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The Seasons Of A Writing Career: Where Are You?

Have you ever thought about your writing career in terms of seasons?

If you haven’t, this way of thinking can really help put things in perspective.

If I had to describe three qualities that all aspiring writers share, I would choose the words: eager, anxious, and impatient. These three words probably describe every writer I have ever met, and I’ve met thousands of writers over the years.

Eager is good. But anxious and impatient? What can a writer do to put all the work of a writing career into a more manageable perspective?

Last year, I shared a summary of the seasons of a writing career, which are the organizational structure for The Writer’s Workout. This year, I thought I would round them up for you:

The Spring of Your Writing Career

The Summer of Your Writing Career

The Autumn of Your Writing Career

The Winter of Your Writing Career

We are coming up on the one-year anniversary of my third book. Do you have your copy of The Writer’s Workout yet? If not, why not gift yourself with one this holiday season? If you are feeling eager, anxious or impatient about your writing career, then this is the book for you.

And if you already have a copy, thanks for sharing your impressions in a book in a review or social media message. I think you will be surprised to find out that measuring your progress against a bigger picture is actually comforting, rather than discouraging. And a sense of comfort is what every writer needs in order to be able to focus and be productive.

• • •

The Writer’s Workout, 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques From Your Writing Career Coach is written by Christina Katz for Writer’s Digest Books. For sale everywhere quality books are sold, including: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, IndieBound and Writer’s Digest. Listen to the introduction. Download an excerpt from Scribd. Get motivated by The Writer’s Workout Motivational Poster. Ready to get your career into shape? Let’s write the future…together.

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We are cleaning house. The outgrown clothes must go. The old, abandoned toys are in boxes. One load of stuff has already gone to Goodwill and another will follow as we finish up the annual purging of things that we no longer need that might benefit someone else.

And I am not only purging physical items from our home. I am also conducting an annual cleansing of my professional life. I am an extremely creative person, so without an annual purge to assess what to keep and what to let go of, there would be no room for growth next year. And things do tend to pile up in my creative wake.

I need some serious room to grow next year. And I bet you do too. So take a look at your stuff. What have you got? What do you want to keep and what needs to go?

Sometimes letting go is bittersweet. I let go of The Northwest Author Series this year after creating it and re-creating it for five consecutive years. Letting “my baby” go was hard. I didn’t want to do it. I dragged my feet. Ultimately, I simply knew that it was time to let go, whether I liked it or not.

So gradually, I took the steps to shut it down. And what do you know, I survived. I also got some very nice compliments about the quality of all of my hard work and lots of appreciation from those who were speakers or regular attendees.

Keeping in mind that I would not be able to grow my business the way I wanted if I didn’t let go, helped me summon up the courage to shut The Northwest Author Series down. It also helped me to acknowledge a truth that had emerged — I did not want to continue giving up the time with my family on Sunday afternoons.

Now that my daughter is ten years old, I don’t have that many Sunday afternoons left before she is all grown up and I want to enjoy every moment of her tween and teen years. I am sure if she was your daughter, you would feel the same way.

So I let it go, and it’s gone. May it rest in peace. I am glad that I was able to stop while I still loved doing it.

Are you feeling like it’s time to clean out your professional house? Here are some angles to consider before you proceed:

  1. Work you get paid to do
  2. Work you don’t get paid to do
  3. Work you do that you could delegate to someone else
  4. Household work you do that you could delegate to someone else
  5. People who drain your energy and resources
  6. Online offerings that no longer work for whatever reason
  7. Any offerings that consistently demand too much of your energy
  8. Whatever you do habitually that dissipates your energy
  9. Whatever you do consistently that hinders your personal power
  10. Whatever you do that interferes with your connection to your intuition
  11. Patterns of relating that no longer serve you and others
  12. Any pattern of behavior that consistently tears you down, bites you in the butt, or blows up in your face

When you read these considerations, some ideas may immediately jump to mind of things you want to consider cutting from your future to-do list. Listen to these impulses. Don’t be surprised if you feel scared or anxious about making changes.

Change makes many people anxious. But if you are not willing to gradually change, then you can’t gradually grow.

Once you have determined the kind of changes you need and want to make, go about making the changes gradually and with sensitivity to others. Remember that you can’t make others feel good about your decisions to change. You can only commit to change, follow through on it, and communicate as clearly and kindly as you can.

You might go for years without making changes. You might be the picture of perfect consistency. And you will be surprised to hear me say that there is something seriously wrong with perfect consistency.

Because life wants to evolve. And if you are not evolving with life, then you may be fighting life.

So get brave. And face the music of change, if you feel have changes to face.

Change will come gently, if you let it. And change can happen gradually, once you surrender to it.

And if you stubbornly refuse and consistently resist, change will likely turn on you one day and soundly kick your butt.

If this has ever happened to you you, don’t hate change for coming. Just remember that change is always coming and get yourself and your career ready.

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Thank You For Being A Friend, Writers

Being a friend can transcend greeting card sentiments.

I try to be a good friend to my readers, students, and fans by providing a steady stream of helpfulness, instruction, and inspiration.

And you, in turn, inspire me with your hard work, camaraderie, and success.

It’s a virtuous cycle and I am so grateful for it.

Thank you, very much, for being a friend, not only to me, but to your writing, most of all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

And thanks to Andrew Gold for this sweet song from the seventies…

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Guess what time of year it is, writers?

That’s right. It’s Oscar season, for movies and for writers.

And the best part is, you get to be the Academy.

Therefore, if you appreciate my work, I would appreciate your votes!

And, thanks to all that is holy, it’s not nearly as hard to do this kind of voting as it once was.

I have three campaigns going on right now. Can you take a sec and chime in?

Vote For Me As One Of Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites For Writers

How did I get to be such a smarty pants about all things writing and publishing related? I wrote three books for Writer’s Digest in seven years, while teaching, speaking, blogging, and writing gobs of articles and curricula.

Every year, Writer’s Digest pulls together a list of best websites. I can assure you, this list is not rigged. You actually have to be nominated and praised in glowing terms to ever garner consideration for the list.

So what do you say? If you would like to see The Prosperous Writer on this widely read list, please e-mail them with “101 Websites” in the subject line. Anything you have to briefly say about why I’d be a valuable addition to the list is appreciated.

Click here to e-mail Writer’s Digest Your Nomination

Vote For Me Daily At Circle Of Moms Until December 7th at 4 pm PT

This list is to recognize The Top 25 Book Author Moms.

Click here to vote. You can vote every day if you like. But I’ll take any day you can!

Share the badge, if you like:

Nominate Me At Write To Done Until December 3rd

This list is to nominate the 7th Annual Top Ten Blogs For Writers Contest.

Click here to nominate me. The more times the merrier!

I am hoping for more than two nominations to up my chances. Please describe what you like about my blog. Here’s one example of what they are looking for in a nomination:

“I nominate the Prosperous Writer (Mama), Christina Katz. https://christinakatz.com/ Her advice is always spot-on and full of gratitude. She supports other writers and helps keep us all motivated, as well as encourages us all to find balance, no easy task in the life of a freelancer.” ~ Vanessa Nix Anthony

All of this vote and nomination -seeking is making me feel very humble. Thank you for your support! I appreciate your time and votes of confidence.

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Your genuine gratitude blesses the past and portends the future.

You didn’t know that gratitude could be such a powerful tool? Then keep reading!

We writers always have a lot of people to thank when the holiday season rolls around every year. Some of us get overwhelmed while others get excited. But anything worth doing is worth doing thoroughly, that’s what I always say.

In other words, I think we can all stand to get more creative with our gratitude. I hope this holiday season, you won’t merely thank the folks who help you with your bottom line. There are so many people to appreciate in the writing business. And this is the perfect time of year to do it.

Here are some ideas to help you brainstorm your Most Appreciated of 2012 list. Feel free to copy it into a doc, fill it out, and use it as a checklist:

People who helped you get where you are today

Editors, copyeditors, and fact-checkers, who make your work better

Publishers, who make your work available to a wider audience

Sales people whose efforts keep your work distributed, promoted, and circulating

Bookstore owners and librarians

Interns, yours or other peoples’

Photographers and designers, who make you and your work look professional

Agents or lawyers, who represent you and negotiate contract points for you

Bookkeepers and CPAs, who keep the IRS at bay

Website designers and tech consultants

Cover artists, interior layout designers, and e-book formatting folks

Marketing people and publicists, who get the word out about you

Experts and authors you used as sources once or more

Teachers, coaches, advisers, and mentors, both actual and virtual, whether they know they inspire you or not

Support services that make it possible for you to write (babysitter, housecleaner, landscaper, etc.)

Authors you interview or review (or who help you in any way)

People who consistently take the time to review you or your work

Event organizers, administrators, and hosts

Association administrators, leaders, newsletter editors, volunteers who helped you

People who refer you and your work to others

Writing groups, old friends from the trenches, and new acquaintances you are excited to get to know better

Consultants or professional service people

Students or clients, especially returning

People who create services and products that your business depends on

Your social networks, both as an entirety and key individuals within

Community members, real or virtual, who go out of there way to buzz your work

Readers and fans who have gone above and beyond, especially repeat

Media folks you pitch and serve

Friends and family who actively help you or cheer you on

Any other people I am not thinking of who make a difference in your career and your year

Feel free to add suggestions to this list in the comments. Also consider all the possibilities in space and time. For time, go back as far as last time your consciously thanked people. For space, consider local folks, regional folks, national folks, and international folks, so you don’t overlook anyone.

And food for thought, you might to want to think of who you are not feeling particularly thankful towards. You don’t have to thank them right now. Thankfulness is authentic, honest, gratitude-driven action. So don’t feel bad because you do not feel grateful towards someone specific. Ask yourself why and don’t stop asking until you figure it out. If you can’t figure it out by yourself, get some help figuring it out.

Thinking over who you are not thankful towards and considering why you are not feeling thankful towards them can also help you plan who and what and how to serve next year. If I were you, I’d go with continuing to serve the people you feel most genuinely grateful towards and looking for more people like them. Win-win-win is your most prosperous direction.

If you are serving people you resent, for whatever reason, the relationship is probably not going to pay off in the long run for either of you. Worse, the whole thing might blow up in both of your faces. Not because you are a bad person or because the other person is a bad person, but because that’s what resentment does. It’s like a slow time bomb ticking away just under the surface.

But if you can see your pet peeves as a source of valuable information for the future, instead of an ax to perpetually grind, your understanding can open up a whole world of freedom and possibilities for the future.

See my ongoing list of thank yous, I am continually updating: https://christinakatz.com/thanks/

I am thankful for you. Thank you for reading. Happy Thanksgiving.

Like this post? Then please subscribe to The Prosperous Writer Blog and sign up for The Prosperous Writer Newsletter, so you won’t miss any important updates.

~ Photo by hellojenuine.

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This one is for you, NaNoWriMo-ers!

Did you notice, it’s that time of year again?

You know, the happiest time of year when you want to stick to your writing schedule, but along come these pesky things called “holidays,” which seem hell-bent on throwing you off your game.

Bah, humbug!

But, wait a second, maybe we should cut the holidays some slack. For one thing, it’s good for your creativity to take a break now and then. It’s also a good idea to, you know, spend time with people once in a while. Even better if these folks are the people you most enjoy spending your time.

I’ll tell you what will wreak havoc with your writing, though: making a bunch of holiday commitments that don’t honestly express how you want to spend your time. That’s a symptom of not giving yourself permission.

Therefore, if you are making choices out of guilt, obligation, or social pressure, then guess what? Welcome to your hellish holidays!

But if you give yourself permission and make your choices from a place of love-to or at least want-to, you have a really good shot at a decent holiday season and a chance to recharge your writing batteries.

And here’s a final key: no judgement. I don’t care if what you really want is to spend your holidays with your pet parrot teaching him to say things like, “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid!” Go, ahead! You get to decide. This is your life, after all.

But before you decide, be sure to also take your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health into account. What does your body need? How about your mind? What would be emotionally and spiritually enriching for you? Why not choose those things?

Because here’s what will happen if you take good care of yourself over the holiday season. A miracle! Your creative energy will go up, and you just might find yourself with more time to spare for writing than you might have imagined.

All because you didn’t try to contort yourself into somebody else’s idea of what a happy holiday looks like.

Somebody should bottle this, right? And sell it!

So, yes, it’s the most wonderful time of the year again. But what makes it more wonderful is when we celebrate it with generosity, joy, and love in our hearts, not peer-pressure, judgement, or any kind of belief that there is one right way to spend the holidays.

Break free of any prisons you have previously lived inside, writers. You are allowed. Just like Motel the Taylor in Fiddler on the Roof, you are entitled to some happiness.

Really. You are.

I encourage you to express yourself authentically in every area of your life and in every area of your career, because when you do, if you conduct yourself calmly and kindly, everything else will fall into place…eventually.

And, of course, you might step on some toes in the short run. Or at least have folks shaking their heads at you, muttering about something coming over you, because you NEVER would have acted like this in 1974.

And maybe that’s right. Maybe you wouldn’t have. Yet today, you get to decide.

So, happy holidays, writers! My wish for you is all the permission you need! I hope you will spend all of your holidays happily and exactly as you wish!

• • •

I am a veteran journalist, author and coach with over a decade and a half of experience and a wealth of techniques to share. I am focused on making the world a saner, more expressive place. I help folks become more creative for personal enjoyment, professional development and transformational growth. Whether you are a professional creative or hope to become one some day, I can help you embrace your personal strengths, explore your creative possibilities, and evolve incrementally into your most inspiring self. If you are ready to achieve creative consistency in your life and career, email me about monthly coaching calls. To learn more about increasing your creative confidence, please check out my online school. Stay tuned for ways to save money by becoming a Beta User for my next new course by subscribing to The Prosperous Creative. And don’t forget to get these blog posts delivered to your inbox, so you never miss a post. If you appreciate my work—school, products, blog and social media posts—you are welcome to make a contribution of any size at any time. Thank you for your support!

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Have you ever thought that military families could stand more support here at home? Imagine having your spouse halfway around the globe and potentially in harm’s way on a regular basis as you try to go about your everyday life here at home.

There is inherent stress that comes with a military lifestyle, or any lifestyle where spouses are necessarily separated for long periods of time, and this stress makes the job on the home front all the more difficult. I know from working with military wife writers how much harder their day-to-day job is than it is for those of us whose spouses commute back and forth only a few miles to work each day.

Add to these challenges that military families face, frequent relocation and the steady stream of high-ticket purchase decisions that come part and parcel with a mobile lifestyle and we’ve got a population of military wives, who could sure stand some help navigating all the tricky decisions that need to made on any given day.

And this is where Janine Boldrin comes in—with the information and advice to make military family life easier. Janine has channeled her helpful military lifestyle advice into a new e-book, The Thinking Spouse’s Guide To Military Life, How To Make Better Buying Decisions For Your Mobile Family. Janine understands from experience the challenges military spouses face on the home front each and every day and she can help military wives make better buying decisions today.

If you know any military families, who are getting ready to move or who are moving in the near future, or if you are a military spouse yourself and you know from experience how financially challenging the military lifestyle can be, please join me in spreading the word about Janine Boldrin’s helpful new e-book, which is ready to download and read at a moment’s notice on Kindle and Nook.

Thank you for helping me welcome Janine!

You are a freelance journalist, a mother of three and a military spouse — how did your past personal and professional experience lead up to writing this e-book?

When I was first married, the military was unfamiliar and intimidating. I often shied away from dealing with a lot of situations and issues that were absolutely essential to understand to make a successful life for my military family. The longer my husband stayed in the Army, the more I realized that I needed to learn how to live military life for, not only me, but for my family.

Thirteen years later, this ongoing learning process extended to writing about military families and the issues they face for magazines and newspapers. I began combining my own experience with expert advice and found people could relate and make better decisions based on the information I provided.

Why did you write The Thinking Spouse’s Guide To Military Life? What makes you think mobile spouses are having challenges making major purchases?

Through many moves and multiple deployments, I’ve often wished I knew Day One what I now know after thirteen years of being married to the military. I could have saved us a lot of heartache if I had known how to make better choices for my mobile family. The idea for my book was born out of the idea of wanting to give other military families valuable perspective they could use to avoid common mistakes.

For this first book, I focused on large purchases because I feel this is one of the areas our families struggle with the most. We have to buy homes, cars, and furniture more often than the average person because we are so mobile. This puts us in the position of potentially losing money when a little bit of extra “thinking” could have actually saved us money. Whether you are a new spouse or one that has moved ten times, these tips will give you a new mindset on how you make major purchases. This is especially important as we face possible downsizing in the military plus an uncertain economy. Relying on “retirement” should not be your catch-all way of ensuring you have money when you leave the military.

What are the benefits of reading your e-book? What strategies will I be able to apply immediately if I am trying to make better buying decisions for my mobile family?

The strategies I offer are what you need to hear to make the best buying decisions you can as a mobile family. The information will transform how you view purchases, tell you what mistakes to avoid, give you resources to use, and ways to get discounts and save money as a military family.

This e-book is based on real life experience and expert advice. I’ve moved into nine homes over thirteen years. My husband has deployed three times (fourth is coming soon) and is frequently gone for training. I’ve moved on my own with three kids, sat in a broken down car during a deployment, and cried in front of a wrecked washer the day we moved into a new house. As a military spouse, I know you are often making big purchases on your own with little information and you have to make a decision really fast. This e-book gives you a new way of processing how to make a big purchase that will stand up to your mobile lifestyle.

Janine Boldrin writes for publications like Military Spouse, Family Circle, Military Families Magazine, The Washington Times and parenting publications across North America.

Why are so many families becoming mobile these days?

Many military families move every three to four years and even the civilian population has also become more mobile because of their job situations. For many families, you can no longer stay in the same job, same town, or even same state for your entire life.  Whether you have to move for a job, family reasons, or to go in search of something new, being a mobile family requires a whole new way of thinking when it comes to how you make large purchases because your housing, auto, and furnishing needs often change as you move.

I’m sure you didn’t become such a money maven without a few stops at the school of hard knocks. What’s the worst big purchase mistake you ever made and what’s the best big purchase strategy you ever came up with?

The worst purchase we made was buying two cars when my husband went back to school through the Army. We didn’t wait long enough after we moved to determine how we would be using our vehicles. We could have easily downsized to one car because the mass transportation was so great at the school he was attending. Instead, we were left with two hefty car payments and one car that pretty much sat in parking lots all day. One of recommendations I make is to wait at least two months after a move before buying a new car. That way you’ll understand how you will be using the vehicle and can better determine your needs and climate.

Will families who are not in the military appreciate your advice? Or is this advice strictly for military families?

The focus of the book is on those who are in the military  but the ideas can be can be extended to other people who move often or face unpredictable relocation.

I can’t imagine how challenging it must be to have to move your entire family every couple of years. Is there a silver lining to the mobile lifestyle? How has this lifestyle impacted you?

Military families have to deal with a huge burden when it comes to frequent moves and every individual views the situation differently. At first, I struggled with having to uproot our family as often as we do but now I see what incredible experiences my children have gained from living across the United States. Plus, with each move we’ve run into old friends and made new friends who add to our lives.

The only part I still struggle with is how my kids will view the experience as they get older. Will they wish they had a hometown? Or resent how many schools they had to attend? That’s why I plan on writing another e-book about how to make better choices for kids as a mobile family.

Learn more about Janine’s new e-book, The Thinking Spouse’s Guide To Military Life, How To Make Better Buying Decisions For Your Mobile Family, with tons of advice for military families planning their next move at http://www.janineboldrin.com.

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Keep calm and carry on. We see that slogan and its variations seemingly everywhere these days.

But it doesn’t necessarily come with a guidebook for parents, does it?

Well now it does. Because we parents can all-t0-easily get too wrapped up with our kids, whether that means we over-react to a minor upset or we just can’t seem to stop dancing as fast as we can to enjoy this moment.

If you can relate to any of this, I am sure you will be happy to meet expert journalist Heidi Smith Luedtke and learn about her helpful insights into using detachment parenting techniques to gain perspective and self-control when you need it most.

In addition to writing hundreds of professional articles on personal development, people skills, and parenting, Heidi is offering all her best advice in one quick read, Detachment Parenting, 33 Ways To Keep Your Cool When Kids Melt Down.

Tuesday, November 13th is Heidi’s e-book launch day and I would love your help spreading the word to frazzled parents everywhere. Thanks in advance for helping me introduce Heidi Smith Luedtke to book readers around the world.

The holidays are fast approaching and I don’t know a single parent who won’t benefit from Heidi’s insightful and inspiring tips. Welcome, Heidi!

Why Detachment Parenting? What makes you think parents are not detached enough?

Parenting is emotionally intense. We all want to give our kids a healthy, happy start in life, but even Supermom can’t prevent bad feelings from happening. Although parents know frustration and disappointment are part of life, we take it personally when kids lose it emotionally. There’s a lot of pressure to raise kids “right” and it’s hard to respond thoughtfully when your child is throwing a fit.

Parents can get sucked into kids’ bad moods without noticing. We catch their emotions just like we catch the nasty stomach bug they brought home from preschool. We feel edgy and frustrated because the kids are unhappy, so we act impatient and snap at kids verbally. This amplifies kids’ distress and makes us feel like we’ve failed as parents. The result is a negative cycle that drags everyone down.

Will parents who follow the Attachment Parent philosophy like your advice? Or is this advice only for people who don’t follow the Attachment Parenting philosophy?

I’m often asked if Detachment Parenting is the opposite of Attachment Parenting. The short answer is, “No.” The detachment parenting approach is based on my belief that parents are best able to nurture their children when they are calm and responsive rather than frazzled and reactive. This e-book doesn’t prescribe parents’ choices about feeding, sleeping or cuddling with kids. It doesn’t suggest parents ignore kids’ feelings or let them cry it out when they’re upset.

Detachment Parenting simply shows you how to take an emotional step back and keep yourself centered so you can give your kids what they need. That allows parents to nurture stronger bonds with their children. Several early readers who describe themselves as adherents of the attachment parenting approach have told me they found this book extremely helpful.

Your psychology background and expert journalist experience make you uniquely qualified to write this e-book. How did all your past professional experience lead naturally up to writing this e-book?

My background is in personality and emotion. That means I have a deep understanding of how the emotion system works in your brain and your body. I’ve studied individual differences that make some people more susceptible to negative moods than other people. And I’ve also done extensive research on coping techniques: I know which strategies are effective and how to apply them in real life.  In my work as a journalist, I’ve interviewed top experts to learn more about stress, anger and interpersonal dynamics. And I used all that knowledge to write Detachment Parenting.

Heidi Smith Luedtke writes for publications like Military Spouse, Parents, Pregnancy & Newborn, Costco Connection, and parenting publications around the world.

What are the benefits of reading your e-book? What strategies will I be able to apply immediately if I’m an overwhelmed mom?

The first three sections of my e-book are designed to give parents immediate relief from emotional overwhelm. “In the Heat of the Moment” offers strategies for riding out the initial wave of bad feelings so you don’t overreact and regret it later. I suggest ways to change the situation or to escape (briefly) so you can calm down. “Addressing Kids’ Concerns” shows you how to interact with kids when bad feelings flare. I describe strategies that soothe hurt feelings and teach kids to cope more effectively. “Seeing the Bigger Picture” teaches you how to shift your perspective so you see emotional patterns and can preempt most meltdowns altogether. There are 20 tips in these three sections, but you don’t have to implement all of them. If you use two or three of these detachment techniques consistently, you’ll experience a positive shift in your emotional interactions with your kids.

Are there long-term benefits, too? What bad habits do parents have that can be changed if we follow your advice?

When it comes to mood management, parents may use strategies that offer short-term relief but lead to long-term trouble. For example, parents may give in and buy kids toys or treats to avoid a meltdown in the supermarket checkout line. The next time we’re at the store, they’ll expect the same treatment. If parents don’t deliver, the tantrums get worse!

A similar dynamic happens when parents step in to solve kids’ social problems instead of helping them find their own solutions. Let’s face it: It’s easier to send kids to separate rooms when they’re fighting than it is to help them work through a disagreement. Parents may feel like it’s our job to seize control and stop the drama. But when we take charge, kids don’t learn how to handle their own problems. And they’ll expect us to intervene in every squabble.

Detachment Parenting gives parents tools and techniques for coaching kids through unhappy feelings instead of trying to avoid or eliminate them. Over time, kids get more skilled at dealing with tough situations and learn to cope independently. Parents can stop trying to control kids’ emotions and interact with their kids in supportive consulting role.

How is my life as a parent going to change for the better after I follow your advice for a while? What will kids learn from parents if we follow your advice?

If you apply my detachment parenting techniques, you’ll start to see emotional situations as opportunities to build your child’s coping and communication skills. You’ll have a short list of go-to strategies that help you stay calm and focused even when things are spinning out of control. And you’ll feel like you have more to give to your kids and your partner, because you’re taking better care of your own emotional health.

You promise the reader that your e-book will help her feel better as a person and a parent. This seems like a pretty tall order to deliver on in just 33 tips. What’s your secret?

When you create a positive emotional climate in your home and consciously teach kids the emotion-management skills they need to live well and happily, you have fewer frustrations and more fun as a parent. You’ll feel good about yourself because you know you are showing kids how to find personal happiness and interpersonal harmony. This e-book gives you a road map to both.

Learn more about Heidi’s awesome new e-book, Detachment Parenting, which is chock-full of keep-calm-and-carry-on tips at http://www.heidiluedtke.com.

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POPPEDY-POP! What A Successful Platform Is Really Like

I think we talk about platform in the theoretical way too much.

As a writer, who has and uses and builds and expands and relies upon a platform as an integrated part of my career, I can assure you that the best part of platform is when it ceases to be a hypothetical and once it begins to be an ongoing part of a creative career process.

I encourage writers to get out of the hypothetical and into the actual doing/building/planning part as quickly as humanly possible. Because friends, I gotta tell you, at this point, with as much ground as has been covered on the topic, long drawn-out pontifications on platform are getting wicked boring. At least for me.

But then again, I wrote an entire book on the topic, as most of you know.

When platform is still exciting, as it is for me every single day, it is because stuff is popping inside of mine like popcorn machine going full tilt. Poppedy-poppedy-pop! That’s what your platform should sound like.

If you don’t hear anything popping. Then stop talking about platform all the time and get to work on yours. If my platform isn’t popping much on any particular day of the week, which happens once in a while, I am fortunate to have my students’ platforms popping like crazy all around me.

So basically it’s incredibly noisy around here all the time with all of the platform popcorn popping going on in my own work and in the work of those I teach and coach. This is what platform productivity looks and sounds like. It’s like life inside a giant popcorn machine.

And the best part is that the quality of work that is going on in my career and around my career could not be higher. And please remember that quality does not happen by itself. Quality happens because I am setting a good example of how to be focused, and my students are not only following my good example, they are also focused on their own work and nothing but their own work.

So you want some platform results? You want to hear the wonderful sound of your own platform popping? Then stop talking about it and get to work. I can help. I help writers all the time. Every single day.

Poppedy-pop, what are you waiting for? Let’s get this platform poppin’!

• • •

Get Known Before The Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths To Grow Your Author Platform is written by Christina Katz for Writer’s Digest Books. For sale everywhere quality books are sold, including: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, IndieBound and Writer’s Digest. Watch the book trailer. Check out the companion workbook, Discover Your Platform Potential. Read my Writer’s Digest article, “50 Ways To Build Your Platform In Five Minutes A Day.” If you are ready to get to work, see when my next Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform class begins. Ready to build your writer platform? Let’s uncover what sets you apart from the crowd…together.

~ Photo by Vegan Feast Catering

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NaNoWriMo is upon us! Time to get productive, writers, so you can write better.

Because, let me guess, you don’t want to write 50,000 words of junk?

I can help. Here are seven simple tips to help keep your future readers happy:

1. Write the climax first. If you know where your story is headed, then why not write that climax scene first? You’ll learn a lot, including what info you’ll need to convey before your reader gets to the climax. Takeaway: you’ll likely waste less time writing chapters you don’t need, once you know where your story is going.

2. Always include movement. Two people sitting talking stiffly is not something your reader is going to sit still for chapter after chapter. Remember: you need your reader to sit still, not your characters. For ideas about how to keep your characters in constant motion, take a peek at TV shows like The West Wing. This is a show that could have been incredibly boring. After all, it’s about bureaucracy. And yet, there is never a dull moment on The West Wing thanks to masterful storytelling by Aaron Sorkin. You want to keep your readers reading? Then don’t ever let your characters sit down.

3a. Take the reader on an adventurous journey through your story. Storytelling is a journey. It’s an adventure. Every moment of the telling is heightened. Every detail is electric and alive. Over-dramatizing mundane moments is not the same thing as heightening what’s naturally dramatic. The drama will come through your writing naturally when you know you have a story worth telling. So take some time before you begin writing to think about your story as a journey.

If you want to tell a good story, it helps to be familiar with archetypal stories like The Hero’s Journey. Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers enlightened all of us about the Hero’s Journey back in the late eighties, with a little help from our friend, George Lucas, and his archetypal tale, Star Wars. If you don’t know about the stages of the Hero’s Journey, you should familiarize yourself with them before you start your novel. Chris Vogler wrote a book on the topic called The Writer’s Journey, maybe check it out after NaNo is done.

3b. But don’t forget the feminine journey. If you are writing a novel with a female heroine, you might want to consider that the hero’s journey and the heroine’s journey might not be the exact same story. Human potential leader, Jean Houston has said that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the archetypal female adventure story. I think this is worth thinking about. Writing is a journey, but remember, your readers don’t need your journey in the story. Just your main character’s journey. So above all, let your main character have a story worth telling. And then focus on the job of telling that story from beginning to end.

4. Let objects move the story forward. If your story is going to take place in the real world or a world of your creation, then we need to see that world. And we can’t see it, if you don’t give us anything to see. Objects create live, 3-D action, simply by offering images our mind can recognize. So if you find yourself moving too rapidly through space and time or filling page after page with voluminous dialogue, why not establish a few key objects right at the beginning of every scene, so the reader will feel more grounded in the reality of your story?

5. Use a rough outline but don’t be afraid to abandon it. To use an outline or not to use an outline, that is the question. My suggestion is both. Use an outline and don’t use an outline. How else will you have a general sense of your story unless you have an outline? But don’t follow your outline religiously. Be willing to take a detour or write off in an unexpected direction. The reader likes surprises. And so does the writer. If you are surprised, follow that thread and see where it goes. Since you will be writing for 30 days anyway, don’t worry about going off in surprising new directions once in a while. It’s all part of the fun of story writing.

6. Write scenes. If every chapter you write during NaNo is a scene, you might very well have real a novel by the time you are done. And a readable novel at that! A scene simply means people in action in a place. What will you start with? The people? The action? Or the place? Why not try to start with action every time? You can always go back later and fill in anything the reader absolutely needed to know as needed. In the meantime, you will finish NaNo with a whole bunch of excellently written chapters that you may be able to string together into a real, working novel down the road.

7. See it! Imagine a writer, hunched over her desk, frantically scribbling, then scratching out, then crumbling paper and throwing it across the room. This is the image of the archetypal writer that we have inherited from our culture. Forget that writer. Lift up your head and look at a blank wall. Stare at the wall until you can begin to see scenes of your story unfold in front of your eyes. When you can see some scenes, write them. Write them by hand or type them out quickly. You want to get your word count done for the day? Then don’t write what you can’t see. See it first, and then write like mad. Conversely, if you can feel it or hear it or intuit where your story is going, this works just as well. We are not all visual thinkers, after all. What I’m getting at is: abandon the tortured curmudgeonly writer archetype, in favor of the alert, engaged creative soul who writes by senses that are alive and productive.

All it takes to “win” at NaNoWriMo is a couple-few hours of writing a day. And this is exactly what successful authors and novelists have always known and done.

Want to write a novel or a book? Step one is write the story.

Step two is write your story, the way only you can write it.

Why not you? NoNoWriMo is set up to launch novelists.

This year it might be you. Have fun and then try again next year.

Happy NaNoWriMo-ing, writers!

“Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month.”• • •

I am a veteran journalist, author and coach with over a decade and a half of experience and a wealth of techniques to share. I am focused on making the world a saner, more expressive place. I help folks become more creative for personal enjoyment, professional development and transformational growth. Whether you are a professional creative or hope to become one some day, I can help you embrace your personal strengths, explore your creative possibilities, and evolve incrementally into your most inspiring self. If you are ready to achieve creative consistency in your life and career, email me about monthly coaching calls. To learn more about increasing your creative confidence, please check out my online school. Stay tuned for ways to save money by becoming a Beta User for my next new course by subscribing to The Prosperous Creative. And don’t forget to get these blog posts delivered to your inbox, so you never miss a post. If you appreciate my work—school, products, blog and social media posts—you are welcome to make a contribution of any size at any time. Thank you for your support!

~ Photo by Dana Marin on Unsplash

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