For the Love of Bringing Books to Life: Write, Publish, and Be Known
Preparing for Harvard Medical School’s CME Publishing Course
As I go over my notes for “Writing for Your Reader: How to Write a Smart, Compelling, Enlightening Page Turner,” a workshop I’ll be delivering Saturday, along with Martha Murphy, as part of Harvard Medical School’s CME Publishing Course, I’m getting excited. The 3-day course is always filled with exciting book ideas, brilliant physicians and medical professionals, talented agents, publishers and others in the publishing industry. The course Director, Julie Silver, MD, varies the presentations each year–there will certainly be some new perspectives and interesting discourse. I’m looking forward to connecting with colleagues, including Rusty Shelton, whose talented team at[...]
Writing Magic: Secrets to Compelling Writing
Once upon a time, a coach I know referred a client to me and–after reading a chapter–I almost told her I didn’t think I could help him. Lucky for both of us, I withheld judgement and agreed to edit one chapter. When he sent me his second chapter, it blew me away. I laughed, I cried and I thanked my lucky stars I hadn’t turned him away. But what could explain the phenomenal leap in the quality of writing? I could only ask… “I studied your feedback from chapter one and applied it. When I say I studied it, I[...]
Blogging: The Fastest Way to Grow Your Author Platform
On a phone call last week with one of my clients and her new literary agent, the agent mentioned how pleased she was with the author’s platform. I was thrilled to hear it since, not long ago, the author had almost no platform. What changed? She started her own blog about a year ago and, several months ago, pitched a blogging column to a major blogging platform. She’s not the first of my clients to dramatically grow a platform through blogging. In fact, blogging is the easiest way to grow your platform and develop the kind of following agents and[...]
How to Write a Book: Starting Small
Some people have the drive to write their first book and dive right in figuring they’ll learn what they need along the way–either with a book writing program, coaching, editing or trial and error. Many other people struggle and wait, unsure whether they should write their book–”Do I have what it takes?” “Is my idea original enough?” “Will anyone ever read it?” One way to start to answer these questions it to start small. Write about your subject in an article or blog post. Write in small bursts and see how you feel. Are you enjoying the writing? Does it[...]
Inspired to Write: How to Keep the Juices Flowing
While preparing to teach Inspired to Write tomorrow, I’ve been thinking about the importance of support in keeping our writing juices flowing. It seems to me a challenge all writers struggle with. I thought I’d share some of the strategies I use myself and those I use with my private clients and in my book writing classes. 1. Find a Buddy: About 98% of the population needs some accountability to get their book (or other writing project) done. Buddies can support each other to overcome any challenges, make suggestions and offers solutions that you may not be able to see[...]
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