How Editing Your Own Writing is Like Spring Cleaning

It’s Tuesday, which means I am working on my forthcoming book about writing. To inspire you to work on your own book, I promised to share my process and also offer a sneak peek at the work-in-progress along the way. Here’s a little excerpt from today’s chapter about self-editing. Do you hate editing your own work? Let me know what you think ... keep reading


Social media for authors: How to overcome shyness, with Michael Margolis

Social media is nothing new. Most of us have been on Facebook for close to ten years now; even my eighty-two-year-old auntie is on it. But if you’ve been using social media solely for cultivating personal connections, making the shift to using it as a professional author platform is not always easy or intuitive.

When you use social media in a personal way, it feels like hanging out in your living room with your best friends and family members. Conversations are candid, intimate, and full of inside jokes and personal references. When you start using it to court the attention of fans... keep reading


Writing About Writing: What Sprinters Can Learn From Plodders

Wow. Three weeks have passed since my last post. Where did the time go?

It has been too easy to push my book writing project to one side. After the initial buzz I got from sharing my outline wore off, I turned my attention elsewhere. I thought, I’ve got lots of time, and lots of other things calling out for my attention. There is urgent client work to complete, special projects to push forward on (Paris and I are creating an online course in how to build your author platfo... keep reading


Writing About Writing: Follow My Progress As I Write My Book

Last week I announced to the world that I am writing a book about writing a book, and promised to share my progress with anyone who cares to follow along. This post is my very first progress report! (Cue the tiny marching band! I believe in celebrating early and often.)

I’m doing this for two reasons. First, I want to share my experience as a first time author in the hope that it will encourage others to dive into their own... keep reading


Writing About Writing: Announcing My Forthcoming Book

I have an announcement to make.

I am writing a book. I’m writing a book about writing a book. (To which Paris, our marketing and communications coordinator, said: “That’s so meta…”)

This should be a cinch for me. I have been an editor for nearly twenty years, over which time I have worked with hundreds of writers. Most of them were professional journalists or feature writers, but in recent years in my role as publisher at LifeTree Media, I have worked almost exclusively with first-time authors.

Every day I  support people in writing... keep reading


How to drive your nonfiction book up the bestseller lists

Every author would love to plop the words “bestselling author” alongside his or her name. But what does this term really mean? The definitions of a “bestseller” are changing in the age of digital publishing.

The New York Times is the gold standard of bestseller lists in North America but recently, more authors are citi... keep reading


Big dreams begin with baby steps

When your dreams are huge (as the best dreams are), it can be hard to clearly see the path you need to follow to reach them.

They might seem far away and out of reach, like a mountain peak from which you are separated by a deep and twisting valley. You know exactly where you are going and you know you need to navigate through the valley in order to get there.

It’s easy to feel on top of our plans when the sky is clear and we are enjoying a birds eye view o... keep reading


Mastering moment to moment mindfulness

The great thing about doing yoga at home is that it’s always available. If you can get away from dogs and kids and clear a strip on the floor, you can do yoga, even in your underwear.

But the downside to doing solo yoga, of course, is the absence of a teacher to lead you through the poses and – critically – to remind you to breathe.

I was doing yoga at home the other day when I realized that when I’m practicing alone, I have a tendency to cut myself short every time I transition from one pose to another. And I realized that tendency carries over into my... keep reading