Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach

Latest Episodes:

Ep 153: In a World of Author Branding, Find a Place to Play May 22, 2018

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If you scroll through my Instagram feed, it won’t take long before you’ll see quotes on pictures, quotes with colored backgrounds, sourced images and my own snapshots all jumbled together. It’s not pretty. -

Ep 152: 20 Generous (and Easy!) Ways to Encourage a Writer Today May 15, 2018

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As a writer, you know how amazing it feels to get positive feedback on something you've shared with the world, whether a blog post, article, poem, or even a short social media update. - And if you're an author trying to get a book into the hands of re...

Ep 151: Your Best Mother’s Day Gift Ever - A Written Tribute May 08, 2018

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This coming Sunday in the United States we celebrate Mother’s Day. Eight years ago, I wrote a tribute to my writer-mom, reflecting on they way she modeled how to live the tension of being the mom she wanted to be while also being the writer she wanted ...

Ep 150: Write Your One-Line Legacy May 01, 2018

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About 20 minutes before the my dad’s calling and funeral service were scheduled to begin, we were milling around, chatting with various family members, organizing papers for the service. - Throughout the week,

Ep 149: Write Your Own Obituary Apr 24, 2018

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When my dad died in March, our family worked together to write the obituary. Each of us thought back on his life to decide the right stories to tell, the best details to share. - What career highlights or life accomplishments should we bring up?

Ep 148: Increase Writing Quality by Both Filling and Stilling Your Mind Apr 17, 2018

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On a recent road trip, I loaded the “up next” feature of my podcast player with every episode that sounded intriguing. One episode would play after another without my having to touch it. Hours of Filling the Mind As I rolled down the freeway, I listened to hours and hours of podcasts, filling my mind with interviews, ideas, tips, and strategies related to writing and publishing, creativity and productivity, social media and marketing. That continuous input felt like taking back-to-back sessions at a conference or classes at college. Hungry to learn, I gorged on the steady diet of nourishing information. Hours of Stilling the Mind When I arrived at my destination, I turned off the podcast player. Silence. My brain grew still. That’s naturally what happened at the end of my long journey. But of course that’s exactly what I needed next. After filling my mind, I needed to still my mind. I needed to build in space and time to process and ponder the content I had taken in. I needed time to decide which ideas I could “own” for myself and integrate into my life and work. How could I test them out without some degree of stillness? Hours of Input Need Hours of Silence My outing was my Grand Gesture, if you recall from the last episode. I was near a beach. I made a commitment to walk every day, at least an hour. Sometimes two. As I walked, all that input from hours of listening and learning tumbled around in my mind, mixing with whatever I’d dropped in there over the years. Waves spilled against sand and lulled me into a relaxed state of trust in the directions my mind meandered. Freed from overthinking and overanalyzing, I solved a few sticky issues and casually outlined a few projects. I gained excitement and vision for the year ahead. Fill + Still = Breakthroughs While I have a lifetime of input floating around inside me, I believe in the importance of continuing to fill myself with more. I’m a lifelong learner, I guess. I want to keep my mind sharp. But I also see the value—the necessity—of following the filling with a stilling my mind, giving it space to make connections and arrive at breakthroughs. We have those a-ha moments while walking, showering, folding laundry, washing dishes. When we aren’t actively problem-solving, our minds are still enough to wander, think, make connections. This is a valuable state for a writer in need of breakthrough for a sticking point in a project. Effortless Breakthrough After a period of filling the mind, take time to quiet the noise. Turn down the volume, whether literal or figurative. Give the brain some down time. In the stillness of those quieter, less mentally demanding times, we figure it out: I just realized how my heroine will escape the trap! Ah! I know the third stanza in the poem—I can hear it in my head. For that essay, I’ll allude to a line in a play and write a section on how it resonates with our society. Our rested state allows us to arrive at clarity and vision. Filling and Stilling, We Write Unique With your insight, you can put the idea together in a way that only you can. That’s why you and I could both write about the same topic or respond to the same prompt and your final product would be completely different from mine. Not only are our styles different, but we’ve filled our minds with different content. You read this book while I read that. You came across a quote in your travels and I found one in a letter my mom wrote to her best friend when she was in college. You pored over medical research, while I had a conversation at a party thrown by a friend. We have it all inside, ready to increase the clarity and quality of our writing.

Ep 147: You and Your Writing Deserve the Grand Gesture Apr 10, 2018

Show notes

About a month ago, I escaped the frigid late-winter temperatures of the American Midwest and headed out on a big road trip. - By myself. - To write. - (And to walk on the beach.) - ’Twas a big investment of time and resources.

Ep 146: Your Writing Life Beginnings Apr 03, 2018

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The past two weeks, I shared with you parts one and two of my writing life beginnings. I reflected back on when, where, and how I began to dream of writing, pursue writing, and latch on to the writing identity. -

Ep 145: My Writing Life Beginnings, Pt 2 Mar 27, 2018

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Note: This was originally published both at my website and at Tweetspeak Poetry back in 2013. - I signed up for an American Literature class. The instructor didn’t ask about my brother, and I understood what I read,

Ep 144: My Writing Life Beginnings, Pt. 1 Mar 20, 2018

Show notes

Note: This was originally published both at my website and at Tweetspeak Poetry back in 2013. - My mom, a journalist, was talking with a friend. She beamed at my brother. “Charlie, he’s the writer of the family. And Annie? She’s…” Here,

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