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Writing Boots

Featuring a mix of pragmatic writing tools, practices to help creativity flow, strategies for selling work, and the subsequent necessary logistics and marketing.

January 22, 2010

A Powerful No

When we don’t say no, we water down our agreements, our commitments, and our focus.  read more »

January 20, 2010

Finding Your Voice

In an ideal world, we would ask for 100% of what we want, 100% of the time, listen to what others want, and negotiate to agreement.  read more »

December 6, 2009

Your (Writing) Un-Resolution

It seems like an annual, national delusion - what makes us think that we’re going to succeed in making a resolution work THIS year, when we’ve abandoned them in every other instance?  read more »

December 4, 2009

Practice Writing, Writing Practice

 Most of us are so accustomed to fast forwarding past discomfort into new activity that the moment of discomfort may not even reach our conscious awareness.  read more »

November 30, 2009

Body? What Body?

People are numb because they have trained themselves not to feel, often for very good reasons, the ache of living, and they are numb because they have no language for what they are experiencing.  read more »

October 12, 2009

Themestorming Your Novel

Ka-boom!  Now we’re in the landscape of the traditional novel writing process, creating scenes and identifying protagonist and antagonist, helpers and obstacles, motivating actions, coincidences, and catastrophes.  read more »

October 9, 2009

Write Tasty! Become Your Reader's Ideal Writer

Write tasty!  Just as in cooking, the layers of narrative character, point of view, and perspective add richness to the stew of your novel.   read more »

October 6, 2009

So you want to write a novel?

What I want to say, loud and clear, is that you must find your way through the mire of advice and head-nodding, the certainty that others will have about what is essentially one of the most personal processes on the planet.  Your novel can only come about when you make the commitment to yourself to be true to your process, your characters, and the aliveness of your dream.  read more »

September 9, 2009

Welcome to Writing Boots

Welcome to Writing Boots, a writing blog for people who want to write books.  Writing a book is a significant achievement.  It takes time, dedication, commitment, energy, and a willingness to show up to write, over and over again, until the book is finished.  read more »


Nancy Shanteau is a writing coach and children's writer in Grass Valley, California. Learn more >