Writing Your Heart – Janet Eriksson

August 25, 2025August 19, 2025

Writing Prompt: Back-to-School Letter for Future Generations

One of the fun things about writing family history is you can experiment with different writing formats. You can tell a family story by writing a poem or a song, describing a photo, sharing a recipe and the story behind it, creating a diary-style note, or writing a letter.

Today, we’ll look at a writing prompt for a seasonal letter you can write. This letter is partly an encouragement to future generations of your family, and it’s partly a way to share your own memories.

April 21, 2025April 22, 2025

Start Your Book by Writing a Simple Letter

You want to write a book. You have a message to share. You know the kind of readers you can help with your book. But how do you get started? It feels kind of overwhelming.

Here’s a simple way to start moving toward your book: Write a letter.

April 14, 2025May 14, 2025

It Is Not Too Late to Write Your Book

This question comes up a lot: “Is it too late to write my book?”

Absolutely not.

If you have a book inside you, it’s not too late to write it.

March 31, 2025April 2, 2025

How To Start Writing Your Book Just By Talking

If you’ve been wanting to write a book, but you don’t know where to start, you can get started just by talking. Writing a book doesn’t mean you always have to be writing. Sometimes it’s easier to get thoughts onto a page by saying them out loud.

No writer’s block. No staring at a blank screen. No flashbacks of high school English class. Just talking.

March 24, 2025March 24, 2025

Write Your Book Your Way

The first question most non-fiction, self-publishing writers ask me is, “What’s the best way for me to start writing my book?”

My answer? The best way is your way. You have to find what works for you. What will bring your words to life for your readers? You’re the only one who will know what works best for you, and it may take a little exploration to figure it out.

No matter which way you choose, there is one very important guideline: Put your heart on paper first, in whatever way you can. All the rest is editing. You figure out the best way to get the words out of your heart and onto the written page (that’s writing). Then you shape the material from there (that’s editing). That takes off a lot of pressure. You don’t need to have everything figured out just to write.