Finding Your Creative Flow with Wendy Scheuring

Have you ever faced the gut-wrenching experience of a bad review? It's an inevitable part of being an author, and yet it can feel like the end of the world. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have just the antidote for your writing woes. Our guest today is the accomplished author, editor, and mentor Wendy Scheuring, who has tackled these struggles head-on and come out the other side more robust and successful.

We kick things off by talking about how to transform negative reviews into a powerful marketing strategy, and Wendy even shares the secret to writing a trilogy in just 21 days. Yes, you heard right, 21 days! She emphasizes the importance of consistency, dedication, and a firm belief in oneself. We dive into the tough stuff, too - the obstacles that writers often face, such as self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and the fear of judgement. Wendy has a wealth of wisdom to share on overcoming these obstacles and improving your writing technique.

We wrap up with all things reviews and promotions. Wendy discusses the significance of a supportive author group, the art of writing reviews, and the simple yet effective ways to promote your book. She also explores the process of finding your unique creative flow and space, and how to tap into it for optimal productivity. So, whether you're an aspiring author or a seasoned writer, this episode promises to shed light on the often-overlooked aspects of the writing process and the varied challenges that come with it. Tune in to absorb some wisdom, laugh a little, and maybe even reshape your approach to writing.

Wendy Scheuring, aka The Author’s Writer, Ghostwriter, Editor, and Mentor.

Wendy’s books are only available through her website:
http://authorswriter.com

Connect with Wendy Scheuring here:
Website:  http://authorswriter.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorsWriter
https://www.facebook.com/writeabookin21days
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6980879.Wendy_Scheuring

Check out Wendy’s bi-weekly zoom group chat & writing blog through her website.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome back everyone to the Writers Parachute, where we are guiding author and writer dreams to a perfect landing. Today we have with us a very special guest. She is known as the author. It's a writer, it is Wendy Schuring, and we're going to be talking to her about her three books that she has out right a book in 21 days, a companion workbook to that with the same title, and 40 day countdown to launch launching your book. So we're going to come back and talk to her in just a minute, but, of course, we always start at the top of the show with a little bit of housekeeping. So we would love for you to go ahead and smash that like button and go ahead and follow us here on YouTube or whatever podcast channel you're listening to us on, and we would love for you to go follow us on social media. We are on the Facebook, instagram, twitter, tiktok and now on threads at Writers Parachute. That is Writers Parachute without an S, of course. We'll have those links for you in the show notes if you would like to join us on social media. So we want to get back to our guest in just a moment, but we start off the show with our topic of the week.

Speaker 1: 1:09

So season two, we have been very focused on reviews how to get reviews, what to do with reviews, the best practices for reviews, when you need reviews, when is the best time to ask for reviews, all of these things. So today we're going to talk about the other side of reviews. A lot of times we don't hear about this part. We're talking about bad reviews or not positive reviews. Not all reviews are good or not always positive. Whether they're bad or not is a question that's subjective and we're not going to get too much into that. But what I'm going to say is let's look at a couple of things. Let's look at why you're getting the bad reviews. Are these reviewers telling you something that maybe you hadn't considered? If they're saying it was difficult to read, if they're saying it was difficult to follow, maybe you might want to look at how you put the book together if some parts of it are missing.

Speaker 1: 2:07

As authors and writers, sometimes we know what we mean to say, but we don't always actually say it. So if you're getting bad reviews, maybe look with a less emotional part of yourself to see if they're trying to tell you something that is important. So that's number one. Number two is how do you deal with it? Well, we're all going to have an emotional response. We put a lot of time and effort into our books. They're like children to us and so we're very protective and nobody likes to hear that their child is not perfect or what have you. So take a moment to take in that emotional part and that's perfectly okay. You have every right to have that emotional response and to not feel great about and not great review.

Speaker 1: 2:57

However, I want you to step back and think about it as a person that is trying to promote and sell their book, put on your marketer hat, maybe a little bit, and here we talk about what to do. So I had this situation come up about a week or two ago on social media where a person had received their first negative review one star review and they were obviously very upset, and I appreciate the fact that they have that emotional response. They have every right to be upset. But I mentioned to them that if they had looked at their feed when they mentioned this bad review, they were getting a lot of support from fellow authors and followers saying that it was not deserved, that the person didn't understand whatever it is, and I reminded the person that see, you've just turned this bad review around. Because you've taken this bad review, you've gotten a lot of support, so you know who your supporters are. But you've also raised curiosity of those people to maybe go look at your book, maybe read your book, maybe write you a better review to offset this not well written review or this negative review.

Speaker 1: 4:09

So think of it in that particular perspective. Sometimes a bad review is not always going to be a negative thing. You can turn that around. But also think about the fact that, how you buy things. I know when I purchase anything, whether it's a book or anything else, especially online I look at all the reviews. I look at the good reviews, I look at the moderate reviews and I look at the bad reviews. Sometimes the bad reviews will tell me more about that particular item and it gives me an opportunity to make a decision about whether or not what they are talking about is important to me or not. And sometimes the bad review is what will get me to actually purchase that item, because I may disagree or may be curious as to what they are talking about.

Speaker 1: 4:59

So think of it maybe in that particular manner and, quite frankly, if I see something that only has five star reviews, it gets a little suspicious. So you have to take it in context with everything else. Now, if you are only receiving low star reviews, again I would say look at what you are getting, what they are saying, and if there is a reason for it, if there is something valid behind it now. So people are not always great at articulating particularly what the problem is, but it should give you a hint as to what they are saying and what they might be keying on. So do take that into context and next time you have a bad review, go promote it. Trust me, people will respond and you might even actually get more sales and reviews out of it. So I hope that is helpful for you. And, of course, that is not all the information there is about reviews, or about or low quality or low star reviews. So if you have more questions about that, please go ahead and reach out to us here at the Writers Parachute. You can reach out to us in the show notes on the podcast channel or YouTube that you are listening to now, or you can reach out to us at info at thewritersparachutecom and we will be happy to chat with you further about this, so let's get on with our show.

Speaker 1: 6:21

We want to get back to our guest. She is a very special guest. It is Wendy Schuring. She is also known as the author's writer. She is a author, writer, ghost writer, editor and mentor. We are going to be talking to her about her book write a book in 21 days discovering the story within, and her companion workbook by the same title, and also her book 40 day countdown to launch promote your book organically. So Wendy has been writing since age eight. She has a BA in English and logistics and also an MA in English. She has taught writing at the college, university level for 20 years, as well as in the community and for homeschooling programs. Wendy is a homeschool mom. She has been retired for the past six years. She's a professional book writer, blogger and content creator. Her website is theauthorswritercom. Her book write a book in 21 days discover the story within includes an optional mentor program. She's also finishing a to be announced book which should be coming out soon. So welcome to the writer's parachute, wendy. How are you today?

Speaker 2: 7:46

I am doing great and thanks so much for having me here today. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 7:51

Oh, you're very welcome. I've been very excited. We've had a couple of little scheduling issues with getting you on here, but I'm excited to have you today because you have a wealth of knowledge that I think that our listeners are going to be extraordinarily interested in. So you wrote this book and I think you and I are kind of two peas in a pod. It's like sometimes we get so many people that we're repeating ourselves to that finally we just decide well, maybe you need to write a book about this. So I think that was what you had said. That was the impetus between. This book is write a book in 21 days, discovering the story within, and it helps authors and writers kind of find the story they want to share. And I want to know I mean, we talked about sort of why but I want to know what your inspiration was in putting this book together in the way you did in the 21 day format.

Speaker 2: 8:45

Oh sure, of course. Well, there's several reasons, but the main reason is, throughout my writing life, I run into people who say, you know, I'd like to write a book, but I don't know how to get started. And then there's the people who say, hey, I started writing a book like 10 years ago and the dusty manuscript is still on my shelf, or I even lost it on some old version on my own computer or some old version of the software. And so I kept hearing this over and over again. It wasn't really my idea to write this book, but I thought how can I help people who are don't know how to start get started, and how can I help the people who want to get started again get started? And I thought about this and the main objection I had for most people was I don't have time. And so I thought about this and I said that makes sense.

Speaker 2: 9:39

You need time to write a book, right? I mean, I'm a go strider, I know it takes time to write a book, but I also know it takes focus and diligence. So I was doing some research on you know, how long does it take to form a habit? And there are. I think I talk about it in day one or day two of the program, but 21 days is the one that most people know Now. Does it take 21 days? I don't know. It might take 223 or 98 days, I don't really know, but 21 days is doable for most people. It's three weeks, it's not a long period of time. So if you say to someone, do you have 21 days, they're probably going to say yes, way more than if I asked to have 223 days and do you have 15 minutes a day. And then here's where the objections come in, because a lot of people think you know I need hours upon hours each day to write, or I need to be at a cottage in a meadow or I need to get away.

Speaker 2: 10:41

But really, when we form a habit and this is really with anything in life when we form a habit and we just take that first step and keep doing it, we'll find that we get motivation. And so before I, as I was writing this book, I did it myself, I did this program myself and I was able to write my trilogy of novels in 21 days. Now I don't mean writing them all out in their entirety, but the storylines, the characters and everything just by doing this for 15 minutes a day for 21 days. Now, some days I did it a little longer, I wrote a little longer, maybe a half hour an hour when I felt inspired, but I did it every day. And so it's habit forming and motivational and that's really how this whole thing came about.

Speaker 1: 11:31

Right, and you know and I think that that's an excellent point that you make there that you're not writing a full publishable novel in 21 days. What you're doing is you're writing the structure of the story and then, of course, you go back and work on it and it is the big hurdle that most people run into is getting the story down. I mean, we can always go back and put window curtains and carpet and stuff, but you know it's getting that story down and that's what you're trying to achieve in this 21 days, which I think is great and I agree with you. It's like everybody has that amount of time. And it is about dedication, it is about passion and it is about, you know, finding that focus and making sure that you know you're not creating your own obstacles and excuses.

Speaker 1: 12:20

You know, it's, like you know, they've done statistical analysis about this and they're like you know, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people want to write a book. I would say most adults want to write a book in their lifetime. Sure, great, it's an amazing thing. And of that, only about 20% start and of that 20%, only about 3% finish, and of that 3%, less than 1%, actually publish. Now I'm sure that those statistics have changed and you can get more concrete numbers, but they kind of illustrate the point that it's not about writing the book. It's not about writing and it's not about the difficulty of any of it. It's the persistence, and you're giving them kind of a layout of how to go about getting past themselves to write a book, which I think is amazing.

Speaker 2: 13:15

Yeah, it's all about consistency and, like I said, we can say this about anything we do in life. It's not just writing and it's so common sense. Sometimes it seems like it's too easy, but it really is. It's just a matter of doing it and taking that first step. That's usually the hardest for most people because they'll argue in their mind about I don't think it's going to make a difference, or oh, I've tried that before, or whatever. But it's really that's where you make a shift in your mindset and take that first step and just do it and see what happens. I mean, all you have to lose is 21 days, but I bet something's going to happen within a few days.

Speaker 1: 14:00

Right, I absolutely love that, and it reminds me of something my mother used to tell me all the time she goes that's kind of like you know, planning your award speech for the cake that you've yet to bake. Yeah, yeah, that's kind of. It's a problem you can work on it, worry about when you're done. So I want to know what advice would you give to first time authors and writers to kind of get them prepared for writing their first book, to kind of as a like precursor? I mean, I know you cover a lot of that in your 21 days.

Speaker 2: 14:37

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:38

But what do you think that they kind of need to have a mindset or kind of need to do before they start this 21 days?

Speaker 2: 14:47

Like, think you need to believe in yourself, believe that this is attainable, and I do believe 21 days is workable for most people in 15 minutes a day is now. You may spend some days writing more than 15 minutes, obviously, but I try to take it to the lowest common denominator. But as far as that, I can do. This I can do. This is probably number one, because if you don't think you can, you're not going to. So it's a belief in yourself, and sometimes we're surrounded by family and friends who don't believe in us. And so I would just say you know, keep your dreams there to a minimum of, share them with people who are supportive of you. If you don't know anybody, join a writer's group of other supportive people, or or just keep it to yourself.

Speaker 2: 15:34

But to believe in yourself and be willing to be, in other words, having an open mind, because things I tell you in this book are not things that you learn in school. There are things that I learned through my own experiences of writing books for so many years, and I was also a teacher of writing, and some of the things in the book come from that too, and I don't mean to run down a rabbit trail, but I'm just saying that being willing to learn from another person meaning don't set up your roadblock before you've even started. I would just say those two things, that belief in yourself and being willing to learn new things, doesn't mean you have to like them, it doesn't even mean you have to believe them, but at least to try them, because writing is really a trial and error. See, see where it goes.

Speaker 1: 16:23

You're not on any kind of timetable, so enjoy the experience, right, yeah, and I would just add to that maybe you know commitment to stick with it for the 21 days.

Speaker 2: 16:35

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 16:36

So easy when you reach those hard days to just go, okay, I'm, yeah, I can't do this. But you have to see to the other side we all I mean experienced authors and writers run into roadblocks and have bad days where it's just it's just not happening, it's not working and we have to figure out how to get past that and know that's just some of the process sometimes is just, you know, maybe we need to refill our own well with you know, maybe some more experiences or some you know downtime to kind of refill that creative you know part of ourselves, because sometimes you know when you keep you know dumping from that same well, since it starts to get a little low and you need to refuel that. But I do think that commitment is probably a good one to you, that we should add to that list.

Speaker 2: 17:30

Oh yeah, absolutely. Which is the premise of the underlying foundation of this whole program really is the commitment to do it. But let's say you have a day where you just don't feel good, you're lousy, you're having a bad day. Then I say default to five minutes and write your worst writing. Yet it doesn't have to be good, and that's another thing that I would tell aspiring writers is you may have days where you do not like what you wrote, and that's okay. You don't even have to read it. You could throw it away or you could save it for another day and try to find some something good in there and continue. So you don't always have to like what you write, but you should write every day. So it's again. We're falling in with that consistency.

Speaker 1: 18:12

Right, absolutely. And you know I kind of I like to cook. So I kind of evolved some of my analogies to cooking and I stop and think about how many times I had to try a new recipe and, you know, completely mess it up before I finally get it right. You know, when it's like you start to think about that, and sometimes you do have to go through the garbage to get to the good stuff.

Speaker 2: 18:35

Yeah, I mean we make mistakes all the time. I think we learn. It's kind of cliche, but we do learn from these mistakes. Or I don't even know if we want to call them mistakes. I mean, I've been teaching writing for so many years. I say there's really not a right way or a wrong way to write something. So again, that's kind of the mindset thing coming out about mistakes. But we may think they're mistakes, but they actually may be blessings in disguise. And we've just hit on something one word, one concept, one phrase that we could develop in a new and exciting way.

Speaker 1: 19:07

Yeah, I like to say you don't learn anything from being perfect, which is, you know, kind of this way of saying that but, I, also think that you know in writing, just to reiterate what you say, it's like I don't really feel like there's any rules, there's only guidelines and guide rails and, yes, you can go over the side, but you better have a good reason. So you know, and that is part of what is so fun and fascinating about it is, nobody's journey is exactly the same and the way they you know they come to the end of their book may be completely different. But that's part of their process and that's what I love about writing is because it is a journey and I have to recognize that as writers, we are artists, just like painters, just like sculptors. We have to develop our own way from start to finish.

Speaker 1: 20:02

So I think sometimes, when you let people who are just starting out know that it's a process, you have to figure out what works for you, what what works for you know 20 authors that you know may not work for you, it may not be the best process for you, but that and I think that's also too part of what's happening with your book and writing a book in 21 days is they're trying to discover what does work for them, and I love that, that you kind of broken it down in and it's not just about writing and you know you guide the reader through mindset, thought process and vision of writing in general and how to discover the specifics of their story. I find that just absolutely fascinating that you took the time to kind of not just teach but make them think about what they're doing. So I don't know what do you think the biggest obstacle or challenges for new writers in trying to get started with their books?

Speaker 2: 21:04

Well, I think, for do writers as well as any writer. I think our main obstacle is ourselves, you know, whether we're perfectionist and we want to get that first sentence just right, whether we say, oh, we have all these distractions so we can't write today. I'm going to take the weekend off, you know something like that. Or just maybe reading an idea and saying, oh, I don't believe that. Or even going beyond and starting to read other people's books other, you know I'm talking about. Let's say, you're writing fiction or nonfiction and going for examples. I say do not look to other people for examples, because the premise of this program is to discover the story within. And I'm not saying there's a hidden treasure, trust inside, that's a the story that has to be mind. I'm saying that you, you do know the answers, you do know how to lead the story.

Speaker 2: 22:03

And I think and I don't know if I'm getting out of track, off the track here either but a lot of times when writers sit down to write, they don't even know what they're going to write. You know, I may sit down and say I'm going to write my chapter about whatever and I go off into another chapter that's even more interesting. Or let's not even call it a chapter at this point of structure, just something. I wrote something unexpected. That's really cool and I want to discover it more. So, like I said, there's, I think, a lot of it which inhibits writers is mindset and looking back at. You know how we were taught to write in school. We were taught to have an outline, we were taught to have you know room and numeral 123, abc, 123, whatever and fill in the gaps, rather than looking at what's flowing off of our pen and seeing where it leads us which is much more fun, by the way, than writing to a structure and seeing where the writing leads us to create the structure. So it's the opposite effect.

Speaker 1: 23:11

Right, and I do. I talk about this a lot of times with my you know, my writing groups in my coaching clients about. You know there's two forms of thought about you know how writers operate and they generally they used to call them plotters and panzers. I don't particularly like those descriptions because I don't think they're very accurate, so I think they're more crafters and creators. So you know, crafters are, you know, kind of the people that they they kind of need to have the idea, they need to write it down, they need to kind of mold it and shape it and get it just the way they want before they move forward. Those are what I would call crafters. Creators are more like I have an idea, I wrote it down what comes next, and they just keep moving forward and then they'll go back and fix it later. They'll figure it all out later. Right now it's just getting it out of my head and onto a piece of paper. I think most authors and writers fall in both categories. I think they switch between crafters and creators.

Speaker 1: 24:08

I tend to be more of a creator in creating, you know, in drafting my story, and then become a crafter as I get further and further into the development of the story, and I think that's where we have to look at that.

Speaker 1: 24:22

It's like are you a person that it needs to be good before you can move on? Well then, you're probably more of a crafter, and that's okay, as long as you recognize that that's your process. Are you more of a creator? And I just need to figure? You know, I just need to get it all down and then figure it out later. That's okay too, it's you know. You have to figure out what your process is, what works for you. You know some people like to type on a computer, some people like to write by hand, some people like to do the. You know the text to to, or speech to text, and all of those are perfectly fine, or any combination of those are fine, as long as that's what works for you. And I think that's part of what you're talking about is trying to figure out how they're going to do it Right, and I agree that's a big obstacle.

Speaker 2: 25:09

Oh sorry, yeah. Yeah, no one can really teach you how to write, but they can guide you along this journey and you figure it out along the way. So you may write your first book different than your second book, different than, let's say, a blog post different than you may have a different journey for each of those. So, and that's okay too, yep.

Speaker 1: 25:33

Yeah, and you know I'm. You know, when I do research I prefer to not do research before I write. I prefer to write and then write down questions of things I need to research Again, because I'm more of a creator than a crafter in that stage. And then I go and do my research and then change whatever needs to be changed. Because to do research for me first always felt like it was so daunting, because I felt like I had to know everything before I could move on, whereas this way I know specifically what I need to know and so I can be very narrowed and focused on what I need to research instead of, you know, just immersing myself into everything I need to know around that topic or subject.

Speaker 1: 26:13

And but that's not to say that that works for everybody else. That's just what works for me and it took me a lot of time to figure out that process. And you know it's all about trial and error. You know what, what works, what doesn't work. So you know, I think that that's a big challenge for for anybody, as you said, whether you're new or you've been doing this for a very long time, and every single project that I work on is different, it has different obstacles, it has different challenges and you know you run into different things, but I think again that's part of the process. You know, it's like you learn something new every single time you sit down to write.

Speaker 2: 26:53

You do, and I'm currently working on a novel for myself and I find I just write the storyline and I'm like well, I need more information about this. I don't think what I wrote is correct, but what happens is, when I do the research, I find something more interesting and that takes me down another well, call it a rabbit trailer or whatever you want to call it but that takes me to something else, and so it's kind of a recursive process. It's a constant going back and forth, not to achieve perfection, but just because I thought of another interesting idea that could take this story another way. That's, you know, more fascinating, more compelling.

Speaker 1: 27:39

Yeah, I know I do the same thing that I have to do with social media. I set a timer that way I can, you know, pull myself up, because if I really get into research mode I'll be there for days, because there's always fun, though it's so fun. Yes, it's like my, my, my learner's brain is like going yes, yes, we need more, we need more.

Speaker 1: 28:02

It's like feed the brain more, more, more. So yeah, I do have to kind of set some boundaries and limits on myself for that. So what do you happen to think are the top three missteps or maybe off of the trail steps that people take in writing to create their book and share their kind of, their purpose behind their book?

Speaker 2: 28:28

Oh sorry, I didn't hear that last part of your question.

Speaker 1: 28:31

I wanted to know what you thought were the kind of the top three missteps or off the trail steps that writers or people would make in trying to create and share the purpose behind their books.

Speaker 2: 28:44

Oh, the purpose you know, I really I don't know if there's really missteps, because I see writing as such a creative process and you know, I think when we go back to our school days of when, you know, we raised our hand, the teacher asked a question and we raised our hand and she said no, that's not the right answer, instead of saying, oh, that's interesting, why did you think that? And then inquisitive. So I don't necessarily know if there are missteps, but I think what can stop the creative process is when we're aiming for perfection. I do that myself, so I can speak from example and I want things to sound great and amazing. So I go back and keep correcting instead of maybe leaving it for later and visiting it later as an editor.

Speaker 2: 29:32

Another thing that can stop people is just, you know, this lack of self belief or judgment, maybe not even belief in their story, worrying what other people are thinking, you know, is anybody even going to like this story? And I always say first write for yourself and you like your story. And when you like your story, now you can consider your audience that you're writing for. What are their expectations? What are they looking for? Do I agree with that? Do I want to put it in my story?

Speaker 2: 30:03

You know, it's really the ultimate goal is if you're writing the story for you or if you really want to sell it and appeal to a large audience, still a specific audience. When you start thinking of the that audience later, that can be a roadblock as well. And then the other thing is saying oh, you know, I'm writing a, I'm writing a novel about, you know, a plane crash and I just saw this movie. You know, about a plane crash. I always say stay away from what you're writing about because you don't want to be influenced by a movie or another book, something like that, and that could stop it too. And that again stems from lack of belief in yourself that I have enough knowledge or I have enough creativity that I can write this in an interesting way.

Speaker 1: 30:56

So and I 100% agree with you. It's like I, you know, I do tell people. It's like if you're writing a children's book, you know, don't go out and read a whole bunch of children's books Because whether you are intentionally doing it or not, some of that is going to creep into your writing. It's just natural. You know we, we are what we know. So you know, if you're filling your brain with all these other people's writing, then you know you can have a hard time finding your voice because you're going to be sounding like all these authors came together in one body trying to write, and so that's not authentic you, you either. But again, some of the the tricks and tropes that get used in movies and other books may show up. That may not serve you well in your book. But you know, the one thing that I really want to talk about is this imposter syndrome and I see it a lot, and I'm quite certain that you do too is this belief that you know it's the enough. So I'm not smart enough, I'm not good enough, I don't write well, and I it's, it's, it's enough, enough, enough, enough enough. It's like I can guarantee you there is somebody somewhere that is waiting breathlessly for your book and your words and it's.

Speaker 1: 32:18

You know, we talk about the way that you write and I always talk about tonal quality in writing. Whether you're writing fiction or nonfiction or you know anything, it's tonal quality, you know. Think about what the tone is is like. Are you speaking from, you know, position of authority, like you would be addressing a group, you know at a conference or something? Are you speaking in a tonal quality as if you're sharing a secret or speaking to somebody over coffee about something that you're passionate about, or are you separating yourself completely from what you're talking about? Because that is going to also have an effect on how your reader perceives what you're giving them.

Speaker 1: 33:06

If you, if you stand there and it's like, yes, I'm the authority here to teach you what I know, then they're going to kind of feel like, okay, well, I'm one of the many. But if you kind of go you know, I learned this the other day and I just want to tell you then they feel connected because they feel like you're sharing something one on one with them. But if you're like, well, the other day I was telling somebody and this is what I told them and they did great, and you're just kind of like going okay, where am I in that conversation? You're not there at all, so it's almost like a, you know, a divorce from from your reader. So this is what I think is is really one of those things that that I don't know. That again, I don't think it's a misstep or a complication. I think it's just something that doesn't get talked about enough. What do you think?

Speaker 2: 33:59

Well, I think imposter syndrome, if that's what we call it, I think. I think writing is very therapeutic and I think when we start writing, you know, even even if our experienced writers or we're just starting out for the first time, it's very therapeutic and that we really learn a lot about ourselves as we're writing. Things come out on the page that we never even you know, that are deep down there in the well. That kind of came out that we had forgotten about. But the imposter syndrome probably leaks out into other places of your life and it's only revealed by the fact that you've taken the time to write.

Speaker 2: 34:38

And so I'm just thinking about, like, am I good enough? I'm like there may be other areas in your life where that's happening as well. And so one of the days of my program we really work on positive affirmations and changing that vision of ourselves as a, as a writer. And, like I said, if we have a positive support system, we're not only another notch in our belt, but if we don't try to make a writer friend join a group or whatever, or if you're one of those people that could be a loan, like me, you have that self motivation and do that too. But, like I said, I think it's more of an indication and it's not always related to writing, and I think it gives pause to say you know, are there other areas of my life where I feel like this you know, I'm not a good parent, or I'm not a good kid, or I'm not a good, you know? And it really helps us to grow as a person to write a book. I really think it does.

Speaker 1: 35:42

I agree, and my only thought on that is is I generally tell my authors and writers I'm like, so I want you to think about if you were someone else, that you knew it. If your friend came to you and told you the story you're telling yourself, would your advice be the same? Probably not.

Speaker 2: 36:07

It's so hard to do that, though, because we're so attached to that story? Yes, I think it's. Unless we can put it down for a long period of time and come back to it and I'm sure you tell your, your students to do that as well. It's tough to separate yourself from your story. It is yeah.

Speaker 1: 36:31

I do something. You know that people think I'm just a little off my rocker a little bit, but you know it's like my internal critic. It's like you know I always say that you know a monster is not scary anymore once you give it a name. So my internal critic I just named him George he starts annoying me, he gets sent to the closet, hey, whatever works Exactly, and it's just you know, and it's just a thought process is like I don't need to listen to George, you know, kind of thing. So yeah, yeah, if that's what you know and that's what gets me past those times and moments when I'm feeling like maybe the enough circreping in is like, okay, you know, george has got to go, whatever works for you. So what do you think are the critical steps that that authors need to think about? In writing. A great book.

Speaker 2: 37:27

I think they shouldn't think so much. I talked to a lot of people that they, they. This is just over the years where people have approached me how do I write a book? I'm stuck, whatever. We've talked about that a little bit at the beginning. But it's thinking too much. When you think too much, you can't write. So just write and let your thoughts and ideas, your emotions, your heart, your soul, everything just spill onto the page. And this is why I suggest, especially in the beginning, to write with a pen and paper. It's very meditative. We slow down, we think a little bit more. And now that's not to say I don't think we should write with other mediums, but media, but just slow down, don't think so much.

Speaker 2: 38:15

I've had people say well, my story arc is kind of or what should that? Should I write in the past tense? Should I write in the you know the present tense? Should I write in third person? Should I write? I'm nipping it, I'm like I don't know just write the story and see how it comes out and then and you could always change it you can play around with it. You know, you can put a happy ending in a sad ending. It can make a good character bad. I mean, I'm being very simplistic here, but the point is to just let the story flow onto the page and don't think so much. I think thinking is the number one enemy of writers. Just thinking way too much, just write it.

Speaker 1: 38:54

Right, Well, and that's kind of what I was going for, is you know? I think the critical step is just to tell a good story.

Speaker 2: 39:01

Yeah, and it might not be good, and that's okay too, I mean, according to your personal standards. You might read it and go. That was the worst thing I ever wrote. Okay, that's okay. Is it worth reviving? No, okay, so start writing something else. And that's all okay because it's as part of this trial and error process, the trial and error process and figuring out, you know what you want to say. There's no right or wrongs to this.

Speaker 1: 39:29

No, but that's what you know. That's kind of where I was going for. That is, I just write a good story. If it's not good yet, keep working until it gets good.

Speaker 2: 39:38

Yeah, sometimes it's not. I've scrapped things, yeah.

Speaker 1: 39:43

I think that's more of the concept wasn't fully fleshed out.

Speaker 2: 39:49

Right right.

Speaker 1: 39:50

I haven't read a good story yet. So, yeah, you do run into that. So I think you know I laugh because my husband will come in and he'll see me laying on the couch and he's like, what are you doing? And I'm like I'm plotting, because I have to think it all out in my head and take it to the absurd links to figure out if it's going to work, before I ever start writing. Sure, sure, but you know that's my process. So I want to know what do you wish that you had known or that somebody had told you before you first became an author and a writer, and what would be your best advice for that?

Speaker 2: 40:31

You know what I thought about that question and I don't have an answer to that because I wouldn't change a thing. I was assigned my first story in second grade. I really had fun writing it. We got to illustrate it too, which made it even more fun. And from then on I went to writing poetry and plays and short stories and then majoring in English in university and becoming a writing teacher.

Speaker 2: 40:58

So I don't think I set out to be a writer. A writer was one of the things I wanted to be, besides a linguist, an archaeologist, an astronomer and a bunch of and a mom and all those things. And I've pretty much reached all those, in the sense that as a writer, I can write about any of the topics I love and be an expert at them without having to do them, which is the great thing about being a writer. But I don't know that I really have advice for my younger writing self. I guess I did.

Speaker 2: 41:31

What I would advise others to do is to do types of writing you don't like, like I did. I did. Well, I don't want to say I didn't like them, but just didn't seem as interesting. Like I did some grant writing, and you know what that was actually fun. I did SEO writing, I did real time blogging, I did technical writing, I've done journalism. I've done, I've written about things that aren't interesting to me, like computer software and I had to learn the lingo.

Speaker 2: 41:57

So I would say the best advice to give to someone else who would really like to be a writer, as a writer, or even to just strengthen their writing, is to just take on tasks that aren't that interesting to you, because it will strengthen you as a writer, it'll broaden your horizons, it'll stretch your perspectives, and that would be my advice to other people. But as far as advice, I wish I would have been told. I'm really sure my grandmother told me she wrote short stories. My sister used to like to write short stories, I guess in a way, you know, knowing that one of my loved ones also love to write was really cool. But I've really thought long and hard about that question and I really don't know the answer to it.

Speaker 1: 42:45

But, you know, I think I, I and I'll just give you my example I think that one of the things that I wish that I had known in the beginning was all the available help and information that was out there, that I just didn't know where to go looking for it, and that was kind of my, my wish list.

Speaker 1: 43:06

That, you know, I wish that, early on, somebody had said hey, you know, there's all this stuff online, there's all these books, there's all these coaches and teachers, because I felt I felt alone and I felt like I was, you know, embarking on this journey, kind of like I had to, you know, remake the wheels, so to speak, and really, you know, that was kind of the wish for me, so that's why I asked that question. So, alright, so we want to talk a little bit about the companion workbook under the same title. I wanted to talk about the book that you know I wrote on the day. You know write a book in 21 days. So in it, you know, it offers support and accountability for those who are reading the book, and I wanted to know how important you felt that that support and accountability was for anyone wanting to write. Are you talking specifically about the workbook and the support and accountability in general just for authors and writers to.

Speaker 2: 44:05

Oh, it's really important. I mean, writing is kind of depicted as a solitary activity, and indeed it can be. But I found people are more successful when they're in a group situation. They can always be listening in, they could be sharing, they could be providing feedback or just mutual support. For other authors I would just say, hey, I really like what you wrote. Or I'm having this problem with this, just getting it out there. Or just to say, hey, I'm, I wrote today. You know something like that. And someone else to say, oh, I wrote today to.

Speaker 2: 44:43

And it's just knowing that someone else is out there embarking on the same journey as you, even though you might not be in the same place I mean, how could you be? But just knowing that there's other people out there is really beneficial. So the workbook element of this program and really I want to call it more of a lifestyle than a program, because being an author, being a writer, is really a lifestyle these days that I have set up, these 21 days there's set up to be short and sweet, because I really don't want you to be reading a lot, I want you to be writing a lot, and so the workbook is way more important than the actual book so you can read what's on there. For day one, for example, it's probably going to take you two minutes or three minutes max and spend more of your time writing. Now, to extend this, I've also made videos for people who need that visual other than reading. So I have videos for each week, the intro to the program each week, and even a video entitled 22 days and beyond, what goes beyond those 21 days.

Speaker 2: 45:56

But the real jewel of this is a very dynamic writers group that I have for people who are also engaged in this program to provide that support, to provide that virtual hug, so to speak, online. It's an online group and that really helps people stay in track. In fact, I had one lady who had one of the 10 year syndrome it might have even been longer 25 and she said you know, hearing other people share their writing stories or where they are, or their weaknesses or what they're having trouble with, is helping me write. And so, again, depending on the type of person you are, you might need to read things, you might need to write them in a notebook or a workbook, or you might need to see a video, or you might need to be in a group. Pick and choose what works best for you.

Speaker 2: 46:50

But I have found through teaching and I taught a lot in the homeschool community I homeschooled all three of my children and when it came to when they started getting into the more advanced writing, I used to teach those classes at homeschool cooperatives so they'd have other kids in the class and they could share what they're writing, so they could hear other people's writing and they could hear a response to their writing, like if it was funny, they'd hear laughter or they'd get a question or something or that's really cool. And so writers need that. And sometimes when the group is too big like say, you're going to a conference you may lay a child to one, two, three people, you may talk to someone briefly, but this group setting is intimate in the sense that everybody's getting to know each other. And when you do get to know each other you feel really comfortable in sharing because there's that vulnerability too. Are you and people in my group going to like this? But once you know people and they're familiar with you and you're familiar with them, those inhibitions and fears go away.

Speaker 1: 47:58

And I think also too the fact that on those hard days, when writing is not you know, it's like, yeah, I'd actually like to sleep in today, or yeah, just go grab a coffee or lunch or something like that with those support groups and those accountability groups, you feel like you know those people are expecting me there, they're depending on me to be there and I want to hear what they have to say too. So it actually kind of reinforces to stay with it, to stay with that commitment, and I found that that's almost invaluable. It's really hard to replicate that in any other way than with support groups and accountability partners.

Speaker 2: 48:41

I agree, I agree. And I had another writer say to me you know the fact that you're asking, you know telling me how much you wrote that day, or you got up at this time, that Dan, and asked me if I wrote. She goes, that keeps me on track. Just having to say, yeah, I wrote today for half hour right in the waiting room or something like that.

Speaker 1: 48:59

Exactly. Yeah, I think it's amazing. So I mean, we could sit here and talk all day long and you have so much information.

Speaker 2: 49:07

Definitely good.

Speaker 1: 49:09

Bring you back. So what is next on your agenda for for writing and publishing going forward.

Speaker 2: 49:18

Well, right now, on a personal level, I'm working on my novel. It's a young adult novel. It's an adventure with a little bit of romance in there and a little bit of mystery I should say fantasy. So it's a little bit of everything and I'm really trying to get that probably be my my third or fourth draft done by end of September so I can put it down a little bit and launch that sometime in the spring. So that's my personal goal with my writer book in 21 days program. My goal is really to grow this group so we have even a more dynamic group than we do now. I mean, right now the group is great, but I'm always looking at people to it Just so they can get that invaluable benefit of talking with other authors. I mean, like you said, that's I think that's one of the most important things that I'm not going this loan.

Speaker 2: 50:16

I have another program to the 40 day countdown to launch promote your book organically, and that was also born out of a necessity. Again, I didn't set out to write that book, I would just have especially my ghost writing and editing. Clients would ask me you know, how should I publish, what should I do? And so I look at their specific book and go over the different options they had. But then they said Well, how do I, how do I market this, how do I promote this? And so I thought well, there was actually a client who wanted me to come up with a six month sorry, a six week countdown type of thing for her to help her get ready for her launch, and then that's where that book was born from a specific client needs.

Speaker 2: 51:02

so with my brand books and those are basically the authors writer books those are always kind of born out of a need that someone came to me with and I thought, well, let me write this up and provide this as a helpful guide to those people who are asking, because if one or two or three people have asked me, there's probably a lot more people that would that have similar questions or need that kind of information.

Speaker 1: 51:29

Absolutely, and I think that's amazing. And I do encourage listeners to go out and check out Wendy's books. It's a write a book in 21 days discovering the story within. She has a companion workbook under the same title write a book in 21 days discovering the story within workbook. And then, of course, her book 40 day countdown to launch promote your book organically. I do want to encourage you guys to go check out her books, grab a copy and don't forget to leave a review. And, speaking of reviews, here on season two, we've been focused on reviews, so we're going to put you on the spot, wendy, and ask you to give us a review of your book. Write a book in 21 days oh sorry.

Speaker 2: 52:11

I didn't hear that last thing you said.

Speaker 1: 52:13

I want you to give us a review of your own book. Write a book in 21 days.

Speaker 2: 52:19

Oh, wow, well, you're putting me on the spot. I don't know. I think I hope it's a helpful guide. The feedback I've gotten from other people is that it is helpful, keeps them on track. I really like it because it worked for me personally. I did it before I offered it to others because there would be no sense in doing that In my 40-day book. Again, these are things I learned through writing in the business industry and helping other authors promote their books who are my clients. So, again, these are all based on my 35 years of professional writing experience, 15 of them as a ghost writer and 25 of them as a business writer and also a teacher at university. So these are all filled with my personal knowledge.

Speaker 2: 53:11

It's information. Some of it you may find elsewhere, but most of it has just been for me working trial and error and trying to get this message out to other people. So I would say it's a great investment.

Speaker 2: 53:26

I always look at writing and promotions as an investment rather than a liability. So if someone comes to me and says, well, I wanna promote my book or I wanna write my book, but I don't wanna spend any money, I say wow, you know what People will invest in you what you're willing to invest in yourself, and so I think there are great investment, but I think even the more valuable investment is being in these private groups, because go above and beyond to give value that's out there and more tailored to the individual. That's in that book. The book is the beginning and a segue into more detailed information on how to write and how to promote to your specific genre and even your specific book, and that's really where the value is. So I would say it's a lot of information at a great value and it's definitely an investment in your author career. That's how I would review it.

Speaker 1: 54:27

Awesome. I think that's an excellent review of Five Stars for you.

Speaker 2: 54:31

Well, I don't know about stars, you know, I mean in kindergarten I love getting those little stars, but I just think it's valuable. But you have to be open-minded and you have to be willing to learn new things and you have to be willing to believe in yourself and take that step forward. And if you don't, you've got a supportive author group that will help you do that.

Speaker 1: 54:55

Okay, great Well, we appreciate that, and the reason that we are putting our guests on the spot here on season two is because we wanna show you, the audience, that it really is that simple. It's really hard to talk about yourself and write a review about yourself, and sometimes our books, we feel, are like our own children and we're so close to them. It's really hard to have that perspective to write a review. But, as you can see, they all do very well at giving us a review of their books, which is to tell you that reviews are not complicated. It could be something as simple as I like this book, I recommend this book to this particular person or this particular group, or I learned something new. Whatever it is, you want it's opinion about what you liked or did not like about the book.

Speaker 1: 55:40

So the next time you go pick up a book, and go pick up one of Wendy's books, make sure you leave a review. This is how the author gets feedback. They get 90% of their feedback from author and book reviews. So, and also it's how you recommend books to other people. Next time you go look for a book, check out the reviews, see if it doesn't make a difference on how you feel about that purchasing of that book, but don't forget to leave reviews. You can always leave reviews wherever you purchase the book and if you can't remember where you purchase the book, you can always go to Goodreads, find the book and leave a review there and make sure you tag the author so that they know that you sent them a review.

Speaker 1: 56:21

They would be so appreciative to hear your feedback on their book, so I'm going to check in with you and let us know where listeners can find your books.

Speaker 2: 56:34

My books are privately published. They're on my website, http a colon's up, two backslashes authorswritercom and you will find them under the tab write a book in 21 days and you'll also find the ability to purchase the 40 day book there as well, and then I have a tab also called sell your book, where you can see a video about it. Also, on the 21 day page, you can read a few testimonials for people that are in the program and watch a video about it as well. I do have these books listed on Goodreads, if someone would like to leave me a review there.

Speaker 2: 57:14

I'm not on Amazon, because these books are meant to be used in conjunction with access to me as your own private writing coach, which is a great value, as well as being a part of our great supportive authors group, and so I really prefer people to learn writing that way. I think it's the best way to learn with others and under the tutelage of a mentor. I have students emailing me from time to time to even look at things that aren't even related to to their book, but something else, maybe an article they've written or something like that. So I'm there, and that's why it's just so invaluable and that's why you could only buy it for me because it's part of a bigger picture, but I would welcome any kind of review on Goodreads and that would be awesome.

Speaker 1: 58:08

All right, awesome. So we will, of course, have any of the direct links for you in the show notes, so don't worry about going out and grabbing a pen and paper. So it looks like you can check out her website at theauthorswritercom and we'll have that for you in the show notes. You also offer coaching services and editing programs, so if anyone wants to reach out to you, how would they reach you for those services?

Speaker 2: 58:35

Also through my website, authorswritercom, I do give a discount on editing to people that are in my groups. It's kind of like a loyalty program, I should say, if you think of that with a grocery store or a retail store, but I do give discounts on editing services to the people that are in my program. They get to know me and trust me, and I get to know them and their book as well. So it really makes for a great match, and so that's I kind of lost train of thought. Hold on a sec.

Speaker 1: 59:09

No, you ran it through the whole show, all right, great. So, like I said, if you want any of those services that she offers or you wanna check out any of her programs, that she goes along with her books and her group for support, then you can reach out to her on our website. You are also on social media, so where could they reach out to you on social media?

Speaker 2: 59:31

Okay, I'm active on Facebook. I have a page called the Writer Book in 21 Days. I also have a page called Authors Writer, and those are my brand pages. I'm also on Instagram under Authors Writer, I'm on LinkedIn under Wendy Schuring, the author's writer, and I'm also on Alignable, the small business network, where I post frequently as well, and I've met quite a few people off of that network too. So they're all valuable and they all have their pluses and minuses, but you can find me on all of those sources.

Speaker 1: 1:00:04

All right, and we will have links to all of those for you so that if you wanna connect up with Wendy, you can do that, and do you have any upcoming event that you would like to share with the audience before we wind down?

Speaker 2: 1:00:17

I don't really have any upcoming events. I did wanna mention that our group does have bi-monthly Zoom calls where we tackle these other subjects and things that come up within two weeks of writing. So those are the upcoming events I have for people that are already enrolled in my course and our program. I like to call it author's lifestyle but just to make it for simplicity's sake, and so those are kind of the upcoming events I do. I don't really have any upcoming events for the public right now, just things for people in my groups.

Speaker 1: 1:00:59

Okay, great. Well, that's awesome to hear. So any kind of newsletters or signups or free downloads that we can offer to the audience?

Speaker 2: 1:01:10

I don't have a newsletter per se, but if you do express interest, I do have a blog page on my website where you can read all kinds of free, helpful hints about writing, hiring an editor, combating writer's block, all these different topics that come up, even the new AI, chat, gpt I've written about that, so you can feel free to go to my website and go under my blog. It should say I think it does say blog at the top tab to get a lot of free resources and information.

Speaker 1: 1:01:47

All right, awesome. I'm glad to share that with her. Was there anything else that you'd like to share before we go jump over to our tip of the week?

Speaker 2: 1:01:56

I would just say, regardless of if you have this program or not, just start writing today, Try it. Try writing for even five minutes, find a time that works for you and just kind of I don't wanna say force yourself to do it, but see what happens, because what you will find out most likely is that you're not gonna be able to stop because you're gonna see stacks of paper grow even after a week, after 35 minutes of writing, if you write five minutes a day. So I'd say, try it, see what happens. You have nothing to lose.

Speaker 1: 1:02:29

Absolutely. We're gonna go ahead and jump over to our tip of the week and Wendy's gonna kind of join me on this conversation about the tip, because, green, we were talking about this and we were saying that sometimes the obstacle that a lot of authors whether they're new or they've been doing it for a long time is finding their way to getting to that flow or that creative space. So I'm gonna let Wendy talk about what advice that she has on that and then I'll come back and add to it. So go ahead.

Speaker 2: 1:03:07

Sure, yeah, one of the fallacies about writing is people think they need a lot of time. Now, granted, if you're writing a novel, a very, a 300 page novel, you're gonna need time, but they just say I don't have time to write a book. Really, more important than time is focus, like you mentioned Donna, getting creative flow. I mean there's times when I'm writing when I'm not writing. I'm writing when I'm swimming, I'm writing when I'm biking, I'm writing when I'm hiking, and what I mean by writing is all the creative ideas are coming to me even when I'm first waking, sometimes in the middle of the night, and there's a lot of writers who have that. They wake up in the middle of the night, they have a story idea, they write it down, they go back to bed. So how do we get into this creative flow? I found personally that being out in nature or being active, obviously from the examples I just said, helped me to be very creative.

Speaker 2: 1:04:06

And then I came along a video by a person that works in neuroscience about writing first thing in the morning. And I've always been a night owl, I've always been that person that writes at the end of the day when everybody's in bed. But then I'm tired, and I found that I wasn't really as productive as I wanted to be, and so I tried this experiment that this person recommended, which is roll out of bed and, within one minute, start writing. And I started doing this, and the science behind it was that there's certain when you're in a sleep state, you're more creative and you want to start your work when you're in this dream state. I guess he called it, and I can give you a link to the video too, if you want it later. But I tried this. I said I'm very open into trying things, and so I tried this, and I found that I was much more productive, but I was also much more crabby. So I needed to brush my teeth, I needed a cup of tea. I'm one of those people that's always in dream state. Anyway, I was always daydreaming as a kid. So I'm thinking do I need to get into more dream state than I already have? But this actually worked for me with a few parameters Get ready the night before, brush your teeth, have some tea, you know, throw a load of laundry or something and then start writing. And I found out, actually, that I was just as much as productive as when I rolled out of bed but I was a lot happier.

Speaker 2: 1:05:46

So again I would say find what works for you to get into your creative flow, because there's nothing worse when you have an hour of time you know mapped out for yourself and then you're sitting there going I don't know what to write. I hate this. You're looking out the window and you're definitely not in your creative flow. So I would say if you can be in creative flow for 15 minutes, that's a lot more productive than if you're not in creative flow for an hour or eight hours or however long you set time assigned to write. So again, you have to figure out what works for you.

Speaker 2: 1:06:23

I have a few ideas listed in my book and there's this other idea I told you about is like writing when you're in dream state. But to make this simple and to get to the common denominator is when you put yourself first. And I think, as women, we always are caregiving for everybody else. We've got pets and spouses and kids and you know all these things that we have to make sure everybody's cared for and we ignore ourselves and at the end of the day you know we're exhausted and we can't write. So I say, get up a little earlier, if you can get up a half hour earlier.

Speaker 2: 1:06:58

Get adjusted and do your writing first, because what can happen is you'll have distractions come in and I know we talked about this a little bit, so I'll let you say what you want to say about that. But put yourself first, because when you make yourself a priority, you will feel good about that. Whether it's, you know, writing in the morning, going for a run, going for a swim, maybe even sitting outside and having a cup of coffee or tea. You'll feel good when you put yourself first and it's not selfish to do that. It's not so that would be. My suggestion for people is to make writing your priority. Try to do it first thing in the morning if you can and if you can't, use other things that bring you into that creative flow, so that when you do set this time aside, it's very productive and you feel good about it.

Speaker 1: 1:07:47

Okay, awesome. Well, I like that and I'm going to add to it. So creative flow is what I say is on the other side of what I'm going to talk about, and that's finding your creative space. Because it's hard to get to that creative flow unless you understand what your creative space is. And what I'm talking about is discovering when you write best and most effectively and can reach that creative flow. Are you good in the morning? Are you better at night? For me? For myself, I've discovered that early in the week, early in the morning, works for me, but as the week goes on, that starts getting later and later. When I hit that creative flow Now I couldn't tell you what the neurodivergent science time that is, but I know that's what works for me. But it did take me years to find that out.

Speaker 1: 1:08:38

Some people I've talked to they write better on sunny days than they do on rainy days. Other people better on rainy days than sunny days. Some people write better when they're away from their familiar space, like in a coffee shop or a library or something like that. Others need to be in a quiet space. Others need music, others need noise. It depends on who you are, but you need to think about and try and figure out what those things are that help you get to that creative space, that help you get to that creative flow, and then it's just a matter of replicating it into a habit. What do I need to do? What do I need to do to make my space as creative as possible?

Speaker 1: 1:09:19

And sometimes for me it's like I got to get all the kuduwudu shun is out of my head. All the things chasing around my head don't forget to make the dentist appointment. Don't forget you need milk. Don't forget to drop off the dry cleaning All of these things that are chasing around my head. I sit down and I write them all down. That's the first thing I do get them out of my head and that act just clears my mind. So you have to figure out what works for you and the time of day.

Speaker 1: 1:09:48

I agree a lot of people are much more clear and productive and creative early in the morning, but that doesn't necessarily work for everybody. So think about when you are most creative. I think it'll come to you and I think a lot of you will come to the realization. It's probably more often earlier than the day than you would give it time, simply because, as she said, the day goes on and you become tired, your brain and your thought process becomes fatigued. So just think about that next time. If you are struggling, if you are getting to that point where you're ready to write and nothing's coming to you is, think about how you reach that creative space and replicate it so that you can hit that creative flow where the disruptions and the things are kind of just outside noise and you can actually tap into that creative part of yourself.

Speaker 1: 1:10:42

So I know there is so much more that Wendy and I could talk about and dive really deep into this subject and this topic, but of course we can't cover everything for you in one episode. So if you'd like to know more information, of course you can always reach out to the Writers Parachute at info at WritersParachutecom, or you can leave us a comment in the show notes. Also, if you would like, I'm sure Wendy would be happy to hear from you through her website, the authorswritercom. So get back to us, let us know if you have any thoughts on this or if you'd like to know information.

Speaker 1: 1:11:22

I really want to thank Wendy for being here today. I am so glad you're here and of course we're gonna have to have you come back and talk more in depth about this. We could talk forever and on and on and on and probably give tips for now, until next Wednesday, and still not run out of things to talk about, but we do have to let you go right now. But I do want to thank you for being here with us on the Writers Parachute and, of course, I'm always so grateful to be your host here on the Writers Parachute, guiding author and writer dreams to a perfect landing, and we hope that you find this creative space a safe space for you to land your dreams well too. Until next time, everyone, wendy, thank you, happy writing, bye.

Speaker 2: 1:12:06

Thank you.