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Mar 4

Building an author brand that doesn’t feel like a costume: part one

Most of us became writers because we wanted to hide. We wanted to stay safely tucked behind the keyboard, letting our prose speak for us while we remained comfortably invisible.

But then we finish a manuscript and realize the industry has changed. The word “platform” starts appearing in every query guide and agent blog. Suddenly, we’re told we need to be marketers, influencers, and “brands.”

For a long time, that felt like being asked to put on a costume that didn’t fit. I didn’t want to be “salesy.” I didn’t want to shout into the void of social media. But I’ve recently realized that branding doesn’t have to be a mask—it can be a mirror.

Why I chose my name over a company name

When I first started thinking about my online presence, my instinct was to hide behind a business name. It felt safer, more professional, and less… vulnerable. But as a Life Transition Coach for over 20 years, I know that people don’t connect with logos—they connect with souls.

I decided to lead with Carol Despeaux Fawcett rather than a generic company title because my writing is deeply personal. If I want readers to trust me with their time and emotions, I have to show up as myself—”Gaga” to my two precious grandsons, poet, Airbnb hostess, entrepreneur, and recovering “divine janitor” included.

Finding your “stars and soil”

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Feb 26

How to keep your story running in the background of your mind

For years, my brain had a default setting. No matter what I was doing—folding laundry, sitting in a waiting room, or driving—the “background app” running in my mind was business. I was constantly triaging to-do lists, marketing strategies, and logistics.

It was productive, sure. But it was also killing the magic.

Over the last few years, I’ve made a conscious, radical shift. I’ve closed the “business” tab and opened the “story” tab. Now, when the world gets loud or the chores pile up, my manuscript is what hums in the background. This mindset switch has changed everything for my consistency.

Making the mindset switch

We are often told to “treat writing like a business.” While that’s great for hitting deadlines, it can make the act of creation feel like just another chore on the list. When your writing is the first thing to get cut during a crisis—like a surgery or a season of caregiving—it’s usually because we’ve categorized it as “work” instead of “life.”

By letting the story run in the background, you aren’t just a writer when you’re at the keyboard. You’re a writer while you’re washing the dishes or taking the dog for a walk.

Tips for dreaming into your story

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Feb 18

Lessons from a virtual pitch event

Last week, I shared a bit about the rough road that kept me away from this space and I shared some tips on how to keep connected to your story when life happens. One thing I did was to keep my story running in the “background” of my mind while focusing on what needed attention in my life.

Today, I’m thrilled to share that the background work has officially moved to the foreground.

I have officially finished the latest version of my manuscript and it’s currently in my editor’s hands for some “big picture” structural help. While she works her magic on the bones of the story, I’m finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I am getting closer every day to the official querying stage where I start pitching to literary agents.

To celebrate being back and being this close to the finish line, I decided to do something a little different on the last day of January: I jumped into #Questpit.

What is #Questpit?

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Feb 11

When the muse meets the gurney: staying a writer when life refuses to cooperate

We’ve all been there. You have the vision, the character arcs, and that one perfect line of dialogue etched into your soul—and then life decides to rewrite your entire schedule.

As writers, we often feel like if we aren’t putting words on a page, we’re losing our “membership” to the craft. We think if the manuscript isn’t growing, the writer in us must be shrinking.

But I’ve spent the last few years learning that writing isn’t just a verb. It’s a way of seeing.

It’s been a long time since I sat in this digital space with you. Why? Because life happened in the loudest, most physical ways possible.

I spent nearly a decade as the primary caregiver for a dear friend, a journey that recently came to a heartbreaking end with her passing. Amidst the emotional weight of caregiving and grief, my own body decided to join the fray. I took a fall down the stairs that resulted in a torn quad tendon, followed by surgery and months of grueling rehab.

When you’re navigating death, grief, and learning how to walk again, “finding time to write” can feel like a cruel joke. For a long time, my writing was the first thing to be sacrificed. But lately, I’ve found a way back. I’m getting better at staying consistent, even when the world is chaotic.

How to stay “in character” when you can’t get to the keyboard

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Apr 14

Want to be a better literary citizen? Six things I learned by sending my poems out into the world

Happy National Poetry Month!

After a long hiatus, I recently started sending my poems out into the world again and in doing so, I learned several things that are helping my literary career that I wanted to share with you.

First, the reason I hadn’t been sending my poems out is because it always felt like drudgery to me. All that left brain work made me feel overwhelmed. Plus, I’m a busy business owner! I mean, who has time for one more thing to do, right?

After hearing one of my poetry mentors say she, too hated sitting down to send out her work (and she’s a HUGE award-winning poet), I didn’t feel so bad. What works for her, she said, is to sit down once a month or so and do an afternoon of submissions. I thought, “I can do that.”

I chose a Saturday and sent out 20 poems to eight different literary magazines. I created a short artist bio that I could use for each submission. Then I found a simple Google Sheet online from another poet that I used to track my submissions, including the name of the poem, where it’s been submitted, when I submitted it, when they typically reply, a column to note if it’s been accepted or rejected, and a column for the magazine’s website link.

Normally, my left brain would be balking at these types of activities, but it was kind of fun.

Next, I basically forgot about all this and went back to work on my other projects. Over the next two months, I got several rejections and six acceptances (six poems in two magazines). Pretty cool!

What did I learn?

Track your submissions. Whether you’re sending out poems, short stories, novels, photography, or paintings, you’ll save so much time if you have a simple tracking system and an artist bio ready.

Treat it like a job. Submitting your work is part of your job as a good literary citizen. We create work so others can read it and benefit from it, right? If you’re not sending out your work, you’re not enriching others’ lives.

Ask for what you want. A wise person once told me, “If you don’t ask, you won’t receive.” People are not mind readers. We must ask for what want in our lives. For artists, that includes sending your work out to be seen and published. If we don’t send our work out, it won’t be published. Ever.

Have no emotional attachment to outcome. When I was a young poet, I took rejections hard. Each rejection was like an ice pick in my heart. Over time, I developed a thick skin and just keep sending my work out. Eventually, I got a poem published, and then another, and another. If I had let my emotions get the best of me, I probably would have stopped sending my work out, and my poetry life might have dried up. As artists, I firmly believe we need that interaction with our community to help us grow and become better humans and artists.

Find passion for your bigger projects. I’ve been working on a novel which is a very long, time-consuming process. But now, by sending my shorter works out and getting some published, it gives me a little reward, a hit of pleasure, while I keep slogging away at my larger work. This feeling of satisfaction gives me more pleasure and passion for my bigger project, too. It’s like a little zap of energy.

Join an artistic community. This will sustain your muse and feed your passions. At the end of January, I joined a poetry community and subscribed to a newsletter where I receive poetic inspiration, writing prompts, lesser-known places to submit work to, and more that has helped me become a better poet and literary citizen. (If you’re a poet and would like a free month of this newsletter, let me know. The two poets who put out the weekly newsletter gave me a few links for friends and I have one left).

I hope my experience helps you see the importance of putting your work out into the world. If you’re working on a novel or memoir, look for opportunities to submit shorter works such as poems, short stories, or flash fiction, etc. to literary journals.

Another benefit is you’ll start building up your artist resume, which might come in handy when your book is ready for publication.

Activity: Write in your journal about what it means to be a good literary citizen. I’ll share my ideas in my next post.

You can see some of my poems at CDFawcett.com.

My Poetry Book https://amzn.to/40aVhxz

Feb 13

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One tip to tweak your morning routine to become happier and more creative

Recently, I had a major epiphany about how to tweak my morning routine to become more creative, happier, and joyful.

But, first, the morning routine.

I learned a few years ago about the power of having a morning routine in Hal Elrod’s book, “The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM).”

The author writes about the many benefits of a morning routine such as waking up every day with more energy, drive, and structure; lowering stress levels, improving health, increasing productivity, and having more gratitude and less anxiety.

He lists six activities to include in your morning routine that he calls “savers.”

The term SAVERS stands for:

  • Silence (meditation/prayer)
  • Affirmations
  • Visualization
  • Exercise
  • Reading
  • Scribing (journaling)

The idea is to spend the first hour of your day on these items. On those days that you don’t have an hour then you can condense your routine into whatever time you have.

I won’t go into all the details because there are so many great articles on this topic already, including this one by Ricardo Singh, “Miracle Morning routine: 6 steps to boost productivity.”

I don’t do all six items but use them more as a menu to choose from depending on how I feel and what I think I need that morning.

My morning routine is the foundation of my day and without it, I feel lost at sea, afloat on a wave of too many responsibilities and tasks. That time to myself in the morning centers me for the day, and I feel as if time expands for me as a result—not in some woo-woo, supernatural way but because I’m more focused and productive.

So, what’s my epiphany?

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Jan 18

How to write riveting sex scenes that leave your reader wanting more: creating chemistry, part 2

How To Create Chemistry Between Your Characters

In most cases, your characters aren’t going to meet and then just fall into bed together. If they do, then you’re probably writing hard-core erotica or porn and that’s not what I’m discussing today.

Even if your characters don’t have sex, maybe there’s some heavy petting or flirtation that occurs and you’ll want to build up to that as well.

So how do you build chemistry and anticipation between your characters?

A sex scene is the culmination of everything your two characters have done, said, and been through together from the moment they meet.

Chemistry is that feeling of connection between two people. I like to call it the charged energy between two people. It’s a draw to someone else that makes you want more of them.

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