Keeping a Notebook

Truth & Beauty

Purchase Nina's new novel, Watch Over Me. Register for a morning of writing with Nina to benefit Diesel, A Bookstore. Enroll in Writing, Reading, Responding: The art of drafting and critiquing, in which Nina and Elana K. Arnold will discuss the making of Watch Over Me. (Remember to read the novel first!) Subscribe to "Letters from Nina" for behind-the-scenes looks at her process and projects, and to be the first to learn about class offerings.

Gaslight

You can rent Gaslight here. (Highly recommended!) Purchase Nina's new novel, Watch Over Me. Register for a morning of writing with Nina to benefit Diesel, A Bookstore. Enroll in Writing, Reading, Responding: The art of drafting and critiquing, in which Nina and Elana K. Arnold will discuss the making of Watch Over Me. (Remember to read the novel first!) Subscribe to "Letters from Nina" for behind-the-scenes looks at her process and projects, and to be the first to learn about cl...

A Ghost Story

Wednesday, September 16th with Tiffany D. Jackson 5 p.m. PST/ 7 p.m. CST/ 8 p.m. EST, hosted by YA @ Books Inc. Learn more and register here! Thursday, September 17th with Stephanie Perkins 3 p.m. PST/5 p.m. CST/6 p.m. EST, hosted by Books & Books Learn more here!   Subscribe to Letters from Nina for writing musings and exercises, class and event news, and more about Nina's books.

Watch Over Me

Join Nina in celebration of Watch Over Me's release! (If you order from a hosting bookstore, you'll receive a signed bookplate with your copy of Watch Over Me.) Tuesday, September 15th with Brandy Colbert 5 p.m. PST/7 p.m. CST/8 p.m. EST, hosted by Main St. Books Learn more and register here! Wednesday, September 16th with Tiffany D. Jackson 5 p.m. PST/ 7 p.m. CST/ 8 p.m. EST, hosted by YA @ Books Inc. Learn more and register here! Thursday, September 17th with Stephanie Perk...

Writing in Place: A Mess

Announcement:The Slow Novel Lab is open for a special summer benefit session, with 50% of the profit going to Direct Relief! Nina examines messiness and her complicated feelings about it, both in herself and in others. She invites you to spend some time with a mess of your own--not to clean it up, but to see what it offers you in your work. If you’d like to share your mess, or what you wrote about it, or your experience of writing (or not writing) during this time, we'd love to he...

Writing in Place: An Anchor

Announcement:The Slow Novel Lab is open for a special summer benefit session, with 50% of the profit going to Direct Relief! Nina examines the anchors in her life: her work, her desk, the mug she drinks her morning coffee from. She offers a writing exercise to ease you into exploring your own anchors, and the anchors in your fiction. If you’d like to share your anchor, or what you wrote about it, or your experience of writing (or not writing) during this time, we'd love to hear fr...

Writing In Place: A Window

Nina contemplates the windows in her new apartment, and what it's like to be on the inside when people outside pass by. She offers a two-part exercise for her listeners to be used first as a method of noticing and being in place, and then as an entryway to their fiction.  If you’d like to share your window, or what you wrote about it, or your experience of writing (or not writing) during this time, we'd love to hear from you! Use the hashtag #writinginplace on Twitter and Instagram...

An Interview with Nina

About the Shelter in Place podcast, hosted by Laura Joyce Davis: When the news came down about the mandate to shelter in place, Bay Area writer Laura Joyce Davis decided to mark this moment in history by chronicling her daily experience of sheltering in place. Episodes are short (~10 min.) and often feature other artists, scientists, therapists, and those whose work pushes us to faith, contemplation, and hope.  Subscribe to the Shelter in Place podcast. Follow Laura Joyce Davis on...

Writing In Place: Wherever You Are

This season opens in Nina's new home. She shares a story of disorientation, and finds her way back to writing. She invites listeners to write with her. To keep a notebook of these times. She offers a writing exercise as a way in.  If you’d like to share your object, or what you wrote about it, or your experience of writing (or not writing) during this time, we'd love to hear from you! Use the hashtag #writinginplace on Twitter and Instagram. Follow along with the project on Insta...

Self-Promotion

The Middle

New! Full transcripts of this season's episodes are now available at ninalacour.com/transcripts! Learn more about Nina's online class, The Slow Novel Lab! ninalacour.com/the-slow-novel-lab Today, Nina walks listeners through a part-brainstorming, part-outlining strategy for when they feel lost in the middle of their stories. It's easy to feel lost at sea in the middle, to doubt our paths and lose direction. But by completing this two-part exercise, you'll learn to identify phases...

Emotion on the Page

The Slow Novel Lab is now open for enrollment! Join the conversation at The Slow Novel Lab Instagram! Subscribe to Letters from Nina for more writing tips, book news and special offers! Highlights: I want to experience the pleasures and sorrows of life through the page. It’s no small feat to make a reader feel what your character is feeling, and much of my drafting and revision time is spent making sure I’m getting it right. If something isn’t working emotionally in your story...

The Past and the Present: Weaving Backstory into Your Story

Join the conversation at The Slow Novel Lab Instagram! Subscribe to Letters from Nina for more writing tips, book news, and to hear when The Slow Novel Lab opens for enrollment! Highlights: -We need something to connect to. Details of setting. Histories. Hints or statements about how the characters came to be who and where they are. -Allow the past and present to have their own plots and progressions. -Showing is great, of course, but telling can be powerful. So don’t shy away ...

Five Strategies for Your 2020 Intentions

Join the conversation at The Slow Novel Lab Instagram! Subscribe to Letters from Nina for more writing tips, book news, and to hear when The Slow Novel Lab opens for enrollment! Read Jocelyn K. Glei's blog post, "How to Feel Progress." Highlights: · Our goals have to be things we make happen for ourselves—not things we wait to be given. · Overwhelm is a powerful opponent of productivity—but if you’re clear-eyed in your priorities you should be able to fend it of...

Announcement

Nina talks about how life sometimes interrupts plans and shares some advice given to her by a friend. Keep in touch with Nina, and hear more about this topic, by signing up for her mailing list here.

Experimentation

Once you’re lost in a scene, it really doesn’t matter where you are or how long you have. What matters is that the words are coming, you’re getting closer. On the third episode of Season Two, Nina talks about how she manages to meet her writing goals and is working to find solutions to the stumbling blocks she faces along the way, such as time constraints and mindset; and how identifying these blocks and their solutions has helped her creative process. She encourages listeners to ...

Self-Doubt

*The best writing happens when you forget that you're a person. *-Elana K. Arnold On the second episode of this season, Nina shares an experience of self-doubt. Later on, she and fellow author Elana K. Arnold answer a listener question about facing self-doubt during the process of writing a novel. Elana and Nina talk about how self-doubt can be useful for a writer and how it can be channeled into characters for the work to be more authentic and resonant. Elana K. Arnold Sign up...

Pressure

You can’t write a good novel without trusting yourself to write it. On the first episode of the second season, Nina talks about the pressures writers feel at all stages of their journey and offers advice on how to get back to a place where inspiration sparks creation. She shares her experience of writing the story she thought she was supposed to write instead of the one she wanted to tell, and how releasing that pressure resulted in her finding her career and her voice. She discu...

Ten Years, Five Books, Three Things I've Learned

Episode 8 -I share with you my plans for season 2 of Keeping a Notebook. Send your questions my way to [email protected]! -I take you through the first ten years of what I intend to be a lifelong career. -I talk about the expectations I had when Hold Still was published ten years ago, and how those expectations have changed with time. -I tell you why the practice of writing is the most important thing to nurture, and what my intention for the next ten years of my c...

The Possibility of Invention

Nina answers a listener's question on writing a novel based on real events and explores ideas of truth and expansiveness in fiction. My website, Twitter, and Instagram

When You Act on a Dream: Part Two

In Episode 5, Nina turns to three people who inspire her for the stories of how they started their own endeavors. In Part Two, we hear from a journalist/novelist/podcaster about her ten year journey to publishing her first novel and the podcast that helped her find her way. Sarah Enni - Website | Twitter | Instagram First Draft Podcast - Website | Twitter | Instagram My website, Twitter, and Instagram

When You Act on a Dream: Part One

In Episode 5, Nina turns to three people who inspire her for the stories of how they started their own endeavors. In Part One, we hear from a shop owner and a bread baker. Knots & Found - Instagram Humble Bakehouse - Website | Instagram My website, Twitter, and Instagram

How We See & What We Write

We all have our own ways of seeing and understanding the world. This episode dives deep into the ways our perspectives shift as we grow up, and how embracing our unique ways of seeing can lead to our most authentic writing. "On Writing" by Raymond Carver My website, Twitter, and Instagram

For When You Feel Stuck In Your Writing

We all have trouble getting started sometimes. This episode is for when you're stuck in a major way with your writing, or when you simply need a way back into your story. It's full of questions and strategies to help you start writing. My website, Twitter, and Instagram

All the Story You Need

In which Nina answers a listener's question about how to weave plot into character-driven novels, and shares her own journey toward understanding that a quiet story can be all the story you need. MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults - Hamline University The Disenchantments - Nina Lacour Hold Still - Nina Lacour Ira Glass This American Life My website, Twitter, and Instagram

I Want it Back

A look at early inspiration and a call to do our best work during difficult times. Books Mentioned Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion The White Album by Joan Didion The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara Heroes and Saints and Other Plays by Cherrie Moraga Angels in America by Tony Kushner My website

Trailer

Welcome to Keeping a Notebook—a podcast on writing For the next eight weeks I’ll being taking a deep look at the creative process. Answering questions on craft issues like character and plot, and discussing what it means to be a writer in tumultuous times. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me here. My website