Writing & Baseball

Earlier this week, I posted on Instagram: 

I was feeling pretty motivated after that “no,” to be honest. I was firmly in the “let’s get rejected today” mindset of using it as fuel to keep going, keep trying.

And then…

I got another rejection on a partial Tuesday. 

The doubts crept in.

Cut to Tuesday afternoon and the UNC vs. FSU College World Series game. As I cheered for my beloved Tar Heels, I started thinking about how hard it is to hit the ball. 

Did you know that when a ball leaves a pitcher’s hands at 90 mph, it arrives at home plate in one half to one third of a second later?

That’s the approximate time it takes to snap our fingers. 

Bam. 

Just like that. It’s a miracle a batter makes contact at all. The decision to swing or not is made in 500 milliseconds. The swing is based on the batter’s vision, reflexes, and power.

Skills built after taking a whole lot of batting practice, working on mechanics, and strength building.

Did you also know that a .300 batting average in the major leagues is considered excellent? That means a hitter is only hitting 3 out of every 10 at bats.

On paper (to this admitted statistical inexpert), that doesn’t sound like a great success rate until you think about how next to impossible hitting a 90+ mph fast ball is when it’s hurtling at you in one half of a second.

If the best of the best are only hitting the ball (that’s just a hit, not a run, not a home run, just a hit to get on base) only 3 out of 10 times, perhaps we can cut ourselves some slack when we aren’t getting an enthusiastic “yes” to every query.

Because the seven out of ten times they strike out or pop out or whatever, doesn’t make them any less successful as baseball players. It doesn’t mean they can’t hit.

Just like your no’s don’t define you as a writer.

As writers, we wait at the plate, our manuscript bat in hand. We may strike out (form rejection). We may make contact (partial request) but we hit a fly ball that the fielder easily catches (rejection). We may hit a ground ball that gets us running (full request) but we’re called out at second (another rejection, though we made it farther than ever before). And maybe, just maybe, we hit a home run (we get the call and the offer – cue the Gatorade bath!).

We all, baseball players and writers alike, need to keep working on our respective skills. We don’t stop learning or practicing or trying even when we swing and miss or we get a rejection.

Check out what Vance Honeycutt, arguably one of the best to play the game for the Heels, had to say about the advice he got from his dad (another Tar Heel baseball alum):

“The difference was that he always understood that the game is hard. He knows hitting is hard and if you fail seven out of ten times, you’re in the Hall of Fame. He instilled that into me at a young age.”

If you fail 7 out of 10 times you’re in the Hall of Fame. 

Fitzgerald had 122 rejections. 

Kate DiCamillo had 473 rejections. 

Louisa May Alcott was told to stick to teaching.

Arguably all deserve to be in the writer’s Hall of Fame. 

My Tar Heels were not victorious in their game Tuesday and have been eliminated from the tournament. But does that mean Vance Honeycutt, who is likely to go in the first or second round of the MLB draft, stops playing?

Not at all. 

Because he’s a baseball player. 

And you and I are writers.

So, if you need a pep talk this week like I do, here it is: 

Keep swinging for the fences.

Need to kick start your revision process? Want to learn how to analyze your work more efficiently? Or find an easier way to keep track of your changes? 
Check out my Revision Road Map mini-course.  

Start Your Journey Here

Featured photo by Caleb Mullins on Unsplash

Avoiding Rookie Writing Mistakes

Rookie mistakes. We all make them.

Mine? Writing a novel without ever studying structure. Surely this was something I’d just know by osmosis from all that reading and those English classes I took.

Wrong.

Turns out, I hadn’t a clue.

I came close. Maybe even serviceably close. But I didn’t know a lot and it showed (once I knew more).

Did I query that manuscript? Sure did.

Whoops!

This weekend, I had the benefit of hearing a literary agent speak at a local gathering of writers. She said the queries she knows she can skip in her stuffed-to-the-gills inbox are the ones who seem to proudly admit “this is my first book and you are my first reader!” First, bad query form. Second, first reader? 🚩 🚩 🚩

Definite rookie mistake. 

I’m sure you have made a few rookie mistakes of your own.

Whether it was sending out queries before the manuscript was ready (because we often don’t know when it’s ready when we’re brand new) or even finished or maybe skipping a learning stage in the haste to get the story down or even attempting the hardest story structures on our first go rather than practicing on a simpler story first. We all do it. It’s how we learn.

But how can you avoid repeating these mistakes or rushing into them in the first place?

I have two easy and simple solutions:

  • Be curious. If you aren’t sure what the process for querying looks like, do a quick internet search. Not sure how to handle emotion on the page? Take a class. Read blogs. Join writing groups. Attend conferences, go to panels and author readings. Seek out as much information as you can on the process, the craft, and the business. 
  • Ask for help. Enlist beta readers. Editors. A critique partner. A coach. Join a writing group. Whatever your writing conundrum, seek someone out to help you. There are plenty of resources out there to help you find the right kind of help. And despite writing looking like a solitary endeavor, it never is. Even Hemingway had Max Perkins, friends like Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and a wife, or mistress/future wife (who was also probably a writer depending on what year it was), to support his work.

If YOU need help, I’m here. Whether you need to augment your craft, stay accountable, or find a way through a revision, let me help you avoid making rookie mistakes. Or repeating them.

I help writers in a few ways:

  • This Newsletter – My goal is to share advice, pep talks, my own journey, silly gifs, in order to create a space where it’s safe to ask questions and find tidbits to help your writing journey.
  • The Revision Road Map – My mini-course allows you to level up your revision process on your own and at your own pace.
  • Start Your Novel With Confidence – A short commitment, low price point opportunity that gives you a taste of feedback and the coaching relationship. Perfect for writers who need a little guidance, want to sample coaching, or need a gut check to see that their idea or draft is on a solid foundation before they continue with their draft or revision.
  • Manuscript Evaluations – A short time commitment for you (I do all the work!) and a higher touch of your manuscript. You’ll get honest feedback of what’s working and what needs to be addressed in your next revision pass along with recommendations on how to tackle any needed changes.
  • In-Depth Coaching – whether it’s a Prep for Success package to detail your story before you start writing or in-depth Revision Coaching, these personalized one-on-one coaching packages are designed to dig into your specific needs and process to help your writing grow stronger.

My goal is to arm you with the tools and confidence you need to accomplish your writing goals. It’s all about you and your process.

Want to upgrade your writing from rookie status this summer?

Schedule a free discovery call and let’s talk through your needs to see if I can help. If I can’t, I am always happy to point you to someone else who might be a better fit.

In the meantime, keep writing and learning!

Featured photo by Daniel Thomas on Unsplash

There Goes My Hero…

In May, my  husband and I went to the Foo Fighters concert. 

We’re old and get places early, but can we talk about how adorable the pair is behind us “photo bombing” the pic?! Love it!

It was AMAZING! 

One of my favorite songs is “My Hero.” 

Rock is all about the big, the flashy, the in your face. The extraordinary. Rock stars and super heroes all seem to live in the same rarefied air of our cultural awe. 

Yet, here is this song, with the lead singer blatantly announcing that his hero is, well…

Ordinary. 

So while those of us in the audience may be looking up to Dave Grohl as musical heroes, he, in turn, is looking back out and essentially saying, 

“Nah, man. You are.” 

I will never be able to command a stadium with my voice (other than perhaps getting them to all chant in unison for me to please stop) or tingle the back of someone’s spine with a guitar solo or pound a kick drum straight through to your heart beat (RIP Taylor Hawkins). Most of the rest of us probably can’t either. 

I’m just ordinary. 

And so are your protagonists. 

Finally! (I know, I do have a point that comes back to our shared love of writing)

Most of us are also not writing super hero adventures. Some of us may be, and that’s a whole different level of fun and challenge to make the extraordinary ordinary (thinking of all those Avenger origin stories!). But the rest of us? 

We’re writing about…

…retirees (The Thursday Night Murder Club)*

…chemists (Lessons in Chemistry)*

…recluses (Where the Crawdads Sing)*

…a young man in Appalachia (Demon Copperhead)*

…Vegas impersonators (The Princess of Las Vegas)*

…orchard owners (Tom Lake)*

…an octopus (Remarkably Bright Creatures)*

And that’s just a cursory glance at my bookshelf. Nothing about these people in a one or two word description is all that extraordinary. They aren’t the stuff of crime fighters with superhuman powers brought on by spider bites or strange faraway planet minerals. 

They are just everyday people in everyday situations forced to step outside their lives for some extraordinary reason to them. It might not even be that extraordinary to the rest of us. 

What makes us love these heroes, turn the page, relate to them, and talk about them with our book clubs and friends and family is that they are ordinary. We can see something of ourselves in them and spend 300+ pages walking in their shoes and wondering if in these strange or unique circumstances, we would do the same things. Make the same choices. Or would we have been braver or more cowardly or chosen a different adventure altogether? 

Our protagonists are ordinary. Doing extraordinary things like…

…finding love

…fighting injustice

…healing their wounds

…honoring their dreams

…surviving each day

What makes your hero ordinary? What can your reader relate to? 

What makes your hero extraordinary? What makes them unique? What thing inside them drives them, motivates them, causes them to make a hard choice without thinking twice about it? 

What has triggered your hero to take an action outside their ordinary? What about their ordinary lives would they do anything to protect? 

Find that inner, ordinary magic in your hero and watch her do extraordinary things! 

*These are affiliate links which means if you buy from here, I get a tiny commission.

Featured photo by TK on Unsplash

Women’s Fiction Day

Ordinary heroes are why I love women’s fiction. And Saturday is Women’s Fiction Day!

I’ll be giving away a 20-page critique with a one-hour coaching call to celebrate. All you have to do is sign up for my newsletter (and unsubscribing at any time is available).

SUBSCRIBE & ENTER HERE

My Favorite Things: May 2024

It’s the end of May and we’ve been jam packed full of band concerts, athletic banquets, as well as SAT and AP test support for the final push to the end of the school year coming for both our boys. It can be a hectic time, always on the go, which is why protecting a little reading and listening time every day has been paramount to my self-care. 

Stories and narrative, whether written, watched, or listened to, have always offered me respite and a nice brain reset when the world around me is a little chaotic or unstructured. Luckily, I’ve had some great distractions this month when I’ve needed a moment to rest. 

What I’m Reading

Something Better* by Joanna Monahan…I mean, who hasn’t gotten to our (okay, my, ahem) age and looked back and thought, “What if” about something? Whether it’s the one who got away or let us go or the major we opted out of or the college we didn’t pick or the job we left or didn’t. There are infinite paths in our past that beg for questions. And let’s face it, as a woman of a certain age, as a mom with kids of a certain (getting ready to leave) age, it’s natural to look back and wonder what lessons there are to learn from those choices in order to plot what’s next. 

Joanna addresses this murky mid-life middle brilliantly in Something Better exploring one woman’s dilemma after reconnecting at her high school reunion with the boyfriend who abandoned her after high school. Will she choose the what if or will she always feel like she settled to stay with the right now? 

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson was beautiful and vast and gorgeous and heartbreaking. A family saga of two children learning after their mother that she was not who they thought she was. The torture of questions that can no longer be asked! Add in a little whodunit, the need for sibling repair, and a tropical locale and I was invested in the future of this family. I am excited to check out the series on Hulu soon, but always like to give some time before watching something based on a book so that I don’t spend every moment announcing what’s different from the book (tell me I’m not alone!). 

What I’m Watching

We just binged this season of Abbott Elementary with our middle schooler during his school break (read chaotic May…we’re so close to having two kids on the same school calendar instead of one in year round and one on traditional). All hail Quinta Brunson for nailing a unique workplace while navigating a variety of friendships, break-ups, missed connections, and life’s general ups and downs. Our family agrees that Mr. Johnson is the show’s ultimate star and each episode, we wait for whatever line he delivers that will reduce us to tears of laughter. 

It was raining in my neck of the woods the weekend the first half of Bridgerton Season 3 dropped so those episodes were quickly consumed. This series is so full of romance, the visuals so bright and stunning, and the music so fun that it’s pure joy to watch. Plus, there is a tortured writer who is quick with a quip from her quill. And how often can someone write that alliterative sentence?!

What I’m Listening to

I loved the conversation between Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Anne Lamott on a recent Wiser Than Me podcast. Listening to this episode is the perfect companion for reading Something Better for all those midlife questions that arise in our professional and personal lives as our children get older and our goals change. 

I also loved the conversation between Glennon Doyle and Suleika Jaouad on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast about creating while facing a chronic illness, beauty as an act of defiance, and what support looks like for those in emotional need. I already mentioned American Symphony as a favorite watch back in December, so if you haven’t watched it, do that first as its the story of Suleika and her husband Jon Batiste during a most difficult year of their life. It’s storytelling at its finest and a gorgeous treatise on living a creative life. Emphasis on life – the thing that gets messy and isn’t perfect or always providing those cabin in the wood conditions we romanticize about the creative life. 

What have you been reading, watching, and listening to in May? Share in the comments!

*These are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you purchase through the link.

Featured photo by mauro mora on Unsplash

Getting to Know Your Villain

On Monday, I posted a quote on Instagram:

It can be tempting, easy even, to simply see the world through our protagonist’s eyes.

It’s actually a necessity, especially as many books written these days are in close third or first person. We need to know our protagonist’s intimately as well as how they see the world and all the characters they encounter in it.

BUT…

Our villains (or antagonists) have their own set of motivations. Their own backstories. Their own decision making criteria.

While the reader may never be inside the villain’s head, we most certainly can deduce a lot by their actions and decisions.

Chances are, the villain/antagonist’s goals are in direct conflict with the protagonists, whether it’s intentional (Voldemort) or not (the whale in Moby Dick). So having an understanding of what those motivations, goals, and stakes are for our villains is just as important as for our protagonists.

Otherwise, we end up with two-dimensional characters and a conflict that falls a little flat with an outcome that is (gasp) predictable.

How can you get to know your villains/antagonists? Here are a few tricks I’ve used in the past:

  • Write something in your antagonists’ POV. This could be a scene or a journal entry or a letter or anything really.

I had trouble unlocking a nasty character in one of my manuscripts. He didn’t take up a lot of page space, but his actions were horrid and left a lasting mark on my protagonist, making it important to get him right. He needed to be awful, but not just predictable awful.

The scene took place far away so I had each of my main characters write a letter to someone back home. The information that came out in his letter home was fascinating. From the choice of recipient to what he told her, I was taken aback by what he had to say. His appearance on the page became more nuanced as a result of the knowledge I had. None of the actual content of that letter ever made it into the book, but it colored his actions, his body language, his speech, and more. He became a lot more interesting than just the guy who did that awful thing to my protagonist.

  • Explore your antagonists’ arc. Every character should have their own arc of change, so dig into your antagonists.

I had great success doing this in a Donald Maas(LINK) workshop for the cheating husband character in the project I’m currently querying. Mr. Maas asked us to pick a virtue for one of our characters. We then had to outline three instances where they were faced with a choice and failed to live up to that virtue before they learned their lesson.

The bones of this exercise allowed me to create scenes where he was faced with choices and choose the wrong thing each time, despite wanting to chose the right thing. When he finally did make the right choice, it because of his hard-earned lessons not making the right choices thus far.

Again, his perspective wasn’t on the page, the reader only saw those incidents through the protagonists’ biased lens, but it made his final change so much more believable and earned because his mess-ups were always coming from a place I, the writer, understood. That background consistency makes a big difference in how your character behaves on the page.

  • Interview your antagonist. Ask them some questions. Get to know them.

What are they most proud of? What do they want most in the world? What would they change about themselves? What is their happiest childhood memory, favorite food, best birthday gift ever? Listen to what they say–or don’t–and get to know them. What would they want you to know? What do they not want you to know?

Dig, prod, tease, cajole, whatever you need to do to get to the heart of them. Don’t just have them serve the purpose of barrier to your protagonist’s goal. Give them their own journey. Chances are they have a lot to say and just want to be heard.

While the reader won’t see the story (unless it’s a multi-POV) through the villain’s eyes, they will see their actions, decisions, and dialogue. Yes, the protagonist will intake that information through their own filter, but the reader will understand that there might be a second side to the story. And even if they don’t explicitly see that side because they are so invested in the protagonist, they will inherently understand it later whenever there is a big reveal or change in the villain.

Villain’s aren’t just acting on their own. They are also responding to what the protagonist does. Their actions taken together is what propels that story forward into a crescendo of conflict.

Don’t settle for two-dimensional villains or antagonists. Take the time to fully flesh them out.

We don’t always get to see both sides of the story in our novels, but the writer should know them. That knowledge will inevitably bleed into your characters and their actions on the page deepening them and making for a more satisfying read.

Featured photo above by Brian McGowan on Unsplash

What I Learned About Writing From My Son’s Track Meet

My youngest and a group of his pals decided to try out for the track team this spring. Despite having an uncle for a track coach, my knowledge of the sport is limited to whatever I happen to soak in during the summer Olympics and is quickly forgotten for four years until the next round. 

I had a lot of fun watching my son and his teammates run this season. I still don’t know much about proper form or the rules of the relay hand off, but I did witness a lot that had me thinking about my writing. 

Things I learned from my son’s track season that apply to the writing life:

Everyone who started finished

It didn’t matter how far behind the leader they were, everyone cheered until all the runners had crossed the finish line. I never once watched anyone not complete a race (okay, once, but she got hurt and couldn’t finish) no matter how far behind they were. They might not have won, but they finished. And that was a miraculous accomplishment to me. It would have been so easy to give up. 

Writing a book is hard. Don’t give up just because someone you know happened to finish their race already. You can still finish. 

And we’ll be here to cheer you on whenever you cross your finish line! 

The fastest runner in the mile wasn’t the fastest runner in the sprint

Each runner had their own special skill set. A distance runner and a sprinter train differently, run differently, are fundamentally built differently. One isn’t necessarily better than another. They are just running different races. 

Same goes for writers. Whether it’s different genres or styles, we are all writing our own books. And we all have different skills. Some may excel at pacing while others dialogue. It doesn’t make one better than another. Focus on making your skills shine. 

Just like runners are running different races, writers are all writing different books. Write yours. 

It’s still a team

Even though each race was an individual effort, the points were scored by the team. And for every race, the team cheered on those individuals, reminding them to push the last 100 meters in a distance race or scream their heads off during the sprints. 

Writers need to be surrounded by a team of support as well. Find writers that you can chat with, swap pages with, learn from. Whether that’s in a professional organization or a critique group or a meet-up at the local library, writer friends will cheer you on and help you meet your goals. The bonus? You get to do the same for them. There is room for all of us. So find a team that lifts you up. 

Practice and preparation make a difference

Our middle school doesn’t actually have a track. So it was painfully obvious at our first meet which kids had not participated in track before because the set-up of the races, the feel of the surface, all of it was foreign to them.

By the end of the season, with four meets under their belts and more weeks of practice, they were looking much more confident and really gaining some ground on the track. 

The same goes for writers. I didn’t know how to write a novel when I sat down to start one. It took some mistakes, some practice, and some training to understand structure and become a better writer. 

To get better at writing, we need to practice. Whether that’s journals or essays or writing prompts or new manuscripts, we need to flex our writing muscles in order to stay nimble for our stories. 

Sometimes you need a water break

No matter how fast the runners were, they all needed water and a snack. Their bodies wouldn’t perform or recover well without the needed nutrition, rest, hydration, and cool down. 

Don’t forget to nourish your writer self, too. A writer’s needs are remarkably similar. You need water; healthy snacks (and the occasional chocolate) to power your writing sessions; rest when you’re tired; stretching to keep your back, shoulders and wrists happy; and yes, you even need to move occasionally to get the blood pumping. 

You can’t run at a full out sprint pace for the length of a marathon, and you can’t push out a novel length manuscript in five days. Give yourself the space and rest you need to write. 

Personal records are the real measure

Only one person wins any given race. But everyone gets their time. And getting a PR, or personal record, was a big accomplishment. Each race was really about beating yourself rather than anyone else by trying to get a better time than the race before. 

Writers should do the same. 

It’s less about who got to the agent/publishing contract/NY Times best seller list first and more about whether your second draft is better than your first and your fifth is better than your fourth. Build your skills so that each draft and each manuscript gets stronger. Write your PR each time. 

You are the only writer you’re trying to beat at the end of the day. 

So take a lesson from my son’s middle school track coach: warm up, run your race, stay hydrated, and stretch. 

You are your own best and worst competition. Keep writing. And I’ll see you at the finish line. 

Featured photo by Jacky Watt on Unsplash

Need a Coach?

Every track team has a coach.

Do you need a coach for your writing? Someone to encourage you, point out what’s working and where you should target your training for improvement?

Schedule a free discovery call and let’s see if working together works for you. 

SCHEDULE A CALL HERE

Eliminate the Unnecessary in Your Writing

As a book coach, I see a lot of the common problems in the manuscripts I read. 

It might be unclear character stakes or story trajectory issues or a bit of head hopping in those early chapters. 

But one thing I see a lot when I’ve got an early draft in my hands, is too much logistical information. 

This can look like a couple of things:

  • Long descriptions of a routine
  • Directions
  • Getting characters from one place to the next

When we’re drafting, that logistical filler tends to be how we write our way into a scene (definitely guilty of this). Especially if we’re any kind of pantser. We may sit down at the computer that day and not really know where we’re headed in a scene until several paragraphs in and a handsome stranger enters the coffee shop. 

Then that scene is off to the races! Tension. Flirty banter. Perhaps an embarrassing coffee spill or mysterious note dropped on the table that sets your protagonist off on a spy adventure through Switzerland. 

My point is, lots more interesting stuff started happening after the three paragraphs of getting up, showering, realizing she was out of coffee and dragging herself through traffic to the coffee shop that wasn’t closest to her office but has the best blueberry muffins. 

Some of that information may be necessary (being out of coffee, choosing the particular shop) but some of it may not (waking up, last night’s dream, showering, picking out an outfit, the traffic…) 

So how can you tell if which logistics should be included and which can hit the cutting room floor?

  1. Ask yourself: Is this necessary to the story? If the easy answer is “No” – cut it. No mercy. 
  2. Cut and see. If you still aren’t sure if needs to be there or not, try cutting the first sentence or even the first paragraph of your scene and see if it reads stronger. Are you daring? Try cutting the first two paragraphs. Keep slicing until you hit that magical in media res start for each chapter. 
  3. Look for small talk in your dialogue. Yes, we naturally have a little small talk in our real lives, but don’t let your characters fall victim to it. Dive right in. 
  4. Look to television. I loved watching soaps when I was in high school, particularly General Hospital. People just showed up places and jumped straight into a scene. We didn’t care if they stopped for gas on the way or which route they took from the hospital to the dock (in fact, I’m not sure where those two things are even related to each other in space and I’m not any more lost in the story for it), or if their favorite sweater was in the dirty clothes this morning. We just wanted to know who is in a coma, who put them there, and does it have anything to do with that strange mysterious woman who just arrived in town? 

But, Monica, sometimes we need logistics for context or clarity? Then what? 

I get it. I’m writing a road trip novel right now and there are times when the road they are on or the amount of traffic is important (nothing like being delayed to amp up some in-car tension between characters who both don’t want to be there anyway!), but other times I just need them to get to the next town without worrying about how they got there because what happens in the town is way more important than the exact GPS instructions. I trust the reader to understand how car trips work without having to show them the boring bits. 

If you do need to include some logistical information: 

  • Save those details for when they count
  • Pepper in what you need to to ground your character in time and space, but be creative. Don’t just have them looking at a clock or a map and reciting the information to the reader, have them notice the way the sun slants through the trees or how the vegetation on the shoulder changed the closer they got to the beach.
  • Use their breakfast or walk to work to include sensory details that show us something about the character’s perspective or mindset

In other words, your words should always be working for your protagonist. Don’t let any logistical writing slow down that pace of discovery for your reader.

Eliminate the unnecessary.

Keep what moves the story forward. 

It’s just that simple. And that hard. Like usual. 

Need More Revision Help?

The Revision Road Map is the tool you need to analyze your work, make a plan, and revise with confidence.

It’s only $47 and available NOW!

GET STARTED HERE

My Favorite Things: April 2024

I’d be lying if I didn’t say that my favorite thing this month wasn’t my Revision Road Map, so let’s just get that shameless plug out of the way! I loved working on it and have been so excited to bring it to you. If you’re struggling in your revision, give it a try. It provides structure to a part of the process that can often feel nebulous. 

Now, back to my regularly scheduled end of month recommendations: 

What I’m Reading

I’ve been reading The Natural History of the Senses* this month and savoring every little bit of it. What a beautiful book that will appeal to all your senses. I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially to writers. It opened up so many new ways in which I am experiencing taste, sight, smell, sound, and touch. 

What I’m Watching

It’s been a busy month and I have to admit, my viewing habits have been mostly of the doesn’t-need-a-lot-of-attention variety (i.e., lots of Below Deck and Top Chef). 

My husband and I have started Palm Royale, which is a visual delight (see previous recommendation about appreciating the senses!). 

And the whole family is watching the playoff run of our beloved Carolina Hurricanes hockey team. Let’s Go Canes! #CauseChaos 

What I’m Listening to

Who isn’t listening to the Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift? Anything with the title poets has me naturally gravitating toward it anyway.

What I’m Doing

I’m halfway through writing the rough draft of my new story and loving all the surprises I’m finding along the way. What’s working for me is committing to online writing dates to meet my daily word count goal. Nothing gets me in the chair faster each morning than knowing I’ll get to say hi to some of my fellow writing friends. 

If you’re also drafting or thinking about drafting but struggling with your writing practice, my friend and fellow coach Kerry Savage has created a workbook to help you figure out how to make regular, focused writing time a reality. It’s a hard but necessary thing to do in order to be DONE! 

Kerry’s workbook is full of strategies, tips, and tools to guide you in designing a writing practice that works for you. And trust me, Kerry’s a whiz at project management, so her tips are gold!

The Writing Practice Success Strategies workbook includes:

  • Space to envision what your writing practice will look like 
  • Questions to help you define exactly how your practice will work
  • Practical strategies to make it happen. Try them all to see what fits!
  • Suggestions for getting yourself unstuck. (It happens to all of us!)
  • Simple tools to help you be efficient and maybe even ‘extra’…
  • Printable checklist and progress tracker worksheets

Here’s the link to check it out!

What have you been reading, watching, and listening to in April? Comment and let me know! 

*These are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you purchase through the link.

After Typing THE END: Tips for What’s Next

Where does most of your writing happen? 

In the draft stage, probably. It has to, right? Where once there was a blank page, now there are 90,000 words. 

Now, where does most of your story telling happen? 

It can be tempting to say that most of our storytelling also happens in the draft stage. It’s the place where we are literally telling ourselves the story. 

But a strange thing happens when we’re drafting…

  • We can be distracted and lose a thread
  • We can get new ideas we are excited about including
  • We can subconsciously return to one image/theme/emotion over and over again 
  • We can tell a different story than the one we intended to

Like the frog in the boiling water, these things happen slowly, over time, so we don’t notice that our manuscript has heated up into something entirely different from what we started with. 

The problem is that our mindset might not have shifted because our brains are weird and what we think we’re writing and what we actually wrote might be completely different. 

It isn’t until we pause, take a break, and reread what we wrote with fresh eyes that we are able to see what we actually did. 

This is why revision is so important. 

Revision is an opportunity to see your true story. To excavate the themes and emotional heart of your story. To readjust and elevate. 

Revision allows you to take all those magical things your subconscious was doing behind the scenes that leaked onto the page, all this amazing rough material, and turn it into something brilliant: Your story. 

Drafting is key, but revision is paramount. 

So how do you do it? How do you make the most of this pile of sand in your sandbox. 

  1. Take a break. Leave your story for a few days at the very least, weeks if you can. Read other things. Write other things. Just give yourself some distance to view your story with fresh eyes. 
  2. Read in a different format from the one you created it in. For me, that’s changing the font, putting it on my e-reader and physically reading in a different room than the one I wrote in. 
  3. DON’T MAKE EDITS YET! Seriously, I know it’s tempting when we’re reading through to start scratching things out and making changes. DO NOT DO THIS!! Have a legal pad or something next to you and jot down whatever you notice, but keep it big picture – plot holes, character motivations, pacing, etc… You will pass through this manuscript so many times that typos or names that changed halfway through or continuity errors can get fixed later. Do not let them occupy your time now or tempt you into line editing this early. 
  4. Do take a few notes about anything that surprises you – those magical thematic things that developed, images that repeated that you want to highlight even more in other places, symbols that suddenly appear, quirks in your character you can maximize. 

Once you can see what you’ve got and what you still need, it will make your revision much more effective. And, armed with a plan, you will be able to not just write, but tell a story with heart and emotional resonance. 

Not Sure Where To Start Your Revision?

The Revision Road Map is the tool you need to analyze your work, make a plan, and revise with confidence.

It’s only $47 and available NOW!

GET STARTED HERE

The Revision Road Map is Here!

OMG, y’all! It’s here!! 

I am so excited to introduce you to the Revision Road Map. 

I know how lost a writer can feel during a revision. I have been that lost. 

That feeling of just wanting someone to tell you what to do already. 

That feeling of the end getting farther and farther away. 

The doubt that I could even do this at all. 

The temptation to just give up. 

Keeping track of tens of thousands of words, multiple characters, plots, subplots, character arcs, timelines, multiple points of view, and story structure is a lot. 

I felt like Atlas with the weight of my story world on my shoulders. It wasn’t working for me anymore and I needed a way out. 

The Revision Road Map tool is the solution I developed for my own personal use when I found myself overwhelmed and constantly pushing back revision deadlines. It revolutionized how I approach editing. I actually look forward to it now when I’m drafting because I know the Revision Road Map has got my back at finding all the missteps I made when banging out new words. 

The Revision Road Map allows you to: 

➡️ See the story whole at a glance

➡️ Analyze your story

➡️ Identify the key structural problems

➡️ Organize edits in a logical manner

➡️ Keep track of your changes in a single document so you can revise with purpose

It’s been a game changer for me and my clients who have tested it out. 

And now it’s officially available for everyone! 

The Revision Road Map includes: 

  • An Inside Outline Course, valued at $200
  • How to Analyze Your Inside Outline Course, valued at $200
  • Using the Revision Road Map Tutorial, valued at $100
  • Editorial Checklist, valued at $75
  • Downloadable Revision Road Map, valued at $75

Total Value of the Revision Road Map: $650

Actual Cost of the Revision Road Map: $47!

I know coaching isn’t in everyone’s budget. And the ratio of craft books related to drafting versus editing can often leave writers floundering in the dark with little direction. 

My goal is for this tool to not only be an affordable option for writers looking for a better way, but also to fill in that knowledge gap and give writers an option for creating better, more effective processes.  

I can’t wait for you to try it on your revision! 

Happy Revising!