Yesterday we posted part one of an interview with a self-published author that MBT had the priviledge of coaching this past year. Read that post here: Today is part two of the journey. SMW: Dennis, you’ve written a delightful Christmas novella, South Pole Santa! Can you take us through the history of this story and help us understand how you went from idea to finished product? Dennis: The first draft was a really rough draft. Bear in mind it was already December and I was only starting to write the story. So I really hurried to get the first draft done and I completed it on December 7 and it was about 10,000 words. You and I discussed did a couple of days later and I’ll never forget that first […]
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Conversations: The journey of a self-pubbed author – part one
Today, on Conversations, I’m excited to talk to another author (Sorry Sally – you’ll be back next week) who I was privileged to work with this year. This is a long interview, so I’ve broken it into two parts (today and tomorrow!) You might not know that a big part of MBT is helping authors through our private coaching program. We work with new authors to multi-published authors, coaching them through their stories. I’m thrilled that many of them have landed on best-seller lists and won awards. Often, they are traditionally published stories – but occasionally we work on a self-published story. One of my favorite self-pubbed projects came to me about a year ago. I loved it immediately – a story of a family caught in technology, who needed […]
Read the RestSetting up for Success, Part 2: The Nitty Gritty Four Steps
There are those people who love to plan. They have all sorts of color coded steps for each rung of the ladder they want to climb, what time to take the step, what to wear while they’re stepping and what to eat the night before to ensure the maximum V02 output to achieve maximum thrust on the motion. Dizzy yet? Yeah, me too! Listen. Having a successful 2013 really boils down to four simple steps. If you follow them faithfully, you’ll run a victory lap at the end of the race to the applause of a cheering crowd. Here it is. The PDMI process. P: Plan. Yeah you have to. We’ve talked in the last two weeks about keeping it simple. If you need more coaching on how to do […]
Read the RestConversations: Understanding Turning Points
“I’m so sorry,” Sally said, sitting down and unwrapping her scarf from her neck. Outside, ice glazed the puddles, the sky a slate gray. The first hint of snow hung in the air, the world of northern Minnesota in crisp expectation. It was a perfect day to teach Sally about how to understand Turning Points in a novel. I love the change of seasons. I blew on my candy cane mint mocha. “Why?” “Our high school football season is over,” she said. “I know how you love to go to the games.” I do. I live for the Friday night lights. “It was a tough game. A number of game-changing turning points that could have turned the game our way. Our boys fought a tough fight.” “I heard that on […]
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