Compile your half-dones & finish writing

A friend messaged me today.

She had a transformation several weeks ago--the birth of her son--and now she wants another.

Transformation, that is.

But you have to ask, "ANOTHER transformation so soon after giving birth?"

And a transformation, no less? What about something simple, like a nice change of venue? Or a night out with her husband?

Except she's a brave woman and a lovely writer, and changes of venue and dinners out will not suffice.

So, giving physical birth has stirred her creativity, and she now wants to birth her writing.

She admitted that she has gestated many, many projects.

Poetry, essays, fiction--started, but not completed. And not forgotten.

Not that she wants to complete all of her unfinished projects, but there are a few that she deems worthy.

And, she wants to introduce her work to the world.?

So, what can she do?

1.?Read her writing.?Time has passed and that gives her an objective look at their worthiness. There's nothing like stepping away from a project and then back to see what is awful and beautiful about your writing.

2.?Hire a mentor.?Who will walk her through the publication process? That's me or someone else who can help her understand online platforms, magazines, and media in general who needs content.

She can learn how to determine which publication is suitable for her work.?

3.?Pitch.?She will use the plan she and her mentor made. It's about multiple submissions, getting one into a magazine, and then looking for other places to pitch. It's a process and is not hard to do.

Plus, you start collecting professional credits. And that opens professional doors of opportunity for you.

4.?Compile into a book. If she wants to compile her work into a book, she can hire me to talk about the book-writing world and what she will need to do if she wants to independently publish (self-publish) or pitch to traditional publishers.

In the meantime, she'll continue writing, loving her new baby, and being her super self.

You can do this, too. Okay, not have a baby, per se, but write and start looking at publishing your work.

What half-done projects would you like to publish?

Writing Tips and Craft

<---- That's my sketch.

Yup, I?drew that with colored pencils. It's my fourth drawing.

I?have never sketched before about a month ago.

Okay, I?did in elementary school, but then I stopped way before I entered middle school. I?didn't have the innate talent my older sister had, so I stopped drawing because I?wasn't the artist in the family.

That's too bad because it's fun. And I?can draw birds that look like birds. Sparrows, actually.

Or maybe they're just chubby little birds.

It doesn't matter.

The fact that I've picked up a sketch book and colored pencils and purchased a how-to book called?Drawing Cute Birds in Colored Pencil, is amazing.

It's also relaxing. It invites another corner of my creativity out to play.

I?often tell my clients they can improve their writing by writing poetry. It helps loosen them up and stop relying on adverbs and other modifying language, use strong nouns and active verbs instead, and paint beautiful pictures through writing.

I am now going to ask them to pick up another altogether different art form that they enjoy.

From sketching just four chubby birds, I'm seeing my physical world from a different perspective now.

That's what art does--it takes you out of the old and typical and throws you into a different world.

Start painting. Pick up photography. Learn how to cook fine pastry.

All of this will inform your writing. I promise.

                            P.S. OFFERS & TRAINING        

There's something about a do-it-yourself attitude that is helpful.

It does, after all, give us the confidence to do something that's difficult.

It can also stop us from asking for help.

We fixate on the cost savings we make doing it ourselves and pat ourselves on the back for picking up the writing load and carrying it.

But sometimes, we're kidding ourselves.

We flourish when we're mentored. We are happiest when we have someone in our corner yelling, "You can do it!"

We feel so much better when there's an expert close by to email questions to, and they reply with helpful answers.

Many of my clients have had projects "on the back burners" for years. What did that look like?

• Partially written manuscripts
• No manuscript, but a deep desire to write one
• Several partially written manuscripts, but none of them edited and ready to publish

Hiring help is often a cost-effective way to set big goals and accomplish them.

No matter where you are in your writing journey, I can help.

Check out the many ways that we can work together here and if you just want to chat, contact me here . ?