Alan Mindell is our guest for today. He's the one who taught us that life begins at seventy.  Alan Mindell’s novel, The Closer, became a bestseller, including being listed on Amazon as the number one paperback in new sports fiction. His new novel, The B Team, about horse racing, also became Amazon`s number one bestselling paperback in new sports fiction. For Alan, his speaking topic of “Life Begins at Seventy” certainly fits. Besides writing novels, he also dances regularly in the San Diego area, and works as a tour guide for Friendly Excursions, the tour company he founded more than forty-five years ago. One of the things that he has been doing and getting great pleasure from lately is conducting beginning creative writing workshops.  Today he gave us some tips on writing a novel or memoir. Alan has been writing since his late 20’s. when he turned 60, he decided to take it seriously. He found a publisher and got his first book published. Alan always has a notebook and pencil with him so he can write anywhere he is. His goal is to get people to write. He doesn’t care how they write or what they write. One of his students wrote about a pet turkey which lead me into my story about living on a commune (yes a commune) and my pet sheep. What are 5 tips to writing a book? Our Freebie, 5 Tips on Writing That Novel or Memoir You Know You Have in You. Can be found at http://RockYourRetirement.com/Novel but here is a brief synopsis of what we talked about. * Don’t Edit. Don’t get stuck. Flow with your ideas. Don’t stop and edit every word that you write. * Decide whether to write in first person or third person. All of Alan’s novels have been written in third person but he enjoys writing in first person * Never be afraid of dialogue. Stay true to the character * You do not have to go in time sequence. You can start in the future and then go back to the beginning. Flashbacks or backstories then you can bring the story to the present * Have fun! Today's Freebie, 5 tips on writing that novel can be downloaded for free at http://RockYourRetirement.com/novel So what if you can't join Alan's writing workshop or you want to find your own? Alan says you can find a lot of workshops in your area online. He said Meetup is also a good way to find these or, form your own! You can find Meetup at https://www.meetup.com/ Remember, Life begins at seventy! Get Alan's books! * The B Team: * The Closer: A Baseball Love Story Contact information for Alan: solanabeachalan@yahoo.com If you would like to check out the tour company go to http://friendlyexcursions.net/