I used to think writing was best done on your own in a dark and dusty attic room, preferably with a distant view of the Eiffel Tower, while smoking a pipe and wearing a beret pulled low. Kinda hard to pull off in rural Canada. And I can only imagine how the pipe smoke would make my clothes smell. Point is, I always thought you had to write on your own and inspired.

Wrong. 

  • Stephen King has his wife, Tabetha, who yanked the first pages of Carrie out of the garbage can and told him to get back to work.
     

  • Shakespeare collaborated with a whole bunch of fellow thespians, some credited (like a dude called Fletcher who co-wrote Henry VIII) and some uncovered by literary detectives (yes, that’s a thing) after Shakespeare kept it hush-hush.
     

  • Paul McCartney and John Lennon would go round each others’ houses for three hour sessions, come rain or shine, to drink tea and write songs together.
     

  • Everyone who’s ever published with a Big Deal Publisher had an editor to push them through writer’s block, calling with encouraging words and gentle reminders of their looming contractual deadline.


Yes, there’s only one seat in front of the computer. Yes, writers must write. No, they don’t all figure it out solo.

What About You?

You might not think of yourself as a “real writer” like them, but you still don’t have to do this book thing alone.

That’s the big, creative lie, isn’t is?

I should be able to do this on my own. And if it’s not working, that must mean there’s something wrong with me. My idea. My time management. My ability to write. My worthiness as a human being. 

My story. My struggle. My experience that I thought meant something but maybe it doesn’t.

Maybe my book idea isn't anything after all. Maybe I'm not capable after all.

What if there’s nothing with you?

What if your story IS worth sharing? Worthy.

Maybe you can’t do what “real writers” do because you don’t have the same support.

You don’t have to struggle without help.

It doesn’t have to be so hard. 

If you don’t want to try—and fail—on your own any more, I would love to chat. Email me and tell me your number one concern about writing your book.

I’ll even pretend I’m wearing a beret for you. (Though I draw the line at pipe smoking.)

Thanks,

Liz "Ooh La La" Green
Editor, Book Coach, and Ghostwriter
Green Goose Writing

 
 

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