Finding a critique partner is at the top of my list of things I wish every writer would do BEFORE reaching out to an agent, editor, or book coach for help with their story. 

Getting those fresh eyes on your early drafts can help you fill the gap between your vision for the story and what you’ve actually got on the page. And the friendship/support a critique partner can provide is invaluable on what can be a long and lonely journey toward publication.

But how do you find critique partners? It can be tough, especially with words as tender and personal as our stories. Now you don’t have to go it alone—I can help you find other like-minded writers and have a speed-dating inspired format to help you quickly identify if you’re a match!

In January, I’m running the seventh round of this FREE critique partner matching service, CP Meet Cute. Sign up today at pages.julieartz.com/cp-meet-cute and let me help you find critique partners!

Here are the key dates for Round Seven:

• January 1, 2024 – Round begins (but you can join the waitlist before-hand!)
• February 7, 2024 – Deadline for completing Matchmaker Survey
• February 14, 2024 – Cohorts announced

CP Meet Cute is a tribute to the romance novels that were my lifeblood at the start of the pandemic, but it’s not just for romance writers—it’s for writers of all genres and ages categories, including Picture Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Adult, and Creative Nonfiction!

Writers at any level who are looking for a critique partner can sign up here and I’ll be in touch with more details: pages.julieartz.com/cp-meet-cute.

How Does It Work?

Think of it like speed dating! After you sign up, you’ll get an email with some ground rules and a link to my Matchmaker Survey. This brief survey helps me learn a little bit about you so that I can match you with a group of like-minded writers. That group of 3-5 writers will be your CP Meet Cute Cohort.

I’ll send you an email introducing you to your cohort and providing some resources on how to give great feedback and how to structure critique groups. Then your cohort will have about six weeks to exchange the first chapters of your works in progress.

Once the six weeks have passed, you’ll get a follow-up email asking whether you’ve found someone you think you can trust with your pages going forward. If so, congratulations! You’ve taken the next step in your writing journey and now you’ve got a buddy to walk with you. If not, do not fear, you’ll go back into the pool for another round of CP Meet Cute, which I run three times per year.

Finding a critique partner is at the top of my list of things I wish every writer would do BEFORE reaching out to an agent, editor, or book coach for help with their story. 

Getting those fresh eyes on your early drafts can help you fill the gap between your vision for the story and what you’ve actually got on the page. And the friendship/support a critique partner can provide is invaluable on what can be a long and lonely journey toward publication.

But how do you find critique partners? It can be tough, especially with words as tender and personal as our stories. Now you don’t have to go it alone—I can help you find other like-minded writers and have a speed-dating inspired format to help you quickly identify if you’re a match!

In June, I’m running the sixth round of this FREE critique partner matching service, CP Meet Cute. Sign up today at pages.julieartz.com/cp-meet-cute and let me help you find critique partners!

Here are the key dates for Round Six:

• October 1, 2023 – Round begins
• October 31, 2023 – Deadline for completing Matchmaker Survey
• November 15, 2023 – Cohorts announced

CP Meet Cute is a tribute to the romance novels that were my lifeblood at the start of the pandemic, but it’s not just for romance writers—it’s for writers of all genres and ages categories, including Picture Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Adult, and Creative Nonfiction!

Writers at any level who are looking for a critique partner can sign up here and I’ll be in touch with more details: pages.julieartz.com/cp-meet-cute.

How Does It Work?

Think of it like speed dating! After you sign up, you’ll get an email with some ground rules and a link to my Matchmaker Survey. This brief survey helps me learn a little bit about you so that I can match you with a group of like-minded writers. That group of 3-5 writers will be your CP Meet Cute Cohort.

I’ll send you an email introducing you to your cohort and providing some resources on how to give great feedback and how to structure critique groups. Then your cohort will have about six weeks to exchange the first chapters of your works in progress.

Once the six weeks have passed, you’ll get a follow-up email asking whether you’ve found someone you think you can trust with your pages going forward. If so, congratulations! You’ve taken the next step in your writing journey and now you’ve got a buddy to walk with you. If not, do not fear, you’ll go back into the pool for another round of CP Meet Cute, which I run three times per year.

What: Consummate story geek and book coach Julie Artz will lead you through the concepts, research, exercises, and tools she uses with authors on their path to publication.

When: October 9, 2023, 4-5:30 pm PT/ 7-8:30 pm ET

Where: Virtual (via Zoom)

Cost: $25

Learn how to self-audit your query with an editor’s eye

“Is my manuscript ready to query?” is probably the top question I get from writers.

It’s a difficult question to answer for yourself, but it’s one we can tackle together.

In this 90-minute webinar, I will provide you with the tools to:

• Identify red flags in your query or jacket, copy, and synopsis that indicate story-level issues
• Think about how to position your book in the market
• Self-audit for publication readiness.

Register today to learn how to set yourself up for querying success!

Join me on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, 1 PM ET/ 10 AM PT for Bringing Your Story World to Life: An iterative approach to world-building, hosted by Jane Friedman. Registration fee is $25

Whether you’re writing sci-fi/fantasy or contemporary, romance, mystery, or thriller, taking a planful approach to building your world will make your story come alive on the page for readers. If you want to immerse readers in a world they haven’t seen yet, whether it’s on Mars, in 16^th century France, or in Kansas, it takes solid world-building.

But how do you do you build a world that draws readers in? That’s exactly what I will teach you in this 90-minute webinar. I’ll lead you through the concepts, research, exercises, and tools I use to teach my practical approach to world-building to my clients.

Learn to avoid common pitfalls, tropes, and stereotypes; explore ways to take a universal story theme and express it in a fresh way that will make agents, editors, and readers keep turning pages; build rich worlds big enough to support a series; learn techniques to avoid the dreaded info dump. This 90-minute webinar provides an iterative approach to world-building for your novel so that you can avoid tired tropes, create a world that enhances plot, theme, and character, all while maintaining enough flexibility to explore and further refine the world while drafting and revising.

During this 90-minute webinar, we’ll discuss how to:

• Define world-building across genres
• Identify the top three world-building pitfalls
• Use planning and research to avoid those pitfalls
• Understand how world-building enhances the plot-theme-character triumvirate
• Apply Julie’s iterative approach to world-building while drafting and revising your story

This information-packed class has been developed over the years by a book coach who has guided many authors through drafting, revision, and publication. Participants will also receive my World-Building Workbook to help them flesh out their story worlds.

Register now!

Who should take this class

• First-time novelists who are struggling to build their first story world
• Writers drafting or revising a story and wondering if their world-building is fresh enough to stand out
• Experienced novelists who are switching genre and need a crash course in world-building
• Series authors wondering if their world is big enough to support two or more books
• Querying writers who are getting feedback that their story isn’t fresh enough to stand out in the marketplace

Who should NOT take this class

• Writers who are not open to revising once they better understand the genre expectations and tropes for their story’s genre
• Nonfiction authors (with the exception of memoirists)
• Picture book/Chapter book authors

Registration is open now.

Cost: $25

Writing is hard. From understanding the concepts of story to learning how to complete a revision to the project management of writing a whole book, the questions are endless.

But I’m here to help.

Whether you’re trying to write your very first book or are a seasoned author, my YouTube channel provides quick, easy tips to help you take the next step on your writing journey. So, if you’ve been stuck, confused, or frustrated with your writing journey let me be your literary fairy godmother.

Check out my videos for short, easy lessons that you can use to transform your story.

Here are some of my recent uploads:

Writing Craft

World-Building Mistakes Writers Make

In this video, I cover what world-building is, why all writers need to think about it, and some common mistakes I see writers (and, to be honest, myself) make.

Writer Hat – A Writers’ Meditation

Here’s a three-and-a-half-minute meditation to get you in the right mindset for fast drafting!

Critique Partner Q&A

In this excerpt from the “CP are the Special Sauce” webinar, three authors give you the scoop on what it’s really like to work with a critique partner.

Critique Group Best Practices

In this video, I cover what makes a great critique partner, why your critique group didn’t work out in the past, CP red flags, and more.

Social Justice

Why Culture Matters in Your Writing

This video is an excerpt from the webinar, “Becoming a Culturally Competent Writer,” that I co-hosted with DEI expert, Dr. Stacie Walton.

Writing Social & Environmental Justice Fiction

A replay of my conversation with fellow author and book coach, Emma Dhesi, about why I focus on social and environmental justice as a book coach.

Writing Tools

Word for Authors: Standard Manuscript Format

A 10-minute introduction to putting your writing in standard manuscript format using Microsoft Word.

Word for Authors: Track Changes

Watch this 12-minute video introduction to track changes, a powerful tool for authors available across many word processing programs.

Fixing the Scrivener Corkboard

The “corkboard” is one of my favorite features to use, so I was disappointed when the cork background disappeared. In this video, I walk you through restoring your Scrivener corkboard to all its cork-y glory!

Scrivener Manuscript Structure

I walk you through how I set up my manuscript in Scrivener and give you a quick overview of the four-act structure I use with my clients and in my own writing.

Subscribe at youtube.com/@coachjulieartz

Finding a critique partner is at the top of my list of things I wish every writer would do BEFORE reaching out to an agent, editor, or book coach for help with their story. 

Getting those fresh eyes on your early drafts can help you fill the gap between your vision for the story and what you’ve actually got on the page. And the friendship/support a critique partner can provide is invaluable on what can be a long and lonely journey toward publication.

But how do you find critique partners? It can be tough, especially with words as tender and personal as our stories. Now you don’t have to go it alone—I can help you find other like-minded writers and have a speed-dating inspired format to help you quickly identify if you’re a match!

In June, I’m running the fifth round of this FREE critique partner matching service, CP Meet Cute. Sign up today at pages.julieartz.com/cp-meet-cute and let me help you find critique partners!

Here are the key dates for Round Five:

• June 1, 2023 – Round begins
• June 26, 2023 – FREE Critique Partner Q&A on Zoom
• June 30, 2023 – Deadline for completing Matchmaker Survey
• July 15, 2023 – Cohorts announced

CP Meet Cute is a tribute to the romance novels that have been my lifeblood during this panini, but it’s not just for romance writers—it’s for writers of all genres and ages categories, including Picture Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Adult, and Creative Nonfiction!

Writers at any level who are looking for a critique partner can sign up here and I’ll be in touch with more details: pages.julieartz.com/cp-meet-cute.

How Does It Work?

Think of it like speed dating! After you sign up, you’ll get an email with some ground rules and a link to my Matchmaker Survey. This brief survey helps me learn a little bit about you so that I can match you with a group of like-minded writers. That group of 3-5 writers will be your CP Meet Cute Cohort.

I’ll send you an email introducing you to your cohort and providing some resources on how to give great feedback and how to structure critique groups. Then your cohort will have a month to exchange the first chapters of your works in progress.

Once the month has passed, you’ll get a follow-up email asking whether you’ve found someone you think you can trust with your pages going forward. If so, congratulations! You’ve taken the next step in your writing journey and now you’ve got a buddy to walk with you. If not, do not fear, you’ll go back into the pool for another round of CP Meet Cute, which I run three times per year.

I was thrilled to present this live, 60-minute webinar on Reedsy Live on January 11, 2023. You can now watch the full replay for free on Reedsy’s channel.

“Is my manuscript ready to query?” is probably the top question I get from writers. In this video, I cover:

• Identifying red flags in your query or jacket, copy, and synopsis that indicate story-level issues; 
• Thinking about how to position your book in the market; and 
• How to self-audit for publication readiness. 

Thank you to Reedsy for hosting me and to Martin Cavannagh for moderating this session. Watch it now!

What: Consummate story geek and book coach Julie Artz will lead you through the concepts, research, exercises, and tools she uses to teach her practical approach to world-building to authors.

When: October 29, 2022, 1-2:30 pm PT/ 4-6:30 pm ET

Where: Virtual (via Zoom)

Cost: $25

World-Building: it’s not just for sci-fi and fantasy

First, a definition. World-building is the act of creating a fictional story world. It often involves thinking about the physical landscape, plants, animals, and inhabitants of the world, its history, religion, technology, and the cultures of the different races that live there, including power structures, social customs, languages, leisure activities, and work.

The idea that you only need to worry about world-building if you’re a sci-fi or fantasy writer is a common myth that I’d like to dispel up-front. Whether you’re writing genre fiction or contemporary, romance, mystery, or thriller, taking a planful approach to building your world will make it come alive on the page for readers.

You should start thinking about world-building as part of your planning process. A lot of tired tropes, cliches, and stereotypes crop up due to under-developed world building as well. So that makes it even more crucial to flesh out your world–and make sure it avoids those pitfalls–in the beginning of your process

Plan Now, Play Later: a World-Building Primer is a 90-minute webinar that will provide an iterative approach to world-building for your novel so that you can avoid tired tropes and create a world that enhances plot, theme, and character, all while maintaining enough flexibility to explore and further refine the world while drafting.

Register today to learn how to write a story world that makes your book come alive!