by MontanaCoauthor | Jun 7, 2019 | Sketchbook, Writing Process Tips
I write like I garden. The creative processes are virtually identical in my mind. This Summer Series reflects on the ties between these two worlds. From April through early June, I am surrounded by new young plants. Sprouts emerge in starter pots in my living room...
by MontanaCoauthor | May 10, 2019 | Writing Process Tips
In our daily interactions, most of us strive for dialogue that feels successful. We want clear communication between loved ones and among workmates. We want to ask clear questions and feel like the Other gives us definitive and useful answers. When critique is...
by MontanaCoauthor | Apr 19, 2019 | Writing Process Tips
Last month, we touched on the concern that “introducing complication” into your manuscript might come across as a predictable literary device to fix flat writing. Let’s wrestle a little more with that concern. The attraction of complication is deeply...
by MontanaCoauthor | Mar 15, 2019 | Writing Process Tips
One writes initially to express. But the great hope is that the story will connect with a reader—hopefully many readers who cannot put your book down. So, what do you do if initial beta readers tell you that the draft feels slow? Or the characters are a...
by MontanaCoauthor | Feb 23, 2019 | News
ALERT to MONTANA CLIENTS: Right now the Montana state legislature is presently considering a bill that would strip prescription authority from Naturopaths. Trillium Clinic in Bozeman recently shared the following: “LC3275 threatens Naturopathic physician...
by MontanaCoauthor | Jan 28, 2019 | Sketchbook, Writing Process Tips
I have multiple author clients who are struggling deeply right now—not with their writing, but with the world of book marketing. It’s a keen vulnerability of the creative brain: the qualities that make it easy for us to get lost in a manuscript, lose track of time as...
by MontanaCoauthor | Dec 14, 2018 | Sketchbook, Writing Process Tips
To make a little cash. There’s a saying in the horse world: It takes a million dollars to make a million dollars. One could say the same about book publishing. In this day of easy e-publishing, over 1 million new self-published titles were released in 2017 alone. ...
by MontanaCoauthor | Nov 14, 2018 | Writing Process Tips
“How can you possibly find the time to write?” Oh boy, that question. What people are really saying is, “How do you justify writing instead of doing all the other way more important things?” The reality is that most people view writing as a leisure activity, not real...
by MontanaCoauthor | Oct 15, 2018 | Writing Process Tips
What to do when content comes in a wild and disorganized mass… Sometimes I take a weekend to “write in the far away” (to adapt Georgia O’Keefe’s reference to “painting in the far away”). Content comes quickly. Sometimes it comes in a remarkably organized...
by MontanaCoauthor | Sep 12, 2018 | Writing Process Tips
I’ve had a lot of client inquiries about the not-so-simple task of managing all the physical paper we still use in the writing process–and how to manage multiple digital draft files too. Here are the tools I use to help organize myself on a daily basis. Index...
