Book Coach

Once, a therapist told me that it didn’t matter that I had said something with the best intention. What mattered was how it was perceived. I resented that idea. Why was it my responsibility if someone was taking what I had said the wrong way? When I mentioned this to my husband, he said: The road to hell is paved with good intentions. I didn’t get it. What was wrong with good intentions? There is no question, good intentions are important. Our hope—to help others, to improve our lives—is at the core of our plans for the future. It drives…

My father was a man of few words. Always well spoken. My father was a cautious man. Cautious about sharing his thoughts freely. My father had a life long distrust in the public space, the public opinion.

Ever been to a cocktail party where someone is telling a story going on one tangent after another? Then we’d been to the same party and I might have been the one telling the story. I love asides, making detours, embellishing the tale with little backstories. Depending on the level of intoxication, its difficult to keep the thread in my mind and pick up where I left the main story line. To come full circle I have to remember the reason why I’m telling the story. We all love details and we want to hear every juicy bit of it.…

Sometimes I’m like the dog in the movie Up. In the animation the dog is focused, obedient and loyal. Until *^%$Squirrel! I turned off all notifications just to get away from the noise on social media. I know, if you are marketing your book this is not an option. But before you market your book you write it. To do that you want to clear away as many diversions as you become aware of. Recently, I came across an involuntary digression and immediately planned for a way to keep me from wandering. Imagine you turn to your phone to retrieve some…

Some say write what you know. Others want you to write what you think and some advice you to write what you feel. In the end it doesn’t matter what you write, they say, as long as you write. I agree. It all starts with the letters on the page. Even if you dictate your book into your phone and let the computer put it on the page. If you keep writing you end up with a first draft. But, when they say what to write they’re not actually telling you what to write. They encourage you to do YOUR…