Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach
254 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 months ago - ★★★★★ - 112 ratingsReach your writing goals (and have fun!) by being more curious, creative, and productive. Ann provides practical tips and motivation for writers at all stages to improve their skills, pursue publishing, and expand their reach. Ann keeps most episodes short and focused so writers only need a few minutes to collect ideas, inspiration, resources and recommendations to apply to their work. She incorporates interviews from publishing professionals and authors like Allison Fallon, Ron Friedman, Shawn Smucker, and Jennifer Dukes Lee to bring additional insight. Ann and her guests cover everything from self-editing and goal-setting to administrative and scheduling challenges. Subscribe for ongoing coaching to advance your writing life and career. More at annkroeker.com.
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Episodes
How to Get Your Nonfiction Book Traditionally Published
February 01, 2020 01:04 - 16 minutes - 22 MB[Ep 220] A writer reached out to me with news that she's writing a nonfiction book and wants to be published. “What’s the process?” she asked. I'm happy to explain. I'll cover the main steps to becoming a traditionally published author without going into minute detail. This will give you—and her—a broad overview. Pre-Process Stage: Educate Yourself Before taking the first step toward publishing, start learning everything possible about the industry. Educate yourself. Learn industry termino...
Build Your Platform: To Be More Findable, Find Your People
January 17, 2020 13:00 - 10 minutes - 14.4 MB[Ep 219] Whether you’re interested in increasing blog readership or building a freelance writing business—and especially if you’re pursuing traditional publishing—you’ll want to connect with readers. You’ll want to reach people who are interested in your stories and ideas and appreciate how you present those ideas as a writer, in your unique style, tone, and personality. That’s the basic idea of platform. In fact, I define it like this: platform is all the ways you, as your author brand, r...
Ep 218: Do writers really need to do *all the things* for a successful career?
January 10, 2020 16:30 - 16 minutes - 22.1 MB[Ep 218] Do we really need to do all the things to be a writer these days? Are all those extra activities and tasks required for a successful career? Do we really need to vlog and launch social media campaigns on five different platforms? Are we required to blog and guest post? And is it true we have to be prepared to step on a stage and speak? Emily Dickinson's Focused Writing Life Why can’t we model our writing life after Emily Dickinson, who wrote poetry, including one that begins, "I'm ...
Ep 217: How to Gather Momentum When Your Writing’s at a Standstill
January 01, 2020 18:19 - 6 minutes - 8.95 MB[Ep 217] I don’t know much about science, but I'm pretty sure Newton’s First Law goes like this: an object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.1 Okay, I looked it up for accuracy. And I believe it applies not just to physics, but to my writing life, as well. Over the holiday season, I myself did not come to rest, as I was busy baking, cooking, cleaning, wrapping gifts, hosting family. However, this focus on festivities brought my writing to a standstill. My proj...
Ep 216: An Easy Structure for Your Chaotic Work in Progress
December 05, 2019 21:54 - 6 minutes - 8.25 MBYou've researched your topic, taken copious notes, created a mind map, made lists, but you haven't settled on the best way to organize all of your material. You aren't sure how to structure your chaotic work in progress. Perhaps you’ve tried the ready-made outlines I've proposed—past-present-future, and problem-solution or problem-solution-benefits—but those didn’t fit this project. Well, here's another: zoom in or zoom out. Could that work? The Zoom In/Zoom Out Outline This ready-made o...
Ep 215: For Writers Who Struggle with Structure…a Remedy
November 06, 2019 13:00 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBOrganization is a challenge for writers. You may have strong ideas, feel confident with grammar, and write in a fun style. But putting it all together in a structure that makes sense? That can be hard. There’s no one perfect way to structure most projects. You have options. Some people find this liberating. They enjoy exploring countless options and settle naturally into an order that makes sense for their content. Other writers find this overwhelming. They’d like to be told, "If you’r...
Try This Classic Structure for Your Next Nonfiction Writing Project
November 06, 2019 13:00 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBOrganization is a challenge for writers. You may have strong ideas, feel confident with grammar, and write in a fun style. But putting it all together in a structure that makes sense? That can be hard. There’s no one perfect way to structure most projects. You have options. Some people find this liberating. They enjoy exploring countless options and settle naturally into an order that makes sense for their content. Other writers find this overwhelming. They’d like to be told, "If you’r...
Ep 214: Are Outlines a Writer’s Greatest Gift…or Curse?
October 10, 2019 20:17 - 10 minutes - 14.9 MB[Ep 214] Back in July I bought a Garmin watch that tracks steps and heart rate. More importantly, it offers training plans for beginning and intermediate runners. I clicked on a beginner’s plan because I hadn’t run regularly for years, and started following the instructions each day. Now, I tend to wing things in general. More often than not, I jump in and make decisions on the fly with just about everything. I like freedom and hate being fenced in or forced to do things. Too much structure...
Ep 213: How to Hook and Hold Your Readers
September 19, 2019 15:00 - 13 minutes - 18.6 MB[Ep 213] If you didn’t click to read this first sentence, I failed. If we want to hook readers and hold their attention so they read all the way to the end, we have to generate an intriguing title or headline. Lure Readers with Your Title Books, chapters, articles, essays, poems: they all need names or titles that invite the reader to stop skimming and scrolling and think, “Hm. I wonder what this is about?” or “Oh, wow, I need this information.” I opened up Feedly when I was preparing this...
Ep 212: Productive Writers Build Their Body of Work – Pillar Three
August 27, 2019 12:00 - 12 minutes - 16.9 MB[Ep 212] For about four years, I didn’t do much to get healthy or stay healthy. I’d talk about getting in shape but wouldn’t actually do anything. I’d wake up and think about it, then roll over and go back to sleep. It’s no surprise, of course, that the idea of exercising—the thought of it—didn’t strengthen a single muscle in my body. The desire to be healthy, no matter how intense, didn’t actually make me healthy. I had to take action. Finally, about a year ago, I decided to do something...
Ep 211: Be More Creative to Enjoy Your Best Writing Life: Pillar Two
August 22, 2019 19:05 - 9 minutes - 13.5 MB[Ep 211] Creativity as a pillar of the writing life? It’s a no-brainer. Creativity and writing go together like pencil and paper. Writers practice creativity each and every day. But when we think about creative writing and a creative writer, our minds may turn toward MFA programs. After all, that’s where you study creative writing. I hate the potential implication—that other kinds of writing are not creative. Who's a Creative Writer? Creative writing instructors and programs offer teachin...
Ep 210: Cultivate Curiosity for Your Best Writing Life, Pillar One
August 06, 2019 17:05 - 13 minutes - 18.5 MB[210] Dani Shapiro writes, “When I think of the wisest people I know, they share one defining trait: curiosity” (213, Still Writing). As she notes this connection between wisdom and curiosity, she continues, “They turn away from the minutiae of their lives—and focus on the world around them. They are motivated by a desire to explore the unfamiliar. They are drawn toward what they don't understand. They enjoy surprise” (213). I love how she connects surprise and curiosity. Mihaly Csikszentm...
Ep 209: Curiosity, Creativity, Productivity: Three Pillars to Building Your Best Writing Life
July 30, 2019 12:00 - 8 minutes - 11.9 MB[Ep 209] Each week I claim that writers are discovering ways to reach their writing goals—and have fun—by being more curious, creative, and productive. And each week you may be thinking, “Really?” Yes, I really do believe these three traits or these three values can drive you forward to achieve your goals—and have fun along the way. They are values I myself take to heart and encourage my clients to explore and embrace, because curiosity, creativity, and productivity—together—have the poten...
Ep 208: Children’s Book Author Sharon Stohler’s Path to Self-Publishing
July 23, 2019 12:00 - 50 minutes - 69.8 MB[Ep 208] Today I’m chatting with Sharon Stohler, author of the nonfiction children’s biography Affectionately Yours: The Devoted Life of Abigail Adams, a charming and inspiring picture book released in June 2019. As you’ll learn in the interview, Sharon and I met years ago when we both started home educating our very small children, so we’ve known each other for decades. I was privy to her idea for this book years ago when she shared it with me as a friend. Later, we worked together when sh...
Ep 207: How to Sort and Stack Your Ideas and Tasks to Transform as a Writer and Person
July 16, 2019 15:43 - 8 minutes - 12 MB[Ep 207] On my drive to Minneapolis to serve on the faculty of Northwestern Christian Writers Conference, I listened to podcasts: one after another, back-to-back. I welcomed that stream of input filling my mind with ideas, strategies, and solutions that I can apply to my writing life. But it’s easy to listen and then forget what I heard. What a waste if I devote hours to listening but never remember or apply what the experts recommend! Life is short. I want to learn and grow and transform...
Ep 206: A Writer’s Guide to ROI (Part 4)
July 09, 2019 12:00 - 9 minutes - 12.8 MB[Ep 206] Several years ago I watched a free training presented by Chalene Johnson, where she explained how to start with one piece of content and then use it in several forms for various outlets. With this efficient and productive approach, she gets the most mileage out of a single piece of content. It’s a clever, creative way to improve ROI. Chalene Johnson’s Content Creation System Chalene is comfortable on video, so she starts with a live video as the primary content form. She decides wh...
Ep 205: A Writer’s Guide to ROI (Part 3)
July 02, 2019 12:00 - 5 minutes - 7.83 MB[Ep 205] In the Next-Level Writer series, we talked about plans and goals. When we set out with a goal and make a plan to methodically move toward that goal, we see what it takes. We understand the investment involved. That’s when we measure the ROI of a particular task or activity using not only our deepest values, which we looked at in Part 2 of A Writer’s Guide to ROI, but also our goals. Weigh Your Goals Let’s say your goal is to complete the manuscript of a novel by the end of summer,...
Ep 204: A Writer’s Guide to ROI (Part 2)
June 25, 2019 12:00 - 7 minutes - 9.94 MB[Ep 204] My son participates in value debate. The competitors take either the affirmative or negative stance on a resolution and argue for or against it based on a value. The judge determines which side best upholds their value. I’ve served as a judge for these debates many times, and the more I listen to these clashes, the more I’ve come to realize we make decisions based on personal values all the time in our everyday lives. Just as an example, I’ve talked with the kids about this, and l...
Ep 203: A Writer’s Guide to ROI (Part 1)
June 18, 2019 12:00 - 7 minutes - 11 MB[Ep 203] If you’re like me, you do a lot of writing and writing-related activities essentially for free. You craft social media content, articles for a blog, and guest posts as part of your plan. We do these kinds of activities to educate, entertain, and inform. We hope to solve problems for readers, connect with them, share our ideas, and build bridges. At the same time, we may be trying to gain visibility as a writer or increase reach into new audiences to help even more people. We might...
Ep 202: Enjoy Creative Freedom with the Modular Approach to Writing
June 11, 2019 12:00 - 6 minutes - 9.02 MB[Ep 202] When my kids were little they didn’t really like the LEGO sets that require you to put the bricks together a certain way to create a specific thing, like a Death Star. They preferred giant quantities of individual bricks so they could snap them together and build whatever they wanted. And this is the brilliance of LEGO: its modular approach. The sets are super cool, but as long as you have bricks of any shape or color, you have the elements you need to build. Click them together to...
Next-Level Writer – Have You Emerged at the Next Level? (Ep 201)
June 04, 2019 12:12 - 8 minutes - 11.8 MB[Ep 201] In the first episode of this series, I described a hypothetical character in a hypothetical game—a little dragon that gains power or abilities after playing the game for a while. This dragon demonstrated what it means to level up in a video game. Depending on the rules of this hypothetical game, the dragon might gather certain tokens, interact with key players, or conquer a small castle, and by completing the tasks and achieving the goals, he gains enough experience and skills to l...
Ep 201: Next-Level Writer – Have You Emerged at the Next Level?
June 04, 2019 12:12 - 8 minutes - 11.8 MB[Ep 201] In the first episode of this series, I described a hypothetical character in a hypothetical game—a little dragon that gains power or abilities after playing the game for a while. This dragon demonstrated what it means to level up in a video game. Depending on the rules of this hypothetical game, the dragon might gather certain tokens, interact with key players, or conquer a small castle, and by completing the tasks and achieving the goals, he gains enough experience and skills to l...
Ep 200: Next-Level Writer – Relentlessly Execute Your Plan to Level Up
May 28, 2019 12:00 - 7 minutes - 10.8 MB[Ep 200] Unless a fairy godmother shows up and sprinkles fairy dust all over your laptop to magically boost you to the next level—without any effort on your part—you’ll have to commit to your plan and follow through. Relentless Implementation Shane Melaugh of the ActiveGrowth podcast said in a recent webinar we must “relentlessly implement” or “relentlessly execute” to level up. It’s the only way we evolve and mature into the writers we need to be in order to produce the work we want to pr...
Ep 199: Insights into Christian Publishing with NavPress Publisher Don Pape
May 21, 2019 12:00 - 45 minutes - 42 MB[Ep 199] Today I’m chatting with NavPress Publisher Don Pape. Don has published over a dozen New York Times best-sellers, including Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Don is also the publisher of Julie Cantrell’s Into the Free, which won the 2013 Christy Book of the Year Award. He led a team that won 20 ADDY Awards between 2008 and 2010 for David C Cook titles recognized for best cover or book design. Born in Brazil, Pape graduated with a bachelor of arts in political science from Wilfrid Laurier...
Ep 198: Next-Level Writer – Organize, Schedule, and Enact Your Plan to Level Up
May 15, 2019 15:29 - 9 minutes - 8.86 MB[Ep 198] Some people love to sit down and just start writing with no worries whether or not the work is moving them toward their goals. Others love to spend time making lists, making plans, setting everything up, scheduling down to the minute—devoting so much time to those tasks that they struggle to get around to the actual work of writing. Let’s figure out how to do both. Let’s find a balance. Let’s set ourselves up with a plan that helps us truly move toward goals and level up, and th...
Ep 197: Next-Level Writer – Surges and Drips
May 07, 2019 19:23 - 6 minutes - 6.35 MB[Ep 197] Every week I follow a pattern of sorts. Sometimes it gets thrown off by a day or two, but for my regular routine I write, record, prep, and publish content you may consume via the podcast, at the website, or in the newsletter that arrives in your inbox. The Routine Drip of Content Every week I also produce social media updates, some of which are drawn from the primary content, as I pluck themes, quotes, and images and revise them slightly for the micro-form found on Instagram, Faceb...
Ep 197: Next-Level Writer: Is This a Season to Slow Down or Surge Ahead?
May 07, 2019 19:23 - 6 minutes - 6.35 MB[Ep 197] Every week I follow a pattern of sorts. Sometimes it gets thrown off by a day or two, but for my regular routine I write, record, prep, and publish content you may consume via the podcast, at the website, or in the newsletter that arrives in your inbox. The Routine Drip of Content Every week I also produce social media updates, some of which are drawn from the primary content, as I pluck themes, quotes, and images and revise them slightly for the micro-form found on Instagram, Faceb...
Ep 196: Next-Level Writer – Plan and Persist
April 30, 2019 12:00 - 9 minutes - 8.49 MB[Ep 196] Last time, I asked: Where do you want to be in a year? You may have read that and set a big, hairy, audacious goal—a BHAG. Or maybe you called it a “stretch goal.” You want to aim high and not settle for mediocre. You’re excited! You’re an optimist. “In a year, I’m going to be at the top of my game, more successful than I’ve ever been.” Big, Fast Success If you want it bad and can handle a focused, year-long push, you may nail it. If you have big resources to support big goals, t...
Ep 195: Next-Level Writer – Develop Your Macro Plan to Level Up
April 24, 2019 02:27 - 8 minutes - 8.13 MB[Ep 195] I’m not by nature a planner. I am, in fact, more of a tumbleweed. You know what I mean? If I went with my personality, I’d be blown around with no particular direction—wherever the wind sent me. On Being a Writer - Chapter 10 Excerpt I wrote about this tendency of mine in On Being a Writer, the book I wrote with Charity Singleton Craig. In Chapter 10, entitled “Plan,” I explain why I decided to be a little more intentional about creating a plan for my writing life: I traveled out w...
Ep 194: Next-Level Writer – Where Are You Now?
April 16, 2019 12:00 - 8 minutes - 7.74 MB[Ep 194] When a client brought me along to New York City, the airport shuttle bus dropped us off near Times Square and we had to find our way to the hotel. For a couple of Midwesterners who had never set foot in New York, this was magical. Getting around, however, was a tad mystifying—at first. As quickly as possible we had to evaluate our location and figure out our next step. We pulled out our phones and used an app that located where we were in order to guide us to our hotel. It helped ...
Ep 193: Next-Level Writer – To Start, You’ve Got to Get in the Game
April 09, 2019 12:00 - 10 minutes - 9.82 MB[Ep 193] Leveling up, according to my teenage son, who is familiar with several different video games, refers to a character or creature that gains enough experience to unlock new skills or features. For example, let’s say you’re playing a game with a dragon that has one primary skill: he can breathe fire. But not big fire; he shoots out just a little flicker of flame, like a cigarette lighter clicking open and shut. Discover Your Base-Level Abilities You start the game and figure out how y...
Ep 192: (Re)Write to Discover How to Improve Your Drafts
April 02, 2019 22:49 - 14 minutes - 13.3 MB[Ep 192] “I have rewritten—often several times—every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers.” Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory1 First Drafts Reveal What You Want to Say We’ve already covered the power of writing to discover what we want to say. We can do that with freewriting to discover our initial ideas, writing in our journals or as a warmup exercise when we first sit down to work. We can also use freewriting to bang out our initial draft. This is especially powerfu...
Ep 191: Write to Discover Your Voice
March 26, 2019 12:00 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MB[Ep 191] You know within a few notes if you're listening to the Beatles or the Bee Gees, James Taylor or Justin Timberlake, Sting or Cher. Why? Well, it’s their voice. You recognize their voice. In literature, it may not seem as obvious, since we aren’t usually hearing the author’s voice when we read their work. And yet, I’ll bet you could read a few lines of someone’s work and tell me if it's: William Faulkner or Wendell Berry Barbara Kingsolver or Stephen King Tom Wolfe or Virgin...
Ep 190: [Interview] Author & Literary Agent Jeff Herman
March 19, 2019 12:00 - 52 minutes - 48.3 MBToday I’m chatting with author and literary agent Jeff Herman. Jeff’s literary agency has ushered nearly one thousand books into print. He’s the coauthor of the acclaimed Write the Perfect Book Proposal and is often featured as an expert in print and broadcast media. Jeff provides insider insight that will give you hope that it’s possible to see your words in print. When you get a chance, check out his resource: Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents, 28th editi...
Ep 189: Write to Discover New Skills and Techniques
March 13, 2019 01:07 - 10 minutes - 10 MB[Ep 189] When I feel my writing getting a little stale, I start looking around for a teacher. Now, I don’t mean I’m looking for a class with an instructor, although that’s certainly another way to learn and grow as a writer. I mean I start looking around for an author and text that has something to teach me. In this way, I can continually improve my skills as a writer. Develop a Customized Course of Study A lot of writers feel a strong urge to enter an MFA program to do this. If you feel co...
Ep 188: Write to Discover What You Really Want to Say
March 05, 2019 13:00 - 15 minutes - 13.9 MB[Ep 188] In this series, you’ve discovered more about yourself through writing—you may have begun to heal emotional wounds. The act of writing has helped you find the courage to continue to write. Through writing, you’ve articulated your reason for doing the work. And you’ve identified your top themes and topics. Most recently, you’ve written to discover your ideal reader. Today, you’ll see how the act of writing—the process of writing any given project—can lead us to discover what we reall...
Ep 187: Write to Discover Your Ideal Reader
February 26, 2019 13:00 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MB[Ep 187] In composition classes, college students learn to identify their audience—who are they writing for? On the topic of audience, The Writing Center at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suggests students think about writing a letter to their grandmothers about their first month at college. Then they say to imagine writing another letter on the same topic, but this time to their best friend. “Unless you have an extremely cool grandma to whom you’re very close, it’s likely...
Ep 186: Write to Discover Your Favorite Type of Writing
February 19, 2019 13:00 - 12 minutes - 11.4 MBWhen I was in junior high, I joined the track team. Track and field offers a lot of events, so the coach had us try a little bit of everything so we could get a feel for what we might like. I had played softball when I was younger and was a good hitter, so I gave the shot put a few big hurls. My throws weren’t too shabby, but I wasn’t interested in training for it, so I moved on to other options. The coach thought I might be good at the 400, which is once around the track. By the time I com...
Ep 185: [Interview] Poet Tania Runyan
February 12, 2019 13:00 - 33 minutes - 30.3 MBAs you’ll discover in this conversation with Tania Runyan, she’s experimented with being a screenwriter and playwright and written several nonfiction books, including How to Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, and one for college-bound high school students, called How to Write a College Application Essay. But Tania thinks of herself first and foremost as a poet. Her poems have appeared in many publications, including Poetry, Image, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, The Christian Century, Saint Kather...
Ep 184: [Interview] Jennifer Dukes Lee – Author, Acquisitions Editor
February 05, 2019 13:00 - 41 minutes - 37.8 MBWhen Author and Acquisitions Editor Jennifer Dukes Lee was in town for an event, we met up and discussed challenges that writers—especially nonfiction authors—face as they try to land a traditional book contract. Jennifer generously provides us with behind-the-scenes insight and solid action steps we can take today. She offers hope, too, that one doesn't necessarily have to boast a giant platform to find a publisher. You can hear us fine, but the sound quality is a little ethereal. Once you...
Ep 183: Write to Discover Your Top Themes & Topics
January 30, 2019 12:00 - 11 minutes - 10.7 MBI recently signed up for Reddit. During setup, I clicked on categories and topics of interest so the app could deliver relevant updates. On the spot I had to decide my preferences: do I want ongoing content about this topic or that? Do I want them to send information about technology, politics, economics? Food, fitness, travel, entertainment? Select Your Top Themes and Topics I’ve had to do this several times over the years, with apps like Flipboard and most news outlets. I created my own ca...
Ep 182: Write to Discover Your Reason for Writing
January 23, 2019 19:31 - 10 minutes - 9.87 MBIf you’ve read On Being a Writer, you know my coauthor Charity Singleton Craig and I start with identity—claiming we are writers. I told the story of the university publication that accepted my first poetry submissions. They asked for a bio. I looked at examples from a previous issue I’d purchased. The poets talked about why they write. “Without overthinking it, I scribbled out, ‘I write, because no one listens to me.’”1 Until I wrote it out, I don’t think I realized why I was penning poems...
Ep 181: Write to Discover the Courage You Need to Confront Your Fears
January 16, 2019 13:00 - 12 minutes - 11.6 MBRalph Keyes observes in his book The Courage to Write, “The trail of literary history is littered with those who fell along the way because the anxiety of trying to write paralyzed their hand”1. Writers' Anxiety If you’ve begun to reflect on troubling, traumatic memories, you've likely encountered fears. Some of those fears are personal and some, professional. Digging for personal truths almost always leads to increased anxiety in the life of a writer. Keyes notes this causal relationship: T...
Ep 180: Write to Discover – Start with Yourself
January 08, 2019 13:00 - 10 minutes - 9.22 MBA few weeks ago I shared with you how freewriting freed me. The book Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg, played a big part in that during my college years, introducing me to the idea of timed writing as a means to write and discover. Even though I wasn't all that interested in Goldberg’s frequent references to Zen Buddhism, I liked her basic approach: "When I teach a class,” she says, “I want the students to be 'writing down the bones,' the essential, awake speech of their minds."1 ...
Ep 179: Time to Schedule Your Writing Life Tune-up
December 19, 2018 18:04 - 12 minutes - 11.2 MBTis the season for many things. One thing that doesn't roll off the tongue as jolly as a line in a carol is a writing life tune-up. Yes, tis the perfect time for writing life maintenance. It sounds so boring, I can't believe I'm sending you off for two weeks with this message. Then again, I'm convinced if more of us would take the time to develop a simple system that supports our whole writing life, we'd stay on track and meet more of our goals and make new discoveries and find new outlets f...
Ep 178: The Writer at Work – Use Freewriting to Give It Some Thought
December 13, 2018 22:37 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBMy first university-level creative writing course used as the main text a book that, at that time, was a brand-new release: Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. After moving through the exercises in that book, I felt transformed. Goldberg introduced a simple concept that I’d never heard of. It’s commonplace today, a part of the lexicon of most creative writers. Freewriting. The Life-Changing Magic of Freewriting The practice of freewriting unleashed in me the memories, stories, imag...
Ep 177: [Interview] Alison Hodgson on Boiling a Story Down to Its Essence, One-Star Reviews, and Perseverance
December 04, 2018 13:00 - 55 minutes - 50.8 MBBack in October 2018, I interviewed three authors who served on the speaking team at Breathe Christian Writers Conference. We discussed all things writing, like their writing challenges, their writing process, and their advice for writers. All for you. I’ve mixed in with my standard short solo episodes an interview with Shawn Smucker and another with Patrice Gopo. Today, I bring you the last of the three from that conference: a conversation with Alison Hodgson, author of The Pug List. I spr...
Ep 176: What Do You Know to Be True?
November 29, 2018 21:55 - 9 minutes - 8.59 MBLast time, I talked about the power of lists to get us writing about all kinds of things. Lists trick us into writing. In her famous TED talk, spoken word poet Sarah Kay invites the audience to make a list. She asks them to think of three things they know to be true. They can be about anything, she says, “technology, entertainment, design, your family, what you had for breakfast. The only rule is don’t think too hard.”1 Try it. Today. Right now. Even if you’ve done this before, think of thr...
Ep 175: How to Use Lists to Transform Your Writing (and your life)
November 20, 2018 22:01 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBTis the season for lists, even for those who aren't naturally checklist and to-do list types. For the holidays, people will make packing lists, shopping lists, cleaning lists, address lists, and wish lists. Lists are useful and practical, but they can serve a far more creative and powerful role in the life of a writer. You may find the humble list becomes the most used tool in your writer’s toolbox. Let's look at how lists can transform your writing...and your life. 1. A list is a quick way...
What Lies Beneath the Surface of Your Life?
November 13, 2018 13:00 - 9 minutes - 7.25 MB[Ep 174] In last week’s interview, Patrice Gopo described the stories that bubbled up inside her—personal stories about topics she cared deeply about as she grappled with her identity and where she fit in society. Patrice grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, as a black American daughter of Jamaican immigrants. She wanted to explore that, to make sense of it all. How? Through writing. She turned to the essay to figure out her life, to delve into her experiences—to discover self and live a more me...