If you’ve ever wondered what actually happens when working with a ghostwriter—what you’re paying for, who owns the words when it’s done, why some quotes should make you run—I just did the most thorough breakdown of that process I’ve ever put on record. Andy Sanders…
Last week, I ran a webinar for Indie Author Training called What’s Your Book’s Job? Writing Nonfiction as a Tool to Grow Your Business. (You can watch that replay for free here.) It’s part of an ongoing series of webinars I’m doing for them, specifically…
When you’re writing nonfiction, your book is making a promise. It has a job to do. And when I say your book has a job to do, I want to be really clear about what I mean. I’m not saying you have to write some…
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how to outline your nonfiction book. Today, I want to go deeper into the idea of mind-mapping, because it’s legit one of my favorite parts of the writing process. I guess I just love sticky notes. :) (Rainbow…
My client Erin Weed is a master of collecting stories that drive her point home. She’s got this great one in her TEDx Talk, “Dare to be authentic,” about being dressed as Wonder Woman to cheer up a friend going through chemo, and being unexpectedly…
A lot of people come to me knowing they want help with their book, but not always knowing what kind of help they actually need. They know the book matters. They know they have something worth saying. They know what kinds of doors this book…
In college, I minored in theater, specializing in the technical side of things—set design, construction, stage management, etc. I worked in theater for a few years after graduation; for a hot minute, I considered becoming a technical director. Mostly because my absolute favorite class was…
My husband and I are pretty handy. We’ve replaced our garbage disposal and multiple alternators. We built a Murphy bed. And, that first COVID summer, we tackled our biggest project yet: remodeling our back patio so we could have friends over safely outdoors. We taught…
After last week’s deep dive on outlining, somebody emailed back with a question. They wanted to know what to do when it felt like the book was tugging them off course from the outline that they had set. They asked: “Is it okay to go…
I’m helping a book coaching client outline her nonfiction book this week (we’re smack in the middle of the Story Map Intensive part of the book coaching engagement), so my mind is buzzing with ways to organize a book. I’ll be doing a deep dive…
Why write a nonfiction book? It’s a question only you can answer. “I basically have two books I want to write,” a prospect said last week on a call. I already knew what he was going to say next. “There’s the book I should write—the…
Want to learn how to write fast? Like, write 2000 words an hour fast? This article will teach you how. And if you want to go deeper, check out my Dictation for Thought Leaders course. It’s short, efficient, and will get you rolling on learning…
A Three-Phase Process that Actually Works (So You Don’t Get Stuck in the Creative Chaos) Our bedroom was filled with scrap fabric. Our kitchen table was covered with sketches. My dress form stood in the living room, more pincushion than outfit—and time was running out.…
A lot of people like to say that they don’t believe in writer’s block—but I absolutely do. That isn’t to say that I believe writer’s block should stop you. I’m not saying you need to wait until conditions are perfectly right before you can sit…
When I was in college, I was driving back to my parents’ house in central Washington State. I was only a few miles from home when I saw a couple standing beside their car on the side of the road. The hood was up. They…