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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…
How to Stay Focused—and WRITE!
Do you struggle with how to stay focused on your writing? You’re not alone. Just a few tweaks can help you break through the challenge and write in a state of inspired flow. Her Breakthrough in Focus On a call with a Bring Your Book to Life® participant, she shared her recent breakthrough: As a…
Amplify Black Voices in Publishing Day 4: Dr. Tiffany A. Love
Amplify Black Voices in Publishing, Day 5 If you’re wondering where to find Day 4 of the series, we hope to reschedule the interview with Literary Agent Regina Brooks for later in the year. About today’s Amplify Black Voices interviewee: I met Dr. Tiffany Love serving on the faculty together of Harvard Medical School’s CME…
Amplify Black Voices in Publishing, Day 3: Ali Raja, MD
For Day 3 in Amplify Black Voices in Publishing, I interview Ali Raja, MD. I was introduced to Dr. Ali Raja by Dr. Tiffany Love on Twitter. I told her that I’d realized my list of interviewees for this series was all women so far. We needed some gender diversity! She said, “How about Dr….
Amplify Black Voices in Publishing Day 2: Dr. Froswa’ Booker-Drew
Welcome to Day 2 of Amplify Black Voices in Publishing! When I sent out the invitation to subscribe to the “Amplify Black Voices in Publishing” series, I was short one interviewee. When a reader of my newsletter responded, our back and forth emails led me to realize, she would be a wonderful person to interview…
Amplify Black Voices in Publishing, Day 1: Gael-Sylvia Pullen
We start Day 1 of Amplifying Black Voices in Publishing with author, speaker, philanthropist and educator Gael-Sylvia Pullen. I had the pleasure of working with Gael-Sylvia on her wonderful book, The Good Around Us: Living and Leading from a Place of Joy, Even in the Joyless Moments. And I also made a guest appearance in…
Writing for Social Change: Meet Your Readers Where They Are
I’m currently working with a woman who is writing for social change and who has built a strong activist community. She has a big vision–a horizon far beyond what her community can currently envision. She wants to encourage them to the next level of activism in her book—and to expand how most of them currently…
A Surprising Lesson in Book Marketing
Today, I got a surprising lesson in book marketing. It began with a LinkedIn Message from a contact I didn’t remember connecting with. He must have written a nice message for me to say yes, though! His current message irked me at first: My Ungenerous First Response The focus of this book marketing message was…
How to Choose Sample Chapters for a Book Proposal
This is an updated version of my earlier post on how to choose your book proposal sample chapters. I’ve updated it to share some excellent new questions that came in from a book proposal client today. How Many Sample Chapters? If you’re interested in being published by a traditional publisher, you probably know you need…
How to Share Your Writing
Does a part of you yearn to share your writing? When you hear someone else share their writing by reading aloud, or a writer shares by posting an excerpt, does it both inspire you and make you break out in hives? Do you wonder what you’re missing by not sharing your writing? The Power of…
“Write From Your Magic”
I shared a post a few months ago about embodying your book, after my inner Muse had told me to, “Be your book,” and “Write from your magic.” Here are some more musings about embodying the book, a rough excerpt from the book I am writing for you! Your Book Breathes See your book as…
The Future of Publishing: How to Proceed and Succeed
It seems that every day I get questions about the future of publishing. Is there a future in nonfiction publishing, at least in the traditional model? Is it bleak or promising? What can one do to increase one’s probability of success? More specifically: “Are acquisitions boards meeting virtually and are publishers still buying books…
How to Write an Award-Winning Nonfiction Book: And Congrats to Our Three Nautilus Book Award Winners!
How to Write an Award-Winning Nonfiction Book There’s the question of how to write a nonfiction book and then there’s how to write the kind of book that wins prestigious awards, gets recommended by avid fans and changes people’s lives. I’m fortunate to work with many, many authors who accomplish the latter. At “Write Your…
A Creativity Summit for Healthcare Professionals, Healers and Anyone Looking to Reduce Burnout or Stress and Enjoy Life
It’s always exciting to hear from writers I’ve worked with in the past. This week, Hisla Bates, MD wrote to let me know about her creativity summit: Healer Heal Yourself! Reduce Burnout, Discover Your Creativity While You Heal Others. As Dr. Bates wrote me, “It is a summit that will inspire you to infuse creativity…
Teaching Book Writing Under Novel Conditions
Teaching Book Writing Under Novel Conditions I’ve been resting my shoulder and arm due to what I finally discovered is a rotator cuff injury. I’ve been afraid to see any doctors given the risk of being in a medical-related facility. So I put off calling my doctor for three weeks. I know, a bit crazy,…
Can We Still Be Celebrating in the Time of Pandemic?
No matter how old I get, I always look forward to my birthday. I love celebrating, being celebrated, connecting with friends and family, and I love presents. It helps that my birthday is in the spring when the first daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, and tulips break ground and bloom. This year, my eager anticipation felt muted…
Book Title, Audience and How Niche is Nice
Do you have questions about your book title, the audience for your book, and how niche or broad to go? Last December, in the bonus call for my Fast Track Your Book Proposal course, participants got to ask their questions of Michael Larsen, co-author of How to Write a Book Proposal (now in its 5th…
Tips for Clearing the Mind of Negativity in Order to Create
We often need to clear our minds of negativity in order to create. As writers and creatives, the negative thoughts that hurt our creativity tend to focus around perfectionism, self-doubt, not feeling “good enough,” worry about what others will think. “No one will want to read this.” “It’s not original enough.” “It’s boring.” “I can’t…
You Are Invited to a FREE Creativity Workshop
Ready for a free creativity workshop? As you may know, I’m working on a book that helps you consistently access a state of creative flow. And I’ve refined by 5 Steps for “writing in the zone” to incorporate my new insights. At a focus group meeting, two long-term clients suggested I call this new iteration…
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