Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach

Tis the season for lists, even for those who aren't naturally checklist and to-do list types. For the holidays, people will make packing lists, shopping lists, cleaning lists, address lists, and wish lists. Lists are useful and practical, but they can serve a far more creative and powerful role in the life of a writer. You may find the humble list becomes the most used tool in your writer’s toolbox. Let's look at how lists can transform your writing...and your life. 1. A list is a quick way to generate ideas Whether you’re keeping a journal or meeting an article deadline, lists are quick ways to write during busy seasons. Make a list of the big ideas you want to cover in a nonfiction book, and you’ve formed a working Table of Contents. Lists are the basis of roundup articles—a quick and rewarding project for both writer and reader. List everything you know about a topic or scene you plan to write, and your list establishes what you already know and reveals what you have yet to find out. Thanks to the

[Ep 174] In last week’s interview, Patrice Gopo described the stories that bubbled up inside her—personal stories about topics she cared deeply about as she grappled with her identity and where she fit in society. Patrice grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, as a black American daughter of Jamaican immigrants. She wanted to explore that, to make sense of it all. How? Through writing. She turned to the essay to figure out her life, to delve into her experiences—to discover self and live a more meaningful life We, too, can delve into our experiences, diving beneath the surface to discover ourselves and live more meaningful lives. Elizabeth Lesser writes in Broken Open: If we don’t listen to the voice of the soul, it sings a stranger tune. If we don’t go looking for what lies beneath the surface of our lives, the soul comes looking for us. I haven’t read Lesser’s book, but that line urging us to look for what lies beneath the surface of our lives? We can use writing to do just that: to look for what lies beneath

At Breathe Christian Writers Conference, held October 12 and 13, 2018, I interviewed three authors who served on the speaking team. We discussed all things writing, like their writing challenges, their writing process, and their advice for writers. All for you. I’m sharing these conversations with you, mixing them in with my standard short solo episodes. You heard from Shawn Smucker in episode 171. Today, I bring you the second interview: a conversation with Patrice Gopo. We discussed her work as an essayist and meaning-making on the page. She gives us an inside look at her writing process, including several techniques she’s used study the craft of writing as well as the importance of feedback. I begin by reading her bio as we sat down to talk, so you’ll get the official info at the start. Today, enjoy getting to know and learn from Patrice Gopo (and check out multiple resources below). Patrice Gopo’s essays have appeared in a variety of literary journals and other publications, including Gulf Coast, Fu

As you know from my interview with Shawn Smucker, he’s a novelist with ambitious goals—on track to write ten books in ten years. He's written three of his own books—two novels and a memoir. His fourth will be released in 2019. To make a living, he works as a cowriter and ghostwriter. Several years ago he was hit with the realization that he could live his whole life writing books for others and never write his own. With that, he made the switch to writing his own things first every day. It might just be for an hour, but if he commits to writing his own projects first, he knows it's going to happen. Shawn’s wakeup call can serve as our own, calling for us to prioritize our own writing. If we don’t, other things will swallow our time and energy and we’ll have nothing left. But when we do prioritize our writing—when we put our own work first—we start to achieve our writing goals and build our body of work. We can bring our best, most creative selves to our own projects by prioritizing in four different ways

At a writing conference held October 12 and 13, 2018, I interviewed three authors who served on the speaking team. We discussed all things writing, like their writing challenges, their writing process, and their advice for writers. All for you! I’m going to share these conversations with you, mixing them in with my standard short solo episodes; in other words, you won’t be getting all three interviews in a row. But you’ll know an interview from a solo show because I’ll include “interview” in the subject line—that way you can set aside a longer chunk of time to listen. Today, I bring you the first of the three: a conversation with Shawn Smucker. We discussed his work as a cowriter, ghostwriter, and novelist, and our discussion took place just before release day for his nonfiction book Once We Were Strangers. Shawn Smucker is the author of the novels Light from Distant Stars, The Day the Angels Fell and The Edge of Over There, as well as the memoir, Once We Were Strangers. He lives with his wife and six ch

Last time, we talked about the 6+1 Traits. When you take time to evaluate your work in each one, you can begin to identify areas of strength and weakness. Over time you can boost the weaker areas and become a better writer. In the months ahead, I'll continue to explore ways we can improve our craft using these traits to organize each recommendation, but for now, I'm wrapping up this part of the series to bring you something new. I'll tell you all about it at the end of this post. Writing tips, tricks, and tweaks offer immediate results, so here are four more tips to help you be a better writer. 1. Ban "the" at the Start of a Sentence My brother, who teaches writing at a university, reminded me of this tip: Never use "the" at the beginning of a sentence. While this may seem extreme—even ridiculous—what it does is force you to find new ways to vary your sentence openers. “The” is a useful word in the English language, but let’s face it: launching a sentence with "the" doesn’t offer much oomph. I could soften

[Ep 169] I’m glad to be back after an unexpected and lengthy break when I needed to care for a relative during a complicated emergency. I’m sorry I didn’t have a way to let you know in the midst of it, but it looks like things are slowing down and stabilizing. I’m back in business—able to encourage and support you and your writing again. Before my break, we were discussing how to be a better writer. I focused on small, quick wins to help you improve your writing right away with tips and tweaks. If you implement them, you will see a difference in your writing right away. But I realized I want you to see how all writing advice fits into the bigger picture of how we arrive at great writing, so I wanted to share with you the 6+1 Traits. Boost all seven traits, and you will be a better writer. 6 + 1 Traits of Great Writing The 6+1 Traits, developed by Education Northwest and promoted by the National Education Association, provides K-12 educators a way to teach and evaluate student writing. I used these categor

In a recent release of Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell introduces his podcast listeners to Dr. Bernadine Healy. In this episode, he asks Johanna Schneider, who worked with Dr. Healy at the National Institutes of Health, to describe her to listeners. Schneider said several things, including this: "She had a wooden sign on her desk that said, ‘Strong verbs, short sentences.’ And that was Bernie.” Using that wooden sign’s message as a callback, Gladwell seemed to say that Dr. Healy's value of strong verbs and short sentences conveyed formidable strength, in person and on paper. A force to be reckoned with, Dr. Healy communicated with precision and clarity. “Strong verbs, short sentences” reminds me of the advice we hear so often: Write tight. “If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.” ~ George Orwell. “Writing improves in direct ratio to the things we can keep out of it that shouldn’t be there.” ~ William Zinsser “Omit needless words.” ~ William Strunk Jr. I thought about stopping right

Last week I talked about the mindset that believes growth is possible—that you are neither stuck at your current level nor have you arrived at mastery. With that mindset, you can begin to evolve and improve. Today I recommend three simple writing tweaks that will keep your readers interested and engaged. 1. Use Active, Vivid Verbs Propel your story or idea forward with active, vivid verbs. Don’t fret about your word choices as you write your draft, but in the editing stage, especially, look for places you can swap a flat, lifeless verb for one that keeps the reader alert and engaged. A few examples of flat, lifeless verbs: “is" and other forms of “to be” (am, are, was, were, be, being, been, will be, and so on) “go” or “went" “have” or “had" “made" "do" When you identify words like these that slow down your work, you open up new opportunities to improve. Start fishing for verbs that energize your writing and dream up new ways of expressing an idea or scene. Let’s say a writer describes a troubl

Last week, we started to explore a fear that haunts many writers, which is the fear that they aren’t good enough. Or they think they aren’t enough. I hope you've explored the root of this fear and other fears that hold you back as a writer. I hope you're ready to move past the fears. Instead of worrying, wondering, or fearing you aren’t good enough to write, you’re going to do something about it. You’re going to be a better writer. For the next few weeks, we’re going to introduce, review, and practice some things we can do to improve, so that we’re getting better all the time. Ernest Hemingway said, “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” In other words, we'll always be growing and changing as writers. When we have a beginner's mindset—when we see ourselves as an apprentice—we can continue to learn. Even those who feel confident in their writing skills can discover room for growth. We are all apprentices capable of becoming better writers. Believe You Can Change It sounds s

A few times I brought my high school English papers to my dad for him to look over. Trained as a newspaper editor, he’d reach into his desk drawer and pull out either a red pen or a soft black pencil he used at work. Sometimes he’d mark it on the fly while I was standing there, narrating his reasoning as the pencil left ominous black marks on the paper. Other times I’d leave it with him and return to find entire paragraphs X’d out, words and phrases circled or deleted, giant question marks in the margins, and arrows pointing out problems here, there, and everywhere. If I still had a copy of those drafts, I know now—as an adult—that his corrections significantly improved my work. As a teen, though, I didn’t see it that way. Corrections felt like criticism, and I walked away dejected. I wasn’t good enough. What’s your story? Have you endured an interaction where someone gave you the impression or outright told you that when it comes to writing, you aren’t good enough? Did a parent, teacher, or editor offe

Over the past week I followed several women on Instagram as they traveled to London for a literary-themed trip. One woman on the trip, Bri McKoy, posted a photo of a letter preserved under glass at St John’s College Library. The letter, written by Jane Austen’s father, was sent to a publisher, describing a book about the same length as a popular novel of the time. He wondered if they might be interested in taking a look at it. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl_dpmkAeXt/ The publisher rejected the book, sight unseen, with the short reply "declined by Return of Post.” Famous Books Initially Rejected Here’s part of Bri's Instagram caption: Everybody, listen up! What you are looking at is a REJECTION for Jane Austen’s book PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Her dad sent a letter to a publishing house not only asking them to publish her manuscript but also telling them he would pay for everything. Still, they rejected it. They rejected it by sending his letter back to him. Can we sit with this for a moment? Someone. Rejected. P

I love that today’s theme comes from a newsletter subscriber who responded when I asked for ideas to address on the podcast or in articles. So this is a real writer with a real struggle—a reality for many writers. This person wants to know: How to write when you work full time? That’s a tough one. It’s hard to have any kind of hobby or side hustle when you work full-time. When you put in the hours at work and come home exhausted, how can you possibly devote your depleted brain and energy to a creative project? Don’t Ignore the Ache I stayed home to raise our four children and we chose to home educate, so while I didn’t work full-time in a traditional sense, I had my hands full most hours of the day. Writing was extremely challenging during those years. My dream was to have an entire day at my disposal, no interruptions, no diapers to change, no activities to organize. But that wasn’t the overall lifestyle we’d chosen. I thought if I couldn’t have the day to write—and if, in fact, my reality felt like I had NO

Last week I told my email subscribers I'd love for future content to be inspired by the very issues that trip them up or hold them back. Today I’m going to spotlight one of the first responses: What do you do with the initial ideas once you’ve got them? This writer continued by saying they're great about coming up with a brief synopsis and sometimes even an outline but then they get stuck. "I never know where to begin! What’s the best way to start any story?” Story Ideas Are Gold—Store Them in a System First let me address at a practical level what to do with those initial ideas. Not every writer generates a lot of motivating, marketable ideas, so if you have more than one, you're sitting on a creative gold mine. Take good care of your ideas and you’ll always have options. Store any and all ideas in a safe place—ideally in a system designed for easy access, one that supports your project’s progress. Your Writing Pipeline I suggest setting up a Writing Pipeline, which I’ve explained in another article. All

When I was in college, I bought a small recorder. A Sony, I think. You’re wondering the year? Well, let’s just say I bought packs of cassette tapes for this gadget. My goal was to record the lectures so I could play them back as I walked or biked across campus, listening to the material a second or third time. I took notes during the lecture, but if I re-listened to them on the go, I only needed to skim my notes to perform well on quizzes and tests. Ideal Input for Auditory Learners Many years later someone suggested I might be an "auditory learner." Though I love to read and I enjoy visuals, their label sounds about right. Auditory learners like me tune their radios to talk shows, borrow from the library CDs of The Great Courses, download audiobooks, and subscribe to podcasts. Recorded content isn’t for everyone—podcasts may not “stick” with visual and kinesthetic learners, after all—but for me and many other auditory learners, they're ideal. The stories, ideas, encouragement and teaching delivered via p

My dad started smoking when he was a teenager and smoked like a chimney all the way through college and into adulthood. He worked in the newsroom of a major metropolitan newsroom, where smoking cigarettes and cigars was the norm—almost expected. Isn’t that the stereotype from the movies? Well, in the 1960s, when my mom realized she was pregnant with my brother, Dad quit smoking. Cold turkey. The overnight switch must have been strange for his colleagues at the paper, with their coworker showing up to work the next day no longer shrouded in smoke. Overnight, unannounced, he changed a huge part of how others perceived him. He never smoked again. Rebranding Cold Turkey Can Be a Shock If you would make a sudden decision like that, it’s great for your health, but a bit of a shock when it comes to rebranding. Yet, people do it. I’ll bet we’ve all seen people suddenly stop writing with barely an announcement. They essentially shut down their blogs and social media accounts and walk away from whatev

If you’ve concluded you really need to leave behind who you are and the writer you’ve been, and transition to a completely new look, feel, tone, and type of writing, you’re going to rebrand yourself. You have options for how to go about it. Ways to Rebrand: Trial Run We’ve already discussed starting with a trial run, which often leads to integrating the new brand with the existing brand. During the trial run, you have time to experiment before fully committing yourself—in fact, you could still back out and return to your existing brand if you don’t like how it sounds and feels, and you can’t imagine this focus for the next few years. Ways to Rebrand: Integrate But at some point, let’s say you decide to move forward and follow through. When you decide to keep the old and add in the new, that’s a way to rebrand by integration. Instead of completely changing, you actually absorb and expand. Ways to Rebrand: Slow Transition Now we’re diving into total change—the true pivot. When you leave it all behind, you can

You’re going for it. You decided you’re going to rebrand yourself. How will you go about it? We already discussed one option: the trial run. Rebrand Yourself: Integrate Today we’ll see if choosing to integrate will work best. When you rebrand yourself in this way, it’s almost a continuation of your trial run in that you integrate the new brand with the existing brand. Instead of completely changing, you actually absorb the new and expand the old. If you like the brand you’ve built and you love the people who read your work, this may be the best approach for you, because you don’t have to completely abandon what you’ve built or turn away from the people who know, like, and trust you. New + Old This isn’t a true pivot in that readers will still recognize your brand. When you rebrand in this way, they’ll get new content—possibly in a new tone—alongside the old. It’s like a merger takes place. If you’re the type to set more places at the table for a dinner party and try new recipes every time, maybe this is h

You’re going for it. You decided you’re going to rebrand yourself. How will you go about it? You have options. One is what I’ll call “Trial Run.” Next time, we’ll talk about “Integration.” Then “Slow Transition” followed by “Cold Turkey.” Only the second two represent a true pivot—a total change in direction, where you’re moving on and not going back. Today let’s talk “Trial Run.” One way to find out if a total change is in order, is to give the new content a trial run. Publish New Content on Website Try dedicating one day a week or once a month to writing and publishing new content in the new voice on your existing website and other spaces while maintaining the old content. Gauge reader response. How responsive are they and is it positive or negative? See how you feel, too—decide if you like creating and sharing it as much as you thought you would. Ways to Measure Reader Response Back when I wrote about family and faith, I felt inspired to write regularly about food. This was in the early days of food b

In the last episode, I finally attempted to define an author brand. Before that, we talked about staying consistent with the core you—the brand you’ve developed, the tone you take, the voice your readers have come to enjoy. The episode before that, we discussed setting aside a place to play online—perhaps on a social media platform—so you can let your hair down and play with new topics or new approaches to your writing. While you’re playing, you may find a new love, a new passion, a new you. Even though you understand you have a core you, the process of playing led you to realize you’d like to change focus and shift to new subject matter or new genres using a new tone or voice. And by gum, you’re gonna redesign the whole website to match. Despite gaining a following and discovering readers who like what you have to say and how you say it, you decide you want to pivot—to rebrand. You Can Use Your Platform First, let me say you certainly can write whatever you want to write. And if you’ve built up a substan