Write Your Heart Out – Waylon Lewis

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About this course

‍Writing isn’t (just) for writers

It’s for anyone who wants free therapy, really, or a path to making friends with ourself, and our life, and the parts of that self and life that we may not much like. This kind of mindful writing can inspire others to make friends with themselves, too. It’s a form of activism, in this crazy world. It’s fun. And it’s easy, when we engage naturally, without pretense.

‍Who is this course for?

Mindful-Lifers.

Looking to deepen your relationship with yourself & others.

Kinda-Writers.

Looking for guidance and support to get your first words down on paper, hone your craft and share stories that actually connect.

Work-from-Homers.

Looking to improve communication skills, make new connections, and invest in your career.

‍What’s so unique about Elephant Academy?

What we do is deliver real, practical skills through live meetings, real-world training, and community interaction.

Plus, you get the signature Elephant touch: everyday, accessible mindfulness woven throughout each lecture, lesson, and video to give you skills, confidence, and self-awareness that go far beyond your writing practice.

Introduction to Elephant Academy: Find Your Voice

•  Welcome to Elephant Academy’s Writing Apprenticeship. (4:47)
•  It’s already time for your first quiz. (Don’t panic.)
•  Meet the Academy Team.
•  Elephant Academy’s Facebook Community.
•  Stress isn’t all bad. (1:28)
•  Introduction to Elephant Academy: Quiz.

You’re a Writer.

•  Join Waylon for a Bow. (1:13)
•  Set Yourself up for Success. (1:30)
•  Passion + Making a living = Right Livelihood. (8:45)
•  The Elephant Approach to Writing. (3:28)
•  Writing is Hogwarts-style Magic. (5:27)
•  Tell us about your Relationship with Writing.
•  Waylon’s Advice for Beginner (or Beginning-again) Writers. (0:56)
•  How to be a Writer with Ada Calhoun. (3:37)
•  The Best Way to become a Good Writer. (1:23)
•  Never Stop Learning… (0:45)
•  The Number One thing Writers get Wrong. (3:28)
•  What to Write about when You don’t know What to Write About. (3:40)
•  Write What You Know.
•  Verbs, Adjectives, & Adverbs: Developing Good Writing Habits. (2:33)
•  There is Magic in Sharing your Writing. (1:58)
•  Peer Editing is the Opposite of “Yikes!” (1:48)
•  11 Writing Tips from Waylon Lewis.
•  How to Submit Writing.

Get (Yourself) Unstuck: Beating Writer’s Block.

•  Join Waylon for a Bow. (1:44)
•  The Elephant in the Room. (2:29)
•  How to get through Writer’s Block. (2:13)
•  What to do when Anxiety keeps you from Writing.
•  Leaving your Reader with an Elegant Punch. (4:03)
•  Write from the Heart. (4:23)
•  Is Emotionalism Bad? (4:04)
•  Waylon’s Take: Writing about Vulnerable Topics. (3:27)
•  Be Eager to Search out Writers who will Edit You. (1:27)
•  If you want to be a Writer, you need to know the 3 Kinds of Editing. (3:42)
•  Self-Editing: How to Edit Your Own Work (6:05)
•  Editors aren’t here to make you happy. (6:02)
•  Being Criticized is Hard. (2:29)
•  The Fourth Estate. (4:25)
•  Practicing Ethical Writing: Key Terms & Frequently Asked Questions.
•  12 Truths Anne Lamott Learned from Life & Writing.

Drawing in your Reader.

•  Join Waylon for a Bow. (0:15)
•  Are you Feeling Lost? (2:00)
•  Let’s Recap: Why are you here? (0:40)
•  Writing 101: Thesis Statements. (1:11)
•  Feedback Helps Us to Uncover Our Own Voice. (1:31)
•  Titles & Images: A First Impression. (4:06)
•  Editing Components: Titles. (0:11)
•  Editing Components: SEO.
•  Waylon on Why your Titles and Images Fail. (4:30)
•  The 3 Elements of a Good Title. (4:30)
•  Choosing a Winning Title.
•  Example Article Titles on Elephant Journal.
•  10 Ways to Title/Image something so Readers just have to Read it. (7:40)
•  Images: Copyright 101. (9:22)
•  What Connection does Meditation have with Writing? (1:28)
•  Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation with Linda Lewis. (9:59)
•  A Writing Prompt with Waylon Lewis. (0:34)
•  Bonus: How to Catch Typos by their Toes. (3:35)

The Craft of Editing.

•  Join Waylon for a Bow. (7:46)
•  You’ve been vulnerable & brave enough to open up your messy closet. (4:29)
•  Waylon Gets Romantic about Editing. (1:37)
•  Learning to Edit is like Taking a Dance Class. (1:09)
•  Why do we Edit? (1:11)
•  On Breaking the Rules. (6:14)
•  Developmental & Substantive Editing. (1:01)
•  Stylistic/Line Editing. (0:14)
•  Editing is not Butchering. (7:48)
•  Copyediting.
•  Editing: Going from Gobbledygook to Accessible. (1:40)
•  Waylon Edits and Falls in Love with the Writer’s Commas. (8:37)
•  Editing does more than Improve your Writing. (1:05)
•  Finding your Voice through Editing. (1:35)
•  You Have 10 Mistakes You’re Going to Make. (0:44)
•  Editing Quiz!

Finding your Voice through Editing.

•  Join Waylon for a Bow. (1:28)
•  A Writing Prompt with Linda Lewis. (2:18)
•  Your Voice isn’t a Big, Exciting Discovery. Calm Down. (2:21)
•  The Best Writers have Simple Voices. (5:40)
•  Waylon Critiques his own Writing for the Academy. (3:14)
•  Be Gentle with Yourself. (0:19)
•  The Role of an Editor is Not to Overedit. (2:04)
•  Remember: You are a Reader. (1:13)
•  Elephant Journal Editors aren’t reading your Writing with a Red Pen. (1:18)
•  Editing with Waylon: The most Respectful thing an Editor can Do. (8:39)
•  Editing with Waylon: The Impact of Feedback. (7:36)
•  Editing with Waylon: The Sound of Editing. (7:33)
•  A Conversation about Voice. (5:40)
•  Waylon shares an Awful Poem. (2:11)
•  Advice on Creativity: Make Big things feel Little & Little things feel Big. (8:41)
•  If you have an excuse not to do this, do it anyway. (4:07)

A Few of our Favorite Tips for Writing a Book.

•  Let’s do something Fresh. (3:29)
•  How to write a book: Don’t.? ~ Waylon Lewis
•  But first, This. (1:25)
•  Don’t Kill your Darlings. Write your Darling Next. (2:51)
•  Serialization as a Remedy for Writer’s Block. (1:35)
•  This Might be your Biggest (Ovoidable) Obstacle to Writing a Book. (0:57)
•  Which comes first, the Book or the Audience? (1:02)
•  Waylon shares his book-in-progress with the Academy. (3:43)

Publishing Work that isn’t a Book.

•  Publishing Work that isn’t a Book. (4:50)
•  An Insider Trick to Pitching Publications. (1:57)
•  Sample Pitch from Caroline Beaton.
•  Finding your Audience as a Freelance Writer. (1:41)
•  Ada Calhoun Shares how her Latest Book Deal Fell into her Lap {with a lot of Hard Work.} (1:49)

Connecting Genuinely with an Audience.

•  Join Waylon for a {Final} Academy Bow. (0:12)
•  Mindfulness & Awareness Meditations with Writing Prompts. (24:47)
•  The “What about Me” Mantra. (1:02)
•  Let’s Rewind. (0:43)
•  Death Comes without Warning. (3:02)
•  Waylon is Actually Anti-Social Media. (8:25)
•  It’s our Duty to Be Genuine. (3:49)
•  How to be Positively Shameless. (6:48)
•  Invest in Yourself. (3:33)
•  Trust is a little bit Blind. (2:11)
•  You are a Mountain in the Rain. (5:48)
•  Tyler Knott Gregson on how to Make a Living doing what you Love. (2:21)
•  What to Remember about Writing & Editing (for the rest of your Life). (3:29)
•  One Final {fun!} Writing Exercise. (5:25)
•  One Last Thought… (0:42)
•  Stay Involved after your Apprenticeship.
•  Elephant Academy Feedback Survey.

Resources

•  Your Fun, Enlightening Reading List. (6:10)
•  A Practical Buddhist Technique to Make Meals & Meetings Better. (1:23)
•  Elephant Academy Map: Where to find what you’re looking for.
•  Communicate with us! (0:34)
•  Elephant’s Mindful Life Challenge. (2:13)
•  Elephant Academy 101: Live Trainings.
•  Adding an Image to an Elephant Journal Submission. (4:36)
•  How to Submit Writing to Elephant Journal.
•  Elephant’s Editorial Calendar.
•  Elephant Ecosystem Tutorial.
•  Crowdcast: Elephant’s Live Training Platform.

Academy Archives.

•  Live Meeting Replays: Fall 2019.
•  Live Meeting Replays: Winter 2020.
•  Elephant’s Community Retreat.

A Sampling of Elephant’s Most-Referenced Writerly Articles.

•  How to Write. ~ Jack Kerouac (& Waylon Lewis)
•  How to Meditate: The Dathun Letter, via Ch?gyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
•  Best Classic Beginner’s Buddhist Books Ever?
•  Cheap Words. {via The New Yorker}
•  “A Writer Writes.” Tips for Living an Authentic Life.
•  Nora Ephron: Everything is Copy.
•  The Problem with Publishing Today that Impacts All of Us.
•  12 Books on Editing and One on Life that should be on every Writer’s Bookshelf.
•  Humility is Bullsh*t.
•  The Cocoon.

Here’s our little gift for you.

•  Add another Arrow to your Quiver with Elephant.