Our Blog
Writing tips, helpful hints, and stories to help you finish your book!
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 RealityWe’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…
3 Big Barriers to Writing a Bestselling Book: Dabbling, Dawdling, and Dashing
If you haven’t written the book you’ve always wanted to write, it might be because you’ve been dabbling, dawdling, or dashing your way through the book writing and publishing process. See if you recognize yourself in any of the following scenarios: Dabble: (1) to immerse one’s hands or feet partially in water and move them around gently (splash, dip, paddle,) or (2) to take part in an activity in a…
Writing an Obituary: One Last Kindness
Writing an obituary is one of the last kindnesses you can do to honor a loved one’s life. But unless you’ve had to do it, you may know very little about writing an obituary (a public notice of death, usually with a brief biography), a eulogy (a tribute praising a deceased person), or a life sketch (a summary of a person’s…
Protect Your Time to Write
Do you schedule regular writing time on your calendar so that your book or blog or LinkedIn article gets out in the world? If you answered “no” to this question, you’re not alone. Many would-be authors struggle to carve out time to write–even me! But to get your writing finished, you MUST protect your time…
Unfailing, Efficient, and Expert Guidance
Deb Thibodeaux
Higher Education Executive
Author, Hiding Behind the Mask of Leadership
Deb Thibodeaux
Higher Education Executive
Author, Hiding Behind the Mask of Leadership
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.…
The Spitter
Ohio takes football seriously. There is nothing more insulting than making a disparaging remark about the Buckeyes, especially if the remark comes from a Michigan fan. Dan, wearing a maize-and-blue shirt says, “Mrs. Eberst, he spit on me.” Looking at the accused spatter and thinking this is out of character for this student, I call…
Four Surprising Things I Learned about Breast Cancer After I was Diagnosed
After a couple of abnormal-looking mammograms taken in my late 40s, I needed follow-up ultrasound exams. It turns out that I have numerous fluid-filled sacks in my breasts called cysts, which are common among women, but they can make interpreting a mammogram more challenging. In cases like mine, doctors often use ultrasound exams to further screen…