WRITE NOW! Workshop Podcast: Write a Book, Change the World with Kitty Bucholtz: Recent Episodes
WRITE NOW! Workshop Podcast: Write a Book
Alessandra Torre is our guest today sharing her top 4 take-aways from just the marketing portion of the 2022 Inkers Con writers conference. (Not even her top 4 overall!) If you'd like to sign up for the conference, you can still access the digital version -- and Alessandra kindly gave us a $50 off coupon! Enter the code WNWPODCAST at Inkers Con to get your discount!
Download the Author Assessment Worksheet today! A gift from Alessandra!
EPISODE 290T
Podcast favorite Susan May Warren, author of the new novel Sundown, shares how she manages her time as she creates a book series.
Research, plotting, writing, she's got a time block for each piece. Listen to her process so you can figure out how to hone your own. Learn more about Susie May and all of her books, including nonfiction books for writers, at https://www.susanmaywarren.com/
Watch Kitty's free Masterclass series on writing at https://www.youtube.com/kittybucholtz for help on how to write more with less stress and more peace and joy. Available through December 31, 2022. Get $400 off the six-month Finish Your Book Group Coaching Program by using the coupon code "2022" through January 1, 2023! A great gift for yourself or another writer you love!
EPISODE 289
Today's guest is Suzanne Woods Fisher, author of the new novel Anything But Plain. She shares a great presentation with ten things she learned during her writing career that she wants to pass on to you.
You can find Suzanne at https://suzannewoodsfisher.com/
EPISODE 288E I'm wearing my "How to Spot a Hero" Spider-Man T-shirt as I record this episode. YOU are the hero! And you can be the person who is the hero to someone else! You can be the person who writes a book that changes people's lives. Even just one life changed would be worth our time. Are you willing to keep working at it and make the world a better place?
EPISODE 287T Our guest today is award-winning author https://www.susanmaywarren.com/ (Susan May Warren) teaching us how to write a series. There are several kinds of series and first Susie May explains them all. Then she shows us how to write a compelling series that readers can't stop reading. Plus she gives us a fantastic tip that we can use to help readers jump into a longer series. Click below to get the wonderful handout Susie May gave us! And be sure to check out https://www.amazon.com/Sunrise-Sky-King-Ranch-Book-ebook/dp/B09B2NBPXT/ (Sunrise), her latest book one in a series and one of the books we used for some of the examples, as well as https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09LWVBB5X (Sunburst) (June 7, 2022) and https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09V6XDK3S (Sundown) (Nov 1, 2022) to see how she puts a series together. (Also great books! I've read the first and preordered the others.) https://podcast.writenowworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Building-a-powerful-series-Susan-May-Warren.pdf (Building a Powerful Series handout)
EPISODE 286E It's the second quarter of the year -- how is your writing going? Where are you in meeting the goals you set for yourself a few months ago? Here are some tips for getting more done this quarter...and maybe more done for the rest of the year! Good luck!
EPISODE 285T In 2022, we're taking a direction change with the podcast and, instead of bringing you 50+ interviews during the year, you'll get 8-10 full-on teaching episodes. These are sessions you normally could only hear at a writers conference, about an hour long and full of practical advice to improve your writing and advance your career. Today's guest teacher is best-selling historical author http://www.amandacabot.com/ (Amanda Cabot). Amanda explains about the different kinds of historical fiction with tips on how to write them well. Her latest novel, The Spark of Love, just released on March 1 and is available everywhere books are sold including https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/381270 (Baker Book House) (https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/381270, where you can find discounted pricing on paperbacks). Learn more about Amanda and her books at http://www.amandacabot.com/ (her website) (http://www.amandacabot.com/).
EPISODE 284T When there's so much going on in the world, it can be easy to feel like there's little to nothing you can do to make a difference. But there are lots of things that you could do. In this episode I mentioned that City Hearts Sweden (https://www.cityheartssweden.org/ukraine (https://www.cityheartssweden.org/ukraine)) is doing a lot to help Ukrainians near the border and those seeking refuge in Sweden. I also noted that there are lots of organizations near you, wherever you live, that could use some help. For example, my sister runs a 501(c)3 charity in Michigan called CHUM Therapeutic Riding. During the pandemic, they couldn't always be open for their clients but the horses still have to eat every day. If you'd like to help feed a horse, you could donate to CHUM (https://www.chumtherapy.net/donationrider-fees (https://www.chumtherapy.net/donationrider-fees)), or find an organization closer to where you live or that matches your passions. Helping others -- whether physically, financially, or emotionally -- helps us to feel better about the things we can't control. And keep writing! Your book could make a difference in the world!
EPISODE 283E The wonderful thing about stories -- whether reading or writing or listening to them or watching them -- is that they help us to know ourselves. We learn more about who we want to be, who we don't want to be, what makes us laugh and what makes us angry. I encourage you to find more of yourself this year in your writing and reading! Mentioned in the show: https://www.amazon.com/Switch-Your-Brain-Happiness-Thinking/dp/0801018390/ (Switch on Your Brain) by https://drleaf.com/ (Dr. Caroline Leaf) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10896634/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (Long Story Short) on Netflix https://daydreamer.ac-page.com/AuthorReadingRoom (Author Reading Room) -- a monthly free virtual live event where readers can listen to authors read from their work and then ask them questions. Join us!
EPISODE 282E In today's Encouraging Words episode, I share my experience of the first time I ran in the snow just last month. It was cold and wet and more miserable than fun, but I did it. And it reminded me of how I can look at the harder parts of my writing life and see how I can tweak my attitude to make it through -- and even enjoy it. I hope this helps you find a similar parallel in your own life to talk yourself through the harder areas and on to accomplishment!
EPISODE 281I Today's guest is Olivia Bowser, founder and CEO of https://www.liberatestudio.com/ (Liberate), the first mental fitness studio. Liv explains to us how Liberate began and what it offers to help people develop and maintain mental wellness. The great thing about Liberate is that they work with both individuals and companies, in person and online. Check out their offerings and sign up for the 7-day free trial. Let's make 2022 our best year for mental health! Learn more about Liberate at https://www.liberatestudio.com/ (https://www.liberatestudio.com/).
EPISODE 280I Today's guest is https://www.lynnbohart-author.com/ (Lynn Bohart), writing teacher and author of the cozy mystery series, https://amzn.to/3yBTmG5 (Old Maids of Mercer Island). Lynn shares her experiences on many of the ways she leveraged her writing skills to get more work and make money quicker while she continued writing her book series. Great ideas that will spark your imagination for things you can do as well, whether you are also moving into retirement or you're busy and only have time for small projects. We also talk about her mystery series -- fun times! Learn more about Lynn and her books at https://www.lynnbohart-author.com/, and follow her on https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynn-bohart/ (LinkedIn), https://www.facebook.com/bohartink (Facebook), or wherever you like to connect.
EPISODE 279I Today's guest is https://sarahsantacroce.com/ (Sarah Santacroce), author of https://humane.marketing/book1 (Marketing Like We're Human) and https://humane.marketing/book2 (Selling Like We're Human), and host of the https://humane.marketing/humane-marketing-podcast/ (Humane Marketing podcast). As a ‘Hippie turned Business Coach’, Sarah works with heart-centered entrepreneurs to question their assumptions when it comes to marketing and give them permission to market their business their way, the gentle way! We discuss Sarah's approach to marketing and how it differs from the traditional and online marketing styles, and talk about how the gentle marketing approach can work for writers. Download Sarah's free 1-Page Marketing Plan at https://humane.marketing/1page (https://humane.marketing/1page). Learn more about her at https://sarahsantacroce.com/ (https://sarahsantacroce.com/) and https://humane.marketing/ (https://humane.marketing/) https://humane.marketing/humane-marketing-podcast/ (https://humane.marketing/humane-marketing-podcast/) https://humane.marketing/book1 (https://humane.marketing/book1) https://humane.marketing/book2 (https://humane.marketing/book2)
EPISODE 278E In this month's Encouraging Words episode, I talk about how I've been looking at Susan May Warren's Values-Based Planning from episode 276 to decide on my priorities for 2022. After struggling with the idea that I don't want to stop doing things I love and am good at, I finally decided that I needed to let some things go - at least for now - because I'm not doing the work that is most important to me. As of January 2022, the podcast will be on semi-hiatus, meaning I'll still do the monthly Encouraging Words episodes, and I'll also have guest episodes at irregular intervals. This will free up an enormous amount of time for me to get back to focusing on my first love, writing. :-) I hope my candid discussion on how I came to this decision helps you as you think back on the last year or two and ask yourself what worked, what didn't, and how you can plan next year based on the things you find most important in your life.
EPISODE 277I Today's guest is mystery writer https://amyspeele.com/ (Amy S. Peele) talking to us about writing her medical murder mysteries, https://amzn.to/3IrSybz (Cut) and https://amzn.to/3y64AlT (Match). Amy tells us the advice that mystery writer Michael Connelly gave her that moved her career forward, and she shares with us her journey -- and tips! -- as she began writing while still working a very demanding career with long hours. We also talk about organ donation, a prime topic in her two mystery novels, and how you can make sure that your wishes in this matter are followed. If you have an iPhone, you can sign up for donation in the United States using the Health app. It connects to Donate Life America. Learn more about Amy and her books at her website, https://amyspeele.com/ (https://amyspeele.com/). Follow her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/amy.s.peele (https://www.facebook.com/amy.s.peele), Twitter https://twitter.com/amy_peele (https://twitter.com/amy_peele), Instagram https://www.instagram.com/amypeele/ (https://www.instagram.com/amypeele/), and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-s-peele-b815801b/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-s-peele-b815801b/).
EPISODE 276I Bestselling author https://www.susanmaywarren.com/ (Susan May Warren) joins us again to help writers and other creatives understand how to plan a new year of accomplishments in a way that works best for each one of us, individually. She tells us how she developed https://www.mybrilliantwritingplanner.com/ (My Brilliant Writing Planner) and explains the many ways we can use it to have a more creative and productive and joyful year. The planner is not a compilation of weekly To Do lists, she says, but a way of choosing what is most important to you based on your own values in life. Learn more about My Brilliant Writing Planner and get one of your own at https://www.mybrilliantwritingplanner.com/ (https://www.mybrilliantwritingplanner.com/). Go to Novel Academy to find out about all the resources Susie May has for writers including courses and a membership group, https://novel.academy/ (https://novel.academy/). And at her writer's website, you can check out all of her books across multiple genres, including the new series under the David James Warren pen name, https://www.susanmaywarren.com/ (https://www.susanmaywarren.com/). Follow her on social media including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
EPISODE 275I Author https://www.nataliewalterswriter.com/ (Natalie Walters) returns to the show today to talk about how she finds ways to use some of the material that ends up being cut from a book, or reuse characters she created that never ended up in a published book. Natalie's new book, https://amzn.to/3nNpsuO (Lights Out), is a romantic suspense novel about a CIA analyst who brings together intelligence officers from around the world to combat global terrorism -- and one of them goes missing. When the book she set in Egypt, written while she lived there, didn't sell, Natalie found lots of ideas about how we can make sure nothing we create is wasted. She has moved characters to another story, used settings somewhere else, given her readers snippets of deleted scenes, and more. Learn more about Natalie and her books at her website https://www.nataliewalterswriter.com/ (https://www.nataliewalterswriter.com/) and follow her on Facebook and Instagram (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100041917969557 (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100041917969557) and https://www.instagram.com/nataliewalters_writer/ (https://www.instagram.com/nataliewalters_writer/)). And if you're interested in working with Kitty to finish your book, email her at kitty AT kittybucholtz DOT com to schedule a time to talk about what you'd like to accomplish and how she can help.
EPISODE 274I Today's guest is Dr Sunil Raheja, author of https://amzn.to/3Ft0G9i (Dancing with Wisdom: A Sacred Quest to Restore Meaning, Purpose and Fun to Your Life and Work). He's also the host of the Dancing with Wisdom podcast, and a psychiatrist and executive coach. "For the really important decisions in life, there’s no textbook that’s going to give you the answers," Dr Sunil tells us. He shares how he got started on his journey to understand how life works, and he gives us many tips about what he's found. He intersperses in the story of the book the writing of the book as well -- what he had to give up to finish it, what his writing coach taught him, and how much more time and work he ended up putting into it than he expected. To learn more about Dr Sunil's work, and to get the first chapter of Dancing with Wisdom for free, visit his website https://drsunil.com/ (https://drsunil.com/). For more information about working with Kitty to finish writing your book, sign up for a free strategy session on her website: https://www.writenowworkshop.com/writingcoach/ (https://www.writenowworkshop.com/writingcoach/)
EPISODE 273I Today's guest is attorney Kathryn Goldman, founder of https://creativelawcenter.com/ (Creative Law Center) online. This is a fascinating and informative look into copyright, copyright registration, fair use, public domain, the difference between giving credit and getting permission when using someone else's work, and so much more. Soon Kathryn also pointed listeners to an article on her site about fair use (https://creativelawcenter.com/fair-use-guidelines/ (https://creativelawcenter.com/fair-use-guidelines/)), a chart on Cornell University's site about determining public domain works (https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain (https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain)), an article about museums who give away images of public domain works (https://creativelawcenter.com/museums-open-access-images/ (https://creativelawcenter.com/museums-open-access-images/)), and She also shares several reasons why you should register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office (https://www.copyright.gov/registration/ (https://www.copyright.gov/registration/)). She also shares several reasons why you should register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office (https://www.copyright.gov/registration/ (https://www.copyright.gov/registration/)). And one of them, she says, is that soon the Copyright Claims Board will open as an alternative to going to federal court for copyright disputes so long as you have registered the disputed item. Find Kathryn and her many tools and resources for writers at https://creativelawcenter.com/ (Creative Law Center) (https://creativelawcenter.com/ (https://creativelawcenter.com/)). There you'll find https://creativelawcenter.com/workshops/ (lots of workshops), including the recorded "How to Minimize Risk When Writing Memoir" and the upcoming "Publishing Services: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" live on Wednesday, November 17, 2021. You can also join the Business and Legal Resources Membership for Entrepreneurs and Creatives and get access to forms, contracts, workshops, and more (https://creativelawcenter.com/register/membership-signup/ (https://creativelawcenter.com/register/membership-signup/)).
EPISODE 272E In this Encouraging Words episode, I talk about the fun benefits you can get out of writing during National Novel Writing Month and using the https://nanowrimo.org/ (NaNoWriMo.org) website. I also mention Rachel Aaron's fabulous book for writing faster, https://amzn.to/3bFrdDl (2K to 10K: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love), and other tips I've used to write more words during this month. Even just having a grateful, positive attitude will help you write more (and possibly better).
EPISODE 272E Today's guest is https://betsystamant.com/ (Betsy St. Amant), the funny author of the new romantic comedy, https://amzn.to/3bGFIXE (Tacos For Two). In addition to talking about writing food into stories, Betsy shares how she works with her critique partner, ways she's found to increase reader engagement, how she thinks about planning her books, and much more. A fun and informative interview! Learn more about Betsy and her books on her website, https://betsystamant.com/ (https://betsystamant.com/), and follow her on social media. Sign up for her newsletter to learn about her upcoming book signings (including one in Shreveport, LA) and to be eligible for all the things she loves to give away.
EPISODE 270 Today's guest is https://jamesrhannibal.com/ (James R Hannibal), returning to share with us the story of how he purchased the rights to DragonRaid, a role playing game, and not only prepared to reissue it with a new name -- https://lightraiders.com/ (LightRaiders) -- but also decided to write a book series around it. https://amzn.to/3EqZmmY (Wolf Soldier), book one in the series, is about the band of young adventurers who rekindle the Lightraider Order and have to travel to the Dragon Lands to battle to save their homeland. James tells us all about the process, including the many other people involved -- collaborative storytelling at its finest! They even created a language to go with the new game! Learn more about James, his books, and the LightRaiders game at https://jamesrhannibal.com/ and https://lightraiders.com/.
EPISODE 269E Our mindset is a crucial part of how we live our lives, how we react to and interact with the world around us. We can control our thoughts if we try to notice them, and we can choose to focus on the positive in life. I share some examples from my recent run of the Copenhagen Half Marathon, and I encourage you to look for the positive in your own life, focus on what you're grateful for, and start noticing the changes that grow out of these things.
EPISODE 268I Today's guest is Certified Executor Advisor, https://www.davidedey.com/ (David E Edey), talking to us about his new book, https://www.davidedey.com/ (Executor Help: How to Settle an Estate, Pick an Executor, and Avoid Family Fights). David has worked in the financial planning industry for over 35 years, and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to us. We talk about the writing of his book and then segue into how the topic affects us as writers. Estate planning includes not only making a will, but also deciding what we want our executor and heirs to do with our intellectual property and our writing business if we become incapacitated or when we die. In addition to his book, David offers a wealth of https://www.davidedey.com/resources.html (resources on his website) including free downloads, a blog, and a podcast. Be sure to check them out and get this administrative task checked off your To Do list this year! https://www.davidedey.com/
EPISODE 267I Today's episode is a coaching session. You may not know much about working with a writing coach, so I thought I'd give you a taste of what it can be like. Stephanie Shackelford graciously agreed to come on the show and tell us about the writing problems she's been having with her fantasy novel. She's been working on this book for over 20 years, and wants to finish it and publish it soon. Some of the questions I ask her may help you if you're struggling to finish a book long in the marking. Or it might help you help a friend.
EPISODE 266I The lovely https://www.rachelhauck.com/ (Rachel Hauck) joins us again today to talk about the disciplines of writing. There are so many things we need to juggle to write a book, to have a writing career, to create our art in a way that brings us more joy than frustration. Today we talk about some of the bigger things to keep in mind as a writer. This episode will help you to readjust your focus and encourage you with the work you choose to do to move forward. Lots of great advice -- but don't get overwhelmed by it all, just choose what you'll focus on next in your writing business. Learn more about Rachel and her books at her website, https://www.rachelhauck.com/ (https://www.rachelhauck.com/), and follow her on social media.
EPISODE 265I Bestselling author https://diannmills.com/ (DiAnn Mills) returns to share with us tips from her new book, https://amzn.to/3zZjQRM (Exploring the Art of Character). DiAnn believes a good bestselling book must have characters that we want to follow and learn more about. She gives us lots of ideas on how to dig deeper during the interview, and there are exercises at the end of each chapter in the book. DiAnn even offers listeners a copy of her own character sheet! You can learn more about DiAnn and her books at her website, https://diannmills.com/ (https://diannmills.com/). https://amzn.to/3liffUy (Exploring the Art of Character), her brand new romantic suspense novel, https://amzn.to/3nkn2E9 (Trace of Doubt), and all of her other books are available wherever books are sold.
EPISODE 264E I've been studying mindset quite a bit the last couple of years, and I've learned a lot about what happens in your mind, body, and life when you focus more on the positive or more on the negative. Whichever way you choose to think, you can end up in a spiral that continues in the same direction. I offer some encouragement today to help you notice which direction you're going and make course corrections along the way.
EPISODE 263I Bestselling authors http://amandacabot.com/ (Amanda Cabot) and https://leighduncan.com/ (Leigh Duncan) return as our guests to talk about writing a series. We talk about the difference between continuing character series and connected character series and how you might choose which one will work best for your story. Amanda and Leigh also talk about the kinds of information they collect and create to write a series, from character sheets to maps to floor plans to full-fledged story bibles. You can learn more about Amanda, her books, and her social media links at her website, http://amandacabot.com/ (http://amandacabot.com/). Her novella collection, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0993YPQ7X/ (Brides of the Old West), is available for pre-order and will be released on September 14, 2021. Learn more about Leigh and her books at https://leighduncan.com/ (https://leighduncan.com/). Her new https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08WYMRT7C? (Sugar Sand Beach) series is available through Kindle Unlimited or for purchase on Amazon. Follow her at leighduncanbooks on Facebook and Instagram.
EPISODE 262I Today's guest is Dr Tayo, a physician, world traveller, and social entrepreneur. In this episode, Dr Tayo shares illuminating information about how we can find more energy in the second half of life so we can continue to live out our dreams. To book a free 15-minute call, go to https://go.oncehub.com/DrTayo (https://go.oncehub.com/DrTayo). You can follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tayodee (https://www.facebook.com/tayodee), and she also has a private group for women at https://www.facebook.com/groups/midlifedivas/ (www.facebook.com/groups/midlifedivas/) where she shares valuable information on health in the second half of life.
EPISODE 261I Today's guest is https://www.markasquith.com/ (Mark Asquith), serial entrepreneur, podcast expert, and CEO and co-founder of podcast hosting, analytics, and monetization platform https://www.captivate.fm/ (Captivate.fm). As writers, we are always wondering what marketing we should be doing that we're not doing, and podcasting is one of the things we wonder about. Mark shares great tips and ideas on how to know if podcasting is for you, either as a guest or as the host of your own show. Mark reminds us that while other people may seem to have the market cornered in our area of interest, our personalities are the one unique bit we can bring to a podcast. When you figure out the "why" behind your thoughts on podcasting, you can make a decision that works great for you. Learn more about Mark and his thoughts on podcasting, as well as all kinds of how-to, by following him on Twitter (Mark.live/Twitter). Check out his website at https://www.markasquith.com/ (https://www.markasquith.com/).
EPISODE 260I Author http://shawnsmucker.com/ (Shawn Smucker) returns to the show to talk about his brand new book, https://amzn.to/3yD4Ok4 (The Weight of Memory). I'm a big fan of his magical realism books, and this one didn't disappoint. Shawn and I talk about memory, how we think it works and what studies are showing about it. This conversation -- of course! -- led into how we create fictional stories, what makes a protagonist make their decisions, how that affects what happens next, and how all these come together to affect the reader's experience of the story. Learn more about Shawn and his books at his website, http://shawnsmucker.com/ (http://shawnsmucker.com/), and he's on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as Shawn Smucker. Find his podcast and courses at The Stories Between Us, https://www.thestoriesbetweenus.com/ (https://www.thestoriesbetweenus.com/).
EPISODE 259I Author https://www.lizjohnsonbooks.com/ (Liz Johnson) is back with us to talk about her brand new book, https://amzn.to/3lfOhyr (Beyond the Tides). While she was writing it, some things in her personal life affected the storyline...in an amazing way! Listen to her story about how sometimes things going wrong can be the beginning of a good thing. Since Liz works in marketing, and used to be a publicist, we also have a terrific conversation full of fabulous tips in this area as well! You can connect with Liz on her website, https://www.lizjohnsonbooks.com/ (https://www.lizjohnsonbooks.com/), to find out more about her and her books. Or follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, all of which are @LizJohnsonBooks.
EPISODE 258E You may know that I'm a runner, not a fast one but I've finished every race I've started. And more to the point, I really enjoy it. More than a little surprising since I didn't start until the week before I turned 40. I've run a lot of half marathons since then. I sign up for races because it keeps me running. Trust me, I'd still be on the couch if I didn't have to prepare. And all that training always reminds me of all the other things in life that require some training, including writing books. I hope you find my thoughts in this episode encouraging!
EPISODE 257I Author https://susiefinkbeiner.com/ (Susie Finkbeiner) returns to have a discussion about how to get through the hard times...and how maybe adversity isn't always a bad thing. We talk about how we've managed the changes in our lives, how our writing has been affected, and what we've learned along the way. We also discuss Susie's new book, https://amzn.to/2WBn0fN (The Nature of Small Birds), about a family involved in Operation Babylift after the Vietnam War. You can find the book at https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/260806 (Baker Book House), https://amzn.to/2WBn0fN (Amazon), and your favorite book seller. You can learn more about Susie and her books at her website, https://susiefinkbeiner.com/ (https://susiefinkbeiner.com/), and on https://www.instagram.com/susie_finkbeiner/ (Instagram).
Ep 256E In a world where there is so much negativity, we need to focus on the positive things in our lives -- especially when life is going well! God has good plans in mind for us, and when we look for the good in our lives, we tend to find it. What's going great in your life? Celebrate it!
EPISODE 255I Today's guest is https://kindlepreneur.com/ (Dave Chesson from Kindlepreneur) talking about a brand new piece of writing software, https://www.atticus.io/ (Atticus). Dave and his team have been working hard to create a one-stop shop for writing, collaboration, and publishing. Atticus allows you to not only compose in the software, but to collaborate with co-writers, editors, and beta readers. When you make edits, you no longer have to worry about whether or not you are updating the latest version. Dave explains all this and more in the episode. To find out more about Atticus, go to the website, https://www.atticus.io/ (https://www.atticus.io/). Learn more about Dave and Kindlepreneur, an amazing resource for writers, at https://kindlepreneur.com/ (https://kindlepreneur.com/) and check out the YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-s3Pb8uIBm0QN8MVaulJKA (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-s3Pb8uIBm0QN8MVaulJKA).
EPISODE 254I https://gwenhernandez.com/ (Gwen Hernandez), author of Scrivener for Dummies, joins us today to talk about Scrivener, software to help you write and organize any type of writing. After sharing how she got started with Scrivener and became an expert, literally writing the book on it, Gwen shares some of her favorite tips and tools in the software. We talk about how Scrivener can work well for both plotters and pantsers, fiction and nonfiction -- including keeping track of your blogs and guest posts -- and she gives tips for beginners and more advanced users. You can learn more about Gwen, her books, her Scrivener classes, and other ways to work with her at https://gwenhernandez.com/ (https://gwenhernandez.com/) and https://scrivenerclasses.com/ (https://scrivenerclasses.com/). Follow her on https://www.instagram.com/gwenhernandezauthor/ (Instagram), https://www.facebook.com/GwenHernandezAuthor/ (Facebook), and https://twitter.com/gwen_hernandez (Twitter).
EPISODE 253I Today's guest is http://www.myauthorconcierge.com/ (Maria Connor of My Author Concierge), a company that provides services like author assistant, project management, and more so that authors have more time to write. Maria shares with us 10 reasons why getting organized will help you, and 6 tips to get your author business more organized today. She also explains how to use her https://amzn.to/2SNVxG9 (Self-Publishing Checklist Series) of short books, and talks briefly about her book https://amzn.to/2SdRClB (Do Less. Write More) about how to find an author assistant. At the end, when we talked about how to track your books sales, Maria made these suggestions: BookTrakr (multiple platforms) https://www.booktrakr.com/ (https://www.booktrakr.com/), Book Report (Amazon sales only) https://www.getbookreport.com/ (https://www.getbookreport.com/), and Tracker Box (multiple platforms) http://www.storyboxsoftware.com/tdownload.htm (http://www.storyboxsoftware.com/tdownload.htm). You can find out more about Maria, her books, and her work for authors at her website, http://www.myauthorconcierge.com/ (http://www.myauthorconcierge.com/), on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MyAuthorConcierge (https://www.facebook.com/MyAuthorConcierge), and on Twitter https://twitter.com/AuthorConcierge (https://twitter.com/AuthorConcierge).
EPISODE 252I Today's guest is autistic biohacker, http://thrivewithautism.ca/ (Jackie McMillan), chatting with us about how the lymph system in our bodies affects our ability to be creative. Jackie shares a lot of ways we can help our bodies to help our minds, helping our lymph system to carry away the waste and deliver the nutrients we need to be at the top of our game. This is a don't-miss episode! You can learn more about Jackie at her website, http://thrivewithautism.ca/ (http://thrivewithautism.ca/), on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Thrive.With.Autism (https://www.facebook.com/Thrive.With.Autism), and at her Quora profile, https://www.quora.com/profile/Jackie-McMillan (https://www.quora.com/profile/Jackie-McMillan). Check our her book, Answers to Educators' Top 30 Questions About Reducing Autism Challenges in the Classroom, https://www.amazon.com/Educators-Questions-Reducing-Challenges-Classroom-ebook/dp/B00MYC98HI/ (https://www.amazon.com/Educators-Questions-Reducing-Challenges-Classroom-ebook/dp/B00MYC98HI/).
EPISODE 251E Some days it's hard to remember that it's perfectly okay to disagree...and that we can do so without having an argument or causing a rift. Today I want to encourage you to be willing to say, this just isn't working for me...and then calmly and kindly move on with your life.
EPISODE 250I Welcome to the 250th episode of the show! Today's guest is https://jodyhedlund.com/ (Jody Hedlund), author of the new https://amzn.to/3cebKLi (Come Back to Me), a time crossing historical romance. Jody tells us a little about her new series and then jumps into how she creates buzz for her books. Her ideas will work for both traditionally published authors and indie authors, and many will be useful even before you are ready to launch a new book. Learn more about Jody and her many books at her website, https://jodyhedlund.com/ (https://jodyhedlund.com/).
EPISODE 249I Today's guest is https://annkroeker.com/ (Ann Kroeker), writing coach, author, speaker and podcaster. Together we explore what it means to work with a writing coach. How do you know if you need a writing coach and, more importantly, how do you know if you're ready? We discuss all the types of people you might work with to improve your writing, the different ways you can get help from a coach, and how to find the right coach for you. We also share tips on other ways you can get help without hiring a coach. Learn more about Ann and everything she does at her website, https://annkroeker.com/ (https://annkroeker.com/) and get all the links you need at her Everything page, http://annkroeker.com/everything/ (http://annkroeker.com/everything/).
EPISODE 248T I have been saying since the beginning of this podcast 3 1/2 years ago that I believe YOU can write a book and change the world. Today I talk about how to finish your book. The three most important things you need are time to write, the mindset to get started and keep going, and the structure for the kind of book you want to write. I share a lot of suggestions and tips in all three areas to encourage YOU to write and finish your book. Happy writing! TRANSCRIPTION If you’ve been listening for awhile, you know that I’ve been working with writers to finish their book and get it out into the world. Whether you want to go the traditional route and publish with a publishing house or take the entrepreneurial route and learn how to publish it yourself, if you have a burning idea inside, I think it’s important to get it out. I absolutely believe YOU can write a book, and I absolutely believe books change the world. What if you and I could change the world for the better? I’m a writer so I know how it feels to have an idea or a story tumbling around inside! For me, if I don’t write, I start feeling like I’m withering away inside. I feel much better when I write my ideas down. I feel a sense of satisfaction just by getting things down on paper. But the incredible and intense sense of accomplishment I feel when I finish a book – there’s nothing like it for me. And I want to help other people feel that too! That’s just the inward-facing side of why I believe finishing your book is important. The part that affects you. There’s also the effect of your book on other people. Maybe you’ll teach someone how to do something you are good at. Maybe you’ll convince people to make a change to improve their health or the health of the planet. Maybe you’ll help someone to have a few hours of relaxation and enjoyment after a long, hard day. ALL of these reasons are great reasons for finishing your book, whether you’re more interested in your own satisfaction or more excited about how it will affect others. All good reasons! Now, if you have lots of ideas, and it’s fun to let them tumble around when you’re just standing in line or sitting in traffic, and they’re NOT pushing and shoving to get out – no problem. I love daydreaming, and not every idea is making me uncomfortable until I write it down. My goodness, I’d be writing something every waking hour! Haha! So maybe you like the idea of writing a book, of holding a book in your hand with your name on it. But when you start thinking about the hours involved, the time it takes to learn and grow so that your writing is good enough for people to want to give you money for it…maybe that doesn’t sound so fun. That’s perfectly fine! Writing for the joy of it is definitely a good reason! What you decide to do with the book afterward is a separate choice. So whether you’re thinking about writing just for yourself, or to leave a family legacy, or to promote your work or business, or to have a career – no matter what your end goal – there is one thing you have to do. Finish. In order to have a book of any length, you have to finish writing it! Haha! Right? So what will it take for you to finish your book? I’ve found there are three main things required no matter what you’re writing, fiction or nonfiction, no matter the length. Time, mindset, and structure. You need the time to sit down and write until you come to The End. You need to believe that this endeavor is worth taking time away from other things. And you need to have an idea of what you’re trying to create. A romance novel will have a different structure from an epic fantasy. A how-to-fix-your-motorcycle guide will be set up differently than a ministry book for growing a church. Time, mindset, and structure are all intertwined. If you don’t have a good structure for your book, it’s going to take a lot longer to write it. If you don’t set aside time to write and you let other things get in the way, you’re going to get
EPISODE 247I Today's guest is literary agent Cynthia Ruchti of https://www.booksandsuch.com/ (Books & Such Literary Management). You may remember Cynthia from https://podcast.writenowworkshop.com/episodes/reaching-out-with-deep-emotion-an-interview-with-cynthia-ruchti/ (Episode 240) when she spoke to us about writing with deep emotion. Cynthia gives us a great bird's eye view of what agents do and don't do, how that will differ among agencies, and things for you to consider in order to know when is the right time for you to look for an agent. Part of what a literary agent does is to eliminate all the reasons why an acquisitions editor would say no to a manuscript, she says. But depending on the agent, they also help manage an author's career. Learn more about Cynthia and Books & Such (and what they're looking for) on their website, https://www.booksandsuch.com/ (https://www.booksandsuch.com/).
EPISODE 246I Today's guest is former stealth pilot and award-winning novelist, https://jamesrhannibal.com/ (James R Hannibal). His latest novel, https://amzn.to/2Sv48gl (The Paris Betrayal), is a spy left out in the cold story so we decided to talk about exactly how to write a spy novel! You'll have a great time listening to James explain how to create a great spy story! Learn more about him and his books at his website https://jamesrhannibal.com/ (https://jamesrhannibal.com/). Read his blog post about escaping the research bog here: https://www.blueridgeconference.com/research-escaping-the-research-bog-part-three/ (https://www.blueridgeconference.com/research-escaping-the-research-bog-part-three/). Find out what James is doing with the DragonRaid game at https://lightraiders.com/ (https://lightraiders.com/). And read https://amzn.to/2Sv48gl (The Paris Betrayal), out now.
EPISODE 245E Spider-man is one of my favorite superheroes -- a regular guy with an unexpected and ginormous change in his life tries to figure out how to make the best of it. He's a good guy, although not perfect. He makes mistakes but mostly he's trying to figure out how to use his gifts in the best way, how to help other people, and he's also inclined to just enjoy his gifts. Swinging through the city must be fun! There is a lot to be learned from Spider-man. We can take some of his lessons and apply them to our own lives, both in helping ourselves and in using our gifts to help others.
EPISODE 244I Today's guest is Dr Debra Holland, https://debraholland.com/ (award-winning romance author) as well as https://drdebraholland.com/ (psychotherapist and grief counselor). Dr Debra taught an online class for our Romance Writers of America chapter once called "Understanding Men." It was so helpful, I've never forgotten it -- and I asked if we could talk about it on the show. With humor and insight, Dr Debra helps us understand both the biological and the emotional differences between men and women and why it leads us to think, act, and speak as we do. This is a great episode for learning to write better, more believable scenes from the other's point of view. It's also a fabulous mini-course on better understanding the significant people in our personal lives. You can find Debra's fiction on Amazon or on her writing website, https://debraholland.com/ (https://debraholland.com/), and you can learn more about her counseling work at https://drdebraholland.com/ (https://drdebraholland.com/).
EPISODE 243E HAPPY EASTER!! This month's Encouraging Words episode focuses on taking time to find renewal in your life and in your writing. It's important to take time to pause and think about whether we're still headed in the direction we meant to go. Things have changed a lot for everyone this past year. Is there anything we need to do to smooth out the road in front of us for the next nine months? I hope this gives you some food for thought, and encouragement on your journey! God bless you!
EPISODE 242I Today's guest is best-selling and award-winning author https://www.irenehannon.com/ (Irene Hannon). We're talking about the latest book in her Hope Harbor series, https://amzn.to/2OaOKE6 (Blackberry Beach), which releases April 6, 2021, with more books in the series coming. Irene shares about standing at the fork in the road when she had to decide between pursuing psychology and something in writing. Later, she had to decide at another fork if she would continue with her amazing corporate writing job or pursue writing fiction full-time. Along the way, she learned a lot about both writing better books and balancing all the pieces of the writer's life. She is full of encouragement and advice for listeners, no matter what you write. Find out more about Irene and her books at her website, https://www.irenehannon.com/ (https://www.irenehannon.com/), and follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Irene-Hannon-426433004084567 (https://www.facebook.com/Irene-Hannon-426433004084567).
EPISODE 241I Today's guest is Ricardo Fayet, one of the founders of https://reedsy.com/ (Reedsy), a one-stop shop for writers. At Reedsy, authors can find editors, book cover designers, marketers and more to help with the business of publishing a great book. Writers can also use the Reedsy Book Editor, and learn a ton from the blog, Reedsy Live (live webinars), and Reedsy Learning -- all for free. We talk about these things as well as Ricardo's first book, https://www.amazon.com/How-Market-Book-Overperform-Marketing-ebook/dp/B08TZJQ1FB/ (How to Market a Book: Overperforming in a Crowded Market). It just came out in January 2021, and is free as an ebook, and also available in print. Ricardo gives us so much valuable information in this episode, you'll need to take time to write it all down! Be sure to sign up for Reedsy's email newsletter on https://reedsy.com/ (their home page) so you don't miss anything! You can also follow them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ReedsyHQ, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/wearereedsy, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/reedsy_hq/, and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpo0MkTAyEl73PmIVs8CQvQ. TRANSCRIPTION [00:00:07.740] - Kitty Welcome to Write Now Workshop Podcast, where you can write a book and change the world, I'm your host, Kitty Bucholtz. And this is Episode 241 -Reedsy and your publishing needs an interview with Ricardo Fayette coming to you on Thursday, March 25th, 2021. So yesterday was my birthday. Oh, I love birthdays they are one of my favorite things in the whole world, but I can't tell you what I've done because of course, I have to record this before the day that you hear it.So it's a surprise to me as well. But I will tell you that I took the day off. My husband took the day off because what else is he going to do with his vacation time? We can't go anywhere. And and I'm not sure what we did because we probably would have watched some Marvel movies or something like that, except for that we gave to gave up TV for Lent Monday through Saturday. So, yeah, if it's not raining then probably, hopefully we took a walk. Otherwise I literally have no idea what we will have done, but I'm going to assume I had a really good time. So hopefully you are doing something interesting fun. The weather is medium for you. You're not buried in ice or burning up in the heat depending on which hemisphere you're in. And hopefully the weather is good enough that you can at least get some fresh air outside depending on where you are.My thoughts and prayers are with you because it has been a tough year, hasn't it? But I am completely convinced that we can be in control of our mindset to a much greater degree than we often do. So let me encourage you to when you have a negative thought to take a captive, ask yourself, is this really the thought that I want to have running through my head right now? If not, no, then I'm going to replace it with something else. It's helpful to have a something else positive in mind beforehand so that you can be like, nope, that's not true, but this is true. For instance, I'll be thinking things like, I am so tired of working all the time and I never go anywhere and this is just not fun anymore. And then I'm like, wait, no, no, my job is fun. I do like it. It will be great when I can go out and see more humans, when I can actually hug people. My husband will be glad when I don't ask him for 14 hugs a day. So I just have to tell myself that's not true, actually. I mean, sometimes, you know, you're in that place where you're just like, but I love my job. I love writing. There are things that you're like, no, this is a good part about life.
[00:02:55.980] - Kitty And you just have to know that I'm going to replace it and replace the negative thoughts when they come up. So remember that. And these are the sorts of things that I talk about on the monthly encouraging words episodes. So be sure that you're listening to those on the first...
EPISODE 240I Today's guest is author and literary agent, https://cynthiaruchti.com/ (Cynthia Ruchti). Her newest book, https://amzn.to/3vC1JiW (Facing the Dawn), has just come out with Revell. With over 30 years' experience on radio, Cynthia learned to write for the ear, how a passage sounds, and that experience shines through in her novels. She encourages listeners to think about how very many ways there are to tell a story -- novels, nonfiction, short stories, radio shows, plays, blog posts, magazine articles, etc. -- and find the one you're best at. She talks about her writing process, how to find the emotion for your characters, even if you haven't experienced it, and she shares the best writing tip she ever got. You can learn more about Cynthia and her books and speaking at her website, https://cynthiaruchti.com/ (https://cynthiaruchti.com/) or hemmedinhope.com, easier to spell. Follow her on most social media as Cynthia Ruchti. TRANSCRIPTION
EPISODE 239I Today's guest is http://www.amandacabot.com/ (Amanda Cabot), bestselling author of the brand new https://amzn.to/3qDxyUO (Dreams Rekindled), book two in the Mesquite Springs series. Amanda has strong feelings about goal, motivation, and conflict (GMC) and choosing the internal and external conflict of her main characters. Don't like to think of all the ways you can make your hero's life worse? Want to give him or her a good life? Amanda has a great way to create compelling conflicts that will make you excited about the terrible things that are going to happen! (Torture is optional.) Whether you're a plotter or a write-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of writer, Amanda has great tips for everyone. She believes in the power of fiction not just to entertain, but to heal. Inspiring food for thought! Find out more about Amanda and her books, and get more writing tips, at her website, http://www.amandacabot.com/ (http://www.amandacabot.com/).
EPISODE 238E Not only should we "give it up for our writing" as in applaud and cheer, but sometimes we need to make choices about what we're going to give up in order to get more writing done. What are you willing to spend a little less time on in order to move your writing business another step forward? I gave up TV 6 days a week for Lent, and wow, has it opened up more relaxing time! In addition to going to bed a little earlier, I also have more personal reading time. And even with that extra sleep and extra reading, I'm finding more time to work on my books. What is something you could cut back on for awhile, and how could you use that time? TRANSCRIPTION [00:00:07.650] Welcome to Write Now Workshop Podcast, where you can write a book and change the world, I'm your host, Kitty Bucholtz, and this is episode 238, Give It Up For Your Writing, an Encouraging Words episode coming to you on Sunday, March 7th, 2021. You know, there's a saying, let's give it up for... And then often it's something that's said at the beginning of introducing someone who's going to be like the speaker or something.
[00:00:33.150] And what it means is let's all applaud for... And so definitely let's give it up for our writing.
[00:00:38.490] Let's definitely applaud our writing and all the things that we're doing to create stories and books and how-to guides and who knows what you're making right now that will do something to help somebody, to cheer somebody up, to do something that could change somebody's life, who that person changes somebody's life and that person changes somebody's life. And altogether, we are contributing to changing the world in a more positive way. And that's one of the things that I love about writing and one of the things that I absolutely, positively believe that any of us can do.
[00:01:09.630] But another way is looking at the words very specifically, give it up. What are we willing to give up for our writing? And that's what I wanted to talk about today. So we are about halfway through the Lenten season on the Christian calendar. And John and I have given up TV for Lent, so we've given it up six days a week. So no Netflix, no Disney plus, no video games, no just sitting there relaxing because we're super tired and it would be nice to not do anything.
[00:01:41.910] None of that. No, we choose one day either Saturday or Sunday, whichever day. Honestly, we choose whichever day we'll have the most time, though, on this upcoming Saturday to me, yesterday for you if you're listening to this on Sunday, we had our little pod of people come over to watch "WandaVision" all the way through from episode one to nine, because the last episode is airing today.
[00:02:08.910] As I'm making this recording, we're super excited and of course, we can't watch it because we gave up TV. But tomorrow will be our one day and I don't know if we twisted their arm or if they were eager. But our little pod of friends, just two other people who also, like us, are trying to be super careful, not go anywhere, wear masks when we do, that sort of thing, at least until everybody can get vaccinations, right? We are going to make them watch WandaVision.
[00:02:39.930] So I'm very excited. But that being said, some days are definitely harder than others. I've had a couple of days this week where I was just like, please, I just want to sit in front of the TV. We had a very odd and brand new experience for us on Monday right before this episode came out. So it was March 1st.
[00:03:01.530] We woke up at 3:30 in the morning to a bomb going off in our apartment building.
[00:03:07.740] It's totally bizarre to me, but apparently organized crime is very, very good at planting bombs that only do enough damage to break your door and scare the crap out of everybody else in the neighborhood. I don't even think the neighbor, the owner of the shop, I don't...
EPISODE 237I Today's guest is the wonderful http://wiredforstory.com/ (Lisa Cron) sharing with us about her new book, https://amzn.to/3uZ7KGd (Story or Die: How to Use Brain Science to Engage, Persuade, and Change Minds in Business and in Life). While Lisa's previous books, Wired For Story and Story Genius, were aimed more at writers, Story or Die is for everyone who is trying to understand someone else -- whether a potential customer or a neighbor -- and persuade them to change how they think and act. Lisa loves talking about story and her passion overflows to her listeners. There is so much to learn here about how we think and how we can influence others. Think about your readers when you're listening, as well as other people you do business with or live with or interact with in any way. Learn more about Lisa and her books at her website, http://wiredforstory.com/ (http://wiredforstory.com/), or connect with her on Twitter, @LisaCron.
EPISODE 236I Today's guest is John Ondrasik of https://fiveforfighting.com/ (Five For Fighting) music fame. In addition to writing and performing music, John is also an inspirational speaker. John shares with us how he views art and creativity, how he gets out of a funk, and the importance of doing things you love. He encourages us to find new creative challenges in addition to our main interest. He also reminds us that we are entrepreneurs, and we have to figure out new ways to make our creative businesses work as times change. Learn more about John and Five For Fighting on his https://fiveforfighting.com/ (website) https://fiveforfighting.com/, and be sure to listen to his https://youtu.be/OukUOjhArQM (TEDx talk) for even more encouragement. https://youtu.be/OukUOjhArQM [Photo credit: Jeremy Cowart] TRANSCRIPTION [00:00:07.690] - Kitty Welcome to Write Now Workshop Podcast, where you can write a book and change the world, I'm your host, Kitty Bucholtz. And this is episode 236, Music to Last a Lifetime. An interview with John Ondrasik coming to you on Thursday, February 25th, 2021. [00:00:27.400] I want to start this episode by telling you find the bookmark button or the save button on your podcast app. Or if you're watching this on the computer, save this episode. You are going to want to come back to it whenever you need a boost. This has been one of the most encouraging episodes that I can remember recording. And I have had some amazing guests. I think that you and I have both enjoyed just about every single person. When I say just about, I think I mean, every single person who's been on the show. But today's episode just really made my heart feel like, yes, this is someone who's been in a business of creating for so long. And it hasn't always been easy and he hasn't stopped doing it. And sometimes he has found new ways to do it or he does it around something else that comes into his life. [00:01:21.820] And I'm thinking this is exactly the kind of encouragement that we all need, because I really believe that today is not the right day for you to decide to quit. Maybe it is, but probably it's not. And I want you to listen to this episode, and at the end, you ask yourself, what do I think is success for me? Because maybe what I'm doing is actually enough to make me happy right now. Maybe I have some goals and plans and a specific path that I'm on that I think is going to lead me even closer to the things that would make me happy. Am I happy enough to keep on going? [00:02:03.790] I hope you are. And if you're not, that is totally fine. Nobody said that you have to do this forever. But if you can't stop writing, if you can't stop making up stories, whether they're in songs or in books or in some other format, then I just want to encourage you with this episode, I think that you're going to tell yourself, yes, this is totally worthwhile, what I do matters because what you do does matter. [00:02:34.270] First of all, no matter who you are, what you do matters. You can make a positive difference in the world, wherever you are and whatever you're doing, the smallest things could have a ripple effect that you have absolutely no awareness of. And I think in some ways that's something that's like a gift that God gives us so that we can not be too full of ourselves, being like I know that I can positively influence every person around me today. [00:03:01.510] - Kitty The thing is that we can and we should. That is my belief. I do believe that your book or your song or your screenplay, whatever it is that you're working on, can change the world in a positive way and make it a better place for other people. And I think that that is totally worth all the time and energy and sometimes blood, sweat and tears that we put into it. If you're wondering about the blood, sometimes for me it's just a matter of picking up a knife in the kitchen to make a sandwich and thinking about my story at the same
EPISODE 235I Today's guest is https://wynweightloss.com/ (Jill Cruz), a Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist and the founder of Work with Your Nature Weight Loss. I asked Jill to help us understand how we can be more creative in our work and keep up our good health even though most of us sit in front of a computer all day. She explained what some call the five pillars of health -- nutrition, sleep, stress management, physical activity, and mindset -- and how we can make small changes that will make a big difference. Jill cautions us, though, not to tackle everything at once. That can lead to overwhelm and cause us to give up without seeing much progress. This is a brilliant interview with so many tips to help us improve our creativity by improving our health! The night after I interviewed Jill, I slept better than I have in a year! You can find Jill on her website, https://wynweightloss.com/ (https://wynweightloss.com/), where you can sign up for her amazing newsletter. Here's to a healthier, more productive year! TRANSCRIPTION [00:00:07.630] - Kitty Welcome to Write Now Workshop Podcast, where you can write a book and change the world. I'm your host, Kitty Bucholtz, and this is episode number 235, "Better Health for Better Creativity," an interview with Jill Cruz coming to you on Thursday, February 18th, 2021. This episode could change your writing life. I am absolutely not kidding you. It actually might just change your life, period. [00:00:36.010] In the time that it took Jill and I to do this interview, so, you know, an hour-ish, we talked for a few minutes afterwards so let's call it an hour and fifteen minutes tops, I slept better the night after we spoke than I have slept in months. And I am not kidding. I've been having some sleeping trouble. But she was explaining so many things in this podcast that helped me to understand - and I thought that I already understood, I thought I was bringing her on for you. [00:01:04.300] - Kitty Little did I know that she needed to tell me a lot of things that I just need to tweak this. I need to change how I look at this and that and this and that. Oh, my gosh. You guys, seriously, this is going to be a great episode for you. I think that if you've been having sleep trouble like me, possibly you might notice that your sleep is going to improve. I'll just tell you a little hint. [00:01:29.560] It had totally to do with my mindset before I went to sleep, and I thought I had been doing enough, but apparently I hadn't. I just really, really focused on the things that made me super happy that I was super grateful for. I thought I just needed to relax. But when I really focused on thinking very positive, happy, strong thoughts like that is the best sleep that I've had in months. I am totally not using hyperbole. [00:01:58.030] You know, I love hyperbole, not using it this time. I was like, holy cow, I got to do. This again. And, you know, I've gotten out of the habit a little bit, which again makes me go, wow, that obviously does make a difference because now I'm sleeping well, better, but like not like I had been those first couple of days after talking to her. So much information. And I really think that it's going to help both of us with with our general health and also the kind of health that leads to a clearer mind, clearer thinking and better creativity. [00:02:29.170] So enjoy this episode, take notes. And remember, we now have transcripts on all the episodes, starting with this year, 2021. So go to podcast.WriteNowWorkshop.Com and find this episode 235 and you can read the transcript and remind yourself of all the things that she said that you want to make sure that you do. It's already changed my life. I'm sure it's going to change your life. Also remember that you can pick up my free Self-Publish Your Book Checklist. [00:03:02.740] That is a downloadable PDF that you can also just leave on your computer and fill out on your...
EPISODE 234I Today's guest is https://www.jenniferdeibel.com/ (Jennifer Deibel), whose debut novel, https://www.amazon.com/Dance-Donegal-Jennifer-Deibel/dp/0800738411/ (A Dance in Donegal), just came out! Jennifer tells us about life as a debut author, and how she started writing. She lived in Ireland at the time, and felt she'd finally found her heart there. That made her want to write about Ireland in a real way, not how it's portrayed in some movies and TV shows. We talk about using all the senses when you write, and trying to capture what a place feels like when you write it. Jennifer also talks about starting a book, setting it aside when she had a child, picking it up and working on it again, having to set it aside again -- and how some stories just won't let you go. You can buy Jennifer's novel wherever you buy books, and find out more about her and her upcoming projects at her website https://www.jenniferdeibel.com/ (https://www.jenniferdeibel.com/). You can follow her on major social media sites, especially Instagram and Facebook, and join her Facebook reader's group. TRANSCRIPTION [00:00:07.770] - Kitty Welcome to Write Now Workshop Podcast, where you can write a book and change the world, I'm your host, Kitty Bucholtz. And this is Episode 234, The Magic of the Emerald Isle. An interview with Jennifer Deibel coming to you on Thursday, February 11th, 2021. So how is your writing going? You know, I have a little pop up message on my calendar and on the first of every month, it pops up and just says, how's the writing going?
[00:00:36.630] - Kitty And it gives me an opportunity every month to ask myself, have I taken a step back and looked at the big picture and asked myself, am I making progress in the direction that I was intending to go? This is always a good question to ask yourself whenever you're doing anything that takes more than a day. Am I going in the direction that I'm trying to go? Am I not only am I going off in a wrong direction, but am I taking too much time to do something that maybe isn't quite as necessary as it seems fun, i.e. research.
[00:01:09.510] - Kitty It's a good time for us to just ask ourselves, is this the right book? And do I need to do more on this particular kind of research or less on this? Am I making enough progress that I will have a book in a while? Could I be doing any more writing? Am I being too hard on myself? And I should just relax a little bit and when I relax, then I'll do better writing sometimes. That's one of the issues that I have to tell myself, you need to relax more because you're freaking yourself out. And I think you'll get more done if you just chill out. So what do you need to ask yourself about your writing also? Do you just need some more energy? Do you need some more people to be around even though you might not be able to physically be with people? You could join My Finish Your Book membership group. We get together twice a week and we do a 30 minute writing sprint. Everybody says this is what I'm working on. And then at the end, this is how many words I wrote. This is how much editing I got done. And we are getting a ton done. And it's also super fun. We've got more people joining and everybody adds their own kind of energy to it. And it's amazing how much faster you write and how much more excited you can be about your project, because in a few minutes you're going to tell a whole bunch of people, yeah, I got this much done.
[00:02:28.920] - Kitty And sometimes you're saying, well, I only got two hundred words written, but I figured something out in the plot that I wasn't sure about, or I had to go back over my table of contents for my nonfiction book and realized that something was in the wrong place. But I still got, you know, two hundred and fifty words written.
[00:02:43.920] - Kitty So then there are other people that, I'm just like, how fast can you type, woman? Yeah, one of them, she gets like nine hundred words...
EPISODE 233I Since it's barely past the beginning of the year, I figure some people are having challenges in getting back into their writing on a regular basis. I know I've had some challenges trying to get my head out of vacation mode! So I came up with some ideas that might help you. I took my own advice and got a little more writing done this week! I hope you do too! TRANSCRIPTION [00:00:01.370]Welcome to Write Now Workshop Podcast, where you can write a book and change the world, I'm your host, Kitty Bucholtz, and this is episode 233, "If You Can't Get Started," an Encouraging Words episode coming to you on Sunday, February 7th, 2021. Some days start out great and end great. And they were pretty freaking good all the way through. And those are the best days. My experience is not that those are the most common days though. [00:00:32.240]There's often something that's just like, oh, I forgot that I had to do this thing, or crap, I didn't know I had to do this thing, or I did this thing and it didn't work and now it's broken and now I have to fix it. Or, like, there's lots of things, at least in my days, where I'm just like, seriously, seriously. I just wanted a day, I just wanted one day where everything is going really smoothly. [00:00:57.560]And when I get one of those days, I'm like, this is the best! But I'm spoiled, and then I want more and I get irritated when I have days where it isn't, you know, kind of tulips and roses and unicorns all the way through. [00:01:12.470]Okay, but on days like that, like, am I doing a lot of writing? The thing is, is that the days that I'm having the perfect day and the days that I'm having kind of crap days, I'm not necessarily getting a significantly different number of words down. So what are we doing? Like, what's happening in our brains? I can't really comment on the brains thing right this second, because that is not any research that I did on this particular topic. [00:01:38.660]But you know how some days start out difficult and then they get better. And thank goodness, that's always a good thing. I'm not sure, I think for me it's harder when the day starts out really well and then it gets difficult and stays difficult until I go to bed. And then all I can think about is, please let this day be over and I can go to sleep and forget about it and wake up and it'll be a new day. That actually happened to me yesterday. [00:01:59.660]I don't know. It was just a very not awesome day. Wasn't a crap day, but it was worse than "meh." And, you know, sometimes it's just hard to to get writing. And sometimes it's like a whole long time, a whole lot of things that happened in a row. [00:02:19.790]And, you know, all of us can very quickly come up with a whole bunch of things where we're like, yeah, like this or this or this. So what do we do when we just need to kind of force ourselves back into writing without necessarily using the word "force?" So I'm always trying to think of a way to ease myself back in in a way that makes me cheerful and happy again and just excited and wanting to do it. So how do I get that excitement going? [00:02:46.760]Sometimes, sometimes it's just a matter of showing up. Some people say once you sit down and put your fingers on the keyboard and your document is open in front of you, like that's 90 percent of the battle. So butt in chair. Sometimes you can't even get that far. So what do you do? Well, in my Sydney writers group, so I have writer friends all around the world because I've moved so many times. And in my Sydney writers group, one of my friends was just like, I'm not getting anything accomplished and I just, I got nothing. I can't even get myself to want to do more. And so we were like, OK, you know what? Just show up to the accountability call. Like, don't have a plan for anything that you'll be able to say, oh, at least I got this done this last week or this is my plan for next week. Like, have no plan, just show up for the call. Listen to...
EPISODE 232 Today's guest is https://ptbradley.com/ (Patricia Bradley), romantic suspense author of the brand new book, https://amzn.to/3tqebRY (Obsession). This is book two in the Natchez Trace Park Rangers series. Patricia shares lots of information about the Natchez Trace area, the kind of law enforcement in the U.S. National Parks, and how she came up with ideas for where the bad guys can bury the bodies there. She's also incredibly encouraging about not quitting, sharing that she wrote for over 30 years before publishing her first book. A great episode to help you keep going in your own writing! Find out more about Patricia and her books at her website https://ptbradley.com/ (https://ptbradley.com/). TRANSCRIPTION [You'll need to add 03:28 -- 3 minutes and 28 seconds -- to the timecode below to account for the episode's introduction.] [00:00:01.630] - KittyToday's guest is Patricia Bradley. Patricia is the author of Justice Delayed, Justice Buried, Justice Betrayed and Justice Delivered, as well as the Logan Point series. She's won an inspirational Reader's Choice Award in romantic suspense, a Daphne du Maurier Award and a Touched by Love Award. And she was a Carol Award finalist. She is co-founder of Aiming for Healthy Families, Inc. and she's a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Sisters in Crime. Patricia makes her home in Mississippi.
[00:00:33.910] - KittyWelcome back, Patricia.
[00:00:36.960] - PatriciaThanks, I love being here. This is a fun time.
[00:00:40.350] - KittyI always love talking to you. I've actually I have thought that we had talked so much more recently, but the last time you were on the show was June 2018.
[00:00:51.310] - PatriciaYou're kidding. I was trying to think when I was logging on, I was trying to think of how long ago it was, but I had no idea it was that. I know you hadn't been in Sweden very long.
[00:01:00.890] - KittyRight. Yeah, that's right. I had just moved here.
[00:01:05.350] - PatriciaYeah. And the window was open and they were having a parade or something.
[00:01:08.710] - KittyThat's right.I couldn't remember who I was talking to. It was the graduation parade. Yeah.
[00:01:15.530] - PatriciaYeah. That was fun to get to see you get to say a different something different.
[00:01:23.080] - KittyYeah. Yeah. Oh well so listen, if you are listening and don't remember talking or hearing Patricia talk before she was on episode 74 in June 2018. And Patricia, I don't know if I told you this, but I ran that episode as an encore episode on January 2nd 2020 because it's just one of my favorite episodes.
[00:01:45.400] - PatriciaIt was a lot of fun. I like it. It's just a lot of fun. Yeah. And then I get this Southern accent.
[00:01:52.000] - KittyThat's right. And I'm not sure if you were wearing pearls that day, but you have this like just totally put together elegant look. And to hear one of the first things that you say be I just love talking about murder. I was like, I'm going to love this interview.
[00:02:09.040] - PatriciaAnd do I do love talking about murder.
[00:02:12.130] - KittyWell let's do that some more.
[00:02:13.300] - PatriciaAnd justice. Yeah. And justice.
[00:02:15.400] - KittyI noticed that with all of your titles of your last series. Yeah. Justice is a big theme for you.
[00:02:21.310] - PatriciaIt is.
[00:02:22.180] - KittyI like it. Well, listen, why don't you give people a little bit of a background on how you got started when you got started. And you've got a great story that you just reminded me. I'd obviously forgotten of, about exactly when it was that your first book came out. So why don't you just start wherever you think is a good place to start there?
[00:02:40.120] - PatriciaI'm not sure if I told this story before, but when I was thirty five, I couldn't sleep, I had no thoughts of writing, I was a reader, I read everything I read about...
EPISODE 231I Welcome to season one of 2021! We'll now produce ten episodes every quarter, plus the monthly Encouraging Words episode. With the extra time, we're able to make some improvements to the show -- including a full transcript for each episode. Enjoy! Today's guest is Ben Hughes, Business Development Manager at https://www.ingramspark.com/features (IngramSpark). Ben has a long history in publishing, both in traditional publishing and in working with independent/self-published authors. In our interview, he explains what IngramSpark does as a company, how they work with authors around the world, and what you can expect from them in the future. Ben kindly agreed to take questions from the audience, so leave your question in the comments section below the YouTube version of the show. https://youtu.be/CzMt8-YIRFw (https://youtu.be/CzMt8-YIRFw) The transcript timecode begins at the start of the interview, so you'll need to add about 8 minutes (8:03) to the time to jump to that spot in the full episode. TRANSCRIPT [00:00:02.160] - Kitty Today's guest is Ben Hughes. Ben is the business development manager for IngramSpark in the U.K. In this role, he oversees all lines of business as they relate to IngramSpark, including the customer service team, and has been in this post since January 2020.As the needs of authors develop in an ever changing publishing landscape, Ingram Spark is adapting to ensure that its author platform is second to none in terms of service, author, education, distribution options and customer satisfaction. Ben leads on these areas of focus for the U.K. business while also working closely with the parent organization in the United States and the other global office in Australia. With experience across physical and digital bookselling and publishing, Ben has worked for the lightning source, part of the Ingram business, and prior to that spent five years at Penguin Random House in various sales and operational roles.
[00:00:55.800] - Kitty Welcome, Ben.
[00:00:56.740] - Ben Thank you very much, Kitty. Thank you for having me. It's fun to see you. So it's been maybe well, by the time this goes live, almost a year you and I met in person in the last week of the Old World. I know it feels like a long time ago, and in some ways it is, but in others it's not really. And obviously, a lot's changed since then. But, yeah, you came to see us in sunny Milton Keynes in the UK where we're based. And yeah, it's great to great to see you again. It was so fun.
[00:01:27.330] - Kitty I have to say that was one of the best parts of my trip. I mean, here I had never been to had I ever been to England before, maybe for my husband's a twin and his twin brother went to England, happened to be on their birthday, and we went to meet them for a weekend. But this at most was my second trip to England. And the most exciting part for me was going to the IngramSpark's facility.
[00:01:51.120] - Ben I actually remember how excited you were and I think it was quite infectious. It was quite a small group. So we have these days where people can come, just for your listeners for context- we invite people to come and see where we print the books and what we do and how it works. We do these days maybe what we try to do one a month, but depending on what time of year it is, obviously we get less uptake the closer we are to Christmas. There are certain times of day where people are too busy. And yeah, that day it was quite a small group.I can't remember quite why, but it was nice in a way that it was a small group because it meant that we got to spend more time talking to each individual and it felt a little bit more personal, which is good.
[00:02:28.770] - Kitty Yeah, yeah. It was actually because there was going to be a ginormous group that you guys had planned for because of Mark Dawson's event. But the corporation, the corporate part of your company, the parent company, had said, no, we can't do large...
EPISODE 230E Today's short episode is packed with encouragement for your new year! Taken directly from the fabulous T-shirt I received when I attended https://mirasee.com/ (Mirasee's) Teach Your Gift conference last month: Dream Big! Don't Give Up! Reach Beyond Your Comfort Zone! Teach Your Gift! This January, more than ever, is a great time to rethink what you're doing with your life, and figure out how to focus even more on what's most important to you.
EPISODE 229I Today's guest is story coach http://wiredforstory.com/ (Lisa Cron), author of https://amzn.to/3rBw6Ek (Wired for Story) and https://amzn.to/38HAzgb (Story Genius), returning to the show to talk about editing your first draft and why NaNoWriMo is not the best way to write your story. Lisa is known for approaching story through brain science, helping writers craft stories that will impact readers. Her new book comes out in March, https://amzn.to/37Whisc (Story or Die: Why Story Is the Only Way to Engage, Persuade, and Inspire -- and How to Use Brain Science to Create One That Will). Lisa explains what story is not -- it's not about beautiful writing, and it's not just a plot, a series of things that happen. And it's certainly not about a word count goal. But when people are taught that this is how you write a book, that explains why more than 9 out of 10 books are started but never finished, and more than 9 out of 10 finished books don't get picked up by publishers. Listeners will be encouraged not to give up, to understand how they can write a great book by thinking about story differently. This applies to novelists, of course, but it also applies to anyone trying to share information in a way that convinces others to change their minds or act on what they learn. A fascinating interview that will help and encourage writers of every kind! You can learn more about Lisa and how to work with her at her website, http://wiredforstory.com/ (http://wiredforstory.com/), and her books are available everywhere.
EPISODE 228I Today's guest is https://www.allymachate.com/ (Ally Machate), professional editor, expert publishing consultant, and founder of https://thewritersally.com/ (The Writer's Ally). Ally shares the steps on what to do after you finish the first draft. First -- put it away! Don't look at it for at least a week. Then you can come back to it with fresh eyes. Next, read it all the way through and make notes about what you can see needs to be changed -- not the nit-picky things, but the big story elements. Ally gives lots of examples about what to look for in the draft, whether it's fiction or nonfiction, and next steps. She also shares how to know when to hire an editor to help make your book even better. So many great tips! Find out more about Ally and her services at https://thewritersally.com/ (The Writer's Ally (.com)) and https://www.allymachate.com/ (Ally Machate (.com)). You can also join her Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/thewritersallies/ (https://www.facebook.com/groups/thewritersallies/).
EPISODE 227I Today's guest is agent https://theseymouragency.com/about-us (Julie Gwinn from The Seymour Agency). With a decade in publishing and another two in marketing, she has a great perspective on what moves an author's career forward. Julie gives us lots of great advice about how to get from the end of a first draft to a published book. We talk about how to create your best chances for a successful hybrid career, what a query letter is, how to build a great book proposal, what a simultaneous submission is, how to submit, and so much more! Find Julie as well as other agents and editors and what they're looking for on https://querymanager.com/ (Query Manager) and https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/ (Manuscript Wish List (MSWL)), and find many of them on https://twitter.com/juliegwinn (Twitter) and other social media. You can find Julie at https://theseymouragency.com/about-us (The Seymour Agency) as well. https://theseymouragency.com/about-us
EPISODE 226I In the second of five episodes all about editing, debut author https://www.elysiawhisler.com/ (Elysia Whisler) and her agent http://ktliterary.com/about/ (Sara Megibow) join us to discuss all of the aspects of editing from the author to the agent to the editor at the publishing house. Elysia tells us about her writing journey, and how https://amzn.to/3ncpaeo (Rescue You) became her first published novel (although it's not the first book she's written). She and Sara explain all the stages of editing from the self-editing a writer does before submitting all the way through the process to the finished, published book. They share a ton of tips useful to most any writer, whatever you write, wherever you're at in the journey. https://amzn.to/3ncpaeo (Rescue You) is available wherever books are sold in ebook and print, as well as in https://www.audible.com/pd/Rescue-You-Audiobook/1488210012 (audio). Learn more about Elysia, her upcoming books, and get links to follow her at her website, https://www.elysiawhisler.com/ (https://www.elysiawhisler.com/). You can learn more about Sara and how to submit to her at the agency's website, http://ktliterary.com/ (http://ktliterary.com/). Or follow her on Twitter, https://twitter.com/SaraMegibow (@SaraMegibow).
EPISODE 225E In our final Encouraging Words episode of the year, we talk about making a list of everything that has gone right this year, all the positives. Set a timer for two minutes and see how many things you can list! This is also a great time of year to not only make a list of what went well, but also to journal about your dreams (things you would love to happen but you have little control over) and your goals (things you can think through the steps to accomplish them). You do have the ability to change the world -- for better or for worse! I urge you to choose wisely and take action. :-D Your words will make a difference!
EPISODE 224I Today's guest is https://www.authoraccelerator.com/ (Jennie Nash), founder and CEO of Author Accelerator. Her book coaching clients have landed six-figure book deals with Big 5 publishing houses, so I asked her to come share with us her best tips for editing your book. This is the first of five episodes this month all on this one topic! Jennie starts with explaining the kinds of editing a book can need, and helps us understand what might happen if we hire the wrong type of editor. Additionally, when we begin self-editing, we need to understand how to look at our fiction or nonfiction books with an editor's hat on instead of a writing hat. She shares her three steps to revision and generously offers listeners her Stoplight Strategy handout here https://podcast.writenowworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Stoplight-Strategy.pdf (https://podcast.writenowworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Stoplight-Strategy.pdf). You can also get her Inside Outline at her website, https://www.authoraccelerator.com/insideoutlinebook (https://www.authoraccelerator.com/insideoutlinebook). Find her course, How to Revise Your Book, on Mark Dawson's Self Publishing Formula courses page https://learn.selfpublishingformula.com/courses (https://learn.selfpublishingformula.com/courses).
EPISODE 223I Today's guest is screenwriter https://hilarygalanoy.com/ (Hilary Galanoy), co-writer with Elizabeth Hackett of the Netflix romantic comedies Love, Guaranteed and Falling Inn Love. (Note: You MUST watch the Disclaimer at the end of Love, Guaranteed - it's hysterical!) Hilary shares with us how she and her partner and friend work together to write their screenplays, how their process works, and how others do it differently. She tells the story of how actress and producer, Rachel Leigh Cook, came up with the idea for Love, Guaranteed. And she talks about the Covid rewrite of Hilary and Liz's Hallmark movie, My Best Friend's Bouquet, so that most of the film could be made outside with social distancing in place. There are lots of writing tips scattered throughout interesting stories of twenty years of writing with your best friend, so be sure to take notes. And don't be afraid to go watch all of their movies in the name of research! You can find Hilary on her website at https://hilarygalanoy.com/, on Twitter as @drunchmenu, and on Instagram as @hgalanoy.
EPISODE 222I Today's guest is https://www.bryndonovan.com/ (Bryn Donovan), author of paranormal romance as well as books for writers, whose new book just released on Tuesday. https://www.bryndonovan.com/best-books-for-writers-manifestation-journal-paranormal-romance/ (Blank Page to Final Draft) will take you through the process of writing a book from the very beginning to the point of having a publishable manuscript. Our discussion is chock full of helpful advice from an editor who is also a writer! Bryn shares with us her thoughts on when to get feedback on your story, how to find beta readers and why they're important, and when to stop writing and rethink your direction. (Tip: writing as fast as you can without thinking isn't always the best strategy.) Bryn understands that some of her advice will be difficult for people to swallow, especially those who write by the seat of their pants. If you're a pantser, she says, and you like the end result, great! But if you wish your books were better, she encourages you to give some of her advice a try. You can learn more about Bryn and her books on her website, https://www.bryndonovan.com/ (https://www.bryndonovan.com/). Watch the videos as she created the https://www.amazon.com/BLANK-PAGE-FINAL-DRAFT-Write/dp/1951952065/ (Blank Page to Final Draft) book by teaching it on her YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy1bE-x45k32XjKsXsdIX3g (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy1bE-x45k32XjKsXsdIX3g).
EPISODE 221I Our guest today is award-winning author https://teriwilson.net/index/ (Teri Wilson), whose latest book, https://amzn.to/36x3m5M (Christmas Charms), came out last month with Hallmark Publishing. After sharing her story of how she started, Teri jumps into all things writing. We talk about how she came up with many of her ideas, the pros and cons of writing first person versus third person point-of-view, the importance of voice, the ways she celebrates her victories, and her love of writing about royals. She also explains the meet-cute in romantic comedies, creating secondary characters, writing visually, and the fun of writing Christmas stories - even if you live in Texas where it rarely snows. Learn more about Teri and her books at her website, https://teriwilson.net/index/ (https://teriwilson.net/), and on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you love puppy pictures, follow her on Instagram!
EPISODE 220I Today's guest is award-winning and bestselling author, https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/pages/davis-bunn-books/ (Davis Bunn). His newest book, https://amzn.to/2GyJfvg (Burden of Proof), just released this week and it is awesome! Davis talks to us today about a lot of things - how his career has evolved over the years, how his two writing names (Davis Bunn and Thomas Locke) may become joined together because of his work in film (or they may not), how publishers are looking at what it takes to be a successful author right now, and much more. But then we spend some time talking about how to take an idea that is so special to you that you're afraid to ruin it, and how you can become transformed through faith and mediation to let go of ego and allow yourself to grow beyond your comfort zone. When you can learn to go beyond yourself and connect to something much deeper, tap into a deeper creativity, your writing can become transformative, for yourself and for your readers. Be sure to listen to the end to learn the best advice on research I've ever heard! You can learn more about Davis and his books at https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/pages/davis-bunn-books/ (davisbunn.com) and https://tlocke.com/ (tlocke.com/) as well as at http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/authors/davis-bunn/689 (http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/authors/davis-bunn/689). Follow him on Facebook as https://www.facebook.com/davisbunnauthor (Davis Bunn Author).
EPISODE 219E It's always a good time to think about unity - feeling a sense of connection with others. In this Encouraging Words episode, I talk about finding a sense of unity with other writers and people in general. If we focus on our similarities, we can keep our differences from wrenching us apart. I hope this episode encourages you this week!
EPISODE 218I http://www.susanmaywarren.com/ (Susan May Warren) is back with us today to show us her new 2021 https://www.mybrilliantwritingplanner.com/ (My Brilliant Writing Planner!) This is my favorite planner! And this year you have four styles (and price points) to choose from. Susie May and I also talk about all kinds of time and energy management tips from our own experience and our years of teaching on that topic for writers. Whether you're a plotter or a pantser, you'll find great ideas for finishing this year strong and starting next year with a bang. If you already have a planner or journal you love, great. You may find some of our tips will help you get even more from it. If you haven't found something that really works for you yet, consider giving https://www.mybrilliantwritingplanner.com/ (My Brilliant Writing Planner) a try. One of the best things about it is that it incorporates your whole life, not just your writing. You can track your writing and plan your books for the year, but you can also plan your meals, track your exercise and water intake, appointments, and all the other parts of your life. (I even keep track of when I water my plants here and only one plant has died!) Use it to plan and then follow through, or use it to track what you've accomplished and how long things take you (to finish writing a book, for instance). Check out the website to see what the inside pages look like. If you're purchasing from outside the United States, be sure to scroll down and click on https://www.lulu.com/search?adult_audience_rating=00&page=1&pageSize=10&q=susan+may+warren (International Buyer). There's also a video of the launch party right above that link that shows you all four versions of the planner so you can decide which one you like the best. Susie May and I hope this episode gives you some added energy to figure out how to get your books written because, as she loves to say, your story matters! Follow Susie May and find out more about all of her books on her website, http://www.susanmaywarren.com/ (http://www.susanmaywarren.com/).
EPISODE 217I This week's guest is https://www.rachelledekker.com/ (Rachelle Dekker), author of the new suspense book, https://amzn.to/37fUkft (Nine). In addition to talking about writing and the writing life, you can hear me rave about how much I loved this book! We had such a great time talking about writing, what we learn through the process, and what themes you find yourself writing again and again. For Rachelle, it's all about identity. We talk about the different genres Rachelle has written, growing up as the daughter of a bestselling author (Ted Dekker) and then cowriting together, how she does a lot of her research, and some of her best writing tips. You can learn more about Rachelle and her books at her website, https://www.rachelledekker.com/ (https://www.rachelledekker.com/) as well as at Baker Publishing, http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/ (http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/). Find her on Facebook as Rachelle Dekker Author.
EPISODE 216I Today's guest is https://bryanlitfin.com/ (Bryan Litfin), author of the brand new novel, https://amzn.to/3j4GVJn (The Conqueror), an action adventure story set in the time of Constantine in the third century. When Bryan wrote that he wants to write books with the action and adventure of the Indiana Jones movies, I was hooked - I had to interview him. What follows is a fun and informative jaunt through history, research, plotting, and writing that will get you itching to get back to your own book. This is a fantastic interview with lots of energy and ideas for making the stories you love to write larger than life. You can find Bryan and his books on his website, https://bryanlitfin.com/ (https://bryanlitfin.com/).
EPISODE 215E In this month's Encouraging Words episode, I talk about the idea of before and after photos in any area of our life. We see them all the time selling things like diet plans, gym memberships, and personal trainers. But can we use our imaginations to see our before and after photos for today's challenges? What will I look like in a month when I finish this book? So happy and excited and celebrating -- so now I have that energy in my head to use to actually finish the book. Or anything else that is a short-term goal or challenge.
EPISODE 214I Today's guest is bestselling author https://www.rachelhauck.com/ (Rachel Hauck). Her newest book, https://amzn.to/2FgFNEY (To Love a Prince), came out in August and is book one in her new True Blue Royal series. Rachel has 30+ books out, and has taught dozens of writers how to improve their craft. From this perspective, we talk about worldbuilding in stories, whether contemporary or historical, in real places or fictional ones. Since Rachel has so many books about royalty, I asked her to explain how she creates new countries with princes and princesses that sound real and believable. She goes into detail about all the things she researched in order to develop new countries with real problems. She also talks about turning the story upside down - like when she created the wedding chapel that never had any weddings, or the first prince in history who was left at the altar. There is an enormous amount of advice in this episode and plenty of tips no matter what kind of stories you write! You can find out more about Rachel and her books at her website, https://www.rachelhauck.com/ (https://www.rachelhauck.com/), where you can also find all of her social media handles.
EPISODE 213I Today's guest is debut author, https://amandacoxwrites.com/ (Amanda Cox). Her novel, https://amzn.to/3l0AOr6 (The Edge of Belonging), came out in September and completely captured my heart! Amanda tells us how, while in the process of getting an editor's attention and selling her novel, she took a story told in a single timeline and changed it to become two linked stories in their own timelines that come together in the end. She also explains how she dug deeper into her characters using some of the questions and techniques she used to use with clients when she was a therapist. I found this brilliant and asked her to repeat it! Altogether, another fun conversation about writing and sharing writing tips. You can find out more about Amanda and her upcoming books at her website, https://amandacoxwrites.com/ (https://amandacoxwrites.com/), and across social media as amandacoxwrites.
EPISODE 212I Joining us today is bestselling romance author, Roxanne St. Claire. Rocki's latest book, https://amzn.to/2RUDWrX (Man's Best Friend), releases September 25, 2020, the day after this episode airs. If you like romance and fun and dogs, you'll love this book! Rocki started her career in traditional publishing, first with Pocket Books at Simon & Schuster, and then also writing for Harlequin, Random House, and Grand Central Publishing. When she was offered her biggest contract, though, there was a clause she was unwilling to accept, so she said no. Going indie was the best business risk she's ever taken. She has more creative freedom than ever before, more joy, and more money. She works hard - it is a full-time job - but it's the best thing she's ever done as a writer. Rocki shares her experiences so you can decide if indie publishing might be right for you. You can find out more about Rocki and all of her books at her website, http://www.roxannestclaire.com/ (http://www.roxannestclaire.com/). If you're interested in joining her reader's group, go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/roxannestclairereaders (https://www.facebook.com/groups/roxannestclairereaders).
EPISODE 211I Our guest today is https://www.jenniferdornbush.com/ (Jennifer Graeser Dornbush), screenwriter, author, international speaker, and forensic specialist. Her father was a medical examiner with a home office, so Jennifer grew up around death. She participated in her first fatality investigation when she was eight years old, and she's been involved in writing about crime ever since. Jennifer explains how she found a crime that she couldn't stop thinking about so she decided to write about it. That book, https://amzn.to/2DLBzUW (Hole in the Woods), was just released in August 2020. She shares how she decided what facts to keep in the story, what parts she wanted to change, and why. If you're at all interested in writing crime fiction - or nonfiction - this is the episode for you! Learn more about Jennifer, her books - including https://amzn.to/35lrUQo (Forensic Speak), a guide to writing about forensics accurately - and her speaking availability at https://www.jenniferdornbush.com/ (her website), https://www.jenniferdornbush.com/ (https://www.jenniferdornbush.com/).
EPISODE 210E Our Encouraging Words episode today is about reaching out when you need a word of encouragement. I posted on Facebook last week saying I need some encouragement and the response overwhelmed me! It made me think that we all need a reminder that there are a lot of people out there willing and ready to encourage you in whatever you're going through - if only they knew you needed it. So reach out! And read between the lines of your friends, ask yourself if maybe they need a little encouragement, and be proactive. We'll all have more strength to make it through this tough year. Hang in there! You can do it!
EPISODE 209I Today's guest is https://leighduncan.com/ (Leigh Duncan), author of Hallmark's first contemporary romance series. The first two books are already available, https://amzn.to/32ucEO6 (A Simple Wedding) and https://amzn.to/3jkWUDW (A Cottage Wedding), set in the town of Heart's Landing. A Waterfront Wedding will be released in April 2021. She tells us how she got started with https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/hallmark-publishing (Hallmark Publishing) - and how you can, too! Sweet romance is more than just no sex. Leigh explains what Hallmark is looking for in their books. There is so much great advice here if this is a publisher you want to pursue! This is an episode you'll want to listen to with a notepad and pen. You can find out more about Leigh and her books at her website https://leighduncan.com/ (https://leighduncan.com/) and she's on social media as leighduncanbooks. Leigh loves to hear from readers and writers, so reach out!
EPISODE 208I Today's guest is https://www.lizjohnsonbooks.com/ (Liz Johnson), author of the brand new https://amzn.to/31RQaq5 (A Dazzle of Diamonds), final book in the Georgia Coast Romance series. Liz shares her fun story about beginning to write stories at age 7 and selling her first novel at 27. We talk about the fun of research and how to find just the right elements from a research trip to add into your books. It's a great conversation with a lot of helpful nuggets of advice for writers, as well as laughs and inspiration. You can find Liz everywhere on the Internet as "Liz Johnson Books" - including her website https://www.lizjohnsonbooks.com/ (https://www.lizjohnsonbooks.com/) and all of her social media accounts.
EPISODE 207E After eating some of the most delicious strawberries since last summer, I got to thinking about harvests - how grateful I am for the harvest of fruit in its natural season rather than that grown off-season in a greenhouse - and about the harvests in our own lives. In order to have a harvest, you need to plant. What am I planting in my life, and what will that yield in the end? In my personal life, the thoughts I plant - or let someone else plant - become beliefs, and those lead to a harvest of behaviors. In my professional life, I need to plant by writing books, water the plants by publishing them, and harvest the plants by marketing and selling the books. What do we want to harvest? In order to see if we'll get what we're hoping for, we need to look and see what we're planting and tending in our gardens.
EPISODE 206I Today's guest is Quinton Litchfield, https://malmo.church/ (pastor of C3 Church) in Malmö, Sweden, and 2-time burnout survivor. Quinton talks freely about how he hit the wall, and things we can do if we find ourselves approaching the same point. He reminds us that no one is going to thank us for working so hard that we burn out. Some periods of life require sacrifice of time and energy, but when that sacrifice becomes a lifestyle, we need to step back and take stock of our life and where it's headed. He shares a great analogy for creativity that he heard - it's less like an elephant that you hang every idea on and more like a nest of sea turtle eggs that you watch to see which ones make it to the ocean. Quinton suggests dumping all of your ideas into a folder on your phone or your computer. Write it all down and get it out of your head because it's stressful to try to remember everything. Remember, too, isolation only makes things worse, so make sure you talk about your feelings with your spouse, a friend, a family member, anyone who will listen, support you, and help you make healthy decisions. We hope the show offers you tips to avoid hitting the wall in the first place, warning signs to look for, and encouragement that you can bounce back if it happens.
EPISODE 205I Today's guest is http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/authors/melissa-kosci/3318 (Melissa Kosci), co-author of the new suspense book, https://amzn.to/303Slpu (A Dream Within a Dream), cowritten with http://www.nappaland.com/mikenappa/ (Mike Nappa). Melissa tells us how she came to be cowriter of a series that already had two books in it, and what it was like to help finish telling the story. (I read book one of the Coffey & Hill series, Annabel Lee, and didn't realize A Dream Within a Dream was the end of the same series. Exciting! I loved https://amzn.to/3fzLbju (Annabel Lee)!) MIke Nappa is a big Edgar Allen Poe fan, as you can tell in the book titles. We talk about the cowriting process, similarities and differences to how Melissa writes on her own, writing under a pen name, and much more. You can find her website and her social media accounts under the name Melissa Koslin. http://melissakoslin.com/ (http://melissakoslin.com/)
EPISODE 204E In this weird world we live in with a pandemic going on around us, restrictions on our movements coming and going, and too many terrible things happening and crowding the news, it can be really difficult to find balance in your life. I share my own experiences and what I've been doing to try to keep practicing living a more balanced life. I hope it encourages you as you do the same.
EPISODE 203I In today's episode, we hear from http://jeremydronfield.com/ (Jeremy Dronfield), author of https://amzn.to/2Zyu5LM (The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz), and many other titles. Jeremy tells us how he got involved with writing this story, the research he did, how he had to work to convince the survivors to trust him with their story, and the path to publishing the book - twice. Along the way, he gives us a lot of writing tips and advice. Jeremy builds scenes visually in his head before writing them down. Then he tries to get the reader to see what he's seeing. The result with this book is the sometimes stark, sometimes heartwarming story of a family living in Vienna during Hitler's takeover. Jeremy's writing style sucks you into their lives, offering both beauty and tears as you relive this private history with the people who were there. Jeremy talks about the process of publishing, writing proposals that work, submitting to agents, his work in ghostwriting and co-writing other books, and much more. You can find Jeremy at his website, http://jeremydronfield.com/index.html (http://jeremydronfield.com/), and his books are available wherever books are sold.
EPISODE 202I Today's guest is https://susiefinkbeiner.com/ (Susie Finkbeiner), author of the new novel, https://amzn.to/2Yb2jp7 (Stories That Bind Us). We have an interesting discussion on when writing can be a healthy escape for us, and when it's an avoidance tactic keeping us from dealing with our own issues. Writing is a great way to process life, and we want to help our readers do the same. Susie talks about the difference between vulnerability and weakness, saying it's okay to be sensitive. After all, we're trying to make our readers feel, so of course we need to be able to feel our emotions too. We want our words to not only thrill our readers, but impact their lives. In this way, writing fiction can be a noble pursuit. To learn more about Susie and her books, visit her website at https://susiefinkbeiner.com/ (https://susiefinkbeiner.com/) and follow her on https://www.instagram.com/susie_finkbeiner/ (Instagram) and https://www.facebook.com/SusieFinkbeiner/ (Facebook).
EPISODE 201E I read this amazing book last year called https://amzn.to/2Yd0EhY (The Hidden Life of Trees) by Peter Wohlleben about how trees that are connected to each other can help and protect each other through their connections, and how a single tree off by itself doesn't have the same protections. There are so many hidden things happening in people, too. We can have a tiny effect on a lot of people, and those effects can build and build in a domino effect. The very small kindnesses we do for each other -- a smile, a nod, opening a door -- can make the world a better place. The prayers we say for each other -- friend or stranger -- can have unknown positive effects. Just because we don't know if our efforts will bear fruit doesn't mean we shouldn't try. I hope you find these encouraging words food for thought today.
EPISODE 200!! Today’s guest is the wonderful https://www.thecreativepenn.com/ (Joanna Penn), author, podcaster, speaker, and all-around lovely lady! When I asked myself who, in my wildest happy dreams, I would like to be a guest on my 200th episode, Joanna was my first thought. And lucky me, she said yes! :-D I asked Joanna to start by taking us on a quick tour of her journey, how she started, how she learned about publishing, and how she earned and then surpassed the good salary she'd been earning in her day job. Joanna urges listeners to consider the long-term game, and practice persistence. If you quit too soon, you might think you were failing only because you didn't realize the road was longer than you'd realized. You also need to keep in mind that you don’t have to do everything, and you don't have to follow the path of those around you. Everyone will have a slightly different journey. You need to find what makes you happy and is sustainable. How do you want to live? There is an abundance of information on The Creative Penn website, https://www.thecreativepenn.com/ (https://www.thecreativepenn.com/). Most of it is free, so take a look. She offers a free copy of her Author 2.0 Blueprint, plus you can find all of the episodes of her podcast, The Creative Penn, and links to all of her books -- nonfiction for writers as well as her thrillers, dark fantasy, and the rest of her books. Joanna welcomes questions on Twitter, https://twitter.com/thecreativepenn (@TheCreativePenn).
EPISODE 199I Today's guest is first-time author, https://suereynolds.net/ (Sue Reynolds). In her debut book, https://amzn.to/2Xbm0Nl (The Athlete Inside), Sue tells how at age 60 she lost 200 pounds and began her journey toward finishing sixth at the World Triathlon Championship. She tells us how one day her "why" changed - that she stopped thinking about her weight in terms of others' expectations of her, but in terms of her changing expectations of herself. And that was the beginning of a new life. We talk together about her insecurity in calling herself an athlete, and later a writer, and how that mirrors what many of us feel. She talks about learning to trust a coach, and how finding an accountability partner was not a sign of weakness or admitting you can't do it alone, but instead it was one of the most helpful parts of her journey. Throughout this inspiring talk, Sue and I point out the many parallels of how finding an athlete inside is similar to finding there is a writer inside. She shares her best tips and biggest lessons, all of which are helpful to any kind of pursuit and any time in your life. I hope you find this interview as inspiring as I did! Find out more about Sue and her book, https://amzn.to/2Xbm0Nl (The Athlete Inside), at her website https://suereynolds.net/ (https://suereynolds.net/) where you can also find all of her social media links.
EPISODE 198 Today's guest is the multi-bestselling humorous women's fiction author, Kristan Higgins. Her newest book, https://amzn.to/3bPKEqH (Always the Last to Know), releases on June 9, 2020. Kristan's books tend to be funny and heart-warming, with gut-wrenching difficulties, laugh-out-loud moments, and immensely satisfactory endings. Interviewing her was a very similar experience. She talks about getting started, how her career progressed, and the strange reader emails she's gotten. We discuss how she creates different characters for every book even though they are mostly everyday people like you and me. It's a conversation much like her books - laughing about life's funny/weird moments, discussing the seriousness of the problems we all face, and mostly feeling like you're now friends by the times it ends. To learn more about Kristan and her books (and then feel like you know her as a friend), visit https://www.kristanhiggins.com/ (her website) (https://www.kristanhiggins.com/ (https://www.kristanhiggins.com/)) where you can also find your favorites social media links. You can preorder https://amzn.to/3bPKEqH (Always the Last to Know) at your favorite bookstore.
EPISODE 197I Today’s guest is the lovely https://diannmills.com/ (DiAnn Mills), bestselling author of the brand new romantic suspense novel, https://amzn.to/2zEP9Y0 (Airborne). The story of that novel coming out now is one of several great ones DiAnn tells during the interview. She starts with the story of how her husband challenged her to stop saying she was going to write a book some day and just do it. She quit her job, studied the how-to books and the bestsellers, and wrote her first book – which was sold and published the next year! So begins how one author started with the end in mind, the idea that this would be her business, and worked to make the dream a reality. The story of how https://amzn.to/2zEP9Y0 (Airborne) came to be is equally enthralling! The exact sort of people DiAnn needed to talk to in order to research the book kept coming out of the woodwork, giving her heaps of information of the exact kind she needed. Not only that, but at the time the book was ready to be released – something similar was happening around the world! In a scary time, this is a book that can give closure, justice, and hope to readers. DiAnn explains how to seek out the information you need from all kinds of organizations from the FBI to the CDC to the Texas Marshals. She encourages writers to pick up the phone and go right to the source to get the best information. Yes, it can be nerve-wracking to make a cold call, but think about how this is going to make your book so much better. You never know what great relationships will grow from it. In fact, DiAnn encourages listeners to write her and ask her questions. You can find all of her social media links on her https://diannmills.com/ (website), and you can get some free chapters to read when you sign up for her newsletter. https://diannmills.com/ (https://diannmills.com/)
EPISODE 196 Our guest today is http://seebethanywrite.com/ (Bethany Turner), author of the hilarious new https://amzn.to/3fyAxKf (Hadley Beckett's Next Dish). If you like romantic comedies, or if you love celebrity chefs and their cooking shows, you'll love this book! Bethany and I talk a lot and laugh a lot, but there's a lot of little things to pick up and consider for your own writing. For instance, you may be wondering when to use popular culture and current events in your stories, and how to know whether it will make the book dated. Bethany gives us her take on that since pop culture references are a trademark of her writing. She tells us the unusual story of how she got started writing and how she published her first book, and we talk about writing amidst chaos. Since we're fiction writers, we also lied to each other about not gaining any weight during the current lockdown or when researching cooking shows. :-D I hope you enjoy the crazy amounts of laughter in this episode! Like her books, it's a feel-good show. You can learn more about Bethany and her books at her website, http://seebethanywrite.com/ (http://seebethanywrite.com/).
EPISODE 195E In this Encouraging Words episode, I talk about how even though right now we are forced to stay at home and keep away from each other when we're out, we are still part of the larger body of humanity. We are connected even if we feel it less than ever. We are finding new-normal ways of doing things together, and some of those just might be great things we can continue in the future when we go back to some semblance of our old lives. If you need someone to encourage you, make you feel less alone, please reach out to a friend! And if you haven't heard from one or more of your friends recently, text or call them and make sure they're doing okay, that they aren't feeling depressed or anxious, that they have what they need. The human contact will make you both feel better!
EPISODE 194 We hear a lot about being authentic, our true selves, but what does that mean? I think of my heart as both strong and vulnerable, something that is big enough to share with others but also often in danger of being hurt. So I have a protective fence around my heart, but the type of fencing used changes. Do you have a tall steel fence around your heart? A big hedge? A split-rail fence? (That's the type I couldn't remember the name of in the episode! Haha!) How do you know if your fence is too big, cutting you off from real relationships with others? What can you do about it? That's the conversation I have with you today. I hope it gives you food for thought - when we're all physically apart from each other, and in general as you choose how vulnerable you want to be with your readers.
EPISODE 193 Today's episode is a round-up of lots of interesting and fun information I've found that might help your writing career, your motivation, your creativity, and your overall sense of well-being as we keep working in our homes (whether we want to or not). I also talked about the new book I'm working on, Encouragement for Writers, and I'll be adding a link shortly to a survey I'd love you to take to find out what you need encouragement on. Here are all the promised links: :-) https://www.writersdigest.com/ (Writers Digest) - emails that include Monday Motivation, writing prompts, classes offered, and more. Website has lots of information for writers of every kind. https://www.writersdigest.com/ (https://www.writersdigest.com/) https://www.ingramspark.com/ (IngramSpark) - Offering free title setup, free revisions, and print discounts in some countries through May 31, 2020. Lots of free resources on their website about how to self-publish and market your books, including a blog, a podcast, and free online courses. https://www.ingramspark.com/ (https://www.ingramspark.com/) https://selfpublishingformula.com/ (Self Publishing Formula University) - In addition to the SPF podcast and the information you get in the emails, there are great mini-classes in the SPF University (not a real university). Normally, you have to be a student in one of the classes or a patron in Patreon to have access, but Mark Dawson and team wanted to give people something to help with our lock-down time, so anyone can enroll for free for a limited time! https://selfpublishingformula.com/spfufree (https://selfpublishingformula.com/spfufree) https://nanowrimo.org/ (National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)) - #StayHomeWriMo is a new initiative to support and encourage you in these trying times. It will be continued indefinitely at this point. Follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and find out more here: https://nanowrimo.org/stayhomewrimo (https://nanowrimo.org/stayhomewrimo) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu6RYg6_-pTQxLVq3Fv6lYg (Chris Fox) is one of many writers with a really good YouTube channel, lots of great videos to help you with your writing and the writing life. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu6RYg6_-pTQxLVq3Fv6lYg (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu6RYg6_-pTQxLVq3Fv6lYg) https://globalnews.ca/video/6272424/how-to-develop-good-habits-and-break-bad-ones?__s=ii8ggyxjigixqtm3if3n (James Clear), author of Atomic Habits, shared a great interview that explains in a few minutes what his (awesome!) 300-page book will help you with. Definitely watch it since we're all being forced into new habits for awhile. https://globalnews.ca/video/6272424/how-to-develop-good-habits-and-break-bad-ones?__s=ii8ggyxjigixqtm3if3n (https://globalnews.ca/video/6272424/how-to-develop-good-habits-and-break-bad-ones?__s=ii8ggyxjigixqtm3if3n) https://www.futureme.org/ (Dear Future Me) - a way to write yourself a letter that you receive by email at any point in the future you choose - a day, a week, a year. Great way to encourage yourself and/or give yourself some accountability. https://www.futureme.org/ (https://www.futureme.org/) https://blog.myneurogym.com/video-innercise-motivation/ (John Assaraf and Neurogym) - a great blog article on how to help your brain increase your motivation! https://blog.myneurogym.com/video-innercise-motivation/ (https://blog.myneurogym.com/video-innercise-motivation/) Lots of great free webinars, etc. going on right now! For instance... https://learnscrivenerfast.com/ (Joseph Michael and Learning Scrivener Fast) https://learnscrivenerfast.com/ (https://learnscrivenerfast.com/) https://yourfirst10kreaders.com/ (Nick Stephanson and Your First 10,000 Readers) https://yourfirst10kreaders.com/ (https://yourfirst10kreaders.com/) https://storybrand.com/ (Donald Miller and Building a Storybrand) (lots of great free videos on YouTube if you search for him there) https://storybrand.com/...
EPISODE 192 We've had a lot of "new normal" forced on us lately, but what if we take charge and create our own new normal? We're creative people, we can think of ways to make our new circumstances work for us! In this episode, I talk about how to redefine the structure of your day so you still attain your overall goals. I mention my own health goals, business goals, and keeping some fun time in the schedule - because it is way too easy to work all the time, or not much at all when you work at home. You have more power over your life than you realize! Make choices that work for you, and you can add more joy and laughter into your life. Now is the time to harness your creative energy to make changes that just might continue working better for you after our current restrictions are lifted.
EPISODE 191I Today’s guest is https://extreme-decisions.com/ (Brad Borkan), author of https://amzn.to/3e7VMSb (When Your Life Depends On It) (co-written with David Hirzel, audiobook narrated by Dennis Kleinman). Brad's specialty area is decision sciences, how businesses and people make decisions. We have a fascinating discussion about Antarctic explorers, the main characters in his nonfiction book, and how we can learn from their choices, both for our own modern life and for our fictional characters. These people made life and death decisions every day and rarely ever died. How did they manage that? Brad tells us how he found his co-writer (even that was a risk), and explains how they spent a lot of time working on the outline before they started writing. After reading just a few paragraphs of the finished book, Brad decided they needed a professional audiobook narrator. Now all three men are not just a team, but lifelong friends. You’ll love the exciting stories Brad shares in this episode! It’s interesting how the lessons learned from these explorers also applied to how Brad’s team formed and grew. He reminds us that teamwork is an important part of survival and growth in any area of our lives. You can learn more about Brad and the book on his website (https://extreme-decisions.com/ (https://extreme-decisions.com/)), on https://amzn.to/3e7VMSb (Amazon), and wherever books are sold.
EPISODE 190E This month for our Encouraging Words episode, I asked my friend Markus Watson to join us. We discuss how people weren't made to be in isolation, and some things we can do to overcome the emotional effects. Markus explains the "Robinson stories" and we talk about the ideas of families and people being lost and in isolation. We also talk about a lot of ways we can use technology to overcome the feeling of being alone.
EPISODE 189I Today's guest is James Blatch from https://selfpublishingformula.com/ (Mark Dawson's Self Publishing Formula) talking to us about one of their online classes that's open just a couple more days from when this episode goes live on April 2, 2020. I'm a student in both of Mark's courses, https://learn.selfpublishingformula.com/p/101 (Self Publishing 101) and Advertising for Authors. I took the 101 course after hearing Mark talk about a couple things I didn't know how to do on his podcast, https://selfpublishingformula.com/spf-podcast/ (The Self Publishing Show). I figured if I could improve my book's chances of selling even to a small degree, it would be worth the cost of the class. I don't have any affiliate links, but I'm such a fan of everything Mark and James and John do, I wanted to be sure you knew about it as well. James also mentions in the interview that for a limited time, they are making their SPF University (not a real university) FREE to everyone! So click the link and sign up! And check out the 101 class while you're there. It might be just what you've been looking for. https://learn.selfpublishingformula.com/p/101 (https://learn.selfpublishingformula.com/p/101) http://selfpublishingformula.com/spfufree (http://selfpublishingformula.com/spfufree) https://selfpublishingformula.com/spf-podcast/ (https://selfpublishingformula.com/spf-podcast/)
EPISODE 188I Today’s guest is romantic suspense author https://www.nataliewalterswriter.com/ (Natalie Walters), author of the brand new https://amzn.to/2UE3Tgw (Silent Shadows) coming out on March 31, 2020. Listen to the end to find out more about pre-order goodies you can receive directly from Natalie if you order the book before March 31. :) [Sorry about the audio and video hiccups in this episode! With sooo many people using the Internet and streaming at the same time, this was the best quality we could get at the time.] Chatting just a couple weeks into the Covid-19 pandemic, Natalie and I decided to talk about what's happening, how it's affecting our lives and the lives of those around us, and how it affects us as writers. So many people are having to give up things they’ve been working toward for years - graduation ceremonies and parties, celebrations like my 30th anniversary party and trip, and innumerable other events, large and small. But Natalie has been telling their son that they will celebrate, but differently now, and maybe do a bigger celebration later when people can get together again. Trying to put things in perspective, we need to remember that this will pass - and we may find ourselves being refined to become better people. There are also lots of things to inspire us - people going to visit grandparents and playing tic-tac-toe on each side of a window, people finding a way to give some of the extra they have to others in need, people creating flash mobs in social media to open your windows at a certain time to sing or exercise together. Because it's all about people. Our world is created by our actions and reactions, and while we may feel so many things are outside our control right now, our actions and reactions are within our control. Natalie and I share a lot of ideas for how we can all do things to help our little corners of the world survive and thrive. Remember that exercising grace and care and encouragement towards those around you as well as yourself will help this crisis feel more manageable. Helping others in big and small ways will help you feel better about the world. And no matter what genre we write in, there are ideas in the headlines and stories now that can help us add depth to our own stories as we write and edit. Or maybe you'll get new ideas, for even the smallest part of your story, when you ask “what if” based on how things are happening in the world around you right now. It can add the sense that this story feels like real life. You can learn more about https://www.nataliewalterswriter.com/ (Natalie) and her books at her website, where you can also find her social media links. And remember, pre-order goodies are available to anyone who orders https://amzn.to/2UE3Tgw (Silent Shadows) between now and Tuesday, March 31, when the book comes out!
EPISODE 187T Since our world has been tipped on its side from the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), many of us find ourselves trying to make sense of a new normal. Maybe you're working from home for the first time, and it may not have transitioned in a smooth and easy way. Maybe other people are at home now that you're not used to having in your work space, and you all have to figure out how to get things done without getting irritated at each other. I wanted to give you a whole bunch of reminders/ideas about things you can do to make this period a little easier. From taking an afternoon walk to spring cleaning to finishing watching that online class you never finished, we can find ways to make this temporary period not so bad. I hope you enjoy my enthusiasm and encouragement, especially if you really needed a boost today! :-D
EPISODE 186T This week I attended the first ever live event hosted by the https://selfpublishingformula.com/ (Self Publishing Show podcast with Mark Dawson and James Blatch). It was awesome!! First of all, there is nothing like being with your people, the folks who "get" you, who don't have a blank look on their face when you talk about your writing, or editing, or read-through rates, or ad ROI. Second of all, the amount of positive energy running through the room, through the restaurants when we got together to eat, even as we walked together to the tube station in London to go home - I felt like I was high. :-D The speakers were incredible and I wanted to share a little of what they talked about with you. I couldn't share a lot of details because it was a paid event and some of the speakers wanted the information to stay with those who attended or paid for the videos after, totally understandable. But I give you the highlights here and name a lot of people and companies you can Google to find out more about them! I hope you enjoy the episode and feel inspired and encouraged by all the positive energy and publishing tips! :-D
EPISODE 185I Today's guest is historical fiction author https://www.jilleileensmith.com/ (Jill Eileen Smith). Jill's focus has been on Old Testament women of the Bible and, wow, does she have her research work cut out for her! We talk about how to research from multiple sources, and how to fill in the blanks when written history doesn't give you many details. Jill is particularly encouraging when it comes to writing a story "everyone" has already done, like the story of Esther in the Bible. Her latest book is https://amzn.to/38p7Gmu (Star of Persia), her take on the story of Esther, including some known historical figures of the day. If you've been wondering how to write a piece of historical fiction without much written history to go on, Jill may be able to give you some ideas. You can find Jill and her books on her https://www.jilleileensmith.com/ (website), or look for Jill Eileen Smith on most social media.
EPISODE 184E I had a really crappy week this past week. Lots of good moments, but days that kept ending in stress and disappointment and frustration. By the end of the week, I was a bit of a wreck...which was no good since I was finally going to be enjoying some time with friends Friday night. I kept thinking that I just needed to think of something that makes me happy, or think of some things I'm grateful for. I'm grateful for A LOT but I couldn't think of anything as I took the wrong bus to our friends' house. Until I remembered the forecast said it might snow overnight. That made me smile. It hasn't snowed here in over a year and I've been waiting and watching. Then it made me giggle a little that the hope of snow was the thing that made me smile after a long week. I hope you are looking for and finding something that will make you smile when you're stuck in a pit of frustration. It helps! :)
EPISODE 183 Sometimes you hear or read similar things over and over in a short period of time. When that happens, our brains often nudge us to ask - is this something important that I should be paying attention to right now? This past week, I have heard or read similar ideas from Joanna Penn of https://www.thecreativepenn.com/podcasts/ (The Creative Penn podcast), Susan May Warren with https://www.mybrilliantwritingplanner.com/ (My Brilliant Writing Planner) (on sale for 30% off as of the day this episode airs), and https://paulscanlon.com/ (Paul Scanlon). After thinking about all of them for a bit, I realized I had more to say on some of these subjects, so I decided to do just that with this episode. I hope you find it interesting and helpful.
EPISODE 182I Today's guest is fantasy author Kym Thurlow, writing as https://www.elizaraine.com/ (Eliza Raine). Kym tells us how she got started writing and why she decided to self-publish, sharing a lot of great information along the way. Kym has learned a lot about writing and the business of publishing through online forums like https://www.facebook.com/groups/20Booksto50k/ (20Booksto50K), courses like https://selfpublishingformula.com/courses/ (Mark Dawson's Self Publishing 101 and Ads for Authors), and podcasts like https://selfpublishingformula.com/spf-podcast/ (Mark Dawson's Self Publishing Show), https://www.thecreativepenn.com/podcasts/ (The Creative Penn), https://6figureauthors.com/ (Six Figure Authors), and KM Weiland's https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/ (Helping Writers Become Authors). She also loves the reports at https://k-lytics.com/ (K-lytics) and recommends them. In this episode, we talk about planning to leave your day job, changing and testing book covers, advertising, audiobooks, and more! I got super excited when Kym told us about a website called https://4thewords.com/home (4theWords) that gamifies your writing to help you increase your word count. :-D You can find Kym's book cover design work at https://www.kimscozycovers.com/ (Kim's Cozy Covers). Learn more about her and her books on https://www.elizaraine.com/ (her website), or by searching for Eliza Raine in Audible and Amazon.
EPISODE 181 For my first EXTRA episode, I decided to have fun and read the first chapter of my short book, https://amzn.to/2HnNqXp (My Bullheaded Superhero Valentine), for your Valentine's Day listening pleasure. I hope you enjoy it! :-D
EPISODE 180I Today's guest is bestselling and award-winning author http://jamesscottbell.com/ (James Scott Bell). We talk about two of his many nonfiction books for writers, https://amzn.to/31NJg4E (The Last Fifty Pages) and https://amzn.to/2vsPSJx (Plotman to the Rescue). From the first book, Jim talks about the Ahhh and the Uh-Oh types of endings. There can be a satisfying ending where it all works out for the protagonists, or at the end, when things seem to have worked out, the reader glimpses some little thing that says something bad might still happen, like at the end of Stephen King’s https://amzn.to/38omBhT (Pet Semetery). There are genre conventions for some books like the happily ever after in romance, but there are all kinds of shapes to endings. As an author, you need to find the right trajectory for your ending. Not having any idea what it is can lead to a lot of rewriting or a less than satisfactory ending for readers. https://amzn.to/2vsPSJx (Plotman to the Rescue) is a reference book to find the problem you’re having with your story and some suggestions on how to fix it. Jim has so many creative suggestions for writing books - this is a great episode for any level of writer! You can find out more about Jim, his books, and his teaching on http://jamesscottbell.com/ (his website). He can also be found on https://www.patreon.com/jamesscottbell (Patreon) where you can read his short fiction before anyone else!
EPISODE 179I Today's guest is https://tomthreadgill.com/Tom/ (Tom Threadgill), author of police procedurals and suspense novels. His newest book, https://amzn.to/2SmKT50 (Collision of Lies), just released this week and is the beginning of a new series. For those of you who don't consider yourselves plotters, you'll love hearing Tom talk about how he writes - a true seat of the pants writer! He shares how he came up with the idea for https://amzn.to/2SmKT50 (Collision of Lies) and how he wrote the first draft. A fun and funny interview with plenty of take-aways for listeners. You can learn more about Tom on https://tomthreadgill.com/Tom/ (his website), and find his books everywhere books are sold.
EPISODE 178E Today I talk about having a word or verse for the year, something to help us focus or to encourage us toward this year's goals. But sometimes that point of focus changes - and you get even more focused! That's what happened to me this month. I hope my experience encourages you that this is the start of something great!
EPISODE 177T I just finished helping a friend get his very first book up on Amazon - woohooo!! We're both very excited as this is something he's wanted to do for a few years! It occurred to me that I could share what I know about repurposing your writing and maybe help you get a book together too! I hope you find this to be a helpful episode! Good luck and happy writing! :-D
EPISODE 176I http://www.reginascott.com/index.htm (Regina Scott) has published over 45 historical novels, winning awards and fans along the way. She loves history, so she finds research fun, not boring at all. Today she tells us about some of the amazing fun - that is, research - she's done in the name of fiction, and helps us see what we can do as well. Since she writes Regency romances (and explains what that is) as well as Christian historical romances, we talk about her two newest books today. https://amzn.to/3aDY4GP (A Distance Too Grand) came out in October from Revell, and is an adventure about a photographer traveling with an Army unit so she can photograph the Grand Canyon. The book came out during the 100th anniversary year of this wonder of the world being preserved as a national park. Because I absolutely love Regency romances, we also talk about her newest, https://amzn.to/2RjAoQp (The Matchmaker's Rogue), book one in a new series released just this month. You can find all of Regina's books wherever books are sold, and you can find Regina at http://www.reginascott.com/index.htm (her website), and on https://www.facebook.com/authorreginascott (Facebook) and https://www.pinterest.com/reginascottpins/ (Pinterest).
EPISODE 175I Today's guest is https://lynetteeason.com/ (Lynette Eason), author of the new book, https://amzn.to/2NqVFWk (Collateral Damage). With over 60 books published, Lynette has a lot of experience in creating new characters, new series, and all kinds of interesting plots. Lynette shares how she starts a book, how she gets started writing for the day, how she found law enforcement and military experts to ask questions, how she works with her critique partner, and so much more. She suggests you find the people you need to help you early on. Then you can ask these experts a few questions here and there over the course of writing the book rather than asking them all your questions and "please, read my whole book" at the end. :-D She mentions several great references including the https://killernashville.com/ (Killer Nashville conference), https://www.writerspoliceacademy.com/ (Writers Police Academy/MurderCon), https://groups.io/g/Crimescenewriter2 (Crime Scene Writers), and more. You can find Lynette on https://lynetteeason.com/ (her website), Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and find her books wherever books are sold. Be sure to check out https://amzn.to/2NqVFWk (Collateral Damage), book one in her new series, Danger Never Sleeps.
It's time to plan out our new year, to think about what worked last year and what didn't. But don't just write down a bunch of hoped-for goals, consider how much time you'll need to do them all compared to how much time you actually have. I go through several good first steps to getting the big picture under control as well as talk about what I've been learning from James Clear's book, Atomic Habits, and Charles Duhigg's book, The Power of Habit. This is going to be our best year yet! Welcome, 2020! :-D
EPISODE 173E As you start the new year, it's important to remember that over-planning and over-scheduling can lead to stress, disappointment, and - worst case scenario - burnout. To avoid that and enjoy your work all year long, plan some white space into your schedule. Some extra room in your calendar so you can move things around when necessary, and to take a little time out sometimes to stare at the ceiling and daydream. It'll boost your energy and your creativity, and lead to a more peaceful - and possibly more productive - life.
EPISODE 172I Interviewing the lovely Patricia Bradley was an exercise in paradoxes. Hearing this sweet Christian woman pronounce in her soft, Southern drawl, "Oh, I love to talk about murder. It's just fun" was just the beginning of my mind bending to look at things differently. :-D But I should have expected nothing less after I read the tagline for her website: Where love and faith cross paths...with murder. Patricia writes romantic suspense and says that murdering your characters is a great way to kill off your anxieties. (I think I'm going to try that! :-D ) What follows is a fun conversation about how she writes - an encouraging look at writing for pantsers! My biggest takeaway was when I realized that Patricia writes the scenes with the murderer or psychopath's point of view without knowing who the bad guy is - so it's just "he or she" - and later she'll have an ah-ha moment about who that person is in her story. I can't wait to try this! Patricia has a lot of great stuff on her blog, and she also suggests several other blogs/websites including: Suspense Sisters: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fsuspensesisters.blogspot.com%2F2018%2F06%2Fhot-new-inspirational-suspense-and.html&redir_token=KbqFf8Ju75bIHYKsRs5mkGtiEy18MTU3Nzg3MDQxMkAxNTc3Nzg0MDEy&v=xlWSibqiZ04&event=video_description (https://suspensesisters.blogspot.com/...) Learn How to Write a Novel: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Flearnhowtowriteanovel.com%2Fblog%2F2018%2F06%2F05%2Fgetting-into-your-characters-headwhen-the-character-is-a-psychopath%2F&redir_token=KbqFf8Ju75bIHYKsRs5mkGtiEy18MTU3Nzg3MDQxMkAxNTc3Nzg0MDEy&v=xlWSibqiZ04&event=video_description (http://learnhowtowriteanovel.com/blog...) Writers Police Academy: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.writerspoliceacademy.com%2F&redir_token=KbqFf8Ju75bIHYKsRs5mkGtiEy18MTU3Nzg3MDQxMkAxNTc3Nzg0MDEy&v=xlWSibqiZ04&event=video_description (http://www.writerspoliceacademy.com/) Alicia Rasley's site: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aliciarasley.com&redir_token=KbqFf8Ju75bIHYKsRs5mkGtiEy18MTU3Nzg3MDQxMkAxNTc3Nzg0MDEy&v=xlWSibqiZ04&event=video_description (http://www.aliciarasley.com) Harlequin Heartwarming blog: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fheartwarmingauthors.blogspot.com%2F&redir_token=KbqFf8Ju75bIHYKsRs5mkGtiEy18MTU3Nzg3MDQxMkAxNTc3Nzg0MDEy&v=xlWSibqiZ04&event=video_description (http://heartwarmingauthors.blogspot.com/) The Crime Scene Writer Yahoo Group: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fgroups.yahoo.com%2Fneo%2Fgroups%2Fcrimescenewriter%2Finfo&redir_token=KbqFf8Ju75bIHYKsRs5mkGtiEy18MTU3Nzg3MDQxMkAxNTc3Nzg0MDEy&v=xlWSibqiZ04&event=video_description (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/c...) She also loves to use James Scott Bell's book, Super Structure, as she writes. You can follow Patricia Bradley on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter and on her blog: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fptbradley.com%2Fblog&redir_token=KbqFf8Ju75bIHYKsRs5mkGtiEy18MTU3Nzg3MDQxMkAxNTc3Nzg0MDEy&v=xlWSibqiZ04&event=video_description (https://ptbradley.com/blog)
EPISODE 171I James Scott Bell is a Christy Award-winning and International Thriller Writers Award-winning author in several fiction genres, and a beloved and sought-after writing teacher. He has written many nonfiction titles on the craft of writing, including several for Writer’s Digest Books. In today’s episode, Jim talks about how he got the idea for his craft book, Write Your Novel From the Middle.
EPISODE 170T Today's guest is - ME! :-D In https://selfpublishingformula.com/episode-100/ (January 2018), James Blatch interviewed me on https://selfpublishingformula.com/spf-podcast/ (The Self Publishing Show Podcast) (then called Mark Dawson's Self Publishing Formula Podcast) about time management for writers. I've been teaching a class called https://www.writenowworkshop.com/ (Going the Distance) for over a decade, helping other writers plan their time so they can get more done. I thought this would be a good overview of all the things I teach in my course, and give you something to mull on in the back of your mind while you're cooking or shopping or wrapping presents or lying on the beach. (Hello, Southern Hemisphere!) In January, I'll come back with more practical details you can use to make 2020 your best year yet!
EPISODE 169I Today Ellen Martin is back and discussing her Radical Rx - her path from overworked entrepreneur to fighting cancer and winning with a whole new health plan. As author entrepreneurs, we have to be careful not to work ourselves to the point of burnout - as I've talked about on several episodes - or worse, a terrible illness. What can we do to keep our health at its best while also getting our work done? And what might be done if we've pushed ourselves too far? Ellen is not a medical professional, and we are not giving medical advice, but she shares what has worked for her, and encourages us all to start taking better care of ourselves today.
EPISODE 168E A friend told me the funniest thing the other day in a Facebook comment - and I had to share it with you. Such a smart, funny bit of philosophy that can apply to so many areas of life!
EPISODE 167T A couple weeks ago, I spoke to my Rotary Club about myself and ended with what I hoped was an encouraging push for everyone to believe that they have a lot to give to the world, no matter background or age. I hope listening to my talk encourages you to believe you have more power than you realize! :-D
EPISODE 166I Our guest today, Natalie Walters, has just published her second romantic suspense novel, Deadly Deceit, the followup to Living Lies. We have an enthusiastic conversation about scary movies, where to hide the bodies, and finding story ideas in your own life. Natalie finds brainstorming to be the most fun part of writing. While usually a plotter, sometimes she brainstorms the main character first and sometimes it\'s the situation. For Deadly Deceit, she was excited to come up with the method of murder first. We spend some time discussing suspension of disbelief in books and movies, and the questions that writers ask themselves in order to keep readers believing that the situation could really happen. Natalie suggests reaching out to fellow writers to ask them for contacts to interview to make sure your characters and situations are as realistic as possible. You can find Natalie on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and all of her social media links can be found on her website.
EPISODE 165I Today\'s guest is James R Hannibal, author of military thrillers for adults and fantasy adventure books for kids. His newest book is The Gryphon Heist, book one in a new series. In this episode, we chat about James\' military background and how he came to write military thrillers. We also discuss how to create characters different from ourselves, and the kinds of research James did for The Gryphon Heist. James is a big believer in the power of writers conferences to network, even if you\'re an introvert. Like many writers, he\'s made some lifetime friendships at conferences. You can find James at his website, and on most social media as James R Hannibal. He\'s most active on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and is happy to answer questions on Facebook.
EPISODE 164I Since I’m sick this week, I’m bringing you an encore of one of my favorite episodes of the show, an interview with Lisa Cron, which aired April 12, 2018. I hope it inspires you! In addition to teaching writing in the UCLA Extension writing program, Lisa Cron is the author of both Wired for Story and Story Genius. She is an energetic and enthusiastic speaker who will reignite your fire and passion for writing! Lisa says that her first book, Wired for Story, is more of an explanation of how it all works in the audience member’s brain when they are reading or watching a story. Story Genius takes it a step further and explains how to make your stories amazing. If you’re a neuroscience geek like me, there’s really interesting stuff to get your mind racing along those lines. But if you just want to know, Why do people love the stories they love?, Lisa and her books will help you better understand it. This interview is so interesting on so many levels! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Learn more about Lisa’s take on story at her CreativeLive workshop!
EPISODE 163E
In this Encouraging Words episode, I compare how I get a book written with how I learned to run a half marathon, and I share some of the ways I keep up positive energy when I’m writing. So much of our energy is in our minds, so watch your thoughts! So much of it also comes from our hearts, so choose how you feel about writing today. And have some fun – stickers, word count competitions with your friends, or working toward badges in something like https://nanowrimo.org/ (National Novel Writing Month).
EPISODE 162I
Our guest today is debut author https://www.tarifaris.com/ (Tari Faris). Her first book, https://amzn.to/2NqUWDE (You Belong With Me), just came out in September 2019.
Tari’s number one tip for authors is patience. She’s been writing for ten years, and it took seven years from the time she began pursuing publication to getting a contract. She encourages writers to find a community of writers to get involved in so you don’t feel alone. It’s also a good place to learn and share information.
Tari shares other tips and things she’s learned along her journey as we discuss https://amzn.to/2NqUWDE (You Belong With Me) and the other books she’s writing in the series. In addition to the writing, we also discuss some of the business parts of writing including her decision to give away the prequel novella to anyone who https://www.tarifaris.com/ (signs up for her newsletter) by November 30, 2019.
You can learn more about Tari and her books at https://www.tarifaris.com/ (TariFaris.com) and on her https://www.facebook.com/tari.faris.author/ (Facebook) page, and you can meet her in person at https://www.acfw.com/conference/future (the annual ACFW conference), at https://www.bookloverscon.com/ (Book Lovers Con) in March 2020, and at Story Fest next year (part of ACFW). She also helps teach at http://mybooktherapy.com/ (MyBookTherapy.com) and blogs at http://learnhowtowriteanovel.com/ (LearnHowtoWriteaNovel.com).
EPISODE 161I
Today’s guest is Ellen Martin, founder of https://www.courselauncherhq.com/ (CourseLauncherHQ). We’re talking about online classes and all the questions you might have as to whether or not this is something you might want to pursue.
Some of the questions Ellen answers include:
How do you know if you’re really a teacher?
How do you know if you know enough to teach someone else?
How do you know if your class is successful?
How much work is it to setup and run an online class?
She also mentioned a couple of books she likes – https://amzn.to/2PgMkBT (The Course Design Formula) by Rebecca Frost Cuevas, and https://amzn.to/2BD5I3Z (Teach and Grow Rich) by Danny Iny.
If you’re interested in learning whether Ellen and CourseLauncherHQ can help you, go to https://www.courselauncherhq.com/go/writenowworkshop (CourseLauncherHQ.com/go/writenowworkshop) to get more information. She’s launching a beta program soon, and it might be just the right time for you to teach a new course! (I use Ellen’s services, and I’ve been really happy with the program for the last few years!)
Also, if you’re interested in the TED talk about Sacred Rest by Saundra Dalton-Smith, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGNN4EPJzGk (here is the link). You can also find her book of the same title on https://amzn.to/2p0WJqY (Amazon) and other bookstores.
This month’s Encouraging Words episode – sorry it’s late! – is about the power of our words, both written and spoken. In Proverbs, it says words hold the power of life and death. I really think that’s true no matter what kind of words – spoken or written, fiction or social media or conversation.
The tricky part is trying to keep our hearts in a good place…and keeping our mouths shut when our hearts are not quite right.
EPISODE 159I
Our guest today has been a cheerful and encouraging presence on the show before – bestselling author http://www.susanmaywarren.com/ (Susan May Warren) is back to tell us about https://www.mybrilliantwritingplanner.com/ (My Brilliant Writing Planner).
When people started asking Susie May how she gets so much done, she explained her system for planning and organizing all the facets of her life from writing to mothering to personal time. Her base idea is called power blocking, and she explains how she’s been using it for years.
Eventually, she created her own daily planner that included all the aspects of her writing career that she wanted to plan and track as well as aspects of her daily life that also needed to be done. In the new planner, there is also a section at the beginning explaining values-based planning, and a sacred rest assessment. Understanding what Susie May intended when she created the planner will help you use it in the best way for you personally. There is even a free online class explaining how she uses it that you have access to after your purchase.
Whether you like My Brilliant Writing Planner, have something else, or don’t like planners at all, we share a lot of ideas for planning the year in our interview. We discuss sacred rest, values-based planning, being fully present whatever you are doing, and the power of gratitude – as well as the power of colorful encouraging stickers! We hope this episode inspires and encourages you!
If you’re interested in https://www.mybrilliantwritingplanner.com/ (My Brilliant Writing Planner), it is $10 off through the month of October 2019. Plus, if you order using the coupon code KITTY, Susie May will add a free sticky pad that is a daily to-do sheet that matches the planner. This free gift is available with the coupon code until the 2021 planner comes out!
You can learn more about Susie May’s online classes at http://learnhowtowriteanovel.com/ (My Book Therapy.com). From there you can find the planner, the school – Novel Academy, and the blog. Find out more about Susie May and her books at http://www.susanmaywarren.com/ (her website).
EPISODE 158I Join us today as https://sites.google.com/site/carollwright/ (Carol L Wright) and https://www.wordsmeetworld.com/ (AE Decker) from the https://sites.google.com/site/bethlehemwritersgroup/home (Bethlehem Writers Group) share their wisdom and experiences in creating an online literary magazine. Carol and Ann explain how it all started, some of the mistakes made along the way, and how they found their groove. In addition to the quarterly literary magazine, https://sites.google.com/site/bethlehemwritersroundtable/ (Bethlehem Writers Roundtable) (a paying market!), the group also publishes an anthology of short stories every other year. Early each year they host a contest based on the theme of the anthology. The annual winners are published in the anthology, and the runners-up are published in the online magazine. A celebrity judge chooses the best story. In 2019, https://johngroganbooks.com/ (John Grogan), author of Marley and Me, was the final judge. In 2020, https://www.peterabrahams.com/ (Spencer Quinn/Peter Abrahams), author of the Chet & Bernie Mysteries, will be the celebrity judge. More information on the contest can be found at the https://sites.google.com/site/bethlehemwritersroundtable/ (Bethlehem Writers Roundtable) site. You can find Carol at her https://sites.google.com/site/carollwright/ (website) and on https://www.facebook.com/Carol-L-Wright-Author-190854476717/ (Facebook). Ann can be found at her https://www.wordsmeetworld.com/ (website), and on https://twitter.com/MoonfallMayhem (Twitter). Her publisher’s website is https://www.worldweaverpress.com/ (World Weaver Press).
Today’s guest is https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/352222/Women-of-Ubisoft-Ellie-Rhodes (Ellie Rhodes), a product manager (and copywriter!) at Ubisoft Montreal, a video game developer. Ellie has tweeted her experiences in the area of anxiety, depression, and burnout, sharing tips with her followers about coping mechanisms and just helping others know they are not alone.
We talk about burnout and the video game industry, self-care tips and taking selfish time to renew your energy (might be a puzzle, might be watching cake decorating videos or farm animals on YouTube), and more things Ellie and I have found that help or hinder the healing process.
Ellie and I hope that this episode is encouraging to you – personally or so you can help a friend. If you’d like to read the article that introduced me to Ellie in the first place, you can do so https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/352222/Women-of-Ubisoft-Ellie-Rhodes (here). A list of all the Women of Ubisoft articles is https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/category/women-of-ubisoft (here). (They’re great!)
You can follow Ellie on https://www.instagram.com/elliejoypanic/ (Instagram) and https://twitter.com/elliejoypanic (Twitter) and other social media platforms as EllieJoyPanic. If you’d like to ask her a question on any of the topics we discussed, you can also email her at EllieJoyPanic AT Outlook DOT com.
EPISODE 156E
Sometimes it seems like I overplan. Some days I think I need a better plan. I’ve had a few days that have been blissful with no plan! But how do you know when to do the one thing and when to do the other? I give you my best ideas on how I decide.
EPISODE 155T
Many of us are wrapping up the summer, vacations, and watching or helping students go back to school. It’s one of those natural times of year to see what else we want to accomplish in the last few months, and figure out the best way to accomplish our goals.
I teach a time management class most January’s, and I help people do all they can to accomplish the tasks they set for themselves. But this past year or so, I’ve been very careful about not helping you to the point where you burn out, too.
One of the things that can help is planned time off. I marked last Sunday off my calendar specifically to have no plans. It was blissful!
So in addition to planning some time off, we also want to plan the most important things we want to get done before year’s end. You can plan forward – how much time do you have each day or week, and how much can you get done in that time. Or plan backwards – what do you need to get done, and how many hours a day or week will be necessary to do so.
Planners can also be a big help. Check out Susan May Warren’s https://www.mybrilliantwritingplanner.com/ (My Brilliant Writing Planner) for a discount on the 2019 version, and a discount when preordering the 2020 one. Susie May will be on the show again in a few weeks to tell you about all the new updates in next year’s planner.
EPISODE 154T Sadly, I've felt like my journey to recovery from burnout has been a bit two or three steps forward, one step back. I don't ever want to create an episode about it just to have someone to vent to, but it's been a hard few weeks. I thought if I could figure out how to help myself, I could write down what seemed to work and share it with you. In this episode, I discuss how to learn to recognize the backward steps and encourage you to start a list of things that usually help you stop backsliding and begin making forward progress again. I share some of the mental and emotional challenges I've had and what has helped, as well as the wisdom I've gleaned about how to deal with the physical symptoms. I hope this helps you - to either help yourself if you're struggling with burnout, or to help a friend.
EPISODE 153I Today's guest is Marianne H. Donley, a writer who has worked with her writers group to put out several fiction anthologies over the last several years. She uses this experience as an example for her tips and suggestions for you if you're thinking about getting some writers together and creating an anthology. There are a lot of pieces and parts to consider if you want to put together a multi-author anthology. It takes far more time than you think it will, especially for whomever edits it. (Unless you hire out an editor, the best editor in your group is going to need to read every story and give notes where appropriate.) You also will have to cover all the production items within your group, or decide how to pay for hiring it out - editing, cover design, formatting, etc. Someone will have to be in charge of the uploading - and under whose name will that be? That segues into the topic of money - will the costs come from one person or evenly from the group? And how will proceeds from sales be distributed? Or will you offer the book for free? These are just a small sampling of the many issues Marianne helps us consider as she walks us through the process of creating an anthology. Here are links to some of the things she mentioned: Bethlehem Writers Roundtable ezine: https://sites.google.com/site/bethlehemwritersroundtable/ (https://sites.google.com/site/bethlehemwritersroundtable/) Submit to the ezine: https://sites.google.com/site/bethlehemwritersroundtable/submissions (https://sites.google.com/site/bethlehemwritersroundtable/submissions) Short Story Award contest page: https://sites.google.com/site/bethlehemwritersroundtable/short-story-contest (https://sites.google.com/site/bethlehemwritersroundtable/short-story-contest) Bethlehem Writers Group anthologies: https://www.asliceoforange.net/authors/bethlehem-writers-group-llc/ (https://www.asliceoforange.net/authors/bethlehem-writers-group-llc/) A Slice of Orange: https://asliceoforange.net/ (https://asliceoforange.net/) ...and its bookstore: https://www.asliceoforange.net/book-store/ (https://www.asliceoforange.net/book-store/) Request to be an interviewed author: https://www.asliceoforange.net/contact/author-interviews/ (https://www.asliceoforange.net/contact/author-interviews/) Charmed Writers free Flash Fiction book (and description includes information on how to join): https://www.asliceoforange.net/books/charmed-writers-presents-flash-fiction-2019/ (https://www.asliceoforange.net/books/charmed-writers-presents-flash-fiction-2019/) 5-Minute Covers (may or may not still be in business): https://www.facebook.com/5MinuteCovers/ (https://www.facebook.com/5MinuteCovers/) The Book Designer with Joel Friedlander: https://www.thebookdesigner.com/ (https://www.thebookdesigner.com/)
EPISODE 152E There are times when I'm thinking about or talking about something happening in my life and I mention what didn't go well, and I wonder if I'm complaining. I'm often happy with and grateful for the bigger picture of the topic even though there are areas that I wish were different. It could be my hair or my writing or my vacation. In general, I'm happy with all those things...but I mention the parts I didn't like...and I worry I might be getting into a bad habit of complaining. Of course there are lots of things we wish were different, but if we can stay focused on the good things and all we are grateful for, it will help us to keep a healthy perspective. And a positive outlook does amazing things for helping our minds to think up new and creative solutions! So that's a bonus! I hope this Encouraging Words episode has helped you to feel good about yourself and your life today! :-D
EPISODE 151I Today’s guest is https://www.brilliant-books.net/meet-jodie (Jodie Brandt), senior bookseller at https://www.brilliant-books.net/ (Brilliant Books), an independent bookstore in Traverse City, Michigan. Jodie shares some ideas on how to approach Brilliant Books or another bookstore as an author. You can find more information on what Brilliant Books is looking for in authors who would like to do a signing or other event on their https://www.brilliant-books.net/resources-authors (Resources for Authors) page. Even if you don’t live near this store, it could be helpful information you can apply when contacting an independent bookstore near you. If you’re interested in tabletop gaming, that’s another interest of Jodie’s and we spend some time talking about how he got involved in writing in that industry. Jodie is also the host of https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_3MGRJW9QooUXF29F5tF-A/featured (QuestWise), a YouTube channel where he discusses and reviews tabletop and video games. He mentions an amazing game called https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/greyauthor/the-great-american-novel-a-roleplaying-game (The Great American Novel Roleplaying Game) that recently completed a successful Kickstarter campaign. It sounds like a fun game to check out. You can find Jodie on https://www.facebook.com/questwise/ (Facebook under QuestWise.) IMPORTANT NOTE: Brilliant Books has an amazing shipping policy! If you don’t live near a great independent bookstore yourself, Brilliant Books can be YOUR bookstore - they ship anywhere in the United States for FREE! When you add a U.S. shipping address at checkout, a new shipping option will pop up: FREE Shipping - USPS Media Mail: $0.00. Try it out!
EPISODE 150T When I self-publish my own books or work with clients to publish theirs, I use my Book Specifications Worksheet to collect all the information needed to create the final ebook and/or print book. In this episode, I go over several areas of the worksheet, letting you know all of the things you'll have to decide before you publish. If you use Vellum to create your book files, some of the information isn't necessary since Vellum does it automatically. If you use Adobe InDesign or something similar, you'll need to make decisions on most of the areas included. One of the best parts of this worksheet is that you can use the decisions you made on the first book to roll over to future books. Then your readers will get a consistent publishing experience from you - one more way to look like the professional you are. https://podcast.writenowworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Book-Specifications-Worksheet.pdf (Download your copy of my Book Specifications Worksheet here.)
EPISODE 149E I like to share things that I have recently found encouraging, and today it is the poetry Song of Solomon, also called Song of Songs, in the Bible. It is a beautiful five-page poem about two young lovers who are crazy in love. It's an analogy for how much God loves us and pursues us and wants to be with us, and how much he wants us to love him back. It's not only beautiful, it makes me feel cherished. From a writing standpoint, Song of Solomon is also great research for adding some good emotion and intimacy and tenderness into your love story or into the romantic subplot of your novel. Also, it's a great piece of poetry to study if you like poetry or you write poetry. Maybe it will give you some ideas for something you're working on.
EPISODE 148I Today's guest is http://www.maggie-wells.com/ (Margaret Ethridge), author of Contentment and Commitment, who also writes as http://www.maggie-wells.com/ (Maggie Wells), author of Love Game and Play Dates. Margaret likes to write about life choices, and she often uses her own life as a jumping off point for ideas. For instance, she loves college football, so she created a college sports series called Love Games. She met and married a single dad, which gave her ideas to write the single dad series, Play Dates. "People make choices or things happen that we don't plan for," she says. She likes the romances that come about in unexpected ways, and she likes to write about those things. Although many writers can't wait to quit their day job and write full-time, Margaret gives a talk about the reasons why many writers will continue to work a day job or at least a side hustle in addition to their writing. And why that is perfectly okay. Listen to Margaret as she shares some advice that works for her - as well as some "do as I say, not as I did" advice. :) And be encouraged that what you need to do is simply what works for you.
EPISODE 147I Alice Rendell is https://www.mcvuk.com/top-100-women-in-games-alice-rendell/ (an acclaimed video game writer) currently working as a Senior Narrative Designer. Today she explains how writing for video games works and shares some tips about how to get into this type of writing. While most novelists work alone, writing for video games is super collaborative. You're in an office environment interacting with people in many other departments, partially to make sure your teammates are following your narrative in what they're creating as well. It's a relatively young industry compared to film and television, but there are more and more schools teaching aspects of the video game industry to aspiring developers. A lot of people who work in games are there because they're passionate about them, just like Alice. "I'm not afraid to say I'm a geek." :-D You can https://twitter.com/alicemrendell (follow Alice on Twitter) to learn more about her and her work. She also suggests https://twinery.org/ (Twine) as a fun, free tool for creating your own mini game.
EPISODE 146E One of my favorite verses is at the beginning of Joshua - "Be strong and courageous." It's written four times in just that first chapter. I find it encouraging when I have something big going on. Or when I have a lot to do. Or when I'm in the middle of a book that seems to be going nowhere. In this episode, I share some encouraging words that I hope help you find an extra kick of strength to keep going.
EPISODE 145I Today's guest is https://ktliterary.com/about/ (Sara Megibow), an agent at https://ktliterary.com/ (kt Literary) in Colorado. While Sara is quick to point out that many of the things we discuss can be gross over-generalizations, and her thoughts and opinions on agenting are her own and not a guide for what all agents think, this is a great interview full of helpful information for just about all writers. Many people ask Sara how publishing has changed in the last few years with the market disruptions caused by digital publishing. But we go back to the 1920s, and even earlier, talking about the many market disruptions over the years and how publishing has constantly adjusted. Sara shares some market data (mostly US-based), how some of this data affects a few particular genres, explains what each individual writer needs to ask themselves before they make decisions based on the information they learn, how submission works (and how to submit to her), writing a good query letter, and so much more! Some of the websites Sara mentions include: https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/ (Manuscript Wishlist) https://agentquery.com/default.aspx (Agentquery.com) http://aaronline.org/ (AAR Online) https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/ (SFWA's Writers Beware) https://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/successful-queries (Writer's Digest Successful Queries) https://evileditor.blogspot.com/ (Evil Editor) https://queryshark.blogspot.com/ (Query Shark) Follow Sara on https://twitter.com/SaraMegibow (Twitter), and find https://ktliterary.com/submissions/ (her submission guidelines) including her email address on the agency's website.
EPISODE 144T We've finally settled down enough to start watching Game of Thrones (now that it's ending!) and it occurred to me that George R.R. Martin does not have a problem with throwing his characters into conflict. Not even if it kills them! As for me, I find it very difficult when writing a sweet romance to have an interesting conflict, something that's not too tame but not too far out. So I started writing down where I get inspired to find conflicts that shake up my creativity. If we look back at Game of Thrones again, we see a lot of betrayal. Well, no matter what kind of book you're writing - even a sweet romance - there is some level of betrayal that can work for your story. I have more examples from The West Wing, children's fables, children's books, the Bible, and poetry. I hope this episode gives you some great ideas for introducing more conflict into your stories, or finding new ideas in general.
EPISODE 143I Our guest today is romantic comedy author, Rich Amooi. He's been obsessed with romantic comedies since the 1980s, watching When Harry Met Sally, Say Anything, and other films with great quirky dialogue. Rich's new book, https://amzn.to/2Ebopxx (Dying to Meet You), is his 14th romantic comedy novel. In our interview, he talks about where he got the ideas for some of his books, his writing process, and how he introduces the hero and heroine in most cases - and lots more! We have a fun conversation about how Rich went from a career as a radio DJ to a rom-com writer, and what it's like to have two writers in the house. (His wife, https://www.silvimartin.com/ (Silvi Martin), is also a published author.) You can get a romantic comedy novella (not available for sale) when you sign up for Rich's newsletter. Find more information on https://www.richamooi.com/ (his website), and follow him on https://www.facebook.com/author.richamooi/ (Facebook) and https://twitter.com/RichAmooi (Twitter).
EPISODE 142T Between my entrepreneurship class for foreign-born women here in Sweden and listening to Stephen King's https://amzn.to/2YcGxyH (On Writing) in audiobook form on my way to and from work, I have business and writing on the brain right now. So I thought it would be a great time to share with you how I try to keep track of the big picture when I get lost in the dirt and the details of having a writing business. The most important thing a writer can do is...write. Seems obvious, right? But when you start adding in all of the business aspects, all of the marketing, all of the myriad other things that you must - or are told you must - do to have a successful writing career, sometimes the writing can take a backseat. In this episode, I list what I believe are the four key elements you need to be a writer, and a longer list of all the things that are easier if you've decided in advance how to handle them. These are your tools. With my ideas for tools as a jumping off point, create your own toolbox with the best tools for you. And always...keep writing, keep improving your writing, and write some more.
EPISODE 141E In today's Encouraging Words episode, I want to encourage you that you are probably not a person who doesn't try their best. Sure, maybe you could do better if you had more time, or better materials, or any number of other things that make the situation different. But right now, with the time and resources you have, you probably are doing the best job you can. If you can learn to accept this and relax, you may find you have more peace, more joy, and more creativity. And if you decide that you really haven't done your best, instead of castigating yourself, try to be specific about what you can do differently next time. Then relax and know you'll do better next time. :)
EPISODE 140I Today's guest is the love of my life, my husband, https://www.facebook.com/johnbucholtzauthor/ (John Bucholtz). :-D He started writing Middle Grade books a few years ago, and today he's sharing how he finds time to write despite several international moves, a motorcycle accident, and full-time employment. Like many writers, he started writing in elementary school. But it wasn't until about ten years ago that he wrote his first book, taking about three years and creating a first draft of 140,000 words! At first, he wrote in the morning before work, mostly because he simply woke up too early. He still finds this to be arguably his most creative time, but once he got a gym membership he lost most of that time - since that's his best workout time as well. John discusses a lot of the things he's tried to get words on the page, what worked for him and what didn't. From trying different times of the day to different locations, from writing sprints to writing retreats, he's tried a lot of things, finding different things that work for him at different points in life. It takes time and experimentation to find out what works for you - but keep trying! https://www.facebook.com/johnbucholtzauthor/ (Follow John on Facebook) where he posts lots of encouraging and funny memes about writing. :)
EPISODE 139I Our guest today is former BBC reporter, http://www.jamesblatch.com/ (James Blatch). You may recognize him as the co-host of the Self-Publishing Show podcast (formerly Self-Publishing Formula) with Mark Dawson. He shares with us the long journey of writing his first book, which should be out in a few months. James tells us how he started his first novel when he was about twenty, but it didn't go anywhere. Then got the itch again about nine years ago. This time he happened to hear about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) about the same time and he sat down and just started writing. This burst of story energy may have ended early as it does for so many NaNo participants, except that a friend from the BBC asked to interview James about it. So he had to keep writing. And he did. He finished the novel but...it can be hard to figure out what to do after you've got the first rough draft down. The writing stalled. Then he heard about https://www.authoraccelerator.com/about-us (Jenny Nash) and her https://www.authoraccelerator.com/ (Author Accelerator) program. Jenny asked him a question that pushed James to better understand what he was writing and why, and the next draft came much easier. James can't say enough good things about Jenny and Author Accelerator. It was what he needed to finally get the story in his head formed into the kind of book that readers want to buy. He shares several tips for those in a similar place - trying to get to the end of a first book and creating a publishable story. He's near the end of this particular journey. http://www.jamesblatch.com/ (The Last Flight) will be out later this year! You can learn more about James and his book on http://www.jamesblatch.com/ (his website) and on https://twitter.com/JamesBlatch (Twitter).
EPISODE 138I Our guest today is Laura Frantz, historical romance author of nearly a dozen books of faith, romance, and courage. Her latest book is https://amzn.to/2IHB5zd (A Bound Heart), the story of two people sold as indentured servants and expelled from their beloved Scotland, but destined to be together in the Americas. Laura writes in a log cabin in Kentucky! She and I have a lot of fun talking about food in Colonial America in the beginning of this episode. There is so much to talk about when it comes to what you thought was true and the facts you uncover. If you write or are interested in this period of history, you'll enjoy our fun discussion! Then we move into Laura's story of her love of history and her interest in her own family history. This new book, in fact, has links to her sixth-great-grandfather, George Hume. Laura has wonderful advice for those interested in or currently working on a historical piece. This is a fun, interesting, and helpful episode for any writer. You can find Laura at http://laurafrantz.net/ (her website), on https://www.pinterest.com/laurafrantz/ (Pinterest), and on https://www.facebook.com/LauraFrantzAuthor/ (Facebook), and her books (print, ebook, and audiobook editions) are available wherever books are sold.
EPISODE 137I Today's guest is http://www.cassidycarter.com/ (Cassidy Carter), whose new book, https://amzn.to/2IaROvj (Love on Location), just came out with Hallmark Publishing. Hallmark is all about sweet romance, usually with some humor on the side, and Cassidy definitely delivers. Cassidy tells us about her writing journey, starting at Carina Press, taking a break with her children, then coming back with a slightly different genre at Hallmark. She's happy to be exclusively with them, and hopes to add another genre to her repertoire - cozy mysteries. During our conversation, she gave us some great writing tips including making your secondary characters as real and three-dimensional as the main characters. She also talked about her research, which included such hard work as camping with her family and watching hours of her favorite reality TV shows. :-D Cassidy is living proof that researching your topic can be valuable without being boring or expensive. As always in Hallmark books, there is a great recipe at the end of Love on Location, one of Cassidy's favorites. (I'm planning on trying it, too!) Cassidy is most active on https://twitter.com/CassCarterBooks (Twitter), and can also be reached through http://www.cassidycarter.com/ (her website) and https://www.facebook.com/authorcassidycarter (Facebook).
EPISODE 136E My birthday vacation last week led me to the idea for this month's Encouraging Words episode. Taking some time off, and doing and seeing creative and amazing things I've never seen, I feel like I came back to my life a new person! I not only felt refreshed, but I felt more creative and ready to jump back into my writing. Whether you're planning your next vacation, or just need a break to reset, here are some of the ideas I talk about this week to take a creativity break: You can do something as short as a walk outside in nice weather Or you can make a lot of plans for a longer break Sometimes having a day that you don't do anything is the best "plan" Museums, movies, or an art lesson could do wonders for your imagination Get together with a friend who makes you laugh and feel good But definitely put a break on your calendar so you DO IT
EPISODE 135I Today's guest, https://twitter.com/TheAKHudson (Amanda Hudson), is a writer who has recently experienced burnout - not being tired of doing what she's doing, but burnout in the medical sense of the word. Amanda had so much advice that we decided to break our interview into two episodes, so here is the second half starting from where we left off last week. Let me know if this is helpful, and if you'd like a book on the subject. I'd be willing to share my difficult experiences and interview people who can give us more advice and direction if I thought it was something needed. Please listen to this episode to learn how to better help yourself or a friend. Share it on social media. There is no reason for us to feel alone or be without help. :)
EPISODE 134I Today's guest, https://twitter.com/TheAKHudson (Amanda Hudson), is a writer who has recently experienced burnout - not being tired of doing what she's doing, but burnout in the medical sense of the word. If you've been listening to the show, you know that I've been struggling to understand burnout and heal from it myself. Amanda lives in Sweden where employers and the public health system support a deeper understanding of the root problems as well as providing a path for healing. Amanda's advice comes from her own experience, and what doctors and therapists have told her. She explains the physical and emotional aspects, and shares what she is doing or has done that has helped. She also shares a profile of the kind of people most likely to be affected by burnout. You can learn more about https://www.simplypsychology.org/stress-biology.html (stress biology at SimplyPsychology.org). Please listen to this episode to learn how to better help yourself or a friend. Share it on social media. There is no reason for us to feel alone or be without help. :)
EPISODE 133I Today's guest is http://samuelparkerbooks.com/ (Samuel Parker), a suspense/thriller writer talking to us today about his latest book, https://amzn.to/2Y9KcOi (Border Son). I really enjoyed this story, possibly because it wasn't the "usual" type of suspense book I'm used to. Samuel says it's not the usual build-up-and-crescendo-three-times kind of structure. He sees the scenes and writes to those, often something simple but building in intensity. Samuel tells a story about walking across the border from the United States to Mexico, how scared he was, and what happened. And then being able to put all that tension and emotion into the story. His style isn't to over-describe, either. Rather than focusing on the stain on the wall or the knots in the wood, he focuses on the feeling you get when you walk this way or smell that. When asked about his writing process, Samuel laughs and says this is probably something others shouldn't follow but...he doesn't have a writing schedule. He doesn't write every day. He pursued it as a job at one point, and he didn't enjoy it as work. So this is the thing he loves to do around another full-time job. I actually think this is a great idea for people who might feel or have felt the same way! I'm taking a break doing that myself, writing where I can around a temporary full-time job. :-D Learn more about Samuel and his books at http://samuelparkerbooks.com/ (SamuelParkerBooks.com), and follow him on https://www.facebook.com/Samuelparkerauthor/ (Facebook).
EPISODE 132I https://suzannewoodsfisher.com/ (Suzanne Woods Fisher) is back with us again! https://podcast.writenowworkshop.com/103i-strong-quaker-women-nantucket-interview-suzanne-woods-fisher/ (In October 2018, she spoke about strong Quaker women), and today we're talking about the Amish. Suzanne's interest in the Amish comes partly through her grandfather, who was raised Plain. There is an appeal to simplifying your life, but there's more to our fascination than that. To capture the real essence of her characters, Suzanne tries to reflect the real people she's met. That's one reason she doesn't write the combination of Penn Dutch and English dialogue. She personally doesn't know any real people who talk like that. She also writes some of the same characters in more than one series. So, for instance, the main character of her new book, https://amzn.to/2VTHdrI (Mending Fences), book one of The Deacon's Family series, is an older but not really grown up Luke Schrock. People who read The Bishop's Family series will have already had some experience with Luke and his shenanigans as a boy, but you won't need to have read those books to enjoy what's happening in the new series. Suzanne writes about Luke going to rehab and then agreeing to come back to his community and make amends for the things he did. She based some of his experiences on real facilities that have been built for/by the Amish and Mennonite communities. We have a really interesting conversation about how all these things come together in a serious way, but also with the humor you get when the hero is as charming as Luke. :-D One of my favorite pieces of advice was Suzanne's suggestion to think of piano scales rather than whether you are wasting time or pages writing words that will never actually be in the book. It's not a waste, she says, it's like doing piano scales, keeping your writing mind nimble. Don't you just love that?! :-D To learn more about Suzanne and her books, visit her https://suzannewoodsfisher.com/ (website) and/or follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
https://bethgoddard.com/ (Elizabeth Goddard) is the award-winning author of over 40 novels of adventure, romance, and suspense. Today we talk about her latest book, https://amzn.to/2Vx6CHg (Never Let Go), book one in her new series, Uncommon Justice. The main character in Never Let Go is a forensic genealogist trying to find a missing person. Elizabeth first heard of this kind of work in a news story and thought it was so interesting she wanted to use it in a book. If you're listening on the day the episode comes out, Elizabeth is doing the cover reveal for book two on social media today! Elizabeth is a big fan of networking and strongly encourages everyone to make this a habit. When she decided which agent she really wanted, she kept going to conferences until she met him. She sent him her work and, ten months later, she signed with agent Steve Laube. We talk about her process, and how it changes for each book. Her advice is - be confident, enjoy your writing, and have fun! You can find out more about Elizabeth and her books at https://bethgoddard.com/ (her website), and you can follow her on social media and on https://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-Goddard/e/B001R1VRI0 (her Amazon author page).
It's the first Sunday of the month, so it's time for another Encouraging Words episode! Today I share about a message I heard at church last week from a guest speaker, Paster Steve Warren of C3 Church Amsterdam. His message was on vision - having a vision for the year, and for your life. He reiterated something we all know, but don't always think about a lot: The direction you face matters. The direction of your life matters. It got me thinking - it's not easy to go in a direction you're not looking. Even when I have horseback riding lessons or motorcycle riding lessons, the instructors always remind you to look in the direction you want to go because what you're riding will go in the direction you're looking. Pastor Steve also reminded us - life comes out of you and onto/into others. Whether it's smiles or words or actions, it flows out of you onto other people. So keep that in mind this week when you're interacting with those around you. :-)
New author https://erinbartels.com/ (Erin Bartels) joins us today to talk about her novel, https://amzn.to/2XC6S9Y (We Hope For Better Things). While this is her first published book, Erin has been involved in the publishing industry for over fifteen years. She shares her story of how the book came about, how long she researched it before she started writing, and much more. We had a great discussion on diversity in writing and "us vs them" in writing and in real life. She shared great advice she got from another writer - that your characters need to have agency, to act on their own and not just be acted upon, especially if they are "other" than you, the writer. Erin said this helped her make some of the black characters in her book even stronger. Erin believes that writing and reading fiction helps us be less judgmental as human beings. That's what storytelling is about, sharing our humanity as we search for our own growth as individuals. She also shares a quote from CS Lewis about "chronological snobbery" - how historically humans believe they are better and more evolved than their forebears...and we talk about how history shows us this isn't true. We also talked about how difficult it can be to juggle writing with all the other things you have to do or want to do in your life. Unfortunately, she had to give up things she loves to do in order to make more room for a writing career. She suggests we ask ourselves what things can we give up that someone else can do - because no one but you can write your book. Her next book, The Words Between Us, starts on the morning of the protagonist's father's execution. You can read more about it on the https://erinbartels.com/home/books/ (Books page) of Erin's website. It will come out in September 2019. Despite some heavy topics, Erin and I have a fun conversation full of laughter as well as discussions of writing and more serious matters. You can read more about Erin and connect with her via social media on https://erinbartels.com/ (her website). Also, listen to her podcast, https://erinbartels.com/home/media/podcast/ (Your Face is Crooked). :)
Today's fabulous guest is my own audiobook narrator, http://catherinegaffney.com/ (Catherine Gaffney)! Catherine is a stage and screen actress, and a voice over artist and audiobook narrator. Catherine joins us from her new studio to talk about how you can find the best audiobook narrator for your book. We covered a lot of areas, but some of the highlights included the idea that when writing your book, you might want to read some of it aloud to see what it would sound like later. (Sometimes you'll be able to make your writing better this way regardless of whether you create an audiobook.) When choosing the audition piece for narrators, don't choose the first scene. Choose a portion of the most important scene in your book, the one that makes the whole story come together. Or if you have a lot of people in your book, like my 6-person superhero team, choose a scene with the most number of people talking so you can hear how the narrator would handle all those voices. Or maybe choose a portion of a sex scene or fight scene and a portion of another scene so you can hear how the narrator would change the sound of each. So many ideas! Once you find your first choice narrator and you listen to the first fifteen minutes, you should know if this is the sound you want for your book. Catherine reminds us authors that you're looking for someone who can give you an interpretation of your book, not necessarily giving it the exact sound you hear in your head when you write or read it. As she says, it won't be the same color, but you're looking for a narrator who is in the same color family. Catherine suggested Edge Studios and their https://www.edgestudio.com/production/words-to-time-calculator (words to time calculator) if you want to get an idea of how long your book will be in audio. It does, of course, depend on whether it's a fast-reading action book or a slow moving literary novel. This is important to know for budgeting because you pay your narrator per finished hour of the book. In the end, perhaps this is Catherine's best advice: If an audition doesn't make you feel "Wow, I can't believe I wrote that," maybe you should keep listening to more auditions. Somewhere it will hit the target. You can learn more about Catherine and her work on http://catherinegaffney.com/ (her website), and https://www.audible.com/search?searchNarrator=Catherine+Gaffney&ref=a_search_c3_lNarrator_1_1_1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=46T207AHSJNE56G484P6& (you can listen to samples) of all the audiobooks she's done so far on Audible. And in my opinion - if you have any books that have a light, fun sound, Catherine is the narrator for you! :-D
Today's guest is the fun and multi-talented writer, http://gaffneyinkwell.com (Sean Gaffney). He has written professionally for theater, film, television, and the web. He has also taught most of these forms of writing for universities and arts organizations. In our interview, Sean and I cover a wide range of topics, but it all comes back to one thing - story. How do you write a compelling story that makes people want to continue with it until the end? We talk about the pros and cons of specialization versus writing anything and everything. One of the best things about specializing in one genre and/or medium is that you get better faster. If gaining a foothold in the market, increasing revenue, and moving up in your field are the more important things to you, specialization is the way to go. If you prefer to follow your heart and understand that it may be a slower, more difficult road, writing what you want and taking any writing work that appeals to you at the time could be the best choice for you. One of the things to keep in mind when you're putting your story together is that structure, character, dialogue, theme - these are not separate parts of a story, they are all intertwined together. Our conversation about the Marvel movies and the DC movies really highlights this. Get more details about https://gaffneyjournal.wordpress.com/2019/02/13/five-part-story/ (the 5-part story) and other storytelling tips on Sean's https://gaffneyjournal.wordpress.com/blog/ (blog) and http://gaffneyinkwell.com (website).
Forensic specialist https://www.jenniferdornbush.com/ (Jennifer Dornbush) is back on the show! You may remember her talking to us about https://podcast.writenowworkshop.com/099i-novelization-movie-interview-jennifer-dornbush/ (how to turn a movie into a novel) back in September. This time she's helping us understand how to plot out a mystery, thriller, suspense, or crime story. Jennifer has a couple of acronyms that will help us build a foundation for our story. She also shows us one surprising element that's in nearly every mystery, thriller, suspense or crime story - but I'd never thought about it. Then she explains all the different kinds of evidence you might have in your story. We even have an interesting discussion about creating red herrings. If you're a pantser, don't worry! Jennifer gives you the three items you need to start your story even if you don't yet know where you're going. In fact, she reminds us that real life detectives are pantsers! They don't know what happened either. :-D Sign up for Jennifer's newsletter and get a crime story masterclass for free. https://www.jenniferdornbush.com/ (Her website) has lots of additional resources, too, and links to her books including https://amzn.to/2Gd6byb (Forensic Speak: How to Write Realistic Crime Dramas) as well as book one in her mystery series, https://amzn.to/2t7GXbU (The Coroner).
Although I find it embarrassing to share such painful and embarrassing and deeply personal parts of my life, I have not found much truly helpful information about how to recover from burnout on the Internet. So I'm sharing with you anything that I've found to be useful as I recover. I had a real hit-bottom moment last Sunday. I couldn't stop crying and John and I had to leave church not long after the service started. Thankfully, the panic that rises up when you can't control things in your body or your mind was lessened as soon as I remembered that just a few days earlier a friend of mine told be that sometimes you'll get hit with a bad day seemingly out of the blue. When I remembered that, I was able to at least get control of the panic, although it didn't help me to stop or control the crying. It's been a tough week - way better than Sunday, but I feel like I've lost some of the ground I'd gained over the last several months. I decided I needed to start being more aware of what was going on in my body and my mind and why. I made a note of the some of the things that - like the first sneeze when you start to wonder if you're coming down with a cold - give me warning that I need to take better care of myself. For me, these issues include: tight muscles, especially in my neck and shoulders, but really everywhere sleep problems, especially waking in the middle of the night and not falling asleep again feeling stressed or hurried even when I don't have a reason to be not breathing enough or deeply enough feeling angry or tearful for no apparent reason
Your warning signs may differ from mine, but I thought showing you my list would help you think of yours. Once we know what the warning signals are, we can be prepared with ways we can avoid another low point or even a panic attack. I'm going to focus on breathing more and deeper, and I'm going to look for breathing exercises to help me calm my mind and body. I hope you find this to be encouragement to make your own list of warning signs, and come up with ways you can combat what's happening before you lose your footing. Good luck! We can do this!
A friend of mine asked me to help her understand a little about publishing because her father had written a novel and she wanted to make sure he didn't get taken advantage of. This is some of the information I shared with her. There are two main ways to publish a book - traditional publishing, and self-publishing (also called indie publishing). When sending your book to a traditional publisher, there are four things to consider. Ask a lot of questions of other authors, especially ones who are currently working with the publishing house(s) you are interested in. This is most helpful before you sign a contract. Remember that money flows to authors, not from them. A respectable traditional publisher doesn't charge authors for anything or ask them to pay for anything. The publisher is taking a calculated risk that your book will sell enough copies to reimburse them for the editing, cover design, interior design and formatting, etc. That's why an author only gets 5-25% royalties. If the publisher wants to charge the author for editing or other items, consider this a big red flag. Do a lot of research on companies you're submitting to (same with agents, if you pursue one). Do an Internet search for "ABC Publishing House reviews" and see what has been written about them. Keep in mind, some authors will be on a rant about something that is not the norm, so don't judge a company on just one review. However, a lot of angry authors should make you think twice. Be sure to check the dates of the posts you read to make sure what you're reading is current. If, after all of your research and submissions, you get an offer from a publishing house to publish your book - celebrate! After you've danced around a bit, take a deep breath and understand that the next part of the process will take some time. It can take months to finalize a contract and get the first check. (You don't generally get the full amount of your advance at once.) While the legal department is working on contract negotiations, your editor will have already started you on your edits. Don't be worried about doing a lot of work on your book without having the signed contract. Keep in touch about it, but don't worry. Again, an agent can help smooth over this process if you want to pursue an agent as well.
This is just a brief overview of the process, but I hope it helps you feel more confident about what to research, what questions to ask, and what to expect. Good luck!
https://podcast.writenowworkshop.com/121t-goals-top/ (Two weeks ago), we talked about how to create and prioritize a short list of your most important goals for the year. Today, we'll discuss how to break down big goals into small pieces you can work on every day or week or month. There are two main ways to do this - plan toward a specific date, or plan a certain amount of work per period. Let's say you want to submit your completed manuscript to http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/hallmark-publishing/write-for-us (Hallmark Publishing) next month during their open submission period. ;-) You would write down everything that needs to be done and how much time you have to do it. As of today, the last day you can submit an unagented manuscript is five weeks away. If you want to do one last polish, send the book to a couple of beta readers to get feedback, and write a synopsis, you can break those pieces into even smaller chunks and figure out where you need to be at the end of each week. Much of the writing life is working toward a deadline like this. But maybe you've never written a book before, or you're about to write in a genre you've never written in, and you have no idea how long it will take you to write it. In that case, say you're going to work 10 hours a week. After several weeks, you notice a pattern of about 500 words per hour, which comes to about 5000 words per week. You've researched the genre and know you need to have a 90,000-100,000 word manuscript. Now you can guesstimate when you will finish your first draft, and you can use this as a baseline for planning future first drafts. Some tasks are more difficult to break down. For instance, my #1 goal for 2019 is to regain and actively keep the mental health I lost during burnout last year. But how do I quantify improved sleep, added peace, and more joy? After one month, should I try to find out if I'm 1/12th of the way to my goal? In this case, I might choose to write at least four times a week in a sleep journal to record how well I'm sleeping and try to find patterns between good nights and bad nights. I might set aside 1-2 hours twice a week for "me time" to do something that makes me laugh or brings me joy, maybe going to lunch with friends or watching a movie of my choosing by myself or giving myself two hours of uninterrupted reading. Figuring out how to pursue and track intangible goals can require more imagination, but you can think of ways to do it that work for your life and how your mind thinks. No matter what kind of goal or what method you use to pursue and track it, make sure to check in with yourself once a month to see if you're making progress. If not, tweak what you're doing and try again for another month. This is how you'll discover the best methods for you.
Will Dages joins us today from https://findawayvoices.com (Findaway Voices), part of the larger company, https://findaway.com/ (Findaway). Will is Head of Product there, which is perfect for him since he's an avid audiobook listener and the kind of guy you can tell really wants to help you, the author, succeed. After a quick background into how they started and how the company works, Will explained the process of how you go about making an audiobook. One of his marketing tips is to leverage an audiobook narrator who already has a following. Many regular listeners will follow the narrator just as much as they follow an author. [Note: I've done that!] When a narrator signs up with Findaway Voices, there is a casting team that evaluates them so there is a great summary to read of every narrator and what they can do (accents, etc.). When an author comes in and starts looking for a narrator, Will jokes that they try to match the author and narrator almost like an online dating service. :-D In fact, about 95% of authors find the narrator they want to use on that first suggested casting list! If an author chooses, they can use Findaway Voices to find a narrator and create an audiobook, and then take the finished files and go someplace else with them. While the company would love to help you distribute your audiobooks, you don't have to use them. If you're interested in the royalty share deal that ACX allows, Findaway Voices is coming up with a great way to help you with that - without making you go exclusive. You heard it first here! :-D Will gives us advice on how to decide if you should hire a narrator or read your book yourself, when to create book bundles, using your narrator for marketing and creating bonus content around them, testing your audience and their likelihood to convert to audio by starting with just a short story (2-3 hours might be best, a couple commutes' worth to get listeners hooked), experiment with wide distribution with a short/shorter story that's an aside to your series if the rest of your series is currently exclusive on ACX, getting your audiobooks into libraries, and much more! And finally, the big announcements Will wanted to share with us! :-D First, they are launching with https://www.storytel.com/ (Storytel) this quarter! Storytel is a massive player in the audiobook world with over 750,000 paying subscribers to their service. They are targeting countries where Audible doesn't have a presence, and they're working to get people reading in audio first. Second, Findaway Voices now has a direct deal with Apple iBooks! Authors can get almost double the royalty rate by going through Findaway Voices to reach Apple. :-D Additionally, you get control over your list price. Authors can also create promotional prices (sales) with several of the stores Findaway Voices is working with including GooglePlay, Nook Audiobooks, and soon Apple iBooks. I'm so excited about this! If you haven't tried getting into audiobooks yet, or if you stepped away from it because it didn't seem to be working for you, this might be the time and Findaway Voices might be the company for you to try again. :-D You can follow Findaway Voices on https://twitter.com/findawayvoices (Twitter), on https://facebook.com/findawayvoices (Facebook), and https://blog.findawayvoices.com (they have a blog) as well. You can find out where they'll be in a coming-soon blog post so you can meet with Will and his team and talk more about your specific situation. In 2019, they will be at Smarter Artists Summit, Sell More Books Show, Romance Writers of America national conference, London Book Fair, Frankfurt Book Fair, NINC, 20BooksVegas, and more.
The beginning of a new season - be it a week or month or year or whatever - is quite often a good time to stop and think about what you've accomplished recently, what worked, what didn't, and what you want to accomplish in the next season. In this episode, I suggest several ways to go back through the last year and remember what all you did. It's likely far more than you think! Then you can compare how busy you were and how much you got done with how much time you expect to have this year. Maybe you need to slow down a bit so you don't burn out, or maybe you've decided to limit, say, your TV watching so you can write more. Looking back can very often help you figure out what you want to do next as well as helping you guesstimate how much you can actually accomplish in the next period. So as you're creating your list of what you accomplished last year, also start a brain dump list of everything you'd like to accomplish this year. Include everything, not just your writing business. Once that list is pretty complete, choose the number one goal you most want to accomplish this year. Write it down. Now choose the Top 3 (your #1 as well as #2 and #3), your Top 5, and your Top 10 most important goals from your list. It's likely that no more than five or six of the top ten are writing-related. You're going to have goals for your personal life, family, health, finances, etc. Remembering that the item you decided was your #1 goal is the one that you want to take priority, you can now take this shorter list and begin breaking down each of the ten items into smaller pieces, then figuring out what needs to be done each week/month/quarter in order to turn your goals into plans, and then into accomplishments. Good luck! :-D
I recently finished listening to the audiobook version of https://amzn.to/2SuvbmZ (The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer). Amanda is a popular musician, and her indie approach to her music and her fans reminds me a lot of the indie approach to self-publishing books. The thing is...Amanda isn't afraid to ask her fans for what she needs. If she's going to be in a city playing a gig and needs a place to crash, she gets on Twitter and asks her fans. If she's going to be writing in a coffee shop, she gets on Twitter and tells her fans that they should come over and say hi. The book is about much more than her music and her fans. Amanda shares her struggles with asking for help, especially outside of her fanbase. She shares how hard it was to ask for any kind of help from her husband (author Neil Gaiman), and she helps the listener/reader think through what they have a hard time asking for as she shares her own experiences. I enjoyed listening to Amanda read the book to me, and I really got to thinking more about my own fans. Am I afraid to let them get too close? Am I afraid to ask them for what I need - whether it's encouragement to keep going or help spreading the word about my books? I hope you find this episode encouraging you to reach our to your audience with more of yourself, asking for what you need and asking them what they need in return.
Today's episode is taken from a live writing workshop I taught at my church in Malmö, Sweden, in November 2018. In this first portion of the talk, I discuss the "why" of your writing and how that "why" will help you choose topics and stories that will impact your audience to a greater degree. (See the entire brilliant clip of https://youtu.be/RqhidTrkfrw?t=543 (comedian Michael Jr. on his YouTube channel here).) Knowing your "why" will also help you to write better, choosing more impactful words and phrases and constructing your manuscript in more interesting and compelling ways. But how do you know if you're "doing it right?" If anyone tells you after reading your work that they understood and/or were moved, that's a good sign that you're getting through. If the reactions are more "meh" and "I think I understood" then you probably have more work to do. I also mention the fruits of the Spirit as mentioned in the Bible - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control - and talk about how each of those sentiments can be a way to better reach a certain audience. For instance, if you're writing to a group of stressed new mothers you'd want to write with a tone of peace rather than a "telling you what to do" attitude, even while getting across the same information. The full 2-hour workshop will be available soon for Patreon subscribers only. :-D
Today's author, http://www.nancynaigle.com/ (Nancy Naigle), is a delight to talk to! She's got such great stories about how she started writing, how she got involved with Hallmark Publishing, the excitement of seeing Hallmark movies adapted from two of her books (https://amzn.to/2SiqL2u (Christmas Joy) and https://amzn.to/2R9OXqI (Hope at Christmas), published by St. Martin's Griffin), and how fun it is to have three completely different Christmas trees in her house! She starts by telling the story of writing the novelization of https://amzn.to/2GBrIlf (Christmas in Evergreen), currently my favorite Christmas book, and a Hallmark original movie. She thought it would be a piece of cake. :-D After all, Hallmark sent her the script and the movie, she just needed to fill it in, right? Alas, it wasn't nearly as simple as she'd expected, but she learned a lot! [Note: At the time of this interview, Hallmark Publishing is offering everyone a chance to get the ebook version of Christmas in Evergreen for free - and to give a copy to a friend! http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/freebook (Click here for the link.) Also, several of her books, at this writing, are on sale for 99c. Check them out!] It's been Christmas all year for Nancy this year. In addition to writing the novelization of the sequel, https://youtu.be/7YYVC_QkZ28 (Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa), she also released https://amzn.to/2QNOsmV (Dear Santa) for St. Martin's Griffin in October, and the two Hallmark movies aired in November. She laughs about having her decorations up just after Halloween so she could have her movie launch party with Christmas decorations. Nancy encourages writers that it's never too late to start writing the stories in your heart! She didn't decide to start until the year she turned 40. :-D It took her nine years to get her first book published, but now she has 25 books out! You can pre-order Nancy's next Hallmark original novel, https://amzn.to/2Sg9W8r (The Secret Ingredient), in time for Valentine's Day. Follow her on http://www.nancynaigle.com/ (her website), https://twitter.com/nancynaigle (Twitter), and https://www.facebook.com/NancyNaigleAuthor/ (Facebook).
New author https://alysmurray.com/ (Alys Murray) joins us today to talk about her first book, https://amzn.to/2UQBEdS (The Christmas Company), released by Hallmark Publishing in October 2018. Alys shares her journey from finding Hallmark's call for unagented writers to submitting her manuscript to finding an agent to selling two more books - all in short order. Quite the exciting journey! Since she found both Hallmark's call and her agent via Twitter, I also asked her to explain a little about https://twitter.com/hashtag/PitchWars?src=hash (#PitchWars). ;-) Alys is a playwright, too, and we talked about the differences in media as well as the difference between the type of writing expected in grad school and finding your own writer's voice in genre fiction. Interesting stuff! She was also a guest on Hallmark's "Home & Family" TV show, and tells us all about the fun of being interviewed - and cooking! - on a TV show. :-D You can find https://amzn.to/2UQBEdS (The Christmas Company) at http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/hallmark-publishing/the-christmas-company (Hallmark Publishing), select Hallmark stores, all of the usual online sites, as well as Target stores, some Walmart stores, and some Meijer stores. You can follow Alys at WriterAlys on https://twitter.com/writeralys (Twitter) and https://www.instagram.com/writeralys/ (Instagram), AlysMurrayAuthor on https://www.facebook.com/alysmurrayauthor/ (Facebook), and on her website https://alysmurray.com/ (AlysMurray.com).
https://www.amazon.com/Stacey-Donovan/e/B07GRC4W8S/ (Stacey Donovan) is back as today's guest - but this time as an author! Stacey wrote the first original novel published by Hallmark Publishing, https://amzn.to/2UGZFUo (Sunrise Cabin). She also writes under the name http://www.bryndonovan.com/ (Bryn Donovan). Last time we talked to Stacey, she told us about her job as Director of Hallmark Publishing and what kinds of stories Hallmark is looking for. Today we're talking about Stacey's life as a writer. She started as a poet and later tried her hand at novel writing. Despite all she'd learned in grad school, writing and finishing the first novel was difficult. Stacey shares her journey, as well as tips and tricks for writers to try if they are struggling to finish a book or if they don't think the finished product turned out well. No advice is right for everyone, she says, but her first piece of advice is to finish a book! Any book, just finish one. There are things you can't learn about writing until you've written a whole book and gotten to "the end." Her second piece of advice is to try outlining if you haven't done so. If you're writing by the seat of your pants, and finishing books, and you love how they turned out - great! But if not, try doing an outline first. She thought she wasn't "that kind of writer," but once she tried it her books turned out better. Give it a try! Stacey also has a great thread over https://twitter.com/Donovanesque/status/1071072743800504321 (on Twitter where she gives tips for writing a synopsis and proposal) - you know, because you might want to submit your book to Hallmark Publishing! :-D http://www.bryndonovan.com/ (Check out Stacey's blog), chock full of writing advice, writing prompts, master lists, and more! You can also https://twitter.com/Donovanesque (follow her on Twitter at Donovanesque).
Today, we're back again with http://shawnsmucker.com/ (Shawn Smucker), but this time we're talking about nonfiction and his new memoir, https://amzn.to/2SwNKXF (Once We Were Strangers). It's the story of how Shawn came to have a friendship with a Syrian refugee in Shawn's hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and how their friendship changed both men. This book moved me like no other book this year. I felt like I needed to reexamine my thoughts and feelings, but especially my actions toward new people in town, displaced people, and especially in regards to refugees. I strongly encourage you to read the book and see what you think! While we talked, one of things that most interested me was Shawn saying that he originally meant to go one direction with the book - to just tell Mohammed's story - but it turned into something else, something unexpected. As a writer, I totally get this! Which is probably part of what made his story fascinating. :-D Shawn offers a lot of great advice to writers about ghost writing and memoir writing. Be sure to listen with your Notes app open! You can find out more about Shawn and his books at http://shawnsmucker.com/ (his website), and follow him on https://www.facebook.com/Shawn-Smucker-Writer-248786208498879/ (Facebook) and https://twitter.com/shawnsmucker (Twitter) as Shawn Smucker.
Advent is here, and many people around the world are preparing for Christmas! Others are preparing for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and New Year's Eve. Families are making plans to get together, to bake a lot, cook a lot, shop a lot. There's a lot going on this month! In addition to the holiday planning, many of us are beginning to consider our goals for 2019 - writing goals, health goals, business and relationship and financial goals. But what do we need to do to prepare to make those goals into reality? Writing down our plans - whether it's a meal menu or writing goals for next year - is an important first step. But it needs to go farther. If you don't buy the items for the meal, you can't make it. If you don't write down the steps you'll need to take to make your goals a reality, not much will happen. Preparation of our hearts for the holidays is important to really experience them the way we want to. And preparation to make our dreams into goals, and our goals into reality is also important! I hope you take the time to prepare...and enjoy it in peace and joy. :-D
http://jkbooks.com/ (Jane Kirkpatrick) writes historical fiction from a different angle. She researches fascinating real people and then writes what's missing from history -- their personal stories. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0800727010/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=kittbuchwrit-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0800727010&linkId=85ba636b8a119d99c60f025d79029ad2 (Everything She Didn't Say) is the latest of Jane's novels. It's about the real and imagined life of Carrie Strahorn, a pioneer woman and journalist of the late 19th century. Jane used Carrie's real memoir, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FZYHYUU/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=kittbuchwrit-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B00FZYHYUU&linkId=18abcc7628a99e7925d77bab4ed3218d (Fifteen Thousand Miles by Stage), to create the story of what Carrie might have thought or felt but decided not to voice publicly. Jane says writing this kind of book is a balance between not betraying the essence of the real person while also trying to be insightful about what the person had chosen not to say according to books and historical records. There are a lot of strange and interesting ways to research real people, and Jane shares many of them with us. A book Jane suggests is https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006273170X/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=kittbuchwrit-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=006273170X&linkId=28526144e2622bbf03933821b83c0012 (Structuring Your Novel) by Robert Meredith & John Fitzgerald. From this book, Jane uses three questions when starting a new story. What is your intention? Jane says this is like your elevator pitch, your one sentence that describes the story. What is your attitude toward this story? Or...What do you feel deeply about in this story? What's your purpose in writing this? Or... How do you hope a reader will be changed? Or... I'm trying to prove or show that...(life is an adventure, by relieving the suffering of others we help relieve our own, or whatever your story purpose is).
This is a fascinating interview for anyone interested in history, genealogy, research, and storytelling. You can follow Jane on her website, http://jkbooks.com/ (JKBooks.com), and on Facebook as https://www.facebook.com/theauthorjanekirkpatrick (TheAuthorJaneKirkpatrick), and you can buy her books in your favorite online or bricks-and-mortar bookstore.
Some things stick in your head and you can't stop thinking about them. That's what happened to me this week with a Michael, Jr. YouTube video. He's a comedian, and he was explaining to a group how it's different to know what you're doing, to be good at something, versus being good at it and knowing why you're doing it. Here's the video if you want to watch. (It starts about 9 minutes in.)
I was thinking about my own experiences as a writer as I listened to this, and I couldn't stop thinking about the why. This is a popular topic in online marketing right now, but I want you to really take this to the deepest level you can go and ask yourself, Why am I taking time away from family, friends, rest, play, and other important things in my life to sit down and write? Whatever your answer is, what's the why behind that? And the why behind that? Eventually you are going to hit your bedrock reason for writing, the very foundation from which you create. Even if you think you know your reason already, if it's been awhile ask the why questions again and see if the answer is still the same. Over time, it may shift a bit and it's good for you to keep track of the real reason you're doing this. Because once you are certain of your why, your words will become far more powerful and effective.
Today's guest is author http://tlocke.com/ (Thomas Locke), also known as http://sites.kensingtonbooks.com/DAVISBUNNBOOKS/ (Davis Bunn). Thomas has a brand new book out this week, the dystopian novel https://www.amazon.com/Enclave-Thomas-Locke/dp/0800727916/ (Enclave). In today's interview, we walk through Thomas/Davis' career as he tells us what he's learned over twenty-plus years of highs and lows. The first thing he talks about is discipline. The discipline to keep on writing as you wait for your books to sell. The discipline to keep going when you have lots of reasons to quit. And the discipline to take advantage of the time you have in order to write as much as you can - perhaps more than you would have thought possible. One example of how that discipline paid off is his story of writing three full-length novels with no contract and no one asking for them...and how that eventually turned into nine contracted books in three series. If you're interested in writing science fiction or fantasy, Thomas explains that one of the biggest failings is when a writer creates a story that is heavy on the idea, but poor in characters. Readers need to genuinely bond with a character in order to follow them for a whole book. Thomas gives us great advice, including specific writing tips, throughout the interview. This is an episode you'll want to come back to in order to take notes! Follow him on Facebook as https://www.facebook.com/tlockebooks/ (Thomas Locke) and as https://www.facebook.com/davisbunnauthor/ (Davis Bunn).
http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/hallmark-publishing/write-for-us (Editor Stacey Donovan) joins us today to tell us about Hallmark Publishing! I've been talking about this new publisher of sweet romances and cozy mysteries for months now. Stacey talks about pitching the idea to the Hallmark CEO, getting the first books written as novelizations of existing Hallmark movies, and then her own romance novel being the first original novel published by the company. She tells us what she is looking for, how to submit depending on whether you have an agent or not, and that the best guide to what they're looking for is watching Hallmark movies. These are definitely G-rated stories, not even PG, so keep that in mind. Sweet, uplifting romances and cozy mysteries with a real emphasis on the cozy. Seasonal tie-ins are great for the romances, but aren't necessary for the mysteries. To find out more about what Hallmark Publishing is looking for, checkout their http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/hallmark-publishing/write-for-us (Write For Us) page, and https://twitter.com/Donovanesque (follow Stacey on Twitter).
Sometimes I have to stop and ask myself, is God trying to get my attention? Because it sure seems like I keep running into this or seeing that lately. That happened this week, as a matter of fact. When I was interviewing Stacey Donovan of Hallmark Publishing, she was talking about her main character in her new book, https://amzn.to/2JSg6bw (Sunrise Cabin), and how she starts each day saying aloud everything she is grateful for. Stacey admitted that particular trait is one of her own. Then I was chatting with my friend Kristin and she said, wow, you've really had a lot going right in your life this month. And I stopped and thought, huh, that's right, and I haven't paused long enough to realize it, let alone be grateful for it. That thought led me to remember that just a few days before I'd been talking to my friend Becca about gratitude and writing, but that I didn't enjoy journaling about what I was grateful for. It all sounded the same, which sounded boring to me. Taken together, though, these three separate conversations got me thinking that God might be trying to get my attention in the area of awareness of gratitude. So I started looking for ways to capture it, to stop doing long enough to be intentionally aware of all the things that were going right or well in my life. Have you noticed any patterns lately, things that keep coming to your attention? Maybe God and your brain are trying to get your attention. Take a minute to stop and consider what keeps popping up. Then write it down. It'll help you process it. But it's also part of who you are as a writer - you're a keep of the information, a keeper of histories. Enjoy it!
Today's conversation with http://lynnhblackburn.com/ (Lynn H Blackburn) is so interesting! Not only do we talk about fun stuff like writing and stories, but we start our conversation with a very serious problem in the world - human trafficking. Her book, https://amzn.to/2QsKPyA (In Too Deep), has an element of human trafficking in the plot that makes it both compelling and chilling. Lynn tells us how better research helped her improve one of the characters in this series. She laughs that using TV shows as the basis for how someone in this or that profession would work is not a good idea! But talking to people who actually work in the field opened up more intriguing aspects to the character as she learned what it would really be like to be this person. Highly recommended by Lynn (and other writers I know) is the https://www.writerspoliceacademy.com/ (Writers' Police Academy). In fact, this is where she saw a demonstration of the local law enforcement dive team - and that's where she got the idea for this book and series. (https://amzn.to/2SSCjds (In Too Deep) is book two, so you may want to start with https://amzn.to/2F8ts4V (Beneath the Surface).) Lynn also talks about the challenges of homeschooling two boys and managing the needs of a developmentally challenged daughter, and then trying to work her writing around all of her family needs. She'd prefer a schedule with huge chunks of time, but the reality is she needs to take her schedule as it comes and make it all work, differently every day. She's got lots of encouragement and suggestions for other writers in similar circumstances. Learn more about Lynn on http://lynnhblackburn.com/ (her website) and find her books at your favorite bookstore or online retailer.
Sometimes we feel stuck. Maybe a little, like walking in a bog. Maybe a lot, like waist-deep. Maybe we sometimes even feel we're totally buried, cold, in the dark, alone. Imagine, though, that you're not buried but...planted. Like a seed that gets planted in the spring, maybe this is a very temporary season, one which will soon show signs of life as the seed breaks down and a plant springs up. But even if this time in your life is like a bulb planted in the fall, with a long, cold winter ahead, remember that something beautiful can come out of it! I've seen crocuses pushing up through the hard late winter ground, certain that it's nearly spring despite the snowbanks around them. They are an amazing and beautiful sight! Wherever you're at in life - or wherever a friend or loved one seems to be at - there is hope! Even if it seems like we're buried by the circumstances of our life, we have the potential to see something beautiful grow from it in the future. That's definitely encouraging! :-D
Our guest today is https://www.jandrexler.com/ (Jan Drexler), a historical novelist whose stories often feature Amish characters. Today we talk about the challenges and choices Plain folk faced during the Civil War. Jan is a Civil War buff and traces her family history back through the Amish of the 1700s, so she brings a unique take to her stories. She used census records and https://www.ancestry.com/ (Ancestry.com) to find out more about her family, and tried to figure out how and where her family moved away from Amish traditions. In her latest book, https://amzn.to/2SCz75D (The Sound of Distant Thunder), she uses both history of the Amish church and the history of the United States to bring out the points in her story. Jan researches until she finds a story nugget, then she moves to creative mode to flesh out the characters and the situation. As she comes up with questions, she goes back to research mode, sometimes checking to see if some real event or person could have interacted with her characters. She does this back-and-forth all the way through the first draft. We have a great conversation that also includes a lot of great writing tips! I learned about https://amzn.to/2JyB9jq (tabbed sticky notes) - a great way to find information again in books. Like me, Jan uses Scrivener to save website URLs for online research. Instead of taking the time to read an entire book from cover to cover, Jan uses the Index to find just the bit of research she needs today. If she needs more information, she uses the bibliography in the book to find more books and articles to go through. When do you stop researching and start writing? Jan says she can feel the moment when the pot starts to boil, so to speak. The ideas begin to form and it's time to start writing. By that time, she usually has her characters and an outline or list of plot points so she can go ahead and begin. Jan explains her writing process and it sounds so good, I'm going to try it! :-D Find out more about Jan at https://www.jandrexler.com/ (JanDrexler.com) and follow her on Facebook as https://www.facebook.com/JanDrexlerAuthor (JanDrexlerAuthor) and on Twitter as https://twitter.com/JanDrexler (JanDrexler). Jan is also a member of https://seekerville.blogspot.com/ (Seekerville), one of Writer's Digest's 101 Best Websites for Writers. Jan has some great articles there on https://seekerville.blogspot.com/2018/06/welcome-to-my-story-world.html (building a story world), https://seekerville.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-birth-of-series-amish-of-weavers.html (starting an Amish series), and https://seekerville.blogspot.com/2018/07/using-settings-to-tap-your-readers.html (using setting in your story).
Our guest today is http://melodycarlson.com/ (Melody Carlson), the award-winning author of over two hundred books. Despite having so many, she does tend to be known for her many Christmas stories. Today we talk to her about her latest Christmas book, https://amzn.to/2CCKaqa (A Christmas by the Sea). Due to the timing of publishing, Melody mostly has to write her Christmas books in July with the air conditioner on. It's fun to hear how some of the parts of her real life made it into this book. Melody even has some "sand dollar angels" that she'll be giving away as part of some upcoming Christmas contests. (Be sure to go https://signup.e2ma.net/signup/44914/26688/?v=a (sign up for her newsletter) to participate!) When asked how she came to be such a prolific writer, she explains that when she first started she had to write fast because that was all the time she had. (She wrote her first complete book long-hand on a yellow legal pad!) The good thing about that, she says, is that it teaches you not to edit as you go along. And you can prove to yourself that you can finish a book. :) We also talked about how to keep a series going with new ideas and how to keep coming up with new ideas on the same topic, like Christmas. Having a full cast of characters is a big help, especially if you like to write character-driven stories. Having some heartaches or low places for the character at the beginning of the stories but ending them with hope is another way Melody likes to write. But she makes sure the character is likable enough for readers to want to follow them. Melody shares her thoughts and advice on how to be prolific, picking a genre and sticking to it - or not, and finding your best way to write despite other writers' advice. ;-) One of the great things about National Novel Writing Month (https://nanowrimo.org/ (NaNoWriMo)) is that you can find out if writing fast works for you. Melody encourages us to give it a try! As we move into the Christmas season, it's a good time to check out https://amzn.to/2CCKaqa (A Christmas by the Sea). There's also another new series,The Legacy of Sunset Cove, and book one is already out - https://amzn.to/2CGTQjw (Harbor Secrets). You can find all of http://melodycarlson.com/ (Melody's books) at your favorite online retailer and by ordering from your local bookstore. You can also follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/melodycarlsonauthor/ (MelodyCarlsonAuthor).
The lovely http://www.lisaharriswrites.com/ (Lisa Harris) talks to us today about building a romantic suspense novel from the ground up. She explains how she organizes her information (she loves Scrivener and Excel!), what she needs to know before she begins, and how she starts writing. She also talks about setting a word-count goal that works for you, and things you can do if you miss a day or two and need to catch up. She even creates "postcards" about the characters in https://www.canva.com/ (Canva) so she can look at them and be reminded of the main information she needs to remember. Interestingly, Lisa often doesn't know who the villain is until she's well into the book! If you're going to start a new book soon, you'll pick up some great tips from Lisa on ways to organize what you know and capture what you learn as you write. You can learn more about Lisa and her books on her website, http://www.lisaharriswrites.com/ (lisaharriswrites.com/). Check out her latest book, https://amzn.to/2CSa6in (A Secret to Die For), wherever books are sold. And if you sign up for her newsletter on her website, you'll get a free copy of one of her Africa-set books, Blood Ransom.
https://suzannewoodsfisher.com/ (Suzanne Woods Fisher) joins us today for a riveting and fun conversation about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantucket (Nantucket), its amazing history and people, and the trilogy of Quaker books she set on the island. Did you know that the Macy family (from the Macy's department stores) and the Folger family (from Folger's coffee, what my mom drank) both come from Nantucket island? So did Benjamin Franklin's mother. Suzanne says it's amazing how many families we've heard of who have roots in this little piece of land off the Massachusetts coast. In this episode, we talk about the island's interesting history, and the strong women who lived there and took care of business while their whaling husbands were away for a year or more at a time. The history and research Suzanne shares is fascinating. Her latest book, https://amzn.to/2IKYihU (The Light Before Day), is the third in the Nantucket Legacy series. You can contact her on https://suzannewoodsfisher.com/ (her website, SuzanneWoodsFisher.com), and on https://www.facebook.com/SuzanneWoodsFisherAuthor (Facebook), https://twitter.com/suzannewfisher (Twitter), and https://www.pinterest.com/suzannewfisher/ (Pinterest) as Suzanne Woods Fisher.
Ever since I was a teenager, I've enjoyed reading the second half of Proverbs 31 about the Wife of Noble Character. I've always looked at that passage as an example of who I'd like to become, what I strive to be. But recently I've read it again with a new perspective. This is not about a woman who doesn't rest. It doesn't say that she never failed. When it says that her lamp doesn't go out at night, I now think it's more likely that the point is that she earns enough to be able to pay her utilities without worry, not that she works instead of sleeps. :-D She helps others - which could be anyone, any amount of help, not necessarily that she's so rich that she's become a philanthropist. (Though that could be true!) When it says she doesn't eat the bread of idleness, I always heard it as - but you, Kitty, are lazy. That's not what it says though! It doesn't say she never rests, never takes a break, but that's how I used to read it. I think we all really need to remember that success doesn't mean no failures. It doesn't mean things come easily or naturally without effort. And it doesn't mean you go it alone!
We writers love stories, and some of the most exciting are stories of getting THE CALL - from an agent who wants to represent our books (and with whom we're now working happily ever after), and from our agent or an editor who wants to buy our books. https://authorclaire.com/ (Claire Eliza Bartlett), our guest today, tells us about the excitement of both calls! Claire is on the journey toward publication of her first novel, and she shares with us how it started and many of the steps along the way. She also has several tips for other writers who are working toward traditional publication. As we chatted, Claire mentioned the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Witches (Night Witches) from World War II and how they influenced part of her new YA novel, https://www.lbyr.com/titles/claire-eliza-bartlett/we-rule-the-night/9780316417266/ (We Rule the Night) (coming out April 2, 2019). If you haven't heard of them, you can read more about their exciting and heroic lives https://www.history.com/news/meet-the-night-witches-the-daring-female-pilots-who-bombed-nazis-by-night (here) and https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/night-witches-the-female-fighter-pilots-of-world-war-ii/277779/ (here). And just in case you're interested, Claire also mentioned liking the Swedish metal band, Sabaton. Here is the link to their song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7NSUFDHFgg ("Night Witches.") I'm not really a fan of metal music, but I like this song and video. :) Claire also mentioned the influence of the Canadian fantasy writer, https://brightweavings.com/ (Guy Gavriel Kay). Read more about https://www.lbyr.com/titles/claire-eliza-bartlett/we-rule-the-night/9780316417266/ (We Rule the Night) and even pre-order it on https://amzn.to/2OzsIsS (Amazon), https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/we-rule-the-night-claire-elizabeth-bartlett/1129245211?ean=9780316417273 (Barnes & Noble), and https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780316417273 (IndieBound). You can follow Claire on https://authorclaire.com/ (her website), authorclaire.com, and on https://twitter.com/bartlebett (Twitter), https://www.instagram.com/bartlebett/ (Instagram), and https://www.facebook.com/bartlebett/ (Facebook) as bartlebett.
Today marks the 100th episode of WRITE NOW! Workshop Podcast! Woohoo!!! :-D Very exciting day for me! To celebrate, I asked Christine Munroe, Director of Kobo Writing Life, if she would be our guest today. :-D She graciously agreed, and we had a wonderful time talking about all the many things Kobo is doing with and for writers. The newest announcement is that Kobo has partnered with Walmart in the United States so that Walmart customers can buy ebooks and audiobooks https://www.walmart.com/ (in the Walmart stores!) How cool is that? If you're a Walmart customer and not already buying books on https://www.kobo.com/ (Kobo.com) or using the Kobo app, you can download and use the "Walmart Ebooks by Rakuten Kobo" app to read the books you buy or to buy more in between visits to the store. Walmart is also selling Kobo readers in stores. Thinking about gift ideas yet? Yup, you can not only buy someone a Kobo ereader at Walmart, you can buy them a gift card for ebooks AND a gift card for audiobooks! https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobooks (Kobo launched their audiobook program) last fall, and it's competitively priced at $9.99USD per month after a 30-day free trial. Thinking of friends and family who prefer large print books? Any ebook is automatically a large print edition, Chrissy reminds us, because ereaders and reading apps allow you to change the font size. If you're like me, you like to wrap physical items to give as gifts, not just have an email automatically sent on someone's birthday saying - "Kitty just bought you this ebook and it's been automatically added to your device." That's great for some things, but at Christmas I want wrapping paper! LOL! Now you can go to Walmart and buy a physical gift to wrap (even though the ebooks and audiobooks are digital items). Chrissy also explains about the Kobo Plus ebook subscription program in the Netherlands and Belgium. Additionally, she talks about how writers can get their audiobooks onto Kobo (and also Walmart now, remember!), or start a new audiobook using companies like https://findawayvoices.com/ (Findaway Voices) or http://listenupaudiobooks.com/ (ListenUp), among others. There is so much going on at Kobo! Speaking of audiobooks, on http://news.kobo.com/ (the Kobo blog (news.kobo.com)) there is a post from September 2017, http://news.kobo.com/blog/the-best-audiobook-narrators-of-all-time-so-far ("The Best Audiobook Narrators of All Time (So Far).") Check it out if you are interested in trying an audiobook for the first time - or if you already know you love them. Chrissy shares a ton of great information in our interview, but there is so much more you can learn if you're interested in selling your books on Kobo or want to know how to sell more. Check out https://kobowritinglife.com/ (the blog (kobowritinglife.com)), which also links to the podcast episodes (search for Kobo Writing Life in your podcast app). If you're new to Kobo, see how easy it is to create an account at https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/p/writinglife (Kobo.com/writinglife). If you'd like to get to know Chrissy a little better, read https://kobowritinglife.com/2018/09/11/four-unexpected-lessons-from-my-trip-to-australia/ (her blog post about her trip to Australia). Her "random fact #1" will be of interest to romance writers. I'll have Chrissy back again soon to talk about exactly how to use Kobo Writing Life to upload and sell your books. :-)
https://www.jenniferdornbush.com/ (Jennifer Dornbush) is a screenwriter, author, speaker, and forensic specialist. Today we talk about her new movie, http://www.godblessthebrokenroad.com/ (God Bless the Broken Road), and https://amzn.to/2DgrTkh (the novelization) she wrote by the same title. Jennifer says both the making of the movie and the release of the novel had aspects of a "broken road" as both had obstacles that seemed insurmountable at times. One of the things that helped her with her (first published) novel was https://amzn.to/2ppilJO (the book Novelizations by Rene Gutteridge and Cheryl McKay), which she highly recommends. As of the publish date of this episode, September 20, 2018, https://tickets.godblessthebrokenroad.com/ (the movie is still in theaters), and https://amzn.to/2poMaKD (the Kindle version) of the book happens to be on sale for 99c. There is also a https://amzn.to/2DcI9mc (large print hardcover) edition, a https://amzn.to/2poVkag (paperback) edition, an https://amzn.to/2MLPKb2 (audiobook), and a https://amzn.to/2OFiUdQ (movie soundtrack). You can learn more about Jennifer, her books and helps for writers, her other novels and films, her speaking and consulting work, and follow her social media accounts at https://www.jenniferdornbush.com/ (JenniferDornbush.com). You can also find her YouTube channel as Jennifer Dornbush, and one of my favorite playlists - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCor1wCA4LKCNQvp-APtjHZg (Forensic Fridays)!
Today's guest is editor https://tishamartin.com/ (Tisha Martin)! Tisha edits for a couple of publishing companies, has private clients, and judges books for Writer's Digest. Today she gives us tips on how to self-edit our books with style. She starts with characters, asking what we can do with our characters to help move the plot forward. Then she moves into scene building, how action and conflict affect how the reader interprets the scene. And finally we talk about dialogue. How can you show the characters' emotions in a way that moves readers and doesn't leave them bored? Tisha will be teaching two classes next month at the http://breatheconference.com/home/ (Breathe Christian Writers Conference) in Grand Rapids, Michigan. One class will be on self-editing for beginners who have finished a manuscript and don't know what to do next, and one will be self-editing for advanced writers, helping them to uncover the psychological snags they can encounter after several books. https://tishamartin.com/edtingservices/ (Check out Tisha's website and her editing services.) She's offering a discount through December 1, 2018!
Summer is about over and I've decided that while I do need to continue guarding my time and my work so that I don't fall into the bad patterns that led me to burnout, I miss doing the Encouraging Words episodes! So I'm going to do at least one a month. Here are my encouraging thoughts for September. :-) I was reading my Bible this morning and read from Ecclesiastes, a book of wisdom in the Old Testament. It says that God has set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from the beginning to the end. It got me all excited because I've been thinking about the next stories I want to write, and how the best stories start in media res, in the middle of the action. The reader doesn't know when the book begins what has happened earlier in this character's life, and he doesn't know how the entire life will end up. But there is this portion that we will tell the reader about that starts here and ends there, and we try to make it as interesting and/or exciting as we can. I love the idea that God is doing the same thing with us! I'm in the middle of my story. I am trying to have a good character arc, growing as I go, and I don't know exactly how the full story will end. But just like we know which writers tend to write sad endings, which tend to write happy endings, which make sure that evil is defeated by the last page, I can rest assured that God is the kind of author I like, too. I don't know how my story will end exactly, but I know it will be a satisfying, happy ending!
Today's guest is https://www.kathrynrbiel.com/ (Kathryn R Biel), author of chick lit, romantic comedies, women's fiction, and more - and probably no relation to actor Jessica Biel, although she's asked that a lot. Due to a horrendous Internet connection that was constantly going out the day before, when we recorded the interview a second time we were so relieved to not have to repeat every sentence that we forgot to look at the clock! In this rather long - but fun! - interview, we talk about resilient women, IKEA, defeating evil, the Spice Girls, writing, the Avengers, and diversity, moving from subject to subject with ease. :-D Oh, and we also talk about her brand new book, https://amzn.to/2QaqY7q (Paradise by the Dashboard Light). We really got caught up in our topic when we started talking about disabled/differently-abled people and how underrepresented they are in fiction. Kathryn is a school physical therapist by day and interacts constantly with people with mental and/or physical challenges, so she finds herself including similar types of characters in her books. We hope you enjoy our interesting and fun conversation that takes us all over the writing map. :-D You can find Kathryn on https://www.kathrynrbiel.com/ (her website), https://www.facebook.com/kathrynrbiel (Facebook), and on Twitter and Instagram as @KRBiel. Also, check out the Facebook group she and some friends put together to share upbeat books with happy endings, https://www.facebook.com/groups/smartreadsHEAs/ (Smart Reads, Happily Ever Afters).
Do you wish you had a writers group? Here are some steps to create your own. Step 1: Look around Who do you know at work or church or in your neighborhood who writes? Check out local libraries and bookstores to see if they already have a group going, if anyone has posted a notice that they're looking for a group, or if you can post a notice that you're interested in starting a group. Maybe even try using a site like MeetUp to find other writers. Step 2: Informational Meeting Meet in a neutral/public location (in case anyone strange comes that you don't want in your house) and introduce yourselves. Share what you write, what stage you're at in your writing, and what you're looking for in a writers group. Do you want to critique, or brainstorm, or just sit and write together without talking, or something else? Have someone take notes and moderate the discussion. Decide if you want to try out a first meeting to see if you all work well together. If so, decide on the details - how many people will be critiqued each meeting, how many words/pages per person, when will you meet and for how long, where will you meet, choose a date for the first meeting, etc. Step 3: Organize You could use something like Google Calendar and Google Docs like my new group's organizer does. She sets up an event and emails go out to remind everyone of when and where the meeting will take place. She also created a folder for each person who will be critiqued at the next meeting and reminds them to upload their work to the folder at least a week in advance. Then everyone in the group can go to these folders and download the documents to critique before the meeting. Some people like to print them and write their notes on the paper, some people like to use Track Changes in Word and then email that to the person being critiqued. There are lots of other ways to do this, too! Step 4: First Meeting The point of the meeting is to critique or brainstorm or whatever you all decided you were going to do. But it's also to see if you all work well together. How did everyone like it? What needs to be changed for next time? Do you need to change the number of people being critiqued or the length of the submissions? Do you need to change the start or end times, or choose to change the location or make it rolling (go to a different person's home or a different cafe each week)? How often do you want to meet again? Now is the time to solidify your meeting guidelines if you didn't do it in the informational meeting. What are the rules to your critique group? Does everyone have to start by saying at least one thing they liked about each submission? How can everyone give constructive criticism? Perhaps avoid saying "you should..." or "I would..." and instead say, "Maybe you could...or..." to give the author a chance to take all of your advice and come up with their own best plan. On the other hand, some writers groups have standards about how far you have to be in your writing or career to even join. Some pride themselves on really delving deep into how to make the work significantly better and so require members to have a thick skin. So long as you all agree, create guidelines that work best for your group. Good luck!
Over the last couple of months, I've been trying to figure out how to recover from burnout. I've found some information on the Internet, but it's been pretty vague and not as helpful as what I needed. So as I've made my own path to recovery, I wanted to make sure I share my experiences with you in case it helps you to recover from or avoid burnout in your own life. One of the things that helped a lot was going on an actual vacation, the kind where you don't work! (Yes, I'm one of those people who took my laptop into the other room and worked on my book or my marketing while everyone else watched a football game on Thanksgiving Day.) Another big help in making me feel better has been spending time with people I love who love me. I've been laughing more in the last couple weeks than I have in a long time, and I know that has changed my perception of my life. On Monday of this week, I told God I'm trying to have faith that He's going to guide me and help me know what to do with my life - since burnout has made me more than a little confused about that. I told Him it was harder to know what guidance is coming from Him since I can't hear His physical voice. Guess what? In less than 48 hours, three people said something to me about what they like about me, what they think I'm good at, and what they think will make me succeed in business - without being prompted! Ask and you will receive! Also, https://podcast.writenowworkshop.com/093i-victorian-england-comes-alive-interview-joanna-davidson-politano/ (last week's episode with Joanna Davidson Politano) has been running through my mind as I wonder if I've got branches that are being inflexible. Do I have too many branches that aren't growing sweet grapes and some need to be cut off? Another way to look at the idea of pruning back to just two branches off each vine in the winter is to ask myself, what if there are only one or two more books I can write and publish before my time is over? Is this book the most important one? What is my why for this book, right now? In the end, it all comes down to - what are my gifts, and am I using them in the best manner, and am I willing to be flexible and change if life leads me in an unexpected direction? I hope this helps you to consider what's going on in your life, whether you need to ask some questions, make some changes. And I really hope my thoughts on recovering from burnout help you to recover and/or avoid burnout yourself.
Today's guest is historical romance writer, https://jdpstories.com/ (Joanna Davidson Politano)! But don't be fooled, Joanna's books have more of a Gothic, almost literary, flavor. If you like Victoria Holt, for example, you may well love Joanna's books. We chatted about her latest book, the beautifully written and very fun (adventure and mystery as well as romance) https://amzn.to/2OEQpwd (A Rumored Fortune). It released on July 31, 2018, and I finished reading it just before we spoke. Joanna told us the lovely story about how it allowed her to revisit the courtship and romance with her husband, which I oohed and ahhed over. (https://jdpstories.com/true-stories-the-marriage-tree/ (Here's a blog post about it!)) One of her writing tips she shares is that when you're writing, you need to let go of the idea that there is going to be an audience reading your book in the future. You need to write the book first for yourself; that will bring your very best story out. That's what she did with her first book, https://amzn.to/2MgWh1W (Lady Jayne Disappears), which won awards and praise. Arguably, the best part the show is when Joanna starts describing her research into vineyards for https://amzn.to/2nHOxYl (A Rumored Fortune). And how it changed her life. I strongly encourage you to listen to this portion of the interview even if you listen to nothing else. (It's about halfway through.) It just might change your life. :-D
The lovely http://www.susanmaywarren.com/ (Susan May Warren) is back, and this time with writing tools! It was all we could do, https://podcast.writenowworkshop.com/077i-digging-deep-find-great-story-interview-susan-may-warren/ (the last time she was on the show), to stay focused on her new book and not stray off into all the ways Susie May helps other writers. So this show is all about her helping all of us to become better writers through a ton of tools she's developed for all levels of writers. :-D As you listen, you'll hear about http://learnhowtowriteanovel.com/ (Learn How to Write a Novel (.com)) and all of the free information you can find there. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced writer, you can sign up for a free class, learn tips from the pros from the great blog (including posts from former WNW Podcast guests https://podcast.writenowworkshop.com/053i-writing-historicals-set-wwii-interview-sarah-sundin/ (Sarah Sundin) and https://podcast.writenowworkshop.com/074i-add-little-murder-interview-patricia-bradley/ (Patricia Bradley)), and click around for links to other great resources. One of those other resources is https://novel.academy/ (Novel.Academy), where you can take classes, join the membership site for weekly classes with Susie May, and learn more about the http://learnhowtowriteanovel.com/coaching-retreats/ (in-person writing retreats). The Deep Thinker's Retreat will be in February 2019 and the Deep Woods Writing Camp is in October 2019. Susie May also tells us how she developed https://amzn.to/2ngqHCP (The Story Equation) (affiliate link alert!) and turned it into a book. And - one of my favorite parts - she created a time management planner for your whole life! She talks about how she decides what she's going to do with her time, and how she gets a lot done in her work life while still having an incredible personal life. Awesome! You can still https://amzn.to/2niu8Zw (buy the 2018 version here) (affiliate link alert!) and http://mybrilliantwritingplanner.com/ (pre-order the 2019 planner here) (links as of August 9, 2018). I hope you found lots of great information in this episode. I sure did!
There was so much to learn at the https://www.rwa.org/ (Romance Writers of America National Conference) held in July this year in Denver, Colorado, that I decided to share some of it with you. :-D The http://yarwa.com/ (YARWA) (Young Adult Romance Writers of America) chapter held a half-day event that included an agent/editor panel - and I share 7 things they say writers do wrong with their queries. https://www.storymastery.com/ (Michael Hauge) was also one of their speakers - I love his workshops! You should definitely check out his blog and his DVDs teaching about writing great stories. https://www.ericaridley.com/read/for-writers/ (Erica Ridley) held an amazing workshop on how to create your author newsletter. She'll be making it into an online class soon, so contact her to ask for more information. It was amazing! http://www.rosannebane.com/ (Rosanne Bane) gave a fascinating workshop on how our brains help us - and hinder us! - in our creative endeavors. https://baneofyourresistance.com/ (She has a blog) and a book with more helpful information. I loved meeting Mark Dawson in person - he's just as he seems in his podcast (https://selfpublishingformula.com/ (SelfPublishingFormula.com)) and his classes, but even friendlier. He gave lots of great tips in his workshops on how to create better ads for our books. My husband and I went to three of the writing sprint get togethers and got a lot written! I wrote down the outline that's been in my head for a while on the ghost chick lit I've been thinking about, and started the first chapter. I feel soooo much better now that I've finally written something after a year's dry spell! If you haven't tried writing sprints, Google what other people are doing and give one a try! I also went to the workshops and/or office hours of most of the businesses related to self-publishing. The big news for https://www.kobo.com/us/en/p/writinglife (Kobo) is that they will be coming to Walmart in the United States in autumn 2018! Christine Munroe, Director of Kobo Writing Life, told us that Walmart will be taking the full catalog, not just the top sellers, so covers will be more important than ever. After talking to the https://www.ingramspark.com/ (IngramSpark) representatives, I'll be opening an account there for the first time. I'll record what I do and how so I can make a video for you. Remember, https://kobowritinglife.com/category/kwl-podcast/ (Kobo) and https://www.ingramspark.com/podcast (IngramSpark) also have their own podcasts for you to learn even more about how to work within their businesses so check them out. Natalie Vandergast at http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/hallmark-publishing/write-for-us (Hallmark Publishing) was like a Hallmark movie heroine - friendly and helpful and so cool you want to be her friend! :-D I hope I get to work with her - remember to check out their http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/hallmark-publishing/write-for-us (submission guidelines) and see if you have a completed book you can send them before their September 3, 2018, deadline. The representatives from Amazon's https://kdp.amazon.com/ (KDP), https://www.acx.com/ (ACX), and https://www.createspace.com/ (CreateSpace) companies were on hand to tell us more about what's going on with them. If you didn't know about this, check out https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202187740 (KDP Jumpstart) as your guide to how to get started. They also try to stay in communication with authors on the https://www.kdpcommunity.com/ (KDP Forum). A couple of the other great workshops I went to included https://www.kristiannhunter.com/ (Kristi Ann Hunter)'s Sweet Romance workshop and a Synopsis Writing workshop taught by https://www.juliakellywrites.com/ (Julia Kelly) and http://www.alisharai.com/ (Alisha Rai). Both were great examples of how much you can learn about a subject you already know if you go in with an attitude of trying to learn. I got a lot from both workshops. And of course, saving the best for last,...
When I was at the Romance Writers of America National Conference last week in Denver, Colorado, I interviewed several of the attendees to find out why they were there and what their favorite part of the conference was. I hope you enjoy listening to all their responses! If you'd like to learn more about them, the names of my guests are: https://readtracyreed.com/ (Tracy Reed) https://debramullins.com/ (Debra Mullins) https://www.kathrynrbiel.com/ (Kathryn R. Biel) http://www.authormelissabaldwin.com/ (Melissa Baldwin) https://www.beckymonson.com/ (Becky Monson) https://www.facebook.com/graceyevans (Gracey Evans) https://alicegaines.blogspot.com/ (Alice Gaines) http://www.christinaalexandra.net/ (Christina Alexandra) https://www.facebook.com/rick.ochocki.7 (Rick Ochocki) https://www.facebook.com/john.bucholtz (John Bucholtz) http://www.mojewetzorkstudios.com/ (Laurel Wetzork) https://www.catharinehenry.com/ (Catharine Henry)
I hope you enjoy getting to know these authors better! :-D
Editor and writing teacher http://marcyweydemuller.com/ (Marcy Weydemuller) is back to show us how to use travel journaling to create both fiction and nonfiction. She's been blogging about the topic (https://mythicimpact.blogspot.com/2018/06/journal-with-impact-travel-influence.html (starting with this post)) as well as several other topics in her journaling series. She's got some great ideas on how to get started and how to keep notes so you can write up your experiences when you get back from your travels. This is great for me - I always feel like there's no time, but now I have some great tools to try out. Marcy shows us a couple ways we can use what we saw, heard, smelled, and ate to create scenes and characters in our novels. She also goes through the various possibilities for creating nonfiction from our trips. In fact, she even gives us ideas on using travel journaling at home - just by going to a place you've never been in your own town. There are more possibilities to travel journaling than I realized! :-D I hope you find some great tips!
Shawn Smucker is the author of the young adult book, The Day the Angels Fell, and the brand new sequel, The Edge of Over There, tales of mystery and magic that will leave you wanting more. Today, Shawn talks to us about his journey to fiction and how it started by writing a nonfiction book for…
Last episode, we talked about doing a mid-year check-in with our writing goals to see if there are any areas that need adjusting as we enter the second half of the year. Today, I’d like to talk to you about doing the same thing with your personal goals. Is there anything that you’ve been saying, “I…
Normally, you’d get an interview today as you do every Thursday, but we are halfway through the year so I thought it would be good to check in and see how you’re doing on your goals for the year. I suggest people do a self-check every 3-6 months to see if they’re on track with…
After Laura Drake explained to us how to pitch our book at a conference last week, it seemed another logical topic would be how to write a query letter. And since I’m about to write a query letter myself, I figured the timing was perfect! My go-to resource for publishing information for ages was literary…
Sometimes, if we change our perspective, we can see things in our lives and in ourselves more clearly. When things are going great, and the little things are bothering us, a reminder that others have a lot more pain in their lives right now can help us to regain our perspective and gratitude. Conversely, if…
Laura Drake is back for a timely look at pitching your book! It’s conference season, and writers conferences are one of the best places to find and pitch your book to agents and editors who may be the right fit. But how do you say everything you want to say in 2-10 minutes?! Pitching veteran…