I just want to give a quick shout out for the DVD release of Frozen by Walt Disney Studios.

Any woman who has ever felt that her creativity is a threat or a danger to the status quo will probably find much to identify with in this film.

Most of the young girls admire Anna in this film. But for me, it’s all about Elsa.

Have you seen it? Which character did you identify with and why?

Watch the film, share it with your families, and discuss it. I think it’s a really important film for these times!

Here are some of my recent spring-theme articles.

I was especially pleased to place my article on Bulimia prevention in Portland Family magazine because this is such an important topic. Please share it!

Searching For Signs Of Bulimia

Oh Yes You Can! A One-day Spring Cleaning Plan From Start To Finish

Relaxed, Refreshed & Ready For Anything: Mini-Getaways For Mom

Save Time, Money & Even Sanity: Host A Sleepover Party

Avoid New Mommy Burnout

Mommy-Daughter Time: 11 Outings That Won’t Break The Bank (no link available, sorry!)

Interested in learning about how to start writing articles from home? Check out my e-book, Write For Regional Parenting Publications For Fun & Profit, which is the perfect companion to my book, Writer Mama, How To Raise A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids. I also create contexts in which I help others achieve writing career success. Check out my writing classes and writing challenges and platform challenges.

Keep in touch! Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Subscribe to this blog and sign up for The Prosperous Writer e-zine.

Have you always wanted to try your hand at writing articles for publication?

Have you always enjoyed personal experience writing?

Do you want to learn basic journalism skills and have fun doing it?

Then, why not register for Writing & Publishing The Short Stuff? This class starts tomorrow!

Here’s what some of my recent students have had to say about the class:

Christina’s WPSS class provided me with a practical, step-by-step path to publication. Christina herself gave me just the right encouragement, personal feedback and direction I needed to actually walk on that path myself. ~ Janelle B.

I learned so much from Christina.  I loved working alongside other writer mamas and pushing myself to become a more focused, disciplined writer.  I really feel like I have taken a solid first step, after completing this class. ~ Ruth H.

I read Writer Mama and I loved the book. However, I found being able to get direct feedback from Christina, helped me take what I learned in the book to a new level. In addition, because the course had deadlines, it helped me push past my procrastination tendencies. I was able to discover that if I do small steady chunks of work I can produce a good article. ~ Karyn R.

This is a meticulously designed class that provides extraordinary value in its six short weeks. Worth every penny. Christina Katz gives 100%. ~ Karen B.

Taking this class really helped me jump start my writing. I developed a regular routine of writing and with the helpful tips and advice offered by Christina, I’m hopeful getting published is right around the corner! ~ Colleen R.

The WPSS class motivated me to take the next step in my writing career.  Christina made me believe that success is possible; I just have to go get it. ~ Janine Q.

Christina’s targeted feedback on my pieces really helped me understand what I should do next and apply what I learned. ~ Marianne P.

This is truly a wonderful class and Christina is building many successful writing careers in the process. ~ Kerry M.

Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff gave me the know-how and confidence I have been looking for in my writing life for years. Christina really knows the ins and outs of publishing for regional parenting publications, and she breaks this information down into lessons that will really jump start your freelance career. ~ Janeen L.

Christina Katz has been teaching writing classes for thirteen years. She is the author of Writer Mama, How To Raise A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids and Write For Regional Parenting Publications For Fun & Profit. Learn more and register here.

Whenever we see someone who is successful in the publishing realm, we rarely hear, “Wow, that author must have been really focused and worked really hard and persevered despite setbacks to become so successful.”

Instead we  hear, “Oh, that author must have gotten lucky.”

Or we think this, right?

And even if we don’t consciously think it, on some level we are probably grumbling, Mutter, mutter, lucky, mutter, mutter.

Maybe we think lucky, but we don’t want to admit even to ourselves that luck is what we project onto other peoples’ successes.

Last time I checked, however, luck had nothing to do with my own successes, my students’ successes, the writers I have interviewed or profiled, or the success stories of writers whom I admire from afar.

The proof is everywhere. In fact, most of the real experts, including me, all say the same thing about publishing success:

Set a goal and focus on it and don’t give up until you achieve it.

Work hard, then work even harder, then work harder than you ever thought you could.

Expect setbacks and then they won’t throw you.

As long as we believe that successful people are lucky, then we have a built in excuse not to try, not to work hard, not to set a goal, and not to bother hanging in there for the long run.

I believe in good timing. I’ve had it before and I have it again all the time.

But all the good timing in the world won’t matter unless you set a goal, do the work, and consistently put yourself out there.

That’s not luck, that’s consistency.

If you want to maximize your luck, be sure you are always working, so that when a wave of good timing comes, you will be in position to make the most of it.

If you want “luck,” stop believing in it and start believing in your own hard work instead.

I have seen it a thousand times. When writers focus and set goals and work hard…guess what happens?

What we call luck.

So, what are you waiting for?

Go and create your own!

~ Four-leaf clover by Thomas Münter

Patricia Bumpass!

Working with me on your professional writing career skills isn’t like working with anyone else.

If you are looking to work with a real-live person who really cares about your creative career growth, I hope you will consider working with me.

Here are a few of the words that my  students have used to described me or my coaching over the past couple weeks.

gifted

awesome

wonderful

respectful

encouraging

constructive

indispensable

wow

positive

great

beneficial

brilliant

amazing

fantastic

delightful

invaluable

invaluable

invaluable (I’ve heard this several times lately)

Working with me is a small yet powerful investment you make in yourself and your writing career. And  you can do invest in yourself incrementally without having to leave home, now or ever.

Check out my upcoming class schedule.

Check out my upcoming 21 Moments schedule.

Check out my upcoming Platform Bingo schedule.

Check out my upcoming Article Writing Challenge.

Check out my upcoming Dream Team schedule.

Thank you to all of my students from the past 13 years. Your strides and successes have made my own career so much more satisfying.

I hope to have the opportunity to work with you soon!

Q: How do you build a writing career?

A: Over time, one well-executed idea at a time.

Honestly, I think some gurus get it wrong. They go overboard on strategy. They emphasize rushing to success so much that they ruin the ride for writers. And then when the writers don’t get the overnight success that was promised, they quit and give up on their writing dreams.

And what I want to know is what is the point of being an author unless you can enjoy every day of your writing career?

The fact of the matter is that most writers are in the ramp-up process to a book. Most writers are not ready for book deals. So why do we spend so much time talking about book deals?

Book deals, book deals, book deals — if you feel like this is all you hear about, maybe you are hanging out with the wrong crowd.

That whole approach is so late nineties/early Millenium. This is 2014, folks.

Maybe what we could really stand to talk about is everything else writing has to offer besides book deals.

Don’t get me wrong. I think book deals and self-publishing books are great. I do both.

I also still believe that there has never been a better time to be a writer.

But I have had enough experience — 13 years of consistent teaching and training writers — to see that those who are not already consistently writing for publication typically flail when they attempt a book.

But what else are the supposed to do? They are totally brainwashed by all of the propaganda telling them that they don’t matter and won’t matter until they get a book deal.

Bottom line: we have become too book-deal focused in an economy where very few writers are actually ready to land book deals. Very few writers will actually contract with agents, as well, because very few are ready.

And yet most of the writing conference promotional materials still focuses on getting a book deal.

This is foolish. And borderline false advertising.

Don’t go to a writing conference this year because it promises you a book deal or exposure to agents.

Go to a writing conference that offers genuine professional skill-building. Because professional skills are what writers need. If you want to become an author some day, get to work on your professional writing skills. And if you don’t have any, hold off on the book deal for now.

Wade in. Don’t try to swim the channel just cause others have done it.

Let’s start using the labels “author” and “professional writer” in the same breath, so that folks who aspire to become an atuhor will better understand that this means becoming a writing professional first.

And if a writer isn’t interested in working on professional skills, then he or she won’t likely end up with a book deal or a decent self-published book, anyway.

When I wrote The Writer’s Workout for Writer’s Digest Books, one of my goals was to put the notion of published author in a context that would make sense to any type of writer. By covering four seasons of a writing career, I was able to show when and where you most want your book deal or self-published book to happen for the best possible results.

Writers always become authors after many years of hard work. The exceptions are so minute that there is basically no point in discussing them.

And here’s the other part that no one wants to talk about: after the book or after the book deal, heck, even after the smashing success, there is just another day of professional writing ahead of you. What then, if you don’t have a deep well of professional experience?

Isn’t it more important to make sure that you love what you do every day than to find out all of the ways you can kill yourself for overnight success?

We’ve got to get off this treadmill of dreaming of success that is going to deliver us from the lives and the creative process we already have. And instead we need to focus on making our satisfying and creative processes into the types trajectories that can deliver the success we want.

This is why I wrote The Writer’s Workout, 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques From Your Writing Career Coach. It’s just as helpful today as it was the day it came out. And it starts in spring, so it’s a good time to pick it up if you haven’t yet.

I hope that you will purchase a copy and keep it within reach of your writing desk for all the days when the online advice mill goes crazy and threatens to throw you out of your process instead of luring you deeper into it.

Happy spring, writers, and happy authentic career building!

Learn more about The Writer’s Workout, 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques From Your Writing Career Coach by Christina Katz

Are you a mom, and you would love to take the Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff Class that starts Wednesday, March 19th, but you would not otherwise be able to afford it?

Then you qualify for The Writer Mama Scholarship!

The application process for the next available scholarship for Writing & Publishing The Short Stuff Class begins today! I am accepting applications until Sunday, March 9th at midnight.

One full scholarship is granted each time the class is held, five times per year. Please read this post completely and double-check your application before submitting. The recipient will be announced on Monday, March 10th in this blog.

Please feel free to spread the word about the scholarship, even if you do not intend to apply. This is a full scholarship. The recipient commits to participating fully in the class and delivering all six assignments on time.

Please do not apply if you cannot make the commitment to participate in the class, which involves reading the weekly workbook, completing your assignments, and learning from your classmates work. (To learn about what you will get out of the class, please read the full class description.)

No additional time or special coaching is offered with the scholarship. It’s up to the scholarship recipient to make the most of the class.

Please note that this is a scholarship, not a giveaway. This scholarship is only for moms and is offered by class instructor, Christina Katz (that’s me).

One scholarship is available per WPSS class. The scholarship is not transferable if you fail to complete the class. The scholarship is also not transferable in the case of illness, family emergencies, a move, etc. If you have already paid for the class, you do not qualify for the scholarship. If you have already taken the class, you also do not qualify.

What is written in your application is private and your personal information will never be shared or sold beyond announcing the name of the recipient. The only way to qualify is to apply each time. No one else will view your application.

The application questions are below. Copy and paste them into a Microsoft Word document (to take the class you must be able to create and read Microsoft Word documents—no exceptions). Attach your application as a Word doc to your e-mail. Please answer each question concisely and completely.

Send your application to: “christina at christinakatz dot com” – this is the only email address for the scholarship. If you do not receive the scholarship, save your application for future scholarships and re-apply. Always add in your most current publication credits, since they are important. Put “WPSS Scholarship Application” in the subject line.

The scholarship recipient will be chosen based on the following criteria: demonstrated effort, need, and enthusiasm. The most important consideration is demonstrated past effort, so please don’t skimp on details of your past writing efforts. Applications accepted from U.S. residents only at this time.

To register for the class as a non-scholarship candidate, please visit the registration page. Space in the class is limited.

Please Note: The Writer Mama Scholarship is only for moms who legitimately cannot afford class tuition for whatever reason. So if you work at home, earn money, receive money, or your spouse or partner earns enough money for you to afford the class, please expect to regular pay price. My classes are kept affordable, specifically so moms can take them!

Here’s the application:

[Copy and paste the following application form into a Word doc, then simply fill it in:]

Name

Address

Email

Phone

Have you read the book, Writer Mama? How about my other books?

How long have you been reading my blog(s)?

What version of Microsoft Word software are you currently using?

Have you applied for The Writer Mama Scholarship before?

Write a short response to each of the following questions:

Please write one short paragraph about why you want to take the class, Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff.

Please list by publication name and date only, any publication credits you’ve accumulated thus far. Briefly list any other experience you think is relevant.

Please briefly state why you are unable to afford the tuition for the class at this time.

[End application.]

Thanks for applying for The Writer Mama Scholarship!

Whether writers who take my 21 Moments Writing Challenge are thrilled with themselves in the short run…

I just had to write you and let you know how excited I am to be in this class. Today, I completed both assignments for Day One and Day Two and am on a writing high like I haven’t been in a couple of years. Thank you!

~ Kathy P.

…or thrilled with themselves in the long run…

Taking all five rounds of 21 Moments got me in shape: writing regularly, settling into in more quickly, getting in a groove and writing longer, and bouncing back more quickly after an off day.

21 Moments got me writing regularly—and got me back on track when I needed it. Some days I went in with a moment I wanted to write about; many days something in the piece Christina sent triggered a memory or experience, sometimes a surprising one.

I can—and during some of the breaks between rounds did—do daily writing, but 21 Moments made it more fun.

~ Sarah B.

Taking all five challenges gave me a mental momentum to keep writing. I liked the variety of writing prompts: poetry, prose, plays, screenplays, fiction, non-fiction. It was an affordable way — both financially and time-wise — to keep my writing muscles in action. ~ Leigh Anne O.

The routine made me feel more “writerly” and kept me in a rhythm. I felt productive and successful having a regular writing practice. I could see improvement in my writing. It became less stilted and I wrote more freely, offhand almost, which led to more coming out than I expected. After all, I had tomorrow to try again! It was nice to have a low-key commitment that led to more writing. A couple of the essays I wrote have since turned into columns for my column in my magazine.

~ Kandace C.

21 moments gave me license and encouragement to write every day. Although I usually had an overall intention of the topic I wanted to write about that month, I let the prompts guide me, and it was interesting when they took me to unplanned places. Printing out the moments at the end and putting them in a binder helped me see where I could develop a number of pieces. It was also a great reminder of what a productivity push the program was.

~ Sue L.

I’ve started a new habit, in part because of 21 Moments. When I read something online that piques my interest, and gives me a new idea for an article or essay, I go ahead and open up a new document on my computer. Rather than saving it on Evernote or something, I paste the link into that document and make as many notes as I can in the moment about my thoughts and ideas on the piece and what I want to write. This is better than just jotting it down here and there, since a new page is already started, and it gives me a head start when I go back to write more. If I’m not at a computer, I try and jot it down in my daily calendar/notebook with the same idea, and open a document later.

~ Rhonda F.

The bottom line is that they are thrilled.

And you could be too, if you sign up for the next round that begins on Saturday, March 1st!

Click on any badge to learn more!