Becoming . . . a Writer . . . an Editor . . . a Publisher

Very early in my writing career, like most novice writers, I enthusiastically attended any writers’ workshops, conferences, and retreats. But I always walked away wanting to know—what’s my voice? Everyone else seemed to be concerned with how to write a Western, or how to sign a contract with an agent, or how to submit a manuscript to a publisher. I wasn’t even close to any of those steps.

When I was finally ready to take some big steps with my writing after five years of college, my academic writing somehow stripped me of my writer’s voice. I had no idea who I was as a writer, and I didn’t know how to find out, but I did know that inherent in the question was the answer.

So, believing that you teach what you need to learn, I began contemplating what I did know: I loved to read; I wrote a daily journal; imaginary characters were my constant companions; I loved telling stories; I knew I would someday write a new kind of genre; and my basic foundational nature--I love to teach. I let intuition be my guide on my journey to becoming a writer . . . an editor . . . and a publisher. I invited everyone who wanted to discover his/her writer’s voice, what I later coined as the writer’s genius—original voice. With this, a writer could write in any genre.

I hung out my writing-workshop-shingle and they came, and I learned, and more came and shared, and I learned more, and I marveled at how creativity and intuition played a role in moving the writer on a journey of discovering his/her voice. For if I could help someone become aware of what they already owned, and helped them bring it out into the light, that individual would have a writing imprint that was inherently genuine. The student could then learn to write anything s/he had a passion to write. I discovered that the genius of one’s voice gave the writer essence. Everything else was a tool, or a prop, a frame or form that supported the writing process.

You can’t give writers too much time to “think,” or they get themselves into trouble—blocks of trouble. This prompted me to offer a springboard workshop. The focus was to find a writer’s voice; name a signature genre; identify right brain and left brain writing activities; show, through group exercises, how creativity and intuition partner in the process of writing; and hand out a “23 day writing tool” that negated writer’s block. I wanted to give the writer a fishing pole and not just serve up one meal of fish.

These were my beginning processes that formed the foundation of my extraordinary opportunities to work with, teach, and learn from other writers. These were the seeds—the heart of a writer--that have grown into my becoming a writer . . . an editor . . . and a publisher.

Please join me again . . . when I’ll rummage around in my little-black-bag-of becoming.

Until next time, thank you for sharing this time with me, our authors, and our books.

~Toni Holm-Tice
Publisher