Interview with writing coach Marielle S. Smith and Review of 52 Weeks of Writing

Today’s post includes an interview with writing coach Mariëlle S. Smith as well as my review about her creative journal, 52 Weeks of Writing: Author Journal and Planner, Vol. III.

During her virtual book tour, Marielle will be giving away a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Mariëlle S. Smith is a writer, writing coach, and editor. She lives in Cyprus, where she organises private writers’ retreats, is inspired 24/7, and feeds more stray cats than she can count.

Welcome, Marielle. Please tell us about your current release.
52 Weeks of Writing is a journal and planner for writers who are ready to get their writing (back) on track, even if it means digging deep and being honest about why they aren’t where they want to be in their writing journey.

What inspired you to write this book?
The first volume of 52 Weeks of Writing was based on my coaching practice and the material I used with my clients at the time and was my attempt to make my approach to writing and the author mindset more accessible. During the pandemic, I tweaked my coaching practice to help my clients cope better with the pandemic and the way it affected their writing lives, and the third volume reflects these tweaks.

Excerpt from 52 Weeks of Writing:

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My review of 52 Weeks of Writing:
As a writer whose fiction has stagnated the past few years, I just had to grab a copy of this journal to help me get back on the writing path for 2022.

The title caught my attention for 3 reasons: It speaks to writing each week of the year, it’s a journal (so before even opening the book I knew there would be space to collect my thoughts), and it’s also a planner (so I can, I assume, schedule writing times and deadlines.)

It’s a lengthy book at over 430 pages; writers need space to write and this journal/planner offers just that.

The questions the author presents in this workbook/journal are those she asks actual clients. These are not ‘fluff’ questions, they are intended to get you (the writer) to dig for answers and do the work. Marielle says it “isn’t for the faint of heart,” and honestly, I can see that. If you aren’t willing to put in the effort or time, there isn’t any sense in opening this book.

I’m a proponent of ‘morning pages’ – to wake up and just let the pen write across the page whatever comes out of my mind, with no thought or internal editor whispering in my ear. In 52 Weeks of Writing, you’re asked to sit with the question before writing your answer. Some questions are deliberately repeated over multiple weeks and you’re encouraged to *not rush* through your answer. Being deliberate and spending time with your thoughts is what is going to help propel your writing forward.

Each week contains a motivational quote, questions to consider, goal setting, tracking your progress to your goals, and a writing prompt. Everything is up to you to do or not. Some weeks/days will be easier than others, but any progress is a step forward. I’m finding it quite valuable already (of course I’m only a couple of weeks into it!)

I’m a paper & pen person more than online writing when it comes to my fiction writing, so I print out a week at a time and hand write my answers. I like having the physical touch with the pages, and also find it fun/encouraging to flip through the pages to see what I’ve already written. There is something to be said to typing the answers into the document for easy search, perhaps, later on, but for me, I like writing with a pen.

The journaling aspect of this journal intrigues me and having it combined with writing prompts just gives me the biggest smile – I can journal AND create AND work on my own writing project all in one space. It’s working well for me.

There are quarterly breaks where you celebrate your success to date – I look forward to those. At the end of the book is a week-by-week breakout where you can fill in your goals and note if you accomplished them or not. It will be powerful, I imagine, to look back on the year and come up with a success for each week, and then to have them all in one location that’s easy to read through — well, that will be inspiring as I move into the next year.

I recommend checking it out if you’re stuck with your writing and need help to move forward…but only if you’re serious about making the commitment to yourself. 52 Weeks of Writing can benefit anyone who wants to get deeper into their creative mind and push their writing forward – it’s not just for fiction writing, I feel it can be applied to any type of writing.
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Marielle, what exciting project are you working on next?
I’m always working on multiple projects at the same time, but there is this one project that came to me over Christmas and it just won’t leave me alone. I’m in the early stages, which always means it might not happen in the end, but I’m thinking of taking my favourite quotes and writing prompts from the 52 Weeks of Writing series and turning it into a beautiful full colour book that would make a great gift for writers.

I showed the concept cover to a bunch of writer friends and they were very excited, so let’s see. If I do get to publish it, it will be around Christmas.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I was twenty-eight and had some of my work read for the first time, by a good friend who also secretly wanted to become a writer. She loved it, and we became critique partners after that, meeting every few weeks to discuss each other’s work. That’s when I first started thinking of myself as a writer, and when I started taking my writing seriously.

Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I write part-time for myself; the rest of my hours are devoted to helping others write. I’m an editor, I coach writers, I help writers write their blurbs, I do translation work. Depending on the amount of work I have, it can be hard to fit in my own writing, but I am a freelancer, so I can tell people ‘No’ when it starts looking like I won’t be able to meet my own deadlines or give them a longer turnaround time. It’s not easy because I love working with people, but one of my intentions for the new year is to be more protective of my own writing time.

I also volunteer for a cat charity, which can take up quite a bit of time, especially when there are emergencies. I like to go down to the beach to unwind, but that’s also where the feeding stations I look after are located, so I could end up at the vets instead of doing my intended walk on any day. Just yesterday, one of our strays showed up sick. He’d lost quite a bit of weight and fur and was bleeding, as if he’d been scratching himself endlessly. I happened to have a carrier in the car, so off we went.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Ehm… I yell at myself using caps when editing and revising my work? FIX THIS! REWRITE! THIS IS AWFUL, CHANGE! SERIOUSLY?!

It usually cracks me up later because it shows how intense I am when in revision mode, and I do throw the weirdest things at myself. I once had a scene where I left the following comment, from a song by Skunk Anansie:

WEAK AS I AM NO TEARS FOR YOU!

I’m pretty sure it meant ‘cut this part, please’, which I did. Rest assured I only talk to myself like this when editing. I wouldn’t in a million years use caps on my editing clients! Unless I’m praising them, of course.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A writer, but I denied it for a long time because people kept telling me it wasn’t a viable option. No one in their right mind would want to be a writer, because it doesn’t make any money. That’s why it took me until I was twenty-eight to start admitting that I was in fact writing whenever I had the time.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I know January is already here, but I recently made this 2022 Intention Setting worksheet for the members of my Facebook group, The Accountable Wordsmiths, which is open to those buying 52 Weeks of Writing.

If you could use some clarity and want to start 2022 on the right foot, here’s the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1flM5j2iFVPLbZdnyMOYoFLquOQ6ueGRi/view?usp=sharing

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