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. Templates

Create 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. Outlines

Embrace 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 & Transcribe

Take 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 & Transcribe

Meet 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 Journal

If 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 Points

Before 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 Apps

If 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 Confidence

With 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

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The post Beat the Blank Page: 7 Clever Tricks to Pack It with Words appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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 Coach
Wednesday, 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!

____________________

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.

The post Writers Who Make You Furiously Jealous Are Your Best Mentors appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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/

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.

Today I’m with Jennifer Dukes Lee, author of the guided journal Stuff I’d Only Tell God, and we’re discussing how courageously honest journaling can make us a better writer. Jennifer’s a best-selling author, thinker, and question-asker from Iowa, and she’s also a personal friend.

Her friends say they’re scared to sit in the same room with her because they’re afraid they’re going to tell her things they never intended to share. She says she’s proud of that, but also a little annoyed at how nosy she can be. Well, she put a lot of her questions into this one resource, Stuff I’d Only Tell God. It’s like your own little confession booth. She’s also author of Growing Slow, and It’s All Under Control. You can learn more about Jennifer at jenniferdukeslee.com.

Jennifer, it’s great to have you on the show. Welcome.

Jennifer Dukes Lee Yeah, we better watch out. According to that bio, I might turn the tables today and start peppering you with questions.

[laughter]

Life will never make sense until we get curious enough to ask good questions.

Ann Kroeker And you know, you’re more than just a guest here appearing. You’re also my friend. And so yeah, I can vouch for the fact that you do ask great questions.

And you ask great questions not only as a friend, but also with your background as a reporter.

And then all these years of being an author, and working with authors, you know, you’re funneling all that into this new book, Stuff I’d Only Tell God.

So, one thing I noticed when I opened it up and I looked inside, read through the prompts, I realized, first of all, I’ve got a lot of writing to do using these prompts for a very long time. There are plenty that will get me through, I think, more than a year for me.

But one of the things you said at the beginning was this. You write, “Here’s what I know to be true. Life will never make sense until we get curious enough to ask good questions.”

Say a little bit more about that from your background that I just described.

We get to know each other through the questions that we ask each other.

01:52 Jennifer Dukes Lee Well, when you think just relationally how we get to know one another, it’s the questions that we ask each other. I’m still learning about my husband of 27 years due to just asking questions out of this journal, for instance.

And life doesn’t make sense, relationships don’t make sense, faith doesn’t make sense until we get brave enough to ask good questions.

I come from a Christian background and a Christian worldview. And my way to faith was through questions. I was a deep, deep intellectual doubter of God and Jesus. And it was questions that led me into a life of faith. It’s questions that now I consider Jesus, my CEO of my ministry, when it was like 20 years ago, I didn’t even know if he existed.

So yeah, questions have helped everything make sense. And I’m just going to keep asking them to learn more about myself and learn more about people and learn more about God.

Questions have helped everything make sense.

02:49 Ann Kroeker I love it. And this book you have, it’s Stuff I’d Only Tell God, but what you just pointed out is that you actually can use these questions not only for your personal self-reflection, but to grow closer to other people. And so it’s not really stuff I’d only tell God.

I did notice that you have a section that’s like, you probably don’t want to … [you might want to] shove this part under your mattress. But you say in the subtitle it’s a guided journal of “courageous honesty, obsessive truth-telling, and beautifully ruthless self-discovery.” What does that mean to you? And how do people process all of that?

Really dig in and go hard after the truth of your own life.

03:31 Jennifer Dukes Lee Yeah, I wanted to convey the passionate aspect of this book, to really dig in. Journaling in general is digging in and pressing into how you’re feeling or pressing into your worries and your fears, your doubts, whatever it is. But I am calling people to go on an even deeper journey. And so I’m like, how do I convey that? What are the words that I could use?

And I remember sitting on the couch while Scott was watching Netflix and I was supposed to be watching Netflix, but I’m like, as a writer, I’m like busily in the notes app of my phone trying to craft this idea. And it just came to me and I’m like, Scott, pause Netflix. I’ve got to read this to you.

And it conveys that passion of honesty is one thing, but recognizing that there’s a certain kind of honesty that takes real courage. That’s where “courageous honesty” comes in, because it does take courage to get honest about what’s going on in our lives. It takes courage to look into our past and see how that’s shaped who we are today. It takes courageous honesty to ask God some important questions and to get honest with him about what’s going on in our lives.

And then when it comes to that “obsessive truth telling,” leave nothing behind. Just be obsessive about it. Really dig in and go hard after the truth of your own life.

When it comes to that “obsessive truth telling,” leave nothing behind.

And then the “beautifully ruthless self-discovery,” self-discovery is almost a buzzword, it’s just learning more about yourself so you can decide what you want to be as you move forward. But I know that the kind of self-discovery I’m asking people to do in this guided journal is ruthless. It’s hard to dig like that, but in the end, it’s beautiful. So that’s how I came up with “beautifully ruthless self-discovery.” So it conveys, I think, an idea of I’m going to do this thing and it’s going to make a difference. And if it’s going to make a real difference, then I need to give it all I’ve got.

05:33 Ann Kroeker Well, when I looked at those questions, as I said, I think it’s going to take me a very long time to work through them. And it’s for that very reason. It’s going to be a deep dive and hard work. And I don’t want to just rush through them. I want to spend some time with them and I hope that your readers do as well. And do you feel like this cross-section of being a writer, which you are, an author, you write regularly, you have great social media posts that really go deeper than what is normal, how much would you say your journaling intersects with your own writing efforts and projects?

06:09 Jennifer Dukes Lee Oh, quite a bit. I have sitting over here about seven different journals. Like you can’t see them in the camera, but I have a number of them. I’m going to show you a few of them actually.

So of course I’ve got Stuff I’d only tell God.

Multiple things in [journals] have then become social media posts, which may end up in books.

I have a gratitude journal. And when you take time to pause about what you’re grateful for, like all the time I’m like, oh yeah, like here, Beth Moore ministry was number 665. And I ended up making a post about something related to the Beth Moore ministry that has become my biggest Instagram post of all time. Just because I happen to just write it in a gratitude journal, whether it’ll make it in a book, I don’t know. But like there’s multiple things in here that have then become social media posts, which may end up in books that usually goes in that order.

I have a prayer journal where I keep track of things that I just need to pray about.

I have a commonplacing journal. I use this one a lot in my writing of books. This is where I keep quotes and other people’s thoughts and ideas and knowledge. This dates back, especially to the Renaissance era, where people would, they would call them commonplacing books and they would write down things that meant something to them. And I love doing the same thing. So this will definitely make its way into books because I keep quotes that I love.

I have a couple other journals here, but this one is very basic, very boring. It almost is like, I call it a memory-keeping journal. And in here are stories and sometimes just phrases or snippets. It’s not pretty on the outside. It’s not like Instagram-able, but they’re ideas and thoughts that I don’t want to forget. And often these will make … the memory-keeping journal stories will make their way into social media posts and into books.

Furthermore, I have the Notes app, which I treat as a journal. I told you, I’ve got a lot of them! And if I think of something, it’s going down in the notes app that counts as journaling.

And then finally, I have a running document on my computer called “Possible Posts,” which is really just a running list of ideas. And it’s 16,500 words. This is my one for this year. I started it in the spring, but that’s just all kinds of ideas and thoughts. And so I go to that file and I write from that particular document. And that counts as journaling too. Some of it makes its way into social media. Then some of it makes its way into a book. Some of it stays just for me, but it is just an absolute vital part of my ministry and my book writing.

Ann Kroeker How do you keep track of them all?

Jennifer Dukes Lee I don’t go through them every day.

Ann Kroeker Yeah. Okay. [voices overlap] Go ahead.

Jennifer Dukes Lee Yeah. I don’t go through them every day. I think that can be overwhelming when people hear about all the journals that I keep.

Some journals, maybe the memory-keeping one, I’m only in maybe once a week.

The gratitude journal, maybe a bit more. Commonplacing, it just depends on what I see.

So I know what they look like and they’re at the ready whenever I need them. The one that I’m in the most, quite honestly, is the Word document because it’s on my computer, which is where I create content for people in books and social media posts.

09:27 Ann Kroeker Okay. I’m going to just camp here for just a second because I get really practical and very curious. You said they’re always at the ready. You’ve always got these analog books, these physical books ready to fill in. Like when I’m traveling, I like to keep things pretty digital because then it’s lightweight. It’s always with me. Do you take these with you everywhere?

09:52 Jennifer Dukes Lee No, I don’t. I have been taking Stuff I’d Only Tell God with me. I’ve been doing a lot of travel this summer, mostly because I have committed to doing what I’m asking other people to do. So that is the one that I have taken. I also have been taking, I usually take this one, this is Praying the Scriptures for Your Kids. So this is how I parent now. I’m “prayerenting,” I call it, because my kids are now out of the house and so I’ve been praying the scriptures. But every once in a while, I’ve taken a gratitude journal or if I think I’m going to find some interesting stories, I might take my memory-keeping journal. But usually just one, maybe two, sometimes none.

10:26 Ann Kroeker So if you’ve got somebody who’s never really journaled before, obviously the best first step is to buy Stuff I’d Only Tell God. How can they make their decision about like, “I’m ready to do more with this”? Maybe they’ve had a stop-start experience with journaling in the past. Where should they begin to try to make this an ongoing habit?

Would you survive a zombie apocalypse?

10:51 Jennifer Dukes Lee It depends on if you like the idea of a guided journal or not. So Stuff I’d Only Tell God has thousands of questions in it that are very deep, but also like really quirky. Things like, “Would you survive a zombie apocalypse?” for instance.

So there’s just fun questions like that, but also questions about your past and your, you know, if you want to just like delve in and have somebody sort of help you along down this path of journaling Stuff I’d Only Tell God or any kind of guided journal would be super helpful for you.

If you don’t really, you’re not really into that and you don’t want to be told what to write, then making a gratitude journal would be a really great place to start because you just start numbering it and write down things you’re grateful for.

And that’s such a positive, that has an immediate therapeutic impact on your life. We know that journaling is therapeutic, but if you journal and write down things that you’re grateful for, your mind gets trained to begin to scan your environment looking for positive, good things for.

We have to train our brains to be positive, so a gratitude journal might be a really great place to start.

Our brains are actually wired to see the negative. We were made that way, honestly, to keep us safe so that long, long time ago we wouldn’t just say, “Oh, I wonder what that was in the bushes. It’s probably just the wind,” but you know, then it turned out to be a tiger. So we have negativity bias for a reason and it still works for us now when we’re like in a parking lot and it’s dark and there’s people around.

And so we have a negativity bias to be a little bit scared, but we have to train our brains to be positive, so a gratitude journal might be a really great place to start. If you are a writer, don’t feel bad. If you’re listening … you’re probably a writer if you’re listening to Ann’s podcast here.

I think the thing that I felt a little bit shameful about is that I could not do a blank journal very well. I would literally get writer’s block. I’m like, “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do.” And so I just wouldn’t journal unless I had a specific reason. That’s why I have so many different kinds of journals. And I’m thinking if I, as a writer who’s been writing books for this many years, get writer’s block while journaling, then I think other people do too. And so a guided journal can be a great place to start.

13:03 Ann Kroeker Starting without it being a blank page. So starting with something on it does seem like a great way to kind of kickstart things, so you’re not starting from scratch, not staring at the blank page.

There are some things in a journal … can make their way out into the world and really serve a good purpose.

13:13 Jennifer Dukes Lee Yeah. I mean, it could end up being, I think for speaking again to the writers who are listening, answering some of the prompts in a guided journal like mine could end up being like, “Oh my goodness, this is like a whole chapter!” or “This is a whole book!” or it’s certainly, “I could make a social media post out of this.” You could go through that and I think really get yourself some good content to move forward.

I did one the other day called “Dear Younger Me.” And I wrote a letter to my younger self, which there’s space in the book to do that. And after I wrote it, I’m like, “I’ll bet somebody else could use that kind of thought about their younger self some, too.” And so I ended up sharing it on social media and it did really, really well. And a lot of people related to it.

There’s another one, “Things I Would Want Myself to Know on a Hard Day.” I ended up making a Reel out of the content that I put on that particular journal prompt. And it did really well because it spoke to other people when I was speaking from such a vulnerable place.

So some things you will just want to keep between you and God. But I think that there are some things in a journal like this or in any journal that eventually can make their way out into the world and really serve a good purpose.

14:32 Ann Kroeker And you’ve got a place to store it so that if you’re not ready right away, you can come back to it later. And there it is preserved, the thought, the exploration that you did. I asked people on Instagram to ask me if they had any questions they wanted me to specifically ask you. And Erica Baldwin said, “Have any of your previous books been inspired by your past journal entries?” So you talked already about how you’ve used it for short form, but how about your actual, the full length books? Have your journals?

Almost everything that you see in a book, at least the nugget of it, the seed of it started in a journal that made its way into a short form post on Facebook and Instagram.

15:01 Jennifer Dukes Lee Absolutely. And I’m going to, at this moment, treat journaling very broadly. I’m going to treat journaling also as answers that I put in Bible studies, the words that I put in my journaling Bible, where I can write in the margins where something will occur to me related to, you know, something in Exodus, like, “Oh, wow,” which actually happened when I wrote one of my Bible studies, it ended up coming into my Bible study, the notes that were in my, the side of my journal, it became a whole chapter or a whole session, if you will.

So very regularly, almost everything that you see in a book, at least the nugget of it, the seed of it started in a journal that made its way into a short form post on Facebook and Instagram. And then it made its way into a book.

I don’t have the entirety of a book out on social media. But if somebody watches my social media closely enough, they can probably figure out what I’m going to write next, because I’m just working it out. I’m just like, you know, this is stuff that I care about. I wonder if other people care about this. So I’m always like, ideating what I’m writing and thinking through what else to put out there.

Ann Kroeker We’re all going to be prowling through trying to pick up the clues.

Jennifer Dukes Lee Well, tell me if you see anything that looks like it should be if you’re listening and you see something that looks like a good next book, then do let me know because I’m trying to figure it out.

16:22 Ann Kroeker DM her! Let her know that’s going to resonate. Well, while we’re talking about your books, Twyla Franz asked this: “Do you outline where you’re going or let the writing lead? Also, is it different for long versus short writing?

Put together … an outline, an idea of where you’re going. It serves as a roadmap.

16:33 Jennifer Dukes Lee I do outline extensively for the books that I write. And that’s why I think even if you got a book contract without a book proposal, you should basically still put together the book proposal in terms of the chapter summaries and an idea of where you’re going. It serves as a roadmap. I’m very old fashioned in the way that I do this.

I actually have color coded cards and I have the chapter and what I think the chapter will be.

I have one color I’ll do in the key story.

One color will be the big takeaway.

And if there are any practical tips, that will be another color.

And then if there’s some kind of a Bible story, since I’m a Christian book writer, then that would be like in red or something like that.

So then I put them on the wall and I move them around and get them in the right order.

And on a writing day, I look at the wall and I pull one off. “That one, that’s the one I’m going to do today.” And I sit down with the card and I start.

So that’s the process that works for me. And I can, when I see it all together on the wall and move it into application software, I guess, called Scrivener. That is also kind of based on the same idea of little cards. It looks like that on Scrivener. And I do use that then as well. So it kind of moves, it migrates into the online cards. But that’s what’s worked for me for a long time.

And it’s what I coach other writers to do if they’re stuck. In fact, I’m an acquisitions editor, so I do help authors all the time, put their books together.

One last year was with a Nashville author and she’s like, “Jennifer, I’m stuck.” And I’m like, “Well, I’m getting a plane ticket.”

So I flew out and I brought my little cards and I’m like, “We’re going to map your book. And by the end of this day, you will know what the book is.” And we did it. And the book comes out real soon and I’m so excited about it. And it’s really, really, really good. We did exactly that: we just went through what’s the story, what’s the theme, what’s the takeaway, if there’s any practical helps, what can we put in there. And in her case, she had some biblical guidance. So we had that on the cards too.

Ann Kroeker Brilliant.

Jennifer Dukes Lee Yeah. The short form is less structured like that, or is less structured. It doesn’t have like a card system. And I assume that Twyla means like a blog post or a social media post. That is usually more just, I have an idea of what I’m going to write.

And I either start with kind of an impactful, thought-provoking question, or more often than not, I start with a short personal story before I move into whatever I’m trying to, whatever, you know, if there’s a teaching or a lesson or some bit of encouragement, I usually start first with my story and then move into speaking directly to the reader.

In the same way that I was interrogating police chiefs and mayors and governors, I began to interrogate my own life in that way.

19:36 Ann Kroeker Do you ever feel that there’s a danger of being a little too vulnerable? Because you’re very open about your life. And I’m wondering if some of the people who are tuning in might be feeling like, “I don’t know about being so brutally honest with myself and then vulnerable with others, especially online in a place where it’s now available for anybody to read.” How do you deal with that?

20:00 Jennifer Dukes Lee I just, you know, I literally don’t think about it. It’s so, I mean, that’s probably not the answer that you would want or think, but I have been writing online in a pretty open way since 2009. I just don’t know another way. It was hard at first because all of my other writing up to that point was about other people and other events because 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. So I put a lot, there’s not a lot that’s off the record. Let’s just put it that way in news terms. And I feel comfortable with it. I’ve seen too much fruit to turn back now.

Ann Kroeker Yes, I mean, that last line makes sense because if we do hold back, then maybe we’re just skimming the surface and never really going to the places that people want and need to go to for their own transformation. Is that what I’m sensing from you here?

21:06 Jennifer Dukes Lee Yeah, I think so. Now I think there is a place for holding back if it’s just sort of like unprocessed grief or unprocessed hurt, or if it’s, “I’m going to say this in the name of vulnerability, but I’m really just going to be passive aggressive because I know that friend is going to be reading my social media posts.” You know? I mean, there’s a difference, right? So I think that you have to give yourself time to work through some things.

On the other hand, there are more harmless things that are in life that aren’t fully processed. For instance, my dad passed away in September. And the grief that I was feeling was expressed in real time on my social media. And while it was helpful for other people to read it, who were also grieving at some point in their lives, it was also very therapeutic for me.

And that’s the value of journaling. It’s just that my journals tend to be just a bit more public than most, but that is what I was doing through grief. And that one of the ways that it was therapeutic is that I knew that my pain was serving a really good purpose because I could see it in the comments and I could see it in my own life.

And now I have this real-time record of the pain I was feeling, the hope I was finding, all of those kinds of things.

Lists count as journaling.

There was something that I’d never wrote about and I didn’t write about it in my journal. I didn’t write about it in my notes app on my phone. And I had a fit about it about two or three nights ago. And I was in the grocery store parking lot. Then I texted my sister frantically in tears. And I’m like, “What did dad say? Remember when I asked him that one question and he said this one answer and I can’t find it anywhere. And I’ve got to know, I don’t know where it is. I don’t have it in any of my journals.” I was frantic.

Well, thankfully, my sister, Julianne, is a Notes app journaler. And she says, “Well, here it is, Jennifer.” And she took a screenshot and sent it to me.

And I think that that’s the power of it. This memory-keeping journal, if I don’t write things down, it’s just all these things that I think I would never forget. I do.

I wish that I had written down the way I felt on my wedding day. Things that I thought that I would never forget. And I don’t remember some details. I wish that I would have written down more about the way I felt when my girls were born. And I didn’t. And so much of it is gone.

23:41 Ann Kroeker I didn’t either. And I, like you, I regret it. In those moments though, it’s so like you’re getting married or you’re in the thick of dealing with a newborn. It’s really hard to figure out how, “Oh, I’m going to take a moment now to pull out my journal.” And in the chaos, “Hold on a second, honey. I know it’s our wedding night, but I got to write some things down.” How do we find appropriate times to capture the moment before it’s gone, but not interrupt life?

24:09 Jennifer Dukes Lee Right. I mean, obviously you don’t have to do it the night of, or, you know, like I didn’t pull out my journal at dad’s funeral or anything like that. But when I did get home and the dust had settled … like, I’ll just read this. All these things mean something to me. “Co-regulation, clap offering, my hand on dad’s chest, the hidden stairs, how Justin came from Canada. When you place your hand on your own heart when you talk to people.” I know what all those things mean. They don’t mean anything to anybody else. But because I have just that snippet, now I can build that out more.

So I didn’t have time. I didn’t have the energy. I still don’t have, in some ways, the capacity emotionally to address some of these in full, but I have enough there now that the memory is immediately coming back.

So that would be one way to do it. It’s not this, I think this counts as journaling. Lists count as journaling.

25:10 Ann Kroeker Yes. So you’ve got little fragments, you’ve got key words. Maybe you have some multi-sensory elements you want to remember and retain. Maybe the actual phrase seems key based on what you said about that frantic feeling that you lost what your dad had said. Those seem like things to preserve without having to take the time to write the whole story. Is that what I’m hearing?

25:29 Jennifer Dukes Lee That’s exactly right. And sometimes it’s just too painful to write. But, you know, I mean, Julianne, my sister had written down all of these conversations and all these things that dad had said in the last month of his life. And I was just hoping that her journaling, that counts as journaling, that it would be there. And I am so used to having my fingertips be able to find those things that when I couldn’t, it was really troubling to me.

25:51 Ann Kroeker  Wow. I don’t know if you’ve heard of this person. His name is Matthew Dicks and he encourages what he gives an assignment that he calls “Homework for Life.” Have you ever heard of him?

[Jennifer shakes her head no.]

Homework for Life has to be done daily to really reap all the fruits from it. Does all journaling have to be daily?

So, he wrote a book called Storyworthy and helps people—trains people—on how to tell better stories. He’s a Moth Story Slam winner and trains people through a program. But this Homework for Life is very much like what you just described with these little fragments. That’s why I thought maybe you are familiar with it.

And he keeps it all in a spreadsheet and he encourages people to do it every single day. “Ask yourself, what’s the most story worthy moment from your day?” And like you, he says you don’t have to write it all out. Just the little fragments that are going to bring it to mind so you can access that memory later.

And of course he’s just picking one moment from the day, one story from the day that you can connect with other stories. So he encourages it has to be … homework for life has to be done daily to really reap all the fruits from it. So one question I would have for you is, do you agree with that mindset that to do it daily is critical? Do you feel that’s true?

A lot of what makes its way into books are very ordinary things.

26:59 Jennifer Dukes Lee I don’t know that I do it daily, but it makes me want to! Because, you know, these things were ones that seemed like big moments to me. But in the end, a lot of what makes its way, if let’s say, let’s say we’re talking directly to the writer at this moment, a lot of what makes its way into books are very ordinary things.

And I suppose in a way, my gratitude journal offers that. But there’s some things I’m not grateful for that should also be listed. So I’m learning a new practice. But the essence of what he’s talking about is what I’ve been doing intuitively. I just didn’t know it had a name and I love it.

27:38 Ann Kroeker It is trademarked. So you can’t steal it, but you can certainly give him credit.

Jennifer Dukes Lee and I can use it. I can use it in my own life. I love that.

Ann Kroeker He has a nice TEDx talk that you can watch to follow that.

Jennifer Dukes Lee I’m writing it down right now.

Ann Kroeker Put it in your commonplace journal!

Jennifer Dukes Lee I’m literally typing it into the one that’s on my desktop. This is what I do!

Ann Kroeker There we go. Right at hand.

28:07 Ann Kroeker  When it comes to writers, then, you talked about getting started for anybody who might be listening in, but especially for the writers—because as you say, that’s the audience here that we’re talking with …

We’ve talked about using a guided journal if you really don’t know where to start or if you want to be “courageously honest and beautifully ruthless” in your self-discovery.

In order to do that deep dive that you might want to do in your creative nonfiction, maybe in your online writing, or even as a novelist to get down to the real human condition that’s within—to infuse some of your characters with certain aspects, memories, struggles … so, right? That would be one outcome of it.

Then you also talked about the gratitude journal.

But is there any other writing-specific practice related to journaling that comes to mind that’s different from that or is that sufficient? Those two?

28:56 Jennifer Dukes Lee  Yeah. No, I think that’s good.

One that just came to mind as you were talking is every once in a while, well, quite often, I will see something just sort of interesting and I will sit down to write about it to see where it goes. I don’t even know what it means until…

So I’ll just read you an example from the journal. This is going to be kind of weird. Okay. So a bit of context is I was driving up the driveway and I saw pheasants along the driveway. Okay. And I was just observing them. Side note, I’ve been kind of obsessed with birds lately. That’s a whole other story. But okay. So here it is … I just came down and wrote:

“You know how pheasants do that thing where they run alongside your car, scared out of their minds, running as fast as they can. And then they take flight, but they stay low. They can’t fly any higher because of their weight. But for a time, they soar like any other bird can, but low, like you could reach up and grab them. This is the way I fly in my dreams. Soaring only for a little while low, always afraid someone is going to pull me out of the sky.”

So I didn’t know the part about me until I started writing about the pheasant. And I still don’t fully know what it means, but it’s, it’s the start of something that is, it says something to me about the way I dream.

And I’m wondering if it says something about me regarding the way I dream about my future. I wonder if it says something about how I’m afraid that I’m not really going to soar, that I’m not going to get high as high as the other birds and that I’m going to be pulled down.

To me, it seems to suggest that I’m not very good at dreaming big.

All from a pheasant.

So, you know, I mean, maybe that’s like super weird or super deep, but that, I think that’s the kind of thing that a journal can do as you, you know, as you go along.

So like, you know, like Lydia [her daughter], she’s been at Oxford for the past six months and she’s been telling me about “wild swimming.” That’s what they call it. If you don’t swim in a pool, you’re in a lake or a river or a pond, it’s called wild swimming, which I really, really like. So I’ve got this little start of something about wild swimming here. I have no idea what that means, or if there’s any, it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s any big lesson about it, but I just think it’s interesting concept, like the term wild swimming. So there you have it. I just, I think it’s just fun to explore ideas and nature and the things around us.

So many times we, we don’t trust the spark.

31:22 Ann Kroeker And you trusted that little spark that came to mind when you saw the pheasants, not knowing it was going to make that connection to your dreams, right? Like you just saw the pheasants and you went in and you captured the moment based on that spark.

I think so many times we, we don’t trust the spark. Anne Lamott talks about how everyone should carry a pencil because you get those little thoughts and then you don’t have something to write it down. Of course, this is before the time of smartphones, but you know, sometimes even with our smartphones, we don’t take that extra beat to say, “Ah! I noticed something” or “Something caught my attention and I have a little spark.” And if it doesn’t seem like much; we ignore it, maybe.

And I think your, your trust and your attentiveness to that moment, attending to it on paper or on, on a smartphone, you are capturing that and letting it go where it leads when you, when you have time to write it through it. I find that excellent advice for any writer.

John Steinbeck kept a journal while he was writing one of his books. I think it was East of Eden that he was writing through as a writing journal. So it would be sort of chronicling how much he got done and wondering about some of the questions and bemoaning himself, his own writing skill and feeling like he’s not, he’s not capable of doing it.

So that’s specifically a writing journal related to that book, but also there are writing journals where, so not just associated with a book project or a work in progress, but also just about your writing life. Are any of your journals, would you say any of them are sort of dedicated to you as writer or is all sort of, you know, linked together?

32:55 Jennifer Dukes Lee It is all sort of linked together. However, for most of my books, I’ve had, you know, kind of like this college bound, you know, this kind of thing. Well, there’s some of my notes that aren’t probably very much related to this, but I keep notes like that for my books.

And then what’s get, what’s here ends up on those cards. So it’s not pretty, it’s not as orderly as what you’re describing, but I do have dedicated notebooks so that I can write down ideas specific to the book as it’s forming. I have one going right now for my next book project and it’s, it’s helping me make some sense of it.

33:38 Ann Kroeker I think finding the type of journaling that works for you seems key. And I just love that you’re kind of all over the place.

Jennifer Dukes Lee I am.

Ann Kroeker And I think that’s just so refreshing because I tend to be more like, “I need to consolidate. I can’t find what I’m looking for. I’m never going to find what’s in a printed,” you know, written down on pages. I would have to look and look and look.

And for me, just to give our audience a different way of thinking about it, I do like to keep it all in one place. So it’s searchable. So I, you know, with one, you know, with a little bit of keyword searching, I can find what I’m looking for and then it’s much faster. It’s all in one place because the scatteredness would make me so crazy.

And again, like I said, I don’t think I would want to have a whole big tote bag with all my journals, but I really, really love that people who are drawn to that could then just grab the one you had some, you showed us, you held up your journals so we could see what they look like. And they each have a different look and feel. And one was so plain as you showed us and one had had some floral designs on it. And one is more like a bound book. And then of course, Stuff I’d Only Tell God is also a bound book that we can move through writing directly on the pages. And so anyway, I just love this variety, I guess. I just like giving people options that there isn’t one right way to do this.

35:01 Jennifer Dukes Lee Yeah. It surprises me, given my personality type that I actually do like this because I tend to be pretty like orderly in life. But in a way for me, this has order because each one has its purpose.

One is for praying for people, one is for praying for my kids, one is for gratitude. So I know if I’m in the prayer journals, I don’t really use for my books, I don’t suppose. But yeah, I kind of just know where the thing is. I will have to flip around to find things for sure.

Ann Kroeker It’s like if we had boxes or tubs that were labeled and this is where the Christmas supplies are and this is where packing material is, we would be opening the box to get what we need. It seems like that’s how you’re treating these different journals with different purposes.

Jennifer Dukes Lee That’s right.

Ann Kroeker Is there anything we haven’t covered today that you would want to share with a bunch of writers who are really thinking now, right now about journaling, that intersection of journaling and writing?

Journaling is a way to [build your author platform] with confidence and with joy.

36:01 Jennifer Dukes Lee I want to emphasize again how, I mean, if you’re a writer, you know the P word “platform,” right? I mean, if you want to get published by a traditional publisher, even if you aren’t wanting to get published by a traditional publisher, you need to grow your platform so people can find you and find out about your book, right?

Journaling is a way to do that with confidence and with joy.

You can look back on something you’ve written and see a nugget in there and you know you don’t have to share it word for word. You could leave out some of the hard details, but maybe just going one step further than you feel comfortable with, I think that you will see fruit with it too and that’ll give you more confidence and that will bring you more joy in the process of the social media piece of writing.

Social media for us is writing. It is such a gift, such an opportunity!

I hear some, I mean, probably 90% of the writers I know, say, “I don’t like social media because I don’t like selling myself. I don’t like it,” and I’m like, “Social media for us is writing. It is such a gift, such an opportunity!”

We don’t have to wait two years to get to make an impact with our words. We have an opportunity to do it every single day on socials and to make a difference like right away.

It’s a great place to practice your craft. It’s a great place to build, at the same time, build an audience.

It’s a great place to impact other people’s lives.

So I just encourage you to view social media that way as kind of an online journal that you’re letting people read in a way that you feel comfortable with and maybe even a little uncomfortable with, but just to approach it that way and to see what happens.

I just encourage you to view social media that way as kind of an online journal that you’re letting people read.

37:44 Ann Kroeker I 100% agree with all of that. It’s a way to distinguish ourselves from others who might be in a similar sort of space as what we are in.

When we tell our stories, they’re our stories and nobody else can tell those stories. Nobody else can reveal those pieces of ourselves.

And it’s also another sort of pushback to what AI is producing. They can’t produce our stories. They might be able to organize things nicely and give us suggestions for how to present content, but it can’t tell our stories.

And that comes from places like Stuff I’d Only Tell God.

And I guess I have one more thing came to mind before we close this out. When we’re telling our stories—and you touched on this a little bit, but I want to go just a step beyond with—when we share other people who are in our stories publicly, we have that frequent fear that memoirists face.

If somebody else is in my story—and almost all the time somebody else is in the story—how do we protect ourselves and not protect them? Because what if someone shouldn’t be protected, right?

How do we deal with that tricky issue and if we’re worried about any kind of negative impact for those relationships for the living or the dead … but mostly the living?

Be as transparent as you can with people before you put it out into the world.

39:08 Jennifer Dukes Lee Yeah. So first of all, there are the big picture legal issues you have to think about, right?

I would not just throw some stuff out on social media. Put it in your manuscript and then have your publisher do a legal review on it. I do that all the time with my authors if something seems a little bit touchy.

And so then if you really feel the story is needed, you will either need to A, get their permission or B, get corroboration for it and you may need to revise the content.

Now that’s a more of a negative piece, right? But I just had an author last week turned in their first manuscript and they had a story that was very kind toward the other people, but it involved the husband having gone through an injury of some sort that was debilitating in his life. And I said, “This is a great story. It’s a great example, but you’re going to need to have them sign a waiver of permission.” Right?

And so I think that the legal thing is a huge factor.

And then second, you have to ask, “Is this worth it? It’ll serve the story, but is it worth it?” Count the cost. Think about what you might lose and only you can decide if it’s worth it.

If it’s a life story and it involves things that your mom did when you were little that left you feeling alone and abandoned, you’re going to have to think through. Is it worth it? You’re going to have to think through, “Will this possibly bring me closer to Mom? If I share this with her before publication and say, ‘Mom, you know, I know we’ve patched things up now, but I’m going to share this story from my childhood just all along the way.'” Is it worth it?

And just be as transparent as you can with people before you put it out into the world.

I don’t tend to write stories about even my husband or my kids without saying, “Hey, this, do you mind if I share this situation?”

41:04 Ann Kroeker This would count also for social media posts, blog posts as well?

41:08 Jennifer Dukes Lee Yes, absolutely. And then you don’t have, unless you’re a lawyer or have one, you don’t have the benefit of those harder stories. So you just have to be a little bit more careful.

But I don’t tend to write stories about even my husband or my kids without saying, “Hey, this, do you mind if I share this situation?”

Anna has been — our younger daughter has been pretty public about her battle with depression and anxiety. And in fact, we went to Indiana together where she spoke at a conference with me and shared the stage with me. So she’s been very open about her battle with depression.

Even so, anytime I talk about it in anything, I have a read it first, or I read it to her first, or I’m not going to publish it. Scott, the same way, you know, I’m like, “Hey, honey, I’m going to put a post up about our anniversary. Is that okay?” It’s glowing. It’s wonderful. And he says yes, and he’s supportive of my work.

But for me, that’s really important to keep other people in the loop.

Ann Kroeker Do you have them sign a release?

Jennifer Dukes Lee No. It’s worked for me so far, though. I’ve been doing this again since 2009 and I haven’t gotten in trouble yet. Cross our fingers that it doesn’t happen like, today!

42:30 Ann Kroeker That’s great. Well, your training in those early years as a reporter? You understand maybe more how to navigate that.

But it seems like what you do most is you share from really your own … it’s more about you and your struggles and your questions and the things that you’re wondering about. And I think that comes through loud and clear on all of your social media and your blog posts, all that content.

And speaking of which, now that we’ve had this great conversation, I’m sure that people who are tuning in are dying to know how to get to know you better. So how can people, what’s the best way for people to connect with you?

43:04 Jennifer Dukes Lee I’m on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, @JenniferDukesLee. And I’m also on Instagram at @StuffIdOnlyTellGod — which has been kind of fun. We’re just going through the journal together and just journaling tips, all those kinds of things.

And my website is Jennifer Dukes Lee (jenniferdukeslee.com) as well.

Ann Kroeker Fantastic. Jennifer, thanks for your time today, for giving so much of your life to us, in the book, but also today as we’ve interacted.

I think you’ve probably given people a lot to think about and a lot to write about.

Jennifer Dukes Lee Awesome. Well, thank you so much.

Ann Kroeker Well, I hope you enjoyed this interview as much as I did. You can find all the links and all the information you need related to this episode at annkroeker.com/JDLStuff.

And I’m Ann Kroeker, cheering you on as your writing coach. Everywhere where you 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 goals and have fun by being more curious, creative, and productive. Thank you for being here.

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The post Want to Become a Better Writer? Journal Before You Write appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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 Unsubscribe

One 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 Human

As 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 Context

When 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 Look

Writing 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 Spotting

Not 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?

_____________________

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 MORE

The post You’ve Spotted Another Writer’s Typo. Now What Do You Do? appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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 Inevitable

When 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 & Headaches

I’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 Pain

It’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 Gift

But 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 Footnoting

I 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 = Credibility

When 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 Sources

Not 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!

Footnote

Russ, Joanna. How to Suppress Women’s Writing. Univ. of Texas Press, 2005. (137)

The post Save Time and Headaches: Create Citations as You Write appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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 Prompt

In 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.

1. Name it

First, 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

2. Describe it

Next, describe some of its qualities using descriptive language or by comparing it with something else.

3. “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 Poems

Let’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 Prompt

In 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.

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.

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)

The post Find your muse in nature with this inspiring poetry prompt appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

Gain inspiration from the journey of a first-time author who transformed her dream of writing into a reality by taking bold action. Merideth 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

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. 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 Estevez

Dr. 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.

The post From Idea to Contract: The Inspiring Story of a First-Time Author, with Merideth Hite Estevez appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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 Stiffler

Michelle 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:

Transcript

[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 about

For 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 thoughts start to form

And 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 deep

I 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 life

And 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 journaling

I 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.

Beyond Awareness: The Trauma-Informed Approach to Writing

Ann is hosting this interactive workshop, featuring Michelle Stiffler as the trainer, clarifies the trauma-informed approach to writing, why it’s important, and how you can begin using a trauma-informed lens as a writer. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

All 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…

1. Interview Others

Interviewing 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.

2. Co-author with Others

The other was to actually write something together. So, coauthoring something long-form or short-form.

3. Publish Others

And 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

4. Teach with Others

I 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.”

5. Learn from Others in Different Circles

So 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.

6. 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 annkroeker.com/traumainformed, since that’s the topic we’re talking about. So it’s called “Beyond Awareness,” but it’s going to be annkroeker.com/traumainformed. You can learn all about the training there.

Do you want to give them a little preview? You touched on it earlier. Anything that can help them understand or grasp why should they go deeper, why should they sign up for this training?

[00:56:52.080] – Michelle Stiffler

I think we’re not going to be able to escape the fact that now that so much of our culture has become aware of trauma.

We’re going to find just the words trauma-informed everywhere. Because people after some of the things that we’ve all experienced together that were as confusing as the pandemic was for all of us. We found out that we’re all in the same boat and that was a good feeling for all of us.

So now we’re getting to a point where it’s like, “How could I be trauma-informed and be a better human being?” In this case, “How can I be a better writer?”

There’s a lot to understand about what it means to be trauma-informed, and I do want to get into that further. We’re going to talk more about some of the disciplines and just some more practical ways to apply that lens to our writing and possibly some more practical ways of how do I deal with the topic of trauma in a way that doesn’t re-traumatize, because that’s essentially the goal of being trauma-informed-anything, because we don’t want to re-traumatize others and we don’t want to re-traumatize ourselves.

[00:58:00.430] – Michelle Stiffler

And I think that’s going to be the beauty of this training as well, is that while we think about other people, there’s so much to know about how we also think about ourselves as the writer, as the person who experienced things, as the person who continues to go through things.

Even if we’re writing about something that’s ten years old, we probably have something going on in our lives that’s maybe difficult or confusing. So…knowing how to handle ourselves as we become somebody who writes from a place of compassion and offering people another step towards healing.

[00:58:37.750] – Ann Kroeker

I cannot wait. People can walk away with a trauma-informed approach to writing and become closer to becoming trauma-informed writers. They do that internal work so that they can share it with the world when they’re ready, when the time is right and it is essential.

[00:58:50.190] – Michelle Stiffler

I mean, if you look at any magazines that are taking pitches, there’s just always that whole. They don’t want to just know something that you learned about. They want to know, “How are you going to offer our readers one step further?”

That’s essentially what good writing always is and always has been, is we’re able to take people from, “Oh, this thing is happening,” to “How could we go one step further?” And this training is going to be focused on so much of that in the ways that we can do that as writers.

[00:59:24.060] – Ann Kroeker

It’s really for every writer, it sounds like. I mean, everybody can benefit from it at a small investment. We’re keeping the cost as reasonable as possible, pricing it at $20.

Thank you for this time and thank you in advance for all that you’re going to bring to us in “Beyond Awareness,” and I can’t wait to go deeper with you.

But even if people aren’t able to make that or are not going to take that next step, I feel like you’ve given them a rich understanding of what it means to be a trauma-informed writer, to be doing trauma-informed writing, and actually just to become whole-er, fuller, as they move forward in life.

This conversation has been exceptional. It’s been outstanding, and I would love for people to get to know you better. Michelle, how can people reach you online and get to know you better? Maybe sign up for something?

[01:00:14.850] – Michelle Stiffler

Absolutely. I am at www.OneMoreTruth.com, so you can certainly subscribe. Usually monthly I send my thoughts on faith, responsiveness, and being trauma-informed and how can we move one step further.

I’m on Instagram at @OneMoreTruth, and people can feel free to email me if they want to know more about what the movement is about or how they could get involved. I’m happy to talk about it. michellekstiffler @ gmail . com.

Ann Kroeker 

That’s generous and bold and so open, which is a great accurate representation of what we experienced here today. You have been so generous and so open. Thank you so much. Michelle, it’s been a pleasure to host you today.

[01:01:08.340] – Michelle Stiffler

Absolutely, thank you.

[01:01:09.940] – Ann Kroeker

Thank you for being here for this vital conversation. Michelle and I both invite you to go deeper on this topic with us through the workshop, Beyond Awareness: The Trauma-Informed Approach to Writing. You can learn more about the workshop at https://annkroeker.com/traumainformed. We’d love to have you join us live on Tuesday, February 28, 2:00 to 3:30 PM Eastern. But if you can’t, no problem. We’re going to record it and the replay will be available after that. 

I’m Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach, cheering you on. Wherever we might meet, whether it’s in person, online or right here on this show. I’m always looking for ideas to share with you that will help you become more curious, creative and productive. Thank you for being here. Keep writing.

Curious about trauma-informed writing? Ready to take the next step?

You want to understand this movement — to see if this is the future of your life, your work, and your words. But you can’t find a reliable source who can offer guidance for you as a writer.

We’re bringing you answers in…

Beyond Awareness: The Trauma-Informed Approach to Writing

Resources

• The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk M.D. (Amazon Affiliate link)
• CDC Trauma-Informed Principles
• It Didn’t Start with You, by Mark Wolynn (Amazon Affiliate link)
• Lysa TerKeurst interviewed by Carey Nieuwhof

The post Trauma-Informed Writing Transforms You and Your Words, with Michelle Stiffler appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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.

CLICK TO LEARN MORE

The post AI writing tools keep getting better. How can writers keep up? (Interview with ChatGPT) appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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 Mirado 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.

Your favorite place to take notes

When it comes to the earlier stage of the writing process—like taking notes and doing research—people are using Evernote, Notion, random index cards, and Post-Its.

And one person mentioned Roam Research, which pulls things together and finds connections between ideas using AI technology.

Finally, a few people are using dictation or transcription.

One person simply speaks into the Notes app; others use Otter.ai.

How to choose the ideal writing instrument

This has been a delightful discussion and discovery, and the conclusion is loud and clear—it’s the same conclusion John Steinbeck came to years ago.

Steinbeck wrote about his eccentric “pencil trifling.” In Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters, he describes at length his search for the best possible pencil to do his work.

He tries a soft pencil, and that works fine one day and breaks the next. Then he tries a harder one, but that’s not quite right. Eventually he concludes:

You know I am really stupid. For years I have looked for the perfect pencil. I have found very good ones but never the perfect one. And all the time it was not the pencils but me.²

If you’re like me or Steinbeck, or the hundred people who shared with me what they write with, you love to test out pens, pencils, programs, and apps.

Don’t let that curiosity—dare I say, obsession—with pens, pencils, programs, and apps keep you from the actual work of writing.

So, do you really need Stephen King’s pencil?

Do you need Stephen King’s pencil?

I don’t think so, do you?

Feel free to try out a Blackwing 602 pencil—that is, if that’s actually what Stephen King writes with.

(Side note: I can see him telling the world one brand and then using another just to mess with us, can’t you?)

I tried it only to realize I prefer to write with pens and keyboards. But even those tools don’t really matter, because what we’re really writing with are:

• the memories we store up in our mind and heart,
• the ideas and opinions we explore and develop,
• the stories we dream up each day.
• the words we piece together, one after another.

Today, pick up your favorite writing instrument—or any writing instrument—and write 250 words toward your work in progress.

As Steinbeck discovered, it’s not about the writing instrument. It’s about the writer.

As long as we can remember that, we can write everything with anything.

_____________________

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 MORE

Footnotes:

1. Abramovitch, Seth. “Why Is Hollywood Obsessed with This Pencil?” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Aug. 2013, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/blackwing-602-why-is-hollywood-600265/.
2. Steinbeck, John. Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters. Penguin Books, 2001.

The post Do You Need Stephen King’s Pencil? appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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:

• how to “green-light” yourself
• how to capture ideas with easy, daily systems
• the magic of building your body of work in a surprisingly small pocket of time
• how to find time for writing—even during hectic seasons of life
• how to regularly review your notes from other sources alongside your own ideas
• how to break 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 website
• Become a Writer Today, Bryan’s podcast
• I Can’t Believe I’m a Dad, Bryan’s book (paperback version, Amazon Affiliate link)
• Bryan’s interview with me: Self-Publishing vs Traditional Publishing with Ann Kroeker
• Zettelkasten System
• Day One app
• ambient noise on noise-canceling headphones (to minimize distractions)
• brain.fm (for focus and flow)
• otter.ai, rev.com (for transcription/dictation)
• Medium
• Wattpad for fiction
• Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg (affiliate link for 30th anniversary paperback ed.)
• Twitter for microblogging
• Story 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. He is a podcaster and an author and a writer, and I cannot wait to ask him all kinds of really practical questions that we can pass on to listeners today. Bryan, thanks for being on the show.

[00:01:45.590] – Bryan Collins

It’s great to be here. Thanks for having me on.

[00:01:47.450] – Ann Kroeker

Thanks for taking the time. We’re in different time zones and I am excited to hear more.

Would you share with listeners a little bit about your own writing, your own writing past and what brings you to today?

[00:02:03.090] – Bryan Collins

Sure. So, ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a writer and earn a living from the written word. I was a big fan of Roald Dahl back in the day, children’s author, and I figured the best way to do it was to become a journalist when I became 18 and it was time to pick something to study in college or university.

But I went to journalism college and spent more time going out to parties than I did actually taking notes. And I found it really difficult to find paying work. So I kind of drifted in and out of various freelance writing gigs during my 20s. I’m 40 now, by the way, for some context.

I got really frustrated with writing and I wasn’t a very good journalist, if I’m being honest. So I drifted into other careers that really weren’t suitable for me. But I still want to earn a living from writing, so I took a series of creative writing workshops that made a big impact on me.

I started by writing short stories and then entering short story competitions. I made a few mistakes. I spent a lot of time writing the same short stories rather than getting feedback.

[00:03:05.670] – Bryan Collins

And after about two or three years, I got frustrated with that and I was about to give up on writing altogether. But then I said, I’ll try something else. What if I try blogging and writing about the one thing I do know something about, which is the craft of writing?

So I had a technology blog that wasn’t getting a huge amount of traffic, which taught me the basics of WordPress and writing online. So I transitioned that site to become a writer today.

For a long time it was like a hobby. This is around 2014, so it would have been in my early 30s. For a long time it was a hobby, something I did around the side of a job.

I was surprised, or pleasantly surprised, when it turned into a part-time and then later a full-time business.

And then to give a bit more context, I did find work. I was working as a copywriter for a British software company. So I did get paid to write. And more recently I’ve left that job. I was there for about eight years, so now I’m working on my own business full time.

So that’s an overview of some of the ups and downs of my writing career to date.

[00:04:05.670] – Ann Kroeker

Would you describe the work that you’re doing through the podcast as part of your full-time work that you’re doing as a writer?

[00:04:13.470] – Bryan Collins

What I do today is I have a site for writers, and I used to write all the articles. Now I commission freelance writers to produce the articles, and then I have a set up a couple of other sites in different niches, or niches, as you say in the United States. I don’t write content for those, but I kind of replicate what works for my site for the other sites.

So I guess the business is a content publishing business and one of my jobs is to edit articles, so I’m using some of the skills I learned along the way in the business.

I self published books, so I was big into self publishing for a few years and I self published a parenting memoir last year, which was my fifth or sixth book.

And then I like podcasting because I get to talk to authors and experts like you. And as any writer or listener can attest to, writing can be quite lonely and isolating; you’re by yourself in a room, which can send you a little bit crazy.

That’s why I podcast. It’s to talk to people and to connect with other writers and share stories or anecdotes about what’s working or not working.

[00:05:19.350] – Ann Kroeker

Thanks for sharing that.

Do you feel like looking back at your journey there’s any one decision you made or one avenue you took that made a big difference?

[00:05:32.290] – Bryan Collins

Yeah, like said, it’ll be deciding to write online.

I think anytime during my writing career where I’ve sought permission from somebody, it’s never worked out well.

By seeking permission, I mean going to an editor and asking them to hire me as a reporter. A few editors did hire me and then they let me go. Or going to a writing competition and asking a judge to pick my story over to hundreds or thousands of others who are trying to get a book deal, all of those kind of things.

Whereas any time I pick something that doesn’t involve gatekeepers or permission, such as self publishing—such as writing online or starting a podcast—I’ve always felt more comfortable with it personally, and I’ve had more luck with earning an income from us and finding readers.

[00:06:20.150] – Ann Kroeker

I love that that’s something becoming more and more of a path for people that is no longer stamped with the stigma of vanity press. It’s becoming a valid, legit path versus sticking around, waiting for people to say yes and green light your project. Green light yourself!

[00:06:39.650] – Bryan Collins

Exactly. There was a great book a few years ago by an author called James Altucher. I don’t think he writes about these topics anymore, but it was called Choose Yourself. It’s kind of like a manifesto for side hustlers.

I know side hustlers get a bad rap, but for somebody who’s doing something online, side hustling can actually turn into something amazing. And the key piece of that book is: Don’t wait for someone to pick you. You pick yourself.

So start your own site, start your own podcast, create your own course. Employ yourself.

[00:07:10.970] – Ann Kroeker

That’s great. I was looking at some of the notes you had sent me and I saw that you have a way of managing all of the information that you’re using in the writing that you do. A note-taking system. I would love to hear more about that.

I’m pretty passionate about that and I think it’s absolutely necessary. No matter what kind of writing we do—whether we’re pursuing traditional publishing, self publishing, writing online, whatever—we need ideas, we need information, we need topics, and then we need to be able to find that when we need it.

And you have a system. Tell us about that.

[00:07:44.390] – Bryan Collins

So when I was a journalist, I kept hearing about the importance of research and organizing your ideas and notes. A lot of journalists keep notepads on their desk or Post-It notes or memos. But I wanted to get a bit more organized with it.

So like many people, I started reading articles and just clipping them into Evernote. I’m thinking that: Now I clipped my articles into Evernote, that’s it. Now that’s my research done.

But that’s just replacing or trying to replicate what the Internet does. The Internet is a repository of all that information.

What’s far better to do is to take interesting anecdotes that you can use from courses or podcasts or articles and save that into your note-taking system and then summarize it in your own words. Maybe describe how this piece of research you’ve come across relates to another piece of research that you’ve come across.

Let’s say I listened to an interview about how to grow a podcast, and the interview was two hours long. I actually did do this. It was an interview Tim Ferris gave, and I wouldn’t save all of the transcripts into my note-taking system.

What I do is I just extract two or three key points that means something to me, and then I write about I’d summarize it in a sentence, and then below what, I describe how I could apply this idea for my own podcast.

[00:09:02.910] – Bryan Collins

And then I link the notes up with each other.

If I was using a digital system—

The method I’m using is called the Zettelkasten method.

I’m still refining it. It’s not something I came up with. It’s a German sociologist from the mid-20th century. His name is Niklas Luhmann. He wrote dozens of books during his career and published hundreds of papers. He’s seen as a really prolific sociologist and author, but he used a series of index cards to do this.

Basically, it’s a form of progressive summarization in your own words. The idea is that you’re always engaged in the act of writing and research, and you’re summarizing all the information you come across continually and reflecting on it and reviewing it.

Because if you think back to the Evernote issues that I described, there’s no point having hundreds of articles saved into Evernote or whatever your app is, if you don’t actually read them and reflect on them and review them.

And that’s where the Zettelkasten method comes in. It’s a German word which translates as slip box.

[00:10:07.230] – Ann Kroeker

Which described his method with his little cards.

[00:10:10.620] – Bryan Collins

Yeah, he used those index cards.

He had one idea per index card in his own words. And then he would have the source for the idea in case he needed it, because he was an academic—in case he needed to go and find the source.

If you see a picture of his slip box, there are thousands of index cards that he kept in giant wooden filing cabinets.

You can replicate this now with digital tools, obviously. That’s the system I settled on. I mean, there are other ones. Like when we were talking before the interview, you mentioned Ryan Holiday’s, the Commonplace Book. I did try that, but I personally find that I prefer a kind of digital system that works quite well for me.

[00:10:49.170] – Ann Kroeker

Well, I have been experimenting with this myself and like you, I have tried Ryan Holiday’s Commonplace Book—which is a misnomer because there are commonplace books that are more like journals, and his is actually this big plastic box that was used for scrapbooking or something.

He has all these index cards in there and then he sort of randomly plucks from them trying to make connections. And that really appealed to me and I didn’t think that the digital approach could do that for me.

But what I feel like the Zettelkasten method does, that you’re doing now, is you’re already finding the connections. As soon as you find something that you’re interested in as you’re taking your notes, you’re summarizing it, you’re already finding the connections right away.

Is that what I’m understanding? You go and you find what you’ve already written about that and then make some connections?

[00:11:40.570] – Bryan Collins

It is, yes.

I did use Ryan Holiday’s method, and I found that I had hundreds of index cards, which were quite hard for me personally to manage.

The tool isn’t really that important, but I use Day One. It’s a journaling app, and I use it because I journal regularly. But there’s other tools you can use.

I just give each note a hashtag. So, for example, I have a series of notes on podcasting. So if I type “podcasting” into Day One, all of the podcasting notes will come up. And if I was writing an article about podcasting, for some reason, I could see all of my research into the topic and all of my reflections on the topic of podcasting, and that works quite well for me.

I try to remind myself that the tool is less important than the process.

Have one place for your notes, whether it’s Day One or Evernote, or index cards or shoebox. When you have one system and you stick with it and you use it, you’re putting stuff in there regularly and you’re taking some time out to review your notes as well.

[00:12:42.440] – Bryan Collins

And that’s actually why I use Day One because I journal a lot. I find that’s really helpful for creative writing and I just enjoy it. So it was just natural for me to start using that for a type of Zettelkasten or slip box.

[00:12:54.200] – Ann Kroeker

That’s so smart because now your notes from outside sources merge with your own ideas.

And I love the idea of the hashtag search, pulling from all of that and creating a cohesive set of ideas and notes.

How often do you actually do that? How often would you do a search on that? Every single day?

[00:13:18.530] – Bryan Collins

I’m working in my business full time now, so I get more time for this.

Bryan’s Note-Taking Routine

1. I try to start in the morning by recording five to ten notes into the Zettelkasten based on a book I’ve read or an interview I’ve listened to. That’ll take me about half an hour.
2. The note is literally just a single one or two lines, and then my reaction, and then just a link to the source and then potentially a hyperlink if I want to link the notes to each other.
3. Then I’ll write a journal entry and that’s about 45 minutes. And then I’ll move on with whatever I need to do that morning.
4. And then once a week then I’ll go back and review some of the notes in the Zettelkasten.
5. And then every few months I’ll go back and review all of the notes from the previous year.
6. And then if I’m writing an article, I’ll just search for the topic in Day One.

I find it’s amazing what I forget. Like many people, you read something and think that’s a great idea and you’re not quite sure what you’ll use that for and then you come across this anecdote or metaphor that you can use for something later on.

[00:14:18.160] – Bryan Collins

So I find that’s quite helpful too.

[00:14:19.990] – Ann Kroeker

So you follow that nudge or that impulse to write it down even if you’re not sure how you’ll use it.

[00:14:26.110] – Bryan Collins

Oh yeah, I’ll always be writing things down. If you don’t write it down, it didn’t happen.

[00:14:31.610] – Ann Kroeker

That’s great, that’s good for the digital age. We all can, well, you talk about grabbing this time, you can work full time when you maybe couldn’t before, and you’re a busy father of three.

How do you fit writing into life? And do you have any suggestions for listeners who might feel themselves crunched for time as well?

[00:14:51.230] – Bryan Collins

So when I was trying to make a living, writing like our kids were quite small. Now I have a 16-year-old, an eleven-year-old and a three-year-old, but at the time I think they were all under five. I wasn’t bored, but it was difficult to do with a corporate job.

What I used to do was just get up early before work at 06:00 a.m. and write for an hour or an hour-and-a-half.

I recognize that’s not possible for everyone, so I also tried writing in the evenings, but what I found is that I was always tired after work and I was more likely to procrastinate or pop things off.

So I asked myself: What could I give up?

And I stopped playing Xbox and PlayStation games, and that’s how I was able to get some writing done.

And then I also kind of stopped watching television during the week and then you confine it to the weekends.

I don’t get up that early now because I can do it full time. But if somebody is having trouble finding time to write, I would say rather than trying to write for four or five hours on a Saturday because you feel like you have a full free day, try and slot 15 minutes into your day every day.

[00:15:54.460] – Bryan Collins

Fifteen minutes is often enough to write 300 words.

And if you write 300 words for six or seven days a week, chances are you’ll hit 3000 words—chances are you’ll go over, because some days will just go better than others.

If you do that for a month, or you do that for three months, you’ll have the first round of a book, you’ll have a series of articles for your site, or you’ll have more than enough articles that you can use to build a writing portfolio if you’re a freelancer.

It’s tapping into the power of small daily wins. And I think most people can find 15 minutes.

We have more tools than ever for writing today:

• You can dictate on your mobile if you’re on a commute.
• You can write on your commute.
• You can use your tablet or whatever works for you.

[00:16:37.910] – Ann Kroeker

Yeah, these tools are making it possible to do things we couldn’t do before. People who maybe they’ve had surgery can’t type. We can now dictate or record and transcribe, just as you said.

And the 15-minute chunk—surely we can dig out a little bit of time to pull it off.

I love your examples, but at the same time, I know you encouraged the idea of getting into creative flow and the flow state sometimes takes a little time to get into.

So how do we merge these two ideas, that we can actually write a book in 15 minute increments every day because it will pile up and it will accumulate. How do we do it in a way where we feel like we’re tapping into that deeper place that happens during creative flow?

[00:17:25.010] – Bryan Collins

You can write in 15 minutes, but if you want to get into kind of a deep state of creative flow, I’d say you need about 30 minutes. So still not a huge amount of time. Depending on how busy your day is, maybe you can find 30 minutes to do it.

There’s a few kind of techniques you can use to get there faster. So you can use a set of these noise-canceling headphones and listen to ambient noise like rainfall and that can quickly help you eliminate distractions.

Or there’s a service called Brain.FM. I interviewed the person who created it. It’s designed to help you get into flow state faster. So that’s another technique that you can use.

But what’s really key is to be in an environment where you’re not going to be distracted for about 30 minutes. So take your phone out of the room. Ideally there’s no other distractions like a television on or games console.

Now, I recognize that’s not possible for everybody, again, depending on where they live. So perhaps you need to write at a time when your house or your apartment or where you live is quieter.

[00:18:27.000] – Bryan Collins

Or maybe you could go to the local coffee shop or the park and write there for 30 minutes or 60 minutes or whatever it is.

You also don’t need to get into a state of creative flow for hours. While that can be fun and productive, 30 minutes is often enough. And then you can get up and take a break.

If you have time, you can get back down and do another 30 minutes. And then depending on how the day goes, you may go for two or three hours.

I find more than two or three hours gets exhausting. There’s a great book about Flow by Mihaly…I’m not going to attempt to pronounce his last name, it’s called Flow. But he basically says more than three hours is really difficult for most people and that’s often enough to do what you need to do.

[00:19:08.630] – Ann Kroeker

I think that’s great advice and very doable. I love the noise-canceling headphones. I used those when my kids were young and safe and didn’t need my monitoring, but I didn’t need to hear their noise. That’s a good trick.

How about other ways we can be creative and pull out a more creative mindset and tap into different creative tools? Do you have advice for that?

[00:19:33.530] – Bryan Collins

Yeah, when you’re working at a computer, sometimes it can feel confining and limiting. We’re all relying on these tools to write books and self publish them or build sites or publish articles.

If you’re working on a first draft or you are thinking about a project, consider going for a walk and bringing your phone with you and using a set of earphones and dictating the first draft using an app like Otter.AI or Rev or Dragon, or other new ones.

Often dictating the first draft is a lot faster. Plus, you’re outside. You’re getting the blood moving and you’re getting some fresh thinking as well.

And sometimes just to change environment is enough if you feel like you’re stuck on a particular project.

It’s also good to mix up your tools. So if I’m working on a book, sometimes I’ll use index cards, even though I have all the book writing software, and I lay all the index cards out on a table. And then because I can physically move the index cards around, it’s a way of kind of zooming out and seeing the structure of the book as a whole and where each section fits in the book.

[00:20:39.160] – Bryan Collins

But I find that quite difficult to replicate on the computer. I know Scrivener has index cards, but again, it kind of feels like I’m trapped inside of the app, which is great for focusing on a sentence or a chapter, but not so great when you need to look at the manuscript in its entirety.

[00:20:54.410] – Ann Kroeker

Mixing up analog and digital, that’s genius. I see other people doing similar things. They print off and cut up their pieces of paper and rearrange. There’s something about that. I don’t know. Maybe we’re just as humans, we need to have a little tactile experience in addition to the digital tools that are a fingertip away.

[00:21:14.030] – Bryan Collins

Yeah, I’m a big fan of whiteboards and lists. You can’t see it here, but there’s a whiteboard to my left. Sometimes I’ll just write down lists on a whiteboard or mind map on a whiteboard and I find that’s quite helpful as well.

[00:21:26.710] – Ann Kroeker

Nice. So if somebody’s listening and they’re just getting started and they would like to move toward publishing, whether that’s self publishing or traditional publishing, do you advise any kind of first steps to finding their voice, to try to get their ideas out, to start sorting through things, to see what they even want to write about and what they want to be known for?

Those initial questions. They’re just getting started. What would be your advice to them?

[00:21:54.560] – Bryan Collins

Yeah, those are difficult questions.

Many new writers are afraid of what people will think. What will a family member think if they start writing about depression or sex or some real personal problems they have?

I worried about those things when I started writing nonfiction, but I quickly discovered that your biggest problem isn’t what people will think, it’s actually capturing the attention of readers in the first place.

So much content out there and so many books, it’s really hard to connect with who your ideal reader is. So get into the habit of publishing your work and submitting it.

Try different genres or niches—or niches—until you figure out one that resonates for you.

If you’re writing nonfiction, you can use a platform like Medium to try different genres or niches, write for different publications and potentially earn a few dollars each month from the Medium Partner program. And you’ll learn more about writing online through using Medium.

Now, I don’t write much fiction, but you can use services like Wattpad if you’re writing fiction, to do something similar.

Twitter is also quite a good microblogging platform.

But that said, I would always at the back of your mind be thinking, what can I build as my own?

[00:23:05.200] – Bryan Collins

While you can build a platform on Medium and Twitter, you’re still subject to their algorithm rules. So it’s always a good idea to have a part of the internet that’s your own home base. Whether that’s a site about your business or a site about you, it’s a way for readers to find who you are.

Once readers start to visit your site and hopefully join your email list—because you want to give them something for free—you can start emailing them and asking them questions about what do they like about your work or what kind of problems that they have.

Then you can use that to inform what you’re going to write and publish next.

[00:23:37.130] – Ann Kroeker

So I hear at least three great pieces of advice that they need to stick with. One is: don’t worry so much about what people think; worry more about capturing reader attention, like being findable, but then having them stick with you because they like what they read. That was one thing you said.

Then you said, what can I build that’s my own?

Even though we have access to something like Medium—because it’s there and it’s an easy way to publish and distribute our words—still be careful and try to create something that’s our own and then just maintaining that reader attention, even once they’re in your space.

Whether through a lead magnet/freebie thing or whatever brought them into your space, try to maintain that attention and even ask them for ideas. Is that a pretty good summary of what you said?

[00:24:24.970] – Bryan Collins

It is a fair summary.

While you need to go out and build relationships with your readers, it’s also good to have a way of having a direct relationship with your readers, as well, so you’re not overly reliant on Twitter or Medium or whatever—or even the Amazon algorithm—to show your content to them.

As an example, it was really easy to self publish a book years ago on Amazon. It’s still easy to self publish a book, but it’s much harder to find readers unless you go and invest in paid advertising. That’s just one way that the rules have changed slightly, but those authors who have an email list are less subject to having to use paid advertising.

[00:25:04.250] – Ann Kroeker

Yeah, so that’s a whole world. I have a membership program and we talk about all of this, setting the whole system up for people to be able to get into your ecosystem, if you will, your sphere of influence.

But this idea of, to use Seth Godin’s term, to “ship” content out there, to get in front of readers and get their input and hopefully get them to like what you’re writing…do you feel like that is the best use of social media right now, to just kind of get your ideas out there fast and then see what sticks? Is that a spaghetti approach?

[00:25:39.710] – Bryan Collins

It can work, but if you’re going to go out and just start publishing links to all of your content, the algorithms tend to favor keeping people on their platform. So posts with links don’t work that well.

If you engage with somebody naturally or authentically on Twitter or Medium, that tends to work much better. In other words, if you’re on Twitter, you’re writing content for Twitter and not asking people to leave Twitter to join your site, but if they’re interested, chances are percentage will come and find who you are anyway.

[00:26:10.190] – Ann Kroeker

Which platform is your favorite?

[00:26:12.770] – Bryan Collins

Well, these days, to go back to your question about finding time to write, I actually reduced my social media usage for a long time because it’s hard to write and find time for social media.

But these days I use Twitter quite a bit. I find it’s quite good. I particularly like Twitter threads.

I used to use Medium quite a lot when I was freelance writing. I’m not using it so much anymore because there were a lot of changes to the algorithm and how content was surfaced and.

To be honest, I found my site was starting to get traffic, so it was better publishing content there. I’m starting to use YouTube a bit for informational videos from my own side as well. So they’re probably the three main networks at the moment.

[00:26:53.440] – Ann Kroeker

And would you suggest those as a starting point for somebody? We kind of covered that already, but would you say, “Yeah, go ahead and start doing video!”

[00:27:04.730] – Bryan Collins

Yeah, I guess somebody would have to ask themselves what network they’re most comfortable using.

If you’re a writer and you write nonfiction, then I really encourage you to check Medium out if you haven’t done it already. And Twitter as well. It’s naturally geared towards writers and microblogging, and it’s gotten much easier to use than it was a few years ago, and more relevant for people who use the written word online.

So probably those two, they probably take the least amount of time, whereas video can be quite involved.

[00:27:37.070] – Ann Kroeker

That’s great advice. Do you feel like if somebody is stuck…So we talked about beginning writers—what about people who are feeling stuck? They’ve got writer’s block or something like that. I know that’s maybe a term that some people argue that it doesn’t exist, but they’re feeling blocked in some way. Do you have any tips for how they can break free from that?

[00:28:03.530] – Bryan Collins

Writer’s block is often an input problem rather than an output problem.

So if you feel like you have nothing to say, ask yourself what types of books are you reading or courses are you taking and are you kind of documenting your notes and learnings from those books and courses?

Writing about what you’ve learned is a great way of conquering writers block.

If you’re writing something that’s more creative, I recommend checking out the book Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. It’s fantastic. Get the audio version because she narrates it herself and she’s amazing.

But she describes a practice called free-writing, which is really helpful for writer’s block.

Basically, you write for a predetermined period. You don’t stop to edit yourself, and you just write about whatever is on your mind. And if something strange happens while you’re writing, you would just write that down as well. Or a dog barking, you just write that down as well.

The idea is that you’re just getting out whatever’s on your head onto the blank page, and then later on, during a separate session, you can go back and edit and tidy up and see if there’s something useful.

[00:29:05.870] – Bryan Collins

So those practices can all help a writer’s block.

[00:29:09.650] – Ann Kroeker

Free-writing was so liberating to me, and it wasn’t because of writer’s block that I was using it. I was actually using it in a creative writing class. It was an assigned book back in the day.

That book transformed everything for me, because I had come from a family of journalists and so I had one way of thinking about writing. But then I read what she was saying, that we have to get down to those “first thoughts,” as she called them. And the only way we can do that is when we take away the editor that’s always editing what we’re saying and thinking, and get down to the first thoughts.

And that can only happen when you just keep that pen moving or the I guess you could do fingers. She sort of changed her tune a little bit. She used to say a pen on paper, but now she’s saying if keyboard works better, that’s fine. Yeah, just get the words down.

[00:29:56.390] – Bryan Collins

Yeah. I like free writing.

Journaling is good too. Journaling can work quite well with the freewriting approach because usually a journal entry is for you and you alone. You can write about whatever you want.

[00:30:09.410] – Ann Kroeker

Yeah, you said you used Day One, that’s for your journaling and it’s digital, right?

[00:30:14.930] – Bryan Collins

I use Day One. It’s a purpose-built journaling app.

Sorry, my phone going off there. That’s another tip. Yeah, turn off your phone when you’re writing.

So yeah, I used Day One. It’s a purpose-built journaling app and I particularly like it because it works great on the mobile, and so I can use it on my tablet and I can also use it on the Mac and you can put in photos.

It also has a nice neat little feature where it’ll surface entries from last year or five years ago or eight years ago. So it’s a great way of bringing back up pieces of writing that you may have forgotten about.

[00:30:48.560] – Ann Kroeker

Do you ever worry about privacy with these apps?

[00:30:52.730] – Bryan Collins

Sometimes, yeah. Day One has a pretty strict encryption policy and it’s connected to your Apple ID. And actually when you’re using Day One, if you even tab out of the app, it will automatically lock as well. I guess if you’re journaling, you have the same issues. If it’s a paper journal too, who’s going to unearth it under your bed?

[00:31:14.390] – Bryan Collins

I don’t have state secrets in there. I can’t imagine why somebody would want to hack into Day one. Maybe just be somebody I know would want to read it. But it’s password protected.

[00:31:23.670] – Ann Kroeker

Yeah. And it sounds like you do a lot of the creative work that you’re going to pluck from anyway for your public writing.

[00:31:30.450] – Bryan Collins

Well, that’s it, yes. So a lot of it is like the research and the bare bones hopefully later turned into an article or some sort of chapter.

[00:31:37.570] – Ann Kroeker

Do you see a difference between a personal reflective journal and a writing journal?

[00:31:44.270] – Bryan Collins

That’s a good question. So I guess they’re kind of intermixed.

In Day One, I have a personal journal—traditional journaling about what I did or what I thought about something. And then I have the Zettelkasten, and those are probably the two ones that I have in there. I don’t have a dedicated writing journal, per se. I would consider that the Zettelkasten.

[00:32:06.690] – Ann Kroeker

Okay. And if you had a favorite writing book—we’ve already mentioned Writing Down the Bones. Is there another book that you would say?

[00:32:19.370] – Bryan Collins

Yes, it’s on my top ten list of books about writing.

Story by Robert McKee.

He’s a screenwriting doctor and guru, worked a lot in Hollywood.

He came to Ireland a few years ago, and I went to his workshop, and at the end of the workshop, I was walking up to meet him, and I’d ordered a copy of his book, and he put a statement down and it said: Write the truth.

I think he puts that on every book he autographs.

But basically he provides an overview of how any writer can use Story in their work. And once you learn it, it’s something that can be really impactful. It really helped me. That’s definitely a good book. Even if you don’t write screenplays, it’s still a book that will help you with your craft.

[00:32:58.160] – Ann Kroeker

I have it in the house. It’s really fat.

[00:33:00.610] – Bryan Collins

It is. It’s quite a dense book. It took me a while to go through it, but I ended up reading it three times and taking lots of notes. It’s excellent.

[00:33:09.200] – Ann Kroeker

I’m going to pull it off the shelf, blow the dust off and get started. That’s great.

Do you find yourself writing your nonfiction differently because of having read Story? I’m assuming that, based on what you just said.

[00:33:22.490] – Bryan Collins

I try to. I try to insert some personal stories into my nonfiction.

I don’t always succeed in following what he advocates in the book, but he did something that’s always at the back of my mind, because readers will connect more with a story rather than somebody who’s regurgitating information.

[00:33:38.630] – Ann Kroeker

Who’s your creative hero?

[00:33:41.750] – Bryan Collins

That’s a good question. A few. Probably the singer Nick Cave. I think he’s just tried multiple formats, from poetry to books to music.

I suppose Robert McKee’s made a big impact on me, the fact that I was looking off to meet him.

Maybe Stephen King as well, because he’s such a huge back catalog, and he’s tried so many different genres and niches.

[00:34:06.510] – Ann Kroeker

And what’s next on your plate, on your desk? What are you working on now?

[00:34:12.950] – Bryan Collins

Well, I just finished writing a parenting memoir. It’s kind of a lockdown project. So I’m at the final stages of recording the audio book called I Can’t Believe I’m a Dad.

It’s a creative project that’s something that I wanted to write during the lockdown. It’s all about when I unexpectedly became a dad about ten or 15 years ago. It’s something I enjoyed writing rather than a book I wrote because I was going to achieve some goal for me. So that was fun to do. And I spent the past few months narrating the audio version of that as well.

[00:34:41.970] – Ann Kroeker

That’s a big project. And then marketing that, I suppose, is a big part of that. The next steps involved.

[00:34:49.570] – Bryan Collins

Yeah, I need to spend more time promoting it.

To be honest, I kind of wrote the book just with the goal of writing something that’s a bit more honest and personal, because prior to writing this book, I’d written a lot of business books, and I was a freelance writing for Forbes, so I wanted to do something that was altogether removed from that type of writing, and it was just something I enjoyed writing.

All the kind of stories and anecdotes and how they relate to a guy who’s about to become a dad…the thesis of the book is it’s all the information I wish I’d known about becoming a father. It’s something I wish somebody told me at the point when I found out my partner was pregnant years ago.

[00:35:30.450] – Ann Kroeker

Write the truth. You’re doing it.

[00:35:31.620] – Bryan Collins

Write the truth. Yeah, that’s it.

[00:35:35.010] – Ann Kroeker

Well, thank you for your time today and sharing so much of how your own creative process works and even the little granular details of how your card system lives in Day One and how we can use different systems to do our own creative work and step out into the world to be read.

Do you have any final thoughts that you want to leave us with?

[00:35:57.270] – Bryan Collins

Sure. So if somebody is listening to this and they want to learn more, you can visit becomeawritertoday.com. And on the homepage, you can get a free book of writing prompts. I also have a podcast under the same name, and I was looking up to interview guests like Ann about the writing process. And that’s also called Become a Writer Today. And it’s on the iTunes Store, so go check it out.

[00:36:19.640] – Ann Kroeker

You have had some big name people on there, me not being among the top names, who are some of the people you are really excited to have on the show that they might want to go dig around and find?

[00:36:30.520] – Bryan Collins

Yes. I interviewed James Clear when he was promoting Atomic Habits. That was a good one. I interviewed Daniel Pink about his book a few years ago. That was interesting, too.

More recently, I interviewed Mark McGuinness, so he’s well known and as a kind of a creativity coach. And he was really interesting to talk to. And he gave me some advice about how to think about creative work versus work that pays the bills.

[00:36:55.950] – Ann Kroeker

All right, I’m going to go listen to that next myself. I haven’t gotten to that one. So thank you. Thank you for opening up your life and your work to us. And I hope that many people find themselves becoming stronger, better, more confident writers, especially getting to know you and your podcast.

[00:37:15.390] – Bryan Collins

Thank you, Ann.

[00:37:16.430] – Ann Kroeker

All right, you take care.

[00:37:17.800] – Ann Kroeker

I hope this conversation helps you see how you can start building your own system for collecting everything that inspires you. And you really can build your body of work 15 minutes at a time.

Let Bryan continue to inspire you through his podcast, Become A Writer Today. I’ll link to that and to his interview with me, along with loads of resources he mentioned.

Just go to annkroeker.com/becomeawritertoday, all jammed up together. That’s annkroeker.com/becomewritertoday.

Thank you for being here. I’m Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

The post How to Make Time to Write and Develop a System to Take Notes, with Bryan Collins appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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 see ways poetry 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 podcasts
• How 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 writing
• How poems “mug” Mark and he drops everything to chase them like leprechauns
• The importance of getting input on your work and finding a writing mentor
• Plus, 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.fm
• Listen to A Mouthful of Air on Apple Podcasts
• Twitter: @amouthfulofair
• Instagram: @airpoets

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. And to my point of view, it’s not that hard. I think a lot of people get put off at school, they have a bad experience or they think it’s this thing up on a pedestal that they don’t understand or that isn’t going to speak to them in their lives.

And I got this urge about two years ago when I first got the idea for the show that I would really like to take some of these books behind me down from the shelf and just read a poem and just share it with people and say, “Isn’t that great? And notice what’s happening in the third line here. Isn’t it marvelous what she’s done with the rhyme or whatever?” And just to share the magic that I feel that I don’t think it’s that hard for other people to tune into.

[03:00] – Mark McGuinness

And then following on from that, I thought, “Well, actually, I know quite a few poets I’ve been to their readings. I’ve read their books. I’ve sat next to them in workshops. Why don’t I invite them on the show, too? And then they can read it.”

And so the way the show works is that every episode is focused on one poem, and the first thing you hear is the poem. Because if it’s a good poem, you don’t need an introduction. You don’t need to be told why you should like it or all the footnotes and stuff. You either like it or you don’t, or you feel something or you don’t. But you’ve really got to listen and put your kind of assumptions aside about it.

So we hear the poem read by either me, if it’s a dead poet, if they’re alive, I get them on the show and they read it themselves. And then we have a little bit of context, a little bit of, well, what’s going on in the poem? And again, if they’re alive and they’re on the show, I’ll ask them, where did the poem come from? How did you get the idea?

[03:59] – Mark McGuinness

How did you work it up? What process did you go through from the initial idea to what we have on the page or on the screen or in the ear. And quite often that journey is really surprising. I mean, as a writer, I’m fascinated by how things evolve. And if the poet is sadly no longer with us, then I will share my thoughts on why I think the poem is worthy of our attention and what I think is going on.

And then the end of the show, we hear the poem again. And even though it’s the same poem and the same recording, it should sound different. In fact, listeners tell me it sounds different because it’s a bit like a magic eye, because they can see things or they can hear things in it that they weren’t aware of the first time rounds. So that’s it. It’s all quite self contained.

[04:51] – Ann Kroeker

That is a wonderful concept. I took an online course in years past where we did these close readings, and it just opened my mind up. It took me back in time. I actually studied poetry and creative writing as an undergraduate at Big Ten University here in the States. And so I have a little exposure to poetry, and it was my entree into writing and building a writing life.

So tell us what the name of the show is and why you chose it.

[05:23] – Mark McGuinness

Okay. It is called A Mouthful of Air. And I know it’s a good title because I nicked it from W. B. Yeats in a little poem that he wrote, an early love poem. Would you like to hear it? It’s really short. It’s easier than me describing, of course.

Okay, so it’s called He Thinks of Those Who Have Spoken Evil of His Beloved.

And it’s not hard for us to guess that his beloved was like to be moored gone. Famously he was in love with her. She was a significant figure in the Irish political independence movement in the late 19th century. So it begins.

It’s just six lines, so blinking, you miss it, but it goes:

Half close your eyelids, loosen your hair,
And dream about the great and their pride;
They have spoken against you everywhere,
But weigh this song with the great and their pride;
I made it out of a mouthful of air,
Their children’s children shall say they have lied.

And I love the fact that Yeats, he emphasizes a poem, in which case a song. He was a very lyric poet. He emphasizes how light, how insubstantial it is. It’s almost nothing.

[06:56] – Mark McGuinness

“Weigh this song.” She’s being criticized by people. He doesn’t like “the great and their pride.” And he’s saying, but you can’t—don’t respond to the criticism. Just “weigh this song” with it almost as though he’s saying that poetry can balance the scales of this injustice.

And he says, “I made it out of a mouthful of air.” So that’s what the poem is made of. It’s made of speech, it’s made of breath.

And of course, this takes us back to the origins of poetry, which is even older than writing. So it would have been spoken or maybe sung way back before people thought of writing poems down.

And I think this is something for me, something quite magical about poetry, that insubstantial thing. You’re making it out of nothing, really. A mouthful of air that still survives into the 21st century. And I thought, Isn’t that a lovely way of thinking about a poem?

And it’s perfect for a podcast, because what you get on the podcast, of course, is the spoken poem. Again, we’ve gone from the text back to speech. So that’s where I got it.

[08:02] – Ann Kroeker

It’s both literal and metaphor. And metaphor is a big part of poetry, and we can grab it.

Most of the people, I think, listening to my show are writing prose or novels or short stories or essays or articles, and probably fewer writing poetry. Tell me how you feel like this. We can translate things like metaphor used commonly in poetry.

How can we translate metaphor into our other forms of writing without being weird?

[08:34] – Mark McGuinness

I mean, I’m thinking I can tell you about how to do it as a poet. And I use it a lot. I think I use it quite a lot in my nonfiction writing.

So I write about the creative process sometimes. But I think it’s probably basically the same process, which is on some level, the question you’re asking yourself is, “What does this remind me of?” Or, “What is this like?”

And you’re just allowing that thought to come maybe from the back of the mind to the front of the mind. If you have an image, I would say pay attention to the imagery in your mind.

If you’re picturing a character, say, and there’s an image of a waterfall in your mind, just trust that and say, you know, “She was like a waterfall.”

That’s a simile, technically, rather than metaphor, but you know what I mean. It’s the same kind of figurative language I would say or listen and take seriously the words on the tip of your tongue.

If you start to say, I’m feeling really heavy today, then just go with that heavy feeling. Or “He was feeling heavy. He felt the weight of the world on his shoulders.”

[09:47] – Mark McGuinness

I know that’s a cliche, but you can just go with that kind of language, I think. And the other thing I would say, of course, is read lots of poems, because you get loads and loads of metaphors and they just lodge in your mind and get you into that way of thinking.

[10:04] – Ann Kroeker

I appreciated how you modeled that close reading of the Yeats poem for us. And I think just with that alone, you’ve given us a powerful tool to do that, to pull a poetry book off the shelf or look one up online, read it, and then pause and look for those.

That would be a great place to start, I think, with metaphor. I agree.

I have a question for you.

What comes to mind when you think about your own writing life? What metaphor comes to mind for yourself?

[10:40] – Mark McGuinness

The image that came to mind then was kind of almost like a river bank, but it’s going up there’s the river down below, but then there’s the bank leading up, and there’s kind of trees and branches and hedges up there, and there’s all the life going on up there.

I’m waving my hand about for anyone listening to the audio version.

And I guess it feels if I’m writing, I’m going to go down here down by the river, and I’m just going to be out of sight for a little while. I can hear the world is still within earshot. I can listen to that. I can tune into that. But I can also listening to the river that is going in my other ear.

And I feel quite earth and I don’t know, you can’t quite say water, can you? Connection for water. But there’s a connection to the earth and water, which feels quite true to the spirit, I guess.

Well, that was the image that came to mind. I could run with that, plenty into that.

[11:47] – Ann Kroeker

Exactly. My mind was going, I’m imagining you dipping into that river that’s always flowing. And you do that with poetry you’re dipping in.

[11:56] – Mark McGuinness

Yeah, absolutely. And maybe take some back up over the hedge.

[12:01] – Ann Kroeker

Yeah. “Hey, drink this. Taste this.”

[12:04] – Mark McGuinness

That’s it. Yeah, maybe that’s it. That’s good.

[12:09] – Ann Kroeker

Has your writing life evolved in a dramatic way, a subtle way, from your origins?

Which…maybe tell us about those origins and then walk us through?

[12:19] – Mark McGuinness

That’s a good question. I would say my poetry, in one sense has stayed the same, which is that…so I remember the first time I really got excited about writing poetry.

We were at school and my English teacher, Jeff Reilly—wonderful guy, great teacher—he sets the task of writing a ballad based on the novel that we were reading.

And we got started in the class and then we had to go into the next class. It was probably chemistry or something deathly boring like that. And I found myself at the back of the class with my jotter, which I don’t know if your lot of us are familiar with that term it’s basically the rough notebook that we have with really awful paper that would probably take your skin off if you rubbed against it too hard. And I was writing in my jotter and I kept going with it…

I sat at the back of the class and kind of hid it behind my bag. And really I should have been doing chemistry but I couldn’t get the rhythm of this ballad—which a ballad’s is very strong rhythm—out of my mind.

[13:29] – Mark McGuinness

And I kept going through chemistry and history and goodness knows what and normally was the boringly good student who would be paying attention due to fully but I couldn’t. There was this mischievous thing in the poem.

Years later I interviewed the poet Paul Farley, who’s one of our foremost poets here, and he said to me something that really resonated because I was asking him about his writing life and he said, “I feel like I have to be skiving off to write.”

So skiving off is British slang for maybe you call it playing hooky, running away from school. Yes, he said, “I feel I have to be skiving off from something else.”

Like maybe he was supposed to be writing a review or a lecture or whatever and he would be scribbling in the margin. And I could really relate to that.

And I think, coming back to your question, my poetry writing life is not a million miles away from that. The poem is something that will come along and interrupt or tap me on the shoulder when I’m doing something else or even when I’m trying to sleep. Three o’clock in the morning is quite inconvenient sometimes.

[14:37] – Mark McGuinness

But I do have a rule with myself, with whatever else I’m doing, unless I’m in front of a client, I am allowed to go with the poem.

Even if I’ve said to myself I’ll be writing a podcast episode or something this morning. I’m allowed to write that poem because it’s a bit like a leprechaun, the Irish leprechaun. The little spirit’s supposed to appear in front of you, and you mustn’t take your eyes off him because he’s got a pot of gold at the end of his rainbow.

And if you make him, he has to give you the pot of gold. But if you look away and he will use all his tricks to get you to look away, he’ll disappear.

I think the poem is a bit like that, at least the initial idea. You’ve got to grab it before it vanishes.

And then there will be endless tweakings and revisions and rewriting over and over again. So I guess as far as poetry goes, it’s like that. It’s still quite feral, quite wild.

For prose, I’ve got a pretty well established routine, which is I write in the mornings and I do all my other stuff in the afternoon.

[15:47] – Ann Kroeker

No, go ahead. I love hearing about your process.

[15:50] – Mark McGuinness

Well, that was a decision I made about 15 years ago when I realized that my email inbox and my phone and running around after other people was running my schedule, my day. And I thought, “No, you’ve got to draw a line in the sand. You’ve got to actually start the day by writing and making something, not just reacting.”

And at that stage, I was so busy, I got up at 6:00 in the morning to write this blog. I had an idea for launching a blog, but to have it stuck with me.

Unfortunately, I’ve now managed to move the date further forward into the day, partly due to having children, when I capture every ounce of sleep I possibly could when they were small. But I still like that intentionality that that gives my day, that I’m starting off, I’m going to create something.

Later on, there’s plenty of things that I need and want to do for other people. But this is the thing I do that feeds me. First thing.

[16:55] – Ann Kroeker

As a writer, do you identify first and foremost as a poet who writes prose, or someone who writes prose and uses poetry…which comes first?

[17:04] – Mark McGuinness

Oh, poetry comes first. That’s much more exciting, at least in my mind, because to me, that is the most exciting form of reading or writing. And I love prose as well, don’t get me wrong. But what poetry gives me is that it’s even more concentrated, even more magical.

[17:25] – Ann Kroeker

What do you think is the biggest gift that a poem gives?

Is it the play with words? Is it conveying an idea slant? Is it something else?

[17:39] – Mark McGuinness

There’s a lot of pleasure in poetry, and I think that’s something that’s easily overlooked.

Like, we listen to music. We listen to songs because they’re fun. It’s not because we feel we ought to understand figurative language and Bob Dylan’s use of the metaphor, whatever. It’s because it’s a great tune and we like the sound of it and it sticks in our head.

And to me, first and foremost, poetry is like that, or rather, and also because I had to really think about this when I was launching the poetry podcast. Well, what does it do? And to me, it helps me make sense of the world, and that’s reading and writing.

And of course, Robert Frost put it much better than I did when he said, “a poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.” It becomes “a momentary stay against confusion.”

And I just think that’s so beautifully and precisely put because it’s momentary. It’s not like this is the Truth, capital letters, and it will always be, but a momentary. You go, “Actually, yeah, I’ve got that.” When you read the poem or writing it, “Yes, I captured that.” And then, of course, we’re back in the flow of confusion.

But yeah, that delight and wisdom that will do me for poetry.

[19:01] – Ann Kroeker

Where is that? I want to know the source of that quote.

[19:05] – Mark McGuinness

I think he made it like an offhand remark, maybe in one of his interviews or talks. I’d like to think he sat down and considered it because it’s pretty good, isn’t it?

[19:15] – Ann Kroeker

It’s like you’ve prepared that for this.

[19:17] – Mark McGuinness

It’s a prepared line. That’s right.

[19:21] – Ann Kroeker

Wow.

When you think back to all the things that you have done and achieved as a writer, what are you most proud of?

[19:32] – Mark McGuinness

The poems that sing to me. And also I’ve heard they sing to…they sing or they speak to other people.

And I won’t lie, if a poet I really admire says, “I like that one,” that means a lot.

I think when you’ve got a fellow practitioner who’s further down the path than you, who says, “Okay, there’s something there,” ego aside and validation and aside, I think it’s a sense of “Yes, at least I captured that. At least I managed to kind of make sense of that little corner of the universe.” That’s quite satisfying.

[20:20] – Ann Kroeker

And that input that you’re getting that you know it sang to somebody, and it landed right, is that happening because it got accepted to a journal and it’s been read or available to the public? Or does this happen privately?

I’m asking because I’m thinking about all the people who are working so hard privately at their computers, at their notebooks, writing poems, writing other things, essays or whatever, and they’re hearing no from the gatekeepers.

So I’m just curious if some of this input that you’re getting…how are you getting it?

[21:00] – Mark McGuinness

Well, first of all, I’ll say if you want to get a lot more no’s, then write poetry.

Because the amazing thing is you walk down the street, you never meet a poet, and you submit to a poetry magazine and suddenly there’s hundreds of them in the inbox next to you. And I know this because I edited a poetry magazine once, and I saw what mind-boggling number of poems come in.

So I’m there with you. If you’re getting the no’s, I get more no’s than yeses. Most people do just because of the numbers. But the yeses outweigh the no’s.

And going back to the original question, which I think is a really good one, it’s interesting because the ones that come to mind aren’t publications or prizes.

When you asked the question, it was times when I’ve sat down when poet is tutoring me, because that’s when you actually see the real response, the one that they can’t fake. Either they frown or their face lights up and you can see even before they said something, “Oh, that one connected.” And then they will say something.

Because when you get accepted, generally you don’t get a lot of feedback.

[22:18] – Mark McGuinness

It’s just, “Hey, great poem, thanks. We’re pleased to have it.”

Whereas in a tuition situation or mentoring situation, I think you’re more likely to get a) the emotional response, and b) the more fulsome, detailed feedback.

So I would say if anybody is in that situation, get great feedback, find a tutor, find a mentor, somebody who really knows your genre.

And they’re not just going to give you general praise, but they can give you really specific praise or be open to the criticism if it’s not there yet. But that can really help you calibrate.

Because I think another thing I would say based on the experience of having edited a magazine is when we submit, I think there’s always a little frightened part of us that’s thinking, “Oh, will I be good enough?”

And if you get rejected it’s, “I wasn’t good enough. My poem wasn’t good enough. I’m not good enough.”

But rest assured, when I edited, it was Magma Poetry magazine. There were plenty of poems that weren’t of a great quality, that’s true. But there were also far more poems that were good enough—in other words, well written enough—than I had room for in the magazine.

[23:38] – Mark McGuinness

And so at that point it came down to my taste. It came down to the kind of context.

There were several sometimes that would form little constellations together. They would be on the same topic or around they seem to speak to each other. They kind of looked out for each other. And then the poor poem about a subject completely different wasn’t left on its own. It was harder to justify leaving that in.

Ever since then I’ve realized it’s not just about being “good enough,” whatever that means. Maybe think about that before you submit.

They always say read the magazine or read the books published by whatever. You really should because that will give you an idea of the kind of stuff that gets published there. Sometimes it helps to get an idea of if there’s a judge for a competition, sometimes, I’ve entered because I thought, “Oh, I like their stuff, I wonder what they think of mine?” So that can be interesting.

But the other thing is to just keep at it. And always have always have more submissions out.

Never have one submission at a time because when that comes back as a no, then you’ve got nothing to look forward to.

[24:56] – Mark McGuinness

But if you’ve got another two or three, then there’s a part of you that can go, “Yeah, but, well, maybe next month I’ll get a yes.” And then you rotate.

So the game is to always have more submissions always out there so there’s always, “Well, but maybe the next one.”

[25:13] – Ann Kroeker

So much good advice. And so reassuring.

Mark, I can’t tell you what a relief this is going to be for those who are in the trenches doing the work, submitting, to hear from someone who’s been an editor—and someone who has submitted their work and had to grapple with both sides.

That helps us get a vision for what these editors are trying to do with their work and how they honestly react and respond to pieces. And that there are many good poems that end up hearing no simply because it didn’t fit the theme that emerged organically. I loved that part.

I think that’s just one example of why we need to just turn around and resubmit.

Keep finding the right home for your work.

[25:57] – Mark McGuinness

That’s it. That’s the phrase. Find the right home for it.

Because if you go with the idea that, well, I mean…sometimes it’s been rejected enough. There are poems I’ve taken to Mimi Khalvati, my longterm mentor, and she said, “Well, you know what, Mark? Maybe it’s time to retire that one.” And that’s fine.

But sometimes it is a case of…I’ve had plenty of poems accepted by good publications that have been rejected several times by others, and it’s about: you could find the right home for it. I think there’s a lovely phrase to use.

[26:31] – Ann Kroeker

Is there a number we should keep in mind? Like when Mimi would tell us what’s the number of rejections where….yeah, maybe…?

[26:42] – Mark McGuinness

I don’t know, because famously, if J. K. Rowling had given up after, was it 29, 30 rejections, she wouldn’t have sent it to the next one.

[26:51] – Ann Kroeker

True. Yeah.

You said a couple of things that were interesting that I wanted to explore with you. One was early in the discussion with me today. You’ve talked about just start reading poetry. Then later here, we’re talking about creating poems.

So we’ve got sort of the person who’s taking it in and maybe for the first time, starting to integrate that as part of their writing and creative process. And then you have people who are actually trying to write poetry.

And you’ve suggested getting mentors, getting some sort of input with genre-specific, feedback, so that you can really learn and grow.

When would a person who’s just starting to read poetry know when they’re ready to start getting that kind of education and input? And where can they find it?

[27:40] – Mark McGuinness

I would say, if you really want to get going, then go and look for a course.

Obviously, look for a beginners’ course, but as well as the actual tuition and feedback you get, there’s nothing like being in a room full of people who want to do the same thing.

You know, I did a writer’s retreat a few years ago and we had to go round the table on the first evening and, “What does everybody want? What does everybody want from the week?”

And I just said, “I want a week where writing poetry is normal.” And there were a few smiles around the table because people recognize that normally, it’s not. Normally, they’re the odd one out. Normally, they’re fighting for that time or trying to sneak it away from other things in terms of where to go.

I mean, I’m in the UK, so to me the obvious place would be the Arvin Foundation, which does all kinds of different genres. It does poetry, screenwriting, fiction, nonfiction and so on.

There’s also the Poetry School in London, which is a wonderful—well, they’re based in London, but they have courses online and they have courses around the UK.

[28:50] – Mark McGuinness

Arvin and Poetry School have been doing a lot more online since the pandemic came along. So that’s one benefit from somebody like me who doesn’t live in London anymore, or indeed, if you’re in the States or elsewhere in the world. I think those are my main recommendations. So it might depend on time zones and online availability, but I’m sure wherever you are, they will be.

If you Google fiction for beginners or poetry for beginners or nonfiction or whatever it is.

Ann Kroeker

How did you find Mimi?

Mark McGuinness

Good question. I found Mimi…I can’t entirely remember. I’ve got a feeling that I was in the Poetry Cafe in London in Covent Garden, which is a lovely space. It’s a cafe for poets and poetry. They do readings and drinks and stuff, and the Poetry Society is upstairs where it used to be. And there was a notice board.

I think maybe I saw her advertised for doing, because Mimi did a course for the Poetry School years ago called Versification, where she took all the major types of meter and verse form and we had to write them every week. I think we started with Anglo Saxon, and that was quite demanding course, but also a really amazing one, because at that point I’d done an English degree, so I kind of knew all of this stuff.

[30:25] – Mark McGuinness

But Mimi showed us how the craft of it works. “Okay, this is the result, and this is what it looks like when it’s finished. But how do you write a Petrarchan sonnet? How do you write terza rima? How do you write heroic couplets or blank verse or a villanelle? And how did it evolve and what does it do that other forms don’t do?”

So she really conveyed the magic of the form, really. And that was a lot of the traditional forms in poetry.

They’re not exactly endangered species, but they’re not the mainstream anymore. Most poets these days will write what’s called free verse, which basically means it doesn’t have a regular meter, it doesn’t have a regular rhythm, and it quite often doesn’t rhyme. And that’s great. But it turns out that’s not predominantly the kind of poet I am.

I really like the pulse, as I call it, of the rhythm of the meter, and I like the rhyme. To me, there’s a magical quality to those old forms.

And Mimi really showed us how to tap into that and use it in our own voice. So that’s how I met her. And I just kept going to different classes, and she’s currently mentoring me one to one.

[31:53] – Ann Kroeker

So you must have just asked and she said yes? I love it.

[31:58] – Mark McGuinness

Yeah. I would say again, if there’s a writer that you really admire and you think, “If I could write a bit more like them,” or “I’d really love to get their view on my work,” or just to learn more about how they do it, just Google to see:

Are they giving a talk? Are they being interviewed? I mean, there’s loads of interviews on podcasts, for example. Are they offering classes? Is there any way that you can get into that person’s orbit? And you can learn a lot.

[32:30] – Ann Kroeker

When you are working on a poem or any creative project, how do you get started?

Like, where do you start with an idea, with a phrase? Tell us a little bit about your process.

[32:41] – Mark McGuinness

A lot of the time it kind of mugs me.

There’s another thing that Paul Farley said. He said, “I want the poem to mug me when I’m doing something else.”

So it’s the line that pops into your mind, which is quite a well established phenomenon for a poet. Paul Valéry called it le vers donner, and le vers calculer.

Le vers donner is the given line. This is the line that the muse or the unconscious or whatever we want to call it, pops into your head.

And then le vers calculer is the line that you make yourself.

So I was once on getting on my children on the Tube, and…I remember just setting them into their seat on the Tube and then the line “terminate the human race” came into my mind and I thought, “What is that?“

And it was the start of a poem. And it was interesting. As soon as I heard that line, I knew what shape and size poem it was and how it related to another poem that I knew.

And it had nothing to do with children, so don’t worry about that. But it just shows how inconvenient and how completely unconnected it can be with whatever’s going on in the rest of your life, it will pop into your mind.

[34:08] – Mark McGuinness

I think actually it’s possible to kind of prime the pump, so to speak.

So a few months ago, I had an idea that I wanted to have a ballad in my poetry collection, because I had a few times that were kind of almost ballads or next door to ballads, and I thought, “Oh, come on, you know you could do the actual thing.” But I had no idea what I would write about. And then—let me show you.

[34:35] – Ann Kroeker

You pulled out your notebook from childhood and the ballad that you are hiding.

[34:40] – Mark McGuinness

It’s interesting because that’s probably the last time I’d written about it.

No. Maybe I wrote one in Mimi’s class, but I went on the internet and I ordered this. Which is the Faber Book of Ballads, from the ’60s. And it’s all lots of old traditional ballads. Irish. Scots. English. Nearly all anonymous.

And I just read it from cover to cover, and then sure enough: A few days later I wake up at three in the morning and there’s my ballad starting to write itself.

And it was a topic I would never have guessed. So that can happen.

If you can kind of say that I’m going to mark out the ground and invite the spirit of the form in, then sometimes they answer the call.

[35:28] – Ann Kroeker

It reminds me of two things, and the first is just that you seem to have like, that invitation—that openness to whatever might come, whenever it might come, and then trusting it when it comes. That is one thing that strikes me about how you approach what enters your orbit, to use your phrase from before.

The other thing that strikes me, too, with that story in particular is I’m a big Sting fan.

[Oh, right.] There was this era where he says that he was creatively blocked and it was old music that had kind of been lost and forgotten. I think there’s a TED Talk that he gave about it, but that’s where he went when he needed to reignite his creativity—it’s going back to the older music and letting that stir something up in him.

I’m not trying to quote him or anything, but it seems like that you pulling that book off the shelf, revisiting what was long ago, allowed you to bring that into your own contemporary life and something came.

What was the theme of that ballad?

[36:35] – Mark McGuinness

I can’t tell you. Literally. Well, actually, I can tell you it was about the pandemic. I can’t quote it because I’ve sent it out on submission, so I don’t want to jinx it, okay? But it was about the pandemic, and I never thought I’d be writing about the pandemic because it’s a big theme to explore and there is quite a lot of pandemic poetry out there.

But anyway, sometimes you’ve got to do what the poem tells you you’re going to do.

[37:01] – Ann Kroeker

There you go. There’s a line. Yeah, “You’ve got to do what the poem tells you to do.”

[37:05] – Mark McGuinness

But to your question about the traditional, I do think it’s important to know whatever genre you’re writing it.

I mean, for me it’s poetry, but different types of fiction, it will have begun at some point. And there’s a backstory, there’s a history, there’s a tradition, and it’s your job to know that and read that because it’s evolved and you learn so much. And there’s a sense that you’re carrying that torch forward for the next generation.

We love to think we’re so individual, particularly poets. Goodness me, we love that. But at the same time we’re kind of part of a procession or part of a team, even. And I think it’s important to know what people further down the line have done.

I think my experience of writing the ballad was I wanted to tap into that whole very old oral ballad tradition.

A lot of people who “wrote” ballads were illiterate. They were songs, they were sung, and they were recited orally and changed. They went through many hands.

And just to pick up a kind of a wave, the metaphor that’s come out like a rippling wave from that and just to go, “Okay, that energy can flow into my poem.”

[38:31] – Ann Kroeker

Where do you see…so you’re entering the conversation now.

You’re entering that with your own energy, adding to that pulse of poetry, that pulse of ideas. Where do you see yourself headed?

Mark McGuinness

As a poet?

Ann Kroeker

As a creative person, I guess? You can broaden it if you want to.

[38:52] – Mark McGuinness

Yeah. So the image that’s coming to mind now, which is one that comes up quite a lot when I think about poetry, is because I think it’s like a big group writing project. And the image I have is a Persian carpet and all the poets throughout history and all the different languages, they’re all weaving it together simultaneously throughout time and space.

And of course, in the middle you’ve got Shakespeare and Homer and Dante doing the big flourishes and whatever.

But even if I could just do a little Bird on the Border or I could do a bit of the trellis work or whatever, I’d be happy because I’m connected up to that grid.

So it comes back to that. It’s not to say I’m not ambitious to do the best I can, but it’s more and more that phrase you used earlier, just find a home. Just write the work that I feel I want to write and find a home for that and just pass it on to the next.

Ann Kroeker

What a beautiful image.

Mark McGuinness

That’s not to say I don’t have ego and ambition and all of that, but there’s a time and a place for that, and that’s not really where the real writing comes from.

[40:07] – Ann Kroeker

Mark, that’s so beautiful, the image you’ve given us, the desire to be one color, one thread woven into that carpet, into that tapestry. I’d be happy to be part of the fringe. I don’t mind.

[40:21] – Mark McGuinness

Right.

[40:22] – Ann Kroeker

Just straighten it out a little bit.

[40:24] – Mark McGuinness

Yeah.

[40:25] – Ann Kroeker

Because that adds to it. Right? We’re all adding to it.

And when it comes to ideas, I think there’s a common word that people use, which is this ecosystem of ideas that we’re all connected to. This giant pond area.

But I love your image. It’s so much more beautiful and a much stronger metaphor, and one that I think we could all dream of to add color to this world. Yeah.

Any parting words that can inspire us and leave us ready to go do the work?

[40:56] – Mark McGuinness

Well, I’ve got a little suggestion for a little game you could play with some writing if you’re remotely curious about writing poetry or just using poetry as a way to look more closely at the words that you use.

So for instance, if you’re a novelist, then you will know far more about plot and story and narrative structure than I will ever know. But what poetry can help you do is to really hone in on the words and that close reading that you were talking about.

So I would say you don’t even need to write anything new for this little game. I would say take a piece of writing of yours that you pretty well like that doesn’t make you cringe when you look at it, that you think, “Okay, I like that.”

And then I want you to copy-paste it and get about one page, a fourth’s worth, or maybe half a page is probably better.

Then I want you to play the game of chopping it up into lines. Because that’s really the only difference between verse and prose—it’s that the verse means a turn. Somebody once said it’s writing that doesn’t meet the right hand margin.

And it’s debatable whether that—and it’s not the same as poetry, which we could argue all day about what the definition of that is—

[42:12] – Mark McGuinness

but for verse, it’s divided up into lines.

So take your poem and divide it up into lines. And don’t get too…try to do them kind of much of a muchness, roughly the same length.

And just look at it on the page, and read it like that and see what difference that makes. And see if it changes the way you see the words or the way you might try speaking it aloud. That would be really interesting. Read the prose aloud and then read that aloud.

Then take that same text and divide it up into stanzas of four lines each. And don’t play with it, just chop it up and just put an extra line space in, and then have a look and see what difference that makes.

And you can keep playing. You can try it with two-line, three-line, five-line stanzas.

You can try longer or shorter lines.

You could try it with what they call verse paragraphs, where you have one section is altogether as a block and then you break it up and there’s another section.

And copy all the different versions of this and maybe print them out and you can just see.

[43:23] – Mark McGuinness

That will teach you a load about poetic form and about the effect of it without anyone having to explain it to you because you will see and feel and sense the difference between the same words in different arrangements.

So that’s the game I invite you to play.

[43:41] – Ann Kroeker

I like that game. I will play it this afternoon. Thank you, Mark. How can people get to know you better? Where do you want to send them?

[43:50] – Mark McGuinness

If you listen to podcasts, wherever you listen to podcasts, search for A Mouthful of Air, and you will find us.

Or online, AMouthfulofAir.FM. Now, the great thing about the website is, remember, poetry is what I call an amphibious art, which means it can live in two different elements. It’s not water and air, but it can live on the page and it can live in your ear.

So if you go to the website, you will find the text of all the poems. And it can be interesting. You listen to the audio and you look at the text and there’s also a transcript of every episode with links to all the technical terms I mentioned. I do try and explain them as we go, but if you want to know more about it, then go there and there will be a link to explain all of that.

And you can sign up and you can get it delivered via email. You get the audio and the email, or you can just subscribe and listen to the podcast. And I do have some people who only read it because they just prefer to read and that’s cool, too.

[44:50] – Mark McGuinness

So that’s where to go. I think on Twitter, it’s @amouthfulofair. And on Instagram, I’m putting the poems on Instagram, it’s @airpoets.

[45:00] – Ann Kroeker

You are investing in writers so generously. This is incredible. I think we talked about finding a class, finding a mentor. You can be our first mentor, I believe, with all of this.

[45:13] – Mark McGuinness

Thank you.

[45:13] – Ann Kroeker

Yeah, thank you. Well, thank you for your time, too, and it’s been a pleasure to get to know you better, to get to your work and to introduce you to listeners of “Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.”

[45:23] – Mark McGuinness

Well, thank you. With a coach and a podcast, you ask great questions and it was a real delight to talk to you. So thank you.

[45:31] – Ann Kroeker

Are you ready to make poetry part of your writing routine? You can let Mark continue to guide and inspire you through his podcast, A Mouthful of Air. I’ll link to that and all things related to Mark at annkroeker.com/amouthfulofair. That’s annkroeker.com/amouthfulofair. I can’t wait to hear your best takeaway from this interview. Thank you for being here. I’m Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

The post Poetry as a Playful and Pleasurable Creative Practice, with Mark McGuinness appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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“:

I start with something specific: a year, a place, an object. Then I try to remember just one specific thing about it. After that, I try to remember another thing and another after that, allowing each memory to flow from the one before. Eventually, I have a whole chain of memories, often growing stronger and more specific as I go.⁶

One story can stand alone or link multiple stories for a more complex chain of connections.

5. Start with a question (inquiry)

“I begin an essay with a willingness to be changed by what I write,” Scott Russell Sanders says. “I do not set out to deliver something I already know, but to inquire into the unknown, to dive into confusion in search of greater clarity.”⁷

To inquire into the unknown is to start with curiosity—to start with a question.

Your questions could be personal questions, cultural questions, specific questions, or big questions about the meaning of life. 

To get you thinking, here are some of Scott’s questions, which he shares in his book The Way of Imagination:

• Why did my father drink, and how did his drinking affect me?
• How have the landscape and culture of the Midwest shaped the people who live here?
• Why is racism so persistent?
• What is beauty?
• What is wildness?
• What is so mesmerizing about rivers?⁸

Scott writes with the same sense of inquiry as Dani Shapiro, who says, “I write in order to discover what I don’t yet know.”⁹

What questions rise up in you? 

Use those to launch your next writing project.

6. Start with another piece of writing 

Have you read something recently that resonated with you—something you wanted to discuss with someone?

• Maybe you ran across an article you connected with, that put words to your thoughts.
• Maybe you read a book that you disagreed with?
• Maybe a blog post held information you’d never heard before?

In any of these scenarios, you can start with the writing that stirred something up in you. 

Refer to it.

Respond to it. 

Riff on it. 

The world of online writing has expanded the sphere of discussion and debate so that anyone with a digital device can find a way to publish their point of view.

This could be you.

Start by re-reading an existing piece of writing and type your thoughts as a response. 

Weave a select quote from the original with your thoughts. Add other perspectives. This is how we enter the conversation and add our angle and deepen a discussion. 

7. Start with news 

I first heard about newsjacking from Teej Mercer, founder—or as she calls herself, “Chief Noisemaker”—of Media Mavericks.¹⁰ I’ve since learned it’s a known publicity and marketing technique.

The idea is to monitor breaking news and find a connection with your personal brand.

• If you write about health and wellness, you could respond to any study released with your take on it. 
• Your personal story may relate to a high-profile person’s announcement.
• If you’re passionate about the environment, you could write in response to any number of breaking news, from wildfires to another animal added to the endangered species list.

Monitor the news, find your connection to the event or announcement. Learn what’s being said about the event, and bring your slant, story, perspective, and opinion.

8. Start with culture 

You could argue that a cultural event falls under the broader category of news, but I like separating these. Starting with culture might stimulate creative connections to a talked-about episode of a show or a scene from a film.

On a group coaching call in Your Platform Matters (YPM), my membership program, we discussed this concept. After describing Newsjacking, I coined this: “Culture Lassoing.”

That’s because of Ted Lasso.

That show has so many different threads you could engage with. I’ve seen several Twitter threads about mental illness because of some plot twists in this season.

You could use a pop culture phenomenon like that and lasso it. Fans notice the show they love and enter the comments to weigh in.

When The Good Doctor first came out, authors who write about autism analyzed the accuracy of the portrayal of a surgeon who is on the spectrum.

Look at music and movies, social media shifts and gaming trends. Identify what you’ve discovered, decide what to say about it—and share it with the world.

Because you’ve lassoed something with name recognition, you may interact with a whole new set of people you never would have met otherwise.

9. Start with conflict 

When you see two product options or two wildly different opinions on something, take a side. Make a claim. Explore it and support it.

• Write a this versus that piece, like Trello versus Notion, front-loading versus top-loading washers, or Yellowstone versus Yosemite National Park
• Provide a balanced view to something that has been presented as either/or
• Start with a public claim someone made and support it if you agree with it, or disagree with it

This can feel risky in a time when positions on various issues seem more volatile than ever, but milder versions and topics can be just as interesting.

10. Start with a list

Start with a list. Your brain loves lists. If you’re stuck, you may find you’re unstuck by the time you scribble the fourth or fifth entry.

And then you might as well keep going. Next thing you know, you’ve written the draft or at least the outline of any number of things: a poem, essay, short story, or blog post.

While a list can store ideas and fuel longer projects, occasionally a list can actually become the project itself, like, oh, I dunno, maybe a blog post titled “10 Ways to Start the Writing Process When You’re Staring at a Blank Page.”

James Altucher is an idea machine and he attributes that to the habit of making lists.¹¹ 

Most often, he seems to suggest writing at least 10 things on the list, but the topic can be about anything.

Let’s say you’re working on a book about trust—maybe you’re flipping the standard idea of trust by redefining it and claiming distrust is a good thing. You could make lists related to this book:

• 10 beliefs people have about trust
• 10 quotes about trust
• 10 examples of trust with this new definition
• 10 cautionary tales of people who don’t step into this new way of viewing trust
• 10 people who exhibit healthy distrust

You could build out your book’s content with a series of lists. 

Of course, you could use this for any kind of writing, from a poem to an essay. 

How Will You Start the Writing Process Next Time You Face the Blank Page?

Let’s run through the list one more time:

1. Start with memory
2. Start with a photo
3. Start with art
4. Start with an object
5. Start with a question
6. Start with another piece of writing
7. Start with news
8. Start with culture
9. Start with conflict
10. Start with a list

Like I said at the beginning, one of these ideas is likely going to stand out a little more than the others. 

Try that one today, and bookmark this post for the future. 

Next time you’re stuck and the words won’t flow, you’ll have options for how to start the writing process when you’re staring at a blank page. 

Resources

• Your Best Material: The Practice of Remembering
• One Lone Duck Egg
• Dancing in the Loft
• The Old Worn Knob
• Write Poetry from Art: Runaway (Andrew Wyeth, “Faraway,” 1952)
• Charity Singleton Craig’s “The Wonder Report” that describes the chain of remembrance
• How to Use Lists to Transform Your Writing (and your life)
• My Everything Page

Footnotes

1. “A Quote by Louis L’Amour.” Goodreads, Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/303969-start-writing-no-matter-what-the-water-does-not-flow. Accessed 27 Sept. 2021.
2. “Ekphrasis: Poetry Confronting Art.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, https://poets.org/text/ekphrasis-poetry-confronting-art/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2021.
3. Malhotra, Mia: “Weekly Prompt: Ekphrastic Poetry.” Lantern Review Blog, 19 Mar. 2010, http://www.lanternreview.com/blog/2010/03/05/weekly-prompt-ekphrastic-poems/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2021.
4. “Andrew Wyeth in China.” Christie’s, Christie’s. https://www.christies.com/privatesales/andrew-wyeth-in-china#about-section. Accessed 27 Sept. 2021.
5. Kroeker, Ann. “Write Poetry from Art: Runaway (Andrew Wyeth, ‘Faraway,’ 1952).” Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach, 3 Sept. 2015, https://annkroeker.com/2015/09/03/write-poetry-from-art-runaway-andrew-wyeth-faraway-1952/.https://annkroeker.com/2015/09/03/write-poetry-from-art-runaway-andrew-wyeth-faraway-1952/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2021.
6. Craig, Charity Singleton. “September 24, 2021.” The Wonder Report, The Wonder Report, 24 Sept. 2021, https://thewonderreport.substack.com/p/the-wonder-report-september-24-2021. Accessed 27 Sept. 2021.
7. Sanders, Scott R. “A Writer’s Calling.” The Way of Imagination: Essays, Counterpoint, Berkeley, CA, 2020. (204)
8. Ibid.
9. “On Inquiry.” Dani Shapiro, 10 July 2015, https://danishapiro.com/on-inquiry/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2021.
10. “MEDIA Mavericks Academy.” MEDIA MAVERICKS ACADEMY, https://www.mediamavericks.tv/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2021.
11. Altucher, James. “The Ultimate Guide for Becoming an Idea Machine.” James Altucher, 14 May 2014, https://jamesaltucher.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-for-becoming-an-idea-machine/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2021.

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The post 10 Ways to Start the Writing Process When You’re Staring at a Blank Page appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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.

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.

Use those methods to define your table of contents. 

8-WEEK SCHEDULE

• 3 Weeks: Book Proposal Elements
• 5 Weeks: Sample Chapters

Let’s say you decide you want to complete your full book proposal in a couple of months, so that’s eight weeks.

You decide to devote the first three weeks to the main book proposal content, which has several elements to it.

You plan to write the three sample chapters during the remaining five weeks. This may be rushed for some writers who need time to process and validate their idea; for people who churn out words quickly, this will feel tedious.

Regardless of how fast you write, you want to give it your best. You want to compose your best chapters and craft the proposal in a way that entices the decision maker to linger with your content and consider the possibilities of this book becoming part of their lineup and you, one of their authors

For two months, you’re going to give it everything you’ve got. Creatively, you’ll pour yourself out.

But it can come down to math.

50,000 words | 10 Chapters

Let’s say this is going to be a 10-chapter book. 

You plan to include three chapters with your proposal.

This means each chapter of your 50K book is going to be about 5000 words each.

To turn in three 5000-word chapters with your proposal, you need to finish 15,000 words in those remaining five weeks to reach your eight-week (two-month) goal.

If you write every single day, you’ll commit to 428 words a day; or, to make it easier to remember, let’s say you’ll be writing 430 words every single day.

The daily word count is not overwhelming. If you plan to write a full 50,000-word draft in 90 days or three chapters to accompany a book proposal in two months, the daily word count landed around 450 to 550 words.

That feels reasonable.

You Can Write This Book in the Coming Year!

Build in time to go back in and edit your draft of those three chapters and the full manuscript, but I hope you can see that this becomes a very doable project.

If you can’t write 550 words a day, stretch out the timeline so you give yourself more time to complete the project, and your daily word count goal will go down.

Like every resolution you’re going to have to commit, but you can do it!

In this case, the habit of writing every day will be the routine that supports your goal. Even if you binge-write a few weekends to make up for sick days or vacations, you can pull it off.

You can write a book in the year ahead.

Perhaps an even better question is: will you?

Related Reading:

• How to Structure Your Nonfiction Book
• You want your nonfiction book traditionally published? Learn what agents and publishers are looking for—and why you need a book proposal—in this free, on-demand webinar
• If you’re ready to clarify and validate your book idea, check out my course 7 Steps to a Clear Book Idea

______________________________

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!

The post Resolved to Write a Nonfiction Book This Year? Let’s Do the Math! appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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.

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 to 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 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 on 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 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 5×7 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, the structure often presents itself in the process of organizing and reorganizing notes and in the process of writing.

Through freewriting you might begin to land on a structure that will work for this book. Or by writing chapters or sections within chapters, a structure may naturally—organically—emerge.

You may see patterns, themes, words, concepts that suggest an approach, so keep your mind open and your eyes peeled to the possiblities.

Method 2: Determine Your Book’s Structure in Advance

The second way you can land on structuring your book is by determining it in advance.

Plotters and Pantsers

In fiction we talk about plotters and pantsers. Plotters are people who plot out their novel in advance and then follow that plot pretty closely while writing.

Pantsers are people who write by the seat of their pants—it’s that discovery method they’re approaching for writing their novel.

If we were to apply this idea of plotters and pantsers to nonfiction, the pantser would be writing by discovery. You’re flying by the seat of your pants, writing your way into the structure as you work on it, letting it unfold before you.

This is a perfectly acceptable way to go about structuring your book. Pantsers may find it’s less efficient than other methods, but it can yield really rich results because they’re letting the process guide and inform what they’re doing.

The plotter approach is more like this nonfiction approach of determining your structure in advance.

Structure with Outlines

If you choose this approach to structuring your WIP, you’re like a plotter determining in advance the outline that makes sense for the ideas.

And you do this in many different methods.

Nonlinear Option: Mind Maps

Some people—especially people who resist sequential, linear thinking—like to use the mind mapping or cluster approach. You may have seen this, where somebody writes a word or a key term in the center of a giant piece of paper or white board. The video shows it in action.

In the middle of that space, you write the key word or phrase that captures the big idea of your book. Underline or circle it, and let your mind think through all of the subtopics. The subtopics could potentially become chapters in the book or paragraphs of an essay, but because you’re using a cluster effect you aren’t restricted to a linear outline.

You’re letting your mind sort of just go in whatever direction it wants to go, capturing these ideas, each subtopic spreading out from the main idea with more spokes to represent ideas and details you know you want to include.

Linear Option: Outlines and Lists

You can go the traditional route with the Roman numerals I, II, III, IV, and A, B, C, i, ii, iii.

Or you can just make lists. For that you can use regular numbers or bullet points to get your ideas out.

Whether you use paper or a whiteboard, your end result will be more linear, but you can always reorganize to land on the best order.

Before You Write, Think and Plan

It doesn’t really matter how you go about it. Use scrap paper if you don’t have a whiteboard. Make a list with bullet points if the mind map looks weird to you.

The key is to think through your idea before you write.

Revisit the research you’re doing or have done and piece it together to decide on the topics you want to tackle in light of your major concept for this book.

Once you land on that structure, write to that structure, just as a plotter will write a novel following the plot determined in advance.

Method 3: Use a Classic Structure

The third approach you can take to structuring your book is to choose a classic structure.

By classic, I mean that there are classic outlines that have stood the test of time.

Let me give you a few examples.

Classic Structure 1: Problem-Cause-Solution

The first would be Problem-Cause-Solution.

You can drop the “cause” if you want to, though in a book you have space to address the cause of a problem so the reader can learn how to eliminate it. After that, you present the solution to the problem, and most of the content would cover the solution.

Problem-Cause-Solution is a fabulous classic structure to use for nonfiction projects. You’ll find it used in marketing tactics, where people are presenting the problem, addressing the cause, and then saying, “Here’s the solution with this clever product we’re offering!”

Classic Structure 2: Past-Present-Future

Another classic structure you could grab an attempt to organize your material is Past-Present-Future.

With this pre-fab structure you look back on the history of what brought us to a certain event or pattern in our culture, identify where we’re at right now, and suggest where we should be heading—and how we can begin moving in that direction.

Play around with these structures as much as you like to make them work for you: for example, why not start with the present, then look back at the past and end by looking to the future: Present-Past-Future.

Don’t feel locked in to the order; let it inspire creativity. Play with these to make them fit your project.

Classic Structure 3: Narrative

Another classic structure you can borrow is the narrative structure. With its beginning, middle, and end, you use story to organize your material.

Obviously a narrative arc is going to work really well for a biography or a memoir, but you can actually layer a narrative arc over ideas you want to present and let the story guide the order in which you present your ideas.

Method 4: Borrow (and Adapt) Another Structure

The fourth way you can structure your book is to borrow and adapt a structure you find in another book.

Study a Book’s Structure

If you read, watch, or listen to “How to Read Like a Writer,” you’ll learn various approaches to reading that can turn a text into a tutor. While you’re practicing those techniques, you can specifically study and analyze that book’s structure.

Pay attention to books in which the author easily and effortlessly conveyed information and ideas. When you find a project that’s especially effective at drawing you into the book and walking you through the material, figure out what worked. The table of contents is a great place to start. How did they organize their chapters?

Be careful not to plagiarize choices. If you copy an author’s unusual structure exactly, you’re no longer using it for inspiration. Yet there are a limited number of ways books can be organized, so study and be inspired.

Borrow from Other Genres

When you’re reading in a genre other than your own, pay attention—you may discover an idea to adapt and experiment with.

Let’s just say you come across a biography that organizes the subject’s life in seasons or months of the year. You would not have thought about that for your leadership book, but you realize it might work.

Adapt it. Borrow the structure and adapt it to fit your completely different project.

Maybe you won’t use months but that biography caused you to play with reordering your content around a four-part structure using Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4, which could work great for a leadership book with readers who organize their business by quarterly goals.

And the structure no longer resembles the biography, which was organized by by seasons or months. Seeing the months inspired you to re-imagine how your content could flow using a completely new approach.

Borrow and adapt to avoid plagiarizing; find inspiration and adapt as needed.

Restructure at Any Point in the Creative Process

Whether you’re at the beginning of formulating your book’s concept or you’re halfway through and decide the structure is just not working, test these methods to organize or reorganize.

A complete restructuring will feel laborious but can be worth it when you land on one that allows your readers to grasp your concepts and be transformed.

Rather than just grabbing the first idea that comes to your mind, play around with these different kinds of structures to find the support you need to convey your ideas with clarity and confidence.

_____________________

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 MORE

______________________________

Related Reading

• You may be ready for my comprehensive signature program—check out Your Compelling Book Proposal
• How to Read Like a Writer
• QWERTY interview with Elizabeth Rosner
• Writer’s Digest‘s Michael Lewis interview
• Are Outlines a Writer’s Greatest Gift…or Curse? (more detail on the classic Past-Present-Future outline)
• Try This Classic Structure for Your Next Nonfiction Writing Project (more on the classic Problem-Cause-Solution outline)
• Susan Orlean on Pacing, Structure, and ‘The Library Book’ (Episode 121, The Creative Nonfiction Podcast)

Footnotes:

1. Cordell, Carten. “Immersive Nonfiction & Idea Generation with ‘The Fifth Risk’ Author Michael Lewis.” Writer’s Digest, Active Interest Media, 20 Nov. 2018, www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/research-nonfiction-narratives-idea-generation-with-the-big-short-author-michael-lewis.
2. Smith, Marion Roach. “Where We Get Writing Inspiration, with Writer and Author Elizabeth Rosner.” QWERTY | Memoir Coach and Author Marion Roach, 22 Aug. 2020, marionroach.com/2020/08/where-we-get-writing-inspiration-with-elizabeth-rosner/.
3. O’Meara, Brendan. “Episode 121-Susan Orlean on Pacing, Structure, and ‘The Library Book’.” Episode 121-Susan Orlean on Pacing, Structure, and ‘The Library Book’ – Home of The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, 7 Apr. 2020, brendanomeara.com/orlean121/. Beginning at the 32:00 mark.

Note: This post content has been modified slightly from the audio transcript to tighten and clarify.

The post How to Structure Your Nonfiction Book appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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.

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 in books. It was absolutely forbidden.

It was a big hurdle for me. I had to overcome the sense of how wrong it was before I could start writing in books. I made my first marks with a pencil because I could write really light with it and erase it if I felt nervous. But eventually I got over that hump and switched to a pen. I began to underline and make notes in ink.

At long last, I finally began to write in those books—not library books, and certainly not my parents’ books, but books that I bought for myself. In fact, I occasionally began to color code with highlighters. But the point is that this is how the books became mine. This is how I truly began to read like a writer.

When we begin to annotate, we’re starting a dialogue with the author across time and space, and it’s a way we can do our own close reading. Adler says, “Marking a book is literally an expression of your differences or your agreements with the author. It is the highest respect you can pay him.”

And it’s also a great way to mark the places where you’re learning about technique. As you’re figuring out their style choices, mark those spots. Remark on their word selection. It’s another way to interact with the teachers that these authors have become.

Read Close by Copying the Text

If you want to zoom in for the closest reading possible, here’s another idea: copy work.

Yeah, copy work (sometimes written as one word: copywork). It’s not just for kids.

In fact, this is how people learned to write in ages past. Jack London copied out much of Rudyard Kipling’s work to learn how to craft sentences and develop ideas.

Ben Franklin also learned to write by a kind of copy work he invented.

He selected some favorite articles from a magazine of his time, The Spectator, and tried to write in the same style as the authors whose style he admired.

As he wrote, he realized he was lacking in vocabulary and fluency. So he would read a piece closely, take notes by writing out key words, and then try to go back later and replicate it from memory.

It worked. He gained fluency and vocabulary by using the key words to jog his memory and copy out as much of the original text as possible.​

He was using the text to tutor him in writing.

He talked about trying to express what he called the “hinted sentiment” of the original article. He would find his errors and correct them. At some point he decided to take it to another level by converting someone’s prose into poetry. After a few days, he’d convert it back into prose again. This variation on copy work is yet another technique that helped him become a better writer.

We can borrow Ben’s method for ourselves and look for that hinted sentiment as we learn from authors. Choose your tutors and discern how they arrived at such an appealing way of expressing themselves.

It’s such a simple method to follow, whether you copy out a text word for word like Jack London or you use Ben Franklin’s method of taking notes, using a few key words and then trying to replicate from memory what you read before.

Choose Your Mentors

Ben could have chosen Shakespeare to learn from, but he didn’t. He chose contemporaries whose work he admired. You can do the same. You can choose your own texts and authors to learn from in the genre you’re pursuing.

Keep in mind this is a learning exercise, not an opportunity to plagiarize. You’re merely trying to pick apart how these experts pieced things together, how they use phrasing, flow, and rhythm. How did it all work?

Francine Prose says:

Every page was once a blank page just as every word that appears on it now was not always there, but instead reflects the final result of countless large and small deliberations. All the elements of good writing, depend on the writer’s skill in choosing one word instead of another. And what grabs and keeps our interest has everything to do with those choices.

You are simply learning from their choices just as Ben Franklin learned from the people he admired and Jack London learned from Kipling. When Ben recreated the work and tried to figure out how close he got, he was sometimes quite pleased.

He wrote this in his autobiography:

By comparing my work afterwards with the original, I discovered many faults and amended them, but I sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small import, I had been lucky enough to improve the method of the language. And this encouraged me to think I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable English writer of which I was extremely ambitious.

As you read like a writer and apply some of these ideas, I hope you find, like Ben Franklin, that in particulars of small import, you may have actually improved on the method of the language.

And I hope you, like Ben, are extremely ambitious to become a better writer.

The way to read like a writer is to read like a student, like an apprentice to the authors whose work inspires you.

What author or book do you plan to turn to as your next teacher?

And what methods do you think you’re going to try?

Resources

• 5 Writing Strengths You Need to Succeed (at my YouTube Channel)
• Learn from the Best: Copywork for Grownups (Podcast Episode 107)
• Learn from the Best: Imitate but Don’t Plagiarize (Podcast Episode 106)
• Learn from the Best: The Book Is Yours When You Write in the Margins (Podcast Episode 104)
• Grow as a Writer: Surround Yourself with Excellence (Podcast Episode 102)

The post How Do You Read Like a Writer? appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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:

1. Validate “in house”: run it through personal filters
2. Validate through research: check what exists already
3. Validate 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 additional research. 

Research on Amazon

Go to Amazon and search for books that exist on your topic or related topics. 

• Study titles and subtitles to see how the authors are hooking readers.
• Check out the description, which is basically the back cover copy if you were holding the book in your hand, to see how they are positioning their project.
• Use the “look inside” feature to skim the table of contents and see what each author covers and how he or she structures the content.
• Look at the categories and ranking to get an idea of how many people are purchasing this book to answer their question or address their concern.
• See related books in the “customers also bought this” section to find even more material.
• Glance at the feature that shows books “frequently bought together” with the title you’re studying.
• Read the reviews of some of the books you discover. What are readers complaining about? Is something missing from the book that you’re prepared to add in your article, essay, or book? 

This information is all waiting for you if you take that extra few minutes to click through.

When you find books on a similar topic, you confirm there is a need and ensure you’ll bring your own fresh perspective.

Research Through Social Media

You can also search within social media. All social media outlets have their own search functionality. Go to the search bar and type in a key term or hashtag related to your topic. 

In this way, you can check out conversations happening around the subject matter or topic. 

What questions are people asking about this topic? 

What answers are others providing?

Who are the people answering?

Consider following them and find out what they’re putting out into the world on a regular basis.

It’s a way of “social listening” to validate your idea. Companies use this term to monitor their own brands and see what others are saying about them. But we can do the same with topics we’re planning to write about, “listening” to what the world is discussing.

Research on Quora

I also want to direct your attention to Quora. People ask questions on Quora and anyone can sign up to offer answers to those questions.

When you search a keyword or phrase related to your project on Quora, see if people have asked about the topic. This, too, can validate interest. 

You can also study answers that have already been tossed out and offer your own. See how people respond. Does your answer gain traction with views, shares, and upvotes?

Research on YouTube

YouTube is owned by Google, so you can imagine how its search capabilities have improved. You can search within YouTube and check out videos that people are posting.

How many views does a video have?

How does the YouTuber answer the questions related to your topic?

What angle did this person take and how can yours be different? 

If there are zero videos out there, that doesn’t mean there’s zero interest in this topic; in fact, if you’re ready and willing to play with video, you may have found a hole to fill. Writers may be answering the question through articles but few have hopped onto YouTube to address it using video. 

Research on Pinterest

If your topic isn’t the best fit for the Pinterest audience, don’t devote much time to a deep dive, but Pinterest is a good place to search if your project idea is super practical and aimed at a predominantly female audience.

Sprout Social cites a Statista number, saying 71 percent of global Pinterest users are female, and when zeroing in on the U.S. only, “Pinterest reaches 83% of women ages 25-54.”[1]

That’s a huge number, and Pinterest users are ready to make decisions and purchases, so as I said, if your idea is practical—and especially if it’s related to home, travel, food, or style—you may find useful information here.

What articles and resources do you find pinned? Click through and check those out.

Research Offers Clues

If you’re turning up a handful of articles and resources through all these searches, it could be a clue that few people are looking for this information and it could mean you’d have a hard time finding an audience for this project.

But don’t give it up until you’ve tried one more step of validation: ask your audience. 

Validate Through Your Own Audience

Validate by asking, surveying, and testing your idea with your own audience. 

You can discover your current readers’ interest in an idea by simply asking.

You can do this in clever, creative ways on social media by tweeting it or using something as modern as the Instagram story “ask questions” sticker. 

Or you can ask in a more formal way by sending out a survey via email to your list. Even though only a percentage of people will respond in all these places, their answers will offer insight.

But sometimes people don’t know what they want until they see it. That’s why dangling a tiny version of your idea in front of them is a great way to gauge interest.

Send out a brief, beta version of your idea and see how your current audience responds. Chris Brogan of Owner Media Group says this[1]:

[R]ealize also that everyone is busy. Everyone thinks they’re busy at least. 

Your job is to get in and get out, but make the contact worth it. 

How do you do that? 

Tapas.

Tapas in food is the small bite. It’s the perfect bite. It’s not a portion of something. It’s a whole thing. And tapas content is the same. Small, perfect, and whole.[2]

When we create and serve up tapas on social media, we’re crafting a tiny sample of the full idea in its own small, perfect, complete form: tapas.

If you’re working on a book, you could send out micro content as an Instagram caption or Facebook update that captures the essence of one of your bigger project’s subtopics. 

Pay attention to audience engagement and response when you offer your idea as tapas. 

Are they interested? Commenting? Liking?

Are they interacting with you about it?

Are they curious to go deeper?

You’re validating the idea.

If they respond with a surge of interest, now you know your concept has traction and you can move forward with greater confidence.

Conclusion

Using these three methods of validation, you’re confirming that this idea is searched for and needed. 

When you take the time to validate your idea prior to developing and drafting it, you’ll save even more time by determining if your idea will fly before you build its wings. 

With the information you turn up, you can revise and adapt and adjust, including even more material to create a stronger final product and truly contribute to the greater conversation happening around your topic. 

You’ll confirm your idea and finalize it so you can dig in and—finally!—write.

Try it! Validate whatever idea is percolating in your head: run it through personal filters, research, and then survey your audience and serve up tapas.

Resources

• Back to Basics series
• How to use the Instagram Story Ask Questions “sticker”
• 6 Methods to Right-Size Your Next Writing Project (find a new slant)
• Chris Brogan’s StoryLeader talk where he introduces the idea of tapas
• Sprout Social’s 2020 Pinterest facts

Footnotes

1. Cover, Lauren. “11 Pinterest Facts (and 30 Stats) Marketers Must Know in 2020.” Sprout Social, 19 May 2020, sproutsocial.com/insights/pinterest-statistics/.
2. Brogan, Chris. “Here Are the Notes!” Chris Brogan Media: StoryLeader, chrisbrogan.com/smmw18thanks/.

The post Validate Your Idea to Produce Your Best Project (Back to Basics) appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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:

1. Time
2. Location
3. Categories
4. Audience
5. Issue
6. Structure

Let me describe each one, starting with time. When does it mean to right-size your project using time?

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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 idea or topic, they avoid having to address every possible opinion or angle.

If you think your idea doesn’t have an issue, do a little research. Dig around. You may find there are issues surrounding your topic or specific idea.

6. Structure

The last method we’ll discuss for right-sizing your project is structure. Think through the format or structure of your idea and you’ll see how to consolidate, simplify, and narrow with the structure of your project—or broaden it.

Bloggers who use lists and bullet points to organize concepts find this structural approach a naturally right-sizing method. 

But essayists and memoirists and authors of nonfiction can convert similar ideas to paragraph descriptions to compose an essay or a book chapter, building on those neat, tight lists. They can elaborate, explain, and offer examples to support their claims. 

Mix & Match

You can mix and match these methods as needed.

Mix & Match Example 1

Let’s say you wanted to write about a vegetable garden. Your idea? You want to talk about tips for Spring planting. 

You’ve already narrowed it using time by focusing on Spring. And you’ve taken the bigger topic of gardening and focused on the category of vegetables. Already you’ve narrowed it.

But let’s say those two methods aren’t narrowing the idea enough for a blog post you want to write.

Try audience—perhaps you write for first-time gardeners. 

Now try location. Maybe these first-time gardeners in a small setting like an apartment, so you narrow to offer advice for a successful balcony garden.

Now you’ve got an article idea for first-time gardeners about planting a vegetable garden in the Spring within the limitations of a balcony. Your content practically writes itself! You can picture the person’s space, you advise them on right containers for their plants, and you can offer ideas to keep costs low.

Mix & Match Example 2

Another mix and match example could be an article idea for parents. You have the idea of writing about limiting technology access for kids, but you need to narrow it for a magazine article. 

The first way to narrow might be to cover the issues related to technology, like the effects on brain development in young children or the appropriate age for a parent to get a cell phone for their child or the challenges of online classes requiring constant access to screens.

You can notch down by category and address an age range of the children. You land on the challenges of online school for grade-schoolers. 

Location already is expressed in the online school topic but could be further narrowed by addressing challenges of urban and/or rural homes that don’t have Internet access.

Use Right-Sizing Methods to Find Your Slant

See how this provides you, the writer, with a possible slant that suits your audience?

When you learn to right-size your projects, you’ll no longer struggle like Goldilocks with an idea that’s too big or too small. You’ll stop trying to dump everything you know into one blog post or essay—and you’ll stop padding your projects with unnecessary elements to fill word count of a book.

With practice using these six methods, you’ll generate an endless number of unique ideas that you write with greater clarity and confidence because you nailed your slant and locked in your angle.

Resources

• Back to Basics series
• Improve Your Writing by Getting Back to Basics (Ep 225)
• Back to Basics: Generate Ideas to Find What You Have To Say (Ep 226)
• How to Generate Ideas for Writing
• 52 Creative Writing Prompts: A Year of Weekly Prompts and Exercises to Boost Your Creativity
• Need Writing Ideas? Take Inventory of Your Life!

The post Back to Basics: 6 Methods to Right-Size Your Next Writing Project appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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:

1. Generate
2. Narrow
3. Validate
4. Revise (adapt, adjust)
5. Confirm or Finalize

1. 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. 

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

Work on Yourself as a Person

In an interview with Linda Sivertson, Ann Patchett said her advice for writing something great is: “Work on yourself as a person instead of working on yourself as a writer.”((Sivertson, Linda. “Sue Monk Kidd & Ann Patchett on the Beautiful Writers Podcast: Longings-In Writing & Life.” Book Mama, Linda Sivertson, 6 June 2020, bookmama.com/beautiful-writers-podcast/sue-monk-kidd-ann-patchett-on-the-beautiful-writers-podcast-longings-in-writing-life/, 54:39))

She talked about a professor of hers, the late Grace Paley, who would load up the students and drive them into Manhattan to take part in a protest, because, Ann said, Grace wanted them to experience life, make a difference, take a stand, and fight for good—she wanted each of them to become the best person they could be.((Ibid.))

Her method was to introduce them to the world so each person would have new material, new ideas, new experiences. From that, presumably, these young writers would have something to say, something to write about.

Ann continued:

 [W]henever anybody says to me, can writing be taught? I say, well sure, I can teach you how to be a better writer. I can teach you how to write better dialogue or the importance of plot or narration or whatever. But I cannot teach you how to have something to say. And that is the heart of it. Do you have something to say?((Ibid.))

Ann Patchett

Ideas that mean something—ideas that change readers—are ideas that mean something to you, that changed you. And one way we can be changed is to step into the world and interact with new people, visit new places, and experience life.

Engage from the Center of Your Heart

But we can take it one notch deeper—one layer more intimate and vulnerable. Ann Patchett continues:

Are you a person who is engaging with the world from the very center of your heart and you’re writing about something because you’re trying to make a difference? That to me is great writing.((Ibid.))

Ann Patchett

Live life from there—generate ideas from there—from the center of your heart, and your words will make a difference and you’ll have something great to say.

Generate Ideas by Noticing

No matter how much we experience, we need to pay attention to what’s happening. We also need to record it somehow. By noticing and documenting life, we’ll have a wealth of ideas to draw from. 

Engage the senses and pay attention to the world around you.

Record what you observe; reflect on its meaning. 

Try not to miss details like the small gesture, the faint scent, the peals of laughter. Note the temperature, fabric, lighting, colors, and space. 

If we intend to draw from that wealth of observation, we will want to preserve it somewhere, documenting what we’ve noticed. 

• If you save scraps of paper, ticket stubs, and flyers, store them in a box or file folder.
• If you document digitally, type up thoughts and save those entries in your favorite space, whether that’s OneNote, Evernote, Google Docs, a spreadsheet, or some other system.
• If you document visually, take photos and store those using a retrievable, searchable filing system with tags or filenames that help you locate your inspiration.

We draw from this raw material of life to generate ideas to use in our writing, and as we create, we find meaning. 

Generate Ideas by Reading

The best way to improve as a writer is to read, but reading is also a great place to find ideas. Just as an op-ed or letter to the editor is written as a response to an editorial in the newspaper, you can write in response to something you read.

• Blog posts
• Magazine articles
• News pieces
• Books
• Social media updates

Whatever you read—short or long, online or in print—it can inspire ideas for your own projects. 

Don’t write in that voice or style, and be careful not to plagiarize in any way (give credit for anything you excerpt or summarize). But when you read something, you may realize you want to refute it or build on it, expanding on their ideas. In this way, you can generate your own ideas from what you read.

You can point to the source and creatively enrich the ideas from the original presentation with your own deep understanding of the subject matter. 

Or maybe you’ll pull together five different ideas from five different sources to form one new thought, synthesizing them for your audience.

Or maybe one small idea buried in one chapter of a literary novel inspires a research project for a nonfiction book of your own.

Read and reflect on what you take in, so you can generate more ideas.

Generate Ideas by Journaling

Many people have journaled their entire lives to capture daily life, thoughts, feelings, revelations, and frustrations. Others come and go, abandoning journals after a few entries. Some find simplified methods that suit their lifestyle well, like bullet journals and one-line-a-day journals.

If you think you’re not a journaling type, maybe you need to test out variations to see if you simply haven’t found one that works.

Traditional journals 

Traditional journals typically contain the source materials of day-to-day activities, observations, thoughts, and emotions. If you don’t keep one, this may be the time to begin. 

Consider all the different types:

• High-end leatherbound
• Spiral-bound notebooks picked up on sale at the start of a school year
• Composition books
• Moleskine 
• One-Line-a-Day 

Maybe you just haven’t landed on the type of journal that fits the way you think and operate.

Homework for Life

In his TEDx Talk, on his podcast, 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?((Dicks, Matthew. “Homework for Life | Matthew Dicks | TEDxBerkshires.” YouTube, TEDx Talks, 8 Dec. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7p329Z8MD0.))

The idea is so simple. He writes a sentence or two—sometimes just a string of words—and that brings back a memory from the day: the moment he chose to document. Note the small discoveries, the daily surprises, those meaningful moments you don’t want to lose.

He keeps his in a spreadsheet, making it easy to search keywords and find connections and themes from year to year.((Ibid.))

Morning Pages

Julia Cameron urges artists to practice the daily ritual of Morning Pages—writing three handwritten pages first thing in morning.((Cameron, Julia. “Morning Pages.” Julia Cameron Live, juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/.))

This practice can be an idea-generating gold mine, because it taps the mind fresh from dreams, before the world intrudes with its headlines, notifications, and email onslaught.

Writer’s Notebook

Writers often keep notebooks associated with a specific project to keep ideas flowing, sort through stuck spots, and chronicle the creative process. In these notebooks, ideas that don’t fit into the work-in-progress can be stored and accessed later to contribute to the next big undertaking.

Novelists pack their notebooks 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.

Generate Ideas by Brainstorming

Tap your natural curiosity and creativity during the ideation stage to generate, explore, and develop ideas for your writing projects. People use a lot of tools to support the brainstorming process.

Start with a brain dump to spill out every thought out until you think you’ve hit the last possible idea you have ever had. 

After that, continue with other systems and approaches, asking questions like, “What else?” and “What if we tried it another way?”and “What if I didn’t have X tool?” 

Keep tossing out ideas, no matter how ludicrous, and see how your brain dredges up long-lost trivia or memories and makes connections. Checking out the following tools and techniques to support the creative process:

• Whiteboard
• Post-Its 
• Index cards
• Mind Maps or clusters

Generate Ideas by Making Lists

Whether you’re keeping a journal or meeting an article deadline, lists are quick ways to write during busy seasons. 

List everything you know about a topic, subject, or scene you plan to write—this is kind of like a brain dump. 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.

List keywords and phrases associated with your idea, because that will guide your initial research, which will reveal even more keywords and phrases you didn’t know existed.

Make a list of the big ideas and subtopics you want to cover in a nonfiction book. This list can help you determine the angle your project will take and later, you can convert this list into a working Table of Contents.

Generate Ideas with a Rough Outline

Speaking of a Table of Contents, rough outlines—and a working TOC is basically a rough outline—can emerge from a list, mindmap, or cluster. This rough outline—along with the lists and notes you’ve taken so far—helps you spot information gaps that need research and development for your project to be complete.

You can use the classic Roman numeral I, II, II, A, B, C, 1, 2, 3, i, ii, iii approach to organizing your outline. But if we’re talking about fought outlines, feel free to just number things and keep it simple.

It’s nice to have a way to show levels and subheading ideas when you’re tackling lengthier projects, but go ahead and create it in a way that makes sense to your brain.

Generate Ideas by Composing Headlines and Titles

Generate 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. And you can use templates to speed things along.

Books

Books often have a title and subtitle, and when I’m working on a book, I like to make a long list of titles and subtitles, then I mix and match, combining a title with a subtitle to emphasize an audience or big idea in a book. 

For example, let’s say I was writing about technology, and I generate title ideas, like:

• Switch
• Flip the Switch
• Power Out
• Power Off
• Power Down
• The Power of Powering Down
• The Up Side to Powering Down

My brain would get going, and then I’d start thinking of subtitles:

• Empower Yourself by Powering Down
• Live Your Best Life with Less Tech
• Reconnect with Family in an Always-On World
• Disconnect from Technology to Reconnect with Family

You can see that some emphasize “living your best life” and others emphasize “family.” Depending on my focus, I can mix and match to find a combination that I like:

The Power of Powering Down: Live Your Best Life with Less Tech, or

The Up Side to Powering Down: Disconnect with Tech to Reconnect with Family

Articles

Pay attention to headlines that grab your attention—when you feel your finger hovering to click through, take note of the title and convert it into a template to use for your next headline.

Even the click-bait-y headlines can get you thinking up ideas:

• How to ______________  in X Days/Minutes/Hours  ____________
  How to Generate an Endless List of Article Ideas in Ten Minutes a Day
  
• X Ways to _________________
  7 Ways to Disconnect Your Kids (and yourself) from Technology
  
• X Tips for ___________________ the Easy Way
  3 Tips for Growing Tomatoes the Easy Way, or
  9 Tips for Building Upper Body Strength with Nothing but Resistance Bands
  
• _______________ or _______________ : [Question]
  Stencil or Canva: Which Design App Do We Recommend? or
  Adidas or Brooks: Which Shoe Is Best for Flat-Footed Runners?

Generate Ideas by Writing

Still not sure what you have to say (or want to say)? Still struggling to unearth what lies beneath?

Writing can be the way in.

Sometimes we start with nothing but a moment, a memory snippet, and from that we can freewrite, using writing itself as a way to unearth what we want to say.

“I read, listen, and write my way to discovery,”((Craig, Charity Singleton. The Art of the Essay: from Ordinary Life to Extraordinary Words: Includes Activities for Personal Journals, Classrooms, and Writing Groups!, by Charity Singleton Craig, T.S. Poetry Press, 2019, p. 26.)) writes Charity Singleton Craig in her book The Art of the Essay. I know Charity personally, and I can verify she exhibits the trait of a curious creative, following an idea, statement, or detail to see where it leads.

In a 2018 interview right here on this podcast, Patrice Gopo, said 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.((Kroeker, Ann, and Patrice Gopo. “Ep 173: [Interview] Patrice Gopo on Meaning Making on the Page and Studying the Craft.” Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach, 28 Feb. 2019, annkroeker.com/2018/11/06/ep-173-interview-patrice-gopo-meaning-making-on-the-page-and-studying-the-craft/.))

Write without knowing where a thought is leading you or what theme is emerging. You don’t have to know where you’re going, but you have to be willing to go wherever the path on the page leads.

That’s the discovery process. That’s how we tease out ideas for our writing.

Patrice says, “You’re going to discover something new about yourself or new about the world or just new about the situation you’re in, whatever it may be.”((Ibid.))

Charity writes:

Often, our thoughts, opinions, and emotions are hidden when we begin. They surface as we write, our minds themselves serving as the subject of our inquiry. We investigate, ripple outward.((Craig, Charity Singleton. The Art of the Essay: from Ordinary Life to Extraordinary Words: Includes Activities for Personal Journals, Classrooms, and Writing Groups!, by Charity Singleton Craig, T.S. Poetry Press, 2019, p. 26.))

Charity Singleton Craig

I can set out with good intentions and a logical plan for my writing projects, but the curious creative in me often strays from the original outline to dive deeper and unearth more than I realized was available when I initially formed my plan.

That’s part of the mess of writing—and it’s part of the fun of generating ideas.

Call it discovery or inquiry or curiosity, I’m grateful for this writing process that invariably leads to greater insight, understanding, and meaning. That’s so important—now, more than ever.

Generate Ideas with Research

To give you a sneak preview to the next episode on how to narrow and validate ideas, let’s end with how research can help generate ideas.

When we dive deep into a topic, we turn up information—some of it relevant, some of it not. But in the search, the information that wasn’t so relevant may end up being gold for another topic.

To research the book Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand ordered vintage newspapers from the 1930s, and she explains that as she read about the horse, she “happened to turn the paper over and find a profile of a young running phenomenon named Louie Zamperini. I started reading,” she said. “Louie had not yet gone to war, but his story was already so interesting that I jotted his name down in my Seabiscuit research notebook.”((Hillenbrand, Laura. “Unbroken (Movie Tie-in Edition) by Laura Hillenbrand – Reading Guide – PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books.” PenguinRandomhouse.com, Random House Group, www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/79977/unbroken-movie-tie-in-edition-by-laura-hillenbrand/9780812987119/readers-guide/.))

Research for one project generated an idea for another. With the turn of a page, she landed on her next project: Unbroken. 

Conclusion

Try these ideas and you’ll end up with pages and pages of ideas to scroll through. Maybe you’ll store them in a bullet journal; maybe they be lined up in Evernote or Google Keep. 

Now you can pick one with promise. Read through the list and pay attention to one that catches your eye and holds your attention.

Which idea would you enjoy living with for a stretch or time?

Does one of these ideas make sense given the brand you’re building—do you want to be known for this kind of thing?

That’s the one.

Now you’re ready to narrow and validate.

Resources

• Improve Your Writing by Getting Back to Basics (Ep 225)
• How to Generate Ideas for Writing
• 52 Creative Writing Prompts: A Year of Weekly Prompts and Exercises to Boost Your Creativity
• Need Writing Ideas? Take Inventory of Your Life!
• Sue Monk Kidd & Ann Patchett on the Beautiful Writers Podcast: Longings-In Writing & Life (what makes great writing begins around the 54:39 mark)
• Homework for Life | Matthew Dicks | TEDxBerkshires
• Julia Cameron explains “Morning Pages”
• Charity Singleton Craig’s book The Art of the Essay: from Ordinary Life to Extraordinary Words (Amazon.com affiliate link)
• My interview with Patrice Gopo, on Meaning Making on the Page and Studying the Craft (and so much more)

The post Back to Basics: Generate Ideas to Find What You Have to Say appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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. Or maybe writing the headline will help you answer the topic question and explain what your project’s about. Keep your guiding statement at the top of your work-in-progress to help you stay focused.

When Your Topic is Predetermined

In some cases your topic is predetermined. If so:

What’s the topic of this project you’ve been assigned?

You may have been provided a topic by a publication or professor, so you start with the assignment and decide how to narrow it and what angle to take.

Maybe you’re required to write in your professional life—week after week you produce the same kind of content on the same five topics related to your company’s products and services. You find new ways to talk about employee benefits or industry changes. Each time you need to ask what this particular project is about.

Perhaps your personal writing tends toward the same two or three themes, every time; yet, each project somehow differs in the specifics, so what’s this one about?

Even when your main topic is predetermined, run it through this process so it lands on its own narrow, specific topic. Be sure to address the other three elements, then you’ll be on your way to knocking out a solid, workable draft.

When Curiosity Guides You, Confirm the Topic

What’s the topic of the project you’ve invented?

Sometimes writers are free to write about a range of topics, generating ideas on their own—topics they may publish themselves or pitch elsewhere. These writers can follow anything that catches their imagination. When inspiration hits, they run with it.

Essay-writing in particular begins with a sense of inquiry, and your initial idea shifts as your writing and research nudges you in a new direction. If this is how you write, follow the leads, the clues. Let curiosity guide you.

Whether you write to discover what the project is about or map it out in advance with an outline, you eventually need to confirm the topic and ask: What’s the topic of this project I’m exploring?

Through discovery-writing or by planning it out, you find the clarity you crave and lock in your project’s big idea: its topic.

Make sure it aligns with your audience, purpose, and medium, so you can choose the ideal structure, tone, and phrasing for the best possible outcome.

Audience

Audience is the “who” of your project.

THE AUDIENCE QUESTION: Who’s this project for?

Who are you trying to reach? Who’s your ideal reader?

Your audience could be history professors or history buffs. You might start with the same topic—even use the same examples to support various claims—but the tone and word choices you’d make for the former may differ slightly from those you’d make for the latter.

To serve your audience, understand their needs, questions, and concerns—especially related to your topic. What topic can you tackle that they want to know about? Will the medium you choose reach them? For example, have you researched the online magazines they read, the social media platforms they prefer? Will your audience find this as an academic paper and or an e-book?

Determine who your project is for and then know your audience so you can connect with them through every creative choice you make.

Purpose

To determine the purpose of your project, look at it from two angles: Think through the “why” from the author perspective and from the reader’s perspective.

Personal Purpose

Start by examining your personal purpose—what’s driving you to create this particular project?

THE PERSONAL PURPOSE QUESTION: Why am I writing this project?

When you identify your purpose for pursuing this project, you’ll stay the course and write to suit your audience. You’ll meet your goal because you’ll understand your goal. If you aren’t sure why you’re writing this, it’s easy to give up.

Many motives may drive your purpose:

• You want to meet the requirements and deadline of an assignment.
• You want to gain respect and position yourself as a subject-matter expert.
• You want to land a paid writing gig.
• You want to reach new readers.
• You’re shifting to a new medium.
• You’re testing interest in a new topic to see if you could rebrand.
• You dove into new ideas to satisfy curiosity and decided to share your discoveries with others.

Be honest about what’s driving this project. Your purpose compels you to write.

Project’s Purpose

While you have your personal reasons for taking on a project, remember that the project itself has a purpose, as well.

THE PROJECT’S PURPOSE QUESTION: What’s this project supposed to achieve?

Or, similarly, how does this project serve its intended audience?

If you aren’t sure what the project’s purpose is, everything can feel off.

But you can determine the project’s purpose and consider what it should achieve. You could set out to write a project that will:

• entertain
• inform
• inspire
• persuade

Whatever you land on, write with that as your goal—that’s the outcome you want for this project; the impact you want it to make on its reader.

A Project’s Purpose Fulfilled by Your Brand

Readers may already turn to you for a type of writing—you may be known to solve problems or make people laugh. That may make it easy for you to determine the purpose of your next Instagram caption or article.

The project succeeds when it respects the reader’s choices and meets the reader’s needs. Why would he bother reading this particular blog post or white paper when he has so many other things he could do with his time?

Does your reader want to laugh and your humor consistently delivers a chuckle?

Does your reader want to understand a situation and you can explain it well?

Does your reader want to solve a problem and you have the answers?

Does your reader want to improve the world or herself, and you can inspire and lead the way with aspirational content?

Your readers will pay attention to your projects in search of what they want or need.

Write a project that fulfills your purpose, to stay the course and finish strong; write a project that fulfills its purpose, to reach readers and make a connection that lasts.

Medium

THE MEDIUM QUESTION: How will this project be shared with the world?

Will it be a blog post? Social media update? Will you deliver it as spoken word poetry? Is it an essay you’ll submit to a journal, a paper you’ll turn in for class, or a report you’ll send to your boss? Will it be published in an academic journal, shared as a pdf in the cloud, or will you print out copies to distribute at a meeting?

All of these different media options and outlets are available to us for sending out our work, and that influences our choices: from character and word count limits to structure and organizational choices. The medium will drive paragraph length and subheading styles; it may suggest you use bold text and bullet points.

These decisions can be made when you know where and how this piece is going out into the world. Know this before you write, to save time and frustration in the drafting stage and later in the revision and editing stages.

Be sure you know how this is going to be published—how readers are going to receive it or access it—so you make the best choices from the start.

Conclusion

Every project, big or small, has a topic, audience, and purpose. Every project, big or small, will find its way into the world through some medium, whether as a trade nonfiction book or a social media update.

Answer these fundamental questions about every project—even if you breeze through them—to make appropriate decisions about every other aspect of the piece.

You’ll know yourself and your project so well, you’ll simplify and smooth out the writing process.

From content, tone, style, and length, to structure, organization, formatting, and word choice, you’ll ensure this project sings—and that sizzling idea that captivated you will also captivate your readers.

The post Ep 225: Improve Your Writing by Getting Back to Basics appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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 during this crisis and it’s just…I’m impressed. And I wish I could have had that gumption—that vision—to be a voice like that for you. Some mornings I’d wake to feel a surge of energy and it would last a day or an afternoon, only to be followed by a slump. How could I preach confidence or productivity if I couldn’t keep it going myself?

So I’d continue to draft something, then stop, abandoning that idea and trying another. Starting it, then stopping. Starting, stopping. And finally…I just stopped.

For days.

Then weeks.

I couldn’t find words for you, my friend.

I could answer questions posed by my one-on-one clients. I have some writing programs going as group coaching and I could help them with specific challenges. But I couldn’t land on a coaching truth that seemed universally helpful, regardless of circumstances—or at least within these circumstances.

I mentioned this to my family when we FaceTimed on Easter. My daughters said I should go ahead and share the fun ideas, like John Krasinski’s Some Good News. They said to go ahead and share the fun links I found. They thought the posts highlighting creativity across the globe would be a fun diversion. “People need to know they can take a break. You can tell them that!”

One of the kids suggested I share all the ways people are helping other people. Her boss is working to get Chromebooks and Internet access to kids in the city whose families can’t afford them, so they can continue taking classes organized by schools that have turned to virtual instruction. “People might enjoy seeing how others are helping in creative ways—it shows how we can help in whatever way we can.”

One of them said, “People are going to be in different places, so maybe just encourage everyone to find what they need on any given day…and to know they can just be okay with that.”

They each chimed in. “You can tell them it’s okay to laugh and to cry, to be productive and to sleep.”

So here I am, with a word from all of us.

We’re all going to be in different places on any given day. We may feel energized and creative one day, and defeated and discouraged the next. We may swing from one extreme to the other in a single afternoon.

It’s okay to laugh and to cry, to be productive and to sleep.

We may feel a sense of awe and fear and excitement, as, for a stretch of time—and who knows for how long—life is suspended in an awkward space of uncertainty where we’re forced to rethink the days and invent solutions to complete basic tasks.

At any given moment, find what you need and write what you can, without feeling pressured to perform or produce. If you can’t write a single word, relax. Fall silent awhile.

But if you feel the energy to create, then write your heart out.

We’re all staring in awe at the storm of the century exploding all around us. We’re trying to settle in, but it’s hard. We’re on high alert; we remain poised to react, but from one day to the next we’re all just feeling our way around in the dark.

Be silent when you need to; read, rest, reflect.

Write what you can, when you can.

Let’s listen for each other’s voices and find our way through, together.

The post Ep 224: Find What You Need and Write What You Can appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.³

Contribute a Verse to the World

You may contribute to the world today. Use your gifts as a writer to contribute a verse to the world.

Dr. Landrum continued in his Twitter thread:

Write your stories down about what’s happening now, and tomorrow, and Monday. Do it by hand, on paper. The hand-writing will adjust your brain. It will take you offline and out of the swirl of news and hopefully, for a moment, into a little bit of peace in the midst of crisis.⁴

Such good advice. Act on your impulse to write. Act on your impulse to document the days.

We are artists. We can bring truth. We can bring hope. What better task to undertake than to bear witness and keep track.

Witness, and keep track. Thomas Lynch said that’s the basic work of writers.⁵

Witness, and keep track.

Resources

• Dr. Landrum’s Twitter thread
• O Me! O Life! (Walt Whitman poem)

Footnotes

1. https://twitter.com/cliotropic/status/1238241708195958785
2. Ibid.
3. poetryfoundation.org/poems/51568/o-me-o-life
4. https://twitter.com/cliotropic/status/1238243859441868800?s=20
5. https://annkroeker.com/2016/02/28/writing-quote-witness-and-keep-track-thomas-lynch/

The post Ep 223: One Thing Writers Can Do in a Pandemic: Document the Days appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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, explained, “The magic of poetry…is that it jolts your mind into thinking about a subject or theme in an unexpected way.”⁴

Yes. The magic of poetry jolts us into thinking differently about subjects and themes and invites us into playing with language to engage the ear and ignite imagination.

Maybe I’m naive, but I like to think a poem a day can make us better writers as each one links us to minds that contributed to our literary history. For a moment in the morning, a poem invites us to pause, to ponder.

A Poem a Day to Become Better Writers

I don’t want to become so jaded that I lose my sense of wonder. Maybe a Wordsworthian heart-thrill view of the world is what I need right now.

Maybe we need a poem a day to make it through the confusion and bring flashes of clarity.

And maybe we need a poem a day to learn to become better writers, equipped to bring our ideas, our hope—our heart—to the page.

Resources:

• “How Poetry Shakes Up the National Desk’s Morning Meetings,” The New York Times.
• Every Day Poems, an affordable resource from Tweetspeak Poetry that delivers a delightful selection of poetry to your inbox each day
• Poem-a-Day from poets.org
• The Writer’s Almanac (read at the site or subscribe to email delivery)
• Energize Your Writing by Memorizing Poems (Ep 101)
• When You Don’t Know What to Say, Try Poetry (Ep 77)

Craft a Compelling Nonfiction Book Proposal 90-Day Program

Sign up for this 90-day program for writers ready to craft a compelling nonfiction book proposal. 

Enrollment closes 10:00 p.m. EDT, March 11, 2020

Footnotes:

1. Lacey, Marc. “How Poetry Shakes Up the National Desk’s Morning Meetings.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Mar. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/reader-center/poetry-national-news.html.
2. Ibid.
3. Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas. The Oxford Book of English Verse. O.U.P., 1939, reprinted 1968, (p. 624).
4. Lacey, Marc. “How Poetry Shakes Up the National Desk’s Morning Meetings.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Mar. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/reader-center/poetry-national-news.html.

The post Ep 222: Can a Poem a Day Make Us Better Writers? appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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, but you can find samples online for free to use as inspiration to craft your own compelling book proposal.

One tip is to visit literary agency websites. Most will explain what they want to see in your proposal and a few provide a sample document you can use as your model.

The Proposal with the Pub Board

Let’s say you connect with an agent or an acquisitions editor online or at a conference and they request and like your proposal. The agent signs you or the acquisitions editor takes your proposal to her team.

First it’s probably going to have to be discussed amongst the editorial team in a committee meeting before it goes to the next stage.

One way or another, let’s imagine it eventually winds up at a pub board meeting.

The pub board differs from one publishing house to another, but generally consists of representatives from the marketing, sales, and editorial teams, along with a bigwig—that is, someone high up in the organization with the power to ultimately green light or veto your project (quite possibly the publisher him or herself).

In small publishing houses this pub board meeting might consist of a few people who have overlapping roles; in large publishing houses, obviously, this could be a much bigger group.

While the frequency they meet will differ from one company to another, let’s just say they meet regularly to make these decisions.

Your project will have an advocate—most likely the acquisitions editor.

Your proposal will be one that they consider among several that day, as they determine titles they want to acquire and release in a future season.

The decision, you see, depends upon how compelling and persuasive—how irresistible—your proposal is.

That’s what they’re looking through: the proposal. The proposal helps them understand what your book is about and what you bring to the project as its author.

And that’s why documenting in the proposal a substantial and growing platform helps convince that pub board to choose your book. Because they need to calculate how many books they’ll sell.

Your connections—the ideal readers who know, like, and trust you already, who will already be interested in what you have to say and probably purchase this book—those numbers, those people, those connections are key.

Some of the pub board members will feed those stats into their algorithm while running their P&L, profit and loss, to determine the financial feasibility of partnering with you on this book.

To Sell a Book You Need Three Things

When you’re working on your proposal, keep in mind to sell a book, you need three things to come through loud and clear in the book proposal. You’ll hear publishers, editors, agents, and coaches all say the same three things in various ways—several have nice alliteration to help you remember them.

Any way you package them, it comes down to these three things you need to sell a book…

1. A Concept That Pops

The first is “a concept that pops.” A publisher shared this phrase with me once and it helped me understand his situation.

If he’s being presented with three or four books on a similar topic, what would make yours stand out from the rest? When he opens that digital file and sees that cover sheet, does it pop? Does he want to turn the next page and go deeper into the concept to learn more? Is your idea different, even, as I said earlier, irresistible?

We need to clearly define our concept and present an idea that’s saleable, that’s marketable, that would pop out from others on a stack of proposals. And that ultimately would pop out on a bookshelf and stand out to a reader making a decision that day to purchase or not purchase a book.

2. An Author Brand & Platform

The second thing you need to do is prove you’re the perfect person to write this book and that you can get it in front of a significant number of ideal readers. And you’ll do this through your author brand and platform, which work together to confirm your claim.

If you can show in this proposal that you have a way to connect with target readers and that your personal brand aligns with this topic—if you can present evidence that you’re known for this or that you’re uniquely prepared to address it based on experience, or expertise, or education— you’re on your way.

As you develop your proposal and realize more clearly who the ideal reader is for this book, you can make efforts to expand your platform to reach more of those people and to align your current brand with the idea of this book.

3. Writing That Sings

The third thing needed to catch the eye of that publisher—and to bring out in and through the proposal itself—is writing that sings.

This phrase comes from Chad R. Allen, a writing coach himself who worked many years as an editor at a Christian publishing house before he began coaching full time. In an interview, he used this phrase to describe that third necessary element needed to sell a book: writing that sings.¹

If you continually search for ways to improve at the craft of writing and inject musicality into your prose, you’ll draw the eye—or should I say the ear, that inner ear—of an editor, for sure, and probably a publisher, as well. But you don’t need to have the skill-level of an MFA graduate to write at this level, to produce writing that sings.

Throughout the proposal your writing comes through but most of all in the sample chapters. That’s where the magic happens. The sample chapters feature your unique voice. That’s where a style appropriate for this type of book will emerge and you will entice literary-minded people to dive deeper and take you seriously.

Two of the Three

With these three things align—a concept that pops, an author brand and platform, and writing that sings—you’ll be well positioned to pitch.

Some say two out of the three might be enough to garner attention, but lately I’ve heard again and again that without a platform, it’s a hard sell to the pub board. So continue to work at establishing and expanding your platform, even as you develop your proposal.

Use the Proposal to Confirm Your Interest

Jeff Goins interviewed Dan Pink on “The Portfolio Life podcast.” Dan’s the author of books like To Sell Is Human, When, and Drive.

On that show, Dan pointed out that you work on a book for two or three years and then live with it much longer than that.

I’ll interject here that from the point of signing a book contract to the day a book is released is, on average, two years. But you’ve been developing the idea yourself for months, maybe years, before you even began working on the proposal before you even landed that contract. That’s just an indication of how long you’ve been working on this project.

So Dan’s point is that you have to love the topic and want to talk about it and be known for it for years.

He told a story of how someone who interviewed him asked him about a book he’d written years earlier, so you have to want to be known for it for years.

And for this reason, for this time commitment, and for this connection to the topic, Dan said, “the bar has to be really high. You have to be deeply, deeply interested in it.”²

Are You Deeply, Deeply Interested in It?

I agree with him and urge you to seek the same high bar for your project.

You want to craft a book concept and content that’s compelling and irresistible to agents, yes.

And to publishers, yes.

And to your future readers, absolutely.

But it has to be compelling and irresistible to someone else, first:

And that’s you.

Like Dan says, you have to be “deeply, deeply interested in it.”

You yourself are the first decision-maker.

You yourself are the first gatekeeper.

You are the first to consider the merits of this project among all other projects you might be toying with.

And you yourself—assisted by the book proposal—get to determine if you are deeply, deeply interested in it.

Like Dan Pink, you can use the book proposal to vet the idea.

Apply his series of questions as you develop your own 30-, 40-, or 50-page book proposal, to let it help you determine several things. This is what Dan says he asks himself when he works on his proposals:

• Is this a book?
• Is this a good book…one that people would want to buy?
• Is this a book you want to spend two or three years working on and perhaps the rest of your life talking about?
• Is this a book you’re the perfect person to write?³

If the Book Isn’t What You Hoped

Maybe you do all the work of developing your proposal and you determine it’s not a book.

Or you determine it’s not a good book that people would want to buy.

Or you determine it’s not a book you want to spend years working on and the rest of your life talking about.

Or you determine it’s not a book you’re the perfect person to write…

Well, isn’t that good to figure out before you devote years to a project?

If that’s where you end up, go ahead and write a series of blog posts on that concept.

Write an article and send it to a magazine.

Give a short speech on the subject matter, then move on to another great topic that is a book—one that people would want to buy, one that you’re the perfect person to write, one that you’re ready and willing to spend years working on and the rest of your life talking about.

The Proposal Prepares You

Crafting a compelling proposal prepares you to enter the world of traditional publishing so that you can persuade publishers to partner with you to publish your book.

And it’s a tool you can use to confirm that this is a book you’re deeply, deeply interested in, and that you want to devote years to writing and being known for.

Resources

• Check out my signature program Your Compelling Book Proposal (with three options: self-study, group coaching, and premium 1:1 support)
• Learn about the pub board from Breathe Christian Writers Conference
• Literary agent Steve Laube talks about the different stages a book goes through as it’s being considered
• Jane Friedman explains Book P&L
• Jeff Goins’ Portfolio Life interview with Dan Pink
• Watch a longer presentation about book proposals I offered as a Facebook Live training

Footnotes

1. Chad R. Allen’s interview with Chadwick Cannon in which he mentioned writing that sings is no longer available online.
2. Goins, Jeff. “How to Use Time to Be Your Most Creative with Dan Pink.” Goins, Writer, 7 Dec. 2018, goinswriter.com/dan-pink/.
3. Ibid.

Do you have a book inside you?

The post What’s a Book Proposal (and why do I need one)? appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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 success.

They share genuine encouragement and enthusiasm—and many members practice tangible acts of literary citizenship, such as visiting links to articles that members have posted or purchasing and promoting books on release day when a member has finally been able to see her book available to the general public.

Find Your People, Find Your Party

I remember when online communities started to emerge. In the ones I encountered, I discovered peers…even friends. Alongside the blogging boom of the early and mid-2000s (would that be the mid-oughts?), communities like The High Calling and Tweetspeak began to fill the gap, for me.

“I think I found my people,” I remember telling my husband. “They’re online.”³

As I described in the book On Being a Writer, it felt like one big party, for writers.⁴ We shared each other’s work, supported each other, cheered each other on. When a writer among us found success and gained popularity, we celebrated his or her success. The new readers and followers who arrived because of that author merged into our conversation, broadening the relationships and expanding the community.

More of these writers published books, and being friends of the authors, we bought their books, read their books, talked up their books. It’s like we rose together.

A Community’s Rising Tide

The Internet evolved, as it does, and I’ve witnessed writing communities emerge in social media spaces like Twitter’s #writingcommunity and in Facebook groups like Kirsten Oliphant’s Create If Writing.

I’ve seen organizations like Redbud Writers Guild, hope*writers, Five-Minute Friday, and Tweetspeak Poetry encourage similar connections—they’re comprised of kindred spirits gathering online to learn from each other and support one another.

The phrase “a rising tide lifts all boats” suggests that when the economy is strong, everyone benefits. But I feel that participating in these communities—choosing to be generous, active literary citizens—we contribute to a rising tide in the online writing world that lifts us all.

The Magic of Networks

In his book Real Artists Don’t Starve, Jeff Goins advises:

“Thriving Artists do not succeed in a vacuum. They put themselves in the right places and avail themselves of the opportunities there. They don’t try to create just anywhere—that would be foolish. After all, not all places are created equal, so Thriving Artists go where the magic is.”⁵

Jeff’s advice is to “join a scene.” This may mean moving to a city known for its creative effervescence, but at the very least it means “you have to build a network.”⁶

“Without a network,” Jeff writes, “creative work does not succeed. Exposure to the right networks can accelerate your success like few things can…Great work does not come about through a single stroke of genius, but by the continual effort of a community. When the right people advocate for your work, your success becomes more likely.”⁷

The magic, he’s saying, is in these networks—these communities—advocating for your work and accelerating your success.

And I would note that some of that community—and therefore some of the magic—is online.

To Be More Findable, Find Your People

Our communities can amplify our message as peers, colleagues, and friends read and respond to the latest release of a blog post, or a magazine article, or a poem that’s been published in a literary journal. It’s one way to get the word out about our work—through communities of writers celebrating one another.

Jeff quotes Austin Kleon: “In order to be found, you have to be findable.”⁸

Jeff continues, “You must put your work in front of the people who will react to it…before art can have an impact, it must first have an audience.”⁹

You yourself want to findable, you want to put your work in front of people and have an audience. That can happen at least in part through your network—your community.

Contribute to the Community

But first, how about you serve as someone else’s audience?

Find someone else and celebrate his or her work. Share it with others. Amplify that writer’s message with no expectations that the favor will be returned.

That’s what friends do for one another, and if you want a real community and a network that means more than a string of LinkedIn connections, it’s a small gift to someone else looking for the same kind of support you’re hoping to build.

Explore what’s available in the realm of virtual communities: what you can give and what you can gain.

We’re in This Together

After all, we’re in this together. When we support each other, we rise together.

Find your kindred spirits—your people—and you’ll automatically be more findable.

You’ll be on your way to reaching readers, and you’ll begin to build your platform while helping others build theirs.

Resources

• Redbud Writers Guild
• hope*writers
• Five Minute Friday
• Kirsten Oliphant’s Create If Writing Facebook group
• Real Artists Don’t Starve, by Jeff Goins (affiliate link)
• The Business of Being a Writer, by Jane Friedman (affiliate link)
• On Being a Writer: 12 Simple Habits for a Writing Life That Lasts, by Charity Singleton Craig & Ann Kroeker (affiliate link)
• Your Writing Platform series

Subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

Footnotes

1. Friedman, Jane. The Business of Being a Writer. The University of Chicago Press, 2018. (p. 176)
2. Ibid. (pp. 51-52)
3. Kroeker, Anne, and Charity Singleton Craig. On Being a Writer: 12 Simple Habits for a Writing Life That Lasts. T.S. Poetry Press, 2014. (p. 103)
4. Ibid.
5. Goins, Jeff. Real Artists Don’t Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age. Thomas Nelson, 2018. (p. 93)
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid. (pp. 93, 94)
8. Ibid. (p. 124)
9. Ibid.

_____

Building a platform sounds overwhelming, exhausting. Where do you even start?

Join us in Your Platform Matters!

We’re a community led by a professional writing coach committed to helping writers reach readers in meaningful ways. We believe your message matters, so your platform matters.

The post Build Your Platform: To Be More Findable, Find Your People appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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.

3. 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. I have to find what those are and build from them and throw out what doesn’t work, or what simply is not alive.”³

Write a lot and trust that in the mix you’ll have a few elements worth keeping. Sift through the mess of words you’ve spilled out during a freewriting session or in a flurry to meet a deadline. You’ll find treasures. They may need polishing, but you can build on them.

Then follow Sontag’s advice: “Throw out what doesn’t work, or what simply is not alive.”³

You needed words to work with in revision. Write badly so you can revise well. But write, no matter what. Keep writing. You’ll find what is alive.

For a writer, that’s how we feel when we get words in motion and gather creative momentum—we feel alive.

Resources

• Sontag and L’Amour quotes at this Atlantic article
• “The Writer at Work: Give It Some Thought” (Ep 178)
• “Write to Discover What You Really Want to Say” (Ep 188)
• Newton’s First Law defined and explained in The Physics Classroom

Footnotes

1. “Newton’s First Law of Motion.” The Physics Classroom, www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/Lesson-1/Newton-s-First-Law.
2. Temple, Emily. “’My Pencils Outlast Their Erasers’: Great Writers on the Art of Revision.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 14 Jan. 2013, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/01/my-pencils-outlast-their-erasers-great-writers-on-the-art-of-revision/267011/.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.

The post Ep 217: How to Gather Momentum When Your Writing’s at a Standstill appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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 individual.

You could zoom out by describing how a random act of kindness ended up becoming a societal-level movement or how a single word of encouragement transformed a person who went on to change the world. 

Use the zoom in/zoom out ready-made outline to structure an example that illustrates one of the key points in a chapter or to structure the chapter itself. It could work to organize an entire book or a single blog post.

Whichever direction you go, in or out, this gives you an easy way to organize your material and structure your work in progress. Not everything fits this outline, but try it. See if the pieces of your project fall into place.

Resources

• For more wonder, rewild the world (George Monbiot’s TED Talk)
• For Writers Who Struggle with Structure…a Remedy (Ep 215)
• Are Outlines a Writer’s Greatest Gift…or Curse? (Ep 214)
• A Writer’s Guide to ROI series
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes
• (note: photos sourced through Stencil or Pixabay)

Subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

The post Ep 216: An Easy Structure for Your Chaotic Work in Progress appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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?

I propose they try “ready-made” outlines.

I’m calling these big, broad outlines “ready-made outlines” because they serve as templates to try out with your content. They offer a broad, big-picture, flexible structure that can be applied to projects of all sizes and types, as you group your ideas under the overall headings.

Ready-made outlines serve the writer by providing her with multiple structures to test out in order to find one that best suits the material.

As I said last time, my source for these ready-made outlines is the speech and debate club I’m part of. We use these to help impromptu speakers have a place to start.

Past-Present-Future Outline

The first one I introduced to you was the past-present-future outline. It’s just one ready-made outline to try out on all kinds of projects.

For example, a past-present-future outline could work as structure for:

• testimonials
• sales pages
• memoir
• how-to projects
• op-eds
• analysis essays or articles
• books (organize chapters under the past, present, and future sections and/or organize a given chapter with that structure)

Problem-Solution Outline

This week’s ready-made outline is Problem-Solution or Problem-Solution-Benefit.

You can see how straightforward it is, and how handy it can be for certain writing projects.

I gave it a try with this very article. If you look back, you can see my general flow.

Introduction: If you were try try this outline, you’d start with an introduction that would include some kind of hook.

For this piece, I just talked about the challenge of structure for writers.

Problem: Next, you’d introduce the problem.

Pretty quickly I transitioned to introducing the writer’s problem of structure—or lack thereof. You can see from my attempt here that a problem you’re writing about doesn’t have to be a giant societal-level problem. It can be a small frustration of any kind.

When you think about your audience, and you imagine their struggles, frustrations, and challenges, that’s the problem—that’s your starting point with this ready-made outline.

Articulate the problem. Speak their language. Get your audience nodding, “Yes. That IS my problem.”

Solution: Then, you introduce a solution (or solutions).

You may have one proven solution to one specific problem, and the writing will be narrow and focused. Or you may offer multiple solutions to a complex problem, and your writing will be more involved.

Conclusion: Follow that with a conclusion, and you’re done.

You’re done, that is, unless you want to touch on benefits of implementing the solution. I mean, the obvious benefit is that the problem is solved. But your readers may appreciate a window into what their life would look like and what they’d feel like if they implemented that solution, so the additional “benefits” section could serve them well.

That’s it in a nutshell. That’s how you can test the Problem-Solution or Problem-Solution-Benefit outline.

Problem-Solution Example: Article Structure

Let’s say you contribute content to a website that focuses on organization. Perhaps you’ll write an article that addresses the problem of training young children to understand and begin joining in the process of sorting, folding, and putting away laundry. Laundry can be an overwhelming problem that parents face, and you’ll offer several possible solutions.

Well, there’s your structure to test out:

• Intro
• Problem
• Solution(s)
• Conclusion

OR

• Intro
• Problem
• Solution(s)
• Benefits
• Conclusion

If you add the benefits, you might find research showing the self-esteem rises exponentially in children who contribute to meaningful household chores and your family grows close by working together.

But often the benefits are self-evident—like your family has clean, folded laundry each week. In that case, you can leave that element off the outline.

Let’s look at another writing project.

Problem-Solution Example: Letter to the Editor (or Op-Ed) Structure

If you’re troubled by a local issue and want to write a letter to the editor or an op-ed piece, the Problem-Solution ready-made outline could work well for organizing your thoughts with a structure that readers find easy to follow.

• Hook (a sentence or two to hook the reader)
• Problem
• Solution(s)
• Conclusion

Again, you could add in benefits if you have the space and if it feel it adds value to the message. But you can leave it off if the benefits are obvious or if they could be summarized in the conclusion.

Problem-Solution Example: Nonfiction Book Structure

Maybe you’re writing a book about communication in the workplace. You could try out the problem-solution ready-made outline to see if the content fits.

Problem(s): First you analyze some of the biggest communication problems people face in the workplace.

Solution(s): Most of the book will probably focus on the solutions to those problems.

Benefit(s): If the solutions don’t already make clear the benefits gained beyond solving the problem, a book could bring this up chapter by chapter or in a section toward the end of the book.

Perhaps you have a multi-step process that can work for every communication challenge: “Seven Steps to Clear Communication in the Workplace.” After the early chapters introduce the problems, the next several chapters could each tackle a step of this process.

Or maybe you have different communication solutions for different communication problems. In that case, you could address each separately, one per chapter, presenting both the problems and solutions specific to emails, team meetings, reports, newsletters, and one-on-one mentoring conversations. Each chapter could take on a type of communication.

Either way, you would still be turning to the problem-solution outline.

Applications for Problem-Solution Outline

Longer projects will offer more layers of analysis and more examples to support claims, but you can see how this ready-made outline can be used with a variety of writing projects. I think it could work for:

• testimonials (past-present-future is one structure for testimonials, but problem-solution is another option for someone to explain they had a problem and this product or service was the perfect solution to that problem)
• sales pages (again, problem-solution is a really basic approach that helps you organize your thoughts and explain what you offer)
• op-ed
• letter to the editor
• blog post
• essay
• book (overall structure and micro-level within a given chapter could follow problem-solution structure)

Problem-Solution Outline for Essay Structure

While the Problem-Solution (or Problem-Solution-Benefit) structure may seem best suited to prescriptive-type content, I think this can also be a wonderful way to enter into personal essays.

Question (“Problem”) Launches Inquiry

If an essayist starts with a question, or inquiry, that invites the essayist to follow that question (aka “problem”) into the piece. Keep this creative openness to see where the question leads.

Let’s say the essayist wonders something or poses a question. If he thinks of that more or less as a problem and writes toward that, continuing to question that, he may be seeking an answer to that question, or deeper insight into that observation, or maybe even an epiphany.

Answer (“Solution”) Revealed Through Inquiry

By keeping that overall structure in mind, the essayist can explore the problem from various angles in hopes of experiencing breakthrough in understanding without forcing the matter.

That’s a more subtle, nuanced variation of the Problem-Solution approach, but if you creatively press into a question, you’re likely seeking some kind of solution.

Problem-Solution Example: Memoir

A memoir that focuses on an era of a person’s life might loosely follow this structure, by showing the problem this person faced and how complicated life got until they encountered, finally, some kind of solution.

And this solution may not be a tidy one, so you can think broadly about the idea of “solution.”

The memoir possibly rolls into a kind of benefits segment. Again, none of these words need to appear anywhere in the text—it’s just a way for you mentally to group information or scenes in search of a possible structure to test on your own content. To try it out, you drop scenes into these three big categories or sections of the memoir: problem, solution, benefit.

Maybe the problem is that a memoirist struggles to trust a parent, so the scenes establish this and lead ultimately to a scene or a moment when this shifted. The writer gained insight into this parent, and that ignited compassion or openness and the relationship grew.

Or perhaps the opposite happened—the parent had a deep mental illness and the problem was that the memoirist kept making herself vulnerable only to be hurt again and again. And the solution came when she realized sometimes even a parent is so deeply scarred and struggling that a trusting relationship isn’t possible. So the memoirist finds new ways to protect herself while trying to relate to the parent and finds trust in other relationships.

Is the Problem-Solution Outline the Structure for Your Next Project?

So many kinds of writing address a problem of some kind, it’s worth giving this ready-made outline a try.

And keep in mind you don’t have to use the actual words “problem” and “solution” to apply this structure to your next writing project. If you prefer a more subtle approach, you can use different words—synonyms—to imply a similar structure.

Try it out and see if this is the solution you’re looking for. For writers who struggle with structure, the Problem-Solution or the Problem-Solution-Benefits ready-made outline may be the remedy you’re looking for.

Resources

• Are Outlines a Writer’s Greatest Gift…or Curse? (Ep 214)
• A Writer’s Guide to ROI series
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes
• (note: photos sourced through Stencil, Pixabay, and Unsplash)

Subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

______________________________

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The post Try This Classic Structure for Your Next Nonfiction Writing Project appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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 3×5 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 3×5 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, develop a quick thesis to serve as their big idea, and think up an engaging opener they can refer back to at the end. They they take a mental picture of that paper.

Then they stand in front of their judges and deliver a speech. More often than not, practicing the use of outlines allows even novice students to produce thoughtful, organizing impromptu speeches that impress adults who can’t imagine producing something coherent in two minutes of prep time.

Outlines for Writing

The outlines like those we use for impromptu can be used for any communication, any speech, and I think for any writing.

They create organization and structure when you have no idea where to start. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you sit down to draft a new piece. Just pick an outline that would suit the topic and let that create parameters. Plug in your own creative choices and you’ll end up with an article or chapter or essay that’s completely yours.

Plus, you’ll likely save time by producing a respectable draft that needs far less editing or reorganization.

Outline: Past-Present-Future

One of the outlines that can work well for a lot of projects is the “Past-Present-Future” outline.

It’s pretty obvious how you’d use this as a basic structure when planning an article, book, essay—maybe even a poem.

The past-present-future can reflect a personal journey, drive an analysis of cultural change, or form the structure of a company’s About page on their website.

Past-present-future can be a simple format to use when collecting marketing testimonials:

Before using a product—in the past—my life was like X, then I started using a product and now my life is like Y. As I continue to use this product, I can only imagine how much more it will help my life and eventually it will be like Z!

So you see how past-present-future can organize a lot of different projects and serve as a gift to the writer.

Past-Present-Future Experiment

I could have constructed this article as past-present-future by telling about my personal resistance to outlining as a writer in the past.

I was like the NaNoWriMo girl who had better results when I was winging it, even though it was a slow, disorganized approach. I wasted a lot of time and a lot of words by flopping ideas on the page and sorting them out.

Then I saw how effective they were with the students and began to experiment with using outlines in my own writing life. At first they felt constraining; I resisted and often abandoned my outline after going to the trouble of inventing one.

But over time I saw the flexibility of starting with a broad format, like past-present-future, and how I could find plenty of options within that structure to be creative. These days, I use them regularly.

As I continue to produce work, I believe the constraints serve me better than I imagined, so I intend to continue using them. They allow me to corral my pinging thoughts and plug ideas into a form at a zippier pace. Rather than restraining me, the structure of outlines actually serves me as a gift.

Relying more often on outlines, I hope to continue to produce more in less time and increase my body of work.

After all, the clock is ticking. Why waste it staring at a blank page? In the past, I might have sat for many minutes pondering what to write and how to tackle it. Now and in the future, I can, instead, pull up one of many outlines and if I have my idea, I can start—and finish—in record time.

See how past-present-future could have served as a form for this very article?

Constraints Lead to Creativity

It’s often said at writing and creative conferences that constraints lead to greater creativity.

We see that among poets who are famously constrained by space and form. And yet the restrictions placed on them often result in fascinating choices they might not have arrived at if they had total freedom.

In a Fast Company article, Belle Beth Cooper wrote:

Constraints can seem like the last thing you’d want for a creative project, but they’re actually beneficial when it comes to doing good work. If you’ve ever faced the common writer’s hurdle of the blank page, you’ll know what it’s like to be paralyzed by innumerable opportunities. What restrictions do is take away some of the choices available to us, and with them, the paralysis of choice that stops us from getting started.¹

Outlines Serve Writers

I still believe in the power of freewriting to unlock and unblock many writers. But if you’re working on a project and feel frozen, unsure how to start or finish—paralyzed by limitless choices—try an outline.

By limiting at least some of the choices—in this case, restraining the form and structure of your piece—you free your creative mind to play within that space. You may find that the ideas you present, the examples you find, the stories you tell, and the words you select are more vibrant and engaging than if you wrote with no plan at all.

The outlines don’t need to be full of Roman numerals, A-B-Cs, and i, ii, iii’s, either. In broad strokes, like past-present-future, they can offer form to how you present your thoughts.

If you’ve never used outlines or you hated them in your past, looking at them as a curse, I urge you to try them again. Both now—and in the future—they may be your greatest gift.

Resources

• Fast Company article quoted in article, “Proof That Constraints Can Actually Make You More Creative“
• Fast Company article, “How Constraints Force Your Brain to Be More Creative“
• NaNoWriMo
• A Writer’s Guide to ROI series
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes
• (note: photos sourced through Stencil and Pixabay; running shoe photo by the author)

Subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

Footnotes

1. Cooper, Belle Beth. “Proof That Constraints Can Actually Make You More Creative.” Fast Company, Fast Company, 2 May 2017, www.fastcompany.com/3027379/the-psychology-of-limitations-how-and-why-constraints-can-make-you-more-creative. (accessed 10 Oct 2019)

The post Ep 214: Are Outlines a Writer’s Greatest Gift…or Curse? appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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.

Avoid Superfluous Content and Phrasing

Don’t slow down the reader with unnecessary information or stiff writing with complicated sentences. You can write beautifully, but those beautiful words need to add to the story or ideas and not simply pad the project.

Keep your reader moving down the page.

Study Hemingway’s Choices

When Hemingway typed on his typewriter, he didn’t have ways to add bold or bigger fonts—that would come later, with the publisher. But he made choices that affected sentence and paragraph length.

In a sense it affected layout without relying on a graphic designer. By writing tight and breaking up paragraphs, he naturally left more white space. This helps the reader move forward because she’s not intimidated by a big block of text.

Short Sentences

Short sentences free the reader from maintaining close attention, so in this age of distraction you’re making it easier for her to follow the storyline or take in the information when you offer it in smaller chunks.

For those drawn to classic novels, this can be frustrating. We want to emulate our heroes who write in a leisurely style of pre-television/pre-Internet/pre-social-media eras.

But we don’t live in those eras. We have television, we have Internet, we have social media. Play with variations to see if you can write the way you want while still holding your readers’ attention.

Once you’re known for a style and tone, you may get by with longer, cumulative, compound-complex sentences because your fans already love to sit with your words and soak them in.

But if you’re just starting out or you’re trying to move into new audiences and reach out into the world, you’ll have better luck hooking and holding readers if you write tight, focused sentences that lead the reader easily through the text to get to the point.

If you use the Hemingway App, where you paste in some of your content to be analyzed, the app will flag the long sentence. I recommend you heed that warning and rework that sentence.

Short Paragraphs

Today’s online reader responds well to short paragraphs.

This doesn’t mean every line needs to stand on its own, but pay attention to how you yourself read when you’re online. See how you feel when you hit a big block of text. Do you resist? Scroll past it? Click away?

Sometimes we feel like we don’t have time to dig into it when it’s one big chunk.

That same content could be divided into smaller chunks, however, and when we encounter the same material divided up, we breeze right through it without stopping—never questioning if we have time to commit.

So online, especially, give your ideas space to breathe on the page.

In print, I think you can get by writing standard paragraphs because someone who picks up a book is already committed to spending time with the material.

Even when reading physical books, however, I find myself appreciating authors who deliver their ideas or stories efficiently. Every detail needs to earn the right to be there, moving the story forward or effectively illustrating a point.

Hook and Hold Your Readers with Easy Navigation

We have a lot of tools at our disposal these days to assist us that don’t rely exclusively on our words. Those of us who publish our own work as articles and blog posts have layout and design options to help us hook and hold our readers.

Use Subheadings

Use subheadings to label sections so your reader can easily skim through and decide if the information will be interesting or relevant to her. Subheadings are a tool in that way. A gift.

In fact, inserting subheadings can help writers find focus, organization, and flow as they draft.

Use Lists and Bullet Points

You’ll also hold your reader longer if he can glance down and see a list is coming, so use numbered lists and bullet points online and in nonfiction projects like books and articles.

Use Visuals

Writers these days need to understand the importance of how visuals and images enhance how the reader interacts with our words.

The power of images is that they:

• break up blocks of text
• illustrate points and add context or interest to the written words
• can be photos (that you have permission to use) or images (like pull quotes on a color background)
• allow people to create an interesting pin on Pinterest, which lets your article live in perpetuity in a search engine, so people can find your content for a long, long time

Think like a magazine editor when you’re putting your project together. Ask what kind of image would help here. What will best fit? Play with sizing and placement.

If you can afford it, hire a graphic designer to do it for you or have the designer create templates you can use that fit your color and style theme and save you time down the road.

Hold Your Readers with Content

We can pull out all the stops with professionally designed images and bullet points, but if the content doesn’t deliver, who cares?

Solve the Problem

If we promise to solve a problem in the headline and dance around it without offering a solution, our reader’s going to lose interest and trust. Resist the urge to craft a clickable headline that you aren’t able to address in the content of your project.

Open Up

Readers often turn to writers when the writer is an authority on a topic or an expert, but vulnerability will build trust and offers a different kind of ethos and a different kind of hook and hold.

When we open up about our own struggles, readers feel a connection—they’re curious to find out how we resolve our problem or deal with our challenges.

If they struggle with the same problems and challenges, they may not care all that much about how we ourselves solve it, but they’ll be searching for solutions they can apply to their own lives. So they read on.

Your Ideas in Your Voice

Inject your creative, original ideas to add meat and depth to a topic. Make connections others haven’t made and express it in your unique voice to offer value to your reader.

That keeps me reading when I’m trying to figure something out or I want to learn something new. Whether they’re using a lively, entertaining style or a thorough, thoughtful, pensive tone, I’ll stick with the writer who gives me what I’m looking for. They’ll hold me as a reader.

This is where your curious, creative, productive writer-self can bring it home. You’ve got great ideas—share them in your unique voice in ways that readers appreciate.

Do I Want to Read On?

It’s a simple question to ask. I sometimes forget to ask it:

Does this sentence make me want to read the next sentence?

Does one idea lead to the next? Does this paragraph make me want to read the next one?

If the answer is no, the reader may abandon ship. They may click away.

When self-editing, I need to remember this so I can liven up my prose and slice away the parts that drag down the text, to keep my readers engaged.

You can do that, too. Next time you’re writing—well, next time you’re editing—ask yourself, Does this sentence make me want to read the next one? Because if you don’t want to read on, your reader won’t want to, either.

Grab Your Reader and Don’t Let Go

I saw a cartoon the other day that showed a courtroom, and a witness on the stand is pointing to a man, the defendant, shouting, “Yes, that’s him! That’s the author of the book that grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go!”

We want to be that author, guilty as charged. Yes, we want to write books, screenplays, short stories, and articles that grab our readers and won’t let them go. So hook your readers at the very start, hold them throughout your piece, and deliver the goods all the way to the end.

Resources

• Feedly
• Hemingway App
• Emily P. Freeman’s “How to Find (and Become) a Good Listener”
• James Clear’s Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results: an Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones (affiliate link)
• Three Pillars to Your Best Writing Life series
• A Writer’s Guide to ROI series
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

The post Ep 213: How to Hook and Hold Your Readers appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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, we have to commit to some kind of writing practice. For now, think of that writing practice as a system.

James Clear talks about the power of systems in this video. In it, he says, “We do not rise to the level of our goals; we fall to the level of our systems.”³

By establishing routines and systems that lock in habits, and by setting up schedules with built-in deadlines, we can regularly start and finish projects, building our body of work.

As Clear said, goals aren’t bad; the goal expresses what we want to achieve. In his book Atomic Habits, he writes, “Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.”⁴

So we develop a plan for how to get to the goal.

To complete that plan, we set up a system.

The system establishes a writing habit that leads to achieving our goals.

That’s how we’ll pull off our writing day by day.

That’s how we’ll be productive and see project after project all the way to the finish line.

That’s how we’ll build our body of work.

One Way or Another, Productive Writers Build Their Body of Work

Your system may include designing an editorial calendar, breaking down a project into a series of steps, tasks, and actions, then scheduling those each day. When you wake up, you know what to do: you write the segment you determined in advance was needed to complete, to stay on schedule and finish on time.

Your system may involve tracking words to complete a set word count or page count that you’ve calculated to complete a project in a particular time frame. Many writers use this basic idea to be productive, waking early to compose a given number of words or pages for their work in progress.

Not everyone finds motivation in the quantity of words and pages they produce. Another system is to set an alarm or timer and stay in your chair for a set amount of time each day. You can have your writing to-do list in front of you to work through.

On some days, you might write 2,000 words, and on other days you might only complete a paragraph. But you’re in the chair, committed, as part of your system.

Productive Writers Honor the Way they Like to Write

Some writers prefer to write their drafts by hand and type them up in Google Docs or Scrivener at the end of a writing session or at the end of the week.

The act of handwriting taps into a different part of their brain than the typing does.

The act of typing ignites a level of writer-editor that solves problems during the process.

This is a kind of system and approach that honors the way you like to write and work and think.

Verbal processors may prefer to speak a draft, recording it in their voice recorder app and having it transcribed. The transcription becomes their draft that they edit in a future work session.

Productive Writers Create Motivating Environments

Ideal circumstances aren’t always possible, but when they are (and to the extent they are), a writer will benefit from creating a motivating environment.

This may include solitude and silence. Or maybe it will involve music.

Hopefully it will involve a dedicated space so you create an environment conducive to deep work, to use Cal Newport’s phrase⁵, or to enter a “flow” state, to borrow Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of an ideal creativity state.⁶

Or it may call for the ambient sounds of a coffee shop.

Experiment to discover what works for you and what doesn’t.

And if you can’t build an outstanding setup in the perfect environment, don’t use that excuse not to write.

Because productive writers write even when their circumstances are messy and perfect and when their time is short. They get creative and clever in how they use available time and awkward situations to write.

I’ve written in my car, at the library, in hospital waiting rooms where I wore noise-canceling headphones. We can not only tap into creativity to infuse our work with novel, original ideas, but we can also use creativity to solve problems related to getting work done.

Be creative to create an environment conducive to work.

Productive Writers Have Fun

All this talk of productivity sounds like work. Where’s the fun? Where’s the play?

It helps to lower the stakes at times. In fact, productive writers may become even more productive when they make the work fun and pleasant—even delightful.

I find writing itself to be a delightful activity, so some of my fun happens in the creative writing process. But we can insert creativity breaks. I have a yo-yo on my desk. When I hit a tough spot and need to think, I can stand up and get that thing spinning up and down for a few minutes.

Productive Personas

I heard Todd Herman interviewed on the DIY MFA podcast. He talked about taking on a kind of persona to solve problems and power through a project.

As I understood the concept, maybe you’d pick one of your favorite authors and channel that person’s creativity as if it’s your own to do more than you would on your own.

Or you can have a power hat or shirt and pull that on, imagining it’s the gear that produces New York Times bestselling authors.

Or perhaps you have an office area and entering that zone is like entering a powerful space filled with creative energy and it’s there that you’re unstoppable.

It’s a fun idea. In a week, I’m moving my office into a recently emptied bedroom and I’m going to try Herman’s technique.⁷

Productive Writers Start Where They Are

You may look at your writing life and feel like I did when I rolled over in bed instead of taking action to get healthy.

It doesn’t matter where you are now. Just take action to get started.

You may be slow at first, plodding along, producing only tiny paragraphs—maybe just a line or two.

But no matter how small the results, you’ll make progress. So don’t be afraid or ashamed of humble beginnings and simple restarts, because that’s how it begins.

To be a productive writer, you’ll take action. And your action will produce results.

By continuing to take action, following systems that work for you, you’ll continue to see results and build your body of work over time.

Resources

• Three Pillars to Your Best Writing Life series
• A Writer’s Guide to ROI series
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

Footnotes

1. Long, Priscilla. The Writer’s Portable Mentor: a Guide to Art, Craft, and the Writing Life. Wallingford Press, 2010. Print. (312)
2. Ibid.
3. “Forget About Setting Goals. Focus on This Instead – James Clear.” YouTube, EntreLeadership, 21 Jan. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXd6jeDElWM. Accessed 5 Sept. 2019.
4. Clear, James. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results: an Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Avery, an Imprint of Penguin Random House, 2018. Print. (23)
5. Cal Newport wrote the book Deep Work, in which he elaborated on the concept and how to make space for deep work in our lives.
6. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is widely known for his concept of Flow. He’s written books and articles on this idea, and taught on the topic for decades.
7. I listened to this podcast episode and summarized from memory; what I called a “persona” he called an “alter ego” in the interview: “The Alter Ego Effect — Interview With Todd Herman.” DIY MFA, 26 Aug. 2019, diymfa.com/podcast/episode-267-todd-herman. Accessed 5 Sept. 2019.

The post Ep 212: Productive Writers Build Their Body of Work – Pillar Three appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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 together all on our own.

Like a stage designer pokes around at furniture, door frames, and props available from previous productions or a costume designer opens closets to see what materials and dresses could be modified for a new show, we poke around places we might not otherwise visit and scratch and sniff for inspiration.

Sometimes we may consciously do so, making a deliberate choice to add an element that runs through our work in progress as inspired by a color scheme we saw in film. Or we might include a quote from another author that helps the reader see our subject matter from another angle.

Other times, we may be influenced in ways that become embedded in us so deeply we don’t realize how it’s affected the words we’ve committed to the page.

One tip is to keep a writing notebook or journal documenting some of what has filtered into our minds, but sometimes we don’t think to record a minor event or detail that ends up being a formative, even foundational, experience.

Sometimes we realize the impact later. Sometimes we can’t see it; it’s become part of us in the way nutrients from the food we eat assimilates with our bodies, with our cells. We can’t say a particular carrot improved our health, but it’s in us. It did indeed contribute.

In the same way, we can’t point to a particular shell we held in our palm and say that is what inspired a scene in a novel where our heroine clutched an earring or a bead in her hand and found hope. Yet it’s in us, that shell, filling us with hidden creative inspiration.

The Creative Person

By learning from others and exposing ourselves to new concepts and sensations, we continue to bring ourselves to the work.

But that self is continually transformed, filled with more than ever to add depth and texture to what spills onto the page.

Ideas and stories flow out of a particular human being with her experiences, exposure to ideas, opinions, and worldview. The more we explore and discover, the more we bring to our projects.

That’s why we seek creative inspiration, and that’s why we write. We have something to say in a certain way—in a way only we can say it.

Twyla Tharp writes, in The Creative Habit:

Each of us is hard-wired a certain way. And that hard-wiring insinuates itself into our work. That’s not a bad thing. Actually, it’s what the world expects from you. We want our artists to take the mundane materials of our lives, run it through their imaginations, and surprise us.²

She goes on to list various personalities we might relate to—stereotypes like loners or romantics—and assures us that if we are any of these kinds of people, “that quality will shine through in your work.”³

Add to Your Library of Ideas

We bring ourselves to the work, and run the mundane materials of life run through our own imaginations—our own very self—and in that way, who we are shows up in what we create.

So let’s fill ourselves with novel, original thoughts to create our own novel, original thoughts. When we add to the giant library of ideas in our minds, in our hearts, and stir it all into the mixture of personal experience and memory, worldview and opinion, we offer something no one else has ever created—something no one else is capable of creating.

Only you. Your way. With your creative self sharing from your creative input, you surprise readers…and yourself.

Creative Writers Produce Creative Writing

When we are more creative as a person and a writer, we will achieve our writing goals. And the creative process itself—even before arriving at the final product—can satisfy us in the midst of creating.

All of these activities help us be more creative so we can enjoy our best writing life.

Resources

• Learn from the Best: Copywork for Grownups (Ep 107)
• Cultivate Curiosity for Your Best Writing Life: Pillar One (Ep 210)
• Want to Be a More Creative Writer? Get Curious! (Ep 35)
• The Top 5 Ways Curiosity Can Ruin Your Writing (Ep 60)
• Three Pillars to Your Best Writing Life series
• Artist Dates (from Julia Cameron’s website)
• The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp (affiliate link)
• A Writer’s Guide to ROI series
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

Footnotes

1. Definitions and traits of creativity are found in articles, books, and lectures. I have found them in sources such as Creativity, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and in an article by Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D. “The Latest Way to Understand Creativity.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 10 Aug. 2019, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201908/the-latest-way-understand-creativity, accessed 20 Aug. 2019. I selected some sample words that seemed particularly relevant to writers, all of which are found on the list found in the Psychology Today article cited here.
2. Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life, Simon & Schuster, New York: 2003 (40)
3. Ibid.

The post Ep 211: Be More Creative to Enjoy Your Best Writing Life: Pillar Two appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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, as well—why did you make one choice instead of another?

Cultivate Curiosity with Daily Surprise

Mihaly offers a three-fold path to start cultivating curiosity that I’d like to suggest for you.

It involves surprise.

1. Be surprised
2. Surprise others
3. Document your surprise (347, Creativity)

1. Be Surprised

His first tip for anyone pursuing a more curious life is to “try to be surprised by something every day” (347). He lists mundane, everyday ways to do so, like noticing an unusual car in the parking lot and ordering a new item on the menu.

A note to us all: this increased attentiveness will require us to look up from our phones now and then and engage our senses.

Igniting those senses, we may notice the ingredients in the new dish we’re served or admire the gleaming chrome on the car whose make and model we never noticed before. We might turn onto a side road to stop and admire the Harvest Moon. We could snap a photo of the dragonfly perched on the tip of a blade of grass.

Ask questions that come up during these encounters. What spice am I smelling and tasting? Why does the moon seem so huge? What do dragonflies eat? Satisfy your curiosity with a search for answers, and here your phone might actually come in handy.

And when some questions seem unanswerable, live in the mystery. That, too, is part of the curious writer’s life.

All of this information enters into us and we draw from it as we think, make connections, and write.

Surprise in Writers

Robert Frost said in an interview with The Paris Review, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” Even an organized writer who sets out with an outline or a plot mapped out brings energy to the page when he finds himself surprised as he writes.

I think we know it as readers. What a pleasure to enjoy an article, book, or poem written by someone who seems to be full of wonder and delight and surprise. A curious writer, surprised by life, brings that to his work.

You can be that writer.

Driven by inquisitiveness, curious writers experiment, even play. They’re unwilling to take things for granted or take things at face value. Curious writers test new techniques and try different genres. Curious writers embrace new vocabulary and employ fresh metaphors.

In their writing and in life, curious writers embrace a-ha moments. They hold life up to the light.

2. Surprise Others

How else can we practice a healthy curiosity? Csikszentmihalyi next advises us to “try to surprise at least one person every day.” Again, his ideas are simple, not wild: say something no one expects or invite someone to join you on an outing to a new location or event. (347)

What will happen? How will they react?

Years ago, one of my daughters handed me a wrapped gift and presented it almost shaking with excitement.

It wasn’t Mother’s Day or my birthday, so I asked, “What’s this for?”

She said the book we’d been reading together at the time, The Essential 55, had pointed out that the best time to give a gift is when no one expects it because you know they did it because they wanted to and not out of obligation because it was your birthday or Christmas (55, The Essential 55).

I was blown away by her random act of love. And whenever I drink that tea, I think of her and feel gratitude for her surprise all these years later.

Follow through with your own spark of an idea to surprise someone and see how that ignites a corresponding delight in you at the exact same moment.

3. Document Your Surprise

Csikszentmihalyi’s last suggestion for a surprise-centered approach to curiosity is to “write down each day what surprised you and how you surprised others.”

Like a scientist keeping notes on an experiment, document your day’s surprises—and review those notes periodically to search for “a pattern of interest emerging…one that may indicate some domain that would repay exploring in depth.” (347, Creativity)

Most writers know what interests them, but you may discover something new in your surprise-driven days—some new topic or passion that can focus your next writing project. Or maybe it will inform your writing life as a whole.

Homework for Life

Our curiosity looks outside ourselves much of the time, to note the surprise in someone else or to answer a question about something we’ve observed. But we can be curious about ourselves and our own lives, as well.

In his TEDx Talk, on his podcast, 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? (Matthew Dicks, Homework for Life | TEDxBerkshires)

Learn straight from Matthew himself in his TEDx Talk:

The idea is very simple. He writes a sentence or two—sometimes just a string of words—that will bring back a memory from the day: the moment he chose to document. He says you develop a storytelling lens when you note the small discoveries, the daily surprises, those meaningful moments you don’t want to lose. (Homework for Life TEDxBerkshires)

When you start collecting stories with Homework for Life, the days stop running into each other, as if nothing is new—because every day holds something new.

His call is similar to Mihaly’s: take note of the surprises, the reactions, the lessons learned, the interactions that stand out. It’s a way to be curious about yourself, as you set aside tons of content for future projects.

Do this simple assignment and each day becomes more precious, more curious.

Trust the First Pillar for Your Best Writing Life: Cultivate Curiosity

I hope you learn to trust the first pillar for your best writing life and start cultivating curiosity.

Expand your everyday perspective to expand as a person, dabbling in new experiences and enjoying new sensations. Try a new sport. Visit a shop you’ve never been in. Mix things up: If your favorite place is the hardware store, visit a yarn shop; if you’re most comfortable at a library, head to an art gallery.

What did you see, feel, smell, and hear?

If you neglect the world around you and suppress the desire to explore the unfamiliar, what will you bring to the page? If you ignore what you don’t understand, turning away, how will you grow?

Nurture curiosity, and your writing will flow with fresh ideas and insights linked to new observations and connections you make. You’ll find yourself open to ideas, considering alternative points of view. You may feel surprise, delight, even wonder.

Learn something new every day. Surprise yourself and others. And document the stories that make any given day different from all the rest.

Because when you’re a writer cultivating curiosity about your day, your life, your moments, you’re a writer rich in material, insights, and stories.

Resources

• Matthew Dicks’ TEDx Talk 
• The Essential 55 (the book that inspired my daughter to surprise me with a gift; this affiliate link takes you a newer version than she and I read together)
• Creativity, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (affiliate link to a slightly newer edition than the one I excerpted)
• Still Writing, by Dani Shapiro (affiliate link)
• The Paris Review interview with Robert Frost: “Robert Frost, The Art of Poetry No. 2” Interviewed by Richard Poirier | ISSUE 24, SUMMER-FALL 1960
• Want to Be a More Creative Writer? Get Curious! (Ep 35)
• The Top 5 Ways Curiosity Can Ruin Your Writing (Ep 60)
• Three Pillars to Your Best Writing Life series
• A Writer’s Guide to ROI series
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

____________________

Is your writing life all it can be?

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.

“A genial marriage of practice and theory. For writers new and seasoned. This book is a winner.”

—Phil Gulley, author of Front Porch Tales

The post Ep 210: Cultivate Curiosity for Your Best Writing Life, Pillar One appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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, we have to produce words that turn into projects.

It doesn’t mean we have to spit out poems like candy from a vending machine or roll out short stories like cars on an assembly line—that’s why we have three pillars and not just one!

Curiosity and creativity infuse our writing with life and energy and joy, novelty and insight. Productivity ensures it is captured and expressed in words.

Writers who fall down rabbit holes of research driven by curiosity must eventually emerge and throw some of that on the page to sort it out and produce a final project.

We must produce or we aren’t writing.

Some writers will sit on an idea for a decade or longer, unable to produce even a portion of it, afraid they won’t do it justice. But writers must write—we must produce some kind of output or product.

Other writers start project after project in bursts of creative inspiration. They delight in the potential they see in those works in progress, but they struggle to see them through to completion.

We have to start and finish projects if we ever want to share our work with others. And isn’t that ultimately why we write? For the reader?

And don’t we long to build a body of work? To do so, we must learn to be productive writers.

Even slow writers can find ways to steadily put their ideas, thoughts, stories, and dreams into words in order to grow into more practiced, experienced, confident writers ready to share their work with the world.

The Three Values Work Together in Your Writing Life

If we were only productive without being creative or curious, we could be writing and publishing formulaic projects that offer nothing new or fresh.

If we were creative without being productive or curious, we might write experimental freewriting in a journal that never evolves into a completed project or one we would share with others.

If we were curious without being productive or creative, we might read and think and go for walks and chat with friends or interview experts without ever putting pen to paper to create or send out anything.

Thankfully, we’ll be exploring three pillars of the writing life—three traits that transform you and your writing so that you achieve your writing goals (and have fun!). It takes curiosity, creativity, and productivity to arrive at your best writing life.

Resources

• Want to Be a More Creative Writer? Get Curious! (Ep 35)
• The Top 5 Ways Curiosity Can Ruin Your Writing (Ep 60)
• Rest and Productivity (Ep 12)
• Relentlessly Execute Your Plan to Level Up (on Productivity – Ep 200)
• A Writer’s Guide to ROI series
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

The post Ep 209: Curiosity, Creativity, Productivity: Three Pillars to Building Your Best Writing Life appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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

The post Ep 208: Children’s Book Author Sharon Stohler’s Path to Self-Publishing appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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, measurable step leading toward a goal. A few items on my Next Action list today might look like this:

• Record episode 207
• Edit episode 207
• Upload episode 207

Sorting the Podcast Ideas

During my podcast marathon, I heard about an app called Emoji-m, a free app to search for emojis you can use for, well, anything. This idea came from the Social Media Marketing podcast in an introductory segment where Erik Fisher shares new technology he’s discovered. https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/linkedin-page-content-strategy-what-marketers-need-to-know-michaela-alexis/

I sorted that idea of trying Emoji-m into a Next Action stack, or list, and bumped it to the top not because it was important, but because it sounded like a quick, fun “win.”

I got back to my desk, pulled up that page in my browser, searched for an emoji, and added it to a note to my kids. It took no more than two minutes.

Now that I know where to search for and find emojis, I can copy and drop them into anything from Instagram or emails to newsletters or texts—wherever I want to add a little levity. Don’t be surprised to see smiley faces and hearts showing up here and there.

Using Apps as Stacks

I’ve also learned to use specific apps as stacks.

I start with a to-do or list app like Todoist, Trello, Google Keep, or Workflowy. These apps allow me to dump all the notes I’ve taken, all the information I’m learning, and all the tasks I must accomplish into one big stack. A master list.

Most of those apps have ways to create subcategories, so I can continue to sort and stack right in that space.

Sort into Apps Dedicated to Specific Categories

While I like having almost everything in one place, sometimes a specific app will work well for a category of information.

For example, while I was at the conference a few newsletters arrived in my email inbox with links to articles that looked fascinating. I wanted to read them and learn more, but didn’t have time to drop everything and read them right then.

Pocket

So I used an app called Pocket, which allows me to quickly save links to articles online using a Chrome extension or the app on my phone. It’s a really quick sort.

I “saved to Pocket” several articles, creating a virtual stack that formed a to-read stack. When I have a few minutes, I can pull up Pocket and read with intention.

Goodreads

A similar app I use for dedicating to a specific category is Goodreads. You could create a to-read stack there.

If someone recommends a book, I pull up Goodreads as a page in my browser or as an app and add the book to my “Want to Read” bookshelf.

Sorted, stacked, saved.

Stack, Sort, and Save What You Collect

Don’t lose what you’re learning.

Instead, save and implement ideas, solutions, tools, and tips by first capturing them all in some kind of stack, whether paper or virtual. Then sort it all into usable stacks.

Even the writing itself can be sorted and stacked like this, especially if you use the modular approach.

We can transform as a writer and person because we’ve not only saved information, we’ve also sorted it into tasks so we can implement what we’re collecting along the way.

Resources

• Robin Jones Gunn
• LinkedIn Page Content Strategy: What Marketers Need to Know (Social Media Marketing Podcast with the Emoji-m recommendation)
• Emoji-m
• Pocket
• Goodreads
• Enjoy Creative Freedom with the Modular Approach to Writing [Ep 202]
• Increase Writing Quality by Both Filling and Stilling Your Mind [Ep 148]
• What’s the Next Action? [Ep 6]
• Subscribe to Podcasts to Learn on the Go [Ep 161]
• Next Action List (David Allen’s explanation)
• Todoist
• Trello
• Google Keep
• Workflowy
• A Writer’s Guide to ROI series
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

The post Ep 207: How to Sort and Stack Your Ideas and Tasks to Transform as a Writer and Person appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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.

Start with Written Content: Small to Big

Sometimes this content serves as a way to test material and ideas to see if they would work well as part of a bigger project, like a chapter in a book, training material for a group coaching session, or a module in a self-directed course.

Occasionally instead of starting with the primary content and spinning that off in multiple directions, I’ll start with one of the smaller forms of an idea, like an Instagram post, to see how people respond. If it seems to gather interest and energy, I’ll expand that into more involved content such as an article or podcast episode.

I can go from big to small, or small to big.

Save Time

When we figure out these approaches that spin one piece of content out in multiple avenues, we’ve made the most of our time.

We can look for creative ways to save time, as well.

Delete, Delegate, Delay

Think: delete, delegate, delay.

Delete

To open up time for activities that matter most, we can eliminate responsibilities and tasks we take on or continue out of habit or obligation.

Why are you always the person to pick up and deliver coffee to coworkers every Monday morning? Is it necessary to rearrange the display on the living room side table?

Some tasks, while a pleasant distraction from the hard work of writing, can be simply deleted from our schedule, freeing up time for creating something new.

Leave the vase and figurines on display and let people pick up their own coffee. You were nice to bless your colleagues but I wonder how much more they got done because you did that task for them?

How much might you get done with the time you devoted to that order, pickup, and delivery?

Delegate

If we can find someone else capable of doing a task as well as—maybe better than—we can, delegate it.

For instance, could you hire a young person to mow your lawn or upload content to social media? During the hour or two you would have fired up that lawnmower or fiddled with Instagram filters, you can finish your book or reach out to agents.

By delegating a task, we free up time to do what only we can do or to do what we do best.

Chalene said that she delegates many of the tasks in her content creation system, hiring something else to edit the video and create the audio for use on her podcast. Someone else creates the Instagram and Pinterest images and infographics.

You don’t have to do it all. Investing in someone who can do some of those tasks—in a fraction of the time it would have taken you—can save so much time that you can end up doing even more with the pockets of time that open up. You can do more on the projects that matter, on the projects that only you can do.

Delay

We can also delay certain activities or tasks that can wait in order to attend to something more urgent or important, or both.

Maybe you really want to KonMari your bathroom closet to prepare for house guests. If they aren’t coming for two weeks and you have a writing deadline this Friday, delay the decluttering project a little longer and finish the article.

Conclusion

To increase your ROI, come up with an efficient content creation system.

You may be focused on a long-form project instead of smaller, short-form pieces like Chalene or me. Still, you can look for ways that one piece can serve more than one purpose.

In addition, we can periodically evaluate if we can delete, delegate, or delay tasks to attend to the most important ones that will move us closer to our goals and best align with our values.

Resources

• A Writer’s Guide to ROI series
• “How to Save Time on Social Media – Secret System Revealed!” Chalene’s 2016 content creation summary
• Repurpose Your Writing to Reach More People [Episode 129]
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

The post Ep 206: A Writer’s Guide to ROI (Part 4) appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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…are they worth it? Are you gaining a satisfactory return on investment?

Look at your values, your goals, and the time and resources you’re pouring into it all.

Measure what you can and reach a conclusion.

Only you can measure and determine the ROI of any task, activity, project, or event.

Only you can answer that question: Is it worth it?

Resources

• A Writer’s Guide to ROI series
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

The post Ep 205: A Writer’s Guide to ROI (Part 3) appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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, who helped him see at a practical level what it would take to make the business succeed, and the plan was intense.

Jeff explains:

The next day, I was making breakfast for my kids, flipping pancakes in our kitchen, thinking about my schedule for the day. I didn’t have any commitments until 11:30. It was 8:30.

I looked at my daughter and my son who were 6 months and four years old respectively. I thought about spending the next two years of their lives trying to scale a business, which felt like precious time to spend on something I didn’t intend to do for the rest of my life.

I don’t want to run a business, I thought.¹

He realized his values and made changes to align with those values.

He scaled back his business. He did what he does best. He figured out what he valued most, so that the time he would invest in his work was worth it in the end.

While he thought that owning a successful business was the ideal goal, the pursuit of that goal revealed his highest values.

Now he can determine the ROI of an activity based on what he values most.

Have You Discovered Your Values?

You may think you want something and you go for it, only to realize it’s not what you thought it was or it’s not what you want after all, like Jeff did.

He realized he didn’t want to work the crazy hours necessary to build his business. And he didn’t want to miss those moments.

But he didn’t realize that until he had already started building it, investing time, energy, and resources.

So sometimes we have to move toward goals to reveal our values. And that’s when we can really start to measure our ROI.

What we thought we wanted turns out to be something else—and sometimes it’s something we had all along.

Stay tuned for more on A Writer’s Guide to ROI. 

Resources

• “I Once Talked To Seth Godin On The Phone: Here’s How It Changed My Life and Business” (Jeff Goins article about scaling back his business)
• A Writer’s Guide to ROI series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

Footnotes

1. Goins, Jeff. “I Once Talked To Seth Godin On The Phone: Here’s How It Changed My Life and Business.” Medium. https://medium.com/the-mission/i-once-talked-to-seth-godin-on-the-phone-heres-how-it-changed-my-life-and-business-76be836fa74
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.

The post Ep 204: A Writer’s Guide to ROI (Part 2) appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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 investment of time.

You could ask about the investment required of you with any given activity:

• How much money will this require?
• How much time is this going to take from my family?
• How much travel is involved?
• How much technology do I have to learn?
• How much conference speaking is required?

And you get to decide on returns that matter to you:

• How much money will I make?
• How many people will I help?
• How many new readers will I connect with?
• How will this feed me creatively?
• How will this establish me as a subject matter expert?
• How will this make me a better writer?
• How will this make me a better person?
• Will this bring me energy or drain it away?

Your list may include many other returns that matter to you. It’s all part of how you decide if a particular activity or task is worth it for you to take on.

Real Scenarios

Your ROI not only helps you decide if an activity is worth it, it also helps you decide between two activities or tasks and determine the best order to tackle them.

If you feel it’s more important to finish a book project than to develop your writing skills further, you could invest in a personal writing retreat where you complete your draft instead of signing up for a writing workshop where you would gain new skills.

Or vice versa.

If you’re not sure you know how to plot a novel or organize a nonfiction book, you may want to gain more skills before launching the project. So you take a creative writing course before writing a book, and that would be worth the investment.

Your investment of money in the course promises a return of improving your writing skills. As a result, when you do begin to write the book, that time you invest in writing should result in a better book because of the skills you gained to pull it off.

Determine Your Personal ROI

You get to determine the returns—the results—that make an activity worth the investment of your time and resources.

And you can begin to determine your own ROI based on who you are and where you’re at in your writing journey.

When you wake up in the morning to tackle the work and someone asks, “Is it worth it?” You want to be able to say, “Yes. Yes, it is worth it.”

And then you’ll settle your seat in that chair and get to work.

Stay tuned for more on a Writer’s Guide to ROI. Next week is part two.

Resources

• Declare Podcast interview with Crystal Paine
• A Writer’s Guide to ROI series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

You can subscribe to this podcast using your podcast player or find it through Apple podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

Footnotes

1. “Increasing Your Return on Investment :: Crystal Paine {EP 94}.” Declare. https://declareconference.com/increasing-your-return-on-investment-crystal-paine-ep-94/
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.

The post Ep 203: A Writer’s Guide to ROI (Part 1) appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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, but you know it’s not quite there, not even with the insertion of this new material you’ve written to fill in the gaps. Because your draft wasn’t written sequentially, it’ll probably read a little clunky in places.

No problem. Smooth it out.

• Transitions will help move the reader from one idea or paragraph to the next, so you can add those in..
• Watch for repetition. When you write sections that touch on a similar topic, theme, character, or interaction, you may end up with similar ideas, sounds, wording, phrasing. You can combine things or eliminate others.
• Revise sentences to mix things up when you realize two units read with similar sound or pacing. It’s an easy solution; simply construct some sentences in a different way.

In this stage, you may still move around a block of text, but more likely you’re refining the ideas and the style. You’re in editing mode, putting the final touches on this project you built block by block.

Start Anywhere with the Modular Approach

This isn’t the fastest, most efficient way to write, but when your brain won’t follow a straight line or crank out a tidy outline, the modular approach can get ideas flowing as you produce chunks of text you can use to build your draft.

You have to start somewhere. Just realize it doesn’t always have to be at the beginning. With the modular approach, you can start anywhere.

Resources

• If You Want to Write, You Have to Get Started (Ep 142)
• How to Use Lists to Transform Your Writing (and your life) (Ep 175)
• Write to Discover Your Top Themes and Topics (Ep 183)
• No Time to Write? Do This Every Day (Ep 125)
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

The post Ep 202: Enjoy Creative Freedom with the Modular Approach to Writing appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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, you’ll find you’ve come a long way. And imagine where you’ll be in a year!

Revisit Your One-Year Goal

In fact, as you continue to relentlessly implement your plan, you may need to revisit your one-year goal and decide if it’s still relevant. The skills and confidence you rapidly developed likely opened up opportunities you couldn’t even imagine when you started. At this rate, your original one-year goal may be obsolete.

Once you emerge at the next level, you can do more than ever! What could you aim for now?

Pause at This Plateau

If you’ve gained traction and feel the momentum, you may want to take advantage of this energy and barrel ahead.

But if you need a break, you can certainly pause at this level. Think of it as a plateau. A chance to:

• catch your breath
• settle into your new normal
• lock in new habits and routines
• fully embrace your new roles

Form a New Plan to Level Up Again

At some point, having emerged as this new level, you’ll realize you’re ready to assess where you’re at—just as you did weeks ago—and form a new plan.

That’s the thing about this next-level process. You can cycle through it at any time and level up again and again.

How Can You Help?

One more thought: Before you leave one level behind and forget what it took to get there, look around you at other writers.

At one time, you turned to writers who served as models for where you wanted to be. You studied them to see how they got to that level, and from them you gained ideas and inspiration.

Now you’re likely a model for someone else. How can you help them out?

This is not a zero sum game. If you level up it doesn’t mean others have to drop down. As you emerge at the next level, you show others what’s possible and as long as there are readers in this world who want to be inspired, entertained, or informed, there can be more writers at any level creating all kinds of projects.

Encourage, Teach, Train Other Writers

You could teach a new skill one-on-one or lead a workshop at your local library. You could introduce a writer to an editor at a conference. You could take a few minutes on social media to encourage others who are working hard to share their message and tell their stories each day.

Hold out your hand. Introduce yourself. Let them know you applaud their efforts and cheer for their success. Let them know that they, too, can emerge at the next level and celebrate.

You’ve worked hard to get here, and any writer hoping for similar results should understand what it takes. Perhaps that’s the most realistic and encouraging message of all you can share with others.

You’re a Next-Level Writer

If you’re nowhere near leveling up because you just got started working your plan, you know what to do.

Keep it up and give it time, and before long you’ll see that you are indeed a next-level writer.

Resources

• No Time to Write? Do This Every Day (Ep 125)
• Is the Wind Blowing You This Way and That? It’s Time for a Plan (Ep 71)
• Progress, Not Perfection (Ep 14)
• Celebrate What’s Done (Ep 34)
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

The post Next-Level Writer – Have You Emerged at the Next Level? (Ep 201) appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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. I really do enjoy this medium. And I love serving and supporting you by shipping episodes week after week that you can use to grow and be encouraged as a writer.

You may subscribe and listen to the podcast or read the text version at the website. Some people receive the content only through the newsletter that I send as a weekly email. All of those elements—the ways I deliver this content—are also part of my plan.

How Will You Relentlessly Execute Your Plan?

What does it look like for you to relentlessly implement your plan? Depending on your goals and tasks your plan may require you to:

• increase your daily word count to meet an aggressive deadline or finish a massive book
• get more involved in social media
• submit more essays and poems to literary magazines
• pitch yourself as a columnist for your local newspaper
• write flash fiction once/week
• set up your editorial calendar and complete the next task at the allotted time
• refresh your editorial calendar weekly, rescheduling items as needed and adding new project milestones as they arise
• update social media channels at a frequency you can sustain

Set S.M.A.R.T. goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. That way you can see progress as you relentlessly implement.

Then follow through. Enact your plan. Because relentlessly executing the plan, faithfully doing the work, is the only way you can truly level up.

Unless you find that fairy godmother. Then, well, have fun and be careful not to stay out past midnight.

Resources

• Shane Melaugh – ActiveGrowth podcast
• One Thing Every Writer Needs to Succeed (Ep 21)
• You’ll Write More When You Have an Editorial Calendar (Ep 115)
• Reverse Engineer Your Editorial Calendar (Ep 131)
• No Time to Write? Do This Every Day (Ep 125)
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

The post Ep 200: Next-Level Writer – Relentlessly Execute Your Plan to Level Up appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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

The post Ep 199: Insights into Christian Publishing with NavPress Publisher Don Pape appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.

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, but when you sit down to do the work, it’s as if you have support from the outside keeping you on task.

Reverse Engineer Tasks

Map out the details and add them to the calendar, reflecting deadlines and activities in sequence—that’s the reverse-engineering you’ll do with every project, task, and goal. You’ll see the end and work your way forward, so you have the right task at the right moment in the right sequence all the way up to your to-do list for today.

For example, if you have a deadline of an article due to an editor, reverse engineer that. If you need to do research prior to outlining and drafting the article, be sure to schedule in that research early in the process and allow the right number of days or weeks to complete the draft and final version you’ll submit to your editor.

Estimate how much time you need for certain activities and find chunks of time where you can do the work. Dedicate particular tasks to those chunks of time.

Enact

When everything is set up, it’s time to enact the plan. Now you’re in the role of doer, worker, writer.

Once you’re set up, don’t delay—don’t keep picking at the plan. The only way you can possibly level up is to do something.

It’s time to execute the plan. It’s time to do the work.

Don’t veer from the plan at first. Stick with the decisions you’ve made and the pattern, routine, or schedule you set up. Veering off right away is what gets you off task and off schedule and then you’re in danger of procrastinating or missing a deadline.

This whole process of leveling up is going pro. Be a pro. Follow through with what you’ve decided, organized, and scheduled.

Evaluate

As you start to enact this plan, evaluate it. What is the data telling you?

• If you were pushing out more articles on your website, did you get more visitors and more activity on your website?
• If your goal was to post more social media updates in order to gain a certain number of followers, did you achieve that goal?
• Did you create a freebie for people to sign up? If so, did they grab it and sign up?
• How are you feeling about the pace of this plan? Can you sustain it? For how long?
• Do you need to adjust something or move tasks and goals a little further out for a less aggressive approach?
• Maybe you see you can do this—you can surge forward for a two-week sprint of effort.

As you’re evaluating, you can reschedule and reorganize as needed.

What’s Working

But you might find some things are working well.

• What’s working that you can continue?
• Can you set up repeatable actions with checklists?
• Could those one day be delegated or streamlined to save you time and be more efficient?
• Can you set up a routine to follow daily or weekly?
• How long do you think it’ll be before you level up based on your goals?

You can figure these things out as you evaluate the plan you’ve enacted.

Conclusion

If you’re someone who loves to sit down and start writing without worrying about where you’re headed, take time to organize and schedule the tasks and goals so you move forward with intention.

If you’re someone who loves to dig down to the granular level making lists and plans, spending time in calendars, scheduling down to the minute, make sure you don’t get stuck there. Step back and say, “This is enough. It’s time.”

Find that balance so you can start doing the work. Because that balance is how you will level up as a writer and achieve your goals.

Resources

• You’ll Write More When You Have an Editorial Calendar (Ep 115)
• Reverse Engineer Your Editorial Calendar (Ep 131)
• Next-Level Writer series
• Write to Discover series
• All podcast episodes

The post Ep 198: Next-Level Writer – Organize, Schedule, and Enact Your Plan to Level Up appeared first on Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach.