Okayâ?¦so you decided to hire a writing coachâ?¦letâ??s say you have found one and you are ready to finish that novel and become rich and famous or at least publish your book for family and friends.  What now?

     You are in for a life-changing experience, for it is one thing to write a novel or even a short story; itâ??s entirely different to share your precious bundle of joy with someone else who will correct it, constructively criticize it and possibly make suggestions that you donâ??t agree with.  How do you work with the coach now that youâ??re on the same team?  I have five suggestions that have helped me in the three years Iâ??ve been working with a writing coach:

(1)        Be honest-you need to be honest and up front on exactly what you are working on, how much you want to put into it and even why you write.  This process of becoming a career writer has forced me to go back and evaluate why I do what I do many times.  All this needs to be shared with your coach so he or she can best teach, encourage and push you toward a successful, significant career.

(2)        Decide on the direction-Decide on a direction for your career while you are evaluating why you do what you do.  Are you strictly fiction or non-fiction in writing?  Are you going to pursue short stories or novels or poetry?  Do you plan to go after a publishing house with your work or to self publish?  Though my focus has veered from its course now and again, my overall purpose and direction has remained the same.

(3)        Set goals- Itâ??s important to have weekly goals, monthly or quarterly goals and yearly goals for you must be going after something.  Just saying, â??Iâ??m writing a bookâ? isnâ??t enough.  Have goals to write certain word counts or chapters, to have edits done and to do promo work.  This will keep you inspired when things are slow which definitely happens.

(4)        Complete your assignments-Finishing those assignments given by your coach, especially ones that are goal-oriented, will help you to focus on writing.  Sometimes I get bored with a certain assignment and I might have to start something else and come back to it but I have tried hard to finish what I have started.  Falling into the trap of not completing things will catch up with you in the future with bad work habits and compromise in your writing.

(5)        Be ready to agree to disagree-I listen carefully to my writing coach but occasionally I have disagreed.  Learning to agree to disagree and not making it a place to get stuck is important as writing is a long and tedious process.   I have learned to think suggestions through and take time to decide if I can have peace about the suggestion or not.   Mutual respect is the key.

    Working with a coach has been rewarding but I have also complained, whined, gotten annoyed and tried to give up countless times.  Following the above steps have helped me become a better client and a better writer than ever before.  Yes, I still need a lot of work but thank goodness thatâ??s where my editor comes in.  You say you might want an editor too?  Join me next week as we will talk about going ahead and getting your work editedâ?¦