Taking the scary edge off sending work to publishers

Plus the last chance to join Bloom with early pricing

In my last meeting of the year with a private client, we talked about how she LOVES to write: But the part where she sends the work off to publishers? Terrifying.

We focused a bit on why (and we all have a ‘why’ that makes sharing feel tough), but we mostly focused on how to make the process of sending work to publishers (or agents, or your beta readers, or whoever) less scary.

Here’s what we came up with:

• Set a clear goal for what publishing means for you this year: Make it something that feels like a bit of a stretch, but reachable (1 article a year? 2? Finish your book proposal? Etc.) Then, rather than “I’m working all the time, so I’m always behind,” you’re working towards something concrete.

• Acknowledge how far you’ve grown: Elsewhere you might see this referred to as looking at the gain (where you’ve been and how far you’ve come towards your goals) versus the gap (the distance between you and where you want to be). Just focusing on the gap can be defeating: Looking at it as part of a longer journey is empowering.

• Remember the good that comes from sharing: The mantra we came up with is “I’m honoring this work by sharing it with the world.”
  This is a GREAT place to journal on why this work needs to be in the world: What it brings to the world, how it will serve your readers, and how it’s already serving you.

• Remember this piece, and the act of publishing it, as just one part of your creative ecosystem: Publishing is a chance to nourish your ecosystem, and for your ecosystem to nourish others in turn (we used metaphors of migratory birds spreading out from her ecosystem to spread seeds). Each work exists within the much larger scope of your experience: Publishing is just one small part of your total life as a creative.
  (If you want to meet your own creative ecosystem, join me in Bloom next month: Where we’ll meet and build all the parts of your ecosystem together).

• Make one block in your weekly routine to support your publishing practice: Even just a few minutes researching places to pitch, submission and formatting guidelines, etc. So when you’re ready to publish, you’ve got everything you need to do so easily.

• Build in ‘bird watching time’: This is what we’ve started calling a block of writing time that’s just space (about 20 minutes or so) for journaling on the work. How are you feeling about it? Where is this work at in its process? How are you feeling as you move it from one stage to the next in the writing process? How far is this work along on its publishing journey?
  This is just a chance to assess where things are at from a nonjudgmental, what's next, curious headspace: just seeing what's there rather than demanding a certain outcome.
  It’s also a chance fully experience and process the feelings of each step of creating it. As always, I recommend doing this kind of work by building in pleasure and relaxation to make it more fun.

• Writing intentionally: My client wants writing to feel like an integrated experience, where she can feel her feelings and can move intentionally through the process. The journaling practices in this newsletter can help with that!

• Reframe your relationship to rejection: Going back to journaling on why your work matters helps here: Because even if it gets rejected you’ve already considered its value and know the value is there.
  Then, you’re coming at resubmitting the work with the energy of finding the best home for work that matters: And as the steward of the work, a rejection is just a message to you that the work is still finding where it’ll be expressed best.

Wishing you a beautiful writing life in 2025: One where you remember the value and power of your work, and consistently make intentional steps towards bringing it to life.

It’s the last chance to join Bloom with early pricing:

Bloom goes up by another $40 after December 31st.

Use the code HOLIDAY for 60% off, too: But that will only last until December 31st, too.

If you’ve been wanting to commit to a regular writing practice in 2025, this is the program for you. We frame it loosely for book writers, but the skills you learn apply to any writing practice for any format.
We’ve welcomed everyone from poets to journalists to scholars to novelists and nonfiction authors in the past.

And we have special guests, including literary agent Sally Ekus and book marketer Emma Sector.

Join us for 8 weeks dedicated to building the creative ecosystem, and consistent writing practice, you’ve always dreamed of!