Roughly one year ago this week, I met with several friends for lunch at our favorite Casino buffet just north of Seattle.
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We chatted, ate 27 different desserts, talked about writing, and made plans on which conferences we wanted to attend in 2020. Las Vegas. Albuquerque. Vancouver BC.
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All the while the questions of, “What’s going to happen? Will it be okay? Will we?” kept slipping into the conversation.

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Was this the beginning of the apocalypse? Nah… it couldn’t be. Could it?

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I was getting ready to officially launch my book coaching business into the world. I’d been side hustling helping writers for years, but 2020 was the year I’d make it Real. Full commitment, accelerator to the floor… GO!
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A couple weeks later, we went into lockdown on my husband’s birthday. He spent the next six months in a corner of the living room working from home.

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At night we watched the news. We appeared to have avoided our own apocalypse just two hours south in Seattle. But it was a localized apocalypse in NYC.
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We felt weirdly detached here on the west coast. Like watching a slow motion disaster sequence in a movie.
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Life went on. Strangely. We held our breath. And the virus spread. ​
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I opened my business, uncertain but determined to finally make my dream happen because if I waited for the Rightest Most Perfect Time, it would never come.

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As Seth Godin says, "Ship it!"
​(I imagine him yelling that at me in Gordon Ramsay style.)​
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You’re smart. I don’t need to tell you how waiting for the right time is foolish. This isn’t about that.
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This is about how one evening last year ago I casually mentioned, “You know, I haven’t been outside the house long enough I’ve had to pee in a year. I deserve a lockdown award.”

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Last week on the anniversary of our lockdown, my husband presented me with the "You're In At Home" golden toilet award for this accomplishment.

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That golden toilet is now a chapter in our 2020 Lockdown story.

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Stories helps us make sense of a world that doesn't always make sense. And every day I am so damn grateful that I get to help rock star writers like you tap into your courage and confidence to usher your words out into the world.

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​Especially because stories are a deep means of connection, and getting them on the page is a learnable skill. One of the most powerful skills you can develop.

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I’m glad you’re part of this community to keep discovering how to come back to stories in times of celebration, grief, apocalypse, excitement, and all the other curveballs life will throw at you.

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Hello!
My name is Jocelyn.

Story warrior, book lover, day dreamer, gardener, and creative. I help serious writers roll up their sleeves, get their novel ready for publishing, and reach readers. When I’m not elbow-deep in the story trenches, I’m outside world-building in my garden and battling weeds with my three criminal mastermind cats.