When you're about to invest months of evenings, weekends and early mornings into writing a novel, a few quiet questions tend to show up:

I know those questions well. They used to follow me into every writing session.

But they don't have to. 

As I learned the hard way, those questions are actually your creativity and intelligence at work. 

They bubble up because there are questions you need answers to before you can fully relax into the creative process.

It’s whether you can enjoy writing a book that effectively showcases your writing skills and gives strangers a reason to become superfans.

Unfortunately, that moment rarely sneaks up on you because of something that happened on page 123. More often, it’s because of what didn’t happen before page one, when the stakes were low and you hadn’t already poured weeks or months into 30,000 words you can’t bear to let go of or untangle.

That’s why I prefer option 2: 

Strategically indulge your curiosity before you put pen to paper so you can prevent common (and costly!) writing, editing, and marketing headaches and set yourself up for purposeful, productive writing sessions that feel like play.

But this isn't just a strategy authors swear by. 

There’s a reason film studios use the word greenlight. Nobody wants to pour their precious resources into a project until the vision is clear enough that they feel capable of executing it with confidence. 

You and your book deserve the same consideration.

Not only does a strong foundation make it easier to flow from the first page to the finish line without unnecessary friction, it also amplifies the impact of your unique skills, voice, perspective, and ideas.

Greenlight Your Book Idea is a focused, 5-step process that helps you refine, develop, and strengthen your book ideas before you start spilling ink.

By the time you're done, you'll have:

A clear picture of your finished book's final destination. No more hoping your book is the answer to someone else's prayers. You’ll pin down the specific shelf in the bookstore that your book is meant to stand out on, so you can write with the confidence of an author who knows her dream readership already exists.

Real insight into what those readers expect. No more working blind when you're making creative decisions that will shape your characters, content, and cover. You’ll identify what your best-fit readers consistently look for and love (or love to hate!), so you can intentionally weave ingredients they find irresistible into the story that only you can write.

Your key decisions, made before you start. No more false starts because you didn't realize something was critically important until you got 30k words deep into your story. You'll make choices now that will support smart creative decisions later, from point of view to book length to the kind of ending you're ultimately writing towards.

An editable companion doc. Capture your insights, inspiration, and a-ha moments as the vision you have for your book comes into view. As your clarity compounds, don't be surprised if you start feeling even more pulled to the blank page.

Worked examples across genres. Examples from romance, mystery, fantasy, coming-of-age and more demonstrate the process so you don't have to start from scratch.

A process you can repeat. The entire point of this process is to begin with the end in mind so you have direction from day one and can wield your creativity purposefully. Use it for this book and every book that matters to you.

Most writers complete Greenlight in a focused afternoon or a weekend. It’s designed to help you get clarity and momentum quickly, so you can hurry up and get to the fun part of freeing your story.

For years, I believed all it took to write a bestselling book was passion and writing skills. 

So I’d get an idea, run with it, and muscle my way through the manuscript, hoping my work ethic would make up for the fact that I didn't know what I didn't know.

And I loved becoming an author. Writing is one of the great loves of my life, so finally chasing my author dream felt amazing. 

Unfortunately, no one was buying, loving, or raving to everyone they knew about my books and what a gift to humanity I was. And I'd just published what was supposed to be my magnum opus.

So despite my word count being up, I was feeling a little down.

Then an author who started self-publishing around the same time as me exploded her readership seemingly overnight. I peeked inside her books, looking for evidence that she was a far better writer than me so her sudden success would make perfect sense.

But her writing wasn't the difference. 

Turns out she was just thinking better before she wrote a book. 

It sounded too simple. Too easy. 

Could the quality of the questions you ask before you write your book determine the quality of your finished book? 

I had to know. 

Not because I suddenly became a more skillful writer or started working harder. 

Because I started working smarter, and it changed the trajectory of my author career.