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Lisa Tener
Book Writing Coach
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Lisa Tener’s Writing and Publishing Blog
Find articles on your most pressing book-writing questions.
Overcoming Overwhelm to Write a Book—and Finish It!
As I’ve been meeting with students in my Bring Your Book to Life® Program, several have had moments of overwhelm: “I can’t believe I signed up to write a book. There’s no way I can do it in the middle of this stressful time.” And I get it. But I also get how writing and…
What Puzzles Teach Us About Writing
I’ve been thinking about what puzzles teach us about writing. Why? As part of my return to health, I’m spending time each day relaxing. That has meant choosing activities that bring me pleasure and nurture my inner child, like doing puzzles. The Gifts of Puzzling The more I puzzle, the more I appreciate the many…
How Long Does it Take to Write a Book?
“How long does it take to write a book?” If you’ve asked this question, you’re not alone: I hear some version of this several times a month. You probably know what I’m going to say next: It depends. The Factors How long it takes to write a book depends on the type of book, how…
A Nonfiction Writing Meditation for Digging Deeper
The most compelling nonfiction writing goes deep, whether self help (the vulnerability of Brene Brown), memoir (the uncensored, raw and self deprecating humor of Mary Karr) or other narrative nonfiction. Yet, I can remember as a young writer, still in college, wondering how to dig deep. I could do it when I wrote poetry or…
Ever Feel Insecure About Writing? Here’s the Cure.
Everyone has moments where they feel insecure about writing. When I wrote my last blog post, I asked my assistant Geri to read it and let me know if it held together. My mind still felt a bit muddy and I had no idea whether it worked in bringing together the different ideas that coalesced…
Surprise! Despite Intentions, This Post is Not What I Set Out to Write…
Way back in December 2020, I started writing a post about ditching New Years’ Resolutions and what to do instead (setting intention). That was before I ended up in the hospital and even my intentions, such as a wildly successful book launch, got hit by a tidal wave. Here’s how the original post began…still fitting,…
What To Do When Your Book Launch Falls on Inauguration Day – and Other Tips
Yes, we’ve been planning on January 20, 2021 for my book launch for The Joy of Writing Journal, and my friend Portland Helmich asked, “Isn’t that the Inauguration?” It is. So, here’s what you do when book launch falls on Inauguration Day. You reschedule it. Do you push yourself to get those videos filmed and…
Why Her Creative Muse Kept Waking Her at 1 am!
Stephanie Meyers hadn’t planned on a “meet your creative muse” meditation. In fact, we got on Zoom to shoot a quick video for my forthcoming book, The Joy of Writing Journal: Spark Your Creativity in 8 Minutes a Day. After we shot the video, Stephanie confessed that she didn’t know what to do about a…
Thanksgiving Gratitude and Writing Community
It’s become tradition to blog my Thanksgiving gratitude list. Despite the challenges this year, I have much to be grateful for, especially this writing community. I also want to acknowledge that some of my readers may be grieving. If that’s you, I hope your writing practice brings solace, sustenance and fulfillment, especially in this formidable…
5+ Writing Lessons I (re-) Learned Today
Some days you just have to re-learn the same lessons you picked up a year ago, or a decade ago and forgot. Here are the 5+ writing lessons I re-learned today. I hope they help and inspire you! #1: Your Reader Changes Writing Lesson #1 Your Reader is Not the Same Person at the End…
Mindfulness & Gratitude as Portals to Writing with Ease
Researcher Shalini Bahl, PhD is both a writer and an expert in mindfulness. The other day, she shared with me how practicing mindfulness, and gratitude in particular, helps her get unstuck when she writes. It makes sense to me. I know that when I’m in a negative state, feeling grateful helps me shift into a…
Virtual Book Marketing in a Pandemic
A pandemic changes all the rules—and the game is now virtual book marketing and events. Publishing has turned upside down. When the virus hit, many authors and publishers scrambled. They quickly needed a plan B, especially for books about to launch! Two bestselling authors and exemplary literary citizens in the writing community came together and brainstormed…
Be a Star on Camera: A Guide to Nail TV Interviews & Videos
As an author, once it’s time to promote your book, it comes in handy to be able to wow viewers in your media and TV interviews. Inspiring videos can also help spread the word about your book. In addition to help selling books, these skills will help you spread your message and increase awareness of…
Creative Legacy, Gratitude and a Call to Action
Creative Mood Boosters Last week, I was interviewed by Gasia Mikaelian of KTVU San Francisco (taped, not live), sharing creative mood boosters. At the end of the interview, when the recording was off, we chatted about the coincidence of both wearing a camel colored top (and both of us for the first time!), as well…
Writing and Community / Writing Community
Writing and community–the power and necessity of community for writers–is top of my mind this morning. Yesterday, preparing my manuscript for the final edit, I felt consumed by self-doubt. Why had I only asked for beta readers? Why hadn’t I hired a developmental editor? Does it provide enough guidance to beginners? Too much? Too little?…
Three Must Haves for an Effective Book Marketing Campaign and Platform Building
If you’re in the Facebook Group, Write and Create with Lisa Tener, then you know that I’m working on an interactive journal with prompts and some creative features to get people writing with ease and a sense of joy. And if not, SURPRISE! I’m working on a journal! And I plan to release it in…
Writing a Book: 5 Tips to Overcome Overwhelm
How to overcome overwhelm is on my mind because…. Okay, I’m sure you can guess. I occasionally slide into overwhelm in preparing for my January launch for my book titled…well…it doesn’t have a title yet. So, that right there feels like… Nope, not gonna go there. Breathe, Lisa. Okay, from the trenches, 5 Tips to…
2 Simple Meditations to Write with Ease
Would you like a simple meditation to write with ease and break through your creative challenges? This morning, I worked on a post for you about New York Times bestsellers but I struggled to finish it. This afternoon, a session with my muse changed everything. I didn’t ask my muse about my blog post or…
Good News About Reading: Here’s the Data
Check out the Reading Data While coronavirus has caused challenges from bookstore and library closings to manufacturing lags, there’s plenty of good news about books, readers and publishing. Specifically, reading books remains popular, across all ages. And, in case you were wondering, readers still prefer print books over ebooks. Krystal McKenna of Best By The…
Writing Deeper in Creative Flow
An interesting phenomenon came up in the Get Your Writing Done Program last week, when people found themselves writing deeper in creative flow. After we did our breathing and movement warm ups, everyone began writing. It was inspiring to witness the concentration and focus revealed on each face as people wrote. After 40 minutes of…
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