Welcome to the Blog
Why I’ll Continue Supporting the NaNoWriMo Challenge
With November just around the corner, it’s natural that I’ve been thinking a lot about NaNoWriMo lately and, given the continued controversies that keep piling up against the organization, what my thoughts about potentially participating again are.
There’s No Wrong Way To Be A Writer
I recently wrote a post for Jane Friedman’s blog about adding meaningful words to lean manuscripts, and in that post, I shared that I struggled early on with the fact that I wrote lean when most of the advice I came across for revisions involved cutting words, not adding them. I became self-conscious of my short drafts and worried I was doing this whole writing thing wrong. After all, if I were a real writer, wouldn’t I have too many words to share, not too few?
Finding Time To Write As A Mom To Young Kids
I came across an Instagram post the other day from a fitness coach that said any fitness coach who tells a mom to young kids that “we all have the same 24 hours” should be disregarded immediately. And as a mom to a toddler, that resonated with me and made me feel seen. The idea that we all don’t have the same 24 hours has been running through my mind since reading that post. Prior to becoming a mom, I went to the gym 5 days a week, waking up before the sun to get to the gym before heading to the office. I loved my routine and gained energy and motivation from my early morning gym sessions. But since having my son, I’ve struggled to find a good routine and rhythm for my workouts.
3 Reasons You Want to Work with a Book Coach
I see a lot of posts in online writing groups asking about book coaches and wondering if they might benefit from working with one, and inevitably several other writers chime in to say that they don’t need to work with a book coach and doing so is a waste of resources. And while it’s absolutely true that no writer needs a book coach, it’s also true that working with one can be beneficial and helpful.
3 Reasons You Need to Celebrate Your First Draft
Writing a novel can be a long process that takes an incredible amount of energy, motivation, and time. It can sometimes feel like reaching the final “the end” will never get here, that we’ll be stuck in revision mode forever. Because of this, it can feel a little anticlimactic to celebrate reaching the end of a first draft. If we know anything about the writing process, we know there’s a mountain of work still ahead of us. But finishing a first draft is a huge accomplishment, and no matter what still awaits us, it’s so important to take a moment and celebrate.
How to Write a Novel With a Full-Time Job
According to a recent survey, 81% of those surveyed said they want to write a book someday. That’s a lot of people who dream of writing a book! But the reality is many of those who want to write a book never start, and even fewer ever finish a manuscript. That’s not because they’re lazy—most likely, it comes down to the realities of life. We need money to live, and writing a novel is not financially lucrative.
Why You Need a Writing Community
One of the first suggestions I give anyone who says they want to write a book is to find a community of writers to surround themselves with and who they can feel supported by. Why? Because writing, by nature, can be a very isolating, lonely endeavor if you allow it to be. But if we write in solitude, never connecting with other writers or seeking help or critique or guidance, we impede our ability to improve as writers.
Why I Decided to Indie Publish My Novel
If you follow me on social media, you may have seen a little while back that I officially decided to become an indie author and am releasing my debut women’s fiction novel early next year! This was a huge decision for me, and one that took a long time to make. Even though I’d been considering this option for a while, it was one that came with a lot of practical and emotional considerations, and I wanted to be certain before taking the leap.
Just Because You Haven’t Yet, Doesn’t Mean You Can’t
Writers, it’s October 26th. Which means NaNoWriMo is just around the corner! This realization may have you completely pumped and enthused, or it may be striking some terror in your soul. Particularly if you’ve tried NaNo before and didn’t finish. So, this post is for any and all writers attempting NaNo, but it’s particularly for those of you who tried NaNo once and might be terrified to try again. And beyond NaNo, it’s for anyone who may have tried to write a story once or many times but didn’t finish.
If Not Now, When?
I hear from a lot of people who dream of someday writing a book that “now just isn’t the right time.” Work is demanding, their kids are young, their parents need to be cared for, their husband just had surgery…the lists go on and on. And I get it, some seasons of our lives are busier and more chaotic than others. But the problem with putting off chasing after your dreams until the timing feels right is that the timing likely won’t ever feel exactly right. There will always be something that could take our attention away from writing.
The Power of Realistic Goals
If you’re anything like me, you pack your to do list with a plethora of goals every month, week, and day. No minute is wasted on a daily basis. In fact, you cram more onto your list than you know you’ll be able to accomplish figuring if you happen to finish all the “must do” items, then at least you have a handful of other items to choose from. There’s no real use in figuring out what’s possible to actually complete on any given day when there’s an endless number of things you need to accomplish. Right?
What’s Really Stopping You From Writing Your Novel?
Writing a novel is hard work. It takes a commitment to learning about the craft of writing, dedication to spending time getting words on the page, then enough motivation to sustain us through the process of what might feel like endless rounds of revision and editing. We’re often battling a lack of time as other obligations vie for our precious hours and keep us from crafting our characters. We often dream of having endless hours to spend on our writing, convinced that if we only had more time, we’d churn out story after story and be the successful, bestselling authors we know we’re meant to be.
4 Tips for Finding Time to Write When Life is Busy
I often talk about how the key to being successful as a writer is finding a routine that works for you and then sticking to it. (If you haven’t already established a good writing routine, check out by blog post 5 Easy Steps to Start Your Writing Routine for some ideas to get started). But what about when life is in a busy season and maintaining our usual routine isn’t possible?
Why Taking a Break Will Make You More Productive
Our world is very “hustle” oriented nowadays. We’re constantly bombarded with images and updates of the progress those around us are making, being offered advice on how we can be more productive, and given subtle and not-so-subtle hints that down time is for the lazy. But hustling all day every day will eventually end only one way: burnout.
Does Writing Need to be Useful to be Worthwhile?
I had a conversation with a friend recently about hobbies. She said she needs a new hobby, but the only one she could come up with wasn’t “useful.” This got me thinking – does everything we do have to be explicitly useful in order to be worthwhile? If our writing doesn’t feel particularly useful in any given moment, does that mean we shouldn’t do it?
5 Tips to Succeed at NaNoWriMo
There’s a lot of chatter surrounding the month-long event and whether it’s beneficial or not for writers to participate. My personal view is there’s no right or wrong answer to this. There are certainly pros and cons to NaNoWriMo, but whether or not it will be beneficial depends on what your writing goals are and how you work best.
It’s Back to Writing Season
Okay, I know it’s not officially fall yet. But to me, the day after Labor Day always signifies the beginning of fall. I think we’re conditioned from elementary school to view Labor Day as a transition day. As school-aged kids, it’s the last day of our summer freedom. It’s the last day we can sleep in late, not worry about homework, and spend the day doing whatever we please.
Finding the Courage to Share Your Writing
I remember writing my first “novel.” I had notebooks full of scenes, in no particular order, that I carried with me all day at school and wrote in every opportunity I had. Those notebooks held snippets of my most creative thoughts, were my touchstone to keep me sane throughout the day, and gave me an escape where I could make up any world I wanted. And if anyone ever read them, I’d have been mortified.
5 Steps to Protect Your Writing Time
You’ve done some trial and error and figured out when your best time for writing is, you’ve planned out a writing schedule and written these times into your planner. So, now what? As with anything in life, having a writing schedule will only serve us well if we stick to it. And, also as with anything else, sometimes that can be a challenge.
I Am a Writer: Owning the Title
We’ve all been there. Someone asks us what we do, and we panic. We have a day job, but our heart is really invested in what we do AFTER the hours of nine to five. Someone asks how our writing is going, and we say “Oh, you know,” without giving any concrete information. We refer to ourselves as an “aspiring writer” or say we “write for fun.”