Our Writing is Like a Garden Plant, Plus Looking into 2018

Sometimes I feel stalled out on my writing. I forget about it for a few days and then wake up with the sudden thought: what about my WIP? (Work In Progress)

First I feel guilty that I forgot about it and mope a little bit.

And then I make plans to get working on it.

At first, though, the plans feel overwhelmingly vague, like “I need to edit my book today! Ack!” That kicks me into the doldrums.

Then I remember that my writing is like a plant. It needs today’s nutrients, like sun and water. No more, no less.

I wonder… What is the right amount of nurturing my book needs today so that it’ll be okay and keep growing and thriving, and making oxygen for my heart and soul?

I sigh as the answer comes to me because the answer is always a reasonable, doable one.

Here it is: If I spend 20 minutes (at least) working on edits for a few pages, I’ll get momentum and feel satisfied that I’ve wrangled with the material and steeped myself in my story world.

What about you? What is just the right amount of work your book needs today, so that you can feel good in your heart and keep moving forward?

Comment below and let me know. I’d love to hear your answer.

It will be different for each of you and that is good. We need everyone’s stories, everyone’s perspectives, and yours is valuable, too.

This reflection and question is the kind of thing I do in our Group Coaching Program for Genre Novelists, including the encouragement to tailor what we offer to your needs and your life.

It’s not a one-size-fits-all program, but offers foundational principles for you to build your successful author career upon.

We do offer strategies and tactics too for you to pick from, like from a buffet.

I’m willing to bet that you know that success is built on hard work and persistence and know that your journey to what you want includes trying and failing and getting up to try again, many times.

What success looks like for you will look different than for any other person. We invite you to define that too.

Specially for genre novelists, our 12-month Group Program caters to writers who want to work in a small online group and in a private Facebook group and are looking for support from experienced working novelists.

That’s me and my husband, Ezra Barany, also an award-winning novelist and master teacher.

Together we make the learning fun (we try!) and robust (we hope!)

If you’ve never seen us teach, check out this pair of short videos.

1. In this 18-minute video, I interview Ezra about essential plotting tips: https://youtu.be/gOyRnjk6zlQ.

2. In this 14-minute one, he interviews me about essential character development tips: https://youtu.be/I4fzqZUI3YM.

If you’re curious to discover more about the Group Coaching Program for Genre Novelists, go here http://coaching.bethbarany.com/.

The main requirement for this program is that you have completed at least one fiction manuscript, or equivalent. This program is for dedicated novelists.

Registration is now open for the 2018-2019 program, which officially starts Feb. 1st, 2018.

4 Early Bird Registration Bonuses!

We are offering 4 Early Bird Registration Bonuses, and those are here: http://coaching.bethbarany.com/#eb2018

Act before Dec. 15th, 9pm Pacific to take advantage of these bonuses and of last year’s pricing.

Learn more about the Early Bird Bonuses here and register!

After Dec. 15th, the Early Bird Bonuses go away and the program prices go up.

Since we recognize that people have different needs, we offer 4 levels in this program. You can read about them here: http://coaching.bethbarany.com/#4levels.

If you have any questions and want to know if this program is right for you, contact me and I’ll help you sort it out.

Here’s to your creativity! Happy writing!

♥

Best,

Beth
PS. My fun interview for the Find Your Force summit is live today! If you’d like to access it, sign up for this free event here.