what to do before you write your novel

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alyssa Archer about her latest book: Dreamtime: What to do Before You Write Your Novel. It is the first book in a four-part series designed to guide the new writer from dreaming about writing a novel to actually writing and publishing a novel over the course of one year. Dreamtime covers the first quarter of the year.

Alyssa studied poetry, literature, and writing at the University of Oregon, where she was honoured to be one of only sixteen undergrad students selected for the Kidd Tutorial, a year-long, graduate level course in writing fiction. It was there that she learned the discipline and the deep bones of the craft of writing.

She’s since worked for bookstores and publishing companies, technology companies and clean energy services companies, always employing her core skills of writing, editing, and coaching other writers. She’s taught writing classes at women’s retreats and led corporate writing training sessions. She served as a judge for nearly a decade for several Romance Writers of America’s chapters’ merit-based contests. She has been a professional editor since 2002.

Dreamtime: What to do Before You Write Your Novel

How is Dreamtime different from what is already out there?  

As you know, Dreamtime is the first book in a four-part series designed to guide the new writer from dreaming about writing a novel to actually writing and publishing a novel over the course of one year. Dreamtime covers the first three months of the journey.

Dreamtime is different from other books out there in that it offers ninety short chapters, each containing an inspirational quote and picture, a healthy (but not overwhelming) dose of information, and writing exercises. The book is a daily companion and guide that focuses first on habit building and self-care for writers, and guides the new writer through the pre-planning process so that they will be ready to tackle the first draft of their first novel with book two in the series, Draft Time. This book encourages play and experimentation. It offers more than one approach to writing and encourages writers to find what works for them as they prepare a road map for their first novel.Read More →