Year: 2021

How to Turn Yourself into a Character in Nonfiction and Memoir

In this 30-minute writing lesson, writing teacher and book writing coach Brad Wetzler discusses various techniques writers can use to turn our complex human personalities into coherent characters that the reader can make sense of and follow through the course of a story.  

Showing, Telling, and the Art of Embodied Writing in Memoir and Nonfiction Writing

  In this 30-minute writing tutorial, writing teacher and book writing coach Brad Wetzler discusses the difference between showing and telling in narrative writing and how to write in a more embodied way. Here are a few of the concepts Brad Wetzler addresses: 1. What is showing? Showing involves writing in a way that allows the reader to […]

The Three Arcs of a Story

  Are you struggling to write a memoir or nonfiction book? Your writing will get stronger when you understand the three arcs of narrative writing: physical, emotional, and intentional.

The Life-Changing Art of Tidying Up Your Sentences

  In this 30-minute nonfiction and memoir instructional video, writing teacher and book writing coach Brad Wetzler discusses tangible ways that writers can clean up their sentences and write more powerfully. Here are a few concepts that Brad discusses: 1. Lean on strong verbs. 2. Lose the adverbs. 3. Lose adjectives when possible, too. 4. […]

How to Write Powerful Scenes in Memoir and Nonfiction

How to Write Powerful Scenes in Memoir and Nonfiction

  Brad Wetzler, author, journalist, award-winning editor, book writing coach, and yoga/mindfulness teacher, presents a 30-minute write course on how to write more powerful scenes and anecdotes in memoir and nonfiction.

How to Write about Travel

How to Write about Travel

  Do you wish to learn how to write and publish travel articles and essays? This 30-minute instructional video by author, journalist, and travel writer Brad Wetzler will give you all the information you need to succeed.

Memoir Nonfiction Origin Story

How to Tell Your Origin Story

  Tell Your Origin Story: Barry Lopez: The world is held together with stories and compassion. We all have an origin story (a term from comic books). They need to understand how they got their superpowers. These superheroes had problems like humans and responded like humans. Over time it became clear that they had special […]

WORDS CHANGE US: WHEN THINGS FALL APART by Pema Chodron

“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.” This quote from Pema Chodron is today’s WORDS CHANGE US. Pema’s words feel true to me. They reflect my own experience. Where there’s fear, there’s heat, and something to look at. I was 51 years old and,admittedly, stricken by both doubt and fear when […]

WORDS CHANGE US: Living the Questions and Rilke

Today’s THESE WORDS CHANGED ME come from Austrian poet Ranier Maria Rilke, whose name I always butcher when I say it out loud. “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. […]

WORDS CHANGE US: Metta Meditation

Tonight’s THESE WORDS CHANGED ME come from the Buddhist maitri practice. Maitri means lovingkindness in Sanskrit. Here are the words: May I be filled with lovingkindness. May I be safe from inner and outer dangers. May I be well in body and mind. May I be peaceful and happy. May I be free. Some history: […]

WORDS CHANGE US: ARCTIC DREAMS by Barry Lopez

The only book I took to Greenland in 1996 was Barry Lopez’s Arctic Dreams. One day, during a three-week hiatus in a tiny coastal village, I took off on foot to see the Icecap. I hiked up a broad, grassy valley past lichen-covered stone ruins until it dead-ended at a rock outcropping. I followed a […]