How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book

Your Book Starts Here, Part 1

Your Book Starts Here, Part 2

Self-Editing for Book Writers

Writing through Healing

Writing Your Life

Writer's Wheel of Ten

Mary's Curriculum Vitae

Contact Mary: mary(at)
marycarrollmoore
(dot)com

Want a free weekly writing exercise from Mary to keep your writing on track? 
Sign up here.

What a marvelous piece of luck that my daughter Carolyn told me to go to the Loft--and that you were there for me!

--Kathleen Velenga, Minnesota

The classes I have taken with you have helped clear the path for my voice to reveal itself through my novel.  When I began, I had no idea what an adventure this would be. Your calm wisdom and clear direction has brought me through many challenging times.  Had I not found you and your class I would not be experiencing the joy and pleasure I now receive from my writing.  — Elisabeth Tyler, NY

Mary taught me to listen and to sense the movement or stasis of my own words.  I learned to step outside myself and see if a section carried me or dragged behind me.  At first I wanted to protect the leaden parts because I had poured myself into them.  But once I pick-axed and the pace quickened, everything felt lighter and better—my work as well as me.
—Carrie Barron, NY

Mary was fantastic:  an excellent facilitator, a guide providing us with oodles of skills and tools to tackle an overwhelming task, emotional mountain:  book making.

 --J.S., Massachusetts

This is--far and away--the BEST workshop  

I've ever attended on any topic. Full of useful, productive content. Very balanced.

--S.Y., New Hampshire

Thank you so much for generously sharing your hard-won knowledge!  Your concepts and practical strategies helped me go forward on organizing the material I've been amassing for a book, as well as figuring out what still needs to be written.  I have a long way to go but now don't feel quite as overwhelmed.
— Loft Student, MN

 

 

 

 

 


Watch the
Your Book Starts Here video series

   ______________

If you believe you have a book inside you just waiting to come out, here is a guide that will ensure your book’s arrival in the world. In clear, accessible prose, Mary Carroll Moore leads the aspiring author through every step of the challenging, rewarding process of developing and completing a full-length book. — Rebecca McClanahan, author of Word Painting

I was so thirsty for this workshop experience.  [She's] an experienced and skilled teacher.

I liked every part.

--S.T., New Hampshire

What you teach [in the book workshop] should be in EVERY High School freshman English class!  I keep saying, “If I had only known, I would not have struggled so."  
— Annette Walters, Minnesota

My momentum has hit a great pace.  So far, that's the "Wow!" factor for me with this class: my commitment to my writing practice.

— student in "Your Book Starts Here," Part 1, online class 

This was one of the best writing workshops I've ever taken!  It allowed room for creativity and muse to flow but also gave clear-cut guidance and direction on what to do once the inspiration has happened.  A perfect balance of work and play.

--Attendee at two-day   book workshop, SNHU

I was a student at the Loft Literary Center when I lived in Minneapolis. I do miss your classes since moving to France. I just recently discovered your blog and have been re-inspired! After a long period trying to ignore that nagging voice... I am beginning again! Thank you so much!

— Karen Eberle, France

Your ideas are hugely valuable.
— S.B., California

If I could implement all I've learned from you, I'd have a best-seller!
— S.T., New York

Need one-on-one help from a knowledgeable author?  Coaching or editing for your manuscript-in- progress? Click here for more information on Mary's coaching for writers:  manuscript review, editing, and personal accountability for your writing.

 


 

 

Mary Carroll Moore
One of Mary's workshops at the Loft Literary Center.  Photo credit: Lucas Schulze

 

How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book
Get to know your book--what it is about, how to structure it, how to finish it! Develop a step-by-step plan (with timelines, storyboards, and more) and learn ways to flow chapters, find holes that need filling, organize research, construct plots. Up-to-date information on agents and publishers, tips on editing your book.

Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, Weekly Class, Six Thursday evenings, April 12-May 24, 6:30-8:30 p.m., $301 ($225 New Hampshire Writers Project members)

Grub Street, Boston, One-Day Workshop, Sunday, January 29 or February 26, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., $115. ($95. members) 

Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, Weekend Workshop, April 28-29, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., $268 ($201 New Hampshire Writers' Project members)

The Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, Weekend Workshop, Friday/Saturday, March 23-24, $186. (sliding scale available)

Madeline Island School of the Arts, Lake Superior, Five-Day Retreat on a beautiful island off Wisconsin's north shore  July 16-20 or July 23-27 or September 24-28, 2012  $575.

Your Book Starts Here, Part 1--online class

Explore your book, build a writing practice, face the Inner Critic, develop a brainstorming list of topics, learn to storyboard your "islands" of writing--and much more.  Twelve weeks of lessons (chapters from Your Book Starts Here), in-depth writing exercises, and a lively online community to share your work and get constructive and inspiring feedback from Mary.

Loft.org (The Loft Literary Center) Twelve-Week Online Class
starts May 14, $510. ($459. Loft members).

Your Book Starts Here, Part 2--online class *  

Take the next steps in developing characters, conflict, container (setting), theme, and voice with weekly lessons (chapters from Your Book Starts Here), in-depth writing exercises, and a lively online community to share your work and get feedback. 


Loft.org (The Loft Literary Center) Twelve-Week Online Class
starts May 14, $510. (459. Loft members)* 

* Prerequisite: Attendance in " How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book" weekend or weekly class. Madeline Island retreat, or "Your Book Starts Here, Part 1" online class.

Container, Character, Event
A fast-paced, hands-on workshop to explore how to refine the three main elements of your fiction or creative nonfiction writing:  the people that populate it, the dilemma they create that drives the story forward, and the container, or setting that encloses it all. Get new perspectives on your work and a toolbox full of techniques for preparing your manuscript for publication.

The Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, One-Day Workshop,
March 25, Sunday, 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., $93. (sliding scale available)

Writing through Healing, Healing through Writing
Writing can be an essential healing tool during any transition—from starting a new job to ending a relationship, from serious illness to the loss of a parent. It will give you tools for telling your personal story and serve others by creating fiction, memoir, articles, or poems for the growing inspirational publishing market. Exercises and discussion focus on the qualities of healing and how writing heals on multiple levels. Explore, through writing, the profound and everyday experiences that reveal how precious life is.

The Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, One-Day Workshop,
May 4, Friday, 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., $93. (sliding scale available)

Writing Your Life: Plan, Write, Develop a Memoir
Whether you are trying to write the story of your life for publication or as a family legacy, this workshop by the author of two memoirs will show you how to organize your stories into a readable, interesting work. You will be introduced to a simple formula that successful authors use to plan, organize, and write a book, and you will learn book-writing techniques such as the value of themes and how action and reflection balance one another in memoir and creative nonfiction.

The Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, One-Day Workshop,
May 5, Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., $93. (sliding scale available)

Writer's Wheel of Ten:  Memoir and Fiction Come Alive
Spend a lively day exploring the ins and outs of ten essential writing tools professional writers never leave home without. Bring new vibrancy to a not-quite-there-yet memoir, short story, or novel. Fun exercises, short readings, discussion will help us see new levels of these basic tools--and how they improve your writing.

The Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, One-Day Workshop,
May 6, Sunday, 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., $93. (sliding scale available)