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Jocelyn Carbonara 10/17/24 Jocelyn Carbonara 10/17/24

Author Gary Laney: “A Book Needs to Invoke a Feeling of Building Something”

Please enjoy this Q&A about the book writing process with leadership author Gary C. Laney.

SPIRITUS BOOKS: Tell us a little about your book and why you wrote it.

GARY C. LANEY: Become a Super Leader instructs leaders and emerging leaders how to identify and develop skillsets they need in order to maximize their performance at a proficient level. It also addresses the importance of identifying one competency in which they may possess a natural ability; this can potentially become their superpower as a leader and later a legacy they can leave behind.

Scott Carbonara 10/10/24 Scott Carbonara 10/10/24

Rituals to Help You Write

Many athletes perform rituals when they’re on a winning streak. For example, some refuse to shave, wear the same socks for each game, or fuel up on the same pre-game snack. While it’s doubtful that these quirky habits play any part in the outcome of a game, these rituals may help an athlete mentally prepare.

Writers also need to put on their "game day" mindset quickly when planning to write. Although professional writers can generate inspiration out of thin air, most of us need to prime the pump to get our heads ready.

Here are a few pre-writing rituals to kickstart your creative process.

Jocelyn Carbonara 10/3/24 Jocelyn Carbonara 10/3/24

Does My Book Need an Outline?

When writing a book, you’re like a tour guide inviting a reader on a journey through your topic. Readers aren’t risking much to spend a few minutes scanning an 800-ish word article. If they’re bored, confused, or even offended, they can move on and still enjoy their lunch. But what about with a non-fiction book, which averages 50,000 to 60,000 words? That’s like going on a weeklong road trip with you.

Scott Carbonara 9/26/24 Scott Carbonara 9/26/24

Is My Life Interesting Enough for a Memoir?

I hear this all the time. The person asking sometimes replaces interesting with words like great, special, dramatic, exciting, or unique.

That question usually implies that memoirs are only for people who’ve lived extraordinary lives or experienced “next-level” events. Or sometimes it implies: Imagine the ego someone must have to write a whole book about their own life.

However, as a ghostwriter of memoirs, I answer this differently.

Jocelyn Carbonara 9/19/24 Jocelyn Carbonara 9/19/24

Author Jenny Lisk: “Memoir Is an Act of Service”

Please enjoy this Q&A about the book writing process with memoir author Jenny Lisk.

JENNY LISK: My first book is a memoir, Future Widow: Losing My Husband, Saving My Family, and Finding My Voice. It’s an account of losing my husband, Dennis, to brain cancer when our kids were nine and eleven, and then trying to figure out how the rest of us would carry on. I know from experience that widowed parents feel lost and alone, so if my story could help some of them, I really wanted to write it.

Jocelyn Carbonara 9/12/24 Jocelyn Carbonara 9/12/24

Can My Journalist Friend or Former English Teacher Edit My Book?

Can your neighbor or journalist friend edit your book? Maybe, but someone who isn’t trained in how to edit a book—meaning how to ensure that it holds engagement, continuity, and clarity across 35,000 to 100,000 words versus, say, 800 words—may be leaving opportunities, and likely errors, on the table.