AUGUST

Monday, August 2nd – Sunday, August 8th: I’m accepting applications for The Writer Mama Scholarship for my Writing & Publishing the Short Stuff Class (which begins September 8th, details and register here). I’ll post the application info on Sunday the 1st and announce the recipient on Monday, August 9th.

Monday, August – December 2010: I’m launching my second round of three levels of Dream Teams with former students who want to get more of their writing published. Woo-hoo! Cannot wait! (Learn more here.)

Sunday, August 8th: I’m doing a workshop at the Willamette Writers Conference called “The Prosperous Writer.” I’m also critiquing manuscripts, signing books, participating in the silent auction, and catching up with and meeting former students. Yay!

Monday, August 9th – Sunday, August 15th: I’m accepting applications for a second Writer Mama Scholarship. This time for my Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform class (which begins September 8th, details and register here). I’ll post the application info on Sunday the 8th and announce the recipient on Monday, August 16th.

Monday, August 16th – Sunday, August 22nd: I will be away from my desk. When I come back I will be very tan. (At least as tan as a very pale person can get.)

SEPTEMBER

E-mail classes start on September 8th: I’m going into my fourth year of teaching Writing & Publishing the Short Stuff. I’m also teaching Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform. Both of my classes are newly updated and expanded! Abigail Green will also be teaching her popular class, Personal Essays That Get Published. (All the upcoming class info is here.)

Saturday, September 11th: I’m presenting a lunch workshop for Rose City Romance Writers at PCC Sylvania Campus from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. on Get Known Before The Book Deal, An Author Platform Checklist. Look forward to meeting everyone! (More info here.)

Sunday, September 19th: We’re launching season four of the Northwest Author Series with Nicole Rubel of Rotten Ralph fame at the Wilsonville Public Library at 3:30 p.m.. Her topic is Find Your Voice: Use It In A Children’s Book. (Details are over at the Northwest Author Series blog.)

Hope to work with you or connect with you through one of these upcoming classes or events!

In August 2005, I pitched a book concept at the Willamette Writer’s Conference and landed, eventually, my first book deal.

In March 2007, that book, Writer Mama, How To Raise A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids was released by Writer’s Digest Books.

I tell the beginning of the story of how I grew my writing career to the point where I was ready to do a thing as scary as standing up in front of a room full of people to propose a book in Writer Mama. (I even include the pitch I used.)

Then, I finish the story of what it’s like to write a first book proposal and write a first nonfiction book in my recently released (and first) e-book, Author Mama, How I Became A Published Author and How You Can Too (available in PDF now and coming soon to Kindle and POD).

But I want to reminisce a bit about Writer Mama. Because just like the seed becomes the sprout and grow and forms a bud which becomes a flower that eventually bears fruit, which is harvested, Writer Mama was the seed of an idea that has born infinite joy and possibilities for me as a writer and a teacher.

Of all of the things that I love most about my writing, teaching, and speaking career, my relationship with my students is the greatest source of happiness for me. You might think that my favorite part of being a teacher would be to look back on the people whom I have taught and bask in the glow of their successes. But that’s not really where it’s at for me. That’s not what really pumps me up.

For me, the biggest source of pride always goes back to the very beginning. To the point where a writer is basically unpublished, unfocused, and unsure how to get from not writing to getting paid and published. Saying it so briefly makes it sound like a piece of cake. But it’s not so easy that some specific guidance and support can’t help and speed up the process. And if it’s done in a foundational way, the work I do can (and often does) lead to the launching of a professional writing career for many mom writers.

The beginning part of the process, assisting in the launch, continues to be my most satisfying role. Although lately, I confess, another favorite part of the process has been helping writers become regularly published, after they’ve gotten published once or twice in my Dream Teams. Because once a writer mom has gotten published and gotten the hang of getting regularly published, she has lots of options in her future.

Writer Mama has been around for 39 months, with almost fifty reviews on Amazon, and new moms still discovering it every day. In the meantime, some of its original readers have gone on to grow their writing careers to the point where they have a book out or coming out or in the process of being pitched. They are building platforms, landing agents, and just basically producing their own careers, which makes me really happy.

I’m going into my fifth year of working with mom writers. Okay, sure, I love to get the e-mails saying that the first piece was published or that one piece has been published ten times now or that the student has decided to take their career to the next level or that the student just landed an agent or that the student created a class or got a book deal or any kind of good news. But I just love hearing from my students period. At the end of the day, my role is being helpful and helping mom writers find their momentum. It’s simply what I do.

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

This month, I am attending three conferences in three different states (and none of them are my state) and hosting my author series the only weekend I’m in town.

Of course, I don’t want to miss a single moment! But at the same time, book-ending all of this with travel is challenging. When I have to be away from home, it’s not easy on the family. And when I’m this busy, it’s not easy to keep up with my regular schedule.

But that’s okay because each week this month is like a cornucopia of great things going on! Here’s what’s coming up that you won’t want to miss:

The Writer Mama Scholarship for the May 12th Class: Come back Monday for the info you need to apply for a full scholarship to my upcoming Writing & Publishing the Short Stuff class.

The Writer Mama/Author Mama Proudest Moments Celebration: Some of your proudest moments are starting to trickle in. Don’t forget to send yours!

The ASJA Conference: I am attending the ASJA Conference in New York City and will appear on a panel on social networking hosted by Kathy Sena on Saturday, April 24th. Please say hello if you are there.

Submit Your Author Mama Feedback by April 23rd: If you have not yet had a chance to purchase and read Author Mama, How I Became A Published Author & How You Can Too, there is still time to participate in making the final version as great as it can be. Everyone who participates will receive the alpha version in PDF for free upon publication in May. Interested? Here’s the whole scoop.

Work With Me: Registration is now open for the May 12th Writing & Publishing the Short Stuff class and the August – December Dream Teams. I look forward to working with fresh groups of new and former students! Also beginning May 12th, Abigail Green is teaching Personal Essays That Get Published.

In the meantime, I’m taking the weekend off to rest, host the Northwest Author Series, and enjoy celebrating my husband’s birthday with his parents, who are here visiting from Colorado.

Happy weekend, everyone!

In my first book, Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids (Writer’s Digest Books 2007) I said, “Writing is a rhythm, not a formula.”

What I meant is: Writing success comes from finding your rhythm, not following someone else’s formula.

In a recent interview over at Key Business Partners, LLC, I said: “Writing career success is all about finding your rhythm and then repeat, repeat, repeat.”

In 2010, I wrote a column for “The Writer Mama” e-zine on the topic of mom writers finding their success rhythms across all the kinds of tasks that mom writers must focus on, which include Craft, Pitching, Platform-building, and Professional Development.

So do you think I think that every writer needs to find his or her own rhythm in order to be successful?

Yes. I think that’s pretty obvious.

I have my own rhythm, you have your own rhythm, and I really don’t believe that any two rhythms are alike. I just know that a writer has got to find her rhythm and then groove in it.

But never has it been as clear to me how true this is than when I watch the participants in my Dream Teams, writing for publication and platform practice groups that began in January.

As soon as someone checks in with the group, I can tell if this person has found her rhythm and if she is groovin’ it or if she’s still struggling to find her rhythm.

You want to know why?

Because a person who has found her rhythm has momentum and a person who hasn’t found their rhythm is always trying to get some momentum going.

Now, don’t think I can’t relate to needing/wanting/trying to get momentum going. We just moved and I have been missing my momentum for a couple of weeks now.

But here’s the thing about momentum, once you’ve had it, and experienced your own groove for any length of time, it’s easier to get it back when and if you lose it.

Let me rephrase that: if you are a writer mama, you will lose your rhythm at some point. This is practically a given. You might lose your writing rhythm, your pitching rhythm, your platform-building rhythm, or your professional development rhythm–you might even lose them all at the same time, as I have recently.

But the good news is, once you’ve had any of those, you can quickly pick them right back up and move forward again. Because you know what it feels like. You have the muscle memory to get yourself back into your groove.

The purpose of my Dream Teams is to help writers find, experience, and sustain their own momentum for a sustained period of time. And then they really don’t need me busting their chops any more. At least not for awhile, because once you’ve got rhythm, you’ve got it.

And I love that. Because I am not in the business of trying to get writers hooked on me or addicted to me or thinking that I am going to be their ticket to success.

No. I am very clear. And I have always been clear that you are the ticket to your own success. The only thing I can do for you, as a teacher, is help you find your groove. And then you are on your way…

How about you? Got rhythm? Share your thoughts.

P.S. This post undoubtedly contains typos. I just moved. Cut me some slack in this department, please.

Photo by Bess Grant

This post is dedicated to my Writing & Publishing the Short Stuff Dream Team.

Here are the kinds of things that beginning writer mamas get overwhelmed by:

• Finding enough time
• Battling distractions
• Guilt/Torn in too many directions
• Over-committed/Too many volunteer activities
• Don’t know what to prioritize first
• Can’t decide which idea to pursue
• Tired from working all day and caring for the family at home
• Lack of confidence/Can’t get out of the comfort-zone
• Unsure about the business aspects of writing
• Procrastination/Thinking about doing instead of doing
• Fear of both success and failure
• Not sure how to submit work
• Want national clips, but need to start local

And here’s the solutions I suggest:

• Forgive yourself for all you haven’t accomplished up until now. And now, decide to get to work without allowing any more excuses.
• Get your ideas down while they are hot. Just write the worst junk so you can capture the essence of the idea. Walking before writing can help loosen up your brain.
• Take classes with professionals you can trust. You’ll gain helpful information, an available mentor, and most importantly, deadlines!
• Don’t get hung up on the ever-changing marketplace. So many of the techniques that have always worked still work. You don’t need to try and reinvent the industry while you launch your career. That is not going to help you. Just follow professional advice closely and repeat what works.
• Keep your focus on simple steps. Like, if you don’t have clips, you need to get clips. (People who didn’t need clips were the exception, not the rule. Get some clips and get some experience at the same time.)
• Experience is what builds confidence. Nothing else is as authentic.
• Writing careers are built one article at a time, one acceptance at a time, and one publication date at a time. Keep it simple and know what your immediate goal is. Then work toward each goal.
• The accumulation of short-term goals leads to the achievement of long-term goals. That’s your trajectory for success. Think of it like a very long flight of stairs going up, up, up! Just aim for one success after another.

So get your butt in a chair. Grab a piece of paper and a pen or a laptop or a keyboard and get to work!

~Photo by geoftheref