Out in the field of ReVision: That’s where the real stick-to-it writers are made.

I have published eight successful books, including my memoir BOUNDLESS, because I was dogged about revision. I do it because I have a great work ethic—and I love the process.

When I revise, I see my book getting better and better.

But revision can feel like a hamster wheel—unless you have a plan.

The secret? Layer your revisions.

Think of revision as a multi-tiered layer cake, with delicious fruity jam filling between all the layers. Pretty nice, right? A reward for every layer.

But, ah, back to layering. Let’s make that cake—er, book.

There is a reason that Matt Bell’s Refuse to Be Done is one of my most-recommended writing craft books.

Like Matt Bell, I layer my revisions. Each pass through my manuscript has a distinct lens and a defined objective.

His book provides simple, accessible tips. And it will help you just get your book done.

Bell helps you summon all your resources to knock out a first draft, then gives you a clear road map for revision.

Revision is what separates the pros from the wannabes. Revision is the most important work you’ll ever do.

Here are my layers of revision:

• Character. When you were writing the first draft, you were probably focused on the main character. For this layer of revision, map out a thruline for each character. This will help you get a gauge on what changes for each character along the way. It will inform how secondary characters push on the main character. And how the main character pushes back.

  • Trust me: This will make your manuscript even edgier.

• Plot. Stepping back and mapping out the skeleton of your story will make several things clear to you. Does this string of events make sense? Does it move? Is there a natural cause-and-effect? Does it lag?

  • Trust me: This will help you end up with a well-paced manuscript.

• Scene structure. Do an inventory of your scenes. These are your most fully rendered parts of the manuscript, the ones that bring home the meaning and are the most memorable. That was a long way of saying: These are your “beats,” to borrow from screenwriting. I like to think of “beats” as heartbeats.

  • This will help you make every scene work, weed out weak scenes and identify missing scenes.

Read more

Read wide and deep. Read, love, read, love again.

On The Resilient Writer podcast with Rhonda Davis, I say I read promiscuously. More about my free-spirited literary life, coming up! Read on.

I believe in reading books that are like the book you want to write.

At the same time, always be reading a craft book.

At any given time, I have two “reads” in progress on the genre I’m working in, whether that’s fiction, memoir, essays or short stories.

And I always have a craft book “read” running in the background.

Below, I offer you my Recommended Craft Books and my Recommended Books for Literary Magnificence.

Plan to Be a Published Author: Make a Strategic Reading List

Each semester, as I worked through my MFA in Writing at Spalding University, I would file a Reading Like a Writer plan with my mentor.

I do this now with my author clients when we enter into a coaching plan.

Book a free call

Which package is right for you?

To start your own Reading Like a Writer list, I offer my recommended list of craft books AND books that showcase literary skills.

To make your own list, suited to your project, choose:

• Books that are similar in theme and subject matter. (Love, loss, regret, memory, adventure, betrayal, coming-of-age, divorce, illness, grief, faith and so on.) Choose a book that broke open new territory for you and emboldened you to strike out.

• Books that use the point of view you’re using—first person, third person limited, omniscient. This is one of my hard-and-fast rules. If I’m writing a novel in third person, I choose novels in third person. If I’m writing a memoir in first person, I read novels and memoirs in first person. Point of view is one of the most important decisions you’ll make about writing your book.

• Books that have a similar structure, such as a novel with one narrator, a novel with multiple narrators, a narrative memoir that reads like a novel or film, a teaching memoir that uses the art of the teaching story or ring of stories (one of my favorite genres). If you’re writing a narrative drawing from the classic hero’s journey or Save the Cat! For the Novel with 15 beats, read a book like that. If you’re writing a Meander, Spiral, Explode narrative, read a book like that.

• Books that have a similar narrator in tone, or if you’re writing with multiple narrators, a similar array of tones (so you can sharpen the distinctions between narrators by seeing how someone else did it).

• Books that have a similar time span. If you’re writing epic (think Tolstoy), then read Anna Karenina. If you’re writing in a compressed time frame, think Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.

• Books that have a similar approach to setting. Is it set all in one place? Do we leap to new places? Is the setting broad and expansive, or is it small (like Room)?

• Books that build characters—one great memorable character who can carry everything, like Agnes in Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet or seven great characters who tell a larger story together, like Richard Powers’ The Overstory.

• Books that really shine with dialogue or description. That’s just about any Colum McCann book.

• Books whose language delights you. Also, Colum McCann.

A Guide to Promiscuous Reading: Notes from a Book Slut

Certainly, always be faithful to your spouse. I highly recommend it.

But you absolutely have my permission to be a book slut.

Some of my author clients hesitate to read much while they are in the throes of writing their books, but I don’t think that’s a wise course at all. It’s a plan for deprivation. And, worse, dare I say it out loud—writer’s block.

There are two great ways to learn how to write a book:

• Write it, and let it train you. Jennifer Haigh (Rabbit Moon, Heat & Light)says that’s what she does with each novel she writes.

• Read like a writer. It’s like you’re reading a training manual. By reading more than one—many—over the course of writing your book, you’re discovering there are a million ways to get there.

Some writers fear reading a book while they are writing their book because they are afraid that book will influence them too much. (And then long sad years roll by without reading a book…)

Is writing contagious? Actually, a little bit. But always in a good way.

Trust that you won’t contaminate your vision for your book with other people’s words. You’re not writing to be someone else. You’re writing to be yourself.

As I told Rhonda on The Resilient Writer, if you’re only going to read one book, perhaps you are risking too much contamination. So, the cure: Don’t read just one book!

And always remember that all the best books—the ones that are timeless and richly textured—are always talking to each other. Think Hamnet. Think Ahab’s Wife.

Your book will be better for having talked to all those other books!

On the way, you’ll become not just a master, but a genius. An author.

RECOMMENDED CRAFT BOOKS

MEMOIR CRAFT

The Art of Memoir, Mary Karr

Find Your Story, Write Your Memoir, Lisa Lenard-Cook and Lynne C. Miller

*The Art of Time in Memoir, Sven Birketts

Why We Write About Ourselves, compiled by Meredith Maran, includes Jesmyn Ward, Darin Strauss, Cheryl Strayed, Ayelet Waldman, Meghan Daum, Edwidge Danticat, David Sheff and more

The Situation and the Story, Vivian Gornick

FICTION CRAFT

Letters to a Young Writer, Colum McCann

*The Art of Time in Fiction, Joan Silber

The Half-Known World, Robert Boswell

Burning Down the House, Charles Baxter

*The Art of Subtext, Charles Baxter

Wired for Story, Lisa Cron

Hidden Machinery, Margot Livesey

A Swim in the Pond in the Rain, George Saunders {writing craft paired with iconic short stories from Chekov, Turgenev, Gogol and Tolstoy}

The Eleventh Draft: Craft and the Writing Life from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, edited by Frank Conroy

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE CRAFT

Meander, Spiral, Explode, Jane Alison

ESSAY CRAFT

To Show and To Tell, Phillip Lopate

The Art of the Essay, Phillip Lopate

The Situation and the Story, Vivian Gornick

A Harp in the Stars, Randon Billings Noble (lyric essays)

SHORT STORY CRAFT

Ron Carlson Writes a Story, Ron Carlson

The Story and Its Writer, Ann Charters

THE WRITER’S LIFE/PROCESS

The War of Art, Steven Pressfield

The Creative Habit, Twila Tharp

Still Writing, Dani Shapiro

Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott

Reading Like a Writer, Francine Prose

GETTING PUBLISHED

The Business of Being a Writer,

The Shortest Distance Between You and a Published Book, Susan Page

The Book You Were Born to Write: Everything You Need to (Finally) Get Your Wisdom Onto the Page and Into the World, Kelly Notaras

The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers, (she is a literary agent, and a good one!)

RECOMMENDED BOOKS FOR LITERARY MAGNIFICENCE

RING OF STORIES {CONNECTED SHORT STORIES}

Ideas of Heaven, Joan Silber

Last Call, K.L. Cook

A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan

Outline, a novel in 10 conversations, Rachel Cusk

MEMOIR

You Could Make This Place Beautiful,

Educated, Tara Westover

The Liar’s Club, Mary Karr

The Yellow House, Sarah M. Broom

Devotion, Dani Shapiro (or Inheritance)

Still Point of the Turning World,

Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir, Natasha Trethewey

The Last Supper, Rachel Cusk

Getting Lost, Annie Ernaux

The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion

ESSAYS

The Empathy Exams, Leslie Jamison, or anything she writes in NYTimes Magazine

The Anthropology of Turquoise, Ellen Meloy

Between the World and Me or We Were Eight Years in Power, Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year, Margaret Renkl

The White Album, Joan Didion

FICTION

Transatlantic, Colum McCann

Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

Circe, Madeline Miller

Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann

The Overstory, Richard Powers

Horse, Geraldine Brooks

My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante

James, Percival Everett, as well as Erasure, the book that became the film, “American Fiction”

Prophet Song, Paul Lynch

OMNISCIENT NARRATOR

Pachinko, Min Jin Lee

MULTIPLE NARRATORS

House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III

Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

Four Spirits, Sena Jeter Naslund

The Sport of Kings, C.E. Morgan

The Overstory, Richard Powers

SHORT STORIES

For a Little While, Rick Bass, or Oil Notes

Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri

Silent Retreats, Philip F. Deaver

NARRATIVE NONFICTION {LITERARY JOURNALISM}

Rising, Elizabeth Rush {This is a blend of narrative nonfiction and oral history}

Say Nothing,

NATURE WRITING

{Even if you’re not doing nature writing, these are great for mastering the art of description}

Arctic Dreams, Barry Lopez

Is a River Alive? or Underland, Robert MacFarlane

The Anthropology of Turquoise, Ellen Meloy (excellent for mastering the art of writing about color)

Woman in a Polar Night, Christine Ritter

Red, Refuge, The Hour of the Land or Finding Beauty in a Broken World,

* Starred books are part of an excellent craft series published by Graywolf Press

And by all means…

Read the work of your mentors. A few of of mine are listed here: Sena Jeter Naslund, K.L. Cook, Percival Everett, Ron Carlson and Philip F. Deaver.

You have a brilliant idea—it’s simple, clear and unforgettable. It changes everything.

And you have a wise new story, one that’s never been told. Not like this. Not by you.

Your book idea is true. Excellent news!

Because for nonfiction, a book proposal is the super-hack of all hacks. It is the document that gets you past the gate to agents and publishers. And all you have to do is write 20,000 words.

Not the whole book.

A book proposal makes a persuasive case for your book to exist in the world.

It’s the way you get a book deal.

Once you’ve inked the deal, you will write the book, armed with the most potent form of clarity you could ever imagine.

Your book writes fast.

But I’m sweating blood here…

Most of my author clients don’t like writing the book proposal. They like having written it more than the blood, sweat and tears of writing it. (I actually feel the same way -- even with 10+ years of book coaching multiple hundreds of authors, when it came to writing my own book proposal, it was like pulling teeth -- my own teeth!)

Once done, though, my author clients are effusive in their praise for the process. They say things like, “You have transformed my book!” They feel bold and confident.

The book proposal is a useful tool for more than just getting a literary agent. With a book proposal, you can:

> Send to a literary agent, seeking professional representation.

> Send directly to a publisher that does not require you to be agented.

> Send to all your potential writers of the foreword and endorsements.

> Send to publicity team (your publisher’s, as well any supplemental publicist you hire).

> Send to podcast hosts.

That’s why it’s a useful tool, even if you aren’t choosing traditional publishing—even if you’re choosing a hybrid, university or small press. (And yes, if you self-publish…)

For you, the book proposal does three main things:

> Gives you proof of concept. Shows you a road map to writing the book.

> Gets you through the gate.

> Serves as a marketing plan — and a calling card for promoting the book. A book proposal is your future publicity kit.

Why is it hard? Five reasons why.

But why is it such a bear to write?

Here’s why:

#1 It forces a turn to the reader.

A polished nonfiction book proposal demonstrates again and again, that you, as an author, have mastered the art of turning from “my story” to “your story” to “our story.”

Until you get a handle on the “my story” part of this, this is a hard turn to make. Many authors find they need three drafts to get there. I often say, to clients, at conferences and on my writing retreats that on the first draft, you are telling the story to yourself. On the second draft, you’re hearing what the page tells you, and you’re now telling it past the page with the page as your ally. On the third draft, you hit your stride -- find your voice -- and you are at last telling the story to the reader.

During the book proposal coaching process, you’ll identify your ideal reader and develop your intended audience. You’ll get to know that audience deeply, and in the process, you’ll find that confident, clear voice you need.

You make this turn faster.

#2 It makes you confront the marketplace.

It’s tough out there. It’s a pretty high bar to get someone to invest five or six figures in your book idea. You and your idea must persuade in a way that is irresistible and irrefutable that this book will sell.

That’s quite enough to make you tighten up, try too hard, get stuck. So you want to freeze -- or flee.

But the book proposal is an iterative process, meaning you’ll run through it again and again, like a play in rehearsal.

Or maybe like Socrates. The peripatetic method -- walking around it unless you know it and harness it.

I find the word “drafting” more welcoming than “writing.” Too many writers believe the words are supposed to just flow out and make sense the first time out.

But you honestly can’t yet make sense of something you are just now committing the investment of time to create. Writing is different from talking about your idea with your friends and loved ones, who keep telling you to write a book. Writing is different than thinking about it in the shower or on a long drive.

You really just have to type the words.

So draft, and draft again. Trust that you will become the master at fixing all those first draft issues.

That’s what writing is.

#3 It asks you to be bold.

It’s hard to be bold when it’s a new idea. If all you’ve been doing is talking about it, thinking about it, wishing for it. In my book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creative Visualization, I tap into the power of intention, imagination and focused action. The tagline for that book is: Imagine. See. Be. You need to believe your book is. That will equip you with the words to be bolder.

In my work as a book coach, I often find that what I’m really doing is elevating the proposal. Encouraging the writer to be bolder. Helping the writer see what I see -- which is a finished book that needs to be in the world.

To that, I say that the test is on the sentence level: Your lines need to land.

Every part of your book proposal needs to sing.

#4 It can expose holes in your idea.

Trust me, you want to know this. Knowing it early is better than late. That’s why I say, early and often, a book proposal is the most potent form of clarity you can get.

Is your idea captivating? Or are you holding back? Do you need to punch it up a level?

Is your argument compelling?

Is your solution bold, innovative, effective?

Is your premise/method/practice/tool singular? Insightful? Surprising? Does it work, and does your book prove it?

And finally, has this been done before? Maybe yes, a thousand times. Mel Robbins (The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About) was certainly not the first person to say for us to let people be who they are. But she is the one who had a surprising and clear way to talk about it -- and it met the moment we are in now.

#5 It’s because the book proposal is three different kinds of writing.

And you may be good at one or two of those, but you haven’t much experience with the other.

> Summarizing in broad brush strokes. That is indeed what an Overview is! It’s the forest, not the trees. Think in headlines. Billboards. The chorus of a hit song. The movie trailer with all the best lines. Hooks in every paragraph.

Touch boldly and clearly on the answers to each of the nine essential questions you must answer in the Overview.

What Your Book Proposal Absolutely Needs

Want to know more about those nine questions? Join me at 11 a.m. MST Wednesday, Jan. 28, for What Your Book Proposal Absolutely Needs.

This two-hour workshop is for:

> Anyone who wants to get off to the right start

> Anyone who has a book proposal and wants to know what’s missing.

> Anyone who has shifted direction with their book and wants to dial in a new vision.

In this workshop, I’ll talk about:

> Six Elements of a Great Overview

> Nine Essential Questions for a Gold-Star Overview

> Eight Sections of a Book Proposal and How to Nail Them.

If you have been a client, you get this for $100 off if you sign up by Dec. 31.

The price is normally $499, but clients can get it for $399.

Plus, if you sign up for this class and choose to use any of my service packages in the next three months (by April 30), you get $100 off that service. That includes book proposal assessments, developmental edits and coaching packages for book proposals, idea-to-outline, chapter draft support or revision.

Sign up for Book Proposal Workshop

> Marketing copy with a business purpose. To pull this off, you have to think like a business person. It’s about numbers and markets. It’s about cultural trends and current events. It’s about demographics and psychographics. It’s about positioning your book in the marketplace. It’s about reaching your intended audience with brand touchpoints.

The Overview asked you to think about ideas. This section is about your brand and your audience.

> The writing itself. And now, welcome to my master class about writing with excellence. Writing with voice. Most book proposals contain two sample chapters. The rest can remain unfinished and unsent, but these two must be the best writing you can muster. This is where you prove the promise of the Overview.

So you need three different brains.

And maybe you need a coach who already has three different brains!

As a senior-level journalist, I think in headlines and broad, sweeping summaries that are clear, compelling and concise.

As a brand ambassador for the magazine that I helmed for 16 years, I’ve got you on marketing and promotion.

And as an author with eight books and multiple literary awards, I’ve got you on craft.

I always remind my author clients that writing a book proposal is an act of becoming. You are moving from writer to author, from expert to authority.

Once you are on the other side, you are on your way.

The book proposal is the gift that keeps on giving.

For authors, there’s no better way to tell your story than to be a podcast guest.

In this post, I’ll give tips on:

• What you absolutely need before you pitch

• How to find podcasts to pitch to

• How to write a pitch email

• How to follow up

• What to do once you’re booked

This year, with the publication of BOUNDLESS, I’ve had a lot of pinnacle moments, but one of the best ones was a pop-up book signing in January ahead of my launch.

I could start my story like this: A redheaded Irish woman walks into a bar…and sells a book in the parking lot.

“We Have So Much to Talk About” was my post about that, where I got to ask readers how they were adjusting to the empty nest. Or, if that moment was still ahead for them, what their fears and hopes were.

Turns out, this was just the beginning of the conversation. I call this my podcast rehearsal moment.

As an author, I say I’m on the fun part now, where I get to talk with readers, and one of the best ways to spark those conversations is a podcast, where you find a warm host and right-fit audience. Consider that 75 percent of Americans 12 and older have listened to online audio in the past month, according to survey data from Edison Research. That number is only growing.

THE BIG WHY

> Podcasts are wildly popular and easy to access in our busy, mobile world.

> The impact is high. Podcast hosts want to talk about your book—and they want to get to know you.

> You are showcased as an expert.

> Podcasts have engaged, warm and friendly audiences. Listeners want to know you because they know and trust the host.

> Podcasts raise your visibility across multiple platforms.

> Podcasts get more traction than other media, such as a two-minute TV segment. They have much more longevity and searchability.

For more on that, see my previous post:

The Great Why of Podcasts

Before we begin: You absolutely, never-ever-ever should PAY to be on a podcast.

As a journalist, that this happens to authors outrages me—and it does happen a lot. Once your book is listed on NetGalley (make sure your publisher gives you, at the very least, a 30-day campaign), all kinds of people will find you. They will tout their high listenership on their podcast or promise to feature your book at a book festival—for thousands upon thousands of dollars.

I consider podcasting the same as journalism—the podcast guest is a source. When a media person wants to interview you on the merits of your topic, that’s curated media, and no ethical person pays for that. This is the difference between integrity journalism and paid advertising, and we owe it to readers and listeners to be transparent about what content is which.

So I’ll repeat: Being a podcast guest is earned media. You earned it on the merits of whether your book, your origin story and your themes and issues are worth presenting to the podcaster’s audience. And earned media is where it’s at.

BEFORE YOU PITCH: WHAT YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED

• Your elevator pitch

• Your “halo effect” statement

• Your media talking points

• Your links, including:

  • Your website

  • Your social media

  • Your Substack and/or Medium

• Your published work

  • Many writers also write for media outlets such as The Guardian or The New York Times, so have those links gathered. If you’re journalist, as I am, you may need to dig them out from newspapers.com.

  • Many writers have a long publishing trail in literary journals before their book comes out. This is me, too. I have a literary brain and a journalist brain.

• Your awards

• Your media mentions.

Make sure you update your list of selected publications, award and media mentions on your website, Substack and LinkedIn.

• Your clients

In my case, because my “day job” is The Story Catalyst, where I help writers become authors, I have a selected list of my published authors on my website that I !!JUST THIS YEAR!!* got up after 10+ years of happy authors. Don’t be like me and rely on referrals. Get your successes out there so people will know you.

| And if you’re a client and you don’t see your book listed, please message me to tell me about your published book, and I’ll get you up there! |

• A headshot

• A “capsule” bio. This is three sentences, tops.

Ahead of the show, shore up your digital presence by:

> Updating your bio about the book content on your author website, and all the places.

> Sweetening the appeal of your regular social media posts. Strategically develop three content areas that you’ll offer during the pre-order and post-publication period. Make sure they all have “hooks” and boost the quality of your visuals—logos, fonts, colors, images—to match the new you.

WHERE TO PITCH: WHERE YOUR IDEAL READER IS

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Photo by Israel Palacio/Unsplash

“I want you to be on NPR,” I said recently to two book clients.

I could hear the brilliance in their writing. I could hear it in our zoom conferences when we talked about what kind of conversations they wanted to have with readers.

Often, when I polish the final manuscript, I will highlight media talking points, places where the message is crisp and clear—sound-biteable!

In this paid post, I’ll drop my wisdom from 30+ years in media as a senior editor and longtime consultant. I’ve been on the other side of the media pitch, the side where someone is desperately hoping I’ll catch it and assign it to a writer.

For three decades, I have had a lot of practice in knowing when something lands with me—if it’s original and suits my needs, you’re in. If I see immediately how you stand out, you’re in. The vast majority of pitches don’t land. Too often, you have only one shot at an editor.

I became professionally good at saying no. In this series of posts on media mastery, I’ll tell you how you can get me to say yes. Today, we’ll focus on preparing for an interview.

At the 2025 Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference in LA, I hit the media mastery panels hard—that’s because I have a book to promote {BOUNDLESS} and my author clients who have just signed publishing deals have books to promote.

#1 Elevate your pitch

Much is made of having the elevator pitch so you can get an agent.

You also need the elevator pitch so you can earn media appearances. (It’s actually called “earned media” in the publicity world, and I’m here to give you tips about how to “earn” it.)

The elevator pitch is everything. It’s the beginning, middle and end of writing, publishing and promoting a book.

In the beginning, it’s a focusing device.

In the middle, it’s the key that unlocks the door to publication.

And in the end, when there is a book and there are readers, and you get to talk about it.

There it is, its super-concise, super-compelling self, inviting “come one, come all” to your table.

#2 Mine your book proposal

To get a book deal for a nonfiction book, you need a book proposal. That book proposal is a mother lode of media-ready talking points. Your elevator is right there.

(Book proposals are my bread-and-butter as a book coach—they are the hardest thing you’ll ever write, and I help author clients deliver gold standard book proposals. To find out more about this, schedule a free Find Out More! Zoom session with me https://calendly.com/carolyn-777/30min-free-find-out-more

Also consider becoming a paid subscriber so you can get all of my practical tips about book proposals.)

Free Find Out More!

Your elevator pitch should appear as a crisp, compelling and concise paragraph in your book proposal by the third paragraph. This paragraph has your hook—that irresistible line that is a clear, instant recognition of what your book is and why we need it now.

All of that, in two or three sentences. The elevator pitch should pack a punch.

But the other questions you answer in your book proposal are ripe for media talking points, such as, “Who is this book for?” or “Why this book now?”

To prepare for your media interview, pull out your elevator pitch and media talking points, print them out in big type, stick them on your mirror and…

#3 Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you need to be on an elevator to deliver your pitch.

You’ll be asked in random places by random people, “What is your book about?”

Don’t tell yourself, but this is not an agent. This is not an NPR radio show host. This person probably doesn’t even read books like my book.

If someone asks, you just got an opportunity to rehearse.

Remember, you are writing for the public. A member of the public showed up and asked.

You don’t know what they’re interested in. And neither do they until they hear your pitch, and suddenly they just heard something so original, surprising and delighting that they are interested!

So, roll out that elevator pitch early and often. Test it in a thousand ways with a thousand different people—your barista, your hair stylist, your mechanic, your librarian, your cousin.

Listen to how smoothly and confidently you say it. If you stumble over words, it may not be simple enough.

Notice how the listener responds. A knowing nod. A brightening of interest. (Even if it’s not their thing.) These are signs you’re on the right track.

My elevator pitch for BOUNDLESS, which published in December 2024:

What if the road to nowhere goes everywhere?

#4 Figure Out the Three Slices of You

One mistake authors make when promoting their book is to only hit book media.

Read more

Hello dear writer friends!

The annual Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference is always a literary booster shot for me. I get fueled up on writing craft and super-smart about the book business, plus I get to hear writers like Emily St. John Mandel and Maggie Shipstead.

I also get to meet up with friends from all the literary places I’ve haunted, such as the Naslund-Mann School of Writing at Spalding University, where I got my MFA in Writing, and The Lighthouse Book Project in Denver, where I finished my newly released book, BOUNDLESS.

Order it here

Barnes & Noble

Bookshop

Amazon

I got to hang out at First Draft in downtown LA with my publisher, Atmosphere Press, and fellow authors Charles Westerman (whom I know from two writer lifetimes—Lighthouse, now Atmosphere) and Colleen Alles (Atmosphere author, now at Spalding). The Kyiv Mules were great, but the conversations were especially great!

And I get to walk down the hall at the convention center greeting author-clients and retreat participants, getting hu…

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How does a story compel you to never forget?

How is it that this tiny sparkling crystal of pure art holds you in a rarefied state of a memory that may have never happened or a feeling that can never be completely felt?

The way Gatsby does. The way To Kill a Mockingbird does.

The way Tracy Chapman does in Fast Car.

The way A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall by Bob Dylan changes your world.

It touches you.

It rouses you.

It haunts you with its questions.

It seems to know you.

Yeah, it has always been trying to find you.

As storytellers and songwriters, how do we make this magic happen?

The answer: Compression.

Unleash Your Soul!

A Writing Escape to Montana/Yellowstone

A quintessential American experience next to pristine mountains and under starry skies.

Stories and Songs Writing Retreat - Sept. 22-26, 2025

At Chico Hot Springs

Do you write stories? Do you write songs? Both? We’re offering a writing adventure in the pristine mountains of Montana/Yellowstone for peo…

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