Tim Cahill in Sense of Place, a collection of interviews with travel writers put together by Michael Shapiro, said this: Whether you are writing, or preparing a journey to a new country, it helps to have a good idea of what your quest is. 🌍 What are you going to try to do?🌍 What are […]
What’s your Quest? Read More »
In November, I’m hoping to be on a ship on the Atlantic, delving deep into my next book. It will be a two-week journey of discovery: internal and external. Very like book coaching, though it takes much longer than two weeks. People can be put off by not knowing what actually entails, step by step.
How 3 writers embarked on their book journeys Read More »
I help to clarify writers’ goals coaching when they work with me to write their books. The goal of writing a book, I advise, should never—solely—be to publish it. It’s great to want to publish it. It just shouldn’t be your sole reason for writing it because, if it is, you probably won’t get to
A new way of looking at progress Read More »
Tolkein, as a young man falling in love with language, liked the euphonious sound of the words cellar door and because of that, when he wrote the Silmarillion in middle-age, he called one of the principal characters ‘Selador’. If a character’s name doesn’t jump out at me as soon as I’ve shaped a character, I
Choosing characters’ names Read More »
There is so much thinking that needs to go into a book before it’s ready to be submitted: finding, then refining, the concept. We’ve all learned to think about crafting books in terms of writing. For a book proposal or a novel’s query letter to have any chance of success, a writer needs to be
So, you’ve had the spark of an idea for a great book. How’s it going? It’s a long haul, writing a book. You don’t sit down and write until you get to the end. We write, each day and every day when we are clear about what we are doing. When we are confused, we
Confusion will harm your book Read More »
“My biggest fear is that I will go on saying I want to write a book, forever,” said a client, this week. “I have so many book ideas, I’m afraid I will keep starting over and never complete one. And I will get to the end of my life and never have written my book.”
Jumpstart your book Read More »