How to Find Your Author Voice in Memoir and Nonfiction
Struggling to find your author voice in memoir or nonfiction? This 30-minute video will help you write a book and become a published author.
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
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 […]
Short Memoir: On Finding Your Author Voice
I want to tell you about a book that, each time I open it, makes me a better writer. You probably haven’t heard of it, or of the author, Ted Solotaroff. It’s not a best-seller like Bird by Bird or a popular favorite like Stephen King’s On Writing. In fact, I’ve never seen another copy of this essay […]
Yoga of Writing
Years ago, I committed to a daily yoga practice after two decades of casual three-days-per-week practice. Within months, I saw tangible results. I became more fit, more flexible, a little happier, a little less reactive, and even more connected to my spiritual self, which I’d abandoned years earlier. All good stuff. I kept at it. […]
How to Cultivate a Bigger View in Writing and Life
Seeing our planet–the entire misty blue sphere–from outer space changes one’s perspective. Astronauts who’ve experienced this say it’s like a mystical experience. It changed them. This big shift in consciousness is called The Overview Effect. The term was coined by astronaut Frank White. He wrote that he was profoundly changed from seeing the earth as […]
How to Tell a Great Story in Your Memoir or Narrative Nonfiction Book
Writing a memoir or narrative nonfiction book requires a wide range of skills. You’ve got to be able to do it all: organize thoughts, structure chapters, report the facts, and, after all the big-picture stuff, you must also pay attention to the smallest of details such as grammar and punctuation. It’s a big job, but it’s very doable with […]
The Hidden Power of a Daily Writing Practice
Writing is more like yoga than you might think. Both disciplines require learning specific rules and vocabularies. Yoga has its 8 Limbs, one of which is asana, or the physical poses that most Westerners consider to be yoga. Each asana asks the yogi to hold the body in a specific and precise way. By focusing […]
Why Writers Need More Self-Compassion and How to Cultivate It
As a book writing coach, I’m always on the lookout for new ways to help my clients. Sometimes ideas come to me while watching Netflix. I recently watched Bruce Springsteen on Broadway on Netflix. Springsteen’s playing is rousing. His storytelling, more so. But the show’s true gift is watching Springsteen unmask himself. He bashes myths about himself […]
How I Turn Early-Waking Insomnia Into a Gift
I wake up early. Not by choice really. There’s not much to do at 4:30 a.m. or 5 a.m. but practice. I look serious here. But that’s the mood, the vibe, before sunrise. At least, to me. It feels like a time to consider and contemplate and journal. Life. God. Purpose. That kind of stuff. […]
Yoga and My Quest for True Self
A consistent yoga practice can be powerful. It’s like standing in front of a mirror and staring at your reflection. This can be frightening for anybody, but for a middle-aged man it is especially so. First, you see things that surprise or shock you. Is my belly really that lumpy? Is my hair that gray? […]
How to Make Writing a Daily Spiritual Practice
I once wrote a feature story for The New York Times Magazine about “the real Indiana Jones.” His name was , and I met him at a seaside bar on Oahu’s North Shore. I was riveted by his tales about his swashbuckling days searching Peru’s jungles for forgotten ruins of ancient civilizations. All of his stories were […]
Spring Cleaning, Memory, and a Note from JFK, Jr.
While spring cleaning and rearranging bookshelves this week, I came across this card from John F. Kennedy, Jr. I received it in 1997 or 1998 after I signed on to be a contributing editor at George magazine. I spent two years writing regularly for that magazine. I traveled to Moscow to report and write about […]
How Travel, Journaling, and Yoga Bring Us Home to Our True Self
Working in memoir requires a writer to stand in the fire of truth. This means holding ourselves accountable to seeing what’s true about our lives. Part of my process as a book writing coach is to point clients to ways they can write with a more open heart. Writing well about our life requires us to open our […]
Short Memoir: How Pilgrimage Shows Us the Way Back to True Self
Last winter, I traveled to southern India for a pilgrimage to Arunachala, a conical mountain considered by Hindus to be the embodiment of Shiva, the god of destruction and rebirth. The night before the pilgrimage, I dropped onto the mattress in my bamboo hut hoping for a peaceful rest. I fell asleep listening to mosquitoes […]