Get Rid Of Your Publishing Anxiety Once and For All

Get Rid Of Your Publishing Anxiety Once and For All

Get Rid Of Publishing Anxiety Once and For All

 

One question people ask me a lot is, “Is publishing a do-it-yourself activity?” “Why do I need help, can’t I get published on my own?”

It’s true, people get published all the time on their own, but often I see a lot of wasted time and effort.

When people try on their own, they struggle because they don’t know how to start, what the standards of the publishing industry are, or they’re not familiar with the industry itself.

They’ll bang up against the wall again and again, eventually giving up. Or, they’ll self publish and have mediocre results, only selling a couple of hundred books.

For the people who get help, for the people over in the Writing Gym, what I see is they’re having a whole lot more fun.

When you’re working with other people who are doing exactly what you’re doing, are as serious about publishing as you are, and have the same dreams, goals and aspirations as you do, “you’re in your tribe” as one of our writers said. (Shout out to Stephen!)

Those are your people. They want what you want. They’re a great sounding board for you, and it’s wonderful.

And while they are having more fun, and fun is good, fun doesn’t get published necessarily.

What else is great about getting the help that you need?

Well, if you’re working with the right professional, as the people over in the Writing Gym do, things happen.

I am making phone calls on behalf of my writers to literary agents and publishers, fast-tracking them to publishing and avoiding that slush pile.

Somebody said to me recently, “Oh, you know, I saw one of your Facebook lives, so I decided I could do it on my own. I’m going to call the publisher, and it’s going to work.”

Maybe it will and maybe it won’t, but I can tell you that I spend a lot of time getting lunch with publishers, agents, and so on. By doing that, I can pick up my phone and say, “Hey I got this great YA novel, here’s a brief synopsis,” and then give them the elevator pitch and ask, “How would you position this?”

Nine times out of ten when I’m on the phone with them, they say they’d love to see that project, and ask to send it over right away. 

The other day, I was on the phone with an acquisitions editor, chit-chatting with her about the industry, and got talking to her about one of our writers. She said “Please send me both manuscripts,” and off those manuscripts went.

So working with others brings you more fun and better results.

Writers in the Writing Gym get together, write on a regular basis, and receive a specific kind of feedback based on the way your brain learns and creates the best.

This process allows you to gain more confidence so when you get those rejections, you can see okay, it’s not what that particular publisher is looking for, rather than taking rejection as a setback. You’ll understand how to process feedback, integrate it into your writing, when to listen to and when to say “Thank you very much, but that’s not for me right now.”

These are all the advantages that writers have over in the Writing Gym. If this sounds like something you’d like to explore, let’s chat.

Until next time. Happy writing.

How To Turn Your Writing into a Real Career

How To Turn Your Writing into a Real Career

How To Turn Your Writing into a Real Career

 

As many of you may know, we run a Facebook group called “Write to Publish and Sell Your Novel” where I share many of my publishing and writing tips.

I’ve been going through some of the pending posts, and I was really surprised at how many “Buy my Book” kind of posts there were along with questions about our process. 

Now, here’s something that you need to know about this Facebook group, Write to Publish and Sell Your Novel. We are about one thing, and one thing only, and that’s real results.

What are real results? Real results mean successfully turning your writing into a career and creating an author lifestyle that attracts readers and allows you to publish time and time again.

Members of the Writing Gym are getting real results.

They’re writing, revising, and publishing books. They’re getting on national television, gaining readers, doing book signings and events. They’re doing the things that makes them able to call themselves authors. This month, we got two publishing contracts for members of the Writing Gym. 

So, how are we getting real results?

I’ll focus on what we don’t do, because there’s a lot of practices that you’re going to see in other groups that we don’t do here in Write to Publish. 

First and foremost, what we don’t do are beta readers.

We believe in real, personalized feedback that gets results and is based on the way that your brain learns and creates. Beta readers are not going to help you get the kind of feedback you need, feedback that’s going to move your piece to successful publication, and eventually to selling many books and having readers. Rather, beta readers may derail that effort, and that’s why we don’t do them.

Secondly, we don’t focus on questions such as “what should my character’s name be?” in this group.

Those are fine questions to ask, but we take care of those questions over in the Writing Gym during the revision phase of the process. This phase is when we look at questions around characters, plotlines, place names, character names, possible titles, etc.

Why don’t we talk about these kinds of questions in Write to Publish? Because those kinds of questions ultimately have to do with personal preference, which is an opinion.

For example, feedback such as “I don’t like Jennifer, choose Mary for the character’s name” is arbitrary. Opinions aren’t helpful if you want to create a publishing career. What we want are results

Lastly, another thing that we don’t do in this group is post “Buy my $0.99 ebook” posts.

I’m sure your $0.99 ebook is fabulous, but let’s focus on what’s really important here, which is results. Our goal is to turn your writing into a career, and you are not going to create an author lifestyle based on $0.99 ebooks.

Let’s just do the math and think about your grocery bill for this week. Think about how many books you’d have to sell just to buy groceries. Or think about your mortgage, your rent, your car — a $0.99 ebook is not going to cut it.  But, we do care about $14.99 paperbacks. We do care about $24.99 hardcovers. We do care about publishing with the Big Five, and we care about creating an author lifestyle.

We care about quality.

If you want to create the author lifestyle and get real results, you’re in the right place. This is what our Facebook group, Write to Publish and Sell Your Novel, is all about. 

If that sounds like you, I would love to chat with you. Good luck and until next time.

How We Support Writers to Confidence in the Writing Gym: “The Writing Gym has made believe that I am a writer.” 

How We Support Writers to Confidence in the Writing Gym: “The Writing Gym has made believe that I am a writer.” 

andHow We Support Writers to Confidence in the Writing Gym: “The Writing Gym has made believe that I am a writer.”

 

Due to COVID-19, all our lives have been disrupted in some meaningful way over the past weeks and months.

The Writing Gym community has been very important to us for a long time, and it has become even more so.

When people talk about the community that we have over in the Writing Gym, they talk about it being life-changing, the positivity, the support that they get, and how it’s different from anything they’ve experienced before–now, more than ever.

In times of uncertainty, in times of crisis, community becomes even more important. The Writing Gym is an even bigger deal to its members.

If you know me, you know my mission: to build a supportive writing community where people are getting real results and having a dang good time doing it.

I’m happy to see the vision I had years ago come to fruition–a beautiful place where writers can be nourished, have a good time, and enjoy each other’s company.

That’s what the Writing Gym is.

 

And writers are getting great result

So, what have we been doing since COVID came around and disrupted all our lives?

Well, we’ve been doing some special sessions over in the Writing Gym to bring us together on a more regular basis. I think it’s important now more than ever to have those points of contact, to laugh with each other, and to get into the writing craft together.

Last month, we did a ton of bonus sessions. We had an online Writing Retreat that turned out to be spectacular!

We continued that trend this month with a bonus session on Spec Fiction. We’re seeing a lot of requests for that when we look at agent descriptions. They’re looking for Spec Fiction.

A lot of folks have been wondering, “What is Spec Fiction? What does that mean?” Stephen Oliver broke it down for us in a terrific session.

We had one of our ever-popular sprints. We have those on a regular basis. Our Gym rats enjoy them, and a lot of work gets done.

We also did a special bonus session on how to create tension in your writing.

This is something we talk about a whole lot during the Revision period. So we did a deep dive into the craft and into creating tension — not just on the scene level, but also on a global level–in your novel.

 

So, those are just some of the things that I’ve been working on to make things happen for writers over the Writing Gym.

It’s a really special place, full of special people–people like our Mary Murry. Mary has been a big part of our community for a while now, and we’re glad to have her with us.

The Gym has meant a lot to Mary. She says, “The Writing Gym has made me believe that I’m a writer.”

Mary, you are a writer — an incredible writer – and I’m so glad to have you in our community. Thank you for sharing that with us.

 

I can’t stress enough that it truly is a special place, and that’s why membership is by invitation only.

Not because we’re snobs – we are absolutely not snobs! It’s invitation-only because we want to be sure we have the right folks with us, people who take the writing craft seriously without taking themselves too seriously. Because, like I said, we have a good time over there, and we get things done.

If you’re a writer, this is what you want for your life. You want a great place to hang out with great people, like Mary, who want to come to believe that they are writers, and to build their confidence and to get that book written–which she did.

I’d love to chat with you to see if you’re the right fit for our community, talk about where you are, where you’d like to go, and how you can get there. You can book yourself directly into my calendar, and we can chat about your writing dream.

Until next time, Happy Writing

Never Give Up on Your Writing

Never Give Up on Your Writing

Never Give Up on Your Writing

 

Today, I am ready to feature Barbara Pattee, who has an amazing message about never giving up. Barbara is writing a romance novel, but one that dabbles a little in crime.

“I like romance that is a little more than ‘boy meets girl,’ or ‘girl meets boy,’ where everything ends happily ever after,” Barbara said.

Barbara joined the Writing Gym after years of writing on her own. For as long as she can remember, she felt compelled to express herself through her writing.

“I’ve always been a writer,” she said. “I used to write in secret, because it wasn’t considered an important career. I even learned how to do shorthand.”

Her writing has taken many forms over the years. She has done short stories, poetry, and memoir pieces–including one she put together from stories her father told her when he had fallen ill.

“He started talking about his childhood, I started writing notes, and I wrote a memoir based on what he said,” Barbara said. “I read it to him, and he loved it.”

 

As much as Barbara enjoyed writing, there was something about it that left her unfulfilled.

“I wasn’t happy,” she said. “I knew that I wanted more. I’ve wanted to write something full-length.”

Barbara knew she wanted to write a novel. However, when she sought feedback–professional writers, writing groups, etc.–she encountered a lot of resistance.

Yet Barbara wouldn’t allow this to deter her from her dream.

“I said I would never give up,” she said. “And I didn’t.”

Like many writers, Barbara has her share of horror stories about what can happen when you look for feedback in the wrong places. One professor, a professional writer herself, read one of Barbara’s stories and drowned her in a torrent of negative criticism.

“She hated it,” Barbara said. “But classmates came to me, some in tears, saying they loved what I wrote. So I was getting a mixed messages.”

The feedback wasn’t helping at all; if anything, it hurt. Then, at a writers’ conference, Barbara saw Storytelling for Pantsers. She felt as if the book had been written just for her.

“I started reading it, and I thought, ‘She’s talking to me. She’s saying what I’m feeling,'” Barbara said.

“I have dozens and dozens of books (about writing) that did not move me. But Storytelling for Pantsers spoke to me.”

The book spoke to Barbara’s aversion to outlining her stories. Finally, she had confirmation of what she believed:

She didn’t need an outline to write a good story.

“I’m a pantser,” she said. “I can’t do outlines. I had to do it in school and I hated it from the beginning.”

Reading the book inspired Barbara to get on a call with me.

“The call was very encouraging,” she said. “I liked that you don’t tell us we have to do something. What you do is you make suggestions, give us ideas, and ask us questions to answer.”

I invited Barbara to join the Writing Gym, and she accepted. Since then, we have been working together on her novel. Barbara enjoys the information and encouragement she get from the video modules on the Writing Gym website. She also loves the Salons, in which writers get together, write for 20 minutes based on a prompt, and share their writing with each other.

“There’s no negativity in Salon,” Barbara said. “And you also get feedback on what other writers hear in your story. Some things you may not think are that important wind up being extremely important and that encourages me as a writer.”

During one of the early Salons, Barbara wrote a piece that involved slavery, similar to the one her college professor had treated with disdain. As she shared it with the other writers, she braced herself for another barrage of negative feedback.

“I thought, ‘Am I going to get slammed again?’” Barbara remembers. “But I wasn’t. I was encouraged, and that was beautiful.”

Barbara said she has grown a great deal as a writer since joining the Gym.

Barbara’s writing is thriving. She credits her encouragement from me, and from her fellow “Gym Rats,” for helping her summon the courage to be vulnerable in her storytelling.

I have added a lot more emotion in my stories, which, as a child growing up I was taught that I had to hold back. But, as a writer, I have to look inside myself, think about what I am feeling.

In the Writing Gym, we talk a lot about the inner critic.

Listening to your inner critic can hold you back in your writing, and you have to learn to silence it in order to maximize your storytelling potential.

Barbara has wrestled with her inner critic for years. But now, she’s winning!

“My inner critic is upset, because she doesn’t have much to say now,” she said. “I’m smiling a lot more. Even my husband has noticed that.”

Barbara has been an amazing advocate of the Writing Gym; she recommends it to whoever will listen.

“I tell them about what it’s like being in the Writing Gym, and I’ve tried to encourage them to join,” she said. “I’m hoping that they will join even before my book is published. But after it’s published, I know they’re going to want to join.”

Barbara realizes that the Writing Gym isn’t for everyone. She knows it’s not a place for hobbyists.

“I think it’s really about deciding how serious you are,” she said about joining the Gym. “How much do you want to be a writer? Is it a hobby, or is it something you want as a career?”

Barbara has made her choice; she wants a writing career, and she’s willing to put in the work to get there. The more progress she makes, the more resolute she becomes.

“I will not give up. I’m going to continue.”

Thank you so much, Barbara! We love having you in the Writing Gym!

If you’re serious about your writing career, we’d love to chat with you. 

 

Do You Want LIFE-CHANGING Feedback on Your Writing?

Do You Want LIFE-CHANGING Feedback on Your Writing?

Do you want LIFE-CHANGING feedback on your writing?

 I want to talk about what we do over in the Writing Gym and why we believe what we believe. 

I’ve talked to some of you about peer-to-peer feedback, while some of you have also asked me about beta readers.

Feedback is something I wrote a lot about in my book “Storytelling for Pantsers,” including peer-to- peer feedback and beta readers, and why those are not the best ways to get feedback. When I say this, people look at me like “what do you mean?” because so many writers use that technique.

 

Writers that rely on these types of feedback end up giving up and not finishing their manuscripts; they get confused because they get lots of different types of feedback. 

 

 When writers get the wrong kind of feedback, they oftentimes will give up their manuscript. People have been kicked out of writing groups, left writing groups, been insulted, and more. You wouldn’t believe the stories I’ve heard about frustration and uncertainty.

 

Mostly, what people end up getting from peer-to-peer or beta reader feedback is too many ideas at the same time.

 

One reader says, “Well, I think you should do this,” and another person says, “No, you should do the opposite,” and then there’s the author in the middle just confused. I bet you have a story like that, because so many writers have talked to me about it and how they feel frustrated.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

There is a method of feedback that’s actually effective and helps you to grow as a writer. You may have heard about or seen videos about the writing salons we do over in the Writing Gym.

A lot of writers say they are life-changing. 

These salons are based on the neuroscientific research that I did during my tenure as a teacher.

As a professor, I did some work at MIT’s brain imaging lab and some work on Harvard’s campus. The work I’ve one focuses on optimizing your brain’s function.  That’s what we do in the writing salon. You will get quality feedback, and it can be optimized to the way your brain is meant to work. 

People have said that their confidence increased, and they felt like a real writer after they attended a salon. There have been many incidents where people write non-stop for days. I had one person come to one of these writing salons, and after she wrote for the entire weekend. She has since published five books.

The writing salon is really, really powerful and I hope that you can join us there. 

To find out where you are, where you’d like to go, and how you can get there put yourself on my calendar: https://datewiththemuse.com/bookacall

Feedback Horror Stories

Feedback Horror Stories

Feedback Horror Stories 

One aspect of writing that we talk about in Write to Publish is feedback, and within that topic are feedback horror stories. Many writers say to me they feel like nobody really understands their writing, and they get feedback on the wrong things. They want input on one thing but get input on another, and worse, on things not as important or meaningful as the content of their writing.  

This happens for many writers, and it hurts their writing. There is also the possibility it can hurt your brain, which I wrote extensively about in my book.

 Getting the wrong kind of feedback at the wrong time can reprogram the neural pathways of your brain. So yes, there are consequences to getting bad feedback. 

I’ve heard stories about personal attacks people suffered because others were jealous of or didn’t understand their writing. I’ve also heard about people who wrote a ridiculous number of pages, simply because they had inconsistent feedback and weren’t sure what to do. 

Here is a dating analogy. Let’s say I love to date bad boys, but keep wondering why they’re so bad for me. Or I only date selfish people, and keep wondering why they’re so selfish. This is the same with writing.

Many writers keep getting bad feedback from beta readers, other writers, and other people, but never get themselves out of that pattern.

What these writers have to do is change. To help their writing careers, they need to experience real and positive feedback, something they’ve never experienced before. 

It doesn’t have to be a feedback horror story.

In the Writing Gym salons, we give you feedback that boosts your confidence and inspires your writing. We give feedback based on neuroscience. In my book, I wrote about how your brain is intended to function in a certain way. 

Let’s say your knees and elbows only bend one way. You know this fact, yet you want to run a marathon. You won’t be able to run that marathon, because your body parts weren’t meant to do things like that. Your brain functions the same way. If you’re in a writing group that utilizes beta readers, that is the equivalent of my marathon analogy. 

If you would like to know what it’s like to be in a feedback situation with a group that optimizes your brain’s natural function, then I’d love to speak with you.

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