Lisa Tener
Book Writing Coach
She Kept Doubting She Had a Marketable Book I recently heard from an aspiring author who had several ideas for a book. When she researched her first idea on Amazon, she found several books on the subject, many of which had excellent reviews. “I guess I should pack it in. Why does the world need…
People often email me asking, “How do I get an agent for my memoir?” Or, more broadly, they’re looking for representation for other narrative or prescriptive nonfiction (self-help, how to). Often, by the time they reach out to me, they’ve queried agents without success. Just yesterday, Bella reached out to me by email to say,…
Journaling is one of my favorite tools for personal growth, creative fulfillment and transformation. I do a lot of funky things in my journals–recording my dreams in the morning, which can include dialoging with a dream character, penning a poem inspired by the dream or something really out there like a one-act play with Greek…
Books don’t write themselves. They need you and me to make the time and space to get them written. And yet, it’s so easy to say, “Of course I’ll take you shopping tomorrow, Mom.” “The committee can’t find a new fundraising chair? Sure, I’ll take it on for another year.” Guess what? Blurry Boundaries are…
Today I have the great pleasure of hosting Day 6 of the Virtual Blog Tour of author Morgana Rae whose book Financial Alchemy: Twelve Months of Magic and Manifestation launches on Amazon on Monday, January 23, 2023. Meet Morgana Rae Early on in my book coaching business, Morgana Rae helped me transform my relationship around…
I recently gave a talk to a group of coaches who’d invited me to speak to their creativity discussion group on how to “Bring Your Book to Life(R): 5 Steps to Get Started.” Early on in my presentation, I asked participants, “Why do you want to write a book?” One participant shared, “I have a…
Ready to welcome the new year? Last week I shared 5 Ways to Say Goodbye to 2022—in Writing! It can be a powerful exercise to review the year and write or journal about highlights. We can grieve our losses and make space for new experience. And we can treasure what we loved about the year,…
New Year’s is a great time to remember the good of 2022 and consciously envision and create your new year through journaling or other writing. So, let’s thank and treasure 2022—in writing! Here are 5 ways to do so. Try one or try them all. By the way, if you want join me to journal…
Tip: Read the whole post to find out how you can join me for a free journaling workshop to set your creative vision for 2023! One of my favorite holiday gifts to give or receive is a journal or writing notebook. Sometimes I give a journal on its own. Other times I pair it with…
Last week, the San Francisco Writer’s Conference published my blog post with some of the best holiday gifts for writers, as suggested by colleagues, clients and friends. I loved their responses which shared the best gifts they’ve given or received and why it’s such a perfect present for a writer. Let’s Support BIWOC Businesses in…
Perhaps you’re familiar with my tradition of blogging my gratitude list this time of year. I feel especially grateful for our writing community—and that means you! Gratitude to You Here are a few things and people I’m grateful for: Thank You to the Many Authors I Read This Year At a time when much of…
I always send a questionnaire before a book concept consultation so that the author and I can both prepare for the session. As I look through the questionnaire, I make a list of any seeming or potential gaps in the author’s knowledge of book writing and publishing, so they can fine tune their book concept….
During our Get Your Writing Done call, Louisa’s computer crashed. She came in and out of the call a few times, had trouble with her audio and used a combination of phone and computer. I could see it was a struggle, but she kept with it. By the end of the call, Louisa had several pages of…
We had an amazing group of authors in this year’s Bring Your Book to Life® program. And something interesting happened for one of them, Storyteller and Consultant, Dr. Senem Donatan Mohan: the book she was working on became a program, The Story Cure. In my first conversation with Senem, I was struck by the premise and promise…
“We’re sorry to see you go..” It was an email meant to go to one person who left my Get Your Writing Done program because of a health issue. A mis-take. One email gone rogue. It didn’t just go to everyone currently active on my email list. It went to twice that number. Would the…
Recently, a client wrote me about a literary agent encouraging her to send a book proposal before the beginning of the month. I didn’t think the proposal was ready, primarily because the author’s platform was just getting off the ground and she needed time to gather an audience. She was off to a good start…
Should I write this book? Do I have a solid book idea? Will I make any money with my book? I hear these questions often. A colleague recently sent a prospective author to me for support with a book proposal. The author’s first questions were: “Is my story worth writing about?” and “Can I make…
This Tuesday, after delivering a free preview training of my Get Your Writing Done Program, I was interviewed on PIX 11 by Anchors Tamsen Fadal and Arrianne LeBeau about the research on journaling for mental health and how to get started. You can watch it here. I’ve learned over the years how important it is…
I recently caught up with a former client, Carrie Rowan, singer/songwriter and author of Tell a New Story. During our original consultation, I suggested she incorporate QR codes to play original songs that help bring the material in the book to life. So, she wrote a book AND incorporated music from two of her CDs! Carrie…
I love summer. Every summer I promise myself to work less, play more. And I did some of that this summer. Many days and evenings I walked the length of Narragansett Beach (my favorite time is when the stars are out), enjoyed several visits from family members and out of town friends, read more novels…
