This Simple But Effective Practice Will Drastically Improve Your Writing

This Simple But Effective Practice Will Drastically Improve Your Writing

by | Jan 6, 2021 | How to Write a Novel, Writing | 0 comments

This Simple But Effective Practice Will Drastically Improve Your Writing

 

Have you been dealing with surges of overpowering emotion?

In a single day, do you feel like you experience the full range of human feeling, from anger to sadness to fear to love to joy?

Many of us are experiencing new and more powerful emotions than ever before. At times, this can feel quite overwhelming, because we haven’t been taught how to deal with so many emotions at once.

As a writer, you have an edge. Writing is the perfect medium to release your crazy, pent-up feelings. 

There’s even more good news for writers: strong emotions are a gift for your writing that will benefit you for years to come, as long as you don’t ignore them.

That’s why I want to give you a tip I usually reserve for the writers over in the Writing Gym. These are crazy times, and I want to make sure you have all the tools you need to not only get through, but come out a better writer.

Here is a simple practice to capture and channel strong emotions through your writing:

  1. Strong emotions are usually felt somewhere in the body. When feelings of fear, anger, or uncertainty arise, take a moment and close your eyes, focus on where you feel it in your body, and think about exactly how this emotion feels. 
  2. Ask yourself: Is it a sharp pain? A fluttery lightness? A dull aching? A pressing heaviness? Like the writer you are, think about the words you would use to describe what you feel. 
  3. Open your eyes and write it all down. Save it in a notebook or a file on your computer, and be sure to label what the emotion is. 

Not only will you feel better after releasing the emotion through your body and writing, but this will pay off in your future writing projects. Maybe five years from now, you’ll have a character who’s feeling something powerful, and you’ll have an example on how to describe any given feeling. 

You’ve been given the gift of emotional authenticity to add to your writing–take advantage of it. 

I’d love to hear if this strategy works for you. If you want to discuss more, I’ve set aside time in my calendar. Let’s chat. 

How To Overcome Self Doubt and Get Published

How To Overcome Self Doubt and Get Published

by | Oct 22, 2020 | How to Publish, Overcome Writer's Block, Uncategorized, Why is publishing so hard? | 0 comments

How to Overcome Self Doubt and Get Published

 

Today, I want to talk about an extraordinary Writing Gym member, Lauren.

I met Lauren at a writing conference. She had been working on a novel for years, but was caught in destructive circles of doubt that prevented her from finishing. At times, these negative feelings were so overwhelming, sitting down at the keyboard felt impossible. 

Weeks would go by where Lauren didn’t touch her writing at all.

“I was afraid of my own writing at times,” she told me. “I felt like I was walking down a dark hallway without a flashlight. I had this story that I wanted to tell really, really badly, but I didn’t know how to do it. And I was scared of doing it wrong.”

Like many serious writers, Lauren was determined to overcome this fear so she could pursue her writing career. She tried various DIY solutions: she read what felt like a zillion articles and books on writing, and even tried a different writing program, but nothing seemed to reach the core of the problem. She received conflicting feedback, which left her more confused.

As you can imagine, this led to more negative emotions, which inhibited her writing even further.

“I was worrying myself to death, I was really getting in my own way and was really frustrated.”

Lauren and I touched base a few times in the years after that conference. Every time we did, she would tell me about her latest efforts: writing classes, books on writing, writing conferences. Each time, she hoped to find a solution to her writing problems. Yet months later, on our next call, Lauren was still stuck.

All that changed when Lauren decided to enroll in the Writing Gym. 

She began working through our instructive modules, which armed her with a new arsenal of writing techniques. She met weekly with our personal trainer, Gretchen, who helped Lauren restructure her mental approach towards writing. I met with her weekly, took a close look at her writing, and gave her personalized feedback.

That wasn’t the only support she got. The weekly salons in the Writing Gym “transformed my writing,” Lauren says.

Salons are weekly writing workshops we hold among our Gym Rats, in which we spend an hour writing together in a supportive, fun, productive environment. Using neuroscientific principles, this activity rewires the brain to overcome the inner critic, and fall into creative flow.

 

Lauren’s summary of the value of her experience in the Writing Gym:

“The Writing Gym provides authors with knowledgeable, insider industry information, knowledgeable feedback and a true understanding of how the writing process works so that you can be your best writer.”

The secret to Lauren’s final breakthrough was the robust combination of encouragement and the means to discover HER best writer. She quickly transformed from a reluctant, self-doubting writer to a prolific and confident author.

After a few months, Lauren said: 

“I didn’t realize the Writing Gym was going to so thoroughly revolutionize the way that I write. I don’t want to say that I didn’t love writing already, but the Writing Gym has made it so much more enjoyable to write. I didn’t expect that. I thought that writing is always scary and it’s always going to be scary. I had no idea that the Writing Gym would help me to get really, truly excited about writing again.” 

Lauren’s new attitude and approach to writing brought quick success. With her true creativity unlocked, she began to produce original, inspired work, and publishers took notice. Here are the results she began to see:

  • Lauren had a short story published in an anthology just months after joining the Writing Gym.
  • Lauren won a writing contest and her story is now featured on Alexa device.

Like many writers, Lauren had always had talent and originality, but it was buried under her own limiting beliefs. Tragically, many writers don’t take the steps Lauren did to shed these beliefs, and unlock their greatest writer. Neither themselves, nor the world, will get to witness their full creative potential.

Lauren says her only regret is not joining the Writing Gym sooner.

 

“If there was a way for me to tiptoe back in time to when I met you two years ago, I would show myself the reel of all the needless trouble I put myself through. That’s what it was–two years of pointless turmoil, when what I really needed was already right there. I just didn’t realize it. I wish I could condense the two years between then and now.”

If you resonate with Lauren’s story, and you know that you possess deep creative potential, we can help you bring it to the surface.

A word of caution: this is only for serious writers, writers who are tired of solutions that don’t get them where they want to be, and are ready for change NOW.

To go through the Writing Gym process, you need to be ready and determined to publish your work.

 

If that sounds like you, book a call with our team so we can talk about how to unleash your best writer, and help you finally reach your publishing goals.

 

Until next time. Happy writing.

 
The REAL Cause of Writer’s Block? Probably Not What You Think

The REAL Cause of Writer’s Block? Probably Not What You Think

by | Oct 6, 2020 | how to we help authors, Overcome Writer's Block, Uncategorized, Writing & Neuroscience | 0 comments

The REAL Cause of Writer’s Block? Probably Not What You Think

 

Many of you may know that I’m a little bit obsessed with the Middle Ages.

Recently, I was sitting in this middle-aged “laverie,” which is where the people would come to wash their clothes. There’s a structure above that the river runs through so people can wash their clothes. This is something that really captivates my imagination.

I feel as though I can see the people here, see them working, living, being human. 

 

We all get our inspiration and our imagination from different sources and different things.

One of the things I’ve learned in my years of working with writers is it’s important to know how your brain works, and how you get inspiration. You may have seen some of the work that I’ve done with writers here in the group.

One of the things I do is tap into into my study of neuroscience to find out:

      1. what kind of thinker you are
  2. what kind of creator you are

By learning these two details, we can optimize your creativity and tailor our methods to suit your individual needs.

 

 If you’ve ever participated in one of our salons, you know sometimes people talk about writer’s block. “I’m so stuck, I don’t know what to write next.”

I’ve got a lot of strategies to help with through studying how the brain learns and creates. Through this approach, I can help you get to a beautiful, expansive place of imagination.  

I’d love to talk about where you are with your writing,  where you’d like to go, and how you can get there and be successful in your writing career.

If this sounds like you, let’s chat. Until next time, happy writing.

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What are Literary Agents REALLY Looking For?

What are Literary Agents REALLY Looking For?

by | Aug 19, 2020 | How to Publish, How to Revise a manuscript, Why is publishing so hard?, Writing | 0 comments

What are Literary Agents REALLY Looking For? 

 

One of our Writing Gym Podcast guests, Jeff Kleinmann from Folio Literary Management, recently shared with us what it’s like to be an agent and some of the things that happen behind those closed doors.

Before that, we asked Jeff how and why he became a literary agent. 

“Oh, it’s a huge mistake,” Jeff joked. “My career is not normal. I’m actually practicing intellectual property law and I happened to share offices with a literary agency. I would read manuscripts for the agency, and the first one I read ended up being sold for $100,000, and then I did a seven-figure deal with the author soon after. I worked with them back and forth but received no credit, and I thought that maybe I should seriously consider pursuing this path. And that’s where I am today. ” 

Jeff doesn’t believe that there are any low moments in his work. Recently, a book he worked on was on the best-seller list for a while, a memoir he worked on received a deal to make a series with Netflix, and so on. With such great accomplishments, it’s no wonder literary agents are as respected as the authors. 

However, there’s this myth out there that agents are these stuffy people who seem to enjoy rejecting authors and their manuscripts. I know that’s not true.

 

So, what’s it really like to be an agent?

 “It’s totally true,” Jeff stated.

“We own the Herald Ober Associates, which is one of the longest and oldest agencies in the country. It was established in 1929 and they represented William Faulkner, Agatha Christie, Langston Hughes and so on. Back then, anytime the phone rang, agents would say the standard: Thank you for calling. We are not accepting any new submissions. There is some sort of feeling that all this agency wants to do it to stay away from writers–which was kind of cool. But I think most agents aren’t at all in that world,” Jeff explained.  

One of the problems that Jeff finds in many writers is they submit manuscripts that aren’t ready.

“We see a lot of unsolicited stuff that isn’t ready to go. And because of that, we get to be protective of our time. To prevent us from slogging through 20 manuscripts that aren’t ready yet, a lot of us put up barriers. We want to make sure the writer is ready to go–and the only way to make sure of that is if they have gone through the right channels to get their manuscript ready.” 

I asked Jeff what he is seeing in the publishing industry, and he shared an important distinction between traditional publishing and self-publishing. 

“The split between those two really is the voice,” Jeff stated. “It’s the ability of the writer to be distinctive in the way they write. If you have distinctiveness, then it seems like you’re going down the trade route–the traditional publishing route. If you are maybe less distinctive, your book might be more commercial. It’s going to be more focused on plot rather than the writing itself. These books tend to be self-published, or non-traditionally published.” 

Indeed, not everyone has to go through the traditional route. Some people may realize that self-publishing makes more sense to them than going to a big traditional publishing house. 

As a literary agent, Jeff certainly receives a lot of manuscripts and other submission materials.

 

What kind of elements in a submission makes him feel excited?

“There are three elements that I look for. The first, and most important, is the writing. Every word in the query should sound mastered, should feel smooth and distinctive. Authentic. The second is premise. What is it about the book that would make me want to pick it up and read it? The third is credentials. Is the author speaking regularly? Are they a part of a literary community? Do they have an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) from a prestigious program? These are things that make me think they are serious writers.” 

 

What about things that don’t impress agents like him? 

“I used to read query letters with my daughter,” Jeff started. “When she was just four years old, I would read these letters to her like a bedtime story. When the letter is boring, she’d ask me to go to the next one. And, you know, having a four-year old judge a query letter is really useful. If I’m not interested or enthusiastic about it, then I just go to the next one.”

It’s definitely important for a writer to catch the attention of an agent with their query letter. If they don’t feel interested, they will go through them quickly and find other things to do. I always tell my writers that they have 30 seconds maximum to impress an agent. 

“Things like misplaced apostrophes,” Jeff continued, “passive voice, try-hard language, clumsiness of language–all these sorts of things end it for me. Before submitting query materials, authors should proofread their submissions.” 

It may seem unfair, a misused comma having the final say in the agent’s interest on your manuscript, but it “says to me that the author didn’t proofread their submission well enough,” Jeff finished. 

 

It’s one of these things that make agents seem very unapproachable, but I asked Jeff what it was he wished that writers knew about agents. 

“We almost see ourselves as the front-liners. Before your book gets to the publishing house, we really try to get the book in its strongest shape. But sometimes, we deal with authors who want to do their own thing. In reality, we want an author who would listen to us. And so, the question is: do you actually really want to hear somebody else’s opinion and are you actually going to make the changes?” 

Jeff was working with a writer whose book he loved so much, he read it twice. But he noticed that the writer seemed to be writing two completely different books. 

“I told him that he has to change the last part to fit the first part, or the other way around. The first part was just wonderful, but it didn’t fit the second part. He didn’t want to change anything. Maybe the second half of the book is the book he really wanted to write. But in order for the whole book to make sense, both parts have to make sense first.” 

 

What about for unpublished writers–what kind of thing should they know before sending anything to an agent?

In my line of work I see many aspiring writers send in materials that are half-cooked, not yet ready. And thank goodness they come to me for help, because I help them cook it. Jeff agreed. 

“I would encourage aspiring writers to have other people read their book. I would really make sure, from page one, that everything is clear–that there is something at stake and that the action is absolutely driving the story on the character’s desires.” 

Finally, I asked Jeff one tip he would give to aspiring authors.

“Ask somebody you trust, someone who reads a lot, to read your book. If your mom is a very gifted reader, ask her. Have them cut any words from the page they feel is unnecessary and pay them money. Real money. It is scary, but if you don’t want to pay up you have to make sure that your book is really tight, that it has narrative movement, before you have a different pair of eyes look at it.”

Thank you for your time Jeff. 

How to Land your Ideal Literary Agent with Jeanne Covert

How to Land your Ideal Literary Agent with Jeanne Covert

by | Aug 13, 2020 | How to Find a Literary Agent, How to Revise a manuscript, How to Write a Novel, Writing | 0 comments

How to Land your Ideal Literary Agent with Jeanne Covert

Jeanne Covert, a screenwriter and a member of the Writing Gym, came to us with a finished novel–a script that she novelized–after hearing conflicting information from different editors. 

Jeanne Covert

“A lot of the information they were giving me conflicted with a lot of things we do in film, especially when it came to the suspense and the pace. I was used to a very, very fast pace.”     

I took a brief look at her manuscript and, in her words, told her what exactly she was doing wrong and how to correct the situation. 

“And [coming to Annalisa] was the very best decision I’ve ever made. After working with [her], I saw what the editors were trying to tell me, but they didn’t know how to tell me because they didn’t understand screenwriting. But [Annalisa] did. It was eye opening the way she explained how elements in screenwriting translates over to the manuscript.” 

And [coming to Annalisa] was the very best decision I’ve ever made. 

 

Before the Writing Gym, Jeanne experienced a lot of frustration from the conflicting messages she received from different editors. But with the Writing Gym, she experiences a change. 

“Now I feel like I know what I’m doing. I feel like I understand the craft.” 

As a screenwriter, Jeanne worked more with the visuals. She enjoyed the pace, the action, and the internal development of her characters involved in films and writing for film. But at the Writing Gym, she also developed a love for writing novels.

“Now, I’m beginning to grow in love with the words, not just the visuals.” 

She’s also noticed an improvement in her screenwriting and marketing materials for a film. “No matter what kind of writing I’m doing, I can tell there’s been a huge increase in my skill.” 

As far as I can tell, this is a pretty good bang-for-your-back. Jeanne fell in love with writing and experienced a huge increase in skill and confidence. Besides these other accomplishments, we are celebrating two very exciting things for Jeanne. 

First, I just got off a meeting with her top-pick agent, who requested a script from her. 

“There was a manuscript request involved, which was extremely exciting to me because he is closed to queries at this point in time. So, even though he would be my top-pick agent, he’s not accepting unsolicited queries. It was off-limits until [Annalisa] was able to talk to him.”

Second, Jeanne received another manuscript request from a different agent–from a top agency, William Morris. 

“Because William Morris represents more media than just a novel writing,” Jeanne started, “I wanted them to represent me. I thought they would be a good fit for me. And it’s very exciting for me because you usually have to be recommended to that agency in order to get an agent to read your manuscript.” 

How does it feel to get two manuscript requests from two top agencies? 

“It is absolutely very, very exciting because as a scriptwriter and as a reader for a producer, I read a lot of scripts. I know what it’s like to be inundated with submissions. It’s exciting for me to have the scripts requested because that means it’s not just in that pile that piles up on their digital desk. I’m very excited that at the same time it’s like, is this really happening?”

It is exciting, indeed, and such a huge accomplishment. We asked Jeanne if she had any word of advice for the people at our Facebook group, Write to Publish. 

“There’s so much I’ve learned. But one of the things that I really value that we do in the Writing Gym is how we work on our mindset. What many people may not know is that I have a dissociative identity disorder. And so one of the things that I have been working on for years is rewiring my brain. The way that the Writing Gym is conducted and the way that Annalisa works with us helps with that. We are constantly doing things to rewire our brains so that we’re more creative.” 

“I’ve been doing all of these things for years, so it’s not like they were new to me, but all of a sudden I’m doing this with a group of people and we’re kind of all in the same place and we’re all supporting each other and we’re all doing these things. I was shooting light years ahead on my mind work. And I just, I can’t express how wonderful that is. ”

It is so great to hear that Jeanne found this kind of value in the work we do at the Writing Gym.

What she would say to anyone thinking of joining our Writing Gym?

“I would say join,” she stated. “A lot of people don’t realize it takes a lot of work and effort to be at the professional level.” And she’s right. Even people who have master’s degrees are not at the level where they can be professionally published. “You don’t necessarily have to have a degree, but you have to have the knowledge. And this is one of the things I really discovered with the Writing Gym.” 

“If I was going to spend the money getting my MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) or spend the money on the Writing Gym, there is no question that I’d put that MFA money into the Writing Gym. The MFA may or may not get you where you want to be. But the Writing Gym, the work we do in the Writing Gym, gets us to where we want to be.” 

“I’ve had other writing coaches in screenwriting and whatever, but [Annalisa] bats for us harder, stronger, more than any other writing coach I have ever worked with.”

Thank you Jeanne for your kind words and for celebrating with us. 

Until next time, happy writing. 

How to Finally Shed that Skin, and Write the Book

How to Finally Shed that Skin, and Write the Book

by | Aug 12, 2020 | Authors, How to Write a Novel, Writing | 0 comments

How to Finally Shed that Skin and Write the Book

 

 

On this episode of our Writing Gym Podcast, we have Manny Wolfe as our guest. Manny Wolfe is a personal branding consultant as well as a writer and here, he talks to us about his book, The Tao of the Unbreakable Man. 

Manny Wolfe

“It’s the thing that launched me into space,” Manny says about his book, “It was written from… a desperate need for catharsis. It’s a book about catharsis and it gave me catharsis at the same time. I wrote the book to once and for all perform an exorcism on the way that the judgment and the disapproval of my family affected my life. [I see my book as] the final piece of shedding the really, really unhealthy skin of my childhood.”

It’s a book about catharsis, and it gave me catharsis at the same time.

 

 

 

 

Naming a book is one of the things that writers struggle with, and Manny shares his titling journey, one that is rooted in very important experiences from his life. 

 

He took inspiration from the Chinese philosophical concept of the Tao (or Dao, 道). 

“Eastern philosophy has played a big part in framing the way I look at accountability, responsibility, dealing with challenges. All that stuff is very sort of important to me. And the reason I went with unbreakable was actually because of a rare moment where my mother and I were talking about some protracted struggle that I had been going through.” 

“And she just looked at me and said: I have no idea where you get that strength from. It was very uncommon for her to give direct complements. And it just stuck with me. ” 

Manny also wrote a paper in college in which he explores the idea of what it really means to be unbreakable, and these two moments met in his head.

“It was no question. I’m calling it the “Tao of the Unbreakable Man.” 

One of the interesting observations from where I sit, at Date with the Muse through the Writing Gym, is there’s always a moment of breakdown and a moment where healing happens.

At the Writing Gym, we help fiction and nonfiction authors alike, regardless of what genre they’re writing in. And it’s funny, because these moments of breakdown and healing happen to fiction and non-fiction writers alike. 

As a fiction writer, we asked Manny what his healing journey from writing was able to give him. 

“I do have a childhood and a young adult life that most people can’t wrap their heads around and so, if I’m being honest, I tell these stories to show off sometimes. But as I told these stories to my wife, she clearly and sincerely told me to write these experiences down. I didn’t know what to say. I tried to give her the excuse that I always planned to write a book, but I thought I’d wait until I was more successful. And she was flabbergasted.

She told me: “The fact that you’re alive and that you’re trying to be a good parent and that you’re trying to be a good man after what you went through is all the success you need to justify writing the story.”

He went home that night and started writing, “without trying to make [himself] look good, without trying to make the people [he’s had bad experiences with] look bad.” The whole thing was “therapeutic,” as Manny describes it, and he greatly credits his wife for grounding him. When it got to the point where he needed to end it, he was at a loss.

Yet, this was also the point in which his catharsis came in. “The whole book was really about my trying to fit in with my family and my guys and my dysfunction as a group.”

Being born in a cult, Manny stated that it affected how he created meaningful connections with others. He felt like he’ll never feel a connection outside of his own group that he grew up with. When he pulled away from them, little by little, the rift between him and them, as well as his identity was unavoidable. 

“I couldn’t stop writing until this is all out of me. It was physically hard and it was slow. But it felt like I pulled a cancer out of my mind. I felt all the injustice and the anger and the frustration and the sadness leave me. My whole life changed after writing that.” 

 

Now that his message is out in the world, we asked Manny what kinds of benefits he has experienced from this.

“Virtually all of the benefits were what you might call secondary or unexpected.” He admits that it feels great to say that his book is an international bestseller; it has an impact. To boil it down, he is happy about how many doors his book has opened up for him.

Manny has also shared what important lessons he got in the process of writing. “I realized that I was sort of processing the voices of all the authors I liked… Now, I literally have over 200 pages that I keep of false starts and I use those to remind me to just be my effing self. It was a real decluttering process to get to my own voice and to have courage. I’m writing for me. We hit the sweet spot in branding when we are our authentic selves.”

I’m writing for me.

Writing is one of the most intimate acts that we have because we’re sharing our soul with the world. It doesn’t matter if we’re writing fiction or not–at some point when we get into that piece of our soul, we become vulnerable. Manny then shared with us some insightful thoughts about writing as an art.

“I would argue that just telling the truth isn’t quite enough. Other people share great ideas, but it’s not always done in a way that makes me feel connected. A good writer, for me, has the ability to get their most important ideas out in a simple and engaging way.” 

Lastly, for aspiring writers, he advises them to grow their audience massively.

“And get to the point where you’re telling the truth. I’ll leave that vaguely so you can ponder that.” 

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