What's wrong with this picture? Clearly, the batter has been handicapped by the lack of a bat. If you’re trying to hit the ball, you need a bat. If you’re trying to nail something, you need a hammer. If you’re beating eggs, you need a whisk—or at least a fork. In...
Being a critic is a tough gig if you've struggled with being a people pleaser like me. I know how much work goes into creating even a bad product--be it a book or a meal. I also know that judgment, by definition, is subjective. So I fall into the kinder, gentler...
You’ve finally gotten your book written, edited and published. No one (except perhaps your writing coach or collaborator) will ever know the struggles involved in getting those words on paper, or how much of yourself you’ve poured into your work. But that doesn’t...
Some books take a long time to birth. Such has been the case with Battle for Grace: A Memoir of Pain, Redemption and Impossible Love, the book I wrote with Cynthia Toussaint and John Garrett. Battle for Grace chronicles Cynthia's struggle against a crippling illness...
Worried about writing a blog? The first question to ask yourself is whether you really need to blog. Maybe you don’t. If you're selling carburetors, unless you have a unique technique for restoring them or unless you race or show vintage cars in which you've installed...
Writing isn't just the act of putting words on paper. Idea work, research and background reading all count as work when you're writing. In fact, you could argue that this phase of the writing process is the most important and the most difficult aspect of writing a...
If you’re having trouble every time you start writing, you may simply be trying too hard. Readers of this blog already know how I feel about prematurely striving for perfection or allowing your inner critic to weigh in when you’re trying to create. Both will...
I admit, I haven't recently followed the advice I give my writing coach and blog coach clients about writing on demand. I've only just now gotten back to writing my book Auntie Mom. For those of you who missed that post, suffice to say that my 18-year-old nephew from...
I love a good self-publishing success story. So I love this post by Judy L. Mandel about the process of getting her memoir Replacement Child (Seal Press, 2013) written and published. She found the process that worked for her during the creative phase. She didn't give...
When I donated a month's worth of writing coach sessions to a silent auction benefiting a local non-profit organization, I didn't expect my new writing coach client to be 11. "Does he want to do this?" I asked his father who had actually bid on my services. "He'll do...
