WriteSpeak: Write Your Own Success Story

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A SUCCESSFUL SPEAKER AND THE AUTHOR OF A FIRST RATE BOOK BY FEBRUARY 2025?

Barbara Sher’s WriteSpeak Program continues! Learn more:

Registration for new members is now closed

Part 1: 6-Hour Teleworkshop – (Three dates in March 2024)
Part 2: 48-Week Online Course – (March 25, 2024 – February 23, 2025)
Registration: Closed on March 8th
WriteSpeak Grads Write, Speak, Coach, Teach, Succeed
Praise from Past WriteSpeak members

For many years, at the end of Barbara Sher’s workshops, people would stand up and say, “I want to do what you do.” She would ask how many other people wanted the same thing and dozens of people would raise their hands! Her answer was always the same: I want you to do what I do, and I’ll do everything I can to help you!

And she would try to do it then and there.Barbara Sher, speaking

If you’re one of the people who took notes like crazy while she rattled off the bare bones of her system for finding your own message and the perfect audience, becoming a well-paid speaker and writing a first-rate, successful book that will really help people (without sacrificing years of your life) we think you’ll be glad to hear that Barbara made sure her jam-packed course did not end with her death.

Patty Newbold and Patrice Jenkins, both part of WriteSpeak since 2007 and both published authors and speakers, have taught the course with Barbara and will continue teaching it now that she’s gone. We’re including lots of recordings of Barbara sharing her wisdom and helping WriteSpeakers past their Resistance and all of her 48 weeks of online assignments.

HOW TO WRITE YOUR OWN SUCCESS STORY BY FEBRUARY 2025

This program will begin again in March 2024 with Barbara’s six-hour WriteSpeak workshop by telephone.

You’re in for an exciting and profound learning experience. This Teleworkshop shows you exactly what you must know to bring forth the visionary leader inside you.

“Visionary leader?!” you might be saying. “Don’t let my family hear that one or they’ll die laughing.” But if you’ve wondered about whether you have what it takes to share what you’ve learned with the world, listen carefully.

If you’ve ever confronted difficult problems in your life and you sought and found ways to solve them (from raising a kid to building a home), you know something you should be telling the rest of us. And if you’ve felt the urge to share your knowledge to help others, then chances are very good that you have three of the four essentials you need to be a successful author and speaker.

  1. You have personal experience with the struggle to create a good life, so you know how tough that struggle can be.
  2. You’ve searched long and hard to find a solution, so you know the steps that are needed.
  3. You dream of sharing what you’ve learned and you’re happiest when you’re helping someone with your knowledge.

What’s the fourth essential?

  1. You need someone to show you how.

You don’t need another cheer-leading session that creates a temporary surge of enthusiasm; you need to know the actual steps to creating a successful career from those first three essentials.

You need an experienced hand to guide you and keep you on message, someone who will teach you to be a compelling speaker with fire in your words, not by throwing a handful of glib suggestions at you, but by walking you through hands-on experience and making sure you get supportive critiques.

You need someone to bring out the quality book that’s inside you and show you where to find capable, ethical editors to help you organize and polish it.

And you need to know the many ways you can get published, including the traditional route with an agent and major publishing house and the step-by-step process for self-publishing and how to choose between them.

Maybe you’ve been to one of those huge, overpriced conferences with dozens of presenters pitching their products and promising to make you a multi-millionaire. Maybe you’ve gotten something useful there, or maybe you felt disappointed: you know you really need a small class and dedicated teachers who are powerfully motivated to bring out the very best you’ve got inside you because they want you to share it with the world. And you need the learned-it-the-hard-way tips and tricks and wisdom of a best-selling author and world-renowned speaker.

Barbara Sher booksIf you’re on the Barbara Sher mailing list, I assume you know about Barbara. If not, click here to read her bio: About Barbara on barbarasher.com. Barbara loved what she did. She never thought she’d be passionate about one career for over 40 years, but that’s what has happened. In that time she designed and gave hundreds of well-received speeches and workshops to associations and Fortune 100 companies, appeared nationally on dozens of major television shows and had five of her own Public Television specials airing year after year.

But when she started running workshops in 1976 she had never heard of a ’speaker.’ She was completely on her own, a single mother with two little boys and not an extra dime in her pocket. One friend designed small flyers and loaned her the money to print them up; two others helped her slap them up on lamp posts (illegally, perhaps) in the middle of the night. When no one signed up, they wrote “sold out” on that date and slapped them up again the next week. Finally she hauled everyone she knew into the room for no money at all, just so she could give the first workshops.

Barbara had to learn this business step by step, every step by trial and error. She learned how to get written up in major magazines and newspapers because she couldn’t afford advertising. When those articles resulted in calls from literary agents, she learned how to write a book that had her real voice (though she had never done it before) while holding down two jobs and taking care of her home and kids.

She wrote her first book, Wishcraft, in 1978. It was published by a major publisher and has now sold more than a million copies. In the following years she wrote six more books. They have been translated into many languages and have stayed in print and continue to sell well. They’ve appeared on bestseller lists, have won awards, and she was very proud of them. Best of all, Barbara got (and still gets) letters and emails every day from people thanking her for how her work has helped them. Along with her speaking career, her books have also provided her with a comfortable and deeply satisfying life.

Patrice and Patty understand completely why you might want to do what Barbara did.

In 2007, Barbara decided to pass on her knowledge to those of us who are talented and as passionate as she was. She ran WriteSpeak teleworkshops, retreats, and telecourses through 2011. And she ran out of steam. It was intense work. And it was more expensive than some with great ideas to share could afford. Now we’re doing it online, in a form lots more of you can afford. And no travel! 🙂

Barbara believed with all her heart that the world needs the talent each and every one of us was born with. If your desires lie in the direction of speaking, coaching, and/or putting your message in a book, there’s a high probability that you have gifts in that area. We want to help you find your gifts and your voice, and, if you find this career suits you, to help give you the start you need. Barbara taught us how to do that. It was one of her gifts.

And it’s the gift she believed she would still owe to the world even after she was no longer with us.

That is why she asked us to help her capture it in a format that would allow us to continue sharing her wisdom with you no matter what happened to her.

PART 1 IS A 6-HOUR, SMALL GROUP TELEWORKSHOP

We do these by phone.

You’ll need access to a computer, too.

And there’s an hour or two of mandatory prep work before the teleworkshop.

To accommodate many time zones in many countries, these will be 2-day events starting at different times each weekend.

We will do this three times in March, and we can teach up to 15 of you in each one. You’ll get to know each other. And Barbara (we’ve got her recorded). And us. You’ll discover who you should write for and what you should write about. You’ll learn why speakers need to write books and authors need to speak and how to make both of these a whole lot easier and more fun than you imagine.

Here are the dates. Please choose one. Make your choice in February 2024 and register then, starting February 10th, because we must close each one as soon as we have 15 people registered. The times listed are in the NY time zone (EST or EDT). Click on the links to see when that is where you live.

Saturday, March 2, 3:00-6:15pm EST and Sunday, March 3, 3:00-5:45pm EST
Saturday, March 9, 12:00-3:15pm EST and Sunday, March 10, 12:00-2:45pm EDT
Friday, March 15, 7:00-10:15pm EST and Saturday, March 16, 7:00-9:45pm EDT

PART 2 OF THE WRITESPEAK PROGRAM CONTINUES ONLINE FOR 48 WEEKS

(March 25, 2024 – February 23, 2025)

With help from Patty Newbold and other WriteSpeak grads, Barbara pulled together all the best stuff from her famous 6-day WriteSpeak retreats and her wildly productive year-long telephone course into a beautifully designed, coherent, 48-week online course for you. If you are ready to Write Your Own Success Story and you can devote 10 hours or more each week to the exciting work of writing your book, creating workshops and presentations you’ll be proud to deliver, and telling the many people who need your book and your in-person events who you are and what you can offer them, then this is for you.

Part 2 is where the rubber hits the road. You’ll have learned in Part 1 what you want to say (really, what you need to say and people need to hear), and now you’ll sit down, roll up your sleeves and create your new career.

No time to attend meetings or even webinars? Don’t worry. Part 2 will have step-by-step, online assignments you can do on your own, following your own schedule. They’ll show you exactly how to create your book and your career. You’ll decide when you can do them.

But what you’ll be reading won’t be any book you can buy anywhere. You will have transcripts and handouts and email discussions and audio recordings from Barbara’s six WriteSpeak retreats and two telecourses. Plus recordings of her coaching past WriteSpeakers on the most important assignments. The best of the best, the exercises and explanations that did the best job of getting her earlier students (now author/speakers) where they are today.

And you won’t be on your own. You’ll be part of a community of writers and speakers with vitally important messages, discussing what you’re learning and trying and doing in comments you can pay attention to on your own schedule.

You won’t get the kind of speaking advice you can get from Toastmasters or a public speaking class. You’ll be speaking with passion and purpose about something that matters to you — and matters just as much to crowds of people who will gladly pay to hear you.

Barbara’s approach to book-writing isn’t like anyone else’s. Her goal isn’t for you to make big bucks but to live a life you love and contribute your gifts to the world. What she reveals isn’t how the game is played, but where the shortcuts can be found. Life is short, and we want a published book in your hands next February.

You’ll have a couple of great coaches as you work through her assignments for you. Patrice and Patty completed the full WriteSpeak program the very first time it was offered, and both have repeated it since then. Patty helped Barbara with three of her six WriteSpeak retreats and most of her Teleworkshops. Patrice joined the Teleworkshop team two years ago, when she had the opportunity to run them with Barbara and Patty.

We will also be relying on you to help each other. You’ll have optional telephone check-ins to cheer you on, blockbusters to get past your procrastination, scheduled and unscheduled chances to learn from each other, and a built-in audience for your practice speaking.

Most of you will be writing self-help style books, but some of you will tackle narrative non-fiction, fiction, maybe even comic books. There are many ways to share your hard-earned wisdom with those thirsty for it. All are fine approaches.

The length of your book doesn’t matter. Neither does whether it’s hard cover, paperback, print-on-demand, downloadable, or all of the above. If you’re aiming for a contract with a publisher, Barbara would encourage you to self-publish a small book during the course, while your proposal is making the rounds of agents and editors. When you hold your book in your hand or see it on a Kindle, you’ll experience a real thrill.

Book Launch Party and Telesummit

There is another reason we would like you all to finish a book during the course. In week 46 of our 48-week course — on February 8th, 2025 — we will throw a big, online book launch party. Publicity. Prizes for the reading public. Book reviews. Of your book.

And wrapped around the partying, a widely publicized Telesummit: a day of 20-minute and 30-minute teleworkshops by our newly published authors, including you.

You will be a speaker at a Barbara Sher Telesummit, promoted to her many fans.

4 of the books launched at our 2016 telesummitAnd we’ll record each teleworkshop for all to listen to at their leisure from the Barbara’s Club website if they cannot be part of your live audience. For a full year. With a link to wherever they can buy your book. Check out our latest telesummit and book launch. We really want to include you and your book in the next one.

There are folks out there who announce you can write a book in a weekend. Maybe, but we’re talking about books that change lives, books that show the way to something better, not those books. So let us be very honest with you. You will need to put in 10 hours a week for 48 weeks. This is enough to write a book, start a blog or newsletter, create a presentation or workshop, start making a name on social media, and all the rest — but only with a good bit of help.

We’ll show you all the places where others can help, and you will need to pay them or barter with them for their expertise and time, as Barbara did and Patrice and Patty still do. If you are a do-it-yourself sort, please expect to put in twice as much time or keep your book very short. Either way, we’ll give you the training you need to follow in Barbara’ footsteps.

With her assignments, you’ll develop your message, step by step, and create your book and your presentation — a workshop or a keynote speech — using a completely new method of writing that you’ve never used before. When you finish Part 2, you’ll have your published book and your presentation ready to go.

But that’s not all, because throughout the course we focus on letting the world know who you are. You’ll have your own website, mailing list, and blog or newsletter. You’ll be completely comfortable speaking on your subject and setting up teleclasses. You’ll know how to get into print media and be published online as well as setting up a press kit to send to associations and companies that will hire you to speak.

You’re going to have everything you need to create your lucrative speaking career.

Some students become paid speakers by the 10th month of the program!

If you run into trouble on any of this, we’ll help walk you through step-by-step or troubleshoot what went wrong and fix it.

In other words, you’ll be in business, doing what you love, helping your listeners and readers lead better lives, and you’ll be thanked for it. You’ll be paid for it, too. You’re going to make a real difference in this world doing what you love best, and you’ll feel the satisfaction that comes from that amazing combination.

Lots of Support

The discussion of the assignments is written and online, with lots of support from your coach. You will be part of member-run blockbusters (an end-run around procrastination or fear), monthly phone get-togethers (very encouraging), and short teleworkshops you offer each other. You will also have monthly group coaching sessions with Patty Newbold. Patty has been coaching WriteSpeakers every month since we went online. There will be twelve one-hour meetings, on the last Wednesday of every month from March 2024 through February 2025, at a time that works for you. If you need one-on-one coaching, Patty and Patrice are available to you for a very reasonable fee.

 

REGISTRATION: Closed on March 8th

You will choose just one of these three Teleworkshop weekends. You can register for the 48-Week Course, Group Coaching, and Personal Coaching for a discounted package price at the same time or you can add them after you complete the Teleworkshop.

Saturday, March 2, 3:00-6:15pm EST and Sunday, March 3, 3:00-5:45pm EST
Saturday, March 9, 12:00-3:15pm EST and Sunday, March 10, 12:00-2:45pm EDT
Friday, March 15, 7:00-10:15pm EST and Saturday, March 16, 7:00-9:45pm EDT

If WriteSpeak sounds right for you, please choose your package and then your Teleworkshop dates. See below for important information on payment plans, emails and refunds.

$657 – Part 1 Only – 6-Hour WriteSpeak Teleworkshop
(by telephone – long distance charges may apply — Part 2 may be added later)


Discounted Part 1 and 2 Complete Package

$2,087 – WriteSpeak Complete Package
(includes the Teleworkshop, the 48-Week Course and 12 group coaching sessions)

Part 2 registration and 4-pay payment plan options will be available by email invitation after your Teleworkshop, until the course begins. The package prices will save you over $100. Those who completed Part 1 in 2007-2023 and want to return should email webmaster@barbarasclub.com for our graduates’ discount.

IMPORTANT: Watch for an email confirmation within an hour after paying. If you don’t receive it, please email webmaster@barbarasclub.com right away.

100% MONEY-BACK REFUNDS: Hang up no later than 60 minutes into the Teleworkshop and email webmaster@barbarasclub.com within an hour to request a full refund for the Teleworkshop. Email webmaster@barbarasclub.com no later than 4 pm on March 31, 2024 to request a full refund for the 48-Week Course and Group Coaching. No refunds after this.

WHAT WRITESPEAK GRADS ARE UP TO

Here are some of the incredible success stories we’ve heard about from those who completed the WriteSpeak program.

Michelle M. Jacob (Yakama), PhD, Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Oregon and Managing Member of Anahuy Mentoring, LLC published three books about Yakama wisdom during her year in WriteSpeak: Huckleberries & Coyotes: Lessons from Our More than Human Relations, The Auntie Way: Stories Celebrating Kindness, Fierceness, and Creativity, and Fox Doesn’t Wear a Watch: Lessons from Mother Nature’s Classroom. She also runs The Auntie Way Writing Retreat and several workshops.

Kerry Ann Rockquemore co-authored The Black Academic’s Guide to Winning Tenure–Without Losing Your Soul and left her academic position to launch the remarkably successful National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity, with a staff helping her give lectures, workshops and boot camps at universities around the country and the world.

Patrice Jenkins self-published What Will I Do All Day? Wisdom to Get You Over Retirement and on With Living! It launched a speaking career to get people ready for retirement and continues to sell hundreds of copies every month. She also does organizational consulting on the subject.

Rachel Z. Cornell invented a brand-new form of coaching and telecourse business, helping academics and authors “take action when action feels impossible.” She wrote Barbara this: “Thanks to you I not only got clear about my message but also got the support I needed to embrace a unique aptitude I have and turn it into a thriving business.” That business is pronagger.com.

Barbara Richards of visionworkcoaching.com ran a summer webinar series for her solopreneur coaching clients on Attraction Marketing: 7 Steps to Cracking the Code on Attracting (Great!) Clients, Your Way. She’s become a speaker and published Give Your Dream a Plan: 7 Questions to Ignite Extraordinary Results in Your Business.

Edith Johnston has written two books — A Myriad of Ideas : Personal Development for Multi-Talented Individual and Discovering the Intensity of Brillance: A Mandala Journey — and is working on a third. She runs workshops and teleclasses for multi-talented individuals.

Christi Daniels runs group classes and private mentoring sessions. She’s working on an online course. And she’s the proud author of Sabbatical from “Yes”: Reconnect with Your Inner Wisdom, Energy and Creative Fire through 30 Days of Putting Yourself First.

Michele Vosberg created a journal called Morning Messages: 6 Minutes a Day to the Life of Your Dreams and an online course, Ramp Up Your Life 5 Day Challenge!.

Let’s include you on this list next year!

WHAT PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT THE WRITESPEAK PROGRAM

Hi, Barbara!
Wow!
I am overcome. I am speechless. You have showered me with ideas and encouragement…I’m going to pore over this and absorb it today… every nerve ending is crackling!

Barbara,
My immediate reaction was that I was trying to drink from a fire hose! There was so much good information and it was coming at me so fast I didn’t have time to think or digest it all. I have been thinking of almost nothing else since. I am realizing that this workshop is changing the way I talk to myself and to others – everything is lining up behind the desire to finally identify my message and do the work to get it out there.

The Write Speak Teleworkshop is excellent. Barbara’s depth of knowledge is incredible. She truly is a master at what she does. She has so much to offer and she does it with warmth, humour and kindness. In one day, she has helped me to clarify and define my message – wow!

Your insights and approach are invaluable! I keep re-reading my notes and continue to learn even after the session is over.

What an amazing day! While it will take me weeks to fully digest everything that I’ve learned, I already feel that have found a place that feels like home. Surprisingly — to me at least — is that I learned more about myself than specific tools for writing. That was a lovely gift. As an aside, while I very much look forward to meeting Barbara at the retreat in January, I am also very excited about meeting in person the folks with whom I spoke today. What a great group with such amazing energy!

I’ve never heard anyone describe what ’drive’ really is until today, or explain ’excitement’ and its real purpose and why it often awakens resistance and how to work with it in such creative ways! I don’t know where to start listing what I learned today; it was amazing. No one says what you do. I will never forget this.

You always seem to come up with some totally original content and you’ve done it again on this workshop! The way you’ve told us to write and to come up with original content is great. And the process for coming up with a really compelling core message has been moving and revealing. Thanks for telling us we don’t need to have all the answers before we start too! I feel like I’ve now got a good idea of how to come up great content for books and talks.

Barbara Sher is just like a real person, only shorter.

165 thoughts on “WriteSpeak: Write Your Own Success Story

  1. Melanie, Karen, Miriam…perhaps we can connect in emails or skype (my preference is to talk rather than type more ) being that we three who are missing THIS one could perhaps use the time until next one to study and apply and share what learn from Barbara’s books and Patti’s suggestions . To study, confer, relate to each other and inspire could perhaps help us prepare and stay focused on getting to the next one . I know it’s challenging to coordinate time (and i may need time to see when CAN make time too ) but if want to just see if we can …let me know ..one or more of you?
    Karen, i worked for a few years with a young man failing miserably in school and then when from our work together after only a few weeks (using movement and dance and visual arts to help with focus and self expression and other things ), returned to school, as a whole different person… began to excel in school…now is attending university in regular classes and doing regular curriculum as a student , but with down syndrome ! (And the first or one of the first with down syndrome to do that) and doing great. So would love to learn more about your own experience and he might too!!! His name is Dylan Keuhl or Kuehl (i forget which spelling is correct). (Can find him on line , fb and website.) i have my own challenges which won’t go wholly into here…but made me think i was very low intelligence and found out later in life with new testing methods i am actually very very high intelligence but super low executive functioning in brain…so it takes me long time to see what i can do , AND make decisions and follow through, but once do i can really do alot and be super creative with what do. Also i could relate to people others could not and see how they could accomplish what they believed they were not able to.. As Melanie said, some are designated by a label and diagnosis and it may be incorrect —or i would say that and/or just misleading ..as many geniuses are seemingly ADHD AND OTHER so called learning disabilities but are really more not less capable ..only in different WAYS than the “norm”. That is what and how i see a lot of people with labels…even autism and developmental disabilities…many are so super developed in some area of intelligence if only given the opportunity and help to find it…while lesser abled in other areas so the word was coined “differently abled ” vs disabled. I used to talk to Dylan about that…(and to myself..smile) Perhaps you and I could talk and i could learn more from YOU as well as share with you…and might even help our talks and writing. I am trying to get the courage to talk publicly and do much better than have in past the few times i did it. I love writing but need lots of improvement and help there too. And i believe i am at a place where I really need some people who can relate to and talk about these and other things to get more momentum with what i want to do and haven’t yet.

    • Sounds like a Success Team to me! Good Luck for all of your ventures – and adventures. Laura

      • HERE’S MINE MIRIAM: marian.art.dance@gmail.com. Email me sometime in a couple of weeks if you will as i am deeply immersed in researching everything can for health care issue right now to stay away from traditional meds when alternatives have worked so much better for me. This may take a month and so may be unavailable until May but if you email me in two weeks in case i am ready and then again in May that would help keep with this idea and i think it would be great even if it’s only you and me and then we get ready for the next opportunity with Barbara or whoever trained with her that can help us.

        • PS Miriam ..i am really excited to connect …with someone into this…i think i need that and i can bring something to our sharing as well…so talk and will write to you soon. I just emailed myself a reminder with ur email ….thanks so much.

  2. i would love to do this sometime and was close to being able to but am dealing with health issues right now (and not serious but if ignore could be) . The time for that and expense has taken priority now to stay home and do what it takes and invest in the cost… but will resume with what can when further along with this after a scare had this past Dec and Jan with unexpected and sudden symptoms that were deemed life threatening (after a long super healthy life and body…which i am reclaiming and successfully but not done with accomplishing that yet) and is making me redo my whole life style choices and habits and goals…which is a good thing. After the last free on line workshop which i did just a bit before this all happened…and “won” books and a couple of services I have lots to do from here and still not had time to reconnect for those sessions granted that i won with drawings too but have not lost interest and want you all to know that. I am so thrilled Barbara is doing this and would be even more so to be there and for all those going …i am actually thrilled for you too. She is absolutely the best at this and we are so lucky to have her accessible to us still and whether with her or those trained by her her wonderful insights, knowledge and applications of it will benefit the world and will continue to as everyone who learns from her will be able to take what they get to others . So i personally wanted to thank EVERYONE who offers their time and skills along with Barbara as well as those who learn from her and them and are making that decision to invest and take the time to go and do it . Thank you and look forward to the new and progressive results that come of this . Sending love .

    • Thank you, Marian. I hope you saw my comment below to Miriam and Melanie on what you can do on your own to get going on a book and a speaking career.

      • Yes , thanks Patty , i actually had read it (your reply to Miriam and Melanie and now me (smile…the three M’s) but now i copied and pasted it to a word doc. to review it again and do what i can with it all. That was so nice of you to offer those suggestions, I appreciate that.
        Also, even tho not participating at this time, I can feel the excitement of this workshop (teleconference rather) and know everyone will be so inspired by it and accomplish great things. Love the feedback above from past participants, the very original and applicable comment in last line: “Barbara is just like a real person, only shorter”.

        .Actually I would agree and add to that …that she is more than “like” a real person. She IS real…so very real …can connect with others in such a profound way… People i have shared her books with (especially on scanners..) feel for the very first time …truly understood and more able to understand themselves. So ….we have this small body , BIG ‘entity’ …(huge mind, powerhouse of knowledge, insight and extraordinary wisdom..}.she is like a giant in her impact actually when i have just listened to and watched her on those public TV shows.(where first saw /heard her) Must be such joy to work with her. and in person.

        Best to all.

        • Thanks, Marian. Yes, Barbara is VERY real, very down-to-earth, very enjoyable to be around. (So is Patty K, the author of that great comment and blog post.) It is a joy to work with Barbara, especially on those very rare days when we’re in the same city or town on the same day. Thank you, WhatsApp, on all the others.

          It is also a joy to get to work with our WriteSpeakers as they let go of their “beat-yourself-until-a-book-pops-out” notions of what it’s really like to author books like Barbara’s. They (and all of you folks who could not join us this year but feel the same strong urge) are so sensitive to and encouraging of others and are full of wisdom on how to deal with life’s tougher bits.

    • After my business failed and financial ruin was a real possibility ( thought thank God it was averted) I didn’t see how I could find the financial resources to pay for write/speak. It was all I wanted to do. But thankfully there was the Bronze level payment plan. It was still a push but I found a way to do it. Wow what a blessing. It allowed me to go in a different direction- the one I wanted and needed to go. So life changing. I can’t begin to tell you. I missed a lot because I worked 40 hours a week at a demanding job, but now I’m back to do it all over again. Before you think you can’t see if there is not a way that you can 🙂

      • I love when our success stories return, Laura! Thanks for sharing this and for writing The Gardener’s Gift.

  3. Hi Patty! I have tried to follow the link sent to me in an email (sent to my work email address), but it doesn’t take me to where your comment was written. Also, an email I got shows me with a different password (but the correct email). But with that access, I’m not registered for WriteSpeak! I hope I haven’t thoroughly messed things up! Thanks for your help!

  4. Patty, thank you for all of your ideas, direction, and support. Even though I cannot attend this year, your ideas are great starting places not just give up and wait until another chance.
    Is it normal to feel ready to begin the steps, knowing that offering what you have learned or are learning (as broad and mixed and sometimes non-related these topics may be) is all that you have, (vs. having gained clarity about a topic or area that you will focus on)?
    Do you have to wait to take these steps and classes when you have defined a single area of focus or can you begin just knowing that relaying a helpful message (or messages) is your ultimate goal? I don’t yet have exact topic clarity but I do know just doing this and giving a message (or messages) using a blog and workshops and writing is what I want to do. I fear that I may not be ready because I am not clear about all of the messages and information that I want to pursue and research and share!

    • Thanks, Teresa. So sorry you can’t join us. I wish I could condense Barbara’s jam-packed six hour Teleworkshop into one simple comment, but you already have a topic. It’s one you’ve been working on since your were a child. Your friends, the ones who turn to you for help, probably know better than you what it is. But if you don’t know yet, and you can’t join the Teleworkshop, write and speak anyway. Write lots. Find every opportunity to share what you know with groups of people. And be sure to ask them to ask you lots of questions. And we’ll see you next year.

  5. Hi, I would love to do this course, but I have a number of things I could write about. Will this course help me pick the one thing to focus on? Also, I’ve been through plenty of challenging times, but not sure I’ve got all the answers. Although I have moved forward I’m still very much on my journey. I guess I would say that my message might just be one of hope that what you want is possible even when it feels it isn’t. Would I still be able to write a book and find speaking engagement? Thanks

    • Laura, the 6-Hour Teleworkshop should help you get very clear on what to focus on. That’s its purpose, and Barbara is exceedingly good at getting her WriteSpeakers to that point.

      And not having all the answers yet is the ONLY way to succeed at this. As soon as you have them all, you’ll lose your empathy for people dealing with the same problems as you, and you’ll stop developing or digging up new tools to share with those whose pain you know so well. We call the pain of dealing with yet another stumble on the journey “grad school,” and we’re all quite sympathetic with each other when any of us find ourselves there.

  6. Hi! I’m signed up for the workshop today but my father passed away and I have to travel for the funeral. Please let me know if I can join the next one.
    Thanks in advance,
    Lisa

  7. I’m a scanner, through and through, and finally learning to embrace it. I love your books and would love to do what you describe, but I’m living on a very limited income. I wish there were options to learn about some of this that were not so expensive.

    • Me too, dear Barbara. I am sure that your course will be worth the price, but I cannot spend so much money now. Is there any other possibility for people like us?

      I feel that I must use my talent of empathy for other people’s emotions, because I feel that this is a gift from God which I can use to help other people, and as well I feel that I must pass on what I learned about psychology during the last years of finding myself and what I am still learning (I also just started to study for the first time in my life: psychology :-D) to other people who feel lost and who are watching out for help as I was doing some years ago, too.
      I am just now in these days starting to integrate this in my self-employment as a lecturer of real life-stories.

      Furthermore, I would like to write books later.

      I would like so much to learn how to do a really good job by YOU, dear Barbara, because you are the best coach I ever got to know.

      It would also be very helpfull if you could write a book about this theme or if there would be videos available about it. Maybe, it would be possible to place them here on your website for a price that would be easier to afford?

      Kind regards,
      Melanie

      • I know that you already made 6 hours out of 6 days.
        But maybe, there is another essence of the essence 😉 ?
        Certainly, this will not be the same as to join the course, but maybe you will find another possibility for people with a smaller purse? 🙂

    • Miriam, Melanie, I wish there were a less expensive synopsis of what Barbara teaches that we could share with you. Unfortunately, it doesn’t boil down very easily and what Barbara charges doesn’t have any of us who work in WriteSpeak living high on the hog.

      So, here are my suggestions to anyone with limited income who would like to learn to write and speak like Barbara:

      Method 1: Start a free blog on WordPress.com and write regularly about the things you know that will help others. End each post with an open-ended question. And be patient. Blogs get more search traffic than regular readers. Answer all of the questions anyone asks you in the comments fully and with care — your answers turn into content for your book. And they bring in more searchers. And the blog (with all of the search engine links to it) will give you a platform for promoting your book when you write it. Be sure to link to your blog posts and your best answers on Facebook and at least one other of the social media.

      Method 2: Go through I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was with a fine tooth comb. Of all of Barbara’s books, it’s the one that incorporates the most of what she teaches in the course, and it does it beautifully. Watch for how she shares advice in a way that makes you feel smart and good, not ignorant or in need of empowering by someone else. Watch for how she uses exercises and how she uses stories to give readers feedback on their likely answers to the exercises. These also help the readers who don’t stop to do the exercises grasp her message better. Watch for how she makes you want to keep reading and how she smoothly changes subjects, so you don’t stop. Notice how she begins and how she ends the book. Study the organization of her table of contents and the words she chooses to title each chapter. Then dig a little deeper until you see that she must have given the book (and did) to real people to read before she did her final editing, because she somehow answers questions that would never occur to someone who knows her subject as well as she does.

      Method 3: Join or use Meetup or your local library or book store bulletin board to create a group of non-fiction writers or bloggers. Make sure you have support as you blog or make sense of Barbara’s NY Times Bestseller. Isolation is the dream killer.

      Method 4: Write or edit something for someone else with money. Or cook your favorite meals for them. Or decorate their bathroom with that fancy decorative painting you do in your own home. Or let them pay you to walk their dog while they’re at work for the next year. This must be something different from what you do to feed and clothe your family or pay your rent, something you do for your future writing and speaking career. And save all that money so that you (with all the knowledge you’ve gained from Methods 1, 2 and 3, if you’re really serious about this) are ready to be part of next year’s WriteSpeak. Be sure to save up more than the cost of the course, because someone as ready as you’ll be will definitely benefit from a professional editor by week 20 of the course. Registration should open on February 9, 2019, and we’ll be absolutely thrilled to include you then — even if you’ve already written and self-published a book while you’re waiting, because the course includes how to find a message you’ll never get bored with, how to write without writer’s block or the horrible Butt In Chair Hands On Keyboard (BICHOK) approach, how to make money by speaking about your book in ways that don’t require performing (unless you enjoy performing), and how to promote your book and your speaking gigs.

      I truly hope to see you both in next year’s class, Melanie and Miriam. And please post a link to your blog here after your fifth blog post, so there’s lots for all of us to fall in love with from the start.

      • Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply! I have been blogging, as you suggest, since May 2017. My blog is about creativity, and being a Scanner, I try something new each month to write about: https://miriamqueensen.wordpress.com/blog/
        I have real all of Barbara’s book but will study them more closely, as you suggest. My favorite of course is Refuse to Choose! I have a lot of experience as a writer and editor, and am currently working on my idea for a book, but the piece I’m missing is how to become a speaker. I’d love to see a way to tap into just that part of the process.

        • Congratulations on your blog, Miriam. Reading Barbara’s books is very different from looking at them as models for a book of your own. I Could Do Anything also contains the secret to becoming a speaker: most of those exercises in there began as one Barbara did with real people in a coaching session, then a workshop, and then (in a few cases) a keynote speech. The internet makes it so easy to offer teleworkshops. For a few years, I offered two free teleworkshops a month to readers of my blog. I’d announce the topic and invite people to show up and ask questions for 45 minutes. If I had a new exercise, I’d try it out on them. If not, I’d just answer their questions, then blog about my answers to them. Use a free conference call service, which will let you easily record the session. An app like Dragon Naturally Speaking Pro will transcribe the portions in your voice rather nicely. Once you have a good mailing list and some great exercises, you can start charging for them, and voila, you’re a paid speaker! Then start looking for folks who hire speakers and fly them to interesting places to speak.

          • Thanks, Pascale. I’m looking forward to getting started with a new batch of WriteSpeakers at the Teleworkshop this weekend and the 48-Week Course on the 26th.

  8. Will this program be offered again at another time? Won’t be able to start and dedicate the proper time needed to be successful until after I finish my undergraduate classes in May. I’m 52-years-bold, with severe ADHD, Dyslexia, and Dyscalculia…and finally soon-to-be graduating this coming June with my Bachelor Degree! How’s that for a success story?!

    • Karen, yours is an incredible success story! Wow. Congratulations.

      We’ll start again a year from now. If you like, and if your study schedule allows, you’re welcome to do the Teleworkshop this weekend or next and start the 48-Week Course next March. Being clear on your message all year should put you in great shape to handle the course with ease next year.

    • Dear Karen,
      did you ever think about being highly gifted? I already read other stories that began like your one, and in most of that cases, the ADHD was only a misdiagnosis…
      Congrats to your success! 😀 <3
      Kind regards,
      Melanie