Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach

By Ann KroekerBusiness Education Arts Books Self-Improvement Marketing

Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach episodes

August 22, 2017 Ep 115: You'll Write More When You Use an Editorial Calendar
Last time we discussed a writing pipeline, representing the phases or stages a project moves through, from the initial idea to completion—including when it's been published and you save it in a portfolio.
Now let’s talk editorial calendars.
Life Without an Editorial Calendar
For years I got by writing on the fly. I'd have a few minutes free, think up an idea, whip out a draft, and with just a little more time that night or the next morning, I could edit the piece into a solid article to send out to a magazine or publish on my website.
My approach worked in the early days, when my publishing aspirations and expectations were as small as my kids. As my kids grew, however, the possibilities seemed grander and I realized this random, last-minute approach was not the way to live a creative, sustainable, productive writing life over the long haul.
If I wanted to produce a body of work, I'd need to be a bit more intentional and organized. A tool to support all that and remind me what to do next was an editorial calendar.
Life With an Editorial Calendar
Whether I’m planning the timing of short pieces like blog posts or long-form projects broken into smaller tasks, I’ve come to rely on an editorial calendar of some kind, even if it’s rudimentary. Over the years, I've tried everything from printed calendars to online apps. No matter what I use, it boils down to deciding when I want to publish or submit something. Then I simply write that down somewhere—preferably somewhere I’ll actually look.
Integrating the project due dates on a calendar I’m already using for other appointments helped me value the work as highly as other obligations. It showed up as a priority in my life and helped me view myself as a working writer.
I hope life with an editorial calendar improves your own work habits and productivity so that you’ll prioritize your writing. And when you’re picking out the editorial calendar to use, start with what’s most normal and natural for you to avoid overcomplicating things or introducing a big learning curve.
Paper Calendars
My first editorial calendars were simply monthly calendars I printed off. I’d think about the frequency I wanted to write and publish for my own website along with content I created for other organizations and magazines, then I’d pencil in projects with the deadlines. It helped me learn my capacity and pace by experimenting with work load and frequency. Without a calendar, I’d just be winging it; with a calendar, I could begin to see the weeks I’d scheduled too much.
Bullet Journals
If bullet journals existed at the time I was printing off calendar pages, I would have dedicated a page to an editorial calendar. As with a printed calendar, I’d mark articles scheduled on certain days for my blog posts or podcasts as well as articles promised to magazines and online organizations. I currently use a bullet journal to plan out ideas, but I’m loving technology options these days for my editorial calendar.
Google Calendar
I first transitioned from printed calendars to a simple Google Calendar. You can name each calendar, so I gave mine the unforgettable name: Editorial Calendar. I already used a Google calendar to manage the rest of my life, so this was simply adding another layer and I liked that integration.
In Google Calendars, you can click calendars on and off to look at one at a time or have all of them layer on top of each other so you can see schedule conflicts. This was perfect, because it layered my entire life and I could see busy weeks when writing wouldn’t be possible. I could move around project goals to accommodate other obligations in life.
Another nice feature: scheduling alerts to remind me to to write, edit, and send off my projects for a hours or days ahead of time.
11 min
August 15, 2017 Ep 114: Make the Most of Your Time with a Writing Pipeline
Have you ever sat down at the computer when you finally carved out time to write, only to discover you have no idea where to start or what to say? You end up wasting a lot of precious time if that’s your approach. In times like that,
9 min
August 08, 2017 Ep 113: An Easy Solution for the Writer with Big Goals and Little Time
Ideas pop into my head all the time: while walking, doing household chores, waiting in a carpool lane, sitting poolside, or even as I'm just falling asleep. If I have paper and pen, great. I can write them down. Or if I have time to pull out my bluetooth keyboard and type them up, cool. We discussed some of my favorite writing tools last week.
But if you have a lot of ideas or a rich, detailed memory comes to you, wouldn’t it be nice to record it fully and quickly, before it evaporates or you’re distracted by something else? If you write fiction and the outline of a short story or an entire scene for your novel comes to you—I’ll bet you’d love to have some way to rapidly, easily stash it away.
Well, you can.
Grab your phone and press record.
You can save your ideas easily and quickly if you write with your voice—it’s a solution for any writer with big goals and little time.
Voice-to-Text
Most phones—iPhone or Android—have a microphone icon on the keyboard, allowing you to speak your thoughts into just about any app. In the last episode, I mentioned the beauty of working in the apps that sync on all devices, like Evernote, Google Keep, Google Docs. You can leverage that same advantage of capturing on the go, but you can use your voice to do the writing.
I’m sure you’ve found this microphone and used it for voice-to-text. I see people using it all the time…just not for writing.
My husband, who is bilingual, discovered he can even switch the globe on his iPhone keyboard to French and dictate notes and thoughts, and it’s worked well…if he wanted to, he could write a love poem in his native tongue without having to remember where all the accents go.
Another iPhone advantage: you should have not only that little microphone-on-the-keyboard option—you also have Siri, who can take dictation for you.
Speak Slowly, Clearly
Though I tend to think most effectively through my fingers, typing my best thoughts on a keyboard, I’ve used voice recording options many times, especially to get out some notes and ideas or even the start of a draft. And I’ve learned to work on my elocution.
You as the writer might be brimming with ideas that spill out at record speed, but for dictation or transcription accuracy, it helps to speak slowly and clearly when using transcription tools of any kind.
Google Voice Typing
In the last episode, I focused on ways to type out ideas. At my website, where the show notes live, I received an excellent comment from Susan, who wrote: "You can also dictate your written notes (or thoughts off the top of your head) right into a Google Doc."
She talked about its Voice typing feature. I'm so thankful Susan took time to mention that. This dictation device—or, I guess it’s more of a voice-to-text technology/software—allows you to dictate straight into a Google doc so that your notes or a draft is waiting for you when you’re able to get behind a keyboard.
Just click on Tools, then “Voice typing.” You’ll get a big popup microphone icon. Click and start talking. It’s a great way to think and then speak your ideas.
Google Keep’s Voice-to-Text Recorder
Susan pointed out that Google Keep also has a voice recording option.
"Just tap the microphone at the bottom of the screen.” Google Keep records a segment and then instantly transcribes it, giving you the option of saving the audio recording or deleting it after you have the transcription it produces, which is pretty nifty.
Evernote, Voxer
Evernote and Voxer have similar features. If you have Voxer Pro and you’re an English-speaker, you can use their voice-to-text transcription.
Evernote can record your voice and save that as an audio file, or you can use the keyboard microphone, as I mentioned before,
7 min
August 01, 2017 Ep 112: My Best Writing Tools to Get More Done (at Home and on the Go)
I once asked a photographer the best camera to use. Before he shared his opinion, he said a common answer to that question is, "The best camera is the one you have with you."
In other words, it doesn't matter how fancy your equipment is if, at the moment a hawk lands on a fence post next to you, your Canon EOS 5D Mark IV is sitting in the trunk of your car. At that moment, you slowly lift up your smartphone and, as quietly as possible, snap the photo with the equipment you have on hand.
I think we should view our writing tools the same way. It doesn't matter if a program installed on your desktop computer at home is loaded with bells and whistles, if inspiration hits while you're on vacation. If you're in the mountains with an extra two hours to write, that fancy program back home isn't going to do you much good. Instead, grab a notebook and pen and capture those thoughts with what you have on hand.
Don’t Wait for Ideal Circumstances
The other day I was trying to prepare notes for a podcast episode I needed to record, edit, and prep for release the next day. I was running behind, so I grabbed my cheap bluetooth keyboard purchased online for something like 15 bucks, and while my mom was getting physical therapy, I paired the keyboard with my Samsung phone, opened up Google Keep, which is a free note-taking app, and tapped out a draft.
In just those few minutes, I was able to slam out a sloppy copy and store it in a program I could open on my laptop at home. I didn't wait until I had time and atmosphere or access to a robust program like Scrivener. I used what I'd shoved into my tote bag.
Sure, it's easier to use my setup at home, but I had a deadline. If I'd waited, I wouldn't have finished on time. Just a smartphone and a tiny keyboard got the job done.
So let me run through the tools I use for various scenarios. Your life might be more predictable, scheduled, and localized than mine; if so, so you could pick just one combination and use it at all times in your main workspace. But take note of an inexpensive, flexible, mobile option, as well, because you never know—you might get the idea of a lifetime on a cross-country road trip.
Writing Tools for When I'm On the Go
Smartphone + Bluetooth Keyboard + Evernote or Google Keep
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVKg4lXgh_a/
The leanest system I've used so far is pairing my inexpensive bluetooth keyboard with my Android smartphone. Even though I usually travel with my laptop, sometimes it's handy to pull out the smaller, subtler combination.
My keyboard is a ULAK brand purchased through Amazon, but the exact model is no longer available (comparable brands can be found with other companies).
I bought a travel case for the keyboard with a zippered side pocket where I could store extra batteries. Happily, I could slip the phone itself in that pouch, too, for a lightweight grab-and-go writing system. With this simple setup, I can type up notes as I think of them; write journal entries; compose drafts of short pieces like blog posts, poems, essays, or podcast episodes; and preserve notes from books, magazines, and online articles I read.
An important element in this system for me is the app. I want to input the text into an app that syncs with all my devices, so that when I do get back to my desktop computer or laptop, I'll be able to find the draft and use it to craft a final version. I can be offline while typing my draft, and when I get to WiFi, the system logs on and updates.
For this, I've used Google Keep and Evernote, both of which are accessible when I open my laptop later.
Smartphone + Tablet (Kindle Fire) + Evernote or Google Keep
A variation on that leanest option is to substitute a tablet for the smartphone.
11 min
July 24, 2017 Ep 111: Build Your Email List with a System That Fits the Way You Think
You may already use a system to collect emails so you can communicate directly with readers who want to hear from you. If you’re unfamiliar with email marketing systems, they offer a powerful way for you to interact with your audience.
11 min
July 24, 2017 Ep 111: Build Your Email List with a System That Fits the Way You Think
You may already use a system to collect emails so you can communicate directly with readers who want to hear from you. If you’re unfamiliar with email marketing systems, they offer a powerful way for you to interact with your audience.

If you have a new book coming out, for example, these are the people who would want to know about it. If you’re doing a poetry reading, you can send a note and readers in that city will be glad to hear about it and might make plans to attend. If you have a special price on an e-book, you can let them know about the sale.

If you haven’t started yet, I highly recommend you begin building an email list comprised of ideal readers.
Start List-Building with MailChimp
I started out with MailChimp and used it for years. MailChimp was free, and free sounded like a good place to start.

I liked MailChimp’s option to pull content from my website’s RSS feed so people could automatically receive my latest blog posts. I chose from one of their many templates and tried to tweak the code, but messed it up. I read articles and watched videos in their vast knowledge base to try to fix my mistake, but even when I stop-started the video to break down each tick of a box or tap of a character, I still ended up with something wonky. I lost hours trying to solve my problems. Attractive templates ended up looking goofy.

I limped along with MailChimp by choosing a simple template and avoiding any customization. I didn’t want to touch any code for fear of breaking something. I stayed in set-it-and-forget-it mode for years, with MailChimp automatically sending emails featuring nothing more than my blog content.

Over time, I realized I wanted to send emails more a personal tone. And, if possible, I wanted a simpler system that made more sense to me. I periodically tried to tweak my MailChimp templates only to mess them up again and have to start over from scratch.

Then I heard about the new kid on the block: ConvertKit. It’s not new any longer, but at the time it sounded like it might offer almost all the features I wanted without the elements that troubled me in MailChimp.
The Pros and Cons I saw in ConvertKit and MailChimp
Every system comes with its own set of pros and cons. Here’s what I observed at the time I was deciding.
Templates
ConvertKit didn’t offer a wide variety templates like MailChimp did, so if I wanted pretty emails, I'd have to get creative. But I wanted to send simple emails anyway, so that wasn’t a huge concern.
Emails Generated from RSS Feed
ConvertKit draws from a blog’s RSS feed to generate an email, but doesn’t automatically send it like MailChimp does. You have to go in and manually send it.

I thought that was a weakness when I first signed up, but now I see it as a strength because I actually want to look at the email before sending it, to personalize it. It supports my reason for having an email list in the first place: to interact with people, encourage them, and support their writing goals.
Unsubscribe System
One big drawback of ConvertKit was its unsubscribe option. If readers click on the link in the footer, they're immediately unsubscribed and removed from the system. They don’t have any way to manage their subscription; they're just out. I didn’t like that.
Stats
ConvertKit didn’t show much in the way of stats at the time I considered it. That, too, made me hesitate. I wanted to know how many people were signing up and through which pages or forms. MailChimp did well with that.
Simplicity
Compared to MailChimp, though, ConvertKit was lean, clean, and simple both visually for the reader and behind-the-scenes in the dashboard. That was a plus.
Subscriber-Centered vs List-Driven
ConvertKit takes a subscriber-centered approach, whereas MailChimp organizes by lists,
11 min
July 18, 2017 Ep 110: You Want to Be a Writer Who’s Read? Learn Something New Every Day.
The publishing world is evolving, and no one knows quite when it will end and what it will look like. As a writer, you've probably been spotting new trends, new entry points, new expectations, new leaders, and new technology, wondering how you can possibly keep up with all that change.

Well, you’re not alone. Everyone’s seeing all that new—all that change—and wondering how they can possibly keep up with it all.

There’s only one way to have a chance at keeping up—and it’s the same way any of us has a chance at gaining an advantage and keeping an edge, and that’s...

To learn something new every day.

I know it’s frustrating to hear that when all you want to do is write.

“I don’t want to be figuring out fancy software and spending all that time on social media,” you’re thinking. "I don’t want to maintain a website and read about the industry all the time. Why can’t I just be a writer who, you know, writes?”

And it’s true that a legal pad and a Bic pen should be more than enough to keep a writer churning out words, hitting daily word count goals, avoiding distraction. And I absolutely agree that a writer must write first and foremost.

But if you want to try to get in the game—if you want to try to submit to literary journals or see your byline in a magazine or run a freelance writing business or pitch agents—you’ll have to learn some new things. I daresay it’s best to learn a little something new every day…at least on average.
The Growth Mindset Helps Learning
If you have a growth mindset, like we talked about last time, you know that nothing's fixed and forever. You and I can learn new skills and grow if we set our minds to it and implement or integrate what we learn. So that shouldn’t a concern—you can teach an old dog new tricks.
The Curious Lifelong Learner Loves to Learn
It helps to be a lifelong learner who's curious and creative, because with those traits, you’ll follow the spark of curiosity to dig for the information and training you want or need and follow up when you unearth another layer of skills you can develop or knowledge you can gain.

You’ll poke around to figure out who to ask. You’ll research which is the best free or paid course to sign up for. You’ll subscribe to podcasts with the best information and watch YouTube videos with easy-to-follow tutorials.

You’ll get books to read in line at the post office and audiobooks to listen to on a long drive or while exercising. You’ll save up to attend a premier conference or an intimate writing workshop. You'll apply for a grant or fellowship.

In doing this, you’ll learn a lot of different things.

If you read and learn about the industry, you’ll discover ways to respond to those changes as a writer. You won’t waste time on old methods—you can quickly “pivot,” as they say, and adjust your plan to suit what editors, agents, and ultimately readers are looking for.

This doesn’t mean you abandon your vision and write for the market, but it’s good to be aware and thoughtful about what you see around you.
Learn Something New About Content
Learn in the area of content and you’ll collect ideas for your nonfiction projects. If you write on a nonfiction topic, you’ll have a chance at becoming an expert in your field.

If you write fiction, there’s no end to what you could learn because characters need jobs and hobbies; they need to visit interesting places and struggle with illnesses. You can learn about almost anything and pull it into your work.
Learn Something New About Craft
You’ll write better when you learn more or different techniques and implement them each time you put a pen to paper. When you’re making lists of things you want to learn, add craft to your list and develop your own personal writing course based on skills you ...
7 min
July 18, 2017 Ep 110: You Want to Be a Writer Who's Read? Learn Something New Every Day.
The publishing world is evolving, and no one knows quite when it will end and what it will look like. As a writer, you've probably been spotting new trends, new entry points, new expectations, new leaders, and new technology, wondering how you can possibly keep up with all that change.
Well, you’re not alone. Everyone’s seeing all that new—all that change—and wondering how they can possibly keep up with it all.
There’s only one way to have a chance at keeping up—and it’s the same way any of us has a chance at gaining an advantage and keeping an edge, and that’s...
To learn something new every day.
I know it’s frustrating to hear that when all you want to do is write.
“I don’t want to be figuring out fancy software and spending all that time on social media,” you’re thinking. "I don’t want to maintain a website and read about the industry all the time. Why can’t I just be a writer who, you know, writes?”
And it’s true that a legal pad and a Bic pen should be more than enough to keep a writer churning out words, hitting daily word count goals, avoiding distraction. And I absolutely agree that a writer must write first and foremost.
But if you want to try to get in the game—if you want to try to submit to literary journals or see your byline in a magazine or run a freelance writing business or pitch agents—you’ll have to learn some new things. I daresay it’s best to learn a little something new every day…at least on average.
The Growth Mindset Helps Learning
If you have a growth mindset, like we talked about last time, you know that nothing's fixed and forever. You and I can learn new skills and grow if we set our minds to it and implement or integrate what we learn. So that shouldn’t a concern—you can teach an old dog new tricks.
The Curious Lifelong Learner Loves to Learn
It helps to be a lifelong learner who's curious and creative, because with those traits, you’ll follow the spark of curiosity to dig for the information and training you want or need and follow up when you unearth another layer of skills you can develop or knowledge you can gain.
You’ll poke around to figure out who to ask. You’ll research which is the best free or paid course to sign up for. You’ll subscribe to podcasts with the best information and watch YouTube videos with easy-to-follow tutorials.
You’ll get books to read in line at the post office and audiobooks to listen to on a long drive or while exercising. You’ll save up to attend a premier conference or an intimate writing workshop. You'll apply for a grant or fellowship.
In doing this, you’ll learn a lot of different things.
If you read and learn about the industry, you’ll discover ways to respond to those changes as a writer. You won’t waste time on old methods—you can quickly “pivot,” as they say, and adjust your plan to suit what editors, agents, and ultimately readers are looking for.
This doesn’t mean you abandon your vision and write for the market, but it’s good to be aware and thoughtful about what you see around you.
Learn Something New About Content
Learn in the area of content and you’ll collect ideas for your nonfiction projects. If you write on a nonfiction topic, you’ll have a chance at becoming an expert in your field.
If you write fiction, there’s no end to what you could learn because characters need jobs and hobbies; they need to visit interesting places and struggle with illnesses. You can learn about almost anything and pull it into your work.
Learn Something New About Craft
You’ll write better when you learn more or different techniques and implement them each time you put a pen to paper. When you’re making lists of things you want to learn, add craft to your list and develop your own personal writing course based on skills you ...
7 min
July 11, 2017 Ep 109: Improve Your Writing with a Growth Mindset
My mom, a journalist, was talking with a friend. She beamed at my brother. “Charlie, he’s the writer of the family. And Annie? She’s…” Here, I felt my mom hesitate. Then, “Annie’s the athlete.” My brother excelled in everything involving words—from com...
9 min
July 11, 2017 Ep 109: Improve Your Writing with a Growth Mindset
My mom, a journalist, was talking with a friend. She beamed at my brother. “Charlie, he’s the writer of the family. And Annie? She’s…” Here, I felt my mom hesitate. Then, “Annie’s the athlete.”

My brother excelled in everything involving words—from composing song lyrics and essays to dominating Scrabble games and inserting witty comments into conversations at just the right moment. I played softball and ran track. And I rode my yellow Schwinn ten-speed down country roads stretching between corn and soybean fields, past herds of Black Angus cattle and silos filled with grain. The labels fit, though deep down, secretly, I wanted to be a writer, too.

Three years after Charlie graduated high school, I sat in Miss Flint’s Senior English class. Miss Flint told us we would keep a journal chronicling our senior year, creating at least five entries per week...She held up three examples of some of the best she’d ever seen—journals from past students whose work she adored.

One was Charlie’s. I recognized it immediately, having gazed at it many times while he worked on it during his senior year. She passed them around for students to flip through. When Charlie’s came to me, I opened it, noting his handwriting—a combination of big printed letters and rounded cursive. The content mingled light humor and occasional sarcasm with spot-on descriptions of people and situations. For one page, he cut letters from newspapers to compose an amusing ransom note.

I studied the pages, wishing I could copy his techniques. Then I passed it to the person behind me.

At the end of my senior year, Miss Flint didn’t ask to keep my journal.
Stuck in a Fixed Mindset
You can read the rest of my story in a two-part series, but I share this excerpt to illustrate how I grew up with a fixed mindset. I was labeled the athlete, not the writer. The natural ability—the gift—of writing was bestowed on others in my family, not me. Therefore, with a fixed mindset, I concluded I could not become a writer.

But I was hungry to learn and grow in as many ways as possible in life, even if I never wrote.

A natural autodidact, I loved the library, filled as it was with mentors, coaches, and teachers available to me for free, in the form of books. I scoured the place in search of satisfying my curiosity, gravitating to the nonfiction selection a bit more than fiction—even though I loved stories—because I wanted to learn.

I'd check out stacks of books, gleaning what I could in two or three weeks' time, getting answers to my questions, then returning those books a couple of weeks later to pile on another stack of information to take home and devour.

I'd follow my interests and whims, pursuing a wide-ranging knowledge base, much of it practical. I wanted to learn to bake bread, crochet, tie friendship bracelets, build a kite, draw cartoons, catch wild rabbits, make yogurt (which I never did, but I learned the basics from books). I was interested in macrame and running and photography and sewing and, secretly, writing...even though it was fixed in my mind that I wasn't a writer.
A Natural Growth Mindset
Despite the fixed, unchangeable reality that I would never write, I seemed to exhibit a growth mindset in just about every other way, seeing no limits to the kinds of skills I might acquire or experiments I might attempt.

I didn't care if my coil pots turned out lopsided or my drawing of Snoopy needed more rounded ears or even if a few crickets escaped from the cricket habitat I set up in my bedroom.

Plants in my terrarium died. A duck egg I found, never hatched. I didn't understand all the vocabulary in a book about volcanoes or the space shuttle, both of which captured my interest for a season, along with a hundred other things,
9 min

About Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach

From the publisher's feed

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…