Month: January 2025

Fight Self-Doubt and Win!

Hello,

I just hosted our first mini writing retreat for 2025 yesterday, and so many things were swirling around in my mind before, during, and after our retreat.

One thing that came to me at full force was this message:

This may sound self-explanatory or simple, but we rarely think of self-doubt as being equivalent to unbelief.

If we are authors who feel that pull or nudge to write, and we doubt ourselves, we are saying that:

  • our message doesn’t matter.
  • we don’t write well enough to share it.
  • no-one can be helped by our message.
  • we’re not the right person to share this message.
  • our way of telling our story is unrelatable, so people just won’t get it.
  • Maybe we’ve even said, “They’ve talked about this already. Why should I bother?”

If you KNOW that you were nudged or pulled on to write, then that is your green light to move towards your goal. Don’t look around and compare; your story is unique to you and your circumstances.

I gave this example yesterday: even if you and your friend had the same home situation: two-parent home, two older brothers, went to the same schools and lived in the same neighborhood – your lives may look the same externally (say, in a statistics or data set), but each person is living a unique life. No two lives are the same. No experience is lived the same. Even if a lot of the external factors match, each person’s internal thought pattern or processing of events will still be different.

I’m saying all of this to say: GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY! Look inward, look heavenward, and let’s get your book out!

So – you are invited to join us for The Writer’s Experience Book Challenge! We are challenging YOU to finish your book in just SIX weeks! I will prepare you and share vital information along the way. We will meet four times out of the six-week period (to give you time to write). We will have our kickoff on Feb 5, then we will meet on Feb 19, Mar 5 and wrap up on Mar 19. These sessions are all on Wednesdays at 7pm ET for ONE HOUR.

Your work will be reviewed by me in-between our sessions, so you must complete and email each assignment back to me for review to keep up.

I am EXCITED to see who will WIN this challenge! Let’s DO IT! I hosted my first book challenge in 2020 – it was so much fun, and several authors completed their books.

You can register now for $295; the price willincrease to $395 on February 1st.

I cannot wait to have you in class next week – Wednesday, February 5!

Register today; see you there! Space is reserved for TWELVE people.

Some spots are still left! https://bit.ly/mgcbookchallenge

Your Story Matters!

Happy 2025 to all of you! I hope your year has been off to a great start.

I am stopping by to reflect on what I just experienced a couple hours ago.

I lead a group called “The Time is Write” – a free author’s community hosted onsite at my local church. Today during our meeting, the comments came up on whether their writings were “good enough” to be seen by others. I stepped in to encourage them.

Every new writer goes through this; we tend to compare our work to what we’ve seen in award-winning books from lifelong career writers. Everyone started somewhere, and you are no different. The purpose of our group is to groom and develop writers, and to support them as they launch and expand their brands and write other books. I remind them that it takes practice and reviews from others who understand the journey to help us all get better at our craft.

This includes beta readers, proofreaders and editors (there are at least 4 types out there!). If we never start writing, no-one will benefit from what we know or what we’ve experienced. Trust that your Creator would never give you something that is wasteful or a waste of your time and resources. He has readers out there – near and far – who want what we have to offer.

So, soon I will be reviewing the readings of my newest writers in our group. We are excited for what is to become of us this year!

And – it’s with that level of excitement and encouragement that I want to invite you to join me next week, Saturday, January 25, as we review some key information to help you with your writing, and then dedicate a block of time to sit down and write. You can stop me for questions, and I will explain or answer as needed.

We will meet VIRTUALLY at 12 noon, and end at 4pm ET. Let us get together and start our journey! See you soon! Register HERE: https://bit.ly/miniretreat2025