:Social media really does matter to everyone, and authors are no exception. If you want to
stand out from the crowd you need to find an authentic voice that reflects who you are, but
that doesn’t mean you have to reproduce your latest work in its entirety. To show you how
you can use social media to your advantage, we’ve put together a whole host of hints and
tips you won’t find anywhere else. All you have to do is work your way through this handy
3-minute read and then get busy putting it all into practice.

Be brief and memorable, not wordy and boring.
With a subheading like that, it’s tempting to leave it here, but a few more words of
explanation never hurt anyone. If you want to bore your audience, then by all means tweet
press releases and 5-page excerpts. If on the other hand, you want to engage them and
get them talking, you need to be short and snappy with your content. Remember that
people are reading your posts in the palm of their hand in an idle couple of seconds, and
it’ll soon become obvious why you need to keep things short and sweet.

Use humor to humanize your content.
Your followers are following you to learn more about the person behind the words, not to
read the same types of reviews and bios about you that are all over the internet. The same
goes for whether you’re an author, copywriter, or any other type wordsmith. By using
humor, you can let people into your world by showing them a little more about you. Just
make sure you don’t overdo things, or tell one too many risqué jokes.

Create an aesthetically pleasing experience.
Your profile needs to have the same level of thought put into it as the front cover for your
latest release, or the image choice for your new blog that’s about to go live. The world of
social media is all about image, and that means even the best captions and bios are going
to be overshadowed by a profile that just isn’t up to scratch. Take a little bit of time to get it
right one afternoon, and you’ll be up to speed in no time at all.

Calls to action really do work.
If you want people to read your work, tell them. If you want your followers to subscribe to
your blog, tell them. And if you want people to commission you to ghostwrite for them, tell
them. Calls to action really are that simple, and they work too.
By being catchy and direct with your language, you can give your followers the gentle
nudge in the right direction that’s going to help them make up their minds. Just make sure
you avoid phrases like “limited availability” and “exclusive opportunity.” The hard sell just
isn’t going to work with the type of audience you’re looking to reach out to.

​Keywords are something must people forget on social media.
Virtually everyone has heard about how important keywords are for their homepage, but
hardly anyone seems to apply that same thinking to what they post of social media. With a
few keywords seamlessly woven into your posts and captions, you’ll be helping take a step
closer to the spotlight with every passing day. Just make sure your keywords are both
natural and relevant because there’s no bigger turn off in the social world than reading a
post that’s really more like a clumsy ad.

Drop the cliches and buzzwords at all costs.
If you want to really connect with your audience you need to be original, which means
dropping the cliches and buzzwords. There are so many of them bouncing around right
now that doing so can feel a little like navigating your way through a minefield.
Take the time to write authentic and personable copy, and you’ll find you naturally start to
move away from the tired old phrases that seem to be all over Facebook and Twitter right
now.

Tailor the content to each platform.
When you’re trying to build a following on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, it can be all too
tempting to copy and paste content between the various platforms. The problem with this
is that you won’t be playing to the strengths of any of these amazing promotional tools,
and you’ll be doing your writing skills a disservice in the process. By all means, keep the
topics and broad themes the same across platforms, but take the time to write fresh
content from scratch.

Keep everything current and up to date
There’s nothing worse than building a following with months of hard work, only to see it
gradually fade away because you ran out of steam. Keeping your profile up to date is the
best way to show every prospective follower and customer that you have something
relevant to offer them. By scheduling in a monthly audit of what you’re posting, and what’s
in your bio, you can ensure you never make one of the most common social media
mistakes.

Let your personality loose
This one is something that comes naturally to some writers, but that others really struggle
with. You need to think about it as how you would talk at a book launch or fan convention if
you’re an author, and how you would describe your job to someone who was interested to
learn more if you’re a copywriter.

Avoid corporate and overly formal language on the one hand, and ditch the overly familiar
approach on the other. It’s all about striking that balance, so take the time to get it right in
your mind by drawing up a draft content calendar for your own review.
​
Laser target your niche rather than chasing every viral trend.
No list of tips for aspiring authors and writers would be complete without this word of
caution. Social media is the place where viral sensations explode into life and fade into
insignificance, every single day. Rather than chasing followers and likes, take the time to
speak the language of your audience so you can give them what they really want from
you.

Final Thoughts:
Now that you’ve read all about how you can power your writer profile on social media, it’s
over to you to make it happen. Take your time, don’t force it, and make sure you adopt a
consistent and authentic approach. It’s far more productive in the long run to express who
you are as a writer than it is to chase likes and retweets.

​In honor of the re-release of BROKEN CHORDS, I wanted to share some of my inspiration for the book. This post will definitely appeal to music lovers out there. Anyone play the fiddle or mandolin? Cello? Anyone sing? Then stay tuned. But, my very first inspiration for this book started elsewhere. I’ll start at the beginning.

BROKEN CHORDS was born because I had to pee in the middle of the night while camping on Martha’s Vineyard with my husband. Literally.

If you’ve ever gone camping, you know the bathrooms are never conveniently located. The fastest route from our site was through the property’s playground. So, there I am, wee hours of the night (no pun intended—okay, pun intended), and it’s all cold and misty; and I think: If those swings start moving right now, I’m so out of here.

Lucky for me (and my bladder), that didn’t happen, but once I was safely back in my tent, I knew I’d write a story about a haunted playground someday.

The second inspiration for BROKEN CHORDS is musical. I wanted my book to feel the way certain favorite traditional acoustic songs sound.

​Before I get into the songs, let’s talk about the third inspiration for my book: Greyfox Music Festival. If you’ve attended and you read BROKEN CHORDS, you will recognize it all: the layout, the campgrounds, the crepes and gyros, the unique and creative individual site set-ups, even the creek behind the clearing in the woods—it’s all inspired by that festival.

Back to the music. Once I decided on that the book would take place at a music festival, certain songs just called out to be included. I mention three bands in particular in BROKEN CHORDS: Crooked Still, Nickel Creek, and The Greencards. They’re probably best described as New Grass or Progressive Bluegrass, and OMG, all three are awesome!

The two songs that were my biggest inspiration are “Wind and Rain” and “Undone in Sorrow.”

“Wind and Rain” is based on ballad that is literally thousands of years old (here’s a great article about it), and it’s so creepy. The content has remained largely the same over the years, though it’s known by several names including: “The Twa Sisters,” “Rollin’ a-Rollin’,” and “Binnorie.” It’s about two sisters, and the older one pushes the younger one into a river because they’re both in love with the same man, and he happens to prefer the younger sister. Not surprisingly, the sister drowns, which is twisted by itself. Then a fiddler comes out of the woods, and he takes the drowned sister’s bones and hair, and he makes a fiddle out of them. When the fiddle is played, it reveals the identity of her murderer.

One line goes like this:
And he made fiddle pegs of her long finger bones.
Oh, the wind and rain.

I mean, shiver. Right? That song is the anthem of some of my creepiest entities in BROKEN CHORDS (actually, the very ghost children who haunt my playground). Probably the most chilling version of “Wind and Rain” is THIS ONE, an acapella version, by Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, & David Steele. But if you want to hear the one Crooked Still did, which also features a fiddle—I mean, apropos, right?—you can hear that ​HERE. (This version also features Rushad Eggleston, their original cellist, who is incredible.)

The other song that features in this book is “Undone in Sorrow,” which was originally written by a woman named Ola Belle Reed. That one is still under copyright, so I couldn’t use the words in BROKEN CHORDS, but when you read the book and Lenny and Jeb talk about playing their song, that’s the one. Crooked Still’s version is my favorite. It’s so haunting and sad. There’s a cello in their band, and the cello solo is one of my favorite musical moments of all time. Then the fiddle comes in and it literally sounds like the embodiment of a tortured heart. Add Aoifa O’Donovan’s ethereal vocals, and it’s a chiller of a song.

Those of you familiar with this genre will know that the cello isn’t typical for bluegrass, but it’s their inclusion of a cello that makes some of their songs so haunting. And readers of BROKEN CHORDS will know that I gave a nod to this when I made Lenny’s mom a cellist.

​I also mention the song “The Fox,” which is a Nickel Creek icon and the first song Lenny and her friends played at the first bonfire of the festival in BROKEN CHORDS. That band is made up of three geniuses of music who all started as kids. (Literally, one member, Chris Thile, won a Macarthur Award. Joining him are siblings, Sara and Sean Watkins.) You can see them at it when they were wee ones right here.

Lastly, I mention the Greencards, an Australian-based band, that definitely takes the progressive in Progressive Bluegrass to the next level. As they like to say, some of their songs are “weird ones.” But they’re incredible too. Here’s one of my favorites from them, “Wind and Water,” and this version also happens to feature Brittany Haas from Crooked Still on fiddle. Their version of “Davy Jones” is another of my favorites, and it definitely crosses the line into more progressive territory.

Of course, BROKEN CHORDS was also inspired by some of my favorite horror themes and films (I like to call it acoustic Poltergeist), but the heart of the book is its setting, and there’s so much that I love captured within it.

If you check out any of the performances or artists PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE tell me what you think. There’s nothing I love more than sharing music I love with people who love it back. (And if you want more song recs from these fabulous artists, I may just have a couple more where this came from. Hehehe.) 

OCTOBER 12: Indie Author Day
Norwalk Public Library, Norwalk CT, 8:30AM-5PM
Join me and a whole SLEW of authors at the Norwalk Public Library for their third annual Indie Author day, which is a worldwide event. Each year, libraries and organizations around the world welcome local indie authors, writers, and their communities in for a day of education, networking, mingling, writing, open mics, panels, and so much more! There, you'll find writers speaking about and reading from their books. Plenty of opportunity for Q&A, and it's FREE. More details HERE.

OCTOBER 21: CECA/CASL Authorpalooza
Hartford Convention Center, Hartford CT
Authorpalooza is part of the CECA/CASL conference where attendees will have an opportunity to hear readings and engage in Q&A with authors from all over the country. More details, including author reading schedule, visit their website.

OCTOBER 25: Book Signing and Author Chat
Barnes & Noble, Milford CT, 9AM-3PM
Benefiting Madison Middle School
Join me at Barnes & Noble in Milford, CT for a book signing and author chat to benefit one of our local schools, Trumbull's Madison Middle. Treats and Swag for all! 

OCTOBER 28: Shoptalk on WHOLEHEARTED WRITING: Practices for maintaining persistence, perseverance, and productivity.
Willoughby Wallace Library
Stony Creek, CT, 6:30PM
The life of a writer is immensely rewarding and exciting, but the journey to publication can be equally long, challenging, and discouraging. In this talk, I will draw from my psychology background to share psychologically-valid, evidence-based concepts and action steps to enhance motivation, increase productivity, and to fuel perseverance for writers and illustrators at any stage of the writing journey. Whether you are struggling with finishing your manuscript or portfolio, trying to maintain enthusiasm as you face the query trenches, or are wading through the world of post-publication, you will find something here to inspire you and concrete steps to apply to keep your whole heart in the game. This is a free event, but call 203-488-8702 to register. Or, visit wwml.org or the event page HERE.

DECEMBER 5-8th: Book Signing and Author Chat
Wicked Weekend Horror Festival
Palace Theater, Stafford Springs, CT
Join me and Patrick Moody, author of the creepy, fun, and heart-filled MG novel, THE GRAVEDIGGER'S SON for a very wicked weekend. This is a horror lover's dream. All weekend long, the Palace Theater will be invaded by horror lovers of all sorts, from movie actors, to cos-playing fans, to writers like Pat and me who love to spin spooky yarns. This event has it all! Movies, Food Trucks, a horror art exhibit, and giveaways. SPECIAL GUEST JOE MANGANARO! You can shop till your heart's content, talk with horror industry pros, and spend a little time with me and Pat. Swag and treats for all!

Visit the Wicked Weekend page for more details and full schedule. Kids under 12 enter free.

I can’t promise that if you work with me you’ll get an agent and a book deal. I can promise you’ll learn from this experience, and your book will be better than when you started. So, if you don’t sign, are you still going to be as motivated to keep trying as you were the day you entered this competition? Will you keep querying that book until you find your dream agent? Will you write a new one and query that if this one doesn’t get you there? Before I share what I’m looking for, I’d like to tell you a little bit about me. I’ve been writing since 2010. I am represented by Dr. Uwe Stender of Triada US literary agency, but a little secret is that he rejected me when I first queried him (he got a kick out of that, BTW). In 2016, I was selected to be mentored in a competition very similar to Pitch Wars: Pitch2Publication; and as a result of that, I signed with Uwe. My debut novel, TEN AFTER CLOSING, came out in 2018. I’m also the author of BROKEN CHORDS, a YA horror that is currently unavailable because I’m getting ready to release a re-designed version (the cover is SO pretty and I'm revealing it publicly here for the first time. It's below!).

I’m also a senior editor for Allegory Literary Magazine, so I spend a lot of time thinking about story, what works, what doesn’t, and how to build upon a story’s strengths to take it to the next level.

​As for my non-writing time, I’m a full-time, licensed clinical psychologist. I work with people every day on figuring out what their ​strengths are, understanding their barriers & things that limit them reaching their potential, and setting the kind of goals that work. On the education front, I've been teaching and mentoring students (from college to post-grad) for over ten years. One of my mottos is: It’s not about being good. It’s about getting better. 

You'll also find, right here on my blog, a series of posts called "It's a Writer Thing." These are full of writerly inspiration and motivation. I draw from the psychology world, applying the concepts to the specific challenges we writers encounter. 

​- I’ll be here to cheer you on the whole way, including providing support during the hardest part of the competition—the waiting phase.  

​- I’m definitely looking for genre books, but within that context, I’m excited to read stories with diversity of any type, including #ownvoices books.
- Voice, voice, voice.
- I’m a better fit for upper middle grade, and I’d be especially interested in stories set just before the 8th grade to HS transition (though not a requirement).
- My number 1 request is some good MG horror or anything creepy/scary/eerie.
- I’m also looking to see contemporary books full of thrills.
- My favorite type of horror is paranormal/supernatural, so bring on your ghosts and demons.
- Witches in contemporary settings are great too.
- I’m a SUCKER for a haunted house story. (My secret ambition is to write the world’s best haunted house book, but if you beat me to it, send that bad boy over here please.)
- I’ll take my horror with a dose of silliness or keep it straight. I love HECK, WHERE THE BAD KIDS GO (by Dale E. Basye and Bob Dob) and THE MONSTER SQUAD, so feel free to send me your humorous horror.
- I’m open to MG horror with a more literary vibe too, like A MONSTER CALLS (by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd).
- I’m all about seeing creepiness in the mundane, so more subtle stories are very welcome (e.g., DOLL BONES by Holly Black).
- Adventures and thrillers? Yes, please. Something like STRANGER THINGS or THE GOONIES for MG would be great.
- Scavenger hunt stories would be fun (especially if there’s a creepy element).
- I’m a sucker for kids getting stuck somewhere and having to survive something (lost in the woods, stranded on a desert island, accidentally locked up somewhere—OMG, if they’re accidentally locked somewhere and there also happens to be a ghost or monster, that book is for me. Clearly there’s a theme here.).
- I will take fantasy if it’s rooted in the contemporary world.
- I’m open to some SCI-FI, but again, rooted in the contemporary world.
- Detective stories, especially with humor. My favorite movie of all time is CLUE. If you’ve written CLUE for MG readers, I wants it …

​- Anything that’s NOT MG. I love books for all ages, and even though my debut is YA, I’m only mentoring MG this year.
- Quiet books. I’m a genre girl, so I’m looking for books with thrills and scares.
- Pure contemporary. I love these books (think BFF BUCKET LIST by Dee Romito, SHOUTING AT THE RAIN by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, or THE HOUSE THAT LOU BUILT by Mae Respecio), but I’m NOT looking for that this time around. 
- High fantasy. 
- No vampires or werewolves (UNLESS it’s a silly take on the trope.)
- No space stories.
- No dystopians, please.

​Welcome, Wonderful Writers. Whether you’re here for the first time or a repeat reader, I’m sure you’ll find something helpful here. And if this IS your first time, be sure to check out my past It's a Writer Thing posts, including this series on writer’s block, my mini-series on receiving feedback, and my other posts on writing-related motivation and productivity. To those of you who’ve been here before: thank you for returning! I LOVED getting your messages and comments on my blog. Knowing that my post spoke to even one writer is the most amazing thing ever, and it really refuels my motivation to keep working on It's a Writer Thing.

Last time, I shared a visualization process for re-envisioning success. At times, we can forget what it is that we love about writing, we can lose sight of the bigger picture, forget what we’re working toward; and that process can help to recreate the strong, rooted connection to our goals and joy in writing. 

Today, I want to change gears a bit. 

​Have you ever started on a project, but found yourself talking yourself out of working on it? Have you caught yourself predicting failure or disappointment before you even begun? Then there’s the dreaded “should,” a word that puts intense pressure on us by insisting that something ought to be this way or not be that way. We might even decide that an agent or editor will hate our project before bothering to query. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve encountered people who’ve decided not to enter a competition or try for a position or sub a story because they assumed they’d be rejected. They took themselves out of the game. They rejected themselves.

Guess what happens when we allow negative thoughts to drive our action? We don’t take that leap. We stay in the exact same place as we were before we started. 

We lose opportunities. 

We don’t grow. 

We get writer’s block.

And we don’t get used to the discomfort that accompanies our attempts to do a truly challenging thing. Because it’s always scary. I think that’s the hardest part to really wrap our brains around. Trying, striving, aiming for our goals, putting our work out there, facing rejection, attempting that next step toward publication—it’s always scary—and unless we grow up to become Stephen King or J.K. Rowling, I don’t see that going away any time soon. (And I bet they still face some scary stuff, too.)

So, what do all these scenarios have in common? They represent scenarios where how we talk to ourselves inside our heads can help or totally hinder us. 

Today, I want to share a process to help you build cognitive resilience.

Notice that I used the word allow above. I really mean that. We can choose to change our thoughts so that we don’t allow the negative ones to be in charge. Our thinking is a behavior that is under our control. Like any habit, it takes practice to change, but it IS possible. Here’s how.

Ever since Dr. Aaron Beck defined the Cognitive Model in the 1960s, research has demonstrated the immense power of our thoughts to drive emotion and behavior. The Cognitive Model says that how we think about a situation is the direct determinant of the emotions we feel; and our emotions determine our behavior or what we do as a result. One way to maintain our motivation no matter what this industry throws at us is to practice catching, checking, and changing unhelpful thoughts.

I’m giving up on querying because agents always say no. 
I’m a terrible writer; look at all these critical reviews. 
I’ll never write as well as they do.

​about reality; rather, I’m suggesting that we recognize that there are multiple ways to interpret any situation and that we don’t need to choose the most negative one. (Tweet this.)

Let’s take that last example; it’s perfect for our discussion of Writer’s Block. If we hold the belief I’ll never write as well as they do, we will be highly critical of everything we put down on the page. We will go back and read and re-read and re-re-read each word. Progress will be slow. Maybe we’ll skip writing all together today. And tomorrow. And all this week. There’s an immediate impact on our productivity, but that’s not all; that thought can haunt our behaviors indefinitely and extend far beyond today’s writing session. For example, the belief that we’ll never measure up might also make us more reluctant to try to improve. We may decide it’s useless to read that new craft book because we’ll never be good enough anyway. We may skip the conference, avoid the agent pitch session, or bow out of a competition that could help us improve. 

​Negative thoughts are like an Uber driver who wants to ignore our destination and take us to some random spot of their choosing. We need to kick them out, get behind the wheel, and get back on  track.

How do you do that? Here we go.

Here’s a research-supported technique—which I tweaked especially for writers—for catching and reframing negative thoughts. I call it TALE.

T: Take notice of the thought.
A: Assess the helpfulness and validity of the thought.
L: Let go of the thought.
E: Enter new thought.

Step 1: Take Notice when negative emotions pop up and ask: What was just going through my mind?

“I’m  feeling frustrated. What was going through my mind?”

​Step 2: Assess the helpfulness and validity of that thought. Is there another way to interpret this situation? Can you put a new spin on it?

“I’ll never write as well as they do.” (Seems pretty unhelpful, huh? This step is all about RECOGNIZING that the unhelpful thought is happening in our heads right this moment and calling it out on it’s BS.)

Step 3: Let Go of the unhelpful thought. Once we’re aware that the thought is unhelpful, we can CHOOSE a different thought instead. We can tell ourselves to let it go, that we don’t need to entertain this thought, remind ourselves that what we think IS under our control. 

Step 4: Enter New Thought: now replace that thought with one that is more balanced and helpful.
“I’m not as skilled as that awesome writer I love today, but I’m working at getting better every day.”

OR

“That writer has their own strengths, but I have my strengths too. My voice is unique.”

OR

“How do I know that I’m NOT as good of a writer as they are? And does it matter? Judging myself right now won’t help me get this book written.”

OR

“This is a first draft. Of course it’s not as good as their book. It’s not supposed to be polished. It’s just supposed to be done.”

As you can see, there are a lot of ways to challenge even one single thought. You can generate multiple examples, just like I did here, and use them all as part of your more helpful inner dialog; or, you can focus on one go-to reframe to get back on track.

​That’s it for this month’s post. Check back next month when I’ll be talking about Craft Overload. And, until then, remember: “You can do it! You can write!”

​Hello, Wonderful Writers and welcome back to It’s a Writer thing! This is post 4 in my Writer’s Block mini-series. So far, we covered the importance of generating the WHYS of writing, how to generate ENTHUSIASM when the fire is dwindling, and how to generate JOY. (You can read all the past posts by clicking HERE.)

As promised, this time around, I’ll be discussing a visual imaging process.

Visual imagery has been recognized as a useful tool for decades. Psychotherapists teach visual imagery exercises to clients, professional athletes use it as part of their training, surgeons employ imagery to prep for procedures, and the list goes on. I once used it to prepare for a big talk I had to give. I first visited the space where the symposium would be taking place. I got up on the podium, looked out on the auditorium, and took a mental picture. Then, when I practiced my talk, I imagined I was standing at that spot. It helped immensely. I approached that day as though I’d already given tons of lectures from that stage, and in some ways I had! In my head.​

​Research demonstrates that by engaging in visual imagery, we activate neurons in our brains—the same ones that fire when we’re actually doing the activity we’re visualizing. On a neuronal level, parts of our brains interpret the images as real. In one remarkable study from the Cleveland Clinic, researchers found that by visualizing sets of biceps curls, subjects increased their strength. Their brains sent signals to their muscles even though they hadn’t lifted a single dumbbell. (This also means that I need to start visualizing myself doing squats …) By the way, this neuronal process is part of the reason reading is as powerful as it is.

I bet we can come up with dozens of examples (and if you have any good ideas, PLEASE share them in the comments), but I’ll share one important one with you today. I want to share a process for using imagery to ENVISION POTENTIAL.

I started off by naming this “Re-envision Success,” but I realize that title wasn’t quite right. This is why. My most emotionally-powerful moments weren’t the “success” moments, not when I got my agent or book deal. They were when I had my first short story accepted, when I got the first voice mail from my agent (the call), when I found out I was selected for a competition much like Pitch Wars, and when I had a full request from an agent back in my query days. They weren’t “you made it, girl!” moments. They were, “all the good things are possible” moments.

​Why is potential so important? Potential is EVERYTHING. The blank page is potential. A brand new book, spine un-cracked, is potential. The same with that brand new journal or planner (I’m such a planner fiend). Every scene is potential. Every time we throw a submission or query out there, it’s potential. We do what we do because of the potential for it to result in success, for the joy of reaching our dreams. Losing the ability to see our potential is like cutting the power to a house. You can’t light anything up anymore. 

If we cannot envision potential in our futures, then we’re an empty, dark house with no power. It’s cold, desolate, uninviting. Scary. It’s wasted potential. 

I’ve experienced this particular barrier to my writing. It came at a time that was particularly stressful for me because several disappointments hit me, back-to-back. The result was, I found I had no motivation to sit down and work on my projects. I didn’t want to even think about writing or books or the publishing world. Then, one day, it hit me what was wrong: I’d stopped being able to see good things coming my way. The series of disappointments left me feeling like all all future outcomes on my writing journey would be bad outcomes.

Once I realized what was wrong, I was able to fix it. Here’s what I did.

1. RECALL MOMENTS OF POTENTIAL. We all have them even though we’re all at different places in our careers. For someone established, the moment might be a really great first review on a book or that moment when you learn that your editor was liking an idea. For someone just starting out, that moment might be a positive comment from a teacher or a critique partner. It might relate to outcomes or feedback OR it might be more linked to our own actions in writing, such as remembering the first time we hit the 1000 word count point or the 50K point. Another HUGE potential moment for me was the day I finished my first draft of my first book. That is still one of the most incredible days of my life.

You may even want to jot down a list of moments of potential to have on hand in case you’re struggling.

2. BUILD A RICH MENTAL IMAGE. Really recreate it. Generate as much detail as you can. Don’t just focus on the visuals. Summon as much sensory detail as you can. Smell the environment (if that relates to your moment). Imagine the sounds you heard that day.  If other people were involved, pull in memories of the conversations or roles they played.

The day I got my first ever story acceptance, we were doing holiday baking. The smell of kolachi filled the house (and probably my mouth), the Christmas lights were all lit on the tree, and holiday music played. Those sensory details will forever be tied up in my memory of that first YES.

3. FEEL IT: Got your image? The next step is to let yourself feel the emotions you had in that moment. Let them fly. This one is the hardest to explain simply because we all feel our emotions differently, and each emotion can feel different during different situations. My excitement the day I got that first story accepted was WAY different than my excitement when I found a voice mail from my future agent on my cell phone. So, whatever the flavor for YOUR potential moment, try to go back and revisit that as deeply as possible.

​4. COGNITIVE PROCESSING: Now it’s time to process the event COGNITIVELY. To do this, ask yourself some questions. Here are a few examples:

What did that moment mean to you? What were your thoughts? How did that moment change your appraisal of yourself as a writer and what was possible for you? What great things did you imagine happening next? What did you feel empowered to tackle next? What, as a result of that potential-moment, did you try and achieve? What domino effect did that one moment have on your life? How might your life be different today if you never tried?

I know that I NEVER thought I could write a book, so when I remember the potential moment of finishing my first novel involves appraisals of this entire new world that was now in my grasp. I was a writer. Holy BLEEP! When I got the first yes, my appraisals were different. There was a sense of validation, a sense that some outside expert had told me that what I was doing was strong. I was on the right track. And, maybe, more YES’s waited for me in my future.

These emotions and thoughts are SO important. These are part of WHY we’re here to begin with. 

5. REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT. For optimal benefit, build a habit. Why wait to lose the mojo to re-envision potential when you can practice daily? The hardest part is building a habit and sticking with it. Daily visualization doesn’t need to take a long time. Literally, 60 seconds of practice can completely change your mood. It can give you that boost you need to sit down to your WIP with excitement. It can mean the difference between working and not working at all. And it costs you nothing but a little bit of time.

Maybe you’re not into daily meditative exercise. If so, then you can …

6. USE VISUALIZATION STRATEGICALLY. The key is knowing your TRIGGERS for pulling out this process. What are good times to try this? When you’re avoiding your WIP. When you receive negative feedback from a CP or an agent. Or a rejection. If you have to scrap a project that’s just not working (though I have some thoughts on that for a future post). When you find yourself comparing your journey to someone else’s. (I have a hypothesis that jealousy comes when we get so bowled over by someone else’s success that we begin to lose sight of our own potential.) And so on and so on …

That’s it for this month. If you try out this process, let me know how it’s going in the comments. Next month, I’ll switch gears and talk about how to look out for the unhelpful thoughts in your head. Until then, remember, "You can do it! You can write!"

September 18th: Connecticut Author Trail Finale, The Cabaret Theater at Mohegan Sun. 8 PM
Join me and all the Author Trail writers for the culminating event of this year's bookish festivities. You can learn more about the ENTIRE AUTHOR TRAIL line-up here and about the FINALE here.

September 20th: Books on Pratt Street Fair, Hartford CT. 11:30 AM to 3:30 PM
Join me and a slew of local authors for an afternoon of bookish fun, street fair style. Music and refreshments. You can learn about LAST YEAR'S event here. I will update with more details about THIS YEAR'S event when they become available. 

September 27th: Saugatuck StoryFest, The Westport Public Library, Westport CT. 3PM
I'm THRILLED to have been invited to this year's StoryFest as a panel participant. Join me and a FABULOUS line-up of authors as we discuss NEW WORLDS: REAL AND IMAGINED. I can't share who'll be on the panel yet, but I"ll update with details as soon as the official final itinerary is released. You can visit the StoryFest website right here.

Hello, Wonderful Writers. Welcome back to It’s a Writer Thing! Here we are in Post 3 of my Writer’s Block series. Last time, I focused on those situations where the excitement to work on a WIP has fizzled and how to re-ignite enthusiasm; and we covered the importance of gaining clarity as to WHY you write in the first post.

Today, as promised, I’m going to tackle how to generate JOY for your writing. 

This one is actually so simple, you’re going to wonder why I bothered to write a whole post about it. Unlike last time, there aren’t a whole series of steps. In truth, there’s just one: you have to NOTICE the joy.

Yes, that’s it.

Of course, there are some concrete actions you can take to help you get there, but technically, it really is that simple. Thinking about your WHYS, you can certainly pull out joy-inducing motivations for your writing, but as you know, joy within writing presents in many ways. For me, plotting is one of my favorite parts. I’m usually inspired by one thing, maybe a setting or a concept or a situation, and I build everything else around that. I love it when the parts come together, when something clicks, when I figure out how to navigate a problem or fill in a blank spot that was plaguing me. 

But here’s what makes it difficult to connect to the inherent joy of writing on a regular basis. Plotting is a tough thing. It can be laborious and frustrating. In other words, in order to feel the joy, we must also feel the challenging side of the experience. And it’s the fact that it is challenging that makes it so satisfying. This is just one of the PITFALLS that can trap us.

In this situation, the stress of the process could completely override any joy I might derive from plotting if I don’t deliberately engage in mindful reflection about the good side to the process. The same goes for ALL aspects of the writing journey. This brings me to pitfall 1.

PITFALL #1: We can become so bogged down in what’s not working well (e.g., writer’s block or disappointments ) that we lose sight of the fact that this is actually something we love to do, something that brings us joy. OR, we can fall into …

PITFALL #2: we might avoid writing altogether in order to avoid the hard parts, which is like slamming the door in joy’s face.

We may have to wade through a whole pool of muck to get there, but it’s so worthy the effort. (Incidentally, I talked about writers' ability to NOTICE in a recent Instagram post.
​
Before we move onto the ACTION STEPS, I want to mention one more pitfall.

PITFALL #3: There is such a thing as anxiety in the presence of joy. Dr. Brene Brown calls this FOREBODING JOY which she defines as that moment when a joyful emotion is suddenly hijacked by fear, doubt, or worry. She shares the example of feeling joy and love toward our loved ones followed quickly by sudden dread that something bad happening might happen to them. You know that old saying: waiting for the other shoe to drop …? 

When things are good, we are somehow conditioned to immediately be on the lookout for something negative, and that can absolutely squash the joyful moment. 

As a writer, I had a period of writer’s block that was absolutely because of foreboding joy. This happened after an intensive experience of working with an editor on a manuscript. When that work was finished and I returned to a new project, I found myself completely stifled, my writing stilted and unnatural. I couldn’t get to my flow zone—the fingers flying over the keyboard zone—because I even though I loved my project, I kept imagining her voice in my head giving me critiques on everything I was typing. That was a version of foreboding joy. I couldn’t connect to my love of writing because I was anticipating negative reactions to it. And it wasn’t even a thing in the world yet!

Can you see why writers must be vigilant for these pitfalls to our creativity and joy?

​STEP 1: Remember what it is about writing you love. Think about that as you sit down to work on whatever you are about to do. Think about what it is that you find joyful about that particular task. It might be different each time you sit down (e.g., a plotting day versus a revising day; a website maintenance day versus a drafting day). 

STEP 2: Then, as you do that thing, pause periodically to reflect on that. Allow yourself to FEEL the satisfaction and joy that are inherent in these activities.

STEP 3: If you are struggling to remember to pause and NOTICE, it could be that you need to beef up your mindfulness muscles. This is definitely a skill, and some people are better at it than others. The good news is, it’s something we can all learn. You can try something like a traditional body scan, do a mindfulness of the breath exercise, or focus on multiple sensations (I like to first focus on the breath, then zero in on a particular area of the body, then jump to sounds and smells, and to return to the breath to finish).​

​Hello, Wonderful Writers. If you’re here, that means you read the second blog post I wrote in my It’s a Writer Thing Writer’s Block Mini Series. (If not, this post will make a LOT more sense if you read that one first. You can do that RIGHT HERE.)

If you DID read that post, you may be asking, how on earth will those action steps help me get going with my work in progress? Perhaps you’re thinking that those steps are all well and good in the abstract but still wondering how they will help you plow through a block. 

In order to highlight the steps in action, I’ll share how I personally struggled to generate ENTHUSIASM for a project I’d lost my connection with. This resulted in a difficult start, but I followed the steps I shared in my WRITER’S BLOCK MINI SERIES to fuel my enthusiasm. 

​revising something else, a book that I love as well, and one I’d put off to work on other things too often. It was time to finish this one. 

By the time I got around to revisiting my new thriller idea, all my enthusiasm for the book had disappeared. In my head, I still knew that it was important, and I knew I wanted to write it, but that simmering excitement and emotion that had been so strong the night the idea came to me … GONE.

Here’s what I did to re-establish my enthusiasm for this project.

​Even though I always have a scene-by-scene plot when I sit down to start any novel, those first chapters are usually tough. Most of the time it takes me a good 10-20K words to really settle into the voice of any novel. And, in this case, I didn’t even have my plot fully established yet. It felt DAUNTING. I was going to include a main character point of view, a villain point of view, and a few little interludes here and there. 

I defined my first task as simply plotting the MC POV chapters. I’d worry about the rest later. 

​In this case, I chose to remember WHY this book was important to me. I didn’t need to recall my big whys, my whys for even writing at all, because I hadn’t lost sight of those at that moment. I’d just come off edits for something else, so I chose to focus on my whys for writing that particular book at that particular time. The big one was simply that my agent and I had agreed that this would be the next thing I’d focus on, and I wanted to stick to that plan. My writing motor was revving, so it could have been very easy to ditch this book and go to something else, but I’d made an agreement, so I was going to stick with it. 

Second, I already had some of the plot outlined. Plenty of work still awaited me, but it was still way less than if I started fresh with a brand new concept.

The rainbows I was chasing were all the things I’d been so excited about when I first got the idea. I needed to literally generate that creeped-out emotion again. Yes, you’re reading this right. In order to re-ignite my enthusiasm for this project, I literally scared myself. What can I say? That’s how the muse works for me.

I re-read some of the stories and articles I’d found that inspired the idea, and I bought a non-fiction book on one aspect of my plot as research. Between all of that, I generated the emotional experience I had when I was inspired, which is also the emotional experience I want my reader to have when they read it.

The last rainbow for me is the same across all books. Once I break through the slow start and settle into the voice of any project, I enter my personal flow. Flow is that state we get into where we are truly engrossed in our task, so engrossed that we lose track of time and lose ourselves in the act of doing. It’s immensely restorative and one of my favorite things about writing: that feeling that I’m not even thinking about what I’m writing anymore, that the executive part of my brain is taking a break, while I let the story out in a rush. 

When a book starts slow, it’s the knowledge that my flow-zone is waiting for me as long as I push through that allows me to keep going.

​Storm one, I didn’t want to break my plan with my agent. I didn’t want to even imagine what it would be like to tell him that I hadn’t yet started that book we’d both been so excited about. And, I had another HUGE storm to dodge: I was going to write this book as my NanoWriMo project. I have yet to NOT meet my Nano goals, and no way was I going to set that precedent.

​This part wasn’t too hard for this particular book. I got my new project set up on Nano, and just seeing my word count goal there triggered memories of completing Nano in the past. Memories of past successes are a great trigger for envisioning future success. I did have a hiccup in the plotting for this book, though. My first task was just to plot the MC’s story, but once I began working on my villain, I got REALLY stuck. Once again, I thought about past times when I was struggling with something; in this case, I decided to go with a process that’s worked before: write the main plot and trust that what I needed to make my villain work would come to me during that process. 

That’s exactly what happened. 

I forewent plotting the villain for the time being and started writing. One simple element helped me conceptualize what I needed to do with my villain, but I wouldn’t have thought of it unless I first wrote out the MC’s story. To me, this is one of the big paradoxes for plotters: sometimes we have to start even if something isn’t fully conceptualized. In other words, even when we’ve plotted 95% of the book, we still have to be comfortable with a little pantsing here and there.

By the time I was done with all these steps, I was READY to write. It still took me the usual 10-20K words to really settle into the voice, but the ENTHUSIASM I generated was plenty to overcome the slow start I had to wade through to get to my flow. And, by the time I was done, I created a book that contained all my Magic Cookies, I chased each rainbow and dodged all the storms. 

This was an ACTIVE process. The block might have passed on its own, but I didn’t want to wait for that. I recognized I was stuck, decided to take an active approach to reframe my thinking and change my emotions, and then worked through these steps. 

My hope for us all is that we NEVER get stuck, but since I know that’s not terribly realistic, I hope this example helps YOU see how you can use these steps to rekindle lost ENTHUSIASM. 

Hello, Wonderful Writers. Welcome back to Post 2 of It’s a Writer Thing: Writer’s Block Series! This is a long one, so grab your drink of choice, a snack, maybe a blanket, and cozy up.

Last time, I defined the dreaded WB as the inability to make progress on a WIP (which anyone can experience if they’re struggling to make progress in an area of work or life). I shared my viewpoint that WB comes from one or more of any number of basic challenges in MOTIVATION, CONFIDENCE, and/or CLARITY. 

​Last time, we talked about how recalling the WHYS, our own personal reasons for writing, counteracts the negative emotions that arise when we’re stuck. When we’re stuck, we feel terrible, right? Sadness, anxious, frustrated, irritable. This definitely doesn’t help us move forward on big goals like writing a book. Recalling our WHYS of writing addresses barriers in the categories of MOTIVATION and clearly (no pun intended), CLARITY.

GIVEN 1: Thoughts and emotions are inherently linked. I talked about this in last month’s post, and this notion is literally the foundation of cognitive behavioral therapy. Changing our thoughts changes our emotions.

Here’s and example. Years ago, I had a contract for a book with a teeny-tiny press. I wrote the novel (a full 80K book), and I got through multiple rounds of editing, and then—bam!—they closed. Goodbye book.

Of course, it was an immense disappointment, and I could have chosen to focus on thoughts that fueled that emotion: negative thoughts about my abilities, about my luck, about my measly chances for success in the future. Not only would I have experienced disappointment, I would have invited in a whole cocktail of negative, unhelpful emotions: anger, frustration, discouragement, sadness, depression.

Instead, I chose to reframe the experience. Sure, I was still very disappointed, but I focused on thoughts related to what I got out of the experience: essentially, free mentorship from a professional editor, who I very much respect. I learned various editing techniques, practiced writing a book to spec on a deadline, practiced the skill of negotiating revisions I was going to make, and practiced revising on a deadline. Later, when my agent had significant revisions for me on a book, I knew I could do the work because I’d already practiced all the skills needed. 

By focusing on what I gained instead of what I lost, I generated a cocktail of positive emotions: satisfaction, hope (because I was assuming I’d use these valuable skills again), and one of the most important emotions ever, GRATITUDE.

One thing to keep in mind: our thoughts don’t have to be either-or. It’s entirely normal to entertain BOTH the negative ones AND the positive ones. Even if we do that, we will still generate more positive emotions than if we dwell only on the negative thoughts. Right? And, if we practice reframing, we can get better and better at focusing MORE on the positive thoughts, maybe a split—80% focus on positive thoughts and 20% focus on the unhelpful ones.

GIVEN 2: Writers must generate positive emotions toward their work.

Yeah, yeah, the prototypical tortured artist is still romanticized, but I hate that archetype. I don’t think we need to suffer for art. In fact, I believe we should experience the opposite of suffering in anything we claim to be passionate about. This doesn’t mean that writing will never suck. It will. Hard work will always be … well … hard. Marathon writing sessions will be draining, exhausting, and we my hate the world at times; but if this is our passion, our purpose, then underlying all the struggle should be intrinsic joy, fulfillment, satisfaction, and love for what we do. 

We may lose our connection to those positive emotions, though, for various reasons. Writing a book is hard, it takes time, and requires willingness to be quite vulnerable. Often we must delay gratification and face rejection—over and over and over. So, yes, these things cause negative emotions, but all the more reason to learn how to establish a foundation of positive emotions to fuel you in your writing and to get you through The Suck.

So, let’s talk about how to generate ENTHUSIASM.

I’ll start by talking about motivation. I love Miller and Rollnick’s (2012) conceptualization of motivation. They break motivation down into two core facets: Importance (remember last month when we talked about the WHY of WRITING?) and Confidence. Motivation requires both high importance and at least some element of confidence. 

For our purposes, I’ll define ENTHUSIASM as: The emotional translation of IMPORTANCE.

STEP 1: Define your actual task. This is a little bit of it’s own mind-trickery. Thinking of the enormity of writing a book or launching a career as a writer is often overwhelming. So, first we need to just define the one discrete task we need to accomplish right now. It could be: to get two chapters drafted; revise two chapters; send three queries; respond to a week’s email; open that critique (vs. read the whole thing and come up with a plan for revisions); write one blog post. 

Keep this small, just one chunk of the larger whole.

STEP 2: Remember your WHYS OF WRITING. This may seem simple, but this is literally the foundation our writing careers rest upon. You can also get more specific here. WHY do you need to do the specific task you defined? For example, I find my newsletter software to be a struggle to work with, which creates procrastination, but I value the promise I made to my followers to get out a NL as close to monthly as possible, partly because I also promised I’d pick a monthly winner. That’s my WHY for writing my newsletter; I want to honor my promise to give away a chapter critique or a free book to the people kind enough to be with me on this journey. 

Your reason might vary greatly from task to task.

​avoid (storms). Maybe you don’t want to disappoint your agent, editor, or readers by missing your deadline. Maybe you set a goal for yourself, and you want to keep your promise to yourself. Maybe you know that Pitch Wars is right around the corner, and if you don’t get your pages ready, you won’t be able to enter. Again, this list will consist of things common across writers, but also include some storms that are highly personal to you. ​

STEP 5: What are your book’s MAGIC COOKIES? I’ve borrowed this idea from Susan Dennard, author of the WITCHLANDS series, and if you’re not already following her or on her mailing list, you should. She shares a TON of writing wisdom, which you can access RIGHT HERE.

I love her concept of Magic Cookies. She defines this as the parts of your book that you can’t wait to write. Those delicious scenes, moments, or emotions you just dying to get on the page or the emotional experience you want to give your reader. It might be a character you are in love with. It might be the kissing scenes (hehehe). Maybe it’s the setting. (I recently based an entire book on my longings for a Jersey Shore beach vacation. One of my magic cookies was the boardwalk.) Each book should have a list of them, so get brainstorming. Then, make sure you put at least one or two cookies into EVERY SCENE. Don’t wait for the fun parts to come; purposely insert your cookies everywhere. For my Jersey Shore book, in addition to the setting, my cookies included: twists, intense action moments, portraying a toxic interpersonal relationship, more twists. 

STEP 6: Envision Success. One of my biggest writing slumps happened about a year ago, and I realized as I was coming out of it that one of my big problems was I’d stopped being able to envision future success in my career. I’d been wallowing in The Suck for too long, and it created that negative emotion cocktail I mentioned earlier. Needless to say, I turned that around as soon as I got wise to myself.

When I say ENVISION success, I mean just that. We must create a mental representation of reaching our goals. You can make this as detailed as you like. For some, this step involves literally mental imagery (e.g., imaging typing THE END on your WIP or signing your name to that representation agreement). For others, it might involve journaling or even speaking aloud to oneself about the success you’re going to achieve. The important thing is that we do it. Inability to see ourselves actually reaching our goal can be a big subconscious barrier to achieving it. Have you ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Does this sound silly to you? It can feel silly, sitting there, picturing your first book-signing or practicing verbally pitching a book you haven’t even written yet, but there is a TON of research on how imagery and mental rehearsal work on the brain and how these, along with self-talk, can have a positive impact on performance. That said, you need to figure out the best way to envision success for YOU. Once you’ve figured that out, set aside time every day—even just five minutes—to engage in your personal exercise.

​You may find you want to try all six steps today, but it’s not necessary to do them all every time. One or more of the steps above may work better for you than others, OR they may work better under certain circumstances. (I find that remembering the STORMS I’m DODGING helps me generate enthusiasm for specific tasks, while recalling my RAINBOWS and ENVISIONING SUCCESS are better at helping me cope with disappointments, like rejection.) Once again, the key is developing YOUR PRACTICE for fueling ENTHUSIASM.

That’s it for this month. I hope these action steps allow you to generate legit momentum-building ENTHUSIASM for whatever you’re working on at the moment. And remember, these steps are applicable to any goal you might be working on, not only writing. Next time, we’ll talk about the next emotion, JOY.

References:

Miller, WR & Rollnick, S (2012). Motivational Interviewing: Helping people change, 3rd Edition. The Guilford Press, New York, NY.