#AmWriting
445 episodes - English - Latest episode: 11 days ago - ★★★★★ - 170 ratingsEntertaining, actionable advice on craft, productivity and creativity for writers and journalists in all genres, with hosts Jessica Lahey, KJ Dell'Antonia and Sarina Bowen.
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Episodes
Why you don't have to do it like that one writer in the NYT
June 28, 2024 04:01 - 54 minutes - 37.8 MBWe only meant to dissect the success of the writer from this NYT piece briefly, but it turned out we had a lot to say. No, we can’t all imitate her (nor do we want to) but there are things to be learned here. And things to be learned by checking in on your goals at mid-year! How’s it going out there? LINKS New York Times: How a Self-Published Book Broke ‘All the Rules’ and Became a Best Seller The Atlantic: The 24-Year-Old Who Outsold Oprah This Week The Nothing Sells Books but Books Sti...
Stop! Don't Write that Book (Yet)
June 26, 2024 04:01 - 21 minutes - 15.5 MBThe Blueprint is a process of inquiry that ideally happens before you start to write a book, but is also incredibly effective before you start to revise a manuscript or if you happen to be stuck writing chapter three, or thirteen, or thirty-three over and over again. Jennie created the Blueprint and KJ is both a fan and a book coach who is certified to teach it. In this short episode, we chat about why the Blueprint is so great and why it would be great for you to do it with us this summer!...
An #AmWriting Success Story!
June 21, 2024 04:01 - 34 minutes - 24.3 MBThe #AmWriting team is so excited to present this interview with Dr. Barb Mayes Boustead – because it’s an #AmWriting success story! Barb was the random winner of The Summer Blueprint Challenge we ran in the summer of 2022. She won a Blueprint review with Jennie Nash – and the book proposal that came out of that work recently landed Barb a book deal. (Want a chance at something like that for yourself? Keep reading—we’re hosting a new Blueprint Sprint!) Her book, WILDER WEATHER: What Laura...
Tiny Worlds: How a nature illustrator and author built a fanbase for her work.
June 07, 2024 04:01 - 40 minutes - 28.5 MBHello #AmWriters, Jess here. When Rosalie Haizlett emailed to introduce me to her work, I was intrigued. At the time, I was working on the marketing section of a book proposal, trying to thick- and thin-slice the book’s potential audience and explain why my fanbase as well as new readers might purchase this particular book I was describing. So when Rosalie emailed to tell me about her forthcoming book, Tiny Worlds of the Appalachian Mountains: An Artist’s Journey my head exploded. How do you...
How Bad Can a Good First Draft Be?
May 31, 2024 04:01 - 18 minutes - 13.2 MBLet me start by answering the question posed in the title: very bad. Very very bad. Terrible, even. Plotless meandering senseless drivel involving two-dimensional characters continually lifting cups of coffee to their lips and then never putting them down and suddenly, without warning, pumping gas instead. Although, to be honest, that last is never my personal problem. My (incoherent, emotion-less, inconsistent) characters tend to meticulously move around a reasonably clear, if poorly descr...
Nothing Sells Books. But Books Still Sell.
May 24, 2024 04:01 - 42 minutes - 30.2 MBIt’s EPISODE 401! That’s a lot of episodes. We’re proud. We’re also not done—and a couple weeks ago, a fellow writer decreed, in an email post that went rather viral, that No One Buys Books. We disagree. Instead, we offer the following less bleak but not entirely rosy corollary: Nothing Sells Books. But Books Still Sell. Coming at you in this episode are four somewhat cynical authors, one who spends her time now working with writers rather than writing herself. We’ve all had books hit va...
Trusting Your Gut on a Complicated Plot
May 17, 2024 04:01 - 37 minutes - 26.4 MBToday, I (Jennie) am excited to welcome novelist Caroline Leavitt to the show. She's a very prolific author who's novels have landed on the New York Times bestseller list, the USA today bestseller list, and have been optioned for films, translated into many languages, contents for magazines, and won all kinds of awards. Caroline is also the co-founder of A Mighty Blaze, an organization that began during the pandemic to promote independent bookstores and authors who lost their book tours. ...
5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Self Publishing
May 10, 2024 04:01 - 10 minutes - 7.73 MBAs a hybrid author with a long history of both self-publishing and traditional contracts, I’m often asked about this choice. How I decided to self-publish, and is it still a good idea? This is question for the ages! Or, well, since 2007. The answer is that it’s complicated. My own feelings about self-pub have surely evolved over the years. This March I celebrated my ten-year anniversary as a self published author. I had a great return on my efforts right out of the gate, so I’ve always b...
His Years of Writing Eloquently: The Return of A.J. Jacobs
May 03, 2024 04:01 - 56 minutes - 39.2 MBHe’s back! He’s back! One of my favorite writers, an early and generous mentor, the fantabulous A.J. Jacobs. We interviewed him last when his book, The Puzzler, came out, and he’s back to talk about his new book, The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning. Links from the Pod: A.J.’s website My Outsourced Life article Party like it’s 1789! My weird enlightening month living strictly by the U.S. Constitution in The Guardian Th...
Starting Energy v. Finishing Energy: How the work gets done, start to finish.
April 25, 2024 04:01 - 40 minutes - 28.4 MBWe’ve been talking a lot lately about the how hard it is to finish a project and how different that energy is from the wonderful, euphoric, sometimes manic starting energy. Here’s some advice from Jess, Sarina, and Jennie on how authors manage their lives and relationships and work amid the ups and downs of writing projects. AmReading: Sarina: She’s been loving the Orphan X series by Greg Hurwitz Jennie: Her fave read this week is Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano Jess: Finally got around ...
Daring to Kickstarter with Rachael Herron
April 19, 2024 04:01 - 51 minutes - 36.1 MBIf you do not already know Rachael Herron, host of the Ink In Your Veins Podcast (formerly known as How Do You Write) and author of 13-ish novels (including 2 thrillers under the not-exactly pseudonym RH Herron), soon-to-be two memoirs and a few assorted books as well as many many blog posts and essays about writing… well you’re lucky because now you do. The thing to know about Rachael Herron for today’s purposes is that she’s published her books both independently and with traditional pub...
Episode: 395 Who Owns an Idea?
April 12, 2024 04:01 - 31 minutes - 22.3 MBThe idea for Sarina Bowen’s thriller, The Five Year Lie, is an incredible and suspenseful hook for a story – and she first heard it from a writer friend. In this episode, Jennie Nash interviews Sarina about the concept of who owns an idea and how this particular idea made its way through Sarina’s brain and onto the flap copy of her forthcoming book. Things Mentioned in This Episode Lauren Blakely The Best Men by Sarina Bowen and Lauren Blakely The Five Year Lie by Sarina Bowen – preorde...
Flashback Friday: Writing While #Broken
March 29, 2024 04:01 - 38 minutes - 27 MBHey #AmWriters! It’s been almost three years since our interview with Jenny Lawson first aired, but we know the struggle is REAL - so we thought this is the perfect time to bring this episode back out for a listen. Whether you’re struggling with getting the work done or feeling like maybe you’re not really a writer, this episode may be just what you need to remind you why you’re here. Happy listening! Writing is hard. In this episode, we talk imposter syndrome, editing, the right headspace ...
Things Jess Learned This Month, Ep. 394
March 22, 2024 04:01 - 33 minutes - 23.6 MBHey hey Jess here! I had a couple of great learning opportunities this month, so in the interest of flattening learning curves, I took notes for all of you! First up, I took a call from a company interested in working with me to boost my platform, and I was curious about what they do and how they do it. While I won’t reveal what company I talked to, I will tell you about all the things I learned on that call. Companies that promise to boost platform are proliferating, and I was curious a...
I want to sell books. But I'm also writing what I want to write. Episode 393 with Jo Piazza
March 15, 2024 04:01 - 45 minutes - 32.2 MBYou KIDS. If you’re not already following Jo Piazza, queen of the highly suspicious influencer side-eye, what even are you DOING on Substack and Instagram? Go follow her now. We’ll wait. Okay, now listen while we talk about Jo’s many-booked career that includes freelancing, narrative non-fiction, journalistic memoir (the kind where a reporter manages to get paid to interview people to try to help her with her problem), writing novels with co-authors and novels alone. Just LOOK at the list b...
How to Be a Good Literary Citizen: Volunteer at a Writing Conference
March 08, 2024 05:01 - 32 minutes - 22.9 MBWhenever I see a writer on social media incessantly talking about their own work, their own book, and their own launch, the thing that comes to mind is this: “They’re not being a good literary citizen.” Being a good literary citizen is, among other things, showing up for the community you are a part of, uplifting other writers, and doing what you can to make sure that all voices are heard. We often think that the time to help others is after you’ve made it, but in this episode I’m talking to...
Flashback Friday: How Do You Write a Non-Fiction Book in less than a Year?
March 01, 2024 05:01 - 51 minutes - 36.1 MBHey #AmWriters, Jess here! There's a very specific reason I wanted to re-up this coaching call with Emily Edlynn. I did an interview with AJ Jacobs day before yesterday, but it's not going to drop until May. I love AJ Jacobs, I know you love AJ Jacobs, and I’m really excited for you to hear our interview - but in that interview we talked about writing nonfiction books in less than a year. It is possible to do! We had a coaching call with Emily Edlynn 100 episodes ago and I wanted to re-up it...
Why You Should Take a Plot-walk
February 23, 2024 05:01 - 41 minutes - 29.5 MB✍️ Writers: when you’re stuck on a plot, go outside and take a walk with a friend. You’ll still be stuck, but you will get your steps in for the day, and have someone to b***h to. Follow us for more plotting tips. Here all week. Sometimes Sarina and I take an ordinary walk. Most times, actually. But sometimes, part way up the first hill, Sarina says, Ok, so I have this problem. And then we’re off, trying to figure out why a character would make a certain choice, or how to get someone from p...
Coaching call with author, educator & speaker Katie Kinder
February 16, 2024 05:01 - 48 minutes - 34 MBJess here. I love love love coaching calls, and opt to talk rather than trade emails when someone needs a comprehensive education in speaking career building. I met Katie at a recent speaking event and she grabbed my attention on stage right away. She had that…something that speakers need on stage to hold the attention of a large audience. Katie was generous enough to allow me to record our call so you all can learn along with her! Here’s to flattening learning curves! Links from the Pod ...
How to Create a Substack that Delivers (for you and your readers) Episode 389 with Dan Blank
February 09, 2024 05:01 - 57 minutes - 40.2 MBWanna start—or fix—your email/Substack? We GOT YOU. Dan Blank is, truly, THE GUY when it comes to helping writers identify our audience, find ways to reach them and also feel great about the process. Before you do anything else, go subscribe to his Substack. I’ll wait. Ok, those Substack links are BIG. But brace yourself, there’s more of them. In this episode, which you must go listen to, Dan, Jennie and KJ talk about the three ways to approach a Substack, why you should have an email list...
What’s on the Cutting Room Floor?
February 02, 2024 05:01 - 30 minutes - 21.8 MBDeciding what to leave in and what to take out is something every writer has to face; from the moment they start conceiving of an idea to the moment when it goes to press. What strategy do you bring to those decisions? In this episode, I (Jennie Nash) chat with book coach and author Suzette Mullen about the scenes she left out of her forthcoming memoir, The Only Way Through is Out. She has an ebook you can download and read along with five cut scenes, plus see her reasons for cutting them....
Ep 387: The Art of Manifesting for Tired and Skeptical Authors
January 26, 2024 05:01 - 11 minutes - 8.3 MBI think of myself an analytical person. Fine, a cynical one. So when my friends began talking about manifesting as a way to improve one's writing career, I struggled to wrap my head around it. Even if I was privately fascinated. First, let’s define our terms. Manifesting, in this context, refers to the practice of thinking aspirational thoughts with the intention of encouraging them to become reality. It's based on the belief that our thoughts, energy, and focus can directly influence th...
Episode 386: Under the Weather Productivity
January 19, 2024 05:01 - 41 minutes - 29.4 MB“It doesn’t have to be good, it just has to happen” - Seth Godin, The Practice “F*ck it, I feel like sh*t” - Jess Lahey Hi everyone! Jess here. We actually managed to get Sarina, Jennie, KJ and Jess together for an episode even though Jess and KJ have been under the weather. All December and January, the group text thread has been moaning and groaning about feeling awful and needing to work but feeling awful. So what do you do when you are not at your physical or mental peak and working be...
Ep 385: What I Think About When I Think About Job Offers
January 12, 2024 05:01 - 32 minutes - 23 MBJess here. We have talked about the lure of shiny objects, those glowing opportunities on the horizon that may (or may not) be worth the potential downsides. We have all fallen victim to the hypnotic glare and some of us have even been blinded and temporarily lost our way. So how do you decide whether a job offer is a shiny object, a worthy endeavor, or both? How do you decide if it’s the right time, right boss, right idea, right direction? And once you have done that, what else do you have ...
Unapologetically Re-creating our Abundant Zone of Genius
December 29, 2023 05:01 - 45 minutes - 32.2 MBWriters, some thoughts: first off, I HATE the word of the year I declared in this episode. I chose… poorly. It’s such a weak work, so unadventurous, so poky. So I have already reframed, and searched long and hard for a word that basically means, I am never ever making another TikTok again no matter what anyone says, and the result is unapologetic. For the moment. I’m not superthrilled, bc I would rather have a positive active word that one that starts with a negation, but that’s where I am f...
Flashback Friday: Become a #BetterStrongerFaster Writer with Becca Syme
December 22, 2023 05:01 - 44 minutes - 30.9 MBCrew, we love us some Becca Syme over here. We will listen to any podcast she’s on, sometimes twice. We (okay, me) watch her YouTube channel while we work out. We read her email newsletter religiously. Because she gets writers and writers. She gets that while we may all be trying to do what looks like the same thing, we all do that thing differently and what works for one of us doesn’t work for all of us. So obviously we were super-excited to get to talk to her, and we’re delighted to re-s...
Flashback Friday: Episode 293, how to build a literary life with Zibby Owens.
November 24, 2023 05:01 - 44 minutes - 31.3 MBWriters, if you're paying attention at all, you've heard from Zibby Owens in the past 2 years. She's the host of the Moms Don't Have Time to Read Podcast and the creator of Zibby Media, which at this point includes a magazine, a publishing house that's having a great month with, among other books, The Last Love Note, which KJ highly recommends and an LA-based bookstore. In 2022, Jess talked with Zibby about how she launched her literary life--and as that life gets bigger and bigger, we thoug...
When Inner Dialogue Isn't "Telling" and When It Is in Memoir and Fiction
November 17, 2023 05:01 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MBHey writers—I’m in a funny phase of novel drafting right now where I’m really only doing the prewriting—which is an odd style of drafting wherein, for me, I basically write only dialogue and statements of movement and the very most important bits of inner dialogue. (As in, no one is opening car doors or setting down their coffee cups, and there are also no quotation marks, and they could be anywhere as far as setting is concerned.) Writing this way keeps my eyes on the prize—basically it’s ...
How to Restart Your Work after an Unplanned Pause
November 10, 2023 05:01 - 16 minutes - 12 MBOk, we probably don’t feel as cheery as that little subtitle sounded after we’ve been away from a project for a while. Most of the things that yank us away from our work unexpectedly aren’t good things. (There must be exceptions?) In my case, I got sick, and then I overdid and got sicker, and the result is a project I haven’t touched in a week. Which is SO not that bad or that long—sometimes things happen and it’s a month or more before we can get back into the work—but it made me think abo...
How Sarina's Reading Journal Makes Her a Better Novelist: Episode 382
October 27, 2023 04:01 - 13 minutes - 9.8 MBHi. 🙋♀️ My name is Sarina, and I’m a bit obsessive about stationery products. I’m always on the lookout for a good excuse to buy new pens or a new notebook. But bear with me, because this one is 100% valid: every year I buy a new reading journal, and I use it well. The journal itself is nothing special. It’s just a 200 page B5 (or composition book sized) notebook where I keep track of all the books I’ve read. (Or, in many cases, books I started and did not finish. I’m a big DNFer, because...
How to Find the Right Speaking Agent: Ep 381
October 20, 2023 04:01 - 35 minutes - 25.3 MBJess here, with detailed answers to the questions raised in the #AmWriting Facebook group about finding, contracting, and working with a speaking agent. I have tried both going it alone and managing my own speaking career and working with an agent on an exclusive basis. Both paths can work, both require a big investment of time, and both have their own obstacles. Keep the questions coming in the FB group or by email, and we will keep answering them! If the idea of being a book coach ni...
National Novel Planning Month (that should be a thing)
October 13, 2023 04:01 - 22 minutes - 15.8 MBI’m a fan of NaNoWriMo—National Novel Writing Month, in which the plan is to write 50,000 words of a novel in November. It’s about 1666 words a day, a little more if you take off for Thanksgiving, and it’s do-able to get to 50K words. But realistically, most people’s result, even if they “win” isn’t a draft of a novel. It’s usually the rambling draft of the first half or two-thirds at best. Because even if your preferred method of writing is to “pants” (As opposed to plot), getting a novel d...
A Million Little Pieces that can Make or Break a Speaking Engagement: Episode 379
October 06, 2023 04:01 - 49 minutes - 34.3 MBHello #AmWriters! Jess here. I have been getting a lot of messages via the #AmWriting Facebook group and email about details that can make or break a speaking engagement. I like having a podcast episode to point these people to, so here’s the podcast episode I wish I’d had before I received my first invitation to speak. We talk negotiation, fees, contracts (while remembering that while I went to law school I remember precious little so this is not legal advice), problem-solving, bad hotels...
Six Seasons in One Episode: Cookbooks as Memoir with Gesine Bullock-Prado, Ep 378
September 29, 2023 04:01 - 46 minutes - 32.3 MBI’ve been wanting to talk cookbook writing with Gesine Bullock-Prado for some time now, and was thrilled to get the chance to sit in her home and baking school in what was once Freegrace Tavern, built in 1794. Portraits of Freegrace and Jerusha hang in the entryway, overseeing (and judging?) all visitors to the house (pic below). You can find Gesine at her website, where you will also find information about her baking school, Sugar Glider Kitchen. Warning: her classes sell out almost immedi...
Writing for Tweendom: Jamie Sumner on writing difficult topics and the glory of middle grade fiction
September 22, 2023 04:01 - 55 minutes - 38.6 MBJess here! Jamie Sumner and I talked over the summer about her middle grade books, mainly because I’m a fan. She does not shy away from difficult topics - substance use disorder, financial insecurity, physical disability, autism, and anxiety. She’s been on the show before (here’s her first interview) but I had to have her on to talk about her new book, Maid for It, out September 5, 2023. Jamie’s website: https://jamie-sumner.com #AmReading Jamie: The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff One Tr...
Flinging a Fall Book out into the world
September 15, 2023 04:01 - 44 minutes - 31.5 MBSarina’s on the struggle bus. Jess is back to non-fiction and killing it on TikTok. KJ’s in book launch mode and also killing it on TikTok. Want to help share Playing the Witch Card with the world? Everything you need is HERE (and this is also something every author should do, every time). Also, BUY MY BOOK. (This is KJ, can you tell?) You’ll like it. I promise. So will your mother, daughter, sister, partner and next door neighbor. Bookshop.org Amazon Barnes&Noble Still North Book...
Reinvention Marketing: Selling Your Book for Years After Pub Day
September 08, 2023 04:01 - 35 minutes - 25.2 MBHi #AmWriters! Jess here to talk about what I’ve been up to this summer and hoping some of it proves helpful for you. That’s why we started this podcast years ago - to flatten the learning curve for other writers. Here I am, almost a decade out from the publication of The Gift of Failure and I have this new book, The Addiction Inoculation, on a topic that can be scary to some people (substance use disorder! eeeek!) as you know, I’m always looking for ways to get books in the hands of new r...
From Idea to Execution: Building a Book
September 01, 2023 04:01 - 1 hour - 49.2 MBHi all! Jess here! Welcome to a new season! We are back with our usual #AmWriting content and I’m incredibly excited about this episode. Seven years ago, I was speaking in the school library of a small elementary school in California - the entire event was a favor for a friend - and met a reader named Kirsten Jones. I love small events because I get to spend so much time talking with the audience members at the book signing. One of the last people to get her book signed was Kirsten, a for...
Never Carved in Stone: Letting Ideas Evolve
August 25, 2023 04:01 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBIn our Idea Factory wrap-up, Jennie and I talk about the ways ideas need to change and evolve throughout the writing process—while you develop them and even in between drafts. Don’t let the idea take charge—the writer has to keep running the show. Good news for memoir writers! Y’all probably know how much I love Jennie Nash’s Blueprint books. They really are the closest thing I’ve found to a guide for getting through draft after draft. I start with them, and I go back to them when I’m stuck...
Ideas and Nonfiction: Your Book Idea Contains Multitudes
August 18, 2023 04:01 - 37 minutes - 26.2 MBThat first non-fiction book may seem easy—it’s your THING, the thing you know—but you still have to hone it down. Is it advice, information, the story of how you learned what you know? Inspirational, confrontational, aspirational? And then comes the next book. And the next. And it still always comes back to the idea. Good news for memoir writers! Y’all probably know how much I love Jennie Nash’s Blueprint books. They really are the closest thing I’ve found to a guide for getting through dr...
When Good Ideas Go Bad (the most common mistakes writers make)
August 11, 2023 04:01 - 40 minutes - 28.5 MBYou’ve no doubt heard people say of non-fiction books “that should have been an article”. Not every idea can sustain an entire book or story. Many things that feel like ideas are really set-ups: what if there was a school for dragon riders? Yes, absolutely, cool, but the who and the what happens and the why do we care never go away. In this episode, we talk about turning the flicker of an idea into a full light bulb, and rescuing an idea that didn’t turn out to be quite enough. Good news f...
Memoirs for the Marketplace: A Blueprint for Success
August 04, 2023 04:01 - 48 minutes - 34.1 MBPart two of the memoir conversation: yes you do need an idea for a memoir. Gotta narrow things down, figure out what you want to share and why and most of all, why anyone would want to read it. There’s a difference between a memoir, and a memoir that the market will embrace—and we tell you how to find it. Good news for memoir writers! Y’all probably know how much I love Jennie Nash’s Blueprint books. They really are the closest thing I’ve found to a guide for getting through draft after dra...
You Are the Protagonist (memoirs need ideas too) with Rachael Herron
July 28, 2023 04:01 - 44 minutes - 31.2 MBBut wait, isn’t a memoir a book about my life? What do you mean, I need an idea? We mean, you need an idea. Because your whole life is… really not book material. But one thematic chunk of it? One recurring event, one series of catastrophes, one relationship, one moment that changed everything? Now you’re talking—and so are we, to the amazing Rachael Herron, host of the How Do You Write Podcast, author of Fast Draft Your Memoir and leader of a recurring, very hard to get into multi-week cl...
How to Decide if Your Book Idea is Solid (or Solid Enough)
July 21, 2023 04:01 - 35 minutes - 24.9 MBThis is the third in our 2023 Summer Idea Factory series. Jennie Nash is back, and this time, she and I are talking about the process of testing out ideas, talking through them, and spending enough time with them to figure out if they’ll sustain you through an entire book—and if you want them to. Good news for memoir writers! Y’all probably know how much I love Jennie Nash’s Blueprint books. They really are the closest thing I’ve found to a guide for getting through draft after draft. I st...
The Airport Game (or, how to come up with 8 ideas on a 3 hour long flight)
July 14, 2023 04:01 - 47 minutes - 33 MBTHIS IS MY FAVORITE THING EVER. Jennie Nash and I (KJ here) are talking ideas this summer: getting them, keeping them, taking them from baby spark idea to big-enough-to-hold-a draft idea. In this episode, I lay out my favorite technique for forcing myself to do two things: thing of something beyond the single spark I’m attached to at any given moment and take all of the sparks I can generate and push them harder until they get to a point where they might just stand on their own. I hope you ...
Welcome to the Idea Factory (Good Writing Comes Last, Part 2)
July 07, 2023 04:01 - 39 minutes - 27.7 MBWriters, I have IDEAS. Usually a lot of them. 99% of them go nowhere. You can feel me bubbling over with ideas in every episode and even in the title of many episodes. There is so much I always want to say. Like me, Jennie Nash is an idea cannon. So between us, we come up with a lot of plans. This is all to say that first: this episode, and the 7 “Idea Factory” episodes that follow, are the result of one such idea. At the beginning of this year, I (It’s KJ here) was deciding on what to do f...
How to Start a Novel (and keep going) Episode 365
July 01, 2023 00:25 - 24 minutes - 17.4 MBI did a call with a writer this week who really is just getting started, with a few short stories finished and dreams of the future, and after we talked at probably unnecessary length about the fundamental truth that writing is hard and you have to actually DO it, not just think about it and plan for it, so annoying, she asked me how I start a new project*. This episode is my answer, pretty much—because I’ve just done exactly that. My first outline document for the book I’m working on is da...
Summer Reading for Writers (plus a #FlashbackFriday: Episode 269)
June 23, 2023 04:01 - 30 minutes - 21.7 MBTwo years ago, Jennie Nash and I (this is KJ) got into a debate about what was the best, most helpful book for a writer’s bookshelf. Almost instantly we realized that we couldn’t choose just one (although if we could, I suspect it’s Save the Cat Writes a Novel for me and Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit for Jennie, but even as I write that I’m having second thoughts in favor of Big Magic but I’m just SO ANNOYED with her right now because of the whole take-back-my-book thing) and, yeah. Any...
Satire: writing just below "over-the-top" with Jane Roper Episode 364
June 16, 2023 04:01 - 41 minutes - 29.2 MBThe book is The Society of Shame and one of the many, many ways you can tell it’s satire is that it keeps making people who don’t get it mad. Satire is fiction, hopped up on humor and then amped up by all the things that seem like they couldn't quite happen and yet you know they might. (Another commonality of good satire? The most outrageous bits are often the ones that come straight from the headlines. The author is Jane Roper, who is also the author of a memoir, Double Time: How I Surviv...
How to Hate Your Work and Also Sell It-- at the same time. Episode 363
June 09, 2023 04:01 - 38 minutes - 27 MBHowdy from KJ’s office, where I’m trapped because outside these doors, an angry child lies in wait, ready to tell me all I’ve done wrong as a parent over lo these many years. Good thing I had Jess and Sarina to keep me company while we talk about marketing, selling, navigating the socials, blurbing and asking for blurbs and reading blurbs and oh, still writing the whole time. Links from the pod: The Flying Pig The Chain, Adrian McKinty On Good Authority, Anna David The Eragon series, C...