Reminder. We are out of office this week. Writers' circle is only happening if YOU SHOW UP FOR YOURSELF today. What does solo writing time look like/feel like for you today?

“𝑇𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑒’𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑦—𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑙—𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.” On this day in 2004, Google announced Gmail—and most people thought it was a joke. Why? Because they were offering something no one else dared to: 1 GB of free storage It sounded unrealistic. Too big. Too bold. And yet… it changed everything. Fun Fact:Gmail started as invite-only, and those invites were so valuable people were actually selling them online. Now let’s bring this back to YOU and your book… How many times have you had an idea that felt:• Too big• Too different• Too “who am I to say this?” And instead of sharing it… you held it back? The ideas people doubt the most are often the ones that matter most.I know as I have experienced this, sat on ideas for too long and then either abandoned them or decided to take action... Your book might feel like that right now. Unfinished. Uncertain. Or maybe even a little “too bold” to put out into the world. But just like Gmail… It doesn’t have to be perfect to be powerful. It just has to be shared. 𝐌𝐲 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲...If you stopped overthinking and trusted your voice… What message would you finally put into your book?

Hi everyone! I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz lately about a writing and formatting tool called Atticus… and I wanted to bring it to you for some real-world feedback. I’m in an AI-focused group right now, and quite a few members are absolutely singing its praises... especially for how it streamlines the process of writing and formatting a book all in one place. So of course it got me curious. So I’d love to ask this amazing community: Have you used Atticus? What was your experience like? Did it make your writing or publishing process easier? Would you recommend it… or not so much? And if you haven’t tried it yet, what tools are you currently using to write. format, publish your book? As many of you are in different stages of your book journey, from idea to draft to published, I think this could be a really helpful conversation for all of us. I am in the formatting stage and was thinking about who I should hire to format for amazon, print on demand, etc. and this topic came up today... Your thoughts and experiences would be really helpful! —Heidi

Step one. Fill in the Blanks... make your own unique list... Tomorrow I will share step two... Comment DONE when you have your list. STEP ONE: Fill in the blanks: 1. Adjective 2. Adjective 3. Noun 4. Place 5. Verb (ending in -ing) 6. Verb 7. Emotion 8. Famous author 9. Object 10. Adjective 11. Animal 12. Verb (past tense) 13. Type of food 14. Profession 15. Adjective 16. Noun 17. Verb 18. Something you shout dramatically 19. Color 20. Abstract idea (like courage, chaos, curiosity, etc.) OK... STEP TWO 2️⃣ - On holiday last month, I got my daughter something that became the center of many days... MADLIBS. - So you are going to take your list of words from yesterday. - Add them to the story below... - BONUS POINTS if you share a video of you reading the new story. Now Read Your Story Yesterday I sat down in a (1. adjective) café in (4. place) determined to finally write my (2. adjective) book. I opened my laptop, stared at the blinking cursor, and began (5. verb -ing) like a true literary genius. Suddenly, a (3. noun) appeared beside me and whispered, “You must (6. verb) if you want readers to feel (7. emotion).” Naturally, I assumed this was advice from the spirit of (8. famous author). Inspired, I grabbed my (9. object) and began drafting a (10. adjective) masterpiece about a (11. animal) who (12. verb past tense) across the world in search of the perfect (13. food). Halfway through chapter one, a mysterious (14. profession) appeared and said my writing had the power to change (15. adjective) (16. noun) forever. I immediately decided to (17. verb) my manuscript to every publisher on earth. Just before pressing send, I stood up and shouted: “(18. dramatic phrase)!” The room went silent. A (19. color) light shone through the window, and in that moment I realized the true power of writing was not fame or fortune… It was (20. abstract idea). And also possibly the (13. food). PART THREE We are moving into PRODUCTION... Your madlib is not a book... USE AI to make a COVER mock-up of your story: (Use your preferred AI or experiment with a new one)

This is from a book my grandfather gave me before he died. I used to share this with my high school students when I was a teacher. [Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss] Since we are digging in this week, I wanted to share it here. I love this. What comes up for you when you read these two letters?