We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel May a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rachel, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I decided I wanted to be an author when I fell in love with reading during middle school. I latched onto fiction novels and found myself completely captivated by fantasy worlds, tales of love and daring, and magic. I wanted to make other people feel the way I felt when I read an amazing story. So I knew then that I wanted learn how to write a book. I started writing in high school and throughout college, but never felt like the “craft” clicked for me. Every resource I ran into just didn’t seem to make sense for my brain or my writing process.

Cut to a few years later when I was searching for critique partners on Twitter. I found another amazing writer and we immediately clicked as we dove into learning craft. We started with writing craft books, exchanged our pages, and constantly gave feedback to one another. The more we learned, the more we got nerdy, we realized that we wanted to help other people learn how to write, too.

So we decided to start a business together! We took formal book coaching training to not only develop our craft skills further, but to also understand how to coach other writers through their writing process. But it wasn’t until after that, when we really jumped feet-first into our business, that we learned just how unique and individual writing is–which is what I’d been feeling (yet unable to name) since I was a kid!

We developed our own coaching process that prioritizes the theory of writing craft, while encouraging our writers to apply their knowledge however works best for them. There is no one right way to finish a book, and writing craft cannot be taught that way. I wish I would have known that throughout all those years I tried to force my brain into a specific box.

Now, I have developed my own unique process that works for my brain and my body so I can finish book after book. I think what’s most important to writers learning craft is to continually experiment to find what works for them, ask questions, stay tenacious, and be unwilling to give up. Learn learn how to let go of shame, external expectations, and pressure–and how to find the joy and fun in the process instead!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hey, I’m Rachel! I’m your mac n’ cheese loving, toddler mom, neurodivergent, book fairy godmother.

As a coach and writer with ADHD, I understand how downright confusing writing craft can be and how much those “rules” can feel limiting. I understand what it’s like to struggle with your process and get hung up with mental hurdles. Throughout my journey, I’ve learned how to make writing work with my brain and I can’t wait to help you do the same.

I’ve spent so many years nailing down the fundamentals of writing craft, while also learning how individual it actually is to apply them. I want writers like you to know that YOU are in charge of your writing process, and there is no one right way to write. Whether you’re interested in 1:1 book coaching, or joining a community of likeminded writers in our Tenacious Writing program, you’ll learn how to master craft that makes sense to you, develop a sustainable and consistent writing life, and create the bedrock of your writing life.

Together we’ll heal your mindset, develop a writing practice that harnesses your unique strengths, and give you every tool you need to finish the book of your freaking dreams.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being an artist/writer AND being a book coaching is seeing incredible stories come to life.

Stories change the world. Books do something incredible to our brain chemistry where they literally allow us to take on the lives of characters in order to see/feel what they feel, and experience the change they experience. Stories have so much power to create and enact change.

It’s incredibly rewarding to know that my stories, and the stories of the writers I work with, are doing the same. We’re changing the world, one book at a time. We’re opening eyes, changing minds, widening hearts. I like being able to make an impact in the life of another person is just about the coolest thing you can do.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I think the biggest resource that I wish I knew about (and that others did too) was how important community is.

Community in the writing process, community in the business space—we need other people around us to support us, challenge us, open our eyes, share feedback, and empathize with our journey. Community is critical to not only helping us understand the industry and landscape we work within, but it’s also pivotal for the personal boost it gives during both the good and the rough times.

Whenever someone asks what is the key to running a business, or to writing a book, I always come back to a solid and supportive community. It doesn’t matter where you find it, or how, just that you do. So start looking! Get creative, put on your extrovert hat for a minute, and then go find a community that can support you as a creative/business owner as well as a person.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://goldenmayediting.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookcoachrachel/

Image Credits

Tonya Crandell