Celebrate Pride with New Books
Rick Killian
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Rick Killian

Goodreads Author


Born
in Ashland, Oregon, The United States
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rpkillian

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December 2013

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Rick Killian is a writer and editor based out of Boulder, Colorado. He began freelancing in 2001 after being the developmental editor for Jesus Freaks at Albury Publishing. Later Rick was the ghostwriter for Jesus Freaks II as well as the #1 NYT bestseller The Final Move Beyond Iraq and the #4 NYT bestseller American Prophecies, both by Michael D. Evans. Since then he has collaborated with authors on over fifty different titles. Books he has worked on have sold more than 2.5 million copies. (For a short list of some of his other projects, please see his Amazon page by searching for "Rick Killian" or clinking through on one of the book links above.)

Rick and his wife, Melissa, met as Peace Corps volunteers in Africa in 1986 and have since bee ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

How do you deal with writer’s block?
Rick Killian First of all, I don't really believe in writer's block. As Seth Godin once said, "No one gets 'talker's block.'" We can always put words to paper as e…moreFirst of all, I don't really believe in writer's block. As Seth Godin once said, "No one gets 'talker's block.'" We can always put words to paper as easily as we can make up answers to questions from imagination alone. The problem isn't continuing to write, it's that we feel what we are going to say next isn't worth writing down. Every writer has encountered that.

Such impasses aren't a block; they're a clue from the universe that you need to dig deeper, start from another angle, head back to do more research, or even just write down your stupidity for now so that you can go back and refine it later. The way I usually handle this is to "free write" somewhere outside of the Word doc I'm using as the manuscript for the book I'm working on. I go to a yellow pad, Evernote, my Bullet Journal, even just open a new word doc and start typing new ideas. Or I go back to reading a book I'm using as research. (It's best to not start googling things on the internet for research, however. That particular way of activating your brain tends to just lead to web surfing, not back to writing.)

It's like grappling around for the next firm handhold to climb up a mountain—or something like that. It's groping in the dark for a thought that inspires you enough to start writing again. And the instant you have that, open up that Word doc and start plugging away again. If that's stale, the reboot again out of the document and follow the same procedure again.

The myth of "writer's block" is just another clever way Resistance (see The War of Art by Steven Pressfield if you don't know what that is) rears its ugly head to keep you from "the work" your soul is calling you to create. The answer is to find a way to do the work until the work is good enough to share, not to fall for the lie: "But I just don't have anything to write! I'm blocked!" Press on, give yourself permission to write incomplete thoughts you will complete later, or what you think the answer is now so that when you find our that your wrong, you'll know what to delete and rewrite. Give yourself permission to wander and experiment, whether that takes minutes or days. So many times I've found myself casting about for answers for a few empty writing hours to come back fresh one day and just have things flow. The biggest key is not to quit.

I hope that helps. Let me know?(less)
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Combine Editions

Average rating: 4.16 · 45 ratings · 7 reviews · 5 distinct works
Because of Grácia
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3.93 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 2017 — 4 editions
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Taking on Goliath: Dotson v...
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Discover The Power In The P...
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4.40 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 2005 — 5 editions
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Praying the Prayers of Paul...
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100 Answers About Being A G...
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Rick Killian's Blog

Should You Write Your Book Yourself, Get a Coach, or Hire a Ghostwriter? A Few Things to Consider…

Photo by Angelina Litvin on Unsplash

So you want to write a book—in fact, you need to write a book. It’s not just a whim, but something you need to do as part of your mission in life. There is a message burning a hole in your soul and a book feels like the best way to express it. It is something you have been kicking around for years, and now is the time to get it done.

What do you do? How’re you go

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Published on April 04, 2023 06:19
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Rick is Currently Reading

The Need to Be Wh...
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May 20, 2023 06:34AM
The Village In Th...
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Apr 09, 2023 01:53AM
Ghost Train to th...
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Apr 09, 2023 01:06AM

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Rick’s Recent Updates

Rick Killian is currently reading
The Need to Be Whole by Wendell Berry
The Need to Be Whole: Patriotism and the History of Prejudice
by Wendell Berry
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May 20, 2023 06:34AM  ·   ·  preview book
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Editors on Editing by Gerald C. Gross
Editors on Editing: What Writers Need to Know about What Editors Do
by Gerald C. Gross
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I finally abandoned this. It seemed like a good idea for a book, but in the end essays from editors about such a big and intricate topic comes off vague and example specific—filled with anecdotes about how this or that book went, but principles for t ...more
May 18, 2023 11:19AM  · 2 likes ·   · see review ·  preview book
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The Village In The Jungle by Leonard Woolf
The Village In The Jungle (Classics To Go)
by Leonard Woolf
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Apr 09, 2023 01:53AM  ·   ·  preview book
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Ghost Train to the Eastern Star by Paul Theroux
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Railway Bazaar
by Paul Theroux
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On Becoming a Person by Carl R. Rogers
“What is most personal is most universal.”
 Carl R. Rogers
Mar 27, 2023 02:44PM  ·   · more quotes by Carl R. Rogers ·  preview book
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Winter Work by Dan Fesperman
Winter Work
by Dan Fesperman (Goodreads Author)
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Winter Work by Dan Fesperman
Winter Work
by Dan Fesperman (Goodreads Author)
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Atomic Habits by James Clear
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
by James Clear (Goodreads Author)
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Regeneration by Paul Hawken
Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation
by Paul Hawken
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Aug 15, 2022 03:52AM  · 
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Sri Lanka - Culture Smart! by Emma Boyle
Sri Lanka - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
by Emma Boyle
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Apr 10, 2022 10:37PM  ·   ·  preview book
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Rick’s Quotes

Stephen R. Covey
“But until a person can say deeply and honestly, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday," that person cannot say, "I choose otherwise.”
― Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
tags: choices, misattributed-eleanor-roosevelt
2511 likes

Martin Luther King Jr.
“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
tags: activism, service
2129 likes

Viktor E. Frankl
“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”
― Viktor E. Frankl
tags: attitude
407 likes

Nora Roberts
“You can't edit a blank page”
― Nora Roberts
tags: nora-roberts, writing
151 likes

William Booth
“The chief danger that confronts the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, heaven without hell.”
― William Booth
166 likes

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A place where all Goodreads members can work together to improve the Goodreads book catalog. Non-librarians are welcome to join the group as well, to ...more

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