What is a Book Coach?

What is a book coach? Me!! I’m a book coach! Great, Monica. But what does that mean exactly? I’m so glad you asked! Whether you are a new or experienced writer in the outlining, drafting, revising, or even querying stage of the process, a book coach provides personalized guidance to help you meet your writing

Staying on Track: Self-Care for Writers

While I’ve been talking about tips to stay on track during drafting, revising, and querying this month, it’s pretty impossible to stay on track when we’re burned out. Trust me. This week, I’ve been down for the count with a head cold. I haven’t had one in the three years since COVID locked us into

Creative Growth

I pass this tree on my trail walks. I am not sure when I first noticed the tree, but I know since my dad died in 2018, I haven’t missed it. It’s like I’m compelled to take a moment and acknowledge the tree’s presence on the trail. Its struggle to keep growing a little of

Storytelling on the Field

I was a band kid. I played flute in concert band, but what I loved more than anything was marching band and performing on the color guard in high school through my four years at UNC Chapel Hill. There is nothing like standing in a sequin-adorned bolero jacket and cummerbund over a white mock turtleneck

Hadestown and the Holderness Family: Love Stories and Anxiety

It has been a long two years. Full stop. But Sunday, life felt a little sweeter again. My husband and I finally went back to the theater for a live show. I was so excited I even put on lipstick despite the fact that no one would see it behind my required mask. The show

New Year, New Goals

Happy New Year! Despite proclaiming to not set resolutions I will most certainly fail at for the new year, I do still do a fair bit of planning. I like to have goals to work towards, even if they change throughout the year. Last year, however, coming out of 2020, I wanted to be gentle

Listening for the Muse’s Whisper

I recently finished the novel that has taken me two years to write (two years, two houses, two states, endless revisions). It’s done. Or as done as I can make it right now. I sent it out to a few interested agents and am waiting. Ugh. The waiting. Waiting for the feedback. Waiting for the

The Maybe of Muses

On July 28th, I went to the NC Museum of Art. The kids were back at school. We were 21 days post move. I needed to recenter. To come back to my creative self. The months of March through July were so tumultuous and busy and mind numbing that I was afraid I would need

Forcing Creativity

Writing a book is not a unique pursuit. There are many of us writers out there going about day jobs, pounding away on keyboards at night, at dawn or at the kid’s baseball practice. The difference between those that succeed in actually becoming a published writer and those that do not – I have been told

Growing Pains

As a tween (although I don’t think we called it that back in the 80s) and teen, I would often suffer from a painful ache in my legs that my parents would chalk up to growing pains. The discomfort was real. The pain acute. I’d lay in my bed at night or the couch during the