How would you like to write without
worrying about the outcome?
What would it be like to stop staring at a blank screen?
Who would you be if you believed you could write?
It’s time to unleash the power of your words.
Writing doesn’t have to be hard. What makes it seem hard is all the myths about writing—the suffering artist staring at a blank screen for days on end. The writer so afraid of imperfection that she can’t even pick up her pen. The false starts and the false re-starts and the, Oh who am I kidding? when you stop starting at all.
When the voice inside your head insists You’re crazy to think you can write, you have two choices:
- Give up.
- Start typing.
I understand those choices because I’ve made them both.
For years, I was bound up by the idea that if I couldn’t write “perfectly,” I shouldn’t even try. So I didn’t.
I’m here to tell you, choice #2 is much more fulfilling.
My name is Elaine Bennett and I’ve made my living as a business writer for over 25 years, working with leading executives like Warren Buffett. I’ve even won awards.
“You have a terrific ear and you turn straight thinking into straight writing.”
—Warren Buffett
But all that was only possible because I said “yes” to opportunity and told that negative voice in my head to put a sock in it.
I freed myself to create. And I’m here to free you too. If you’re ready.
How can Writing Unbound help me?
Maybe you’ve had this idea of writing inside you for a long time, just waiting to emerge. Why wait one more day?
Maybe you feel like you’d be in a better position professionally if you could express your ideas more memorably. Companies expect their leaders to be great communicators. Are you?
Maybe you’re in the nonprofit sector and your organization’s survival literally depends on how successfully you tell its story. How confident are you in your abilities?
Maybe you’re in business for yourself. Honey, I know that story well. We entrepreneurs are the board of directors, the marketing department, the sales staff, the web team. And those blogs don’t write themselves. Can you afford to keep pushing writing to the bottom of your to-do list?
Whatever your reason for joining us, Writing Unbound gives you time to work on the projects of your choice while honing your existing skills and developing new ones.
I designed the program to help you
- discover how to break through the roadblocks we all throw in our own way
- focus on developing yourself and your writing
- begin to write more quickly, with more clarity, ease, and enjoyment
Writing Unbound: the program I wish I’d had
I filled Writing Unbound with all the things I needed as a new writer. In fact, they’re things I still need: Skills. Support. Commitment. Guidance. And what may be the scarcest commodity in the world: Time.
Sound good? Let’s break it down:
Time.
It’s the biggest constraint we put on ourselves, so it’s the first thing you get in Writing Unbound. Time you set aside to learn the craft of writing. Time to let go of whatever else presses on your schedule and focus on this one thing you’ve been wanting to start, or improve. Give yourself the gift of time and discover where writing can take you. Ten webinars released over 10 weeks + 5 hour-long live group classes where you can ask questions, delve more deeply into some of the techniques from the videos.
Beyond the videos and the calls, you’ll dedicate 15 minutes to writing every day. If that feels intimidating, well, yes—I know. But it’s the only way to make real progress.
You know, people are funny. If you tell them “You can have what you want, but first you have to give up something you have”—most people will say no. We don’t like giving things up. We have closets full of clothes we don’t fit into and schedules full of commitments we don’t really want to take on. Not giving ’em up, no sir.
Most people will do anything for someone else, but they won’t give themselves the gift of 15 minutes a day to work on their own goals.
Well, I didn’t build this program for “most people.” I built it for people like you and me.
People like us believe that our goals and aspirations are worth a little scheduling roulette.
People like us recognize how fulfilling it is to give ourselves permission to do what we love.
And—make no mistake about it—people like us love programs like this.
- We show up.
- We take on the challenges.
- We feel so freaking good when we see how far we can go.
- And then we go even farther.
Skills.
Yes, you learned how to write in school. But perhaps it’s time to revisit those fundamentals—and discover some techniques your teachers might not have mentioned.
Which brings us to those 10 videos…I’ve got key topics lined up and I’m also happy to address any specific issues you’re struggling with.
- feeling “wrong” when you create
- experiencing life outside your comfort zone (at least for a few minutes at a time)
- taming perfectionism and procrastination
- finding and setting the right tone for a piece
- discovering your unique voice
- loosening up and writing with humor
- dealing with distractions
- adapting your style to the situation
- framing your message
- telling a story that sticks
- using data inventively
- moving your audience to action
In other words, we’ll discuss the craft of writing. And the mental gymnastics involved in getting the words out of your head and onto the page. With time for Q&A on the live calls. And if you have a specific issue you’d like to address, let me know. I’ll do my best to address it for you.
But talk only goes so far—to really internalize new skills you have to use them. So I’ve put together a calibrated series of weekly exercises and writing prompts for you to work on. Not to take the place of your “regular” writing, but to supplement it. You can share your results with our Facebook group for specific comments from me and your fellow participants.
“The prompts broadened my thinking and challenged my writing.”
The Weekly What, a $497 value—included free
With The Weekly What, you get a writing exercise every week. For a year.
And every second week, I analyze a great piece of writing for you—a speech, an article, a blog post. You get a backstage tour of the choices the author made, so you can begin to make more conscious choices in your own writing.
This is how I learned to write—by studying the bones of great writing and then trying it myself.
We’ll have an hour-long call every month—in addition to the regular Writing Unbound call—to discuss these writing analyses together. Those calls will continue for a full 12 months, long after the Writing Unbound curriculum has ended.
Because—yes—you’ll receive the Weekly What writing prompts and analyses for a full year. (It must be true: it says so in the graphic.) So you can continue to build on the work we do in this first course, establishing great writing habits that can last you a lifetime.
Listen to some of my students discuss their experiences with Writing Unbound (and its follow-up program, Writing Beyond). And if you’d like to know more about The Weekly What, you’ll find a shorter video here.
Support. Every writer needs it.
I named this program Writing Unbound because one of my goals is to free you from the artificial restrictions you’ve placed on yourself and your writing.
- Needing your desk laid out just so.
- Needing either absolute silence or the din of the espresso machine.
- Thinking that “writing” is something precious or specific or lofty—anything other than what you’re capable of.
In the Q&A calls and in posts on our private Facebook group, you’ll learn you’re far from alone.
Whatever doubts you’ve wrestled with, whatever procrastination traps you’ve fallen into, whatever “fight or flight” reflex your creativity has triggered, I can guarantee I’ve been there (I still am, sometimes) and so have your fellow participants.
Engage with the Facebook group to support each other, ask questions, offer constructive advice. I’ll be in there too.
Still wondering? Have some answers.
Why is Writing Unbound 10 weeks long?
I’m sure you can find a shorter writing program. A half-day seminar, a three-part webinar. You’ve probably taken classes like that already. And when they’re over, how long did it take before you stopped using the skills you learned?
I’m not looking to teach people who plan to forget what they’ve learned the minute the class ends.
If that’s how you roll, save your money and my time.
If you want to learn a craft, if you want to develop skills that you can deepen over time—then you understand that 10 weeks is only the beginning. It’s a drop in the bucket of your commitment to writing.
And when you own that commitment and allow the work we do in Writing Unbound to become an integral part of your life, you open yourself up to the joy of writing. It’s better than sex, and a lot less messy.
When are the webinars?
I’ll begin releasing the Writing Unbound webinars once a week, beginning October 1st, 2018. Watch them on your own time—as many times as you like. For life.
We’ll have a group call on Thursday, October 4th to get to know each other and set goals for the program. And then we’ll have a live group discussion on October 11th and every other Tuesday, to discuss the videos, two at a time. We’ll wrap up on December 13th to discuss the final videos and where you might want to go from there with your writing.
What’s in the program?
I promise you “Skills. Support. Commitment. Guidance.” So let’s break that down.
We’ll cover skills in the weekly videos. But Writing Unbound is much more than staring at your computer for an hour a week. You’ll practice the skills during your daily 15 minutes (that’s the commitment). And get support from me and each other in our Facebook page.
One of the most powerful elements of the program is The Weekly What. To give you an idea of what this looks like, I’ve taken an article I posted on LinkedIn this year and turned it into a sample. You can download it here: Weekly What Sample – Ali.
I created The Weekly What specifically to supplement the work we do in Writing Unbound. This year, I am now offering it as a self-directed standalone program for $497—but when you register for Writing Unbound, you get the 52 weeks of emails and analysis. For free.
Your investment
You’d pay upwards of $3700.00 for a semester-long course like this in business school (basing this on Johns Hopkins’ estimate of $1240 per credit for its “flexible MBA”). Then again, they don’t teach writing in business schools. Which explains a lot. But I won’t charge you $3700. I won’t even charge you $2700. And you get much more than the class—and The Weekly What.
Register by September 15th and you also get four 30-minute private coaching sessions with me.
Fill out the application now and let’s talk.
I’ve designed the questions to help you discover some truths
about yourself and writing.
So the learning starts the minute you click on the link.
As they (sort of) used to say in the ’60s, “Write on!”
Elaine Bennett
Award-winning business storyteller, writers’ guide, Mets fan
