PART TWO: Don't do this alone, writing is a team sport.

Together is how writing gets done, truth!

I’m doing it…releasing a 14-part WRITE NOW series…and I’m turning the camera lens on my own writing path…so I can help you on yours! Pull up that empty chair across the table and let’s talk writing, shall we?

I’m over here coaching on the top things my clients tell me they fear, and the stuff that gets them stalled on their book, and since I’m working on my next book now, I’m getting writerly naked about what’s got me stymied. I’m in it too! Let’s do this writing thing together, okay?

This series is launching paid access to my Substack, which has been free until now. I’d love to have on join the readers for the next 12 parts too.

Let me ask you this:

Writer - why are you so convinced you have to do this alone?

‘Cause that’s how you get all things done, well, isn’t that right? You’ve got to suffer a little in order to get the good stuff to happening—that’s what we convince ourselves of. And society does a good job of jamming that down our throats too.

Imagine being a sought-after writing coach, published author, credited with collaborations on dozens of books, and you just can’t get the momentum you want without help…that’s me and I was staying quiet for over a year now because I didn’t know what help I needed.

I took my own advice:

If the book isn’t clear and the writing isn’t coming—change something.

What I mean is…

• change notebooks, start a new one, even
• instead of using tech, write longhand,
• work on research when the long form prose isn’t pouring
• get a writing partner or join an online writing group for some feedback and accountability
• get a skilled reader like an editor
• invest in a writing coach to make the most of the skills you have and feel elated at your writing quality
• write something else (as in put this project aside and go where the juice is.)

I reached out to an amazing editor, who I felt so proud to work with on Loving Large, my 2020 memoir. Would she be my brainstorming partner, I asked in a vulnerable email, cringing more than a little. “Is that something you could see herself doing with me?”

She said yes, and we kicked off some months of work on my book’s early planning stages together.

What did I get? Instant relief (and more than a little pride). I was hiring her to show up and being my sounding board, not be the disciplinarian of creativity. I wanted someone who I could bore with my wondering and self-doubt, try out first pages on, and ask questions about how something might sound to them as a reader.

I hope you’ll take this nudge…if something isn’t feeling like you want it to on your project, your chapter or your page…make a change.

I hope you’ve heard about The Story House Studio, my online portal to book coaching and writing inspiration resources. If you aren’t on my mailing list, drop me your email on the Reach Out page.

The first gold nugget is open and ON SALE now: FOUNDATION, a self-guided intensive for writers who are ready to craft their non-fiction book or memoir and don’t want to delay their dreams any longer. Go from “I wish” to “I did” with proven tools and advice previously only available in my exclusive, invite only masterminds.?