Want to write a book? Here's how to start

Book coach Ruth Bullivant gives a live masterclass at 1pm today for all paid subscribers to The Heart Leap Club.

Photo by 2Photo Pots on Unsplash

At Heart Leap, I explore how to build a happy, creative, and simple life. At 9 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, I host ‘happy writing hours’ for paid subscribers. It’s for anyone who is trying to write a book, start a Substack, or just have a little accountability for their writing practice. We chat for 5 minutes or so, and then we write quietly together for the rest of the hour. It’s strangely comforting and motivational to have a cohort of writers to support you and write alongside you. I also run monthly master classes on motivation and inspiration.

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Masterclass at 1pm Wednesday 24th April

Your Book on a Page: getting clear on your book's right to exist in the world

You are writing a book that shares your experience with others to help them help themselves.

Or you may be a specialist in your field, writing the capstone book to your career for a general audience.

Or you may be a coach, a business owner who wants to reach a broader audience so that you can help them with your skills.

You have some ideas for what the book might look like, but you don’t know where to start, or what is the most efficient way of going about it. Or maybe you have started but you can feel control of the book slipping away from you as you write. You may be worrying about what lies ahead for your book on its journey to publication: have you thought about all the things a publisher, or your reader, might demand?

I am delighted that Ruth Bullivant, Book Coach, is joining us for an interactive masterclass to help you get clear about your book.

This session will help you to understand what writing a book actually entails.

Spoiler alert: it's more than starting on page one and writing another three hundred pages. 

We look at the key concepts and components that build your book and persuade a reader to seize it, or attract an agent or publisher's attention. 

When we finish our session, you will feel a warm glow of confidence, knowing exactly what you need to do next to move your book on.

• Learn why it’s important to know who you are writing for.

• Find out why you are writing this book.

• Discover what might be getting in your way.

You will benefit from:

• Learning the key concepts that lie behind a successful book proposal or query letter.

• A worksheet that helps you express your book on a page.

• Listening to live, 'hot seat' coaching from Ruth in the session.

This session will suit:

• Someone who is writing a book for publication, whether they intend to self-publish or to seek traditional publication. 

• Someone who wants to write a book and is fizzing with so many ideas they don’t know where to start.

• Someone who has started to write a book and got stuck, or has had their book proposal or query letter rejected, and is feeling bad about that.

• Coaches and other professionals and business owners who are mulling a book idea, or have started writing, particularly in the memoir and self-help genre. Fiction writers will also benefit.

This class will not suit:

• Writers of works not intended to be published as a book.

• Someone who has begun the submission process and has traction in querying traditional publishers.

• The writer of a finished manuscript who cannot bear the idea of rewriting to make their book stronger.

How can Ruth Bullivant help us?

Helping you to develop your book idea is Ruth's strength. Editing your words on the page is her joy. Ruth gained her certification in Nonfiction and in Fiction Book Coaching three years ago, and since then has helped over sixty writers achieve their writing goals. Eight of those writers have published their books. They and Ruth like to think the books are all the better for coaching and editing; regardless, everyone had a lot of fun in the process. A long time ago, Ruth gained an MA in Classics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and then spoiled it all by spending thirty-five years in banking law. When the excitement became too much, she built her book coaching and editing business in the UK and North America, full-time. You can get to know her a little better at: www.ruthbullivant.com 

Here’s the Zoom link