writing Archives - MUSE • Leslie Keenan

Time Management and Writing

Are your time issues blocking you from having success as a writer? A writing student came to me with a dilemma. She had a book contract, and the summer off to write it, and she was terrified that she wouldn’t be able to do it. She has struggled all her life with time. She procrastinates, gets focused on small details and neglects the bigger picture, and she hides out in research without writing. To top it off, she was intimidated by the sheer size of the project. Sure, she’d written…read more

6 Steps Professional Writers Use to Complete Their Books

Are you serious about getting your book done? It might be time to do as the professionals do and create a schedule. Many professional writers have a contract to finish their books, and therefore a real deadline with an outside source, and a schedule in place to meet that deadline. This is where beginning writers, or self-published authors, need some assistance. If you don’t yet have a contract, or if you are doing it yourself, how can you be sure you will actually get it done? If you are ready…read more

Using a Timeline to Get Your Book Done

Have you ever completed a writing session and thought, at this rate it will take me 10 years to finish this book? I see this all the time and it’s based on a fallacy. The fallacy is that each writing day is like another. The truth is, every day is different. Creativity is like that. Sometimes ideas just come, and flow right out onto the page effortlessly. You might end up with five pages. Other days, you can feel at a loss and struggle just to get a few paragraphs…read more

How to Prepare for a Writing Conference

So you’ve finally decided: it’s time to go to a writing workshop. You’ve committed the big bucks and are ready to take the plunge. What do you do now? TWO QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO ANSWER FIRST If the answer is no to either question, you should definitely not attend (**with one exception below). Are you ready? That is, do you have a draft of the manuscript that is ready to go? When you attend a conference it is highly likely that someone will ask to see it, so you need…read more

4 Questions To Answer “Yes” to Before Attending a Writers’ Conference

It’s easy to get caught up when reading an attractive conference website and realizing all the great people who will be there and how much you can learn (there’s always more to learn). But is it the right thing for you at this moment? I tell my students there’s really only one reason to go: you want to make connections to people who can help you publish. That’s because I think workshops can be risky if you are not fully prepared and in marketing mode. If you are still nurturing…read more

How to Work With a Writing Coach

When is the best time to work with a writing coach, and what can you expect? You’re working on a writing project – whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, one book, a series of books, an article, etc. – and you wonder, would working with a writing coach be of value to me? You may not have considered this, or, you may have, and felt scared, intimidated, not sure if your writing is good enough yet, or if you will really get value for your money. Here are a few times…read more

Why you might subconsciously sabotage your writing – and what to do about it.

Posted by Leslie in Publishing, Writing

I have found in working with writers over many, many years, that underneath perfectionism and procrastination over why their manuscripts were never finished, is a deep subconscious fear. It is the fear of being rejected by other writers, or a circle of friends, who aren’t succeeding. This might sound laughable at first, but there’s a deep reason for it. It turns out that in order to survive as a species, humans have had to rely on the larger group. We literally have it bred into our bones to fit in…read more

How do you know when you are done?

After the excitement of finishing your first draft, and the tedium of making all the fixes and changes you knew you had to do, how do you know when you are really done and the manuscript is ready to send out, or that you need to polish it some more? The answer to this is tricky. On the one hand, you definitely don’t want to send your baby off to be read by agents before it’s done. You want to give it every opportunity to succeed. On the other hand,…read more

How to Select a Good Reader for Your Manuscript

•Pick someone you trust, but not necessarily someone you know well. Sometimes a comparative stranger can be more helpful than a close friend. •Pick someone who regularly reads the kind of book you’ve written (i.e., memoir, chick lit, mystery, history, etc.) •Pick someone who actively engages their own creativity. It doesn’t have to be a fellow writer, it could be a musician or even a scientist, but if they use their own creativity, they are less likely to feel jealous of your ability to manifest a complete piece of creative…read more