’t always know how to pronounce them. When I listen to a podcast, people's voices become familiar, new words roll off my tongue with greater ease, and names of industry insiders become easy to pronounce—with the added bonus that ongoing exposure to the hosts' ideas and laughter makes them feel like old friends.

So maybe I'm preaching to the choir, and maybe you're already one hundred percent sold on the power of podcasts to deliver just what you need to boost energy and inspiration—even replacing conferences to some extent—but I’ll say it anyway:

If we subscribe to podcasts, we can learn on the go and supercharge our writing.

Depending on the podcast, the content might even contribute to personal growth and professional development.

All for free. Find Your Friends I find podcasts through recommendations from people I already listen to or read. I’ll skim the lists and stop on the titles or subject matter that sounds interesting. I’ll search for the show, sample an episode or two, and then decide whether or not to subscribe.

Sometimes those shows send me down yet another rabbit hole. If I enjoy the guest on an interview-based show, for example, and find out the guest has her own show, I'll give that a listen. And so I meander, finding more and more podcasts to stimulate my mind and bring me up to speed on best practices and industry twists and turns. Shows to Sample In my podcast player, I subscribe to shows that seem like they’ll consistently produce appealing, useful, encouraging material—and a few that are unpredictable. Those surprise me with a perspective completely different from mine. Sometimes I keep listening; sometimes I unsubscribe.

I invite you to sample a few I've enjoyed. This is not an exhaustive list, of course, and you might not click with them. If none feels like a good fit, I do hope at least one of the shows leads you to someone else who ends up becoming your next favorite podcast. Nine Writing-Related Podcasts to Try Here are nine writing-related podcasts to consider. I’ll include descriptions from their notes, to help you know the direction of that show. Novel Marketing Podcast A show for novelists who don't love book promotion but still want to become bestselling authors, hosted by Author Media CEO Thomas Umstattd Jr, and bestselling author and marketing guru James L Rubart. While their ideas are focused primarily on novelists,

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My dad started smoking when he was a teenager and smoked like a chimney all the way through college and into adulthood. He worked in the newsroom of a major metropolitan newsroom, where smoking cigarettes and cigars was the norm—almost expected. Isn’t that the stereotype from the movies?

Well, in the 1960s, when my mom realized she was pregnant with my brother, Dad quit smoking. Cold turkey.

The overnight switch must have been strange for his colleagues at the paper, with their coworker showing up to work the next day no longer shrouded in smoke. Overnight, unannounced, he changed a huge part of how others perceived him. He never smoked again. Rebranding Cold Turkey Can Be a Shock If you would make a sudden decision like that, it’s great for your health, but a bit of a shock when it comes to rebranding.

Yet, people do it.

I’ll bet we’ve all seen people suddenly stop writing with barely an announcement. They essentially shut down their blogs and social media accounts and walk away from whatever they’ve built. A clean break. No ambiguity. One hundred percent certainty. Then they begin with a new project, a new focus, a new tone.

They end one thing so they can start the next thing.

They move on to new ideas, new projects, new topics. The Type of Person to Rebrand Cold Turkey They may be the type to rip off the Band-Aid all at once. Or they leap into the cold pool without even pausing at the edge of the diving board—one bounce and splash!

Perhaps they leave up one blog post or article explaining their reasoning and that leaves their readers without any question or confusion as to what happened. It can tell people where to find them as they launch the new space for the new brand. That way it may be sudden, but it’s spelled out. Reasons People Rebrand Cold Turkey It happens. People rebrand for lots of reasons.

Maybe they grew weary of the subject matter. They got tired of the storyline. They felt drawn to something new. They ran out of energy or ideas. They changed in core ways and wanted their brand to match.

For whatever reasons, they decided it was time to move on. Cold Turkey Rebranding Benefits Rebranding in a sudden way certainly offers some benefits. Clarity A cold turkey switcheroo can throw faithful readers for a loop, but at least they have no question what’s happening. It’s clearly out with the old, in with the new. Readers See If New Content Feels Relevant If you rebrand cold turkey instead of choosing a slow transition, your long-time readers, while perhaps surprised, even baffled, at first, will see right away whether the new brand is relevant to them. Writer Can Focus Right Away on the New Another benefit of a sudden switchover is that the writer gains immediate freedom to focus completely on the new brand. He doesn’t have to drag it out over days, weeks, or months. If he’s excited about the new possibilities of the new look, feel, and content, he can get started right away building that. Cold Turkey Rebranding Disadvantages Rebranding in a sudden way may result in negative repercussions. Upset Readers An unpleasant possibility is that readers who felt they had no time to prepare or say goodbye leave with a bitter taste in their mouths. You can explain your reasoning sympathetically, trying to see it from their perspective.

And you can explain your reasoning clearly, trying to help them see your perspective. But you can’t control how they’ll feel or respond. Hopefully they see your logic and understand your decision and direction. Even if they stop following your work, I hope they wish you the best. Writer Loses Momentum Another challenge of rebranding cold turkey is that it takes time to build the new audience of new readers if you haven’t already gathered them in creative ways prior to the rebranding. In that in-between time, if the writer loses readers, he may also lose momentum. The excitement he felt at the new vision may fade as he feels he’s starting from scr...

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If you’ve concluded you really need to leave behind who you are and the writer you’ve been, and transition to a completely new look, feel, tone, and type of writing, you’re going to rebrand yourself.

You have options for how to go about it. Ways to Rebrand: Trial Run We’ve already discussed starting with a trial run, which often leads to integrating the new brand with the existing brand.

During the trial run, you have time to experiment before fully committing yourself—in fact, you could still back out and return to your existing brand if you don’t like how it sounds and feels, and you can’t imagine this focus for the next few years. Ways to Rebrand: Integrate But at some point, let’s say you decide to move forward and follow through. When you decide to keep the old and add in the new, that’s a way to rebrand by integration. Instead of completely changing, you actually absorb and expand. Ways to Rebrand: Slow Transition Now we’re diving into total change—the true pivot. When you leave it all behind, you can do it right away—suddenly—or you can transition over time. When you take your time rebranding, I think of that as a slow transition.

If you’re the type to pull a Band-Aid off in millimeter increments, stretching out the process over several minutes of tiny tugs instead of ripping it off all at once, this might be a good fit for you.

It might also be for you if you know your readers hate surprises—and you hate pulling the rug out from under them. Time to Adjust The slow transition eases your readers into this new you. And it gives them time to adjust to the idea that you’re changing—that eventually you’ll discontinue their favorite articles, posts, and tweets (or whatever) that you’re known for. They get a taste of what’s coming before the full shift takes place.

With the slow transition, readers have time to prepare, to find other writers offering similar content or styles, to adjust to the idea of life without your signature words and tone. As you slowly shift from the old brand to the new—when it’s clear what’s happening—you might even recommend to your readers other writers and authors who are similar to you and your style. Personal Rebranding: First, Integrate, Then... I’ve mentioned before that my website content was much less focused in the past. I wrote random stories about family and faith and eventually food. When I added food, those articles integrated with the existing brand, so readers never really felt a shocking jolt.

I continued with that kind of content for years on my personal website. In addition, I served on the editorial team of two online organizations.

I taught composition and creative writing and coached speech once a week to high school students.

I led writing workshops.

I wrote another book.

I became a writing coach.

A friend and mentor nudged me to focus my website on that and that alone. If I did that, it meant my core me—my core brand—would have to change. It meant I’d have to rebrand.

I was nervous. I hate making people upset. And I definitely hate pulling the rug out from under someone. Shifting to Slow Transition So I did it in stages, in a slow transition.

My tagline “Ann Kroeker, Writer” shifted first to “Ann Kroeker: Writing Coach, Editor, Friend.” About a year later, I dropped “Editor” and “Friend,” which my son thought was hysterical because it implied I wasn’t a friend anymore.

My brand became, simply: Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

It was a slow process, but I rebranded. Rebranding Aftermath: Readers Decide to Stay, Linger, or Leave And all those readers who followed me because I posted recipes on Friday witnessed the slow change.

Instead of waking up one Friday and finding me basically gone—suddenly become a writing coach—wondering what in the world happened, they could see the content shifting. I even said as much at one point—I let them know I was stepping into my role of writing coach not just on the side but online.

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You’re going for it. You decided you’re going to rebrand yourself.

How will you go about it?

We already discussed one option: the trial run. Rebrand Yourself: Integrate Today we’ll see if choosing to integrate will work best. When you rebrand yourself in this way, it’s almost a continuation of your trial run in that you integrate the new brand with the existing brand. Instead of completely changing, you actually absorb the new and expand the old.

If you like the brand you’ve built and you love the people who read your work, this may be the best approach for you, because you don’t have to completely abandon what you’ve built or turn away from the people who know, like, and trust you. New + Old This isn’t a true pivot in that readers will still recognize your brand. When you rebrand in this way, they’ll get new content—possibly in a new tone—alongside the old. It’s like a merger takes place.

If you’re the type to set more places at the table for a dinner party and try new recipes every time, maybe this is how you can rebrand. Cook up new content and invite new people to sit at your table. My Integration Last time you heard about my food integration—how I launched Food on Fridays and added it to the lineup of articles I published at my website. Existing readers thought it was fine and some of them loved it. Then I gained more readers, which was fun. To top it off, the Friday feature provided my website with much needed rhythm and focus.

So after my experimental phase, which lasted about a month or two, I kept it. I integrated Food on Fridays with all the other content I created. In fact, this new content served as a highlight of the week that many readers looked forward to more than any other stories I might publish.

I would have abandoned it after the trial run if readers hated it, because I wasn’t completely married to the idea, but it turned out to be a good move, a good experiment, a great addition. I avoided jolting faithful fans and longtime readers and I added new ones by integrating content that didn’t clash with the existing brand. Rebrand Tone and Attitude But it’s not just content that inspires a rebranding effort.

I’ve seen some online professionals shift from an edgier tone to one that sounds more professional. They don’t dress dramatically different if you compare old video footage of them with more recent clips, but I noticed a few have dropped their bravado.

In some instances, when I first encountered these brands, they were perfectly comfortable dropping the F bomb. Later, as they rebranded, they reduced and in some cases completely eliminated it.

Now, I don’t know their reasons, and I don’t feel I should point them out by name, but I do wonder if they lost any original readers who liked that edge of the original brand’s tone and attitude.

At the same time, I wonder if, with the rebranding, they gained new fans who might not have felt comfortable learning from the previous persona?

Whatever the outcome, I witnessed their brand shift from one “feel” to another, even though their content remained basically the same. They train and teach in the same field, so the rebranding was less about what they wanted to talk about and more about how they’d talk about it. They integrated a different approach when it came to their tone. Set Up Your Rebranding Experiment If you’re itching to rebrand in any way, whether content or tone, and you haven’t set up a trial run yet, do it now.

Decide on a simple experiment to test out new content with your existing readers. Your readers like what you’ve been doing. That’s why they keep coming back for more. Try new content with them a few times in creative ways without stopping what they love.

Write a blog post on a new topic and publish it. Gauge their response. Do they love it, hate it, ignore it?

Slip in the new “feel”—add some humor and sassy bits if you’re trying to jazz it up, or soften your sharp critique if you want to tone it...

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You’re going for it. You decided you’re going to rebrand yourself.

How will you go about it?

You have options. One is what I’ll call “Trial Run.” Next time, we’ll talk about “Integration.” Then “Slow Transition” followed by “Cold Turkey.” Only the second two represent a true pivot—a total change in direction, where you’re moving on and not going back.

Today let’s talk “Trial Run.” One way to find out if a total change is in order, is to give the new content a trial run. Publish New Content on Website Try dedicating one day a week or once a month to writing and publishing new content in the new voice on your existing website and other spaces while maintaining the old content.

Gauge reader response. How responsive are they and is it positive or negative?

See how you feel, too—decide if you like creating and sharing it as much as you thought you would. Ways to Measure Reader Response Back when I wrote about family and faith, I felt inspired to write regularly about food. This was in the early days of food blogging. In fact, a lot of the biggest names had not even launched their websites yet; food photography was far less formal or fancy than it is now, so it seemed like a reasonable idea.

I started a Friday feature focused on food and added one of those link-up tools bloggers use so others could write about food at their own websites and link their articles to mine. Evidence Through Linkup and Comments The response to my trial run confirmed a strong interest. Other bloggers loved linking up posts that had something to do with food and thanked me in the comments for creating it. Usually their posts included a recipe, but I didn’t insist.

When I launched Food on Fridays, I didn’t know if I would continue—it was an experiment. But the number of enthusiastic bloggers joining the linkup and the cheery comments from readers encouraged me to continue. I kept that up for years, posting about food every Friday, even when I was on vacation. Evidence Through Social Media Shares Also, when Pinterest became a thing, some of my recipes were pinned and shared numerous times. That, too, provided useful data further solidifying my decision to change up my existing brand a bit and add in food. It didn’t clash with my content and it brought in new readers. Evidence Through Correspondence Depending on what kind of experiment you’ll be conducting, people may hesitate leaving a public comment under that article. Those who feel they know you well may send you an email, instead. Some may offer a thought on a social media platform, when you share a link to your article there. All of this can help you decide if this is the direction you want to go. Publish New Content on Social Media You can distance the experiment from your existing content by sharing nuggets in a new style or tone on a social media platform.

Write about the new topic or in the new genre and publish it on Facebook—in fact, maybe you push it out on your personal profile instead of your professional page. See how your friends respond without committing your primary website to hosting that content right away.

It’s a low-risk approach that still gives you helpful input as you consider rebranding. I’ve seen friends post about cultural or political concerns in these spaces before they publish similar content on their blog. They get a chance to express their concerns and see if they want to completely switch. I’ve seen writers post in a different tone, as well, to see how friends respond with likes or comments. Pitch Other Publishers You can also pitch other publishers in hopes they will feature your new passion in another space altogether, like a magazine with a narrow niche that aligns with your new brand.

They’ll already have a built-in audience interested in the kinds of ideas or tone you’re leaning toward. See if those readers love your contribution. That can give you hope you’ll find new readers if you lose your existing base in the switch.

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In the last episode, I finally attempted to define an author brand. Before that, we talked about staying consistent with the core you—the brand you’ve developed, the tone you take, the voice your readers have come to enjoy.

The episode before that, we discussed setting aside a place to play online—perhaps on a social media platform—so you can let your hair down and play with new topics or new approaches to your writing.

While you’re playing, you may find a new love, a new passion, a new you. Even though you understand you have a core you, the process of playing led you to realize you’d like to change focus and shift to new subject matter or new genres using a new tone or voice.

And by gum, you’re gonna redesign the whole website to match.

Despite gaining a following and discovering readers who like what you have to say and how you say it, you decide you want to pivot—to rebrand. You Can Use Your Platform First, let me say you certainly can write whatever you want to write. And if you’ve built up a substantial readership and have a good number of fully engaged followers, you may feel compelled to use your platform to talk about something important to you.

That’s the privilege of having a platform. You can use your influence to impact the people who are listening to you, even if it means writing off topic once or twice and publishing content that’s off brand. Think Twice Before You Pivot But if you’re feeling the itch to make a global shift, a true pivot where you change dramatically and permanently to speak and write differently from now, you might think twice.

You’ve been writing about food, let’s say, and now you want to focus on travel.

Or you’ve been writing about family and now you want to switch to politics.

Your novels are selling well, and now you want to publish nonfiction.

I’m not stopping you from rebranding. But before you make that decision, consider some questions. What's Behind the Shift? If you've worked hard to develop a platform and got results—you gained a following—why the change? What’s behind this shift?

I’ll toss out some questions to help you think about what's behind it:

Are you tired of the topic? Bored by the subject matter? Do you find this new passion has completely captured your heart and mind to the exclusion of your original focus? Do you love a billion different things and hate being pinned down and pigeon-holed? Are you gravitating to shiny new possibilities? Does this new idea seem fresh and exciting compared with what you’re currently known for? Is the desire to change rooted in avoidance—that is, are you avoiding doing work related to this audience and this project and this commitment? Are you afraid of success? Do you worry your words will be taken the wrong way by your growing audience? Now that you’re more visible and prominent, are you wondering if people will grow tired of you? Are you afraid you’ll run out of things to say? Do you sense a deep discomfort in your spirit, like you need to abandon something that feels wrong? Do you sense a deep stirring, like a call to step into some new vision? Are you yourself changing and you want your writing brand to match the person you’re becoming?

See if you can diagnose the motivation and then decide if you want to change. You may rethink things, or you may conclude it’s time.

Just know that it’s a big decision with ramifications. So do think twice before flipping the switch. After all, you developed your existing brand because you believed in it. Aspects of it must still feel true and right and good. Remember Your Readers And your friends, followers, and fans—your readers—are turning to you for a reason. They know, like, and trust your brand. They love how you write and what you say. They enjoy the stories you tell and the tone in which you tell them.

Before you rush to rebrand yourself, think of those readers. Whether you have three, 93, or 10,003 readers,

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I guess I got ahead of myself.

I’ve been talking about author branding, but I didn’t describe or define it. And in this world of author branding, you may be wondering, “Uh...what’s an ‘author brand’?”

Sorry to leave you full of questions. Like:

Is it the logo you design and the colors you choose for your website? Is it the font you use for your name? Is it the banner image you use on Facebook or the photo that shows up in Gravatar? Is it the art on your book cover? Is an author brand more about voice and style? Is it tied to the subject matter you’re known for? The topics you tackle? Is your brand revealed in the way you manage your Instagram feed and select images for your blog?

Maybe all this talk of “brand” sickens you. “Seriously?” you’re thinking, “Brands are for jeans and perfume and hotdogs, not writers!” Thinking of yourself as a brand feels slick, commercial, and product-y. “Brand” sounds like marketing manipulation or sales-speak. “I’m a Writer, Not a Brand!” “I’m not a brand!” you’re shouting. “I’m a person! A writer! An artist!”

And of course if you’re shouting that, you’re right—absolutely right. We are not neon signs to flick on and flash in a window or a color palette and typography design hoping to entice interest.

We are people—people who love words.

We tell stories. We pour out our hearts and hold out hope to the world. We’re essayists, memoirists, novelists, poets. We are artists. (But I Would Love Readers to Read My Work) And yet, if we seek publication, we’re trying to draw interest. If we’re doing more than write in a journal, we must be hoping to find readers for our articles, our poetry, our short stories, our books.

If we write for the public, we want to impact people. If we’re honest, we’d love readers to read our work, wouldn’t we? Readers Default to “Brands" And readers face a lot of choices. When a person shells out money for a book or sinks time into reading an article, she wants to be pretty sure it’s worth it. So she’s choosy.

Sure, she’ll read someone new, especially on a friend’s recommendation, but she tends to gravitate to the writers she has come to know, like, and trust. She turns to those writers who turn out content that consistently addresses her need or lifts her up or makes her think or laugh or sigh. She reads the writers she knows will help meet her need.

She probably doesn’t think of it this way, but she turns to author brands. A Brand Is a Promise So that’s a way to think of brands and writers. How can we become that trusted writer who consistently addresses a reader’s needs or lifts her up or makes her think or laugh or sigh?

How can we offer an unspoken, informal promise of sorts, that when a reader finds us and reads our words, he will get to know us and we’ll deliver content in the same general vein.

If, for example, I don’t use four-letter words in my content then suddenly spew a stream of them unexpectedly, I broke my “promise,” so to speak, and went off brand. I blindsided my readers who had come to trust my tone and turn up my podcast or read aloud my articles within earshot of their conservative grandmother or grade school kids. A Brand Accumulates, Forms, and Strengthens Over Time Whether intentional or random, everything we write and send out—from social media updates to podcast episodes—is leaving people with an impression about who we are and what we’re like.

Over time, one blog post, magazine article, short story, or poem at a time, you’re becoming known for something. Over time, you gain visibility. And over time, your brand is forming and strengthening into something. A group or groups of people are beginning to recognize you.

You can see how it does involve a lot of different elements, including our subject matter, our tone, and, yes, even the colors on our website, our author photo, the cover art on our book covers, and the style of our logo. What Comes to a Reader's Mind

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Last time we talked about having a playground. A place to relax and try new things. A place where you can experiment and be a little messy until you figure out how you want to use that space. Consistent at Your Core At the same time, be consistent at your core.

Not that you look exactly the same everywhere you go. I mean, that’s not even realistic. Think about it in practical terms: Sometimes you’ll be speaking at a conference and dressed in a professional outfit while other times you’ll be doing a live video feed while walking your dog. It’s appropriate and expected to literally look different and to exude a different tone in one space versus another.

But somehow I should have no question I’m listening to the same person. Everywhere I encounter you—online, at a conference, or in line at Starbucks—I should sense that you are essentially the same.

Whether you’re dressed in your best suit for a photo shoot or sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows with friends, be the same core you. Consistent with Content Maintain consistency in content, too, to avoid blindsiding readers.

That doesn’t mean you write the exact same subject using different examples over and over. That would get boring. And tedious.

Instead, write under the broader themes you’re known to explore. If you’re a lifestyle blogger, you might have a few subtopics you write about: travel, photography, food. And let’s say you write about those things with a frugality focus: money-saving travel tips, how to get the most out of your DSLR, meal planning on a budget.

Readers love your articles. You’re saving them money and you’re a little bit sassy when introducing a product or destination. They follow you for updates.

If you suddenly start writing about politics in a cynical tone, your audience will wonder what’s going on. You don’t sound like you and you’re not delivering them subject matter they’ve expected from you.

Now, you’re free to write whatever you want, and you may choose to leverage your platform for a higher purpose. Why Do Readers Come to You? Just keep your audience in mind...your readers. Why do they come to you?

If you’re the frugal travel blogger and suddenly you start spotlighting luxury hotels that cost $600 a night, and you toss French phrases around as if you’re wearing a beret and drinking champagne, readers who have appreciated your tips for backpacking across Europe and choosing the best hostel will feel like your content isn’t for them any longer.

But let’s say you won a luxury trip where your hotels would have cost $600 a night. Your readers might enjoy seeing frugal you marveling at resort living. You could position the luxury outing as Budget Traveler Stumbles into Wonderland. Writing Coach or Arborist? If someone comes to my website or listens to my podcast week after week expecting something related to writing encouragement, instruction, or inspiration, they’d feel confused if I suddenly offer a clinic on tree trimming. I might be an amateur arborist perfectly capable of leading a clinic on tree trimming, but my readers would be scratching their heads. “That’s weird. I come to Ann for writing input, not tree trimming advice.”

If, however, a big part of my brand is sharing stories from my personal life, perhaps my readers already knew I’m an amateur arborist, so if a comment showed up on social media about my recent neighborhood tree trimming seminar, it wouldn’t be a total shock. (I’m not an amateur arborist, for the record, so don’t ask me for tips. But I do make excellent steel cut oats, and if you ever want to know my secret, the instructions do still live on this website.) No Big Surprises Readers who encounter your words on a page or your images on Instagram or your remarks in a tweet or your interview on a podcast should not be shocked by a huge surprise that is incongruent with who you are and what you stand for. Your message should be relatively consistent.

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If you scroll through my Instagram feed, it won’t take long before you’ll see quotes on pictures, quotes with colored backgrounds, sourced images and my own snapshots all jumbled together. It’s not pretty.

You’ll see travel pictures and book after book lying on a marble table, which is one of two or three decent backdrops in my home.

The captions vary. Some are long, some are short. Sometimes I write stories to go with the image; other times, I simply add a little quote or brief explanation.

Then there are the Stories. My Instagram Stories aren’t overly planned out and I don’t add a lot of embellishment. I just talk for 15 seconds and then send it off.

There’s no rhyme or reason to any of my Instagram content. There’s no grand plan.

It’s sporadic.

It’s an experiment.

It’s a playground.

On Twitter, I have a more thoughtful approach. I have a philosophy of sorts going over there...a purposeful flow of content I’m tweeting out. Same with Facebook—it’s fairly easy to figure out what I’m doing there. And I follow a straightforward schedule with predictable content on my website and podcast.

But Instagram is where I mess around and try things out.

One day I may commit to a smarter approach that matches my overall brand, but I think it’s important while building an author platform to reserve a place to play. While Building a Platform, We Need a Place to Play In an era when writers must take personal branding and platform-building seriously to be considered by traditional publishers, we must be smart about establishing our online presence.

We set up our digital home base—our website. Then we secure “satellite offices,” if you will, on social media platforms. We show up as the author of a guest post on someone’s website or find ourselves interviewed on a podcast. We stay on topic. We strengthen our brand. We build an audience that appreciates our message and our voice.

In the midst of those efforts, I like to set aside one space where I can be more natural, casual, and real—where I can test story ideas and experiment with my voice a bit.

If your brand exudes a natural, casual, real vibe everywhere, cool! You live with more freedom than some writers, you lucky duck. Some writers, given their topic, convey a more put-together feel on social media and write in a professional tone as part of their brand in order to reach their primary audience.

They need a place to let their hair down, and the good news is that these days, readers enjoy seeing even put-together professionals in their natural environment. Writers—They're Just Like Us! Have you seen the “Stars—They’re Just Like Us” section of US Weekly magazine? “There’s Kerry Washington buying lettuce at Whole Foods! She’s just like us.” “How fun to see Zac Efron walking his dog! He’s just like us.” “Wow, Cindy Crawford pumps her own gas—she’s just like us.” “How about that—Ann Kroeker reads entertainment magazines! She’s just like us!”

Uh, a quick disclaimer: My mom gave me a gift subscription to US Weekly and Taste of Home back in 2012, so for the record, I didn’t seek it out myself and the subscription ran out several years ago. And I don’t flip through it at the grocery store checkout stand. (Well, at least not that often.)

But if I did, that would be one of the features I’d flip to. Because I think it’s fun to see the movie or music stars I usually see dressed up and walking the red carpet spotted in normal places in ordinary clothing, shuffling around in flip flops slurping an Orange Julius, just like us. You're Someone's Star Maybe we writers working on building our platforms aren’t big stars—at least, not yet.

But someone is already looking up to you.

Some reader has arrived at an article you wrote for an online magazine or for your own website and thought, “Wow, I never thought about it that way before.” Or, “I could never write like her. She’s amazing.”

Even if your style isn’t dressy or formal,

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As a writer, you know how amazing it feels to get positive feedback on something you've shared with the world, whether a blog post, article, poem, or even a short social media update.

And if you're an author trying to get a book into the hands of readers, you appreciate each and every person who buys your book and reads your book. You’re moved and humbled by readers who tell others about your book, or give your book as a gift, or leave a positive review, or show up at your book launch and book signings.

You're probably already doing a lot of that for other writers. But I know that when my life gets busy, the pile of books I mean to read and review sits untouched while I scramble to finish my own projects. I fail to send off a timely note to encourage a friend who's just released her book. I delay recommending it on Goodreads. Help Writers Find New Readers I forget, that, like each and every one of us, I can help a writer push into new groups of people—my groups of people—to find readers he might not be able to connect with on his own.

No matter how many followers we have on any platform, no matter how many subscribers we have on our email distribution lists, we can make a difference in another writer's life by helping share their projects with the people who know us. Collecting Ideas That Truly Help After attending a writing festival in April, I left inspired to do more—to be a better literary citizen. I poked around online, gathered ideas from people who have been on launch teams, and asked other authors who have benefited from the support of readers: What did those readers do? And what truly helped?

I collected this input to make a list of action steps I can take to support and serve fellow writers. Then I converted it to a checklist so I can do at least one of these things each week. Busy Readers Can Encourage Writers I'm sharing it with you not to generate any guilt or put any pressure on you...only to share what I've collected and offer a reminder that it doesn't take much to make a difference. Most of these ideas would take no more than five minutes, especially if we were in that space anyway.

If we're poking around on Goodreads, for example, it wouldn't take much to recommend a book to someone we think would enjoy it. If we're in a library doing research, we could take a couple of minutes to fill in a request that they acquire a friend's book.

I assembled this list for myself, but I hope the ideas leave you inspired to join me in spreading goodwill and good words for our fellow writers everywhere we go. 20 Generous (and Easy!) Ways to Encourage a Writer Today I’ll share the ideas with additional thoughts right here and now in more detail. If one stands out to you—take note and take action (get your copy of the whole collection using the form below):

Sign up for a writer's newsletter (and read it!). If something they send strikes a chord, hit reply and let them know. Buy books. Stop by a brick and mortar store if you can—many of us encourage support of independent bookstores whenever possible. But don’t limit yourself. Buy the book anywhere, new, and it’ll boost sales. If a store doesn’t have it in stock, ask them to order a copy. You’ll get the copy you want, and the book will get on their radar. Preorder a book that's about to be released, which helps in many ways, such as showing the publisher sales numbers in advance and maybe even pushing the book to rank high in some bestseller algorithms. Feature a writer on your website. Interview or write about someone on your blog. Link to the writer’s website to send traffic her way and introduce her to your own readers. If this writer is also an author, send people to places her books are for sale. Rate and review on Amazon. Write an honest, positive review (many stars are helpful, too). Keep in mind a thorough, thoughtful review helps potential readers decide if the book is right for them,

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This coming Sunday in the United States we celebrate Mother’s Day. Eight years ago, I wrote a tribute to my writer-mom, reflecting on they way she modeled how to live the tension of being the mom she wanted to be while also being the writer she wanted to be.

This tribute included family stories and my own memories and fun photos that helped me remember. To honor her publicly, I published it on my website, though I could have written it as a gift and presented it privately. Write Your Tribute It’s not too late for you to write a tribute—a set of memories that celebrate and honor a mother in your life.

This mother can be your biological or adopted mother or a grandmother. This mother might be your wife. Maybe your children are grown and you have a daughter or daughter-in-law who has herself become a mother. This mother can be a friend or a mother-figure—sometimes a Sunday school teacher, guidance counselor, aunt, or neighbor will fill that role for someone.

Pick a mother you’d like to elevate, celebrate, and honor. Decide if you want to share it publicly and/or privately, then come up with a structure to write this tribute. Resources to Support and Inspire Your Process I’d like to suggest two resources that might help you, both of which—in full disclosure—are written or collected by friends of mine. The Mother Letters The first is The Mother Letters: Sharing the Laughter, Joy, Struggles, and Hope. This collection of short essays in the form of letters was compiled by Amber C. Haines and her husband, Seth Haines, who reached out to friends Amber knew online and in person asking them to send letters addressed to “Dear Mother.” Seth's plan was to collect them and present them all together as a surprise Christmas gift.

So many letters poured in, Seth could barely manage all of them. But he did. He assembled and presented them to her that Christmas morning and Amber received a gift that spoke to her mama-life, as the letters, one after another after another, confessed, as she herself wrote, “how little any of us know and how precious it is to be right where we are and who we are” (The Mother Letters, 14).

The letters were from mothers to a mother; tributes to motherhood itself, encouragement for a mother; they celebrated motherhood and the power of the letter form.

Years later, Seth and Amber realized her Christmas gift held wisdom that could help many others, so they decided to pull a selection of the letters into a gift book. And that became The Mother Letters.

I mention it not only because it’s a lovely book and—full disclosure again—I confess I have a short essay included in the book. But I also mention it because the letter form is an excellent way to write a tribute.

Consider writing your tribute as a letter. Pack it with memories and spotlight the strengths this mother in your life is known for—strengths she may need to hear spoken back to her. Everything That Makes You Mom The other resource that can help you collect memories, compose your thoughts, and structure your project is Everything That Makes Your Mom: A Bouquet of Memories, by Laura Lynn Brown.

In this book, Laura offers prompts to draw out memories, often focusing on a topic or theme or time of year or type of memory. She includes brief vignettes—memories of her own mother—to serve as inspiration. She follows the vignette with questions which, as she writes in the introduction, “help to exercise your own memory muscles.”

And this gift book leaves space to write out your memories directly on the pages, so that the book itself can be given to the mother you are honoring, if you wish. Write Your Tribute Today At the time of this writing, there’s still time for you to write your tribute for Mother’s Day. But if you’re reading it later, write a tribute anyway.

What mom wouldn’t love to be celebrated in this way on Mother’s Day or any day...memory by memory, by someone she loves who remembers her laughter, joy,

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About 20 minutes before the my dad’s calling and funeral service were scheduled to begin, we were milling around, chatting with various family members, organizing papers for the service.

Throughout the week, my brother and I searched for photos and significant mementoes to display or add to a slide show. Scrapbook Recollections During that search, my brother unearthed a scrapbook I created decades ago. He brought it to the funeral home, since it spotlighted a lot of Dad’s family members and memories.

I’d forgotten all about it, but apparently I’d interviewed Dad as I showed him items like an old clock or a painting. I also pulled out his old photo album filled with images of his family members. Most of them were old, old photos dating back to the early 1900s.

Maybe I made this for a college class or for a birthday gift, but whatever the reason, I recorded him talking as he described the item, the original owner, and told stories about the people in the album. Then I transcribed everything and put it together in this scrapbook.

I handed it to my nephew. “Did your dad show you this?”

He took the scrapbook and shook his head no.

“Well,” I said, “these are stories I had Grandpa tell me about people and stuff. You’ll recognize the clock and some of the artwork. You might enjoy it. It’s your family, after all.” Uncle Ed Before long, my kids and their cousins were all leaning over the album, reading the stories and looking at each item. I was standing nearby when I heard them all laugh about one of their grandpa’s recollections.

“What’s funny?” I asked.

“It’s this ‘Uncle Ed.’” My nephew pointed to an old photo. “Grandpa went on and on about other family members—this lady was a nurse in the Army and this guy was a captain and was really important. Then all he had to say about Uncle Ed was...”

My nephew leaned down and I could see the slim strip of paper I’d printed out and mounted below the photo of a man. “‘Uncle Ed didn’t do much with his life.’” He looked up. “That’s it. That’s all he has to say about Uncle Ed.”

Everyone laughed yet again.

“Poor Uncle Ed!” I said. “Surely he did something with his life?” Reducing a Life to One Line My brother had joined the conversation by now. “You know,” he said, “when you get one generation past the death of someone, your whole life does seem to get reduced to just a few stories.”

My brother would deliver the eulogy that day. He said it was hard to know what to highlight about Dad out of all his stories and all his interests.

My brother continued, “When you get a couple of generations removed, like Uncle Ed is to us, sometimes all that’s left is one single line.”

Oh boy.

If I’m remembered for just one line, I hope it isn’t, “Ann didn’t do much with her life.” Writers Leave Behind More Than a Line I’ll remind you of one advantage we have as writers: we can leave behind more than one line. We can leave behind books and stories and essays and poems and journals.

Simply by writing—by building a body of work, especially nonfiction but fiction, too—we control the narrative we leave behind to some extent. At the very least, we offer a collection of source documents, if someone ever wants to dig in and learn more. One-Line Legacy - A Summary of Your Life But at our funerals one day, someone will have to summarize our lives as my brother had to summarize Dad's.

In episode 149, I urged you to write your own obituary or eulogy, reflecting on a life you’d like to live. That obituary is a summary of a life, not a biography, but it can be long and fairly detailed.

This time, we’re going to summarize even tighter: What one line would you like to be remembered for?

If we get to the end of our life, and a generation or two removed, and some great-great-grandnephew points to your picture in an album, what one story would that be? Assuming you could control what’s remembered, what would you want the cousins leaning in to read?

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When my dad died in March, our family worked together to write the obituary. Each of us thought back on his life to decide the right stories to tell, the best details to share.

What career highlights or life accomplishments should we bring up? What was he known for? How could we best capture his personality? Obituary Eventually we landed on a version of the obituary to publish in the local newspapers, to be read by family and friends and maybe a few strangers. People who didn’t know him got a glimpse of who he was. People who did know him wrote us lovely notes along the lines of, “Yes! That’s the man I remember!” or “I didn’t know that about him.” Eulogy For the funeral service, my brother wrote a eulogy. Eulogies are more personable than obituaries, as they tend to be presented through the lens of the speaker and reflect that relationship, though the eulogy might be delivered by a pastor who interviews people and pulls together their stories into one cohesive piece. To Summarize a Life Thinking back on a person and trying to summarize a life—that’s quite an undertaking. Sobering, too, for the person doing the thinking, writing, and summarizing.

As I wrote reflections about my dad for the service, I began to wonder about my own life. Maybe funerals bring that out in all of us who attend. We think about our lives today, our lives in the future.

What is a life?

What is...my life?

What would I want to be known for? What would someone include in my obituary? What accomplishments would they point to from my youth all the way through my retirement years? How would someone summarize my life?

What values would they remark on? What passions or hobbies? How would they describe my personality? What would they say was my legacy—what did I leave behind in the world? Creative Writing Assignment Creative writing teachers often make this assignment: to write your own obituary or eulogy.

But you don’t write it as if you’re going to die tomorrow. Don’t worry at all about when or how you might die. That’s not part of this reflection.

Instead, focus on how you will live. Project yourself into the future and try to imagine how you will have lived.

Just talking about it creates a verb tense challenge—following through with the assignment is a bit of a mind bender.

You project yourself into the future and reflect back on your life as if you’ve already lived it.

What life do you want to have lived?

By writing your own obituary, you figure out the life you’ve lived thus far, and the life you want to live from this point forward.

It’s a useful exercise for creative writing and...for life. Viktor Frankl's Daily Exercise, Expanded Viktor Frankl offer a daily exercise that Donald Miller summarized in a blog post. Frankl “taught his patients to treat each day as though they were living it a second time, only this time around to not make the same mistakes.” It’s a mind trick. Miller points out it calls us to “evaluate the decisions we will make that day before we make them, and as such, avoid regret.” In other words, you live the day the way you intended to live it.

In a similar way, we can expand Frankl’s mind trick and look ahead at our entire life as though we are living it a second time, avoiding mistakes and making choices and decisions so that when we get to the end, we lived the life we intended to live. Best Case Scenarios This is not an exercise in playing out the future based on where we are at this moment, describing a depressing path assuming nothing changes. Don’t play out worst-case scenarios.

This is an opportunity to form the life we want to live, dreaming of possibilities if we continue good habits or change bad ones and start living differently today.

In doing so, we may avoid regret and build a life portfolio of sorts—so that someone can look back at this life we lived and built, and highlight something we hope is worth highlighting.

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On a recent road trip, I loaded the “up next” feature of my podcast player with every episode that sounded intriguing. One episode would play after another without my having to touch it. Hours of Filling the Mind As I rolled down the freeway, I listened to hours and hours of podcasts, filling my mind with interviews, ideas, tips, and strategies related to writing and publishing, creativity and productivity, social media and marketing.

That continuous input felt like taking back-to-back sessions at a conference or classes at college. Hungry to learn, I gorged on the steady diet of nourishing information. Hours of Stilling the Mind When I arrived at my destination, I turned off the podcast player.

Silence.

My brain grew still.

That’s naturally what happened at the end of my long journey. But of course that’s exactly what I needed next. After filling my mind, I needed to still my mind.

I needed to build in space and time to process and ponder the content I had taken in. I needed time to decide which ideas I could “own” for myself and integrate into my life and work. How could I test them out without some degree of stillness? Hours of Input Need Hours of Silence My outing was my Grand Gesture, if you recall from the last episode. I was near a beach. I made a commitment to walk every day, at least an hour. Sometimes two.

As I walked, all that input from hours of listening and learning tumbled around in my mind, mixing with whatever I’d dropped in there over the years.

Waves spilled against sand and lulled me into a relaxed state of trust in the directions my mind meandered. Freed from overthinking and overanalyzing, I solved a few sticky issues and casually outlined a few projects. I gained excitement and vision for the year ahead. Fill + Still = Breakthroughs While I have a lifetime of input floating around inside me, I believe in the importance of continuing to fill myself with more. I’m a lifelong learner, I guess. I want to keep my mind sharp.

But I also see the value—the necessity—of following the filling with a stilling my mind, giving it space to make connections and arrive at breakthroughs.

We have those a-ha moments while walking, showering, folding laundry, washing dishes. When we aren’t actively problem-solving, our minds are still enough to wander, think, make connections. This is a valuable state for a writer in need of breakthrough for a sticking point in a project. Effortless Breakthrough After a period of filling the mind, take time to quiet the noise. Turn down the volume, whether literal or figurative. Give the brain some down time. In the stillness of those quieter, less mentally demanding times, we figure it out:

I just realized how my heroine will escape the trap! Ah! I know the third stanza in the poem—I can hear it in my head. For that essay, I’ll allude to a line in a play and write a section on how it resonates with our society.

Our rested state allows us to arrive at clarity and vision. Filling and Stilling, We Write Unique With your insight, you can put the idea together in a way that only you can. That’s why you and I could both write about the same topic or respond to the same prompt and your final product would be completely different from mine.

Not only are our styles different, but we’ve filled our minds with different content.

You read this book while I read that. You came across a quote in your travels and I found one in a letter my mom wrote to her best friend when she was in college. You pored over medical research, while I had a conversation at a party thrown by a friend.

We have it all inside, ready to increase the clarity and quality of our writing. Know When (and How) to Fill One time I came across a quote attributed to Anne Lamott: “Sometimes you’re not blocked; you’re empty.” When you feel empty, dry, lacking inspiration, spend some time filling your mind.

Read great books Listen to great books

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About a month ago, I escaped the frigid late-winter temperatures of the American Midwest and headed out on a big road trip.

By myself.

To write.

(And to walk on the beach.)

’Twas a big investment of time and resources. ’Twas a grand gesture. Grand Gestures for Deep Work Some big writing projects I wanted to dig into continually sank to the bottom of the jumbly piles of obligations and domestic duties. I’d try to set aside time for the ideas, the words, the keyboard, but they struggled to gain traction when I could only dedicate a few minutes here and there. I decided to find focus—and sunshine—elsewhere.

This approach to plunging into deep work by making major investments of time, money, or space, are what Cal Newport calls “Grand Gestures.” Rowling’s Grand Gesture In his book Deep Work, Newport offers a few examples of people who have made grand gestures, including J.K. Rowling. When she was working on the final book in the Harry Potter series, she faced everyday interruptions that broke the creative concentration needed to pull together all the threads of the story and finish strong.

So she decided to step away from home, where the doorbell would ring and the dogs would bark. She checked into a room in the five star Balmoral Hotel at $1,000 a night. Newport notes that she didn’t intend to continue writing there more than a night, but she accomplished so much, she kept going back and ended up finishing the book there. The Boost in Importance Newport explains: The concept is simple: By leveraging a radical change to your normal environment, coupled perhaps with a significant investment of effort or money, all dedicated toward supporting a deep work task, you increase the perceived importance of the task. This boost in importance reduces your mind’s instinct to procrastinate and delivers an injection of motivation and energy. (122-123) Let me assure you I wasn’t staying in anything close to the Balmoral Hotel for my Grand Gesture, but it was certainly a radical change from my normal environment and required a significant investment of effort.

My tasks did indeed take on greater importance, and I sat on the balcony with my laptop and tapped out the ideas and words that got my projects either significantly under way or completed.

And I walked on the beach.

In the sun. Less “Grand” Gestures Are Still Grand Now, there have been eras of my life where an outing that radical simply would not have been possible. Just out of college, I didn’t have nearly enough money for such an adventure. When my kids were little, no way could I have taken off that many days and driven that far away. Truly, it would have been nothing but a dream—a dream deferred.

Back then, though, I made smaller grand gestures. That sounds like an oxymoron, but though they were small, they felt grand. I would escape to the library on a Saturday and stay all day, tapping out chapters in a book or articles for magazines, stepping out only to eat a little lunch I packed.

Or in good weather, I might head to a local park and work at a picnic table, enjoying the atmosphere, penning poetry or a blog post. Sure, I’d love to have escaped to a more inspiring locale, but I settled for a less grand alternative—it got me away from my distracting dining room table. With some creativity, I still managed to gain focus and get ‘er done. It’s Worth It The goal, I believe, is to find ways to convince yourself that this project you’re working on is worth it. It’s worth the time. It’s worth the effort. Even a less dramatic “grand” gesture tells the brain to stop procrastinating and do the work. Creative Grand Gestures One of my clients drove her RV to a beautiful campground and stayed the weekend to finish three chapters in her book. She nailed it. All three chapters, complete.

My friend and coauthor Charity Singleton Craig booked a room for several days at a state park lodge to complete some of her projects. She got it all done.

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The past two weeks, I shared with you parts one and two of my writing life beginnings. I reflected back on when, where, and how I began to dream of writing, pursue writing, and latch on to the writing identity.

I included some of the people involved in the process—people who encouraged me and people who created a challenge for me, even when they didn’t mean to.

And I did my best to convey some of those memories and reflections through scenes. Your Writing Life Beginnings Now it’s your turn.

I encourage you to think back to your writing life beginnings.

When did you first find yourself drawn to writing? When did you first imagine being a writer? What held you back? Who held you back? What happened next?

Do you remember a moment, an interaction, a scene from your life that formed you and your view of yourself as a writer, for better or for worse?

What happened to reinforce or change that perception?

When did you first tiptoe in—or, heck, when did you dive full force into—the writing life? Preserve Your Story Take time to remember.

Write it down.

Preserve it.

And when you face discouragement—when you question your purpose or your identity as a writer—you’ll have this pivotal story to look back on: your story of your writing life beginnings. Beginnings You’ll remember the moments you pushed through and the people who shaped you.

You’ll feel strengthened to recall the first words you shared with the world or the first pieces that were published.

Maybe your story will begin all the way back in grade school and the first picture book you read over and over and hid under your pillow hoping the story would drift into your dreams at night.

Maybe you’ll recreate the day someone read a poem you wrote on blue construction paper and decorated with glitter—you’ll describe how their eyes lit up and they looked down at you, the young hopeful, sensitive poet, and they said, “That’s so beautiful.” And you knew. In that moment, you knew this is what you wanted in life: to be a poet.

Maybe you’ll describe the time your words were brushed aside. You slammed shut your notebook and snapped your pencil in two. Your swore you would never write another story. Two decades passed before you ventured back into the world of words, and you’ll share about your first writing attempt after that bitter episode years earlier—you’ll recall a sentence you wrote on the back of an envelope, while you rode a bus on the commute into the city. You’ll remember each word of that sentence, and how you shoved the envelope in your pocket, flushed with hope, and finally felt free to write again.

When you capture those moments, you’ll realize this writing dream—this drive to put pen to paper—is no surprise, not really. You’ll grin when you understand that your love of literature traces back…wayyyy back. When the Going Gets Tough It’s worth it to invest a few minutes in preserving this part of your history.

It’s worth it, because you can return to it when the going gets tough.

And the going will get tough.

Writing is hard. Editing is hard. Publishing is hard—sometimes brutal. You’ll have bad days, when you question it all and want to give up.

Go back to this. Go back to your writing life beginnings. Write it down. Read it. Remember.

Remember how you wanted it—fought for it—and resolved to make words integral to your life.

Then go back to the keyboard or the notebook or whatever you write with, and begin again. Because when you remember your writing roots, you’ll know in your gut or your heart or your spirit, that this is who you are.

A writer. Resources:

My Writing Life: Beginnings, Pt 1 My Writing Life: Beginnings, Pt 2 All podcast episodes

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Note: This was originally published both at my website and at Tweetspeak Poetry back in 2013.

I signed up for an American Literature class. The instructor didn’t ask about my brother, and I understood what I read, like The Mill on the Floss and Their Eyes Were Watching God. I formed opinions—my very own—and wrote response papers that earned A’s and positive remarks from the professor.

My journalism course, however, turned me off. Plus, I couldn’t shake that memory of standing at the doorway to fetch the photo of the boy who had been shot. I didn’t want that life, so I abandoned journalism and switched to social work. The professor discouraged students from becoming social workers unless they were absolutely sure. I wasn’t sure. So I switched majors again when I took a folklore class, because I loved the idea of capturing stories. But someone pointed out the limited career opportunities available to folklore majors, so I started to look for an alternative. English Major Then I took another English Literature class. Maybe I was reading Kafka’s Metamorphosis or Joyce’s The Dubliners, but I realized I loved literature when I understood the language. Stories, words, ideas, themes. That’s what I wanted to dive into with my remaining time in college. I don’t know what I’ll do with it, I thought, but this is who I am: an English major.

Toward the close of a semester, I walked with my boyfriend toward the campus bookstore, wondering aloud about my future.

“What do you really want to be?” he asked.

I blurted out, “A writer.”

“A writer? That’s fantastic! How about communications?”

“No, it’s too much like journalism and I hated journalism. I want to write creative things for magazines or books. I would love that.”

“Take a creative writing class.”

“Creative writing?”

“Sure! You’d write fiction and poetry.”

“But I don’t write poetry.” I remembered the sonnets in Dr. Weber’s Shakespeare class. “I don’t understand poetry.”

“It’s okay. If you take creative writing classes, you’ll learn to write.” Creative Writing So I signed up for Introduction to Creative Writing. I read Writing Down the Bones and learned about free-writing. I filled notebooks with countless words, pen on paper without lifting it for ten minutes, hoping to turn up memories and ideas to work with. We started with fiction and I wrote a story entitled “Fences” that no one liked—not even me.

Then we read and discussed poems, mostly contemporary. Some rhymed, but most didn’t. I understood some of them, but not all. Nobody seemed to mind, though I began to second-guess my right to be in the room with other students who grasped the meaning quickly and sounded intellectual.

We began to write our own poems. “Write what you know, ” the instructor advised. “Write from your own memories. Write about your childhood.”

So I wrote about dropping hay onto the heads of the cows as they leaned into the manger to eat. I wrote about my brother and his friends warning me that the devil lived in the window well. I wrote about sitting alone in the wooden pew watching the adults take communion at the Methodist church. I wrote about dancing in the barn loft as the afternoon sun streaked through the lone window facing west. And I wrote about my grandmother’s calico cat. None of my poems rhymed. Poetry Every semester I signed up for another creative writing class. For one assignment, I wrote a poem inspired by a piece of art. I chose an Andrew Wyeth print my boyfriend’s mom gave me of a little boy sitting in a field. I invented a scene where the boy had run away, and the week I read it aloud, the instructor, who wore long peasant skirts and Birkenstocks, highlighted the last lines, reading them again, slowly. On my way across campus that afternoon, I pulled it out and read the last lines again to myself.

A few weeks later, I read aloud a poem I’d written about potatoes, and that same instructor leaned against the desk and listened.

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Note: This was originally published both at my website and at Tweetspeak Poetry back in 2013.

My mom, a journalist, was talking with a friend. She beamed at my brother. “Charlie, he’s the writer of the family. And Annie? She’s…” Here, I felt my mom hesitate. Then, “Annie’s the athlete.”

My brother excelled in everything involving words—from composing song lyrics and essays to dominating Scrabble games and inserting witty comments into conversations at just the right moment.

I played softball and ran track. And I rode my yellow Schwinn ten-speed down country roads stretching between corn and soybean fields, past herds of Black Angus cattle and silos filled with grain. The labels fit, though deep down, secretly, I wanted to be a writer, too. Journal Three years after Charlie graduated high school, I sat in Miss Thompson’s Senior English class. Miss Thompson told us we would keep a journal chronicling our senior year, creating at least five entries per week. We were to do more than write, however. We were to add our personal touch. Whether we complemented our written words with pasted-in photographs, news clippings and ticket stubs or accented them with watercolor backgrounds and meticulous calligraphy, the key to A-level work was creative expression.

She held up three examples of some of the best she’d ever seen—journals from past students whose work she adored. One was Charlie’s. I recognized it immediately, having gazed at it many times while he worked on it during his senior year. She passed them around for students to flip through.

When Charlie’s came to me, I opened it, noting his handwriting—a combination of big printed letters and rounded cursive. The content mingled light humor and occasional sarcasm with spot-on descriptions of people and situations. For one page, he cut letters from newspapers to compose an amusing ransom note. I studied the pages, wishing I could copy his techniques. Then I passed it to the person behind me.

At the end of my senior year, Miss Thompson didn’t ask to keep my journal. Copy Person I ran track in spring that year, as I had since junior high, training for sprints and the long jump, reinforcing my status as the family athlete. After graduation, I worked during the summer as a copy person, running errands for editors at the newspaper where my dad worked.

I hated working in the city. I hated working into the night. I hated the sense of urgency and stress necessary to put out a daily paper. One time I had to drive the company car to fetch a photograph from a family whose son had been shot.

I knocked on the door. They barely opened it. I introduced myself and said I was from the newspaper. They reached through the narrow opening and handed me his picture. I told them we would return it and flipped it around to be sure their address was printed on the back. It was. I don’t think they said one word. I said I was very sorry and thanked them for the photo. They nodded and shut the door. I hated invading their grief. College That fall, I started school at a Big Ten University. Not nearly good enough to compete on their elite sports teams, I lost my label. No more was I an athlete, though I did pedal my yellow Schwinn ten-speed across campus, weaving around students who were walking to class.

A couple of weeks into my freshman year, I showed up at a tall building where bored grad students served as advisors, looking over undergrad schedules to ensure that our class selections met each major’s requirements. We lined up single-file down a long hallway, waiting our turn.

My randomly assigned college advisor asked about my major. Since I had no idea what to study, my mom and dad suggested journalism. I didn’t have any other ideas, so I’d been claiming to be a journalism major on all my school documents and blurted it out to the advisor. He wrote it down, scribbled on some paperwork, approved my class load, and sent me on my way. Survey of Shakespeare

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