You Don’t Have to Be the Expert

100% of my clients write their books to help people (i.e. their readers). 100% of my clients write their books to share their message with the world. A fair number of my clients ALSO write their books to grow their business – including as being seen as an expert in their field.

Which is great!

Until it isn’t…

Because there’s a huge difference between being an expert and having all the answers.

Today, I had a lovely call with one of my favorite clients. And I didn’t have all the answers. Her book is “done” – as in it’s fully written. AND there’s something wrong with the structure. She can see it, I can see it.

What I can’t see is exactly WHAT needs to be done. I know what isn’t working – and why. But what I can’t offer is what I really wanted to:

Move this here
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I wanted the next step to be clear and easy. I wanted to BE that expert saying, “Yep, it’s not working but just do THIS and it will.”

And with much of my coaching, I CAN do that. Give a clear path to my authors.

But not always.

Keep Reading!

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Is Writing Your Guilty Pleasure?

Does your writing time feel like a “guilty pleasure”?

I get it. In a day that is filled with obligations – clients, family, chores, deadlines, bills to pay, trash to put out – anything that is for yourself can get pushed to the backburner. While we’re hammered from every side to “make time for self care” and we’re conscious of the need to eat, exercise, drink enough water, get enough sleep, and make time for play, it can be hard to justify time for writing your book.

Suddenly, that “I HAVE to write this book to share my message so that I can help people” drive … twists.

You’re called to write the book and yet, at the first hint of enjoyment in the writing process, writing your book suddenly becomes a “guilty pleasure.”

And it suddenly becomes oh-so-hard to find the time to write.

You find yourself writing in the evenings, not because there was “no time” to write during the day, but because you couldn’t JUSTIFY using the hours in your work day to concentrate on your project.

Me too.

I enjoy writing. I enjoy almost everything that I write – if that’s a client project, launch copy, a sales page, even posts for Facebook. It brings me pleasure. And it’s easy to do when I can justify spending the time because it’s “for a client.” Even this, my weekly article and newsletter, brings me great pleasure. And it’s easy to justify that I’m allowed to write it during work hours because it is for you, my beloved newsletter list.

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5 Tips to Write More; Procrastinate Less

Following last week’s article about boosting your creativity, we need to talk about procrastination. There’s a line between waiting for inspiration to strike and sitting down to write – with or without the ever-illusive… inspiration.

When I was in college, my mom gave me a poster that said,

If your ship hasn’t come in, swim out to meet it.

And inspiration is a lot like that! Some days, you just won’t be feeling it. I’m sorry, it’s true. As a mom, MOST days I’m not feeling it when it comes to the Triple B’s (bath, books, bed.) I just want to skip ahead to the BED part and be done with it.

But as soon as the kids are happily splashing away – or as soon as we’re cuddled up with a book – it’s not so bad.

Here my PROVEN tips for beating procrastination in your writing!

1. Turn OFF Social Media
Do you remember life before Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and all the OTHER social distractions? I do! I remember when the Internet wasn’t always “ON” but was a privilege we bought as 100 minutes a month for $100 a month!

If you were still paying for Internet by the minute, I guarantee you’d spend a lot less time cruising Facebook!

There are a dozen apps that you can install that will lock you out of social media – if you need that. For me, just closing the Facebook tab is enough. (And I do NOT have the Facebook messenger app installed on my phone!) I’ve ALSO turned off all notifications (especially the sounds) for all my social media accounts. When you don’t have those “dings” chirping at you a million times a day, it’s easier to ignore your online social life.

If you need one more reason:

Take a look at the feed of somebody who’s life you envy. The one who looks PERFECT from the outside. The one who is always organized, lives in a neat and tidy house that is color-coordinated, and ALWAYS finishes projects. Then imagine that their life IS perfect… It’s exactly how it looks from the outside.

Wouldn’t you rather be the friend that OTHER friends are envious of – because of your PUBLISHED BOOK? Be the role model for getting.it.done so your other friends can think YOUR life is perfect. (It won’t be perfect, but having your book written and published can be the truth!)

2. Hone your Bullsh*t meter for when you’re working (or not!)
How often is your “research” just a fancy way of procrastinating? I completely understand that for most of us, especially writing non-fiction, a certain amount of research IS required.

But are you focused?
Is it necessary before you move on?

Or are you following the rabbit holes of the Internet and gobbling down click bait the way bugs eat insect poison… and then die leaving piles of little insect corpses in the corner of the room?

Because, trust me, watching a TV show is NOT research even if it IS remotely related to your topic… Here’s an advanced tip when you’re procrastinating your dreams: Imagine the actors in your FAVORITE show or movie. Imagine all they had to do to get to where they are. Send them an energetic “Thank You” for the entertainment they’ve brought you. Now imagine what YOUR life would be like if that same actor hadn’t pursued their dream… YOUR life would be the poorer for it – and by not writing, you’re making your reader’s life poorer!

3. Organize your space – then keep it that way!
Ahhhh, the clean desk. It has been proven that we do better in an environment that is neat and visually pleasing. So, take the time – the hour, the afternoon, the weekend and ORGANIZE your writing space.

Then keep it that way!

(This is me laughing at my own advice!)

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Three Resources to Fire Up Your Creativity

This is something I don’t often talk about, frankly. I’m more of the “we write even when we’re NOT inspired” type of get ‘er done writing coach.

But for THIS week, I want you to do something that is unapologetically creative (and doesn’t serve a dual purpose for your book or business!)

Here are a few resources to help you out:

Coloring books

Sometimes it’s just too much to GENERATE creativity, especially if you’re going from the written word to something else. So here are my coloring books to get you started on creativity.

Guest Posts

Sometimes you need a different voice in your head. So here are TWO articles, written by guest experts, to get you started. Flex Your Creativity Muscle, by Kaylee White and Unlocking Your Creativity by Michelle Hamelin.

Take a Class

Two platforms I love are Domestika and Skillshare. Both offer classes in a variety of creative platforms (watercolor painting!) and can help you get out of your own head. Even if you don’t DO the projects but simply follow along, it can be enough to energize you and wake-up your creativity.

So I’m issuing you a challenge:

Put DOWN the “have to’s, should, and this-must-get-me-an-ROI” writing projects. Pick UP your pen, crayon, or paintbrush and just…

CREATE.

Anything goes.

Then, post it in the Facebook group for us to all enjoy. The only rule: it can’t do “double duty” for your work-in-progress or business!

Leave me a comment and let me know you’re favorite creativity-boosting resources.

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How to Get Advance Praise Reviews for Your Book

It’s a busy spring around here! Two clients in structural edits, two in copy edits, and one in layout. The client in layout asked a great question today about collecting advance praise reviews for her book. So to give her some direction and create a resource for you, here’s how you do it:

1. When should you start getting advance praise reviews?

Don’t jump the gun here! Your book needs to be [this close] to being done. Usually that means that you’ve got a layout done.

Why?

Because you don’t want your expert to see a draft of the book! Not a rough draft, certainly, but also not an unedited draft.

2. Who should you ask?

There are two types of experts that will help you sell books:

  1. A well-known (and RELEVANT) name
  2. An unknown person with a RELEVANT title.

Sure, everybody wants their business mentor to write an advance praise blurb for their book. But if your book isn’t about BUSINESS than that person’s praise won’t mean anything to your potential reader. Just because your business mentor is famous to YOU (or in your business circle) doesn’t mean she’s a good fit.

For example, my client Rochelle Seltzer got an amazing review from Seth Godin for her book, “Live Big: A Manifesto for a Creative Life”. Seth Godin is really well known in business-book circles. Would this review pack the same punch if her book had been about weight loss? Nope! It would have just been weird!

You can also find someone with zero name recognition but who has an impressive TITLE – one that will really matter to your reader.

Now read that last bit again:

It must MATTER TO YOUR READER.

Because if these advance praise experts aren’t perceived as experts to your reader, then you might as well have your best friend’s dog groomer write the advance praise blurb!

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Three Lessons from a Dead Pine Tree

A few weeks ago, we had to have a beautiful, mature White Pine tree cut down. It had died in a combination of not enough water last summer and an insect or disease. Living in Arizona, mature trees are a huge value-add for our property AND take at least 20 years to get big.

I was heartbroken.

And guilty. Because I’M the one in charge of watering our landscaping. And frankly, last summer when the death knoll was rung, I was just too sick, dizzy, and pregnant to attend to this duty. (And Ben was away for work.)

There are some lessons to learn here:

1. Doors do close when you wait too long

I kept thinking: I’ll water it tomorrow. I KNEW that tree was stressed. But it was just “too hard” to go pull the hose out to it.

And now, it’s dead, cut down, and turning back into mulch at the dump. By the time I got around to it, it was too late to save the tree.

So when is it too late to start your book?

Honestly, much like trees, the BEST time to have written your book was “before” – last year, the year before, some time in the past.

And in facing the aftermath of the surgery-gone-sideways last October, I have had a personal glimpse into the danger of “later”.

It is NOT too late to start your book. Now is a PERFECT time.

Made all the sweeter by the knowledge that NOW is the last time you can enroll in the “Finally Write Your Book VIP Mentorship” at the current investment level. Because on May 1, that deal ends and the group will kick off on May 3.

Learn More Here and Enroll

2. Trees, like books, create legacy

We purchased this house six years ago (next month!) partly because of the beautiful mature trees. In fact, when we were touring the house, there was a picture of Mel, the previous owner, crouching next to a freshly planted evergreen tree. Was it THAT tree? I don’t know. But I thank her, and her husband, Burt, for every tree they planted.

Especially when, decades later, MY children are the recipients of a shady place to play.

I never met Burt and Mel. But I know their daughter and niece. (I’ve actually known their niece MOST of my life! Small world!)

These trees and the property are a legacy they left behind.

Books are also a legacy.

Keep Reading!

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It’s Your Book – WRITE It!

I can’t write your book for you.

There, I said it. Whew!

Occasionally, I still get people who want to hire me to ghostwrite their book for them. I even get people who aren’t turned off by the $30K starting price.

But where they inevitably freak out is learning that even with MY fingers on the keys, they are still responsible for writing the book.

That means that the client (author) still has a lot of work involved. It’s still THEIR vision – their stories, their message, and they have to decide if I’m capturing their voice… or not.

Hiring a true ghostwriter, no matter how skilled, isn’t book-by-abdication. You (the author) still has to be MASSIVELY involved.

Here’s the other side of “I can’t write your book for you.”

At some point, you’ll realize that writing a book requires time and effort. You have to find the time to write – and then do it. It’s not a “write a book in a few hours” type of thing – not for the message-driven book you really want to create.

Keep Reading!

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