Many writers, when they sit down to work, look with anxiety or stress at that blank page. Or they’re afraid to send their work out—to editors or publishers—or even for critique. Others are afraid they won’t sell. Or if they have sold, that they won’t sell again.
I participated in Pitch Madness last year on twitter and while preparing I realized I had no idea what genre my book was. Before you begin they give you a list of what genre to put at the end of your tweet so that agents and editors can see if they would even represent your book. There were so many to choose from so I did some research on each of them.
Ask me about a favorite book – and I’ll describe the heroine.
My friends and associates will always start a conversation with me something like this, “So how’s your writing coming?” or my fav, “When are you gonna publish your next book?”
I had the privilege of leading a workshop for a group of writers last weekend. My theme was ‘The Writer’s Voice’. Not so much finding your voice, important as that is, more so having the confidence to let your voice be heard.
I am not worthy of this story. I have nothing to say. Why should I bother? No one will read it anyway. I’m a horrible writer. I can’t do this. So what? What is your shadow side saying to you?
When I think of all the reasons people want to write books, all the reasons why I have books in my life, I realized that books are many meanings. Books are metaphors or standisn for many different things for many different people.
Oi. That’s controversial. The “shut up and write” part was inspired by a meetup group by the same name. The “I don’t care if you do” has been running around in my head for a while. What do I mean by it?
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Beth Barany helps authors get their books completed and out into the world, into the hands of their readers.
Creativity Coach for Writers, NLP Master Practitioner, and Master Teacher, Beth Barany has been there and knows how hard it can be to take your idea and turn it into a real book, that people will actually be interested, and even yearning, to read.
She walks the talk, as her clients like to say. She is the author of the 2012 award-winning young adult fantasy novel Henrietta The Dragon Slayer, as well as the author of the bestselling nonfiction books for authors and aspiring authors.
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