What will happen?

You’ll gain a better sense of what you do all day.

In a recent post in The Willamette Writers Newsletter (scroll down on this page), I described platform dynamic as I see it working for writers in various genres.

You’ve heard me talk about this in this blog (here, here, and here).

You can also see what I’ve written on the topic here. (I’ve written more in  The Writer’s Workout LINK and my Build Your Author Platform workbook LINK.)

What I thought I’d help you do today, was get started uncovering your platform dynamic. Because your platform dynamic is connected to what you do all day.

Here’s ten verbs that describe what I do all day:

1. Write
2. Teach
3. Coach
4. Trouble-shoot
5. Edit
6. Critique
7. Administrate
8. Inspire
9. Learn
10. Respond

Now your turn. In the comments below, could you please list the ten verbs that describe what you do in your writing career all day?

Don’t overthink it. And please do not include verbs from the rest of your life (meaning from the non-writing parts of your daily life).

Just give us the verbs from your writing life. Go! Dig. Discover…

What do you notice about your verbs?

I love, love, love this post from Seth Godin — Three Masters –  which encapsulates the essence of platform development, not just for writers but for anyone.

My only response to Seth’s post would be to encourage writers to focus on all three aspects of their ongoing platform development–existing customer base, another customer base, and serving your muse–at the same time, instead of just one or the other. Make it a regular rotation in your weekly schedule.

I also love this recent post–Doing It Wrong, Relentlessly–because I also refuse to work the system.

The reason is because “the system,” indeed any system, isn’t going to support my creative growth and development in the long run, so why would I adopt to one?

The three things that Seth is not saying here that I say repeatedly in my work are:

1. Tap into the essence of what you offer for multiple audiences and everything unfolds from there.

2. Use whatever tools make sense and in any ways that make sense. The tools are not the focus, what you offer is the focus.

3. Find your natural rhythm based on what you offer, who wants what you offer, and how you use your tools.

When you focus on what you can do for the people you serve, that’s when the magic happens.

For writers, the magic is happening in the exchange of energy between writer and others. Between you and others.

Open up the communication valve between you and your audiences. That’s where the synergy is. That’s where you want to be on a regular basis.

My Build Your Author Platform Self-study Workbook is on sale for $29.99 until March 15th. Learn more here.

These are some examples of Tech-savvy Writers for our discussion at AWP 2012 in Chicago today.

Get this, writers: traditional media is the circulatory system. But new media is the nervous system. And the two work great together.

The circulatory system makes sure all your everything gets nourished. But the nervous system means you get to have the perception to appreciate that nourishment.

When you want awareness about your book, you want the extended nervous system of humanity to know it.

Just make sure you bring the circulatory system along too, if you possibly can.

These writers do. Check ‘em out!

Cheryl Strayed

Most recent book: Wild, a memoir from Alfred A. Knopf (March 2012) and forthcoming Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar coming this summer.

It’s never too late to get techy!

Strayed is not the most tech-savvy writer you’ll ever meet, by any means. But remember this, writers—better late than never!

Strayed is appearing at AWP this year and you will be hearing her name a lot in the upcoming months if you haven’t already. She has a feature interview in the latest Poets & Writers magazine and also recently had a feature in my hometown paper, The Oregonian. In a rising tide of publicity genius, Strayed timed the big reveal of her role as “Dear Sugar” on The Rumpus to tie in with the launch of her two new books.

Wild will be released in March (you can pre-order it here) and another book that chronicles her columns from The Rumpus will be released this summer.

Strayed wrote a memoir about hiking the PCT, that’s the backstory.

Strayed wrote the line: “Write like a motherfucker,” for therumpus.net. That’s the lead-in story to the backstory.

The end of the story is that more people will read her memoir in the long run because she wrote that top-secret Rumpus advice column.

So put your judgement aside, writers, and see the Internet and technology as your allies, not your enemies.

Learn more about Cheryl Strayed. And buy her books!

Cory Doctorow

Science Fiction writer and activist, Cory Doctorow is one of the smartest people I have ever met. If you are also intelligent, I hope you will follow his proactive, provacative example.

What I’ve learned from Cory is that it does not matter how intelligent you are; it matters what you DO with that intelligence. Your intelligence is either serving your heart or imprisoning it (or something in between). I hope, for your sake, dear writer, that your intelligence is not only serving your heart, but also serving the world.

You can have an ego, that’s fine. Cory certainly has one. But as long as you use your ego in service of the world and others, we are going to cut you a lot more slack than if you just sit around indulging your pride.

You do not have to be perfect, dear writer. Perfection is unattainable and unsustainable. But there is no excuse for self-indulgence and laziness. Got off your rump and write something. Than do something with it. Isn’t that what we’re all here for?

I recommend any of Cory’s books hand’s down (especially to sci-fi fans) because they are so acclaimed and he is so adored by his fans. However, since I am not a sci-fi gal, I particularly like his two collections of essays, Content and Context. Tons of food for thought in there for any writer today and you can listen to them on audio for free.

Seth Godin

If every writer read all of Seth Godin’s marketing books, we would need to have this panel because marketing and self-promotion would be a required class in every writing MFA program in the country. And I know we are doing better but we are not there yet.

So don’t wait for your writing program to get schooled. School yourself. Seth’s books are remarkably accessible and east to digest. You can read them while you are on the bus or waiting to pick up the kids. Just read them!

Godin has saved my career more than once. He is a strong influences in my two recent books, Get Known Before the Book Deal and The Writer’s Workout Coach, both from Writer’s Digest Books.

You can buy them new or used and thank me later. Here’s the most recent list. Read them all is what I recommend.

I am the author of Get Known Before the Book Deal from Writer's Digest Books.

When it comes to platform development, I have learned a thing or two about a thing or two over the past twelve years. Here are a few insights…

• Have a specialty focus, but don’t adhere to your specialty focus so tightly that you miss opportunities or don’t get to follow your healthy creative instincts. Nobody ever said having a platform meant cutting yourself off from your inspiration.
• You don’t need a guru to develop and grow a platform, but you do need solid, informed, up-to-date advice from a number of knowledgeable resources according to your current needs.
• Platform development is not a one-time event, it’s a career-long process. Learn what you can now and keep learning as you grow your career over time.

I have explored platform development as an aspiring author, as an author, and as a multi-book author, and I always enjoy the challenge of learning new ways to communicate who I am and what I offer to others as I expand my writing horizons.

This past summer, I wrote a self-study course for Writer’s Digest which I have turned into a workbook to accompany my second book, Get Known Before the Book Deal.

Get Known has helped thousands of writers go from invisible and unknown to visible and known, and it can help you, too, especially when used in conjunction with my workbook, Build Your Author Platform.

During the week of The Associated Writing Conference, I am knocking ten bucks off the workbook price, so you can purchase Build Your Author Platform for just $29.99.

Here’s an excerpt from the introduction of Build Your Author Platform…

This self-study workbook is designed to help you identify and grow your author platform from scratch. What’s a platform? In 2007, I created the following definition of the word:

A platform communicates your expertise to others. It includes your Web presence, any public speaking you do, the classes you teach, the media contacts you’ve established, the articles you’ve published, and any other means you currently have for making your name and your future books known to a viable readership.

Basically, your platform is everything you DO with your expertise. A platform-strong writer is a writer with influence. Once you establish a platform, it can work for you 24/7, reaching readers even as you sleep. Of course, this kind of reach takes time. If many others already recognize your expertise on a given topic or for a specific audience or both, then you likely have an active platform.

I find it helpful to define a platform as a promise writers make to not only create something to sell (like a book), but also to promote it to the specific readers who will want to purchase it. This takes both time and effort, not to mention considerable focus.

I hope you will purchase the workbook and use it with Get Known Before the Book Deal to get started building your professional platform today! Happy platform-building!

Looking forward to seeing everyone at AWP 2012 in my old stomping grounds, Chicago, Illinois!

Here’s the details of our panel:

R175. The Tech-Empowered Writer: Embrace New Media, Experiment, and Earn
(Christina Katz, Jane Friedman, Seth Harwood, Robert Lee Brewer)
Boulevard Room A,B,C, Hilton Chicago, 2nd Floor
What can a professor, a journalist, a novelist, and a poet teach you about new media? Using real-life examples from our own experience and that of other tech-savvy writers, we’ll construct a composite of how working writers use technology to invest in their careers, experiment and launch new works, and grow their income opportunities. Whether you need a day job, a part-time job, or just enough gigs to pay a few bills, there have never been so many ways for tech-savvy writers to earn.

Come back to this blog on Thursday, March 1st for some great examples of writers who are using technology to grow and empower their careers.

Be sure to visit blogs by @JaneFriedman, @sethharwood, and @RobertLeeBrewer.

Follow them on Twitter, so you won’t miss their conference and tech-related tweets.

Follow @Porter_Anderson for continuous tweets on the entire conference.

Thanks to all the folks who make AWP possible. See you in Chicago, writers!

Your author platform is as totally unique as this snowflake.

This is a special offer I made to my newsletter subscribers earlier this month and now I’m making it available to all, but only until January 31st.

You don’t need to spend a small fortune to cultivate your author platform, but you do need to think like an author. An author is the composer of a literary work or works, and platform development can and should begin long before a writer is ready for authorhood.

Most writers who are producing regular writing are ready to start thinking about their platforms. But often writers don’t realize that platform development is just as creative and synergistic as writing itself. In other words, you can enjoy creating, developing, and expanding your platform, just as much as you enjoy the rest of your writing career. In the long run, no two author platforms look alike.

I am all about teaching writers to understand their strengths and put them at the center of their writing careers. I teach writers how to discover their strengths and let their strengths lead. This dramatically simplifies the platform development process and puts you, the writer, in charge of the platform growth process.

Don’t give your writing career away. There are no funnels, no systems, no formulas involved in the way I teach platform. The way I teach platform it begins and ends with you. You don’t need me to have a successful platform…you need you.

The Build Your Author Platform Workbook was featured as a self-study course in the September 2011 Build Your Platform Premium Kit from Writer’s Digest, so you know it’s high quality. On January 1st the right to the material reverted back to me.

Now I can offer this 8-week workbook to you for only $29.99. The price will return to $39.99 on February 1st, so order now!

Learn more about the Build Your Author Platform Workbook here.

(Oops! The button was not working but all fixed now.)

My latest article for Writer's Digest appears in the Writer's Yearbook 2012 on stands and available from WD.com now!

If you have read any of my new book, you know that it focuses on putting your writing at the center of your writing career, and allowing everything else to follow from there.

Yes, you need to learn more skills than ever to succeed at a professional writing career, but the writing must come first and as writers we must return to the writing over and over as we grow our careers.

I have been working with writers for over a decade now and here is what I’ve noticed: a writing writer is a happy writer. And a writer who is doing everything else besides writing, when writing is what they’d really rather be doing, is an unhappy writer.

If you are a writer, everything you are emerges from the writing you actually do. I don’t know how to say it any more clearly than that.

Enter 2012. We now have more tools available to produce our own success than ever. But this brings a new dilemma—which tools do we use and when? How do we know what to do? How can we do what we do with excellence? And how can we create consistently positive results?

Well, just as the writing would not happen without a writer’s full engagement, writing success won’t happen on its own or maintain itself without your thoughtful, focused attention. It also helps to have a great mentor and be surrounded by other who behave like professionals.

A challenge for me, as a writer and writing coach, has been how can I clone myself? How can I help thousands of writers without becoming personally drained, emotionally exhausted, and creatively spent on a daily basis?

How do I get my hard-won knowledge about helping writers create writing career success to writers and still take care of my own professional and personal responsibilities?

Well, I’ve worked long and hard to solve this dilemma. And I feel I have finally resolved it. Here’s how you can work with me if you would like to:

I write books and workbooks for a global audience of writers. You may know what books I am talking about (Writer Mama, Get Known, Author Mama, and The Writer’s Workout). I have one workbook out so far, with more to roll out in 2012 (so far, Build Your Author Platform goes with Get Known.) If you want to know what I know, read my books. If you read my books and liked them, I would appreciate your word-of-mouth support any time you want to give it. I especially appreciate book reviews.

I write articles for a global audience of writers. I don’t have to ask people to read my articles, they are widely read and widely appreciated by writers. But hey, if you want to forward links to your favorites or tweet them or post them on Facebook, I am all for it. If you want more depth on subtopics of what I know, please read my articles.

I write articles on topics I enjoy writing about for regional audiences of women, moms and parents. I don’t tend to buzz these much because I sell and resell them year after year. Some day, I’ll put them all in a collection, but not yet. Chances are very good that your regional parenting magazine editor is already on my regular contact list.

I audio coach wide audiences of writers. This is new. I learned how to do this in the “flash class” to celebrate the launch of The Writer’s Workout and it went so unbelievably well that I decided to do more in 2012. In the meantime, my newsletter subscribers have first dibs on the first audio coaching session this year.

I speak to large groups of writers. I give keynotes, presentations, workshops, and I moderate panels. My objective whenever I speak is always to inspire writers to wake up and seize the opportunities that are right in front of us. Listeners tell me they are inspired into action by this focus. If you have heard me speak, feel free to get in touch and let me know what you thought.

I teach small groups of writers on a six-week basis. I have been teaching groups of writers consistently for ten years. My writing classes launch writing careers. I teach five sessions of small classes a year. My students learn skills that they can immediately apply to their writing, selling, self-promotion, specializing, and micro-publishing repertoire.

I train small groups of former students on a half-year basis. I have been doing this for two years and I absolutely love it. Via my five-month training groups, my former students get more support from me, I get to encourage them as a group, and the members encourage each other. The results are so powerful they sometimes bring me to tears.

I produce my own success while simultaneously partnering with trust-worthy others. Don’t skip over the “trust-worthy” part. If I feel that if someone is no longer an excellent resource, I will simply stop recommending them. I don’t just partner with anyone for the sake of cronyism. I am selective, conscientious, and a good judge of character.

I am a writer, a writing career coach, a speaker, and a teacher. I keep writing at the center of everything I do. And I encourage every other writer on the planet to do the same thing.

I help writers get from however they feel today to personally and professionally satisfied with their writing life. There is no reason to wait. Success is not “out there.” It’s right here and it’s always waiting for us to wake up and get back to work.

Writing career success never happens overnight. The job is never done. But you’d better believe that it happens. And it can happen for you in 2012. I hope that it does. And I hope that my work is helpful.

I often do some of my best writing right after finishing a book.

I feel that this was the case last summer with a self-study course curriculum that I wrote for the folks at Writer’s Digest to include in their September 2011 Build An Author Platform Premium Kit.

I had just completed The Writer’s Workout, and I was creatively spent and eager to spend some time with my family. But…I felt like I had made some training breakthroughs in teaching platform development, one of my long-time specialties. And I knew that writing the self-study course for Writer’s Digest would push me to articulate my ideas concisely, specifically, and well.

So while Jason and Samantha were off exploring Portland, I was in the basement pulling together all the best of my ideas on platform development for writers.

I think this workbook is one of the best things I’ve ever written and one of the most helpful tools for emerging platform builders around. I have been speaking, writing, and teaching platform development to writers for five years. Thousands of people have benefited from my work on the topic.

You may be familiar with some of my prior work on the topic for Writer’s Digest:

• “50 Simple Ways To Build Your Platform in 5 Minutes A Day” for Writer’s Digest magazine, March/April 2011

• “Elements of a Successful Fiction Platform” for Writer’s Digest magazine, November/December 2010

• “How to Build a Marketing Platform” for Writer’s Digest magazine, May/June 2009

• Get Known Before The Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths To Grow An Author Platform (Writer’s Digest Books 2008) More info

I made a deal with the WD publisher at the time, Kelly Messerly, that I would write the self-study curriculum for WD, they would sell 200 print copies from September – December, and afterwards the rights to the work would revert back to me.

So naturally, after waiting all of this time, I am very excited to share the concepts I developed with you in the Build Your Author Platform Workbook.

This eight-chapter companion workbook in PDF format was written to go with my book, Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths To Grow An Author Platform (Writer’s Digest 2008).

I feel confident that my Build Your Author Platform Workbook brings the platform development concepts in Get Known up to date without muddling any of the basic thrusts, which are as sound as they ever were.

One thing has changed for writers, though: no writer is merely a traditionally published or merely an “indie” author any longer. We are all both now. We are all everything and anything that we decide to do. And who knows what that’s going to look like in 2012.

It’s an exciting time to be a writer. I hope that my workbook will help any writer navigate what can otherwise feel like a confusing spectrum of choices.

I’d love to work with you, if you want to work with me. But I understand that not everyone wants to work with me in a six-week email class environment (although there are those who seem to love it). I also understand that not everyone can afford my class fees or the conference fees where I’ll be speaking this year. Of course, this is why I offer scholarships but even that can only go so far.

So here’s my chance to make my teaching affordable for every writer. I could have priced the workbook higher. In fact, I seriously considered it. But I’m going low instead because that’s in alignment with my 2012 mission to empower as many writers as I can using my best tools, old and new.

The Build Your Author Platform Workbook is a mental workout any writer can use annually to assess platform growth thus far and reassess it going forward as a writing career takes root, grows, and prospers. Folks who are already fans of Get Known Before the Book Deal will especially appreciate the opportunity to organize all the scribbles they’ve already made in their books! (But don’t forget to update your ideas to reflect your present accomplishments.)

The workbook is on sale now! You can purchase the Build Your Author Platform Workbook to accompany your paperback or digital copy of Get Known Before the Book Deal for only $39.99. I will send the workbook right over to your inbox soon after you order.

Folks who have taken my Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform class will appreciate having a workbook to help them with their annual platform update and goal setting. And during the month of January 2012, all of my current and former students and dream teamers can purchase the workbook at a reduced price of $29.99.

The only folks who SHOULD NOT ORDER this workbook are those who ordered it via the Writer’s Digest premium collection in September or December. (Please contact me at christina at christina katz dot com if you are interested in discussing use of the workbook in your group class, program, or organization.)

Please click here for more info and how to order Build Your Author Platform Workbook.

Happy New Year, writers!

And happy ongoing and evolving platform development for many years to come!

In less than two weeks, I start teaching one of my favorite classes again. The class is Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform.

There are many things that make my approach to platform development unique. For one thing, I understand that platform means everything to writing career success. At the same time I am able to balance that idea with the knowledge that the best, most authentic and well-rounded platforms don’t just spring up overnight.

My classes take six weeks, and I’d say that six weeks is the minimum amount of time any writer should spend developing their platform concept before they jump online and start blogging or building a site.

Why?

Because every writer has a unique platform dynamic yet most writers are not aware what theirs is. In my class, Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform, we take our time uncovering that platform dynamic, exploring it, and most importantly, making sure it is authentically meaningful to the writer.

You can take the class whether you already have an idea of what your platform should focus on or not. Because guess what? It’s not dollar signs that are going to motivate you to establish your name and get known for what you write, it’s loving what you do so that you can sustain the effort long enough to get known and attract readers.

I hope you are in the platform journey for the long haul because it’s a career-long effort. For the past six years I have been teaching writers how to build a platform alongside their writing in order to amplify their reach, make an indelible impression in reader’s minds, and create future revenue streams to sustain their writing efforts.

Here are several reasons why you may wish to work with me rather than someone else:

• I wrote the book on platform. It’s called, Get Known Before the Book Deal. It’s one of the first and most comprehensive books on platform for writers.
• I recently wrote a workbook on platform called, “Build Your Author Platform & Prosper.” It’s a companion to my book, Get Known Before the Book Deal, and it will launch on January 1, 2012.
• I have written several feature-length articles for Writer’s Digest magazine on platform for writers across the genres and from the perspective of all levels of writers from aspirant to bestselling author.
• I have worked with hundreds of writers over the past ten years, working with many of them over time as they write, get published, build up clips, establish a specialty, break into national publications, write ebooks and books, and create lasting and profitable platforms.
• But perhaps the most important reason to work with me rather than someone else is because I am not interested in leveraging your platform for my own or others’ financial interests. I have my own platform, I have my own paid writing work, and I already teach and speak in a distinctive niche. This means when I am focused on you, I am focused on what is best for your career in the long run, not what you can do for me in the short run. I want you to prosper by establishing your own platform and growing it over time.

Platform development for authors is one of my specialties as a writing career coach. I work with writers across a range of skill sets, so I understand how platform matters in every phase of a writer’s career development.

I prefer to work with writers in this class who are just getting started identifying their strengths and understanding how to better position their platform in the marketplace. My former students have the option to continue working with me via my training groups, if they so choose.

I understand writers, the state of the industry, and the unique challenges that writers face on a daily basis. I don’t want you to sell your soul; I want you to listen to what your inner voice is telling you to do, not what external forces want you to do for them. I want to help you declare and maintain ownership over your career while at the same time helping you partner wisely with others.

Establishing a platform is a whole lot easier, when you take the time to understand your motivations and make the most of your strengths.

You do not have to be a woman, a mom, or a nonfiction writer to take this class. It definitely helps if you are already an established writer and you have some idea of the direction you’d like to go with your writing but you will learn that in the process of the class, anyway.

I will be updating the class in the fall and raising the price accordingly, which means you have three chances to register between now and then. Here are what some past students have had to say about Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform:

Christina embodies what it means to be a great coach. She is direct, honest, not afraid to say what a writer struggling with a particular issue needs to hear. Christina has the tremendous confidence that comes with experience; that confidence made me strong when I needed it. She told me, with conviction, that what I have to say is important, and that I shouldn’t hesitate to say it. ~ Valorie H.

Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform is a great class for writers at any stage of career development. I had been doing a small amount of platform development prior to the class and found that I could enfold that work into my plans going forward. Now I feel so much more professional, focused, and confident. These six weeks of class work have moved me forward months (even years) in building my platform.  I know now where I’m going and can communicate that clearly to others. ~ Lara K.

I highly recommend this class for writers struggling to define their niche or confused about how to communicate it compellingly. Christina is a wise guide who facilitates the kind of inner exploration it takes to find and flesh out an authentic, sustainable platform. This class helped me get clear on who I am and what I bring to my audience. And that’s priceless. ~ Heidi L.

Christina Katz’ Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform class was a combination of therapy and boot camp. She forced me to dig deep and deeper yet, to discover what motivates and inspires me to write. ~ Sandra F.

Christina’s exceptional class focused my thoughts to build a specialty platform plan. Her assignments challenged and helped me look deeply into lifelong experiences to build an organized plan for getting published. ~ Bill H.

Building a platform isn’t for the faint-of-heart, but the clarity I found after digging into the possibilities was an invaluable learning experience. I now have a clearly defined roadmap to follow and a better understanding of how to continue building my writing platform grounded in practical techniques rather than just dreamy possibilities. ~ C. Hines

This course not only taught me more about myself and what inspires me to write, but also showed me concrete actions to take in order to establish a strong platform for my writing career. With Christina’s practical advice and informed guidance, I learned exactly what steps I need to take to reach my writing goals. ~ Sarah L.

Before I took this class, I was struggling to identify topics that would be of interest to editors and readers. Now, I have the beginnings of a platform that will help me generate as much work as I want or need just by developing and marketing my area of expertise. ~ B. Meleski

In an uncertain publishing environment, platform has never been more important for writers. I’m so thankful to Christina for providing me with an opportunity to strategize and for helping me come up with a workable platform plan. ~ Sharon V.

Christina is a real, honest-to-goodness teacher. When I wasn’t working to my ability, she noticed, demanded more, and gave me the tools to succeed. Nobody ever gets where they’re going without a great teacher. Christina helped me find my wings. ~ Lynne S.

I found this class to be much more than I expected. Don’t sign up unless you have plenty of time to devote to it (not to mention paper and ink!) because you will not want to waste the opportunity to have Christina help you find, develop, or fine tune your image and point you in the right direction. ~ Carol A.

Learn more here. Space is limited. Register by December 28th for the class that begins on January 4th.

I hope to work with you in 2012!

This is part four in a four-part series on the seasons of your writing career, which is also the organizing principle I used in The Writer’s Workout. See posts one, two and three if you missed them.

The Winter of Your Career

As I mentioned in the second post of this series,we often associate winter with discontent and summer with tra-la-la, isn’t life grand?

However, when it comes to writing careers, most writers feel just the opposite. Seasoned writers are typically sincere, confident, and calm. They do not have to strut around like peacocks trying to get attention. They just kind of emanate wisdom that pulls others in.

Seasoned writers are content because they have readers and they know how to communicate with them. These are the veterans of the industry. Sadly many writers will give up before they come close to ever being a multi-book author. And yes, you can still recognize a seasoned author by how many books they have published, no matter who tries to say that books no longer matter any longer.

Books will always matter. And seasoned writers who have written many of them, know it.

Seasoned writers create worlds for their readers and also know how to be the bridge that escorts the reader back and forth between this world and theirs. When you hit the winter phase of your writing career, you have become a master at juggling worlds.

Like the earlier phases, many writers believe they have achieved the winter phase of their career when they still have a long way to go. And when they can consistently channel their ambitions in constructive creative ways, they may eventually possess the keys to the book world, whether they share those keys with publishers or not.

Writers who reach the winter phase of their career, and many authors have, live happily ever after…satisfying readers.

~ Photo by FreeFoto