Introducing:
A 6-month group coaching program that will help you craft the change-making stories of your heart with an experienced book coach and supportive community of writers by your side!
Your long-held dream is to have a reader-ready manuscript, but you’re:
- Battling imposter syndrome and fighting a losing battle against your doubt demons
- Worrying you’ll never finish that first draft
- Unsure of the next steps to take
- Struggling to incorporate the feedback you’ve gotten
- Facing rejection by agents or editors – or worse, hearing nothing but crickets
And now you’re wondering…
Where do I go from here?
You don’t need a magic bullet solution.
(pssst. it doesn’t exist!)
You need the right blend of accountability, emotional support, craft and industry knowledge, plus a dash of tough love to help you get your manuscript completed and into readers’ hands.
Writing a novel or memoir can be a hard, confusing, and lonely process.
The doubt. The uncertainty. The waiting. The rejection.
What if there was a place where a seasoned industry pro could help you gain the confidence you need to get your novel or memoir reader-ready?
Where you could get out of overwhelm and finally feel empowered to tell the story of your heart…
Where you could meet other writers on a similar journey and write a book together with guidance, coaching, and feedback from a coach who’s done it all before?
Introducing the Wyrd Writers Collective, the writing haven you’ve been waiting for…
Imagine…
…sitting down at your desk thrilled to be writing and confident that you know the next right step to take.
You open your laptop or notebook and know you’re moving toward your writing goals instead of flailing in the dark.
When your friends and family ask about your manuscript, you’re excited to tell them about the progress you’ve made and where you’re headed next.
This newfound confidence hasn’t come by accident.
It’s because you joined the Wyrd Writers Collective and made friends, honed your craft, and had a highly experienced book coach holding your hand through the process.
What’s included inside the Wyrd Writers Collective?
Supportive Online Community
A curated, moderated, supportive online community full of tips, prompts, genre and age category subgroups, a book recommendation thread, and more!
Trainings & Exercises
Lessons, lectures, and exercises on all aspects of Craft, Mindset, and Industry that you iterate through until you’re confident your story is reader-ready.
Group Coaching Calls
Join us 3x a month for an immersive coaching experience where members have the exclusive chance to receive personalized 1:1 feedback and engage in collaborative learning during live group coaching calls with Julie. This is your opportunity to talk through questions you have about your story or applying the course materials.
These interactive sessions provide invaluable opportunities to delve into your writing challenges, receive tailored feedback, and collectively find solutions within our supportive community!
These coaching calls happen live on Zoom, and are recorded for those who are not able to attend live.
Weekly Co-Writing Sessions
Come write with other members of the Wyrd Writers Collective community on Zoom during our weekly co-writing sessions, happening at various times during each week.
Monthly Craft Webinars
For deeper dives on various elements of craft, we’ll get together live for 90 minutes each month for a lecture and activities on topics ranging from character motivation to world-building to series planning and more!
An events calendar is available both in the community and via Google or iCal so you always have the most up-to-date information. This allows you to block time on your schedule each week for your writing! That consistency is key to getting a draft reader-ready.
The Wyrd Writers Collective is designed to accompany you through every stage of writing your dream novel or memoir.
Everything about writing, from mindset to planning, drafting, revising, and even pitching, is an iterative process.
That’s why the Wyrd Writers Collective is organized around the Reader-Ready Lifecycle, which helps you assess, revise, and iterate until your story is truly ready for readers.
How does the Reader-Ready Lifecycle translate into action?
Inside the Wyrd Writers Collective, we’ll work together to:
- Establish a writing practice that gives you time, energy, and ease as you plan, draft, revise, and pitch your story.
- Evaluate where your story is and what needs to happen to get it reader-ready.
- Establish the big-picture “Why” of your writing life and your work in progress.
- Determine gaps in your craft knowledge…and fill them!
- Design story scaffolding appropriate for the genre, age category, and “why” of your story.
- Learn to revise deeply so that you can get to “done.”
- Understand the marketplace into which your book will launch.
- Pitch with strategy and confidence.
The Wyrd Writers Collective is NOT a good fit for writers who…
- Do not want to write books with strong character development
- Aren’t willing to examine how harmful tropes, stereotypes, and unconscious bias can creep into our stories
- Want to get to a first draft, but aren’t interested in learning deep revision techniques
- Are resistant to feedback
- Are uncomfortable with online communities and the technology involved
The Wyrd Writers Collective is a good fit for writers who…
- Are planners, pantsers, intuitive writers, or anywhere in between
- Have always dreamed of a life spent telling the stories of their heart, but are bogged down and stuck in the process
- Can’t seem to finish a first draft
- Have a finished draft that’s missing something, but they’re not sure what
- Keep getting revise & resubmit requests from agents – or worse, are hearing crickets
- Have been published, but are looking to level up next time
- Are making a change in genre, age category, or publishing method and need support/guidance
- Want to take a big craft risk and need practical and emotional support to make the leap
Suzette went from almost giving up when the writing journey got tough to publishing her emotive memoir and getting interviewed on Good Day Seattle!
“Finding a book coach you trust is important for any writer but especially important for memoir writers.
Trying to make sense of the past and shape our experiences into a narrative worth reading is vulnerable and hard. As I approach pitching my memoir, I’m confident it’s the best book I was capable of writing at the time because Julie was by my side every step of the way.
Julie speaks the truth with love. She encourages when you’re filled with doubt. She asks the hard questions.
She’s truly everything you want in a book coach: great marketplace awareness, spot-on feedback on the page, and positive energy that makes a writer feel like “yes, I can do this.”
Suzette Mullen, Book Coach and author of The Only Way Through is Out
About Julie
I’ve made every mistake, fielded every level of rejection, felt confused and frustrated and ready to give up.
My name is Julie Artz and I’ve been writing novels for two decades. I learned how to dig my way out and now I’m committed to helping other writers do the same.
For the past decade I’ve helped hundreds of writers like you finish your first-ever draft or revision, all the way through to interpreting editor feedback and launching a book into the world.
Some truly phenomenal books have crossed my desk in my time as a Pitch Wars mentor and book coach since 2013, many of which have found great homes with the Big 5, small, midsize, and university presses, hybrid presses, or in the indie publishing space.
Reese went from almost giving up on her first manuscript to three books coming out in the same month!
When you work with me, you can expect just the right mix of tough love, craft smarts, and finger-on-the-pulse industry knowledge, plus a sprinkle of book-witchery for good measure.
“I absolutely loved working with Julie! She is a fantastic editor with a great eye. Her feedback is organized, thorough, and thoughtful.
She has so much expertise to share on everything from story structure to character arcs to common line-level mistakes! Julie isn’t afraid to suggest changes that will take your manuscript to the next level!
She will push you to grow as a writer, but she will also be there to encourage and support you every step of the way! I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with her on my manuscript.”
Reese Eschmann, author of Etta Invincible and 2017 Pitch Wars Mentee.
Sometimes it’s easier to reorganize the pantry than tease out a tricky plot problem in our creative work.
I get it. Life is busy. It’s exhausting to flip-flop between your day job and writing. It’s hard to prioritize your goals when there’s no external deadline.
Accountability and mindset are often far bigger obstacles than a lack of craft knowledge.
That’s why write-ins, check in posts, and goal-setting are all a part of the Wyrd Writers Collective!
Embark on a 6-month journey within the Wyrd Writers Collective, where you’ll:
- Receive unwavering support through every stage of your writing journey
- Discover a safe haven to have your burning questions answered
- Hone your craft through meticulously crafted lessons that dig into each step of the writing process
- Engage in vibrant discussions with fellow writers, sharing insights, challenges, and creative sparks!
- Conquer mental blocks, writing obstacles, and publishing hurdles
- And so much more!
Sound good?
The investment:
1:1 coaching: $1000/month
Wyrd Writers Collective: $300/month (six month commitment required, in order to build actual momentum)
That’s right: for less than the cost of just two months of 1:1 private coaching, you will get SIX months of coaching PLUS access to all the workbooks, exercises, and resources I use with my 1:1 clients, live and recorded lectures where you can deep-dive into the specific aspects of craft you need, 3 monthly coaching calls, and a supportive, moderated online community.
Scholarship and sliding scale options available for writers from traditionally under-represented groups. Just let me know you’re interested in your intake form.
Joni went from having a solid draft to being awarded one of the most coveted designations in the book industry, the Kirkus Star!
“Julie has an unusual ability to see story from a big-picture perspective that connects the external aspects of setting and plot with the internal ones of character and emotional arc. That connection strengthens authenticity and helps to make the work more compelling. Her guidance on the intricacies of building a world (and the characters and emotions inhabiting it) is sure to be useful for writers of all genres.”
Joni Sensel, author of A Curse on the Wind and Feeling Fate
FAQs
How much does this cost?
The Wyrd Writers Collective costs $300 a month with a six-month minimum commitment. In return you’ll receive hours of course materials, live support, and a welcoming community where you can get your questions answered.
What’s a day in the Collective like?
We’ve already made so much magic in the first few months of The Wyrd Writers Collective! In November, I taught a Craft Magic workshop about the seven key scenes that should be part of your story. It’s a solid introduction to a topic that can be tricky for writers–story structure.
I spent our next coaching call debriefing on the topic with Workshop participants. We worked through questions and applied the concepts to each of their stories. We also identified a lot of confusion about how to write at the scene level. Everyone had reviewed my Understanding Scene lecture, but they were having trouble putting them into practice in their stories.
It’s such a common problem…You’ve read all the books, attended all the classes, but you need help putting it into practice. That’s where I come in!
So we all did a bonus assignment: diagram the six parts of a scene in both a real-live scene from a comp titles and in a scene from the work-in-progress. I even brought a scene from my brand-new story.
And guess what? We made magic! We took the concepts I introduced in the course materials and applied them hands-on together as a group. Every single participant commented that it was hugely helpful. They understood this tricky topic much better after our series of calls on scene. It was the kind of supportive learning environment I’d dreamed of creating when I first got the idea for this program. And there’s still time for you to be a part of it.
Breaking down craft concepts and getting 1:1 help is exactly what you can expect from this magical group coaching program.
Do I have to critique others’ writing?
I’m not going to lie, I see huge value in peer critique. But I also know it can be a sore subject, especially for writers who have had negative experiences in past workshops. That’s why peer critique is not required in the Wyrd Writers Collective. We do hold optional facilitated critique sessions once a month for those who are interested or would like to learn more about them in a safe, low-pressure environment.
I just need a full manuscript read–can’t you just do that instead?
Yes, but the thing is I’d rather equip you with tools you can use for a lifetime of stories than read a full manuscript for you.
Inside the Wyrd Writers Collective you’ll be empowered to see your story clearly while at the same time learning the craft tools necessary to build your drafting, revision, and pitching plans with confidence!
What’s the deal with “Wyrd”?
Wyrd (pronounced “weird”) means fate or destiny in Germanic traditions and is the rune that represents Yggdrasil, the world tree, in Norse mythology. As someone who has been told I was “too weird” pretty much all my life, this alternate, expansive understanding of what “weirdness” could mean thrills me.
If you set out each day to change the world with your stories, but worry you or your stories are too weird, I want to know you. I want to read them. I’m wyrd too. Let’s embrace it and work together. I can help you slay those doubt demons so that you can send your work out into the world with confidence.
It used to make me feel so lonely, so wrong, so “other,” when people called me or my stories or my ideas weird. Now when they say that, I just thank them, because what they don’t know is that Weird is my superpower, my inner source of strength. And it can be yours too.
Heather revised an early draft of her heart-filled Appalachian fiction novel into a debut that landed her agent and won multiple awards!
“Julie is a dream come true for writers: a careful and attentive reader who can hone in on what would make a story really soar. Whether you need help with a query, synopsis, or manuscript, I can’t recommend Julie strongly enough.”
— Heather Bell Adams, Author of Maranatha Road (Vandalia Press, 2017)
Ready to join the Wyrd Writers Collective and get comprehensive support at an affordable price?
You’ve read to the end, so I know you’re struggling with your writing. And I’m here to help.
Please enter your name and email address below and I’ll send you an easy get-to-know-you form and an invitation to talk with me 1:1 so we can find out if The Wyrd Writers Collective is right for you.
(In order to keep the workshop a safe and supportive environment, I vet each writer who joins through an intake process that is open just a few times each year.)
Before you go…
Did you know that Wyrd (pronounced “weird”) means fate or destiny in Germanic traditions and is the rune that represents Yggdrasil, the world tree, in Norse mythology.
As someone who has been told I was “too weird” pretty much all my life, this alternate, expansive understanding of what “weirdness” could mean thrills me.
If you know in your heart that it is your fate to change the world with your stories, I want to know you. I want to read them. I’m wyrd too.
Let’s embrace it and work together to slay those doubt demons so that you can send your stories out into the world with confidence.