Blog

We start NEXT week! Are you jumping on the life raft with us????

by Cami Ostman | Mar 8, 2023

Writer, I can't believe it, but we have lift off next week (Thursday, March 16!!) for our 2023 Get-Your-Book-Done Program. We've been interviewing writers since January to put together this cohort! I'm so excited to get started. And we still have a few spots open that...

Keep This Story to Yourself… only don’t!

by Cami Ostman | Mar 1, 2023

Writer, Let me tell you a rather vulnerable story about a commitment I made to myself in the year 2000. I had just finished my grad program in family therapy and had bought a house with my then-husband, when something very unsettling happened. I met a part of myself...

How long have you been getting “ready” to write this book?

by Cami Ostman | Feb 26, 2023

I meet writers (or would-be writers) regularly who follow what we are up to at The Narrative Project for a long while—attending our monthly mastermind classes, our Ready, Set, Write series at the beginning of the year, and even masterminding with us—but STILL tell me...

Don’t Let This Happen to YOU!

by Cami Ostman | Feb 22, 2023

People offer a lot of reasons they don’t get their books done: Time The Inner Critic Fear of other people’s reactions Lack of know-how Other obligations I can attest to the fact, after working with writers for a few decades, that all of these things play in to keeping...

Are you really going to do this?

by Cami Ostman | Feb 20, 2023

How's your year going? Are you making progress on your book? Writer pal, let me be honest with you. It takes a village to write a book. And most writers I know don't realize this. They think published authors have written their books alone in dark attics, emerging...

You would cry, too!

by Cami Ostman | Feb 16, 2023

Writer, I will never forget the first time I saw my first book on a real bookstore shelf! I was 43-years-old. The names starting with “O” were on the bottom shelf, so I sat myself down on the floor, grabbed my book, held it to my face so I could smell its new-book...

Why are They So Mean to Us?!

by Cami Ostman | Feb 2, 2023

The voices in our heads can be so stinking awful sometimes. A stuck writer I know (let's call her Sally) recently told me that the Inner Critic stopping her from getting her writing done sounded suspiciously like her mother's voice. "Let's interview that critic and...

Ready, Set, Write! Today!!

by Cami Ostman | Jan 19, 2023

Writers, how's your writing going?? I hope the Write That Book Already conference continues to inspire you and that you're meeting your goals as we march through this first month of the year. We are super excited to see many of you tonight in the Ready, Set, Write...

Ready to Keep the Momentum Going?

by Cami Ostman | Jan 10, 2023

Happy New Year, Writer!!! Many of you on my mailing list participated in our wonderful Write That Book Already virtual conference. I'd love to hear from you in the comments what you took away from the conference this year. One of my biggest take-aways this year was...

Need a TURBO BOOST?

by Cami Ostman | Dec 7, 2022

Writer, do you need a TURBO BOOST? Are you STUCK with what to do with a character, how to untangle a plot, or identify the beginning or ending of your story? We have THREE great opportunities for you!

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Testimonials from students

“Cami’s keen instructions, insights, gentle guidance and authentic caring for my writing woke my writer up! I have more enthusiasm for my writing now and more knowledge with which to approach my projects. I am more confident and joyous in my writing thanks to Cami!”

—JJ Joshua, Intuitive Coach and Self-help Author

“I was #1 in Russian Travel and I’ve won the Moritz Thomsen Peace Corps Experience Award for 2014! I even had the chance to do a book reading at the Kazakh Embassy in DC. My book journey is going well and Cami made that happen.”

—Janet Givens, author of At Home on the Kazakh Steppe: A Peace Corps Memoir

“When I hired Cami as a developmental editor for my memoir, my manuscript felt like a massive ball of tangled yarn. With her years of experience as a therapist, Cami has a keen eye for identifying themes, motivations, and resolutions, which allowed her to masterfully pull the threads of my story out of the mess. She laid them across the arc of my book with precision. Cami helped me to produce the book I truly wanted to write.”

—Colleen Haggerty, author of A Leg to Stand On

“Cami is a talented writer with a special devotion to bringing out the best in other people’s work. I contributed an essay to her book, Beyond Belief, and communicated with her on developmental edits for my piece. Her direction and notes were so valuable to bringing my storytelling to greater heights, and I am impressed at the level of care and detail she showed for each of her many contributors. I highly recommend working with Cami, and I recommend her books too!”

—Erin Seaward-Hiatt, contributing author in Beyond Belief

“If it had not been for finding Cami and the Narrative Project, I would still be limping through a terrible first draft, picking at line edits. Instead, in two and a half years I have transformed the narrative of the memoir I have been dinking away at for decades. The Narrative Project has provided me with more tools than I even knew I needed. Instead of dreading the writing that goes nowhere, I am enjoying the ride, creating new possibilities and diving in to discover more ways to share with the words that are just right.”

—Lora Hein

“I started with half a dozen personal essays. After eighteen months of hard work along with the smart feedback, keen eyes, and pertinent, invaluable critique from this program’s leaders and members, I finally had the first draft of my memoir!”

—Renee DeMont

“I participated in the first Narrative Project program in October of 2016 after returning from a three-week solo backpack trip in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains with the specific intention of using that trip as the basis for a memoir I hoped to write. I had absolutely no idea how to start this project, but by the end of the program, I had a structure within which to write and a full 140,000-word rough draft! I can say with certainty that I would not be where I am with my memoir were it not for this well-structured and accountability-based phenomenal program.”

—Kathie Tupper

“After I suffered a traumatic brain injury, I wanted to explore the experience in a memoir. I started working with Cami Ostman in her nine-month Narrative Project course, and I followed up with her Next Chapter course the following year. I wrote somewhat slowly because of my injuries, but Cami supported my work, offered numerous suggestions for getting through the draft, and gave me many tools to understand what I was trying to express and how to do it. If you have a story to tell but have not been able to get yourself started, I cannot recommend highly enough the Narrative Project program as a way to push yourself, as well as create the best possible version of your story.”

—Sean Dwyer

The Narrative Project gave me everything I needed to shape mountains of research into the book I envisioned. More importantly, I have made lifelong friends and we have continued to support each other as we bring our stories into the world.

—Anne

Dabbling for over twenty years at writing the stories of my life with my husband and four children in Africa and Asia, I realized I did not know what I was doing when it came to writing my memoir. I attended one of Cami’s free writing workshops and committed my time and energy to her nine-month program. Cami Ostman and my critique group helped me find the threads that pulled my stories together and see myself as a writer.

—Tori

On a chilly September day in 2018, I entered Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park to attend a free one-day seminar held by Cami Ostman. Having never attended a writing workshop, I had preconceived notions that I would write. While I didn’t write that day, the kindling within my soul was sparked and my desire to write my story ceased being a dream and began to be a reality. I joined the 9-month program and went from 0 words on the page to over 70,000. I learned about the writing process, themes, and gained new confidence in my ability to write. The best is yet to come!

—KristiLyn

In my 18 months with the Narrative Project, I have learned that a writer doesn’t write alone. TNP fosters a community of value beyond payment or description. The support is that of a healthy family, and the critique is that of an inspiring Masters program. The Narrative Project has provided me with an all-inclusive roadmap for how to live my dream as a published writer, and the confidence to get my butt in the chair.

—Anni

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