Musings

I’ve been asked many times why Mosaic Heart took so many years to write. Sometimes people follow that question with “Is this normal?” I don’t think it’s the norm to take more than ten years to write a book, but I also don’t believe my experience is that unusual. A...

Almost six months have passed since I published Mosaic Heart: Pieces of an Unfinished Life. It’s hard to believe that she has been out in the world for almost half a year already. And although I say this to authors consistently, it’s also hard to believe how much...

I was asked in a recent podcast interview why it took me over ten years to bring my book to life. The question was posed, thinking I had written my memoir recently. I clarified that I actually had been writing it for a very long time—I’d kept my pen to paper and...

Never before have the insights I share with authors been as “up front and center” as they are right now. Since late December, I’ve heard these words play over and over in my mind, and in the last two weeks, they’ve become even more insistent: “A book takes on a life...

Yes, sometimes during the course of writing our books, we hit walls. For a variety of reasons, it can happen during the writing process, especially as life gets in the way. But, did you know it can also happen during the editing process? And that’s when it can be even...

This seems to be the question many writers ask—as they contemplate whether or not their manuscript needs to be edited. Actually, oftentimes writers come to the publishing process believing their manuscript only needs to be proofread. At most, they may think it needs a...

February 2nd marked the midwinter point, acknowledged in the US by the groundhog’s appearance. This year, Phil predicted six more weeks of winter, which I believe was inevitable. At least here in Colorado, signs of spring don’t usually show up for at least that long!...

Yes, when an editor authors her own works, she must be edited too. And that’s where I sit today: going through the editing process with my first memoir. As an editor, I must admit that having someone look at my writing as opposed to being evaluated for how I’ve...

How much thought do you give to the impact of the words and phrases you say to yourself and others? As a writer and editor, I think about the words we use—a lot! Not only written words, but also the words we use in conversation, whether in self-talk or with others....

What does it mean to write the in-between? Until quite recently, I coached writers, especially those working on memoirs, to “dig deep." I encouraged them to get to the heart of their stories and those core experiences and truths. To take us into their learnings,...