By Heather Kreke @HKreke
In mid September of 2020, I started my second novel. Before I finished my first, which I had been working on for twelve years. A friend suggested a change would be good for me. She was right, for a short while. In September I wrote 6 days and completed 886 words. In October, I fell back into my old habits. I wrote 1 day that month, 200 words. November was BRMCWC, and I was thrilled to be back in the mountains surrounded by my writing family. I wrote a whopping 7 days and 2,086 words. Most of those days were at Blue Ridge.
I sat at a table durning the conference racking my brain with the scene I had tried to write repeatedly. Why did I even bother being there? I was a fake. I had taken years of classes on writing, attended many conferences, and I love writing. I love being with writers, but I don’t write. Well, I don’t work on my novel like I should, but at that point I was beyond counting blog posts, articles, or things for my “day job” as writing. At dinner that night, I told a friend I had an idea but I wasn’t good enough to write it. I asked him to ghost write for me. He said no. He told me I could do it, and he offered to help.
That’s how I got my writing coach.
Since then I have written almost every day. I have more than 20k words* completed on my novel and my enthusiasm for the story continues to rise. Knowing that I have someone to keep tabs on me pushes me like nothing has ever pushed me before. Every two weeks I send him everything I’ve written. He edits, looks for plot holes, tells me when something I’ve written doesn’t make sense. He tells me I’ve used the word “was” 79 times in 1,200 words. And yes, once he even told me to scrap my work (in the nicest way) and come at it from a different angle. We zoom every two weeks, and he encourages me as we go over my writing. We brainstorm different ideas for scenes and different directions the story could go. He never forces his opinion on me. I am the author, and he understands if I don’t like one of his suggestions or think the story needs to go a different way.
Yes, I have friends and family who encourage and support me, but even they have admitted they are too close to me to push. I consider my coach a close friend, but it’s different with him then with my other friends. He has expectations for my writing, and I’m paying him to hold me to them.
I know lots of authors who use a writing coach for many different reasons, from newbies to authors with many published books. Wether it’s motivation, a second set of eyes, a brainstorming session, or just someone to point out a crutch word (in my case was), a writing coach is a wonderful idea.
Do you use a writing coach? If you do what benefits have you found?
*This post was originally posted Feb 2021. Update: My novel came out November 28th 2022, and book two will be out later this year. Without my coach I’d still be writing book 1.
Heather is a novelist who is passionate about showing teens and young adults they can find hope in God’s plan for their lives – even through the darkest times. She is published on numerous blogs and in the Christian Writers Market Guide. She is one of the Co-Coordinators for Blue Ridge Reader Connections. She also teaches a writing class at her church and completed coursework through the former Christian Writers Guild.
Heather is a mother of 3 redheaded girls and has been married to a redheaded husband since 2004.
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