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Building a writerly community
I wrote recently about my slow, but intentional, break-up with Instagram. I hope you had a bit of a laugh reading my Letter. I know that it resonated with some because I was delighted to hear about your own perspectives and experience. On the other hand, I didn’t leave you with much to work with
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I broke up with Instagram
I’ve been writing a book. It’s a book of letters addressed to new book coaches on the ups and downs of transitioning from a corporate career to solopreneurship. It’s about coaching and business and the small joys and the temporary frustrations, and it’s about fear and envy, too. It’s for coaches, but for coaches who
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Can you reuse Substack posts in your book?
I was honoured to be asked this month to write a guest post by Jennie Nash (The Art & Business of Book Coaching). The upshot is: if you are having trouble getting into the flow of writing your book try writing posts on micro-topics related to your book on a platform with immediate access to
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Why do agents never respond?
If you ever wonder why it takes so long to hear from an agent you’ve submitted your carefully crafted book proposal to, or why you hear nothing at all, agent Kate McKean wrote an article explaining why. “If I spent five minutes on every query in my inbox it would take me over three months of full-time,
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Take these two thoughts for a walk
I adore walking. Autumn is coming to my spot in the Northern hemisphere and the silver birches and hawthorns are turning pale gold. All that fresh air stimulates parts of my brain that the inside of my study just can’t reach. Solitude is important. I listen to the birdsong. Achieving a state of inner silence is the thing. But once I have
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Rambles in Albania
While I was standing in 40 degree shade (104 F), eating rose-water and pistachio baklava in a small town on the Albanian coast during August, I thought of you. I did, honestly. OK, a significant part of my conscious mind was on the fig ice-cream to follow, but I can multi-task. I thought of you
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Blindspots
I’m not talking about what we can’t see that’s right in front of us. About when we are tired and over-worked. Our mind is on a different course and we just don’t see the missing comma, the grocer’s apostrophe, or the homonym. I’m talking about being emotionally involved in our writing. About being so close
Boundaries
Essential in cricket, land ownership and relationships. Not so noticeable in the books we read. But knowing what is in, and what is out, is how you write a good book. Writing a book is not about pouring everything you know onto the page. It’s about telling your reader what they need to know. That
Being in the flow of writing is wonderful. The words rush to our fingertips, barely able to keep up as our brain hurls instructions. That’s why the first draft must never be the last. Book deals and writers’ reputations have been lost when an unedited manuscript has been sent out into the world. Some writers