This past weekend I moderated a panel for Airdrie Pride Society with five brilliant panelists on the topic of what works and what needs improvement in the LGBTQ community in our small city. The question of representation was not on my cue cards but it came up naturally through the conversation, and it got me wondering… how many of us …
Patience is not a virtue I have in abundance. So, take my impatient nature into account when I stress how important it is to take our time when writing and publishing a full book. For example, my first book, though filled with great takeaways, was rushed because of my impatience and will eventually need a rewrite. It was rushed, and …
If you are writing any form of your own story, either in a memoir or in vignettes in a non-fiction self-help or how-to book, there will be some self-exploration that occurs. The truth is that no one wants to read a book about how great you are and how swimmingly your life has gone. Nope. To write a good story …
Walk into any coffee shop in any city or town in North America and you are bound to find someone tapping away at a keyboard. The proverbial writer hyped on coffee writing the next bestseller. But did you know that us writers hang out in coffee shops for another motivation besides forcing ourselves to shower, dress and leave the house? …
When it comes to musical tastes, some of us like jazz, some of us like country and some of us like heavy metal. We can easily tell the difference in the voice of each genre—the smooth jazz voice compared to the country twang and the screaming rock. We can also identify a particular singer’s voice as soon as we hear …
I’ve been on this writing journey for over 30 years now and writing professionally for twelve. I was not born an award winner. I had to hone my craft because we all learn as we go. Like many writers, I also love to read and over the years certain books have stayed with me and helped me along my journey. …
There is a perpetual discussion in my marriage when it comes to cooking. My husband likes the low and slow method, whereas I am a high heat—can’t wait to eat kind of gal. In fact, I’m in a rush for most tasks in my life, which does not always serve writing deep. Writing deep requires us to slow down. As …
Last night, at ten in the evening, I received a celebratory text from a client saying she’d just hit SEND on her full manuscript requested by a literary agent. Together, we had begun her agent search a few months ago and after a few queries and getting no response she finally had someone interested in her project. There was much …
“I can’t find the time!” I hear this often, and quite honestly, it’s my own number one refrain when assigned any new task. Whether it’s setting aside the time to write a blog post or newsletter or getting around to that book you keep meaning to write, time can be an elusive creature. Yet, Brené Brown, Glennon Doyle and Oprah …
Whether it’s time to write a blog or the next chapter in your book, nothing is quite as demoralizing as staring at a blank page with a blank mind offering up not one word to write. Here are my favorite go-to tricks to get out of writer’s block. Go for a walk Getting away from a screen and moving your …
