As pre-published writers, we might ask: How can I make industry connections? Where can I best spend my writing craft dollars? Is my work ready to submit?How can I meet an agent? An editor? How is publishing changing? Where does my voice fit in?

As published writers, we might ask: The industry is changing and I want to be a part of that change — but how? My agent left the biz, now what? My book was orphaned, how do I approach launch and marketing? I’m not with the right agent — how did this happen? Where are the opportunities to engage with other published writers?

We crave intimate industry connections, IN REAL TIME: We seek agents answering OUR questions, submissions opportunities, writers willing to share about the ups and downs of their creative journeys–both when it comes to the craft and to the business. We seek editors peeling back the behind-closed-doors acquisitions process and the deep editorial work done in partnership with writers, to bring our best stories to market.

And maybe, just maybe, we’d like a writer-guide, a frank and funny voice to cultivate these conversations, stoke our creative fires, and provide opportunities for industry connection. (Yep, you guessed it that frank and funny voice would be me, Bethany.) And, I deeply believe this:

Creativity is not a competition. This journey is about art. My art is distinctive and ever-changing. I am not competing against other writers. I am not even competing against myself.

The country club model of the publishing industry is broken. More equity, transparency and opportunities are needed. We each have unique and universal voices. We can and will be heard. (That’s what publishing is all about—the desire to be heard, to connect.)

If we want to transform publishing into a thriving community garden, we need more stories, more varied voices. More empathy in action as we work to see many hands till the soil, tend the space, and where varied voices bloom and grow together, all in their own time, with inclusion and equity.

We don’t have to go it alone. Not now. Not ever. 

Your Courageous Calling

I launched the Courage to Create in August 2020, not because I wanted to, but because I had to. I launched this community, for the same reason I opened the doors of The Writing Barn ten years ago; for the same reason I started mentoring twelve years ago; and for the same reason I began writing in the first place: because of a calling.

Callings can be shape-shifters. Mine has been.

My calling began with writing stories. The desire to feel heard, to tell an emotional truth. My truth. In fiction. For kids. And later in nonfiction, biographies of changemakers.

Once published, I began teaching. I wanted writers to not despair as much as I did over craft questions, how to serve Story, and where best to spend their dollars, knowing every dime spent on a ‘dream’ can be doubted, and thinking their burgeoning career might be over if dropped by their agent. (I was!)

When The Writing Barn opened its doors, at one of our very first on-site intensives, novelist Sara Zarr, who was event faculty for the weekend wrote this:

“A writer I like, Frederick Buechner, says that a personal calling is ‘where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.’ Most writers I know deeply hunger for a beautiful space and the quiet where they can connect with themselves, others, and their work. And I think Bethany must find her deep gladness in providing such a space. The Barn and surrounding property are aesthetically beautiful, but it’s Bethany’s heart and skill and the wonderful Austin writing community that bring it all together.”

I have Sara Zarr to thank, not just for being a novelist I love, or for those kind words, but from the outset of The Writing Barn getting me thinking about passion and purpose: the calling behind ALL of The Writing Barn classes, events, and programs.

Then, just seven years ago, The Writing Barn became not just a physical space, but a virtual space–with our 6 week classes being taught in real-time over Zoom. (Before Zoom was a verb.) My calling then, was to bring deep craft instruction and community connection to more writers, from their homes.

Amid the pandemic, with our physical grounds still shuttered, ALL of The Writing Barn’s programming went online. I was scared. (Still am.) But I got to thinking about a long held dream, that I had been working on for two or so years, that sprang out of my developing the Write. Submit. Support. Programs, where I worked closely with writers on not just developing their craft, or submitting, but leading a vibrant literary life, where we created stories, industry partnerships and dealt with our resistances.

How can we author our literary lives? – became my new calling.

To become the author of our literary lives, we need agency. Agency in telling our stories, agency in interacting with our publishing partners: agents, editors, marketing folks, librarians, readers, booksellers and more.

The power dynamic in publishing has long been off, and at the Courage to Create we empower creatives to ask questions BEFORE and AFTER publishing, to set boundaries, creative goals, to work with our resistances and triggers, and to channel it always–back into the work.

That’s the deep hunger I am out to satiate; empowering creatives.

My deep gladness comes from serving Story.

And serving storytellers.

The Courage to Create community is NOW 3 years old! A toddler! The community has grown to 300+ writers; writers are taking BOLD chances, members are SIGNING with AGENTS; book contracts are being SIGNED. We are going for our goals and our milestones are happening! Not by magic — but by showing up.

For the work.

For each other.

For ourselves.

We hope you join us.

Creativity is contagious.

All my best,

Bethany

The road is long; time and all the worries it brings up can be our antagonist or it can be our best friend. Together, we will retrain our relationship to time—to have it work for us—instead of against us.

Pain into action; as writers we need to feel the range of human emotion—including the not so pretty ones that can lead to creative blocks: imposter syndrome/compare despair, processing feedback and rejecting rejection. Together, we can get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

Intimate Access to the industry; to find the right partners for our literary lives, we need more than conferences and classes. We need intimate access to those with thriving literary lives and the business partners who help them achieve their goals. At the CTC we share resources and have deep discussions with authors, agents, and editors that can change the course of our careers. Together we are out to transform publishing from the broken “country-club” model of the past to a community garden of varied voices, all heard, seen and tended to.

• You find the business side of publishing frustrating and challenging.
• You want intimate industry connections instead of the crush of conferences and the frenzy of online pitch resources.
• You are willing to work with your creative resistances, answering questions to deepen your work and sharpen your passion and purpose.
• You are deep in craft study. In the query trenches or researching agents.
• You would like support deciphering passes and R&R requests.
• You are a new or long term Writing Barn writer who wants the opportunity to be coached by Bethany in a group setting; AND get access to discounts to many of the Writing Barn classes and events.

OR IF:

• You are agented but not confident the relationship is serving your creativity or possibly furthering your career.
• You are happily agented and would like to stay that way, but are interested in making more editor connections.
• You will be a debut author in 2023-2026 and feel overwhelmed at balancing new writing, book promotion, and launching your publishing career.
• You find marketing a challenge. A serious challenge.
• You are published and looking for a community of fellow travelers to discuss the joys and pitfalls as you build a career. 
• You know you thrive when setting goals, engaging at your own pace, and enjoy cheering others on as WE all meet our milestones.

-The Choice is Yours-

Join the COURAGE TO CREATE Community

Courage to Create Scholarships:

Representation Matters Scholarships

To work towards our vision of publishing as a community garden: where a variety of voices thrive, every 6 months, we will be offering the following full scholarships, which are not need-based:

• 4 scholarships for B.I.P.O.C writers
• 2 scholarships for LGBTQIA+ writers
• 2 scholarships for neurodiverse writers
• 2 scholarships for writers with various disabilities

Need-Based Scholarships

• 2-4 full or partial scholarships for those in economic need

If you would like to apply for any of the above scholarships please fill out a scholarship application here.

For the first time EVER, we’re accepting Intimate Industry Connection Members on a rolling basis with the option to cancel anytime.*

We’ll regularly poll the members about their genres, agents, and editors of interest. Then I’ll begin to make invitations to our Ask An Agent, Editor Insight, and Behind the Book industry guests for the upcoming 6 months.

*Membership payments can be made monthly, biannually, or annually, and will be automatically re-billed at the chosen frequency; however, members can cancel their membership at any given time. 

Previous Courage to Create Ask an Agent session guests include:

• Stephanie Fretwell-Hill, Sarah Stephens, and Jennie Kendrick of Red Fox Literary.
• Natalie Lakosil, Lee O’Brien, and Antoinette Van Sluytman of Irene Goodman Literary Agency.
• Jemisco Chambers-Black, Saritza Hernandez, and Jennifer March Soloway of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
• Ammi Joan Paquette and Miranda Paul of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency.
• John Cusick, Jan Baumer, and Sonia Chanchani of Folio Literary Management.
• Danielle Chiotti and Kayla Chichelo of Upstart Crow Literary.
• Jacqui Lipton, Kelly Dyksterhouse, and Lori Stell of Raven Quill Literary Agency.
• Brent Taylor and Laura Crockett of TriadaUS.
• Linda Camacho of Gallt & Zacker, Susan Hawk of Upstart Crow, and Sean McCarthy of McCarthy Literary.
• Tanusri Prasanna, Tamara Kawar, and Chris Park of DeFiore & Company.
• Andrea Cascardi, Amanada Orozco, and Elizabeth Bennet of Transatlantic Agency.
• Saba Sulaiman, Amy Collins, and Paula Munier of Talcott Notch Literary.
• As well as, Rubin Pfeffer and Melissa Nasson with Rubin Pfeffer Content,  Emily Van Beek and Marcy Posner Folio Jr., Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Alice Fugate and rights agents with the Trident Media Group, Lauren Spieller with TriadaUS, Wendi Gu from Sanford, J. Greenberger, Jim McCarthy with Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

Previous Courage to Create Editor Insight guests include:

• Caitlin Johnson of Harper Collins/Balzer + Bray
• Kelly Barreles-Saylor of Sourcebooks
• Carter Hasegawa of Candlewick
• Connie Hsu, Emily Feinberg and Mekisha Telfer of Roaring Brook Press.
• Stacey Barney of Penguin/G. P. Putnam and Sons.
• Kendra Levin, Editorial Director of S&S.
• Joy Peskin, Editorial Director of FSG.
• Maggie Rosenthal of Penguin Random House.
• Megan Ilnitizki of Harper Collins.
• Aneeka Kalia of Penguin Random House.
• Elizabeth Law of Holiday House.
• Christy Ottaviano of Christy Ottaviano Books/Hachette.
• Kathleen Merz of Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.
• Sylvie Frank of Disney Hyperion.
• Lauren Knowles and Kayla Tostevin of Page Street Publishing Co.
• As well as *Neal Porter of Neal Porter Books/Holiday House, Tamar Brazis of Penguin/Viking, and Allyn Johnston of Beach Lane/S&S.

Previous Courage to Create Behind the Book guests include:  

• Blood Brothers: author Rob Sanders, and editor Wiley Blevins of Reycraft Books.
• My Town, Mi Pueblo: author Nicholas Solis, and editor Nancy Paulsen.
• Looking for Smile: author Ellen Tarlow, illustrator Lauren Stringer, editor/Publisher Allyn Johnston of Beach Lane/S&S and agent Rubin Pfeffer of Rubin Pfeffer Content. BONUS submissions opportunities with Allyn Johnston and Rubin Pfeffer.
• 365 Days to Alaska: author Cathy Carr, and agent Rachel Orr of Prospect Literary. BONUS submission opportunity with agent Rachel Orr.
• It Will Be Okay: A Story of Empathy, Kindness and Friendship: author Lisa Katzenberger and agent Wendi Gu of Sanford J. Greenburger. BONUS submissions opportunity with agent Wendi Gu.
• NYT best-seller Six Crimson Cranes: author Elizabeth Lim and agent Gina Maccoby of Gina Maccoby Literary. BONUS submissions opportunities with Gina Maccoby.
• Arrow: author Samantha M. Clark and editor Sarah Jane Abbott.
  
• Dorothy the Brave: author Meghan P. Browne, agent Alyssa Eisner Henkin of Birch Path Literary, and editor Tamar Brazis of Viking Books for Young Readers. BONUS submission opportunity with Alyssa Eisner Henkin.
• Thirst: author Varsha Bajaj and agent Caryn Wiseman.
• Cougar Crossing: author Meeg Pincus and editor Andrea Welch.

*Through The Writing Barn and led by Bethany Hegedus