It turns out 2023 was a banner year for my book coaching clients. I am thrilled to share their work and successes with you. May their example inspire you to get your own words into the world.
Three surprising things about writing any book
I’ve been helping writers get their words on the page since 1999. Believe it or not, I love it more than ever. I learned so much this year about writing and how to help writers.
You may know this already, but writing a book is a THING. Even if you’ve written a gazillion words, a book is its own animal. People are often blindsided by what’s involved, so here’s a heads-up.
- Writing a book is less about writing and more about organizing.
- You can build a wildly successful marketing plan based on your strengths and gifts even without a huge platform.
- The thing that makes writing easiest is the thing people resist with all their force. I have to really work it to get my clients to surrender resistance and identify their reader.
You might wonder, “What does Cynthia do with writers?” I help smart and soulful people:
- organize their ideas and pull their writing into a book
- write and organize a book proposal, a massive marketing undertaking
- develop ideas and articles in a coherent and powerful body of work on Substack and LinkedIn
- strategize promotional plans and tactics that honor the writer and their goals.
Celebrate my clients’ wins with me
Paula Preschelack published her book The Montessori Potential: How to Foster Independence, Respect, and Joy in Every Child with Chicago Review Press. We’ve been working on this for years, so this was a huge achievement. We worked on how she could get the word out. Paula is a public speaker so we focused her promotion efforts on speaking engagements and also LinkedIn posting. I wrote a case study about our work together here.
Cindy Lusk published her book Align and Refine: The Journey of Yoga and Meditation. I met Cindy at the Yoga Workshop in Boulder decades ago and always believed in her teaching style and her commitment to yoga. I’m thrilled to see her book come out.
Margaret Frolich, an Associate Professor of Spanish, published her second book Sexual Diversity in Young Cuban Cinema. I don’t work with many academics, but I helped Peggy to find flow and ease even under intense deadlines and work as the chair of her department.
I coached Donna Erickson to write a winning book proposal. This rarely happens, but she immediately got a book deal with the University of Nebraska Press (Bison Books imprint) for Rooted at the Edge: Where the Old and New West Collide. The book reveals the tensions of ranching at the edge of western towns, depicting a threatened Montana landscape steeped in history, conflict, and beauty.
Paul Wyman finished a draft of his book on parts work. I look forward to editing it in January. I love working with coaches who have a body of work they want to bring to a larger audience.
Christine Ruch is the founder of Fresh Thymes. (My favorite Boulder restaurant!) Christine wanted to write about food and health as part of her major career shift. I helped her organize her ideas and write powerfully for her Substack newsletter The Fresh Life.
Tina Bettison’s Substack Gathering Our Bones is a delightful, creative space for women who want more from their lives and creativity. Tina was a member of Write ON where we helped her bravely launch her newsletter.
April Allderdice is CEO of an organization working at the nexus of clean energy, job creation, environmental justice, and climate change. She’s smart and soulful, and it’s been a delight helping her craft her ideas into compelling articles on LinkedIn.
Nancie Turner finished a draft of her novel and hired an editor. As someone who did this recently, I know what a big leap it is to invest in professional feedback. Nancie also crossed something off her to-do list: she got temporary tattoos. Inspiring messages on her wrist helped her get to the finish line of her draft.
I acknowledge my clients who have devoted themselves to their writing and aren’t at the ‘put it into the world’ stage. We are deep in the process of learning what they want to write and how to say it. I salute Aevea, Bibiana, Carla, Chris, Christina, Emilah, Jesse, John, Laurie, Melissa, Talib, Zaretta, and Zindzi.
I applaud members of the Impulse Writing Club for showing up every Thursday to write together.
Commit to your writing in 2024
If you want to write and need support figuring out what and how and when to put your ideas into ink, I can help.
1:1 book coaching accelerates the writing process and is great for busy executives who need flexibility. I have three openings for 1:1 starting in January.
Write ON coaching group starts in early January. If you benefit from learning from others and are on a budget, this is a great way to get weekly support for a writing project.
Want a simple, affordable ‘writing membership’? Join us to write every Thursday at the Impulse Writing Club.
My business thrives on referrals. Who do you know who could use a book coach? Send them my way!
You may recognize the name. Stumbling Toward Genius is the name of my podcast. It felt appropriate because I’ll be sharing my highs and lows as I write my fourth draft of When Water Meets Rock.
