Welcome! I’m Donna Goodin, literature Ph.D. lover of stories and books, and Author Accelerator certified book coach.
If you are a woman in the second half of life who has always wanted to write a book, you’ve come to the right place.
But taking the plunge at our age, especially if you haven’t written much before, can feel daunting, right? Do you find yourself wondering things like:
- Do I really have the chops to write a book?
- What if my story doesn’t work out?
- Who am I to write a book?
- Is my story idea good enough?
- What if my friends/family laugh?
- How will I ever find the time?
- Am I too old?
Why the focus on the second half of life, you might ask.
Because our years make us spicy. They make us interesting. Whether you’ve been an accountant, a doctor, a full-time mom, or a teacher, I know that all your life experiences have given you great stories to tell, whether they be your actual stories, or fictional stories. Our stories can’t help but spring from who we are, and all that we’ve lived. And by now, you’ve probably lived a lot. So no matter what your age, it’s never too late to write a book. As for the other questions, there’s only one way to find out, and that is to take the leap.
But you can leap with a safety net underneath you. That net is called a Book Coach. A book coach is someone who will support you and guide you through your writing project. As an Author Accelerator book coach, certified in fiction, memoir, and nonfiction, I have been trained by leaders in the industry to help writers take their stories from ideas to full manuscripts. As your book coach, I will provide you with technical and structural feedback, but also support for your personal writer’s journey. Here are just a few ways in which I can support you:
- Help you to set attainable, weekly writing goals that foster your writing while honoring the other pieces of your life.
- Provide feedback on story elements such as narrative voice, story structure, and character development.
- Help you pin down those belligerent parts of your story that insist on staying fuzzy, despite all your free-writing, story boarding, etc.
- Help you tighten the finer details of your story so that you can confidently pursue your publication goals.
- Support you during those times when you feel like an impostor and wonder why you ever decided to do this!
For many women, reaching the latter half of our life brings with it questions about where we’ve been and where we’re going, about dreams fulfilled and unfulfilled. We start to realize that our days on this earth are numbered, in a way that we never did before. If you believe Oliver Burkeman, we have a mere four thousand weeks. So let’s not waste them. Whether you’ve finished a draft and want help with revisions, or whether you are a complete beginner, I’d love to talk, so we can see if my coaching is right for you.
Email me, and let’s see if we can work together to make your writing dreams a reality.
What a difference between the writer I was, and the writer I am since working with Donna! I came to Donna in the early stages of my project. I had an idea of where I wanted to go, but on my own, I was only circling the block. Her coaching know-how set me on course to turn the story in my head into actual chapters of my draft.
Donna is the real deal. She guides with wisdom, warmth, encouragement, and enthusiasm, and it’s a total delight to have her in your corner, cheering you on. And besides all this, she maintains high expectations for her writers. A pivotal moment was when she spoke frankly to me about the unworkability of my writing practice, which was irregular at the time. Because she did not back down from calling out problems when she saw them, I knew that she was not just humoring me as a novice writer, and that I could trust her feedback, both the praise and the course-corrections. Thank you, Donna, for fast-tracking me toward the skills I needed to start meeting my own expectations as a writer. Who knows how long that would have taken without you!
—Jennifer Ramos
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The Experiment of Writing a Book
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