Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach

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Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach episodes

January 10, 2018 Ep 134: What Do I Write Next - Why Write Small When You Want to Go Big?
Last week I presented you with a long list of ways you can decide what to write next and then I promised to expand on some of them. - One suggestion was to decide to write something you can finish and ship fast. Projects Big and Small
7 min
January 04, 2018 Ep 133: How to Decide What to Write Next (Introduction to What Do I Write Next series)
Every day, a writer wakes up and asks, “What do I write next?”
And the answer varies from writer to writer—even your own answer may change from week to week. Sometimes it’ll be obvious what to write next. When you’re approaching a looming deadline and that article or chapter must be completed, the decision is made for you. You sit down and work on that.
But other days you have flexibility. You can write anything you want. How do you choose? Can we be sure the next thing we write is the right thing to write, or the best thing? Do we need to be sure?
I don’t think there’s an absolute right or wrong answer. You choose. But you usually choose based on something, whether consciously or subconsciously. And if you make the choice based on something that rings true with your values and supports where you’re at in your journey, you can feel good about your decision.
Ways to Decide
The next few weeks, we’ll go through various ways you can decide, so you’ll feel a little more confident moving forward on whatever you do write next.
Write Something That Moves You Toward Your Goals
When you’re trying to decide what to write next, you may already have clear goals in mind. You want to submit poetry to literary journals in hopes of being published this year, or you want to put together a book proposal and send it to an agent this fall.
Knowing your goals can help you start with the end in mind and work your way back so that you know what to write today and the next day. For you, the question “What do I write next?” will be easily answered by those goals—your next thing to write will be whatever moves you closer to that goal.
But you may not be that clear about your goals. You may not know where you want to be in a year or what you want to do even in the next month or so.
Or you’re re-evaluating your goals.
Or you just want to write.
That’s okay. You don’t have to overthink it or get uptight about your decision.
But if you want to give it some thought, I’m going to toss out various filters or motivations that might help you begin to think about your next writing project and make a decision.
This list will serve as an overview, and then in the weeks ahead, I'll go into more detail on some of them.
So…How do I decide what I write next?
Write Something That Increases your Skills
One way to decide what to write next is to take stock of your skills and experience. Do you need to work on something? You could pick a project based on its ability to help you hone the craft and develop yourself as a writer.
Write Something You Can Finish and Ship Fast
If you’re working on a long-term project and have been for years, you may realize you’re not going to get any real feedback on it for several more months and you won’t know what readers think for months or even a year after that. An occasional shorter project lets you enjoy quick turnaround and a sense of completion. This could be something as immediate as a social media update or as formal as a poem sent to a literary magazine.
Write What’s Next in Sequence
If you’re writing a blog article series, write the post that explains the next step or stage. If you’re writing a novel, tackle the next scene. Your short story will need the next beat. A poem grows with the next line leading to the next stanza. An article will expand with another paragraph or section. The sequential approach can be a logical way to decide what to write next.
Write Something for Validation
You may want to write something in hopes of a magazine acceptance. You’ll get that feeling of being chosen. “Hey, they picked me! They picked my article! Someone other than my spouse and mom says my writing is worth publishing.” After that, you may have readers responding and enjoy anothe...
11 min
December 21, 2017 Ep 132: This Is the Year to Tackle That Complicated, Unfamiliar New Writing Project
This fall, I traveled to New York City for the first time. - I’d been concerned about how to navigate the city; I'd never before been there. I didn’t know what to expect, and wasn't sure how things work. Should we take taxis? The subway? Uber? -
7 min
December 12, 2017 Ep 131: Reverse Engineer Your Editorial Calendar
Not long ago, I presented to you the concept of a writing pipeline. The stages are: Research Ideas Drafts Final Edits Shipped Archive (or Portfolio) - A project enters the pipeline when it’s an idea,
9 min
December 05, 2017 Ep 130: The Simple Way to Clarify Your Content
You’re writing. Everything’s moving along just fine, and then.
Huh.
You hit a section that won’t flow. You write a line or two and it feels convoluted. Or you’re not sure how to best express the idea. Or something’s missing and you’re not sure what. Or you just stop, blocked.
Try this.
On the page—or on the screen, depending on where you’re writing—actually write this phrase:
"What I’m trying to say is…”
Then finish that phrase. Write, without stopping.
Discover What You’re Trying to Say
Finishing the phrase often:
clarifies the complexity
supplies the best words
fills in the gaps
clears away blockage
Finish the phrase and ideas flow freely.
By writing and finishing that thought, you discover what you intend to say, the message you plan to share, the idea you want to develop.
If you’re plagued by a formal, stilted tone in your written communication, this phrase invites more natural expression—your writing voice emerges as you say what you’re trying to say in a straightforward, easy-to-understand way.
Usually it more closely mirrors your speaking voice and friends will say, “I feel like I can hear your voice when I read what you write."
When You Really Don’t Know What You’re Trying to Say
Let’s say you're stuck and try this technique, but absolutely no words flow. You type out (or write out by hand) “What I’m trying to say is…”
...and not a single thought comes to mind.
Well, it could be you don’t know what you’re trying to say. In other words, maybe the problem is not so much how to say something—maybe you still don’t know what to say. It’s not fully formulated. You need to give the idea more time to sort itself out and become clear in your head.
Step Away from the Work
If this is your situation, step away from the keyboard. Do something else for a while. Your idea could come into focus after a break.
Walk the dog
Exercise
Read a book
Run an errand
Take a shower
Now and then, casually ask yourself, "What am I trying to say?”
At some point…
A-ha.
It may take a little more time than you expect to answer the question, but it will come to you.
When you think you’ve clarified your idea, return to the keyboard or notebook and try again.
“What I’m trying to say is…” Keep writing. If you experienced that a-ha moment, you’ll know what you want to say and it’ll show up on the page.
Some Ideas Need More Time
If your writing is more involved—if the idea requires more than a brisk walk to uncover and construct—paste your draft into a mobile device so you can add thoughts as they come.
Sometimes while reading an article in the waiting room of the doctor’s office or while simply driving down the road, our minds will experience breakthrough. It’s good to capture those words on the spot, before they drift away.
In the doctor’s office, you can add a few new thoughts to an Evernote draft. In the car, at a stoplight, you can record a note to self using Voxer or a voice recording app.
To develop an idea and build it out, take a minute to explore, in the middle of writing chapters and sections and stages: “What I’m trying to say is…"
Give those more complex ideas time to develop and you’ll find the concept taking shape.
Use It to Find Your Summary
This simple phrase can help when you’re condensing, as well.
Writers often have to summarize their projects in a hook, two-sentence summary, or elevator pitch. When you’re struggling to succinctly explain your book concept, you can use this same phrase to express it in the simplest form.
6 min
November 28, 2017 Ep 129: Repurpose Your Writing to Reach More People
Writing takes time, and life is short.
When experts recommend we post content on Facebook and on blogs and in newsletters and YouTube and all these places while we’re trying to write essays or articles or books, we can feel deflated and defeated. How on earth are we supposed to produce that much content?
It’s easy to just say, “Forget it. I can only write one thing at a time."
Repurpose Your Writing to Connect with More People
I’m not super strategic, and I tend to write just one thing at at time, but I’m discovering ways to repurpose content in order to connect with more people in places like Facebook and on my blog and in newsletters.
What I’ve been doing most often is writing one solid piece—usually an article that’s available as a podcast episode, like this one. Then, if it seems workable, I repurpose it—that is, I repackage it in some way, or cut it down, or, if its short, I expand on it. The various versions head out to appropriate destinations often with slightly different audiences and purposes.
For example, about a month ago in my weekly newsletter, I described a trip I took to New York City with a client. It was my first-ever trip there, and because my sole purpose was publishing-related, I thought it might be interesting to my subscribers.
Then I realized, Hey, this could be an article at my website.
You may have noticed that articles at my website are also available as podcast episodes, so that story I wrote for subscribers ended up as an article and a podcast episode.
And then, on Instagram, I posted a photo of me standing in Times Square that did not appear in the article at my website or in the newsletter. Along with that photo, I posted a short story about the trip that was really similar to the original, but different. In other words, I didn’t write anything new; instead I tweaked the article, cutting some material and changing the focus a little bit, and published it there in Instagram. So far, it seems to be one of my most popular images.
I took one idea, spun it different ways and shared in different spaces for different people. That’s repurposing writing. Whether you start small and go big or start big and go small, this will save you time as you reach more people.
You can start with one little nugget of an idea—maybe a thought you had, or a quote you came across and posted on Twitter—and expand that one small nugget into a full-blown article, essay, or book chapter.
Or you could start with a full-blown, fully developed project and pare it down until you express it at its simplest core thought—perhaps as a quote—on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.
Start Small, Go Big
Let’s say you start with a quote you find. Here’s one I came across in my reading not too long ago:
Honor the world by observing it truly and writing about it with humility. (Walter Wangerin, Jr.)¹
That rang true to my ear…and my heart. So I shared it as-is on Instagram as the caption accompanying a photo of a leaf. I didn’t say more. I didn’t offer commentary, though I often do. I simply shared the line and the source for other writers to ponder.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZzDeDHB147/
My hope was that maybe they, too, would find that it rang true to their ears and their hearts, and they, too, would feel inspired to observe and write with attentiveness, honesty, and humility.
I could just let that be what it is: a quote on Instagram. It doesn’t need to be more.
But I was looking at that quote a few days ago thinking about the concept of repurposing by expanding on it. I could illustrate its message with a story from my own life and my own attempts to honor the world with my true observations humbly expressed in words.
Case Study: How to Expand
11 min
November 21, 2017 Ep 128: Write in the Middle of the Holidays
And so it begins. The holidays.
Here in the U.S., Thanksgiving kind of kicks things off with gatherings and feasts and shopping and decorating. Over the weekend, lights blink on in neighborhood yards and Bing Crosby will croon Christmas tunes from the stereo most nights.
It’s hard to know how much writing we can actually produce in the middle of the holidays. Do we write, or take a break?
If we write, how much and how often?
If we take a break, for how long?
Writing and Not Writing on Breaks
During Christmas break, my husband usually arranges for time off work between Christmas and New Year’s Day so he can coordinate with the kids’ break from school. When the children were little, I’d keep work hours to a minimum or put my writing and editing on pause during that time, to rest and focus on family. We avoided ambitious plans and stayed low key. We’d sleep in, work on a big puzzle, and watch movies.
But in more recent years, I’ve been known to keep work hours during the holidays, finishing up a long project during the break because the kids sleep in and the house is quiet.
In fact, one year we decided to travel to visit family during that break. We left town the day after Christmas, and on the long drive south I spent hours poring over a client’s book manuscript to offer developmental input.
I remember phoning my client about the project, chatting about various chapters while looking out the windshield of our RV, wipers swishing away the rain. After days of balancing my Macbook Pro on my lap, making notes and recommendations, shooting emails back and forth, reviewing changes, and finalizing chapters, the author and I celebrated. We met the deadline.
So I’ve done both. I’ve written, and not written during the holidays.
Deciding How to Write in the Middle of the Holidays
When I grapple with how to handle my writing during the holidays—or when I consider totally unplugging—I think through my family’s expectations and needs as well as my deadlines and work responsibilities in light of the overall plans.
And that can change from year to year.
Will I be hosting Thanksgiving for just my immediate family? Will others join us? Or will we be invited to someone else’s house for the day?
During Christmas break, have the kids made a lot of plans with friends, or will they be relaxing at home?
Do I feel a more urgent need to take a significant break myself or could I write for small stretches when others are sleeping or occupied?
You may have other traditions or events to celebrate with a different set of expectations for participation.
Each writer has to take into account his own personality, traditions, and obligations when deciding how much to work—or whether to work at all—during the holidays.
Deadlines: Consider your writing deadlines. Do you have something due before the end of the year or in early January, like my client did that one year? You might have to squeeze in a few minutes most days or a chunk of time on a couple of days. If you’re flexible, however, without any hard deadlines, you might have the option of a longer break.
Work feels like play: For a lot of writers, projects feel less like work and more like play. If that’s you, taking time to write in the middle of the holidays may not even feel like work; instead, your writing may offer a healthy mental and emotional break.
Non-writing activities: What kinds of non-writing tasks related to your writing could you tackle? While everyone else is watching football, maybe you could grab a notebook and brainstorm ideas for an upcoming assignment or generate an outline? What about creating a detailed to-do list, breaking a major project into smaller, actionable steps?
9 min
November 14, 2017 Ep 127: The Paralysis of Perfectionism
My husband is fluent in both French and English. During the first years of our marriage, I worked hard to learn some French on my own. I wanted to be functional in the language when we visited his family overseas.
12 min
November 07, 2017 Ep 126: From On-The-Page to Face-To-Face
In October, I had the honor of accompanying a client to New York City, where she met with her editor and publisher. In person. Face to face. Digital Connections: Intimate or Distant? In the digital age, face-to-face interaction is becoming more and mor...
6 min
October 31, 2017 Ep 125: No Time to Write? Do This Every Day
Last time we talked about how lack of time is a universal frustration for people who want to write. And I offered a solution that could kickstart your writing and prove to yourself it can be done—you can write even when you think you have no time at al...
7 min

About Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach

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With Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach, you'll gain clarity and overcome hurdles to become a better writer, pursue publishing, and reach your writing goals. Ann provides practical tips and motivation for…