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Writing tips, helpful hints, and stories to help you finish your book!

Let Your Books Be Heard: A Guide to Creating Audiobooks

Let Your Books Be Heard: A Guide to Creating Audiobooks A year ago, I took the plunge and began to convert my books into audiobooks. For me, it was a mission of love. I am an auditory person. I prefer to listen to books rather than read words, and I’m not alone in that experience.…
Salespeople Make the Best Lovers

Why would anyone claim to model their most intimate relationship on salespeople’s attitudes and behaviors? After all, salespeople are sleazy, selfish, and dishonest, right? No, that’s not right. In fact, the skills of professional salespeople can help you enhance your most important relationships at home, work, and school. Have you ever worked with a salesperson…
How to Get Out of Your Head and Write from Your Heart

You’re under a deadline to write a 750-word blog in a couple of hours. What do you do? If you’re anything like me when I’m under pressure, you start writing a sentence, then correct a word in that sentence, write a second sentence, correct a word in the second sentence, delete the first sentence, then…
Three Reasons to Write a Book for Yourself First

Most entrepreneurs, speakers, coaches, and leaders will say they want to write a book to benefit their readers—and rightly so. But I’m here to tell you that it’s A-Okay for you to write a book for yourself first. Why? Because when you invest your time, money, and whole heart into writing a quality book, your…
“Don’t Quit!” and Other Valuable Advice Authors Need to Finish Their Book

Although writing a book can be challenging for many reasons, I can tell you from my own experience, it’s worth it! Here are four pieces of the best advice I can give other first-time authors about how to write and finish a book. Find a core group of people to support and hold you accountable—no…
Visualizing the Four CORE Principles of Writing

I used to think (naively) that if someone was a talented painter, she could sit down at an easel, pick up a brush, and paint an impressive picture with relative ease. In other words, I believed that an artist’s talent somehow determined whether the creative process took much effort or not. In contrast, as a…
Perception Does Not Equal Reality.  
Perception is More Important than Reality

We’ve all heard the phrase “perception equals reality” or some derivative of it, right? Well, in “reality,” that phrase is a lie. Perception does not equal reality. If you dive into the definitions of the two words “perception” and “reality,” you will see that reality excludes perception. Perception: A way of understanding or interpreting things.…
Why You Should Take Source Citation Seriously

Perhaps you remember this task from school. You had to write a term paper or a thesis, and your professor explained that you had to cite your sources, pointing you to MLA or APA as your guide. If you were anything like me, you might have rolled your eyes, yawned, or cried to the heavens,…
Five Insider Secrets to Writing and Finishing Your Book

I’m an accomplished speaker, sales professional, and business owner, but I was not prepared for what writing my book, Speak with Confidence. Sell with Authority (April 2018) kicked up for me. It awakened every inch of me. I found a voice for everything I was thinking, doing, saying, or experiencing at the time: “I’m not…
Avoid Costly Mistakes: Choose the Best Publishing Option for You

There’s never been a better time to publish your book. There’s also never been a better time to make a lot of self-publishing mistakes. To avoid the most costly mistakes, you should know the key differences between traditional versus self-publishing, including three different ways to self-publish. Knowing your options will help you choose the book…
Five Surprising Writing Rules from The Chicago Manual of Style

The Chicago Manual of Style, informally known as Chicago or CMS, is the reference guide for editors of fiction and nonfiction books. It’s our go-to source for editing guidelines and for any suggestions we editors make to authors about their manuscript. Although CMS contains volumes of principles and guidelines about writing, here are five general…
Writing an Autobiography that Leaves a Lasting Legacy Today

An “autobiography” or “legacy book” is a personal history you write for family members, friends, and sometimes colleagues, hoping to inspire and influence them with the legacy of your personal life and career. At its best, your life story will impart your values and wisdom in a way that inspires, teaches, and leads those who…
What I Wish I’d Known Before Writing My Book

In 2017, I published my book, Powerhouse Woman. I was a first-time author and an unlikely one at that. Although I had had a health and fitness blog for three years, I only published an average of one new blog article per year! You read that correctly. I had exactly three articles on my blog,…
Choosing the Best Transcription Services for Your Writing Project

One strategy for getting your book written is “talking” your ideas into your phone or a digital recorder and then having that recording transcribed. For entrepreneurs on-the-go or for those who don’t type quickly, capturing your expertise digitally and then transcribing those recordings for yourself can be a viable option. Besides saving you money, transcribing…
Is Your Editor a Friend or Foe?

If you’ve never worked hand-in-hand with an editor before, you may not know much about how the editing process works. You might also be afraid of what an editor will think about your writing. Will she be your friend or your foe? Writers new to working with editors might picture them as people like your…
Financing Your Writing

I know sometimes it’s tough to deal with the challenges of feeling like you don’t have enough money to do the things you really want: take a vacation, buy a new car, or even start your own business. I have spent many years as a business coach training people around sales and money conversations. Over…
Three Ways to Find Time to Write

One of the legitimate concerns people face when it comes to writing a book (or even a blog) is finding time to write. Believe it or not, as a well-published author, I can sympathize. I’m always writing or editing for my clients—that’s my job! What often feels like a struggle, however, is finding time to…
Why You, Too, Are Good Enough to Write Your Book

During a C-SPAN panel discussion in 1997, journalist and intellectual Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) said, “Everyone has a book inside them.” As an aspiring author, I was fortunate that I never knew he also said, “in most cases, that’s exactly where it should remain.” Before publishing my book, When Death Comes Knocking for Your Patients, if…
Are You Ready to Audiobook? 5 Essential Factors for Nonfiction Authors

More and more non-fiction authors are recognizing the incredible potential audiobooks offer their business. Eager entrepreneurs, however, may dive in headfirst without giving sufficient forethought into how this unique tool can best be leveraged. Audiobooks are the fastest-growing sector of the entire publishing industry. The Association of American Publishers show audiobook downloads up by 31.1%…
Get Your Writing Done: Use a Recording Device, a Google Doc, and a Writing Partner

You may have heard a fast, economical way to get your writing done is to use a recording device free to download on any smartphone. Then, for anywhere between $0.75 to $1.00 per minute, you can have your recording transcribed and back to you within 24 to 48 hours. From that transcription, you can then shape…

Unfailing, Efficient, and Expert Guidance

I am ever grateful for the unfailing, efficient, and expert guidance I receive from Dr. Bush and her skilled Accountability Coaches in the “Write to Launch Now” program. Laura’s remarkable patience and tact as I present my weekly writing for workshopping never ceases to impress me. She projects a warm, cheerful attitude as she works with each author, giving us specific direction and clarity toward our end goal. I now know my book, Hiding Behind the Mask of Leadership, will be published in just a few months.

Deb Thibodeaux
Higher Education Executive
Author, Hiding Behind the Mask of Leadership

Peacock Proud Press

2017-08-31T00:21:34-07:00

Deb Thibodeaux
Higher Education Executive
Author, Hiding Behind the Mask of Leadership

I am ever grateful for the unfailing, efficient, and expert guidance I receive from Dr. Bush and her skilled Accountability Coaches in the “Write to Launch Now” program. Laura’s remarkable patience and tact as I present my weekly writing for workshopping never ceases to impress me. She projects a warm, cheerful attitude as she works with each author, giving us specific direction and clarity toward our end goal. I now know my book, Hiding Behind the Mask of Leadership, will be published in just a few months.

https://www.peacockproud.com/testimonials/unfailing-efficient-and-expert-guidance/

Peacock Proud Press

The Write Way to Quarantine: 10 Glimpses into Our Personal Experience

As writers, we’ve taken on the challenge issued by Time magazine and the Indiana Historical Society to write about our experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The range of our reflections below capture 10 glimpses into this history-making moment from mid-March to mid-May 2020. We encourage you to capture your own quarantine stories and would love…
My Mom: Solid as a Rock

Dear Mom, Since you know I love you forever and always, on this Mother’s Day, I wanted to tell you about a few things I’ve learned from you. First, you taught me dependability, self-discipline, and routine. Growing up, I watched you day-after-day get up early, help Dad off to work, open up the beauty shop,…
Sex Education

In her memoir, My Pussy Talks, Mukee Okan tells a candid, moving story of her conservative upbringing in Sydney, Australia and how, as an adult, she became a paid escort, a certified sexual surrogate partner, and a spiritual sexuality teacher. Her frank, often comical stories about her first adolescent sexual experiences show how little she and other…
Surviving Online Dating Fraud

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which provides the public with a means of reporting internet-facilitated crimes, reports that when compared to other online crimes, romance scams result in the highest amount of financial losses to victims. In their most recent available report of 2016, almost 15,000 romance scam complaints were reported—nearly 2,500 more…
My Deceitful Body

I went to the altar at Sherwood Baptist church frequently because the thought of being unholy terrified me. The church taught me that, if I died at any minute but had not repented from a sin that I committed a mere minute before, I would end up in hell, thanks to my most recent unconfessed…
Life Takes Another Turn

February 27, 1994 When Scott, my fiancé, got out of bed, I was expecting another luscious, lazy Sunday with the love of my life. But life took another turn. “Peggy, can you come in here, please, and take a look at this?” he yelled from the bathroom in our apartment. Curious, I stepped into the…
Santa Is Coming Soon

I didn’t need the weatherman to tell me a storm is coming or that winter break is just around the corner. I have Kindergartners in the library. There is something in the air today. I can feel it when I walk into the room. The message eerily floats in like the green fog angel of…
Escaping a Lynching

Because Daddy [Charles Billups] participated in . . . nonviolent protests [during the civil rights era in Birmingham, Alabama] . . . the police kept grabbing him, and he spent a lot of time in jail, away from his family. Whenever he was gone, we all missed him. One day, when Daddy was driving back…
Joining the Suicide Survivors Club

It’s Tuesday, December 19, 2000, the day my life changed forever. I pick up my daughter Jennifer after school promptly at 3:35pm. She is ten years old and in grade five. She hops into the backseat of the van, her blonde hair peeking out from under her winter hat. She quickly removes her scarf once…
What Did I Know of Tragedy?

As part of my ministry with my husband, Roger, in the Damascus Road Church of God we founded, I often tried to help those who were going through very traumatic times: loss of livelihood, grave illness, incarceration, deaths of loved ones. These were people in poverty and misery. Some were homeless, some were in prison.…

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