There’s nothing quite like it. That feeling of walking into the bookstore and seeing your name on the cover of a new release sitting there on the shelf. It’s pretty damn magical, if I do say so myself.

But there’s also nothing quite like the feeling you get when, after waiting for weeks, sometimes months, you finally get a response from the editor or agent to whom you submitted your latest work and…it’s another rejection. Even worse, there isn’t any helpful feedback – no sense of where you went wrong or what you can do to make it better. How are you supposed to improve if no one is telling you what you’re doing wrong? How are you supposed to make yourself stand out from the thousands of other submissions they are receiving?

I know, you say to yourself, I’ll sign up for one of those live workshops. One taught by a team of successful authors. Surely they can help me, you think. But every workshop you look at costs hundreds of dollars per session, never mind what it will cost to travel and stay in the hotel for the week. By the time you’re done you’ve spent well over a thousand dollars. Who can afford that?

There has to be a better way. You know what? There is.

It’s called the Summer Writing Intensive and it’s taught by two successful authors, Jon F Merz and Joe Nassise, who have sold more than thirty books between them in the last eight years to publishers such as Simon & Schuster, Harlequin/Gold Eagle, Kensington, St. Martin’s Press, HarperCollins and Tor.

You want to be confident the next time you submit your work. You want that submission to generate interest; for that editor or agent to sit up and take notice. Ideally, that interest will turn into an offer of publication and eventually, later on down the road, you’ll be the one walking into that bookstore looking for that first sight of your new book on the shelves, waiting for a legion of crazed readers to buy it.

The Summer Writing Intensive can help get you there. Best of all, you can do it from your own home at a fraction of the cost of other writing retreats.

The workshop consists of eight live webinars; each focusing on a key element of the writing craft that you need to know in order for your manuscript stand out from the rest and to make your career what you want it to be.

Each webinar session will be an hour long and will include handouts and real-world examples to illustrate the point of each lesson. As a participant you’ll be able to ask questions and interact during all of the sessions, allowing you the opportunity to learn from your fellow participants as well as from the instructors. Transcripts of each session will be available after the workshop for you to refer back to at a later date, so you’ll always have the material on hand when you need it.

Here’s a quick look at the sessions and what you’ll be focusing on in each one:

Story Structure: Crafting a Plot that Begs the Reader to Keep Reading

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• How proper structure is necessary for a story to work
• Why conflict is the key to any story, regardless of genre
• The three pillars of plot that support your story
• The best ways to build complications that make sense and increase the conflict

Living, Breathing Characters: Make Your Heroes and Villains Come Alive

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• Techniques to design and execute character arcs in your stories
• How to give your heroes larger-than-life qualities
• The proper use of backstory and how to provide context to your characters’ actions
• How to create villains that your readers love to hate

Pacing: Getting to the Climax is Just as Important as Having a Good One

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• How to craft an effective hook to open your story
• The importance of adding tension to every page
• Why so many books sag in the middle – and what you can do to prevent it from happening to yours
• Five ways to craft a knock-out ending

Action Scenes: It’s a Gun Fight not a Ballet

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• The basics of a fight: emotion, adrenaline, and tactics
• Armed and unarmed fighting for writers
• Structuring your fight scene so it leaves the reader breathless
• Does it make sense? Understanding anatomy and how the body responds to being punched, pulled and crushed

Revision: Sharpen that Knife, Baby!

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• How proper structure can keep your revision work to a minimum
• Specific techniques to organize your revision work so that you don’t waste unnecessary time
• How to know what to revise and what to leave alone
• Ways to polish the good stuff to make it great

Proposals: In Order to Sell, it has to Sing

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• The three key elements of a great proposal
• How to write a synopsis that grabs them by the throat and won’t let go
• How to write a query letter an agent or editor will actually read – then act upon!
• Ways to craft a proposal package that will have your editor or agent wanting more

Social Media Marketing: Using Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to Build Your Career and Promote Your Work

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• What’s behind the Facebook craze and why it’s important to you
• The difference between a solid Twitter presence and a poor one
• How using LinkedIn can enhance your career and provide opportunities you might have otherwise missed
• How to measure and monitor your social media impact

Digital Editions: Stop Leaving Money on the Table

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• What you need to know before putting digital editions of your work up for sale
• Tips and tricks to properly format your book for sale on the Kindle
• How to get format and upload your book for sale on the iPad
• Ways to promote and publicize your digital editions to make the most of your offerings

The techniques Joe and Jon will be teaching in the workshop have helped them write and sell successful novels in a variety of genres – here’s just a sample of what they’ve published recently:

Better yet, the workshop has been designed with the would-be author’s pocketbook in mind. You get:

• Eight sessions focused on improving your craft
• Handouts and real-world examples to help you put the techniques into action
• A written transcript of each session
• Feedback and advice from two bestselling writers

All for just $125.00

The workshop begins July 21^st and runs through Sept 8^th, meeting each Wednesday night. Sessions start at 9:00 pm EST and run for an hour. (If you have to miss a session, the workshop transcript and materials can be sent to you following the session.)

If you’re thinking about submitting your work in the next few months, you don’t want to miss the Summer Writing Intensive. We’re limited to 100 slots, so get your registration in early!

Jump Start Your Novel

I’ve been working on a couple of new things behind the scenes and one of those is my latest writing course, Jump Start Your Novel.  It is based on the workshop I’ve been teaching for the last two years under the same name and is delivered as an ebook complete with exercises and examples from my own writing.

Organizing and preparing your novel before you write it can save you a tremendous amount of time and frustration on the back end, eliminating structural errors and costly rewrites.  This course will take you throught he exact process I use to produce each of my novels – from figuring out your premise to creating living, breathing characters, to planning the entire plot.

If you are looking for a way to cut through the confusion and get started on your novel today, then this book is for you.

Jump Start Your Novel ebook course

Check it out at www.rockyourwritingcareer.com

Starting June 16th, I will be teaching two new writing seminars for both beginning and experienced writers.

The Jump Start Your Novel Workshop focuses on how to plan your novel before you start writing it to make it as effective and intriguing as possible. By the end of the seminar you will have a variety of tools to help you in the writing process from character and setting sketches to scene outlines to a complete plot roadmap. Six weeks in length. Go HERE for more details and to sign up today.

The Writing a Killer Book Proposal takes you through the process of writing a fiction proposal from start to finish. By the end of the class you will not only have a complete book proposal ready for submission but you will have learned how to research the best targets to receive your proposal and increase your chances of succeeding with it. Eight weeks in length. Go HERE for more details and to sign up.

The cost for each workshop is $150.00.

(In case you’re not familiar with my work, I’m the author of the internationally bestselling Templar Chronicles series and a Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild Award nominee. I’ve sold ten novels in five different countries, all from just a proposal, and I’ve used the techniques I teach in these seminars to do it.)

“Nassise’s writing program helped me JUMPSTART one novel with amazing ease while working on another. When I was finished I had a complete outline, enough to dive right in when the time comes.” -Weston Ochse, Bram Stoker-winning author of Scarecrow Gods

The first Jump Start Your Novel Workshop was a smashing success, so it’s time to do it again!

Since I started writing in 2002, I’ve sold seven novels to major publishers in four different countries. Six of those seven novels were sold on the basis of nothing more than a proposal which consisted of a synopsis, an outline, and a sample chapter.

I’ve been able to do this thanks to the method I use to thoroughly organize and prepare my novels before I sit down and write them. This method also gives me an extremely detailed project bible that I use to keep my scenes, characters, and settings straight while the project is underway. This allows me to write the scenes I want to write whenever I want to write them, even if I’m writing them out of order, which keeps my creativity and enthusiasm for the project high. Even better, it lets me know pretty quickly when an idea isn’t worth pursuing, so I don’t waste valuable time and energy.

In the workshop I’ll walk you through the methods I use from start to finish. Since I’ve just signed a contract to write three new novels, I’ll be using one of those as a living, breathing example, sharing each step with you. In addition, participants will receive personal coaching from me, including feedback on the exercises you’ll be doing on your own project.

We’ll do this step by step:

Week One – Character and Plot Sketches, Summary outline

Week Two – Settings and Research

Week Three – Scene Structure

Week Four – Story Evolution and Timeline

Week Five – Beginnings, Middles, and Endings

Week Six – Revisions and the Final Outline

At the end of the six weeks, you’ll have an extensive outline and project bible which you can easily use to develop a rough draft without the usual false starts and stalled momentum. You should also be able to create a strong synopsis and a proposal from what you’ve completed.

The workshop starts on Wednesday, Sept 12th and runs for six consecutive weeks.Lessons and assignments are delivered via email and feedback is given every step of the way.

The cost of the workshop is $125.00.

If you are interested in participating, visit the Workshop page.

Since I started writing in 2002, I’ve sold seven novels to major publishers in four different countries. Six of those seven novels were sold on the basis of nothing more than a proposal which consisted of a synopsis, an outline, and a sample chapter.

I’ve been able to do this thanks to the method I use to thoroughly organize and prepare my novels before I sit down and write them. This method also gives me an extremely detailed project bible that I use to keep my scenes, characters, and settings straight while the project is underway. This allows me to write the scenes I want to write whenever I want to write them, even if I’m writing them out of order, which keeps my creativity and enthusiasm for the project high. Even better, it lets me know pretty quickly when an idea isn’t worth pursuing, so I don’t waste valuable time and energy.

Later this month I’m going to be offering a six week workshop through my creativity coaching business, Xtremelife Coaching, that will explore this process. In the Jump Start Your Novel workshop, I’ll walk you through the methods I use from start to finish. Since I’ve just signed a contract to write three new novels, I’ll be using one of those as a living, breathing example, sharing each step with you. In addition, participants will receive personal coaching from me, including feedback on the exercises you’ll be doing on your own project.

We’ll do this step by step:

Week One – Character and Plot Sketches, Summary outline

Week Two – Research

Week Three – Story Flow

Week Four – Building the Outline

Week Five – Ferreting Out Dangling Plot Threads and Shoring Things Up

Week Six – Revisions and the Final Outline

At the end of the six weeks, you’ll have an extensive outline and project bible which you can easily use to develop a rough draft without the usual false starts and stalled momentum. You should also be able to create a strong synopsis and a proposal from what you’ve completed.

There are twelve spaces available and the cost of the workshop is $110.00.

If you are interested in participating, please email me at coach@xtremelifecoaching.com and I’ll give you all the details.

-Joe