The Mosaic
Book Coaching for Writers Who Fall into Rabbit Holes
Are you an ambitious nonfiction writer who’s drowning in research?
You’ve read all the books. You’ve scanned family photos. You’ve conducted interviews. You’ve deciphered impossible-to-read old handwriting.
You have all of this data at your fingertips, yet you have no idea what it means, how it all connects, or even what your project is supposed to be about anymore.
Instead, you dream about the perfect book you could write . . . if only you had a little more information.
You can always do more research. But if that’s the reason you’re not writing, something’s wrong.
The good news? You already have everything you need to get words on the page. Let’s get started now.
Hi! I’m Christina. I help people like you: writers who loooooove information gathering but don’t know how to pull themselves out of their research rabbit holes. If you want to find the story hidden under your mountains of data and finish your book without giving up your creative vision, I can give you the tools to write more happily and purposefully than you ever thought possible. I adore deep dives into nerdy, quirky, and offbeat subjects—or any subjects, really.
I’ve been where you are now. I’ve written a dissertation and two books. As a book coach and editor, I’ve helped dozens of writers craft and publish compelling, research-based nonfiction.
I know from experience that no matter how rewarding (and sometimes even fun) it can be, grappling with the kind of book you’re trying to write is challenging.
How do the different pieces of your project fit together? How do you find and build on the manuscript’s spine? It is easy to get lost in the weeds without someone to hold onto your vision, ask the right questions, and bounce ideas off of.
That’s why I developed the Mosaic. Whether you’re a creative writer who has no idea how to approach primary sources, an academic who wants to think outside the conventions of scholarly writing and publishing, or somewhere in between, I can help you develop a clear roadmap to organize and synthesize your vast amounts of research into a cohesive narrative, find your own unique voice, and streamline your writing process.
And you can get started RIGHT NOW. Schedule your first coaching session for free so we can begin to identify where you’re stuck—and figure out how to get you unstuck.
“Christina has to my mind an unerring editorial and historical sensibility. I give her the highest recommendation.”
—Norman E. Donoghue II, writer and historian
How It Works
Through a system that combines intentional strategy and exploratory writing, the Mosaic guides you through the foundational work of finding a narrative throughline and building a supportive scaffolding for your manuscript. It helps you develop a reliable set of tools to carry you through the writing process and provides a container that can hold onto your big idea so you can focus on doing the work.
We do this by identifying the why, what, and how of your book:
Part 1: Why?
Dig deep to find your book’s purpose in the world.
● Finding a Research Topic That Fuels You
● Centering the Writer, Centering the Reader
● Discovering What Your Book Is Really About
Part 2: What?
Don’t wait to perfect your plan—build momentum by starting to write NOW.
● Content Brainstorming
● The Art and Craft of Writing about Research
● How to Approach Drafting
Part 3: How?
Construct the scaffolding to keep readers engaged until the very end.
● Designing a Structure for Your Book
● Organizing Your Existing Materials
● Revising Your Plan and Writing Forward
More of a visual thinker? This part’s for you:
EVERYTHING changed when I began coaching with Christina! After just a few weeks, my ideas finally became a reality. Now, I am working toward my goal of sending out book proposals to publishers, and I am absolutely convinced this never would have happened without her!
—Liz Freedman, writer and book coach
In our work together, we’ll focus on finding the right spot for you in the center of this chart—someplace where you can benefit from your research while remaining committed to your personal vision, where you have enough of a structure in place that you don’t waste time every day figuring out what you should do next, but not so much that it drains the joy out of writing.
The Mosaic may be a good fit if . . .
. . . You love to learn and are constantly falling down new rabbit holes. (Who knew 1970s feminist Rita Mae Brown now writes cat mystery novels?) The problem is that you’re not sure when or how to come up for air.
. . . Your “book” folder is filled to bursting with files named chap1_final.docx, chap1_final_v2.docx, and chap1_final_butreallythistime.docx. . . . with no end in sight.
. . . You don’t want to go back to school and have done all of your writing on the computer for years, but you still feel the urge to buy new notebooks every August.
. . . Ideas are your bread and butter—developing them, talking about them, figuring out how the puzzle pieces fit together. You’re constantly seeing connections between subjects that others think are unrelated, and you’ll follow ideas wherever they lead.
. . . You know that research gives you much more than information. It gives you a way of understanding your place in the world. By getting outside of your own head, you can actually understand yourself in a deeper and more authentic way.
. . . You marvel at books like H Is for Hawk, The Radium Girls, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. How did those writers DO that?
You can do it too.
The Mosaic gives you both the support you need to finish your current book and a set of tools you can use throughout your writing career.
Ready for specifics? Here’s what you get:
Accountability: Submit up to 10,000 words (about 30 pages) per month so you can stay on track toward your writing goals.
Written Guidance: Receive written feedback on all of your writing so you can course-correct quickly if you start to head down a path that isn’t working.
Live Support: Ask questions and refine your ideas in twice-monthly live, one-on-one coaching calls or a dedicated Slack channel.
Flexible Delivery: Do you love the accountability, built-in structure, and ability to think out loud that live coaching provides? Or can you just not deal with more Zoom meetings on your calendar? The Mosaic offers options for both.
The Mosaic System: Receive exclusive access to a personalized version of the workbook that shares my signature system so you are never at a loss for what to do next.