I am often asked by writers if I can work with them.

I can! And I do. All the time.

The only caveat is that I work with writers in fairly specific ways. I work mostly with moms who want to write nonfiction. I work mostly with women. And I only work with writers who plan to succeed.

In fact, after years of steady work, one of my students landed an agent last week. Yahoo! Several of my former students have first books coming out this year. And I could not even count how many former students were published in June, I’m sure.

On top of all of this teaching work, I actually do my own work too (somehow). In fact, on Friday, I received an offer on a third book with Writer’s Digest that I am VERY excited about. (Won’t be able to reveal details about this book until everything is nailed down, though, so bear with me.)

So, now that I am swinging back into book-writing mode, I am thinking about how I will structure my time as carefully as possible so that I can write the best book possible.

This Fall, I am offering four classes, hosting two classes for Abby Green, working with three Dream Teams, and phone coaching former students (in my copious spare time).

Often folks want to work with me who have not taken classes with me before, which is challenging because I strongly prefer to work with former students. So, if you’d like to work with me, the best way to become a former student is sign up for one of the upcoming Writing & Publishing the Short Stuff classes. This helps me get to know you and it helps you get to know me, and then we can work together better. The skills you will learn and practice will come in handy in any nonfiction writing career and the September class will be completely updated.

So, if  you are ready to write this Fall and you would like to work with me, I would welcome the opportunity to work with you.

I offer classes that can stand alone or build on each other over time. The vast majority of students who have gone on to become authors have taken repeated classes with me over time. Others are just happy to learn how to earn money writing about topics they enjoy. Hope to work with you soon:

Writing & Publishing the Short Stuff

Personal Essays That Get Published (with Abigail Green)

Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform

Pitching Practice: Write Six Queries in Six Weeks

Dream Teams (Article Writing, Advanced Article Writing, and Platform Development)

As you may know, I always offer copious free and inexpensive opportunities to learn with me. You can read about them here. I am also the author of two traditionally published books and one e-book. Over the summer I will be adding more offerings with low-price tags. Subscribe to The Prosperous Writer e-zine in the upper right-hand corner to get and stay in the loop.

Here’s to our mutual success!

~ Photo by ElyceFeliz

I have decided that we need a party around here.

First of all, some writer mamas I know are really struggling. They are contending with moves, job losses (either their job or their significant other’s job), sending husbands overseas to war, the blues, a lack of detachment or confidence, not feeling good about their own progress, and the big ones, loss of a loved one and divorce.

On the other hand, I am privy to so much success! Some of my most recent students are getting published for the first time ever. Some of them are turning that into multiple publications in a row. Some of my older students are rethinking their approaches and, you guessed it, getting published. A few of my students have books coming out this year.

And here’s something that ought to inspire you: sometimes those who are hitting the mark in their writing career are doing so after bouncing back from a major loss. So take that and put it in your pipe and smoke it, you stupid recession.

On the platform-development front, those who are doing best are, you guessed it, the slow and steady builders. They are doing amazing things like getting quoted in magazine articles, launching classes, securing sponsors, finishing manuscripts that were languishing, and just otherwise keeping their eyes on the prize, whatever the prize may be for them.

In case, I don’t sound proud, let me say that I am very pleased.

But the person I am most proud of is…myself.

A year ago I was buried in overcommitment. I was a prisoner of my own enthusiasm. I said yes to too many people too often and was trying to carry everyone to the next level with me (which by the way, if you are trying to do it, doesn’t work).

I made some tough decisions last spring. Not the least of which was to cease publication of an e-zine I’d nurtured for six years, Writers on the Rise, at the end of 2009. But I was serious about not over-committing so that I could set a better example of how to be an empowered writer. I knew it would take time and be a gradual shift. And it took an entire year. In fact, one year ago, I felt like I was setting a BAD example. An example that really could not and should not be duplicated.

My poor example wasn’t based on anything I’d written in my books. In fact, if I could have simply followed my own advice, I would have been doing a heck of a lot better than I was. I wasn’t focusing on my own process. I was being pulled into the needs of others all the time. Too much. In fact, if I’m really being honest, I spent a lot of last year exhausted, crabby, and in pain due to  a work-exacerbated injury.

Sure, there were a few bright spots. I tried to focus on them to keep myself going, but really I’d hurt myself by caring more for others than I did for myself.

But you know what? I am not setting that poor example any longer. It took a whole year. A year of letting commitments run their course, of riding out responsibilities because that was the right thing to do. A year of getting ready to say no because that’s what grown ups say when they need to do their job.

And today, I’m proud of myself. I’m proud of myself because I’ve organized a work life I can live with that does not dominate every single minute of every single day. I am more clear about what I do and who I work with and how. I can work when I’m working and not work when I’m not working. Most importantly to my career, I can enjoy my work again. And I am.

I’m still busy, of course. Hello, it’s me, Christina. What would you expect?

But I’m enjoying time with my husband and daughter more. We’ve moved into a home we love.  I am enjoying a lot of success in my career without feeling like I have to compromise my own needs to have it or keep it.

And now, when I partner with others, I feel better about it, because I’m coming from a place of feeling full, not depleted. In fact, I feel like I am having a creative renaissance. I haven’t felt this inspired in years and it’s coming through in my work and in my everyday life. As an extra bonus, I am experiencing a ton of joy in just living.  I wish I could wrap that up and give it to each one of you but, of course, I can’t.

But I would love it if joy was also your goal. You might get there, as I did, by going through the side-door of imbalance. And that’s okay. This is what humans do to work things out.

And now here is where the party comes in…

I never had a party for Writer Mama. I never had a party for Get Known. Truth be told, I’m not much of a real-life hostess (even though I can pull together one heck of an author series). So let’s have a virtual party for my first e-book, Author Mama because THIS I know how to do.

I’d like to invite writer mamas and author mamas to celebrate with me, not just the e-book, but what it represents – accomplishing work that feels important to share. And I hope this will remind you that the best way to help others rise to the occasion in their careers is not by carrying them but by inspiring them (and sure, yes, okay, an occasional kick in the butt or deadline doesn’t hurt me or my students).

But for this celebration, I’d like us each to find our own motivation, by digging deep, and sharing our proudest writing career moments. It doesn’t matter if it was your first real publication or your decision to not work because your child needed you or whatever. It’s yours to choose. So you decide. Don’t try to make it monumental, just try to make it true.

And then, from your submissions, I’ll compile a post called: The Proudest Career Moments of Writer Mamas/Author Mamas 2010. I think we will all get a lot out of this. I know I will.

Your Assignment, Should You Choose To Accept It: Submit the proudest moment of your writing career thus far to me by April 30, 2010. I will then compile them and post them on the party date, which is Friday, May 14, 2010. Keep it 200-400 words, single-spaced, put it in a Microsoft Word document, and e-mail it to my new e-mail address (“katzchristina at comcast dot net”), which you should add to your address book, by the way, if you haven’t already.

If you have questions, put them in the comments. But please save your proudest moments for party day. Thanks!

And by the way, THIS is my proudest moment. I’m not perfect. Nothing is. But I’m proud of myself. And that’s what we’re talking about.

Photo by hocusfocusclick

I thought I would start a series on prosperous writers, so you could see what I am talking about. In my post on Monday, I outlined how and why it makes sense to hold back on sharing all of your content until you have developed a goodly amount of expertise and experience that you can share with a specific audience. I can’t think of a person who exemplifies this better than Judy M. Miller.

Judy first began taking classes with me at the beginning of 2008. Now only two years later, she is launching her first e-class, Parenting Your Adopted Child: Tweens, Teens & Beyond.

I could not be more thrilled both for her and for the adoptive parents and families, who are going to benefit by Judy sharing her considerable insight and sensitivity with this growing population of parents.

Judy has worked hard to cultivate her writing skills on the topic of adoptive parenting, racking up published essays in two books, dozens of magazine article credits, and serving as a columnist for Grown In My Heart, An Adoption Network. She has tackled sensitive topics in her writing bravely like adoption etiquette, talking about sex with your children, and raising kids with special needs.

To say that I am proud of Judy and all of her hard work would be an understatement. But perhaps what I’m most proud of is that she can be the first “poster child” for this blog and its siren call for prosperous writers. Judy didn’t create overnight success (there is no such thing, folks!). But if her integrity and passion for her topic doesn’t come through loud and clear, then I am a monkey’s aunt.

Judy is enjoying vigorous and healthy growth. She is flourishing and this is just the beginning. I love being able to teach writers to cultivate a specialty writing for the audiences with whom they identify most. And I look forward to introducing you to more prosperous writers in the upcoming weeks.

By the way, if you’d like to follow the path that Judy followed, the first class she took with me begins a week from today. It’s called, Writing & Publishing The Short Stuff and there is still room for moms who are ready to write for publication in 2010. Judy also took classes with other teachers I recommended like Abby Green (whose class also begins next week) and Jennifer Applin.

Please help me help Judy M. Miller launch her first e-class by spreading the word to any adoptive parents you might know, especially those whose children are on the cusp of their tween-age years. I just know that they will thank you for the introduction.

Congratulations, Judy! Best of luck with your premier e-class!

Parenting Your Adopted Child is a six-week e-mail course that focuses on helping adoptive parents support adopted tweens and teens as the entire family navigates the sometimes-tumultuous inner and outer terrain of growing up. The class offers a safe space in which parents can explore, reflect on and discuss the process of adoptive parenting.

By the time adoptive parents are done with the course, they will learn:

• How to process the losses that are inherent in the adoption process
• How to openly discuss the topic of adoption with your child
• How to help your child become emotionally unstuck, if and when this happens
• How to manage feelings of rejection, guilt and shame
• How to support your child’s quest for identity and self-esteem

Folks can find out more and sign up here.