Archive for Module 1
Module 1 Week 8
Posted by: | Comments
Module 1: Starting and Writing Your Book
Week 8: Moving towards your final draft
Click to listen to an overview of this week’s lesson:
To REGISTER for this Module, click HERE.
LESSON SUMMARY
Well hooray! It’s the final week of your module. And congratulations for making it here.
You’ve been on a long journey so far. You’ve identified the purpose of your book, made an outline for your book and built up a regular writing practice. You’ve learned what blocks your progress and how to use targets and deadlines to keep you moving forward. You’ve experimented with different ideas to expand your creative process and, finally, you have started to share your book by letting others read it and offer you feedback.
Now, it’s time to start thinking about what you will need to do in order to complete your project, and make it ready to be received by the rest of the world.
The title of this week’s lesson is “Moving Towards” your final draft, not “Finishing” your final draft. There is no assumption that, over the period of an 8-week course, you would be able to finish a final draft of a book. In fact, even though last week we spoke about what to do when you have finished your second draft, if you are anywhere near completion of your first draft at this point, that would be a much more reasonable expectation.
If right now, you were to be at the point of completing your final draft, and you had not yet started building your promotional platform, you are not yet ready to release your book to the world! Preparing your platform must be done even before you prepare the physical properties of your book for publication (i.e., layout, cover design, etc). That is why Module 2 is “Pre-Publication Marketing Musts” and it is not until Module 3 that we discuss “Preparing for Publication” (implying self-publication).
This week, we will be exploring the necessary components of moving towards your final draft. To do this, you will be taking a few steps back from your book, so you can get a metaview of the complete project, rather than merely working through the process of writing.
In this week’s lesson you will…
- Create a check list of things that need finishing up
- Prepare to embark on promotional platform building
- Decide whether to approach a publisher or to go self-published
- Create a timeline for your project completion
- Re-assess and re-affirm the purpose of your book (reflecting back to Week 1), and see how much has changed or stayed the same during the process of your writing.
So when you’re ready to go, let’s get start on Spirit Authors Module 1 Week 8, “Moving Towards Your Final Draft.”
Click “Read More” to go to your lesson for the week.
Read More→
Join the forum discussion on this post - (2) Posts
Module 1 Week 7
Posted by: | CommentsModule 1: Starting and Writing Your Book
Week 7: How, when and why to get feedback and help
Click to listen to an overview of this week’s lesson:
To REGISTER for this Module, click HERE.
LESSON SUMMARY
There’s a common myth that a writer is a lone wolf—someone who works alone and in isolation. And some writers even have the belief that if they use someone else’s help, it makes them a failure as a writer.
But just like any other project in life, no successful book project has ever been completed without help from others who played a vital role in its completion.
Getting the right kind of feedback at the right time can save you money and disappointment. It can help you feel more confident and give you useful tips on how to improve your book.
And for those of you who need a little extra help in the actual writing of your manuscript, getting the right kind of help at the right time, can make the difference between an amateur production and a truly great book.
And that is what this week’s lesson is all about. This week you will find out how, when and why to get the feedback and help you need to make your book project understandable, cohesive and impactful.
In this week’s lesson you will…
- Learn why you need feedback on your manuscript
- Learn when and who to ask for feedback
- Formulate a request for specific feedback you require
- Learn what to do with the feedback you receive
- Know when, who and how to ask for help with your manuscript
So when you’re ready to go, let’s get start on Spirit Authors Module 1 Week 7, “How, When and Why to Get Feedback and Help.”
Click “Read More” to go to your lesson for the week.
Read More→
Join the forum discussion on this post - (2) Posts
Module 1 Week 6
Posted by: | CommentsModule 1: Starting and Writing Your Book
Week 6: Exploring and expanding your creative process
Click to listen to an overview of this week’s lesson:
To REGISTER for this Module, click HERE.
LESSON SUMMARY
So you’ve been writing now for at least 6 weeks. If you have been staying committed to your regular writing practice, you should have made significant progress. How far along are you? Are all the ideas getting down on paper? Have your targets and tracking been helping? Did last week’s lesson on recognising the blocks help to unblock some of the challenges you face? Is the completion of your first draft coming tantalisingly in sight?
If you are nearing completion of your first draft, get ready for a wonderful journey—into your second draft!
Why am I saying the second draft is a journey? Because this is where you are going to move into a deeper level of creativity and personal exploration. While the first draft is where you are getting your ideas down on paper as efficiently as possible, the second draft is where you move from whatever place you have been writing and you step fully INTO your draft. This is the place where your true artistry will start to unfold. This is the place where it is not just about your book and your ideas, but it is also about who you are as a human being.
And that is what this week’s lesson is about. This week you will begin to take RISKS in your writing!
In this week’s lesson you will…
- Recognise your default mechanisms
- Tap into different energy centres
- Explore and utilise different creative stimuli
- Explore and utilise different writing techniques
Click “Read More” to go to your lesson for the week.
Read More→
Join the forum discussion on this post - (3) Posts
Module 1 Week 5
Posted by: | CommentsModule 1: Starting and Writing Your Book
Week 5: Knowing what blocks your progress
Click to listen to an overview of this week’s lesson:
To REGISTER for this Module, click HERE.
LESSON SUMMARY
We have just passed the halfway point on your course. You’ve actually done quite a bit. So far you have strengthened your focus by identifying a “life purpose” for your book, designed a structure and outline for your book, started to develop and define your regular writing practice, defined your targets and deadlines, and devised a tracking method for your progress.
So how are you doing? How much writing have you done over these past four weeks? Are you finding it easy or difficult to stay in the flow? Are you writing and actually getting things DONE that you had set out to do?
In my experience both as a creative artist and a coach, it is easy to start out on a “high” with our project, only to find ourselves simmering down and losing energy. We can become distracted or lose focus. Sometimes, we even grind to a complete halt in our project.
That’s what this lesson is about. I’m going to share with you what are, in my experience, the “Top 15 Things that Block Our Progress” in our writing project. That way, armed with this information, you can build a consciousness about your own tendencies, and develop some strategies to overcome the blocks (which will happen no matter how diligent you are), and return to flow as quickly as possible. We will also examine the ingredients that go into the creative process, so you can begin to build and awareness of which aspects may be areas in which you most need to be mindful in building your “creative muscle.”
In this week’s lesson you will…
- Identify and examine the 3 components of the creative process.
- Identify and examine 15 common obstacles that block the creative process
- Conduct a reflective self-assessment of these common blocks
- Devise creative solutions to overcoming these blocks
Click “Read More” to go to your lesson for the week.
Read More→
Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts
Module 1 Week 4
Posted by: | CommentsModule 1: Starting and Writing Your Book
Week 4: Setting and Tracking Your Targets and Deadlines
Click to listen to an overview of this week’s lesson:
To REGISTER for this Module, click HERE.
LESSON SUMMARY
The great playwright George Bernard Shaw is often quoted for his wonderful explanation of the relationship between imagination and conscious creation:
Imagination is the beginning of creation.
You imagine what you desire,
you will what you imagine
and at last you create what you will.
If you have gone through the materials for the past three weeks of this module, you should already have identified why your book should be written, designed a structure and created an outline for your book, and begun to develop a personal writing practice. A lot of these activities focussed on fine-tuning the abstract aspects of your book and your connection to it. Now it is time to combine everything you have done so far and take your book project to a much more concrete level. In this lesson, you will look at the structure of your book in minute detail and translate it into a set of tangible, practical targets that can help motivate you and keep you on track, so you can complete your book project.
In this week’s lesson you will…
- Calculate an estimated total word count for your book
- Set daily and weekly writing targets
- Set deadlines for 1st, 2nd and final draft
- Devise a tracking system to help you meet your targets
- Learn how and why to assess the effectiveness of your targets
Click “Read More” to go to your lesson for the week.
Read More→
Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts
Module 1 Week 3
Posted by: | CommentsModule 1: Starting and Writing Your Book
Week 3: Developing your personal writing practice
To REGISTER for this Module, click HERE.
LESSON SUMMARY
In Week 1, we looked at the things that stand in the way of your progress, and developed a purpose for your book, In Week 2 we created an outline for your book. Now it’s time to get down to business and get writing on a regular basis, so you book gets written!
Many new authors feel frustrated because they don’t seem to be able to make progress with their book project. They imagine that writing can only be done when inspiration hits, and therefore they feel powerless, rather than empowered by their talent. Because if this, they might write in spurts, but because there is no real continuity in the way they write, their project might take years to complete, or they might have many micro-ideas for projects all going at one time. It’s like spinning plates in a Chinese Circus! What these authors do not realise is that writing is a practice, just like any other art.
And that is what this lesson is all about. It’s about developing a regular system of practice and personal development for your writing that serves you and is suited to your lifestyle, so you can become more confident, creative and productive.
In this week’s lesson you will…
- Learn the importance of regular writing practice
- Learn what beliefs about creativity might be limiting your productivity
- Discover how and when you work best as a writer
- Learn how to manage your time so you don’t burn out
- Create a practice plan for your writing project
Click “Read More” to go to your lesson for the week.
Read More→
Module 1 Week 2
Posted by: | CommentsModule 1: Starting and Writing Your Book
Week 2: Designing the structure of your book
Click to listen to an overview of this week’s lesson:
To REGISTER for this Module, click HERE.
LESSON SUMMARY
In week 1 of this module, we really honed in on the reasons why your book must be written. Hopefully by now you’re really excited to get going. But where do you start, when you’re looking at that big blank sheet of paper, or empty Word document?
What keeps many writers from getting started in writing their books is that they have loads of ideas, but no structure in which to present them coherently. Imagine if you had a well full of pure, cool drinking water, imbued with the magical power to enlighten people, and you wanted to share it with the world. You ladle it out into your hands, and rush madly into town to ask everyone to taste it. But by the time you get there, the water has spilled all over the road, and no one can understand what you are all excited about! They cannot drink from your wonderful water because you had no container from which they were able to drink. If only you had had a bucket, or a cup or some other kind of vessel in which to bring this elixir to them.
Not having a structure for your book is something like not having a bucket to share your wellspring of inspiration with the world. If you have no structure, people cannot drink from your wisdom, no matter how vital and important your message might be. This is not to say your structure has to be something rigid or formulaic. You can design your own structure (I did for my book), but you simply must have a structure of some kind in order for others to absorb your words.
And that’s what this week’s lesson is about. The purpose of this lesson is to give you the tools to design a structure for your book, so you can construct a detailed, written outline. This can not only help you get a new book started, but it can also help you get moving on book projects in which you might feel “stuck” or aimless. A good outline can also help keep you on track, and stay motivated in your writing project, as it helps you see exactly what you have completed, and what still needs to be done.
OBJECTIVES FOR THE WEEK
- Learn the importance of having a structure
- Learn the basic components of structure
- Organise your raw materials into a structure
- Construct a written outline for your book
- Learn some basic guidelines for working with your outline
Click “Read More” to begin your lesson for the week.
Module 1 Week 1
Posted by: | CommentsModule 1: Starting and Writing Your Book
Week 1: Identifying why your book must be written
Click to listen to an overview of this week’s lesson:
To REGISTER for this Module, click HERE.
LESSON SUMMARY
Many people have the dream of writing a book, but few follow through on this dream. Whether consciously or not, people tend to create a convincing list of reasons why they should not write a book, but rarely do aspiring writers—or even experienced ones—sit down and clearly define all the reasons why their book MUST be written, regardless of anything else. For a mind-body-spirit author this is especially important, because the factors that motivate someone who writes in this genre are generally far more intrinsic than they are tangible. This is what makes them unique amongst authors.
In this week’s lesson, you will:
- Learn some of the most common obstacles many writers invent, whether consciously or not
- Conduct an honest, self-examination about your beliefs, your fears, and the “rules” you have made up
- Learn strategies for overcoming your obstacles
- Learn the importance of knowing why you are writing
- Create a “life purpose” for your writing career, to which you will return time and time again, as a point of inner recovery
Click “Read More” to begin your lesson for the week.
Module 1 Overview
Posted by: | CommentsClick the player to hear what this module is about:
To REGISTER for this Module, click HERE.
To download a PDF version of Module 1 Overview, click HERE.
SUMMARY OF MODULE 1: STARTING AND WRITING YOUR BOOK
This module is for anyone who has not yet started their book or who is in the early to mid stages of writing it and seeks support to get it finished. The aims of this module are to give you strategies for getting started, staying focused, and motivated as you write your book, and to help you discover and develop your personal style so you can finish a truly satisfying manuscript. By the end of this module, you’ll be able to:
- Explain and believe in the purpose of your book
- Turn your seed into a full concept for a book
- Create a book outline and word count target
- Create a project deadline to keep you on track
- Identify typical blocks to the creative process
- Develop strategies to unlock your own creative process
- Know how and when to ask for feedback, and use it effectively
- Harness your self-confidence, organization, and self-motivation to complete your book project.
| Title | Starting and Writing Your Book |
|---|---|
| Who is it for? | Anyone who has not yet started their book, or who is in the early to mid stages of writing it, but seek support to get it finished. |
| Duration | Training: 8 weeks Access to site: 10 weeks |
| Aims | To give you strategies for getting started, staying focused and motivated as you write your book, and to help you discover and develop your personal style so you can finish a truly satisfying manuscript. |
| Objectives | By the end of this module, you will be able to:
|
| Weekly Lesson Content |
|
| Downloadable Content |
|
| Community |
|
| Calls* | 1 live call per month (downloads available to members only) |
| Rewards* | SPECIAL GIFT for those who demonstrate completion of all weekly challenges within 2 weeks of finishing the module. |
| Bonuses* | Discounts and other unplanned special bonuses will be revealed as you go along. |
| Notes: | Items marked with an asterisk (*) are NOT available during a Test Drive, but will be available if/when you register for the Module. |
To REGISTER for this Module, click HERE.
