Girl, having been under your firm and loving tutelage for several months, I’d say you have earned the right to throw just about anything you WANT under the bus!!

To anyone who is reading this blog, this woman is a true wordsmith, and worth every penny it costs to hire her.

Signed,

A thrilled customer, Ali Elizabeth Turner, author of the soon-to-be-released “A Ballad for Baghdad:An ex-hippie chick Vietnam war protestor’s three years in Iraq.”

But, the truth is: I do have time, if I knew how to break up the work into 5-minute, 15-minute, and 30-minute chunks. Sometimes, I’ll have a half-hour while waiting for something to happen. Rather than surfing through email, it would be great to knock out six 5-minute slices of a chapter, or two 15-minute slices, or one big 30-minute slice.

So, my question is: How do I realistically break up the work so that I can work on the right-sized slice when the time becomes available?

Writing is cathartic; sometimes I just need to let the words escape. Other times, I write because I believe I have something valuable to offer. I’ve really enjoyed entering the world of blogging because it seems to provide the opportunity for both.

The problem is identifying this person. You just have to keep asking your friends until you find one who is delighted to do it.

Which of his books is your favorite?

Which of his books (or short stories) should I read first?

It will be my first offline published work, so it’s quite exciting!

But I can’t tell you how looooonnnng I put off putting the finishing touches on that chapter! First there were the Christmas holidays, then New Year’s, then my father became ill and passed away, then I was sick for a couple of weeks…and most of that time, there was that subconscious nagging that I had this important unfinished work to address.

Finally, telling the editor I’d have it finished and back to her within 24 hours, I sat down to conquer what felt like an insurmountable obstacle. All of a sudden, I realized what my adversary had been all along…FEAR!

That’s probably not that surprising to anyone but me…”After all, this book about being an overcomer! LOL! How could my problem be fear!?!” (Obvious newbie to this publishing bit, I know!)

But as the finishing touches to the chapter flowed out, I realized I had been afraid to really put myself out there, on paper, and perhaps have stamped on my imaginary author’s passport: “failed,” or worse yet, “uninteresting, trivial”.

I had no problem telling “my story” to anyone in person, or even from a stage, but there was simply something about having it on paper that forced me to deal with the fact that this story would be read and I would be judged (positively or negatively). I was particularly afraid that my story would come across as that of someone who’d spent waaaaay too much time “navel-gazing,” so to speak…thinking too much of herself and the challenges of her life.

Well, I finally determined I would not let this opportunity slip through my fingers, like many before. “THIS ONE” I would offer my best, all of me, emotionally naked and vulnerable and I’d simply have to survive negative comments that might come with the positive. No matter what the reaction, I figured I had to conquer my own fears or they would forever conquer me.

Whatever the reaction when this does come out in a month or so, I’m already fine with it. The fear left me, in this instance, as soon as I pressed send! LOL!

So Mary Jo, this first publication is not a complete book of my own composition, since I’m a co-author. But I think the issue of dealing with all those what-ifs we spent so much time imaging would be great to address. Perhaps you have some solutions that would prevent that tendency to procrastinate when uncertainty of the outcome prevails.

Any hints, Mary Jo?

I read a lot of non-fiction and I am typically seeking information in those books. I agree with Marti that great writing is a must. Even in non-fiction.

A biography without a good story is dry and dull - a well-written biography about the same person can be gripping and exciting.

I change my answer to “Yes, all of the above!”