#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.
amwriting.substack.com
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Breaking into Television Writing: Episode 286 with Will Morey
October 22, 2021 04:01 - 40 minutesHello listeners! Jess here. I had the chance to interview one of my former students, Will Morey, about his career as a writer. He has always been talented, and even way back when I knew him in high school English class (actually, since he was eight) he has dreamed of working in movies and television. We talk through his entire career, from a high school screenplay about vampires to working in professional theater, to helping create (and this was a new word for me) “Mockbusters,” or close-b...
When Agents Ask You to "Revise and Resubmit": Episode 285 with Mindy Carlson
October 15, 2021 04:01 - 47 minutesQuerying and submitting is a jungle, campers—and yet if it’s done right, it can not only work out happily in the end, but seem as if it were meant to be. “Meant to be” after a year of additional work, anyway. Mindy Carlson has just signed a 2 book deal with Crooked Lane Books. The first, Her Dying Day, comes out June 7, 2022. I asked her to come on to talk about her road to publication--because she revised and resubmitted her novel not just once but twice before signing with her now agent. ...
When Inner Dialogue Isn't "Telling" and When It Is in Memoir and Fiction: Episode 284 with Jess, KJ and Sarina
October 08, 2021 04:01 - 37 minutesThe whole “am I showing, or am I telling” inner debate can be tough in every part of a novel, memoir or nonfiction-with-elements-of-memoir draft. You don’t want to “tell” about the action. You don’t want to “tell” about the setting. And goodness knows you don’t want to “tell” what the character is feeling. Except when you do. Sometimes a little telling, in the form of inner dialogue, is exactly what the reader needs to feel a part of the story, not just the happenings. Sarina, Jess and KJ a...
Where Do You Get Your Ideas? Episode 283: Turning situations into books with Heather Chavez
October 01, 2021 04:01 - 39 minutesWelcome to what I think we’ll designate as a fresh new season of #AmWriting! We are mixing it up a bit this fall. It’s KJ here, and I’ll be doing some great interviews on craft and getting the work done. Jess has some interviews up her sleeve as well, and Sarina will be joining us regularly for what I like to think of as “Masterclass” episodes on craft and process. We’ll also be doing some “coaching calls” with listeners who’ve written in with a burning question that one or more of of can he...
Episode 282: 40 Years of Procrastination with Joy Imboden Overstreet
September 24, 2021 04:01 - 45 minutesThe author I’m interviewing today, Joy Imboden Overstreet, holds the distinction of having procrastinated on writing her first book longer than any previous #AmWriting guest—about 40 years. She is also the writer whose essay on her son’s unusual business venture enabled me, in my role as an editor at the NYT, to publish the paper’s first illustration of a personalized vibrator, and I will forever be grateful to her for that. But wait, I hear you saying. Forty years? Forty? How did Joy manag...
Episode 281: Writing with the Door Open (Stephen King May Be Wrong)
September 17, 2021 04:01 - 41 minutesStephen King says: Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. In this episode, we dare to ask if maybe that’s not always the case. Does having to put your idea into words and get it into another person’s head weaken it--or force you to make it strong? Links from the pod: The Idea: The Seven Elements of a Viable Story for Screen, Stage or Fiction by Erik Bork Great Stories Don't Write Themselves: Criteria-Driven Strategies for More Effective Fiction by Larry Brooks Libro.fm ...
Episode 280: Book Launching Fun with Jess
September 10, 2021 04:01 - 42 minutesBy popular request, it’s the 2021 The Addiction Inoculation Launch Story! Jess fills us in on the weirdness and craziness that was a mid-pandemic non-fiction book release. Her advice includes: don’t try to do too much, target your energy—and ask for help making choices when you don’t know what to do when. We talk balancing an outside and an inside publicist, working with local booksellers for signed copies and larger orders, the challenges of a world with far fewer speaking opportunities and...
Episode 279: Collaborating, Revising and Proposing--What We Did On Our Summer Vacations
September 03, 2021 04:01 - 42 minutesJess and Sarina are back! After a hard-working summer and an August of anxiety (don’t tell us you didn’t feel that too), we talk about how we got all the things done and all the things we have planned, with a fun diversion into how and where to end a chapter to create the illusion of a break while keeping the reader hooked. Plus, a summer reading review that will absolutely add to your #tbr. Links: Sarina’s new co-author, Lauren Blakely Sarina’s latest best-seller: Waylaid The Idea: The ...
Episode 278: Editing
August 27, 2021 04:01 - 26 minutesFor that moment when you’ve hit the finish line—and now you’re going back to the beginning and starting all over again in a different hat. In our new summer series, The Working Bookshelf, KJ and guest host Jennie Nash pull their favorite writing books off the shelf and debate: which is better and why—until invariably, they get distracted and just start talking about the topic at hand. Funny, fresh and full of frank advice, when KJ and Jennie get going they’re hard to stop. This week, it’s ...
Episode 277: Writer Comfort Reads
August 20, 2021 04:01 - 26 minutesSometimes you just need to spend a few hours with someone who really gets you—without actually having to talk to anyone. In our new summer series, The Working Bookshelf, KJ and guest host Jennie Nash pull their favorite writing books off the shelf and debate: which is better and why—until invariably, they get distracted and just start talking about the topic at hand. Funny, fresh and full of frank advice, when KJ and Jennie get going they’re hard to stop. This week, it’s Bird by Bird vers...
Episode 276: When You Don't Know Why You're Doing This
August 13, 2021 04:01 - 33 minutesSometimes you find yourself asking—over a draft, or a failed draft, or a sagging outline or just during a really long drive—why exactly you do this thing we do. This week, we turn to some favorites to help answer that question. In our new summer series, The Working Bookshelf, KJ and guest host Jennie Nash pull their favorite writing books off the shelf and debate: which is better and why—until invariably, they get distracted and just start talking about the topic at hand. Funny, fresh and f...
Episode 275: Writing While White (or otherwise part of the historically dominant paradigm)
August 06, 2021 04:01 - 37 minutesEverybody, no matter what box we check or refuse to check on the census, sees life most easily from our own perspective while knowing there are many, many others. How do we write books that reflect the world we live in and all the people we live among—without claiming to speak about experiences we have not and cannot have? In our new summer series, The Working Bookshelf, KJ and guest host Jennie Nash pull their favorite writing books off the shelf and debate: which is better and why—until i...
Episode 274: Getting Published
July 30, 2021 04:01 - 22 minutesSometimes you just want to make that thing happen. In our new summer series, The Working Bookshelf, KJ and guest host Jennie Nash pull their favorite writing books off the shelf and debate: which is better and why—until invariably, they get distracted and just start talking about the topic at hand. Funny, fresh and full of frank advice, when KJ and Jennie get going they’re hard to stop. This week, it’s The Essential Guide to Getting Published versus 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Pu...
Episode 273: #Writing Books for When You're Stuck
July 23, 2021 04:01 - 28 minutesSometimes writing is hard, y’all. Well, mostly it’s hard (and it’s a fun job and we enjoy it)—but sometimes you’re just really stuck and you don’t know why. You need help—and we’ve got books that offer it. In our new summer series, The Working Bookshelf, KJ and guest host Jennie Nash pull their favorite writing books off the shelf and debate: which is better and why—until invariably, they get distracted and just start talking about the topic at hand. Funny, fresh and full of frank advice, w...
Episode 272: Sometimes Writers Need to Up Our Game
July 16, 2021 04:01 - 27 minutesKJ and Jennie truly go head-to-head in this one, because KJ loves a book Jennie loathes. Can she talk her around? In our new summer series, The Working Bookshelf, KJ and guest host Jennie Nash pull their favorite writing books off the shelf and debate: which is better and why—until invariably, they get distracted and just start talking about the topic at hand. Funny, fresh and full of frank advice, when KJ and Jennie get going they’re hard to stop. This week, we’re upping our games with Th...
Episode 271: #Productivity: Write More Better Faster Yes Please
July 09, 2021 04:01 - 28 minutesWho doesn’t want to write more faster and better? And who doesn’t get stuck spinning the old wheels once in a while? In our new summer series, The Working Bookshelf, KJ and guest host Jennie Nash pull their favorite writing books off the shelf and debate: which is better and why—until invariably, they get distracted and just start talking about the topic at hand. Funny, fresh and full of frank advice, when KJ and Jennie get going they’re hard to stop. This week, we take on Productivity wi...
Episode 270: #Plotting Your Heart (and Book) Out
July 02, 2021 04:01 - 31 minutesYou CAN write a book without a plot (check out Anne Tyler’s Redhead By the Side of the Road if you doubt me, I swear to you that the most plotty thing that happens in it is the protagonist making a sandwich and yet you still want to keep reading). But if you’re not Anne Tyler (and I’m not), you ‘re going to need a nice plot arc to keep your pages turning—but not at the expense of your character’s emotional journey. How to get to both? How about a little help from a nice book? In our new su...
Episode 269: Finding #Inspiration on the Writer's Bookshelf
June 25, 2021 04:19 - 25 minutesCage match! KJ’s favorite book on finding writerly inspiration versus Jennie Nash’s favorite of same. In our new summer series, The Working Bookshelf, KJ and guest host Jennie Nash pull their favorite writing books off the shelf and debate: which is better and why—until invariably, they get distracted and just start talking about the topic at hand. Funny, fresh and full of frank advice, when KJ and Jennie get going they’re hard to stop. This week, it’s Big Magic versus The Creative Habit. ...
Episode 268 #SummerReading: Whose List Looks Like Your List?
June 18, 2021 04:01 - 36 minutesWhose summer #TBR looks like yours? Call it a game, a competition or just an excuse to talk about books: this week we’re doing something new. Each of us will share 6 summer reading recommendations—some we’ve read, some we’re stockpiling for when our own vacations arrive. Your job is to pick whose list looks most like yours—which of us would you let choose the books for YOUR next vacation? (Fellow fans of the Bookriot podcast, yes, this is absolutely blatant theft—ahem, homage. Love you Jef...
Episode 267 #Summer Writing Plans
June 11, 2021 04:01 - 40 minutesSummer is… here? Nigh? Here and nigh? The sun is frequently shining, the end-of-year festivities are doing their kinda-post-pandemic-kinda-not thing and soon, if you’re a family type, you’ll have kids home for the duration—and if you’re not, the great outdoors will still be calling, making it harder to work than when you’re hunkered down during a snowstorm. We talk summer writing goals and the challenges of meeting them, share summer podcast plans and get generally excited for changing it u...
Episode 266 #Sensitivity Readers with Jordan Shapiro and Jazz
June 04, 2021 04:01 - 45 minutesHey all, Jess here. When I agreed to read and blurb Jordan Shapiro’s new book, Father Figure: How to Be a Feminist Dad, I was struck by the attention he paid to inclusivity and the language he used to describe it. When I mentioned it to him, he told me he’d used a sensitivity reader named Jazz to ensure he got the language right. Sensitivity readers are becoming more of a norm in publishing. Jodi Picoult has tweeted about how much she depends on hers to get her descriptions, language, and ...
Episode 265 Everybody Suffers, Not Everybody Can #Write About it with Stacy Kim
May 28, 2021 04:01 - 44 minutesStacy Kim is a freelance writer who’s beginning to see some real success in her career, with bylines in Real Simple, The Washington Post, Wired and more. We talked to her about getting started as a writer, finding her topic and her expertise, and learning that it’s not enough to have a story—you have to give the editor a reason to want you to share it, and the reader a reason to want to read it. Links from the Pod: Sue Shapiro’s classes (highly recommended) Stacy’s essays and other work: ...
Episode 264 Being #Edited (is a Very Good Thing)
May 21, 2021 04:01 - 43 minutesWe love being edited. We love editors. But truth: sometimes being edited is hard. Sometimes you need to interpret things differently, ask questions or push back. In this episode, we talk about how to do that, what makes a good editor and how to find one, how to be edited in your freelance work and—my favorite—why you can’t say your editor is wrong. #AmReading Jess: Turning Pointe: How a New Generation of Dancers Is Saving Ballet from Itself by Chloe Angyal Punch Me Up to the Gods by Bri...
Episode 263: No, Really, It's #Fiction: Writing novels that reflect (but differ dramatically from) your life with Emma Gannon
May 14, 2021 04:01 - 38 minutesEmma Gannon is a best-selling author, a podcaster, a journalist, writer of fiction and non-fiction and just general woman-about-town, as known for her writing about the new world of work as she soon will be for her fiction. Her debut novel, Olive, centers on a journalist who loves her career and the many other things that fill her world, friends, fun, family—and is in the process of owning her sense that children won’t be one of those things. Emma, like her protagonist, is happily without sp...
Episode 262: #Breaking into Food Writing and Redefining Success with Reem Kassis
May 07, 2021 04:01 - 44 minutesOur guest today is a wildly successful food writer who’s fresh off an appearance on Fresh Air—and who never “should” have written a cookbook at all. (Read on for a recipe.) Here’s her bio, in her own words: I grew up a Palestinian in Israel. I went to an American missionary school and by the grace of whatever gods were looking down on me and sheer grit, I came to UPenn for undergrad, where I struggled initially, but kept going until I graduated in the top of my class and went on straight to...
Episode 261 Really #Funny, Real and Funny: Rom-Coms, plotting and finding characters with Mhairi McFarlane
April 30, 2021 04:01 - 40 minutesPlotting and pantsing, loving your genre, voice, self-doubt… what didn’t we talk about with Mhairi McFarlane? And she has such a lovely Scottish accent to do it in, too. We know you’ll love this episode. #AmReading Mhairi: The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary (aka El Piso Para Dos in KJ’s Spanish version) Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls Sarina: The Price You Pay for College by Ron Lieber (from episode Turning Data into #Narrative) Re-reading Rock Chick by Kristen Ashley KJ: Life’s Too Short ...
Episode 260 #Writing Without Knowing Where You're Going with Kristin Van Ogtrop
April 23, 2021 12:20 - 41 minutesWorking on an essay collection? Dreaming of becoming a literary agent? We were all over the map with Kristin Van Ogtrop, agent at InkWell Management, author of the essay collection Did I Say That Out Loud: Midlife Indignities and How to Survive Them and former editor of Real Simple Magazine (which KJ mistakenly attributed to Conde Nast but is really part of the Time Inc. empire). Midlifers, essayists, job-hoppers—this is for you! Mentioned on the pod The Empty Glass by J.I. Baker Nalini S...
Episode 259: More Q, More A: Organizing research, handling would-be writer friends, finding great editors and writing classes and the kicker: How Do You Become Liz Gilbert?
April 16, 2021 04:01 - 46 minutesWe love answering your questions! If we missed yours, head over to the Facebook group or reply to this episode and we’ll try to get there next time. Links from the pod: early episodes on How to Get an Agent, Planning your work, Keeping Organized, and Getting Unstuck Semikolon sticky notes Evernote Best online writing classes: Rachael Herron, Better Faster Academy, Grub Street, New School, Writers Digest University, Gotham Writers, Writers Studio, UPOD Academy, Sue Shapiro #AmReading ...
Episode 258 Writing While #Broken: Talking Depression, Anxiety and Writer's Block with Jenny Lawson
April 09, 2021 13:00 - 38 minutesWriting is hard. In this episode, we talk imposter syndrome, editing, the right headspace for reading your own stuff, why you might need a “nice” agent, reading your work aloud to friends, recording audiobooks in the closet, being years late on a deadline, sending your editor proof of life and the deep inner conviction that people only buy your book because they feel sorry for you. #ohyeah. #AmReading Jess: Win by Harlan Coben Jenny: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro Hour of the Witch ...
Episode 257 Become a #Better Faster Stronger Writer with Becca Syme
April 02, 2021 16:07 - 42 minutesWho wouldn’t want to write better and faster? I can’t even imagine. Our guest this week is Becca Syme, creator of the Better Faster Academy, author of Dear Writer You Need to Quit as well as other books in the Quit series and the author of the MatchBaker series of cozy mysteries (with such glorious titles as “Vangie Vale and the Murdered Macaron”). Her superpower is helping writers find what they do best—their strengths—and do more of that instead of worrying about trying to “fix” the things...
Episode 256 Your Q's, A'd: Stealing ideas, asking for blurbs and the elusive "platform"
March 26, 2021 04:01 - 39 minutesIt’s part one of… who knows? As we answer questions from our email and our Facebook group (if you’re not part of that, jump in HERE). We answered questions about working with experts, talking about WIPS (nonfiction and fiction, both), sucking up to influencers, being told your platform sucks, Goodreads etiquette and the always popular can you make a living writing (yes, but not quickly or easily). If your questions is still unanswered, no worries—we’ve got more in the queue for upcoming ep...
Episode 255 The Power of Writing as Play with Nalini Singh
March 19, 2021 04:01 - 35 minutesNalini Singh is a romance writer. Or, she was a romance writer until she decided she wanted to write a thriller. Jess and Sarina had so much fun talking about genre hopping and writing the books that speak to you. There’s no requirement that we stay in our lanes, Nalini reminded us. We also took some time to lament our dearly missed in-person writers conferences and Nalini gushed about the joy of afternoon teas with her superfans. Sarina often points to Nalini’s email newsletter as one of ...
Episode 254 How to Prep a NonFiction Launch the Jess Way
March 12, 2021 05:01 - 40 minutesJess’s new book, The Addiction Inoculation, launches April 6th, and we talk about all the things she’s done to set herself up for feeling like she’s done everything in her power to make this launch a good one. We discuss the differences between launching fiction and non-fiction, first book vs. second book, non-covid v. covid, when to hire a publicist, turning a book into a speaking career and (as always) more. #AmReading Sarina: Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade Jess: 1619 by James Horn (watc...
Ep 253 From Breakout Article to Book: Writing about #Nothing and Everything with Olga Mecking
March 05, 2021 05:01 - 41 minutesToday's guest, Olga Mecking, is a freelance journalist who’s enjoyed exactly the version of success many freelancers dream about. She went from publishing her own work on her blog to pitching outside publications, gradually reaching bigger and bigger audiences until her article The Case for Doing Nothing in the New York Times became a breakout success and led to a book contract for her new book Niksen: Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing Nothing. I know you’ll enjoy this interview—we go deep i...
Episode 252 How to Write a Post-Covid Romance with Alisha Rai
February 26, 2021 05:01 - 30 minutesAlisha Rai writes fun, joyful contemporary romances about smart, mature people who still struggle to find love. And by mature, we don’t mean old—I mean, these characters make good choices and try to understand themselves and other people, but it’s still not easy. We talk about those character choices, but before we dig in, we discuss Alisha’s decision to set her current book, First Comes Like, in a post-Covid world with special attention to what it’s going to be like as we emerge from a pe...
Episode 251 How to give your fun read a solid, poke-in-the-gut point with Anna North
February 19, 2021 05:01 - 47 minutesIt’s a freewheeling conversation about writing fiction that tells a great story—and makes you think about the world beyond the story, with January Reese’s Book Club pick Anna North. Links from the pod: Anna’s essay on the writing of Outlawed #AmReading Anna: In the Distance by Hernan Diaz How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C. Pam Zhang Jess: First Comes Like by Alisha Rai http://www.alisharai.com/ KJ: Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo And—if you’re in the midst of a project and you ...
Episode 250: Growing Thick Skin: Handling #Haters, Commenters and Bad Reviews
February 12, 2021 05:01 - 44 minutesDoes this ever get easier? That’s the question we’re often asked by newer writers in the process of putting themselves out there and worried about how their work will be received. We were unanimous—yes, it does, and you don’t have to spend five years reading every single comment on your writing (and parenting, and intelligence, and everything else) from New York Times readers to get to the point where you can manage even the reviews you most dread without letting them keep you up at night. ...
Episode 249: Turning Data into #Narrative with Ron Lieber
February 05, 2021 05:01 - 47 minutesIn this episode, we go seriously pro, talking to Ron Lieber, the Your Money columnist for the New York Times and the author of The Price You Pay for College and The Opposite of Spoiled. Ron shares his system for writing information and data-packed chapters—or columns—while making them relatable and digestible. Pro tip: it starts with “strip-mining” the brains of the top five experts you can find—and, as Ron says, being in the business of asking uncomfortable questions. Other great moments—wa...
Episode 248 Mental #Chatter with Ethan Kross: Harnessing the voices in our heads for good
January 29, 2021 05:04 - 46 minutesOur guest today, Ethan Kross, is one of the world’s leading experts on controlling the conscious mind. His new book, Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters and How to Harness it, sits at that enviable intersection between academic and commercial nonfiction, and in a way that seems to be exactly where Ethan himself—who teaches in both the business school and the Psychology Department at the University of Michigan—sits, right there in the place where all kinds of things intersect, doin...
Episode 247: #Writing All Over the Map with Jacob Sager Weinstein
January 22, 2021 05:01 - 44 minutesThis week Jess talks to Jacob Sager Weinstein, a writer who has done just about everything. He started out with highbrow aspirations, as he learned his craft from none other than Toni Morrison and Joyce Carol Oates, and has worked as a journalist, screenwriter, comedy writer as well as a fiction and nonfiction author. In his travels from Princeton to HBO to the sewers of London (really!) Jacob has learned the art of the pivot as well as the secret to finding joy in just about every kind of w...
Episode 246: Historical #Fiction the Only Way I Know How with Beverly Jenkins
January 15, 2021 05:01 - 47 minutesBeverly Jenkins is best-selling, award-winning, and still having fun with all she does—in other words, all the things we writers aspire to when we sit down at the desk. But when she first got started, she “didn’t have a clue”—and that might have freed her to do exactly what she wanted to do. We talk keeping history accurate but still making it entertaining, the joy of placing characters in a particular moment in time, bookshelf placement (“African American Literature”? “Men’s Health”?) and...
Episode 245: #Pitching with Passion with Lisa Levenstein
January 08, 2021 05:01 - 38 minutesHey kids, we’re getting back to basics this week with a down-n-dirty episode on pitching, focused on opinion pages everywhere. We’re talking to Lisa Levenstein, an academic, historian and feminist (and the Director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program and Associate Professor of History at the University of North Carolina Greensboro) with two books under her belt: A Movement Without Marches: African American Women and the Politics of Poverty in Postwar Philadelphia and They D...
Episode 244: Setting Writer #Goals for 2021
January 01, 2021 13:36 - 43 minutesLast year’s words: Abundance. Practice. Magic. This year? Generous, Organize, Flow. It’s only now, writing these shownotes, that I see a pretty pattern… which is more that one of us chooses words she wants to embody, one chooses words she wants to shape her actions and the other seems to be counting on the muse in what may be a dubious way. Who’s who? It might surprise you. Welcome to our 2020 year in review/2021 goals episode. We’d love to hear your plans for the year—and how last year w...
Episode 243: #Fact-based Fiction and Fiction from Facts with Mark Olshaker
December 25, 2020 05:01 - 45 minutesA little #AmWriting behind the scenes: as we headed into this recording, Jess texted KJ: Here’s the lowdown on Mark: I have been a fan of Mark Olshaker’s writing since I first encountered it in 1995. He may be best known for his work with former FBI Special Agent John Douglas, his writing partner since 1995, who pioneered the behavioral crimes unit at the FBI and inspired the Jack Crawford character in Silence of the Lambs. Together they have written many books including Mindhunter, about t...
Episode 242 Finding All the Voices: Writing Reflective #Nonfiction with Julie Lythcott-Haims
December 18, 2020 05:01 - 45 minutesWriting nonfiction outside the memoir space usually means finding sources and stories that are not your own. Narrative, self-help, history, economics, social sciences, nature—no matter what your topic, this form of writing requires reporting, just as many freelance assignments do. So where do you go when you’re looking for sources? Often, your own backyard—and for lots of us, that can mean we inadvertently only talk to people who share our perspective, and sometimes our privilege. Nobody k...
Episode 241: Big #Booklaunch Day
December 11, 2020 05:01 - 53 minutesWhew! This week, Sarina and KJ (that’s me writing as it usually is) both launched books—Sarina came out with Loverboy, second in KJ’d favorite Sarina series, The Company, while KJ FINALLY and after many many months got to see The Chicken Sisters come out into the world. Notice the different verbs there? That’s because our launches come from very different places, and we talk about that—as well as, of course, ALL the Reese Witherspoon Book Club backstory. You can grab a copy of Loverboy in ...
Episode 240 #Editing for the Best Version of Your Vision with Tiffany Yates Martin
December 04, 2020 05:01 - 44 minutesWho wouldn’t want a step-by-step process for revision? In her book Intuitive Editing, this week’s guest, developmental editor Tiffany Yates Martin, lays out an approach that will help keep you organized, although sadly there is no magic wand involved. We talked to her about the big picture questions she asks before diving into someone else’s work: Is the main story question clear? Do the characters drive the story? Do we/the characters end up somewhere different than where we began? Whe...
BONUS EPISODE--Shiny Thing Syndrome: KJ & Jennie Nash discuss career goals, side gigs and distractions
November 30, 2020 17:00 - 1 hourGang, it’s a #AmWriting Bonus episode that I think you’re going to love: Shiny Thing Syndrome. Jennie Nash and I I originally planned to get together to discuss whether I (it’s KJ here) might want to do some book coaching in 2021, but we ended up talking way more broadly about finding your why, career priorities, money and passion and fame and all the reasons we think we want to do something versus the good reasons for actually doing it (or not). This first aired as a Facebook Live conver...
Episode 239 #Writer Gift Extravaganza
November 27, 2020 05:01 - 40 minutesIt’s the gifts episode! Here are the links you’re looking for: KJ: Redbubble ❄️ Stamp blocks ❄️ Stamp blanks and stencils ❄️ Frixion Pens ❄️ Leuchterm planner Jess: Sarina’s Socks ❄️ Half Broke by Ginger Gaffney (for KJ, but Jess loved it, too!) ❄️ Fillion planner cover by Little Mountain Bindery ❄️ Jess’s favorite sticky tabs ❄️ Pens by Schneider ❄️ Sarina’s stamp with the kinda-sorta True North Series three pine tree logo ❄️ The “Begin” mug Jess wants a case of. Sarina: Hedgehog ...
Episode 238 Turning #Romance on Its Head with Lyssa Kay Adams
November 20, 2020 05:01 - 40 minutesEvery writer craves that high concept idea that leads to the breakout book, or in this case breakout series. For Lyssa Kay Adams, it came from that joke women often make about wishing their male partners read romance—and a moment in 2016 when she “just wanted to live in a world full of men who get it.” She created The Bromance Book Club, about a group of men who read romance to understand their relationships and their partners. That became her first novel, quickly followed by Undercover Brom...