Why Writing a Book Is an Act of Courage

writing a book

Each time I meet someone who wants to write a book, I send up a little prayer. May your book be of service in the world. May you find the help you need to get it out there. And may you have the bravery to follow your book journey all the way to the end. … Read more

Good Bones: Crafting a Solid Book Structure

book structure

A great title, cover and concept are often enough to get a reader to pull your book off the shelf. But what keeps her reading until the every end, and gets her to recommend the book to friends? The answer is an amazing reading experience. One where the content of the book flows so seamlessly … Read more

Creating a Simple Writing Plan You Can Stick To

writing plan

What’s the hardest part about writing? DOING IT! You can have the greatest ideas in the world, but setting aside the time to sit down and put pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboard) is a whole different story. So how do I help my authors skirt the deadly territory of “writer who isn’t writing?” I … Read more

A Publishing Timeline for First-Time Authors

publishing timeline

No matter how you slice it, writing a book is a big, long, complex job. Most first-time writers assume that once they finish their draft manuscript, the heavy lifting is complete. All they have to do is wait for their publisher to put a few things together, and they’ll have a beautiful book in their … Read more

Editorial Tip: How To Write Dialogue That Works

how to write dialogue

Writing dialogue seems like it would be so easy. We talk all the time, right? How hard could it be to just write it down? But it takes a little more than that to make dialogue seem real. Frequently, the dialogue we imagine for our characters sounds stilted or overly formal. That’s partly because, when … Read more

Is a Ghostwriter Right for You?

ghostwriter

One of the first things I learned when I first opened KN Literary arts is that the term “ghostwriter” has a realllllllly bad rep. I would be chatting with prospective clients, and the same publishing obstacles would come up: Not enough time to write a whole book or proposal Not confident in the writing process … Read more

Three Really Good Reasons You’re Not Writing

not writing

Recently I was chatting with a new friend of mine, a teacher and leader in her field, about the fact that I help birth books for a living. She covered her face in her hands and said, in a muffled voice, “Oh dear. I’m supposed to be writing a book!” She was embarrassed to admit … Read more

Zhang Yang: Breaking All The Rules

zhang yang

I love it when one of the “hard and fast” rules I teach is elegantly altered by an encounter with great piece of art. Such was my experience watching Zhang Yang’s remarkable film “Paths of the Soul” last night at the Dairy Center theater here in Boulder. This movie begins with a rare window into … Read more

A New Nonfiction: Let’s Get Practical

Some people love to read fiction—they want to be swept away into a different world where they get to experience an entirely different sort of existence. Some people love to read memoir. They are riveted by the real-life story of another human being—the ups and downs, the deaths and rebirths of someone living a very … Read more