Writing with Coach McCoach

Writing with Coach McCoach episode 34 brings contemporary romance author Amber Roberts onto the podcast to talk about her first two books, Text Appeal (out now) and Haunt Your Heart Out (coming October 2024), her latest work in progress, and her journey to publication.  We had a lot of fun during this interview and Amber's energy is infectious. If you've had dreams of being a

In episode 33 of the Writing with Coach McCoach podcast, let's take a standard of the business world -- the Ideal Client Avatar -- and put it to work marketing your writing! Who is your ideal reader? How does identifying them in as much detail as possible... creating your Ideal Reader Avatar... help you better understand how to reach them? I explain it all in this episode! If this

Episode 32 of Writing with Coach McCoach tackles the subject of comp (comparison) titles, including why they're such a great tool for pitching your work to agents, publishers, reviewers, and your potential readers.  Listen as I offer six tips (and a bonus tip!) on how to come up with great comp titles from a variety of freely available resources -- many of which you're probabl

Part of the Ask Coach series; this bite-size episode is in response to a listener's question: "How much importance do you place on imagery in a suspense slash light horror genre? I have read many novels where the writer adds way too much unnecessary description. I know we must ground the reader into the setting and paint word pictures, but sometimes writers stall the pacing of the

Episode 31 of Writing with Coach McCoach explores how to tap into your unique genius as a writer: that thing that makes each one of us special and powerful in our own way. We'll talk about why it's  so important for your development as an author and a person... and why it's so darn hard, too. But it's worth it! Listen as I take your through my own recent, and ongoing, process

  Part of the Ask Coach series; this bite-size episode is in response to a listener's question: "I received an unsolicited email from someone who wants to turn my book into a movie. Is this legit?"   Have a question you'd like Coach McCoach to answer on the show? Submit it here!     PSSST. Enjoying the podcast?! I would truly apprec

"I should know better. I should do better. I should be better." These words have rotated through my brain for the last 34 years. I'm only just now beginning to see what this self-talk can do to a person.  As a book coach, I help writers with their words and vision every day. As a mom, I help my son love himself and avoid this self-talk. And I've spent the last year working on

2023 was the hardest year of my life. It was deeply mentally and emotionally heavy, and much of it was internalized. When the things we tell ourselves become lies that are hurting our present and future, we face a decision: how do we change this? Are we ready to? Is it even possible?  That was what I experienced in 2023. My self-worth was tied to external things, for exam

Time for episode 028 of the Writing with Coach McCoach podcast: Stop being precious with your writing! A few recent experiences with my toddler showed me we really have no control over what happens with our writing once it's finished. Listen to this episode to learn why that's a good thing and why understanding this could help you grow as an artist. Also! Announcing my new shop! ht

 In this new episode in my motivation series, I offer some advice that might seem counter-intuitive: leave things undone.  Today, I talk about the all or nothing mentality, and the trick to going into your writing project with the intention NOT to finish. To end the session in the middle of the next scene so you can pick up where you left off and it doesn't seem so daunti