5 Reasons Your Book Title Has to Sell and Tell

Many business owners spend months writing a book and only a few hours thinking about the title. Unfortunately, readers often do the exact opposite. Before they read your introduction, browse your table of contents, or learn anything about your expertise, they see the title. In a matter of seconds, they decide whether the book sounds relevant, useful, or worth investigating further. That’s why a good business book title has two jobs: it has to sell … Read more

How to Write a Cover Design Brief for Your Novel

Many authors believe they need to design their own book cover before hiring a cover artist. In reality, that’s one of the fastest ways to create confusion. Professional cover designers don’t need a rough Photoshop mockup or an AI-generated image. They need direction. Your job isn’t to design the cover. Your job is to explain the story, the audience, and the feeling you want readers to experience. Think of yourself as the creative director, not … Read more

Why Revision Is Where the Real Book Shows Up

Most business owners think sitting down and writing the initial first draft is the hard part. The real hard part is turning that draft into a book someone actually wants to read. That’s where revision comes in. Unfortunately, revision or editing has a terrible reputation. Many authors imagine endless rounds of edits, red ink, and someone telling them everything they wrote is wrong. In reality, the revision process is where the real book finally begins … Read more

The Problem with “Kind Of” and “Sort Of”

Most writers don’t intentionally weaken their sentences. They do it by adding small words that soften what they really mean. Phrases such as “kind of” and “sort of” often slip into a manuscript because they sound natural in everyday conversation. In writing, however, they frequently create hesitation, reduce clarity, and weaken the impact of a sentence. The Issue “Kind of” and “sort of” are forms of hedging language. Instead of stating something directly, they soften … Read more

How to Start Writing When You Don’t Feel Like a Writer

One of the biggest obstacles to writing a business book has nothing to do with time, publishing, or marketing. It’s identity. Many business owners never start because they don’t think of themselves as writers. They say things like: Here’s the good news: You don’t need to feel like a writer to write a useful business book. In fact, many of the best business books are written by people who never considered themselves writers at all. … Read more

Why More Words Often Mean Less Clarity

Most writers assume that adding words adds clarity. It feels logical. If one sentence explains something, then two sentences should explain it even better. If a phrase is good, a longer phrase should be even more precise. Unfortunately, writing rarely works that way. In fact, extra words often have the opposite effect. They slow readers down, bury important information, and dilute the impact of what you’re trying to say. The more unnecessary words a sentence … Read more

The 6 Mistakes That Make Most Business Books Useless

Let’s start with an uncomfortable truth: Most business books fail. Not because the author lacks expertise, the topic isn’t valuable, or nobody wants the information. They fail because they’re difficult to read, impossible to apply, and quickly forgotten. Readers don’t finish them or recommend them or take action because of them. And ultimately, they don’t remember much about them at all. The good news? Most of these failures are entirely avoidable. After working with authors … Read more

The Problem with “Realized”

Most writers use the word realized far more often than they think. It’s one of those invisible words that slips into manuscripts unnoticed because it isn’t technically wrong. In fact, it’s often accurate. The problem is that accurate writing isn’t always the strongest writing. Every time you tell readers a character realized something, you’re placing a layer between the reader and the experience. Instead of letting readers discover information alongside the character, you’re announcing the … Read more

Abstract Vulture Studies: Expressive Line Drawings Inspired by Form and Motion

These abstract vulture studies began as an exploration of shape, movement, and personality through minimal linework. Created with flowing marker lines and layered color edges, the pieces reduce the bird down to its essential forms while still capturing its posture, weight, and strange elegance. I’ve always loved vultures artistically. They’re awkward, dramatic, intelligent, and somehow both ugly and beautiful at the same time. Their hunched silhouettes, stretched wings, and exaggerated necks create natural abstract shapes … Read more

What Is a Business Book Really Supposed to Do?

One of the biggest mistakes business owners make when writing a book is misunderstanding the job of the book itself. They spend months—or years—writing, editing, publishing, and promoting a book, only to be disappointed when it doesn’t generate significant sales or transform their business overnight. The problem usually isn’t the book. The problem is the expectation. Many business owners believe their book is supposed to be the product. In reality, a business book is usually … Read more

Stop Explaining Dialogue And Let Your Characters Speak for Themselves

One of the fastest ways to weaken good dialogue is to explain it. Writers often spend hours crafting conversations, only to immediately tell readers what the characters meant, how they felt, and how the dialogue should be interpreted. The result? Dialogue that feels repetitive, over-explained, and less powerful than it could be. If the dialogue works, readers don’t need a translator. They need the writer to get out of the way. The Problem with Explaining … Read more

Stop Writing Your Life Story: How to Turn Experience Into a Business Book That Actually Helps People

Memoir creep is real. It starts innocently enough. You sit down to write a business book based on your experience, your expertise, your hard-won lessons, and your professional journey. Then suddenly Chapter 1 begins with your grandmother’s kitchen, your first job, your worst boss, your divorce, your dog, your spiritual awakening, and the time you realized spreadsheets could ruin a person’s soul. Some of that may be meaningful. Some of it may even be interesting. … Read more

Your Writing Has Favorite Words, And They’re Probably Weak Ones

Every writer has favorite words. Not favorite words in the poetic, literary sense. Not the words you carefully choose because they create the perfect image. I’m talking about the words you use so often that you don’t even realize they’re there anymore. The sneaky little crutch words that appear on every page of your manuscript. The bad news? You probably have them. The worse news? Your readers can see them even when you can’t. What … Read more

Expressive Color Studies: Layered Watercolor and Digital Composition

These pieces began as a series of small watercolor experiments—each one painted individually on circular sections of paper. There was no fixed plan going in. The goal was simple: let the paint move, react, and settle on its own terms. Working this way removes control at the start. Color bleeds, edges form unpredictably, and textures develop in ways that can’t be forced. Some areas bloom softly, others create hard lines or unexpected patterns. Each circle … Read more

Dr. Martha Shares How Motherhood Has Changed Over the Last 50+ Years

Motherhood doesn’t stay the same. It evolves—quietly, constantly—shaped by time, culture, expectations, and the women living through it. What one generation accepts as normal, the next may question, reshape, or completely redefine. In Catholic Daughters of Catholic Mothers, Dr. Martha Lucas reflects on four generations of motherhood in her own family, offering a deeply personal look at how those roles shift over time—and what remains at the core. At the heart of it is something … Read more

Posting on Social Media Isn’t Marketing: Here’s Why You’re Not Seeing Results

You can post every day. You can post beautiful graphics. You can even get likes. And still sell absolutely nothing. That’s not bad luck. That’s a broken strategy. Because posting is activity. Marketing is intention. Most people confuse the two and then wonder why their books, services, or offers just sit there like a corpse no one wants to claim. The Big Lie: “Be Consistent and You’ll Grow” Consistency is great… if you’re consistently doing … Read more

What Did Your Mother Teach You About Your Body?

Some lessons don’t come from formal conversations. They come from comments. Reactions. The way someone looks at you. The way they correct you. The things they never explain—but you somehow carry anyway. In Catholic Daughters of Catholic Mothers, Dr. Martha Lucas digs into one of the most lasting—and complicated—topics passed from mother to daughter: modesty, appearance, and the quiet weight of shame. However it showed up, it likely stayed with you longer than anyone expected. … Read more

Author Interview with Lisa Akers: Engineering the Human Variable in Technical Leadership

Lisa Akers has spent more than three decades leading some of the most complex technical systems in existence—from military satellites to NASA’s Orion spacecraft. As Chief Engineer for NASA’s Orion Human Spaceflight program at Lockheed Martin, she leads 1,600-person teams across five locations, navigating not only technical risk, but the human systems that determine whether excellence is sustainable. Her upcoming book, The Emotional Architect: Engineering Human Systems for Technical Excellence, (Available for Pre-sale and Releasing … Read more

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