San Francisco Writers Conference Podcast
60 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsThe San Francisco Writers Conference Podcast features author Matthew Felix in conversation with fellow writers about craft, commerce, and community. [o] Music credit: Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod; Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3788-funkorama; License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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Episodes
Sylvia Plath, Mental Health, & Writing Fiction with Lee Kravetz
January 28, 2022 05:00 - 56 minutes - 45.5 MB* Lee Kravetz is author of the acclaimed nonfiction, Strange Contagion and SuperSurvivors. He has written for print and television, including The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Atlantic, Psychology Today, The Daily Beast, The San Francisco Chronicle, and PBS. Lee’s new book is a work of fiction, his novel The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. * The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. is told through three unique interwoven narratives that build on one another, reimagining a chapter in the li...
Storytelling with "Story Power" Author Kate Farrell
January 14, 2022 14:45 - 1 hour - 52.5 MB* A graduate of the School of Library and Information Studies, UC Berkeley, Kate Farrell has been a language arts classroom teacher, an author, a librarian, a university lecturer, and a storyteller since 1966. She founded the Word Weaving Storytelling Project, and she has published numerous educational materials on the art of storytelling. Kate edited the anthology, Wisdom Has a Voice: Every Daughter’s Memories of Mother, and co-edited two others: Times They Were A-Changing: Women Remember t...
Travel, Travel Writing, & 108 Beloved Objects with Jeff Greenwald
November 25, 2021 23:19 - 55 minutes - 44.6 MB* Jeff Greenwald is a photojournalist, author, and stage performer whose experiences in Asia have framed his style of travel writing. His six books include the best-selling Shopping for Buddhas (recently republished in a 25th anniversary edition), The Size of the World (for which he created the first international travel blog), and Snake Lake, a travel memoir set in Kathmandu, Nepal during the 1990 democracy revolution. Jeff’s stories and essays have appeared in print and online publications...
The Tarot, Creativity, & Kickstarter with Elisabeth Kauffman
October 29, 2021 02:17 - 1 hour - 49.5 MB* Elisabeth Kauffman is the Marketing Director for the San Francisco Writers Conference, as well as an independent editor, an author, and an artist. She edits fiction and memoir for independent clients as well as for publishing companies, and she coaches writers on finding their voices and connecting to the magic in their creative lives. Elisabeth offers workshops for local writing groups on topics such as using tarot in the drafting and revising process and tapping your creative potential...
Writing to Survive & Building Worlds with Charlie Jane Anders
October 14, 2021 22:53 - 1 hour - 52.2 MB* Charlie Jane Anders is the author of The City in the Middle of the Night and All the Birds in the Sky. Her fiction and journalism have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, McSweeney's, Mother Jones, Tor.com, Wired, and elsewhere. Her TED Talk, "Go Ahead, Dream About the Future" got 700,000 views in its first week. Along with Annalee Newitz, she co-hosts the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct. Charlie Jane will be a keynote speaker at the 2022 San Francisco Writers Conference....
Litquake! with co-founder Jack Boulware and Home Baked's Alia Volz
October 01, 2021 02:35 - 1 hour - 55.6 MB* Litquake is an annual literary festival started in 1999 in San Francisco that has since spread to cities throughout the country and abroad. The festival consists of readings, discussions, and themed events. Since its inception more than 10,000 authors and 250,000 attendees have participated in the festival. * Event co-founder Jack Boulware shared the origins of the festival and how it has grown over time. * Jack was joined by Home Baked author Alia Volz. Podcast host Matthew Felix, Jac...
Fact, Fiction, & Finding Napoleon with Historical Fiction Author Margaret Rodenberg
September 17, 2021 03:12 - 57 minutes - 46.2 MB* Margaret Rosenberg has journeyed more than 30,000 miles to conduct Napoleonic research, including to St. Helena Island in the remote South Atlantic. She is director of the Napoleonic Historical Society, a non-profit that promotes knowledge of the Napoleonic era, and on her website, margaretrodenberg.com, she reports on Napoleon’s ongoing presence in world culture. * Margaret's new novel, Finding Napoleon, was inspired by Napoleon's real-life unfinished novel, which Margaret first learned...
Magic of Memoir with Memoirist and NAMW President Linda Joy Meyers
September 03, 2021 04:02 - 1 hour - 48.1 MB* Linda Joy Myers is president and founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers. Her memoir Don’t Call Me Mother—A Daughter’s Journey from Abandonment to Forgiveness was a Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award finalist and winner of the BAIPA Gold Medal award. She’s also the author of five books about memoir writing, including two she co-authored with Brooke Warner. * Linda Joy shared how an early interest in memory and her family history eventually led to her interest in memoir...
Poetry, Revolution, & Blood on the Fog with SF Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin
August 20, 2021 04:20 - 1 hour - 53.9 MB* Tongo Eisen-Martin is San Francisco’s eighth poet laureate. * His curriculum on extrajudicial killing of Black people, We Charge Genocide Again, has been used as an educational and organizing tool throughout the country. His book "Someone's Dead Already" was nominated for a California Book Award. His "Heaven Is All Goodbyes" was published by the City Lights Pocket Poets series, shortlisted for the Griffins Poetry Prize, and won a California Book Award and an American Book Award. * Matt...
Millennial Angst, Dark Humor, & Not Giving Up with Mona at Sea's Elizabeth Gonzalez James
July 23, 2021 04:09 - 1 hour - 48.4 MBSubjects covered Before becoming a writer, Elizabeth Gonzalez James was a waitress, a pollster, an Avon lady, and an opera singer. Her stories and essays have appeared in The Idaho Review, The Rumpus, StorySouth, PANK, and elsewhere, and have received numerous Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations. Currently she is a regular contributor to Ploughshares Blog. Podcast host Matthew Felix and Elizabeth discussed her new book, Mona at Sea, about an overachieving millennial who, desp...
Bad Book Deals, Getting a Good One, & Writing Memoir with Negative Space's Lilly Dancyger
July 09, 2021 14:14 - 1 hour - 49.2 MBLilly Dancyger is the author of Negative Space, a reported and illustrated memoir selected by Carmen Maria Machado as a winner of the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Awards. Lilly is also the editor of Burn It Down, a critically acclaimed anthology of essays on women's anger. Her writing has been published by Guernica, Lit Hub, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, and more. Podcast host Matthew Felix invited Lilly to be on the show as soon as he finished reading her Electric Literature es...
Process, Language, & Queer Writing with Bestiary's K-Ming Chang
June 24, 2021 23:30 - 55 minutes - 44.3 MBK-Ming Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. She is the author of the New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice novel Bestiary, which was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Told from the point of view of Daughter, a Taiwanese American early-adolescence girl, Bestiary threads together three generations of women with each other, land, water, trauma, violence, and lo...
Writing Community: Why It's Important & How to Find It, with Laurie Doyle & Ryan Sloan
June 11, 2021 04:00 - 1 hour - 84.8 MBPodcast host Matthew Félix talks with authors Laurie Ann Doyle and Ryan Sloan about community: What is it, really? Why is it so important to us as writers? How do we find it? Sharing their own personal stories, as well as their respective experiences in academia, participating in writers groups and organizations, and organizing literary events, Matthew, Laurie, and Ryan engage in a comprehensive discussion about the notion of community, its importance to writers, and the many ways we can f...
Murder and Craft with Red Riviera's David Downie
May 28, 2021 12:52 - 49 minutes - 39.9 MBDavid Downie is a native San Franciscan who moved to Paris in the mid-1980s and now divides his time between France and Italy. His travel, food, and arts features have appeared in more than 50 print magazines and newspapers worldwide and on dozens of websites. David is the author of more than a dozen nonfiction books, one literary novel, and two thrillers, as well as a contributor to dozens of anthologies. David’s new book is Red Riviera, a murder mystery thriller. Commissioner Daria Vin...
Making Money & the Author Mindset with NYTimes Bestseller Joanna Penn
May 14, 2021 12:42 - 1 hour - 55.5 MBJoanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author under the pseudonym J.F. Penn. She has written more than 30 books and sold over 600,000 of them in 149 countries and 6 languages. Joanna is also a podcaster whose The Creative Penn Podcast has been downloaded over 4 million times in 220 countries. Joanna’s website, TheCreativePenn.com, offers information and inspiration on writing, self-publishing, book marketing and how to make a...
Kirstin Valdez Quade on The Five Wounds & Writing into Uncertainty
April 29, 2021 15:07 - 52 minutes - 41.8 MBKirstin Valdez Quade is the author of The Five Wounds. Her previous book, Night at the Fiestas, won the John Leonard Prize from the National Book Critics Circle and was also named a New York Times Notable Book. Kirstin talked about the rural New Mexico setting in which the book takes place, including its Latinx population, the drug epidemic plaguing it, and an enduring and unique religious tradition. Host Matthew Felix and Kirstin discussed the theme of redemption, which is central to th...
Natalie Baszile on We Are Each Other's Harvest & Making the Creative Jump
April 15, 2021 15:33 - 55 minutes - 76.3 MBNatalie Baszile is the author of the novel, Queen Sugar, which was not only nominated for an NAACP Image Award but also made into a television series produced and directed by Ava DuVernay for the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). Natalie’s new book is We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land, and Legacy. The book brings together essays, poems, photographs, quotes, conversations, and first-person stories to examine Black people’s connection to the American land fro...
Jasmin Darznik on The Bohemians & Writing Historical Fiction
April 01, 2021 03:32 - 56 minutes - 45.3 MBJasmin Darznik is the New York Times bestselling author of Song of a Captive Bird. She is also the author of The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother’s Hidden Life and the forthcoming, The Bohemians. The Bohemians is a novel that imagines the friendship between photographer Dorothea Lange and her Chinese American assistant in 1920s San Francisco. Podcast host Matthew Felix and Jasmin discussed some of the main themes of the novel, including our desire to be seen and the many ways in whic...
Off's Chris Colin & Rinee Shah on the Internet, Humor, and Collaboration
March 19, 2021 03:55 - 46 minutes - 64 MBChris Colin and Rinee Shah are author and illustrator, respectively, of the new book Off: The Day the Internet Died, A Bedtime Fantasy. Off is a humorous, illustrated imagining of what might happen to the world if the Internet were to die from one day to the next. Host Matthew Felix discussed with Chris and Rinee some of the concerns about our relationship with the Internet that led them to write the book. They also talked about how this past year—dealing with the pandemic—has impacted o...
Home Baked Author Alia Volz & Successful Book Launches
March 05, 2021 14:14 - 1 hour - 90.1 MBHome Baked author Alia Volz talked about her book—a finalist for the 2021 National Book Critics Circle award for best autobiography—and offered advice about and lessons learned from launching during the pandemic. During the ’70s in San Francisco, Alia Volz’s mother ran the underground Sticky Fingers Brownies, delivering upwards of ten thousand illegal marijuana edibles per month throughout the circus-like atmosphere of a city in the throes of major change. Host Matthew Felix and Alia dis...
PODCAST RELAUNCH, Conference Update, & New Writing Contest
March 05, 2021 13:42 - 51 minutes - 71.2 MBPodcast Program Director and Host Matthew Félix introduced himself, sharing his three books and how he got into podcasting and his new role with the San Francisco Writers Conference podcast. Matthew provided an overview of the podcast relaunch, including the following changes: longer episodes (one hour); availability on major podcast platforms; video on the conference YouTube channel; a new name, still TBD. Matthew introduced conference director Laurie McLean and spoke briefly with her a...
From Singer to Writer with Louisa Morgan
February 05, 2021 15:24 - 12 minutes - 17.7 MBSubjects covered Author Louisa Morgan talked about how she was influenced as a young woman by the feminist social science fiction writing of Sheri Tepper. Louisa enjoys writing in multiple genres, including historical fiction, fantasy, and science fiction. Louisa talked about how, as a former music teacher, opera singer, and college music professor, her experience with music informs her writing, drawing parallels between novels and symphonies. Similarly, because as a singer she was ...
Romance Genre Writing with Rebecca Hunter
January 22, 2021 13:54 - 21 minutes - 29.6 MBSubjects covered Rebecca Hunter is a romance writer. Rebecca began writing romance after reading Outlander, which broke all of her stereotypes about romance and opened her up to what romance could do. Rebecca explained how becoming a member of Romance Writers of America helped her to learn everything she knows about writing romance. She also got her agent and publisher there. Rebecca explained that as an early writer she didn’t think much about difference between genre fiction and lit...
Revisiting the 80s with Kevin Smokler
January 15, 2021 05:51 - 12 minutes - 16.5 MBSubjects covered Kevin Smokler is an author and filmmaker. Kevin's documentary Vinyl Nation, is the study of the comeback of vinyl records in America over the last 12 years, the diversification of vinyl fans, and what it means for America in this divided time. Kevin explained that records have come back because we use music and its physical manifestation to seek human connection with others. When asked about the current state of some of the themes discussed his book, Brat Pack America...
World Gone Missing with Author Laurie Ann Doyle
January 08, 2021 13:19 - 17 minutes - 24.7 MBSubjects covered Author Laurie Ann Doyle discussed her short story collection, World Gone Missing, including some of the stories themselves. All of the stories are set in or around San Francisco, and in each someone has gone missing, sometimes literally, sometimes metaphorically. Laurie discussed the main theme uniting all of the stories, i.e., the presence of felt absence, including where it has previously appeared in literature and how it can be useful to writers today. Asked why s...
Tips for Writing Memoir with Louis Nayer
November 27, 2020 14:16 - 10 minutes - 13.8 MBSubjects covered Louise Nayer is the author of Burned: A Memoir, an Oprah Great Read and winner of the Wisconsin Library Association Award. When asked about the biggest mistakes new memoirists make, Louise noted that many authors make the false assumption that writing memoir is like journaling. Instead, she explained, it's about being able to create a work of art out of a segment of one's life. She added that memoir is often mistakenly confused, too, with autobiography. Louise sugges...
Dos and Don'ts of Author Websites with Pub Site's John Burke
November 13, 2020 04:11 - 30 minutes - 42.5 MBJohn Burke, co-founder of Pub Site, talked about the service, which provides a quick and easy way to create author and book websites. Asked about the need for authors to have a website versus relying on social media, John explained the reasons why a website is essential for an author - and just having a Facebook page is not. Websites act as home base for an author, allowing authors total control of both content and how its presented, without the limitations of and exposure to changes that m...
Storytelling for Animation, Screenwriting, and Novels
October 30, 2020 19:00 - 13 minutes - 18.4 MBSubjects covered Writer EJ DeBrun has experience in animation, screenwriting, and novels. Asked about the similarities between writing novels and screenplays, EJ replied that the similarities are simple: there are words and there's a story. Conversely, point of view is the main difference. Whereas with novels the current trend is for a deep point of view, i.e., getting into the characters' heads, internal monologues, etc., that doesn't happen with screenplays, which are for a visual me...
The Importance of Perseverance with Best Selling Author, Meredith Jaeger
October 15, 2020 19:14 - 18 minutes - 25.2 MBMeredith Jaeger is the author of two dual-narrative historical fiction novels: The Dressmaker’s Dowry, a USA Today bestseller, and Boardwalk Summer. Asked about her motivation for writing The Dressmaker’s Dowry, Meredith explained that, depressed by the gentrification brought about by the tech boom, she wanted to write about San Francisco's history to help newcomers be more aware of it. Meredith's work tackles issues such as working women’s rights, the socio-economic divide, environment...
Paris with Mystery Writer Cara Black
October 02, 2020 12:48 - 16 minutes - 22 MBCara Black is the author of the Aimée Leduc mystery series. Cara was originally inspired to write about Paris when she heard the real-life story of her friend's mother, a hidden Jewish girl during the Occupation. Cara talked about how the Marais has changed since she set one of her books there in the 80s. Cara typically visits Paris once or twice a year; and she leads Aimée Leduc tours to the places featured in her books. Asked about her goofiest experiences while researching her boo...
Producing and Writing Film with Cali Gilbert
September 17, 2020 15:46 - 7 minutes - 9.84 MBCali Gilbert is a bestselling author and transformational book coach, who coaches women - especially those transitioning out of homelessness - through the entire book-publishing process: writing, marketing, and publishing. Cali is also a screenwriter and director, and head of the conference's Writing for Hollywood. For writers interested in transitioning from page to film, Cali stressed the importance of relationship building, which she emphasized should be approached from a "how can you ...
An Introduction to Beta Books
September 04, 2020 04:08 - 16 minutes - 22.3 MBSubjects covered Beta readers are readers who provide feedback on a work in progress. Beta Books co-founder Pam Burleson discussed the advantages of having beta readers and how Beta Books helps connect writers with them. Pam also explained why beta readers can be helpful, a primary reason being because it enables an author to know whether or not their book is a good fit and works for their intended audience. Using a platform such as Beta Books can also help authors with platform ...
Process and Publishing with Romantic Suspense Author Amanda Clay
August 21, 2020 02:46 - 15 minutes - 21.8 MBAlthough Amanda Clay writes "genre fiction," she agreed that most writing falls into one or more genres; so, the term is probably somewhat redundant. Asked about what she likes about writing romance suspense novels, Amanda cited putting her protagonists into difficult situations, creating villains, and human interaction. Amanda explained that a successful romantic subplot - particularly in books that are not primarily in a romance genre - is one that feels natural, where the tension/chemis...
Ten Minutes with NaNoWriMo's Grant Faulkner
August 07, 2020 04:33 - 8 minutes - 12 MBSubjects covered Grant Faulkner is Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), a yearly challenge to write fifty thousand words of a novel in one month. 500,000 writers in 200 countries participate in NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo offers events year-round, including Camp NaNoWriMo, a more casual version of NaNoWriMo that takes place in April and July. Writers can choose any word count goal and work in any genre. NaNoWriMo's website was recently redesigned to better support ...
Fan Fiction and Copyrights by Alex Bird Tillson -entertainment lawyer and author
July 24, 2020 13:25 - 14 minutes - 19.5 MBSubjects covered Alex Bird Tillson is an entertainment lawyer and author. Authors can submit legal questions to her "Madam Counselor's Corner" on her website: alextillson.com. Alex explained some of the nuances of fan fiction and its copyright implications. Alex noted that fan fiction does often infringe on copyright; however, many authors do not take action and some even appear supportive of fan fiction. Before writing fan fiction, it is good to have an understanding of the stance tak...
Blogging Books & Writing for Change with Nina Amir
July 10, 2020 13:23 - 21 minutes - 29.4 MBAuthor Nina Amir was asked what has changed since the first edition of her book, How to Blog a Book, which is about writing a book and building a platform at the same time. Nina noted that Google is constantly changing its algorithms and requirements about indexing content. Consequently, the amount of content that needs to be written for every blog post to be perceived as valuable by Google has increased to 800+ words. Google's increased word count standard has made blogging two or thr...
How and why to get book reviews
June 26, 2020 03:23 - 19 minutes - 26.8 MBThe main subject of this episode is book reviews. IBPA prefers the term “author-publisher” because term “self-published” makes it sound as though au author do it all themselves; but, if they’re doing it right, they’re hiring people to help with the process. Trade reviews are reviews by trade publications such as Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, etc. intended for book professionals, i.e., entities that buy your books to sell them to readers, e.g. bookstores, libraries, etc. Authors want...
Empowering Authors with Direct Marketing and Presales
June 11, 2020 21:33 - 36 minutes - 50.4 MBSubjects covered The biggest imperative for authors in 2020 is to build and own a marketing platform that they control. Retailers and social media platforms mediate the author/reader relationship, preventing direct interaction. A mailing list is essential for authors to have a direct relationship with their readers. While direct sales can be beneficial, most authors find that setting up direct sales in collaboration with a retailer that can handle aspects such as fulfillment, custome...
Direct Sales: Benefits for Authors
May 29, 2020 04:32 - 12 minutes - 17.6 MBDirect sales allows authors more control, enabling them to own the customer journey, including gathering data unavailable through traditional sales channels such as Amazon. Having an author website is critical, so that readers have a hub to visit—and because it can act as a platform for direct sales, which keeps readers on the website versus sending them to another platform. Lulu facilitates direct sales in conjunction with Shopify. There are two ways an author can leverage Lulu's Shop...
Walter Mosley speaks on, not picking a lane, fomenting change, and the publishing industry
May 15, 2020 02:08 - 10 minutes - 14 MBWhen questioned about his thoughts on writers sometimes being told to "pick a lane and stay in it," i.e., choose fiction or nonfiction—but not both—Mosley explained that notion is inherently a capitalist one. He added that even when artists are told that what they are working on will not sell, they should forge ahead. Regarding his book Twelve Steps to Political Revelation, Mosley explained that it was a handbook for a revolution in thought, that if you can get people to think differently a...
What's New with Ingram Spark | New Ingram Spark Tools
May 01, 2020 01:53 - 13 minutes - 18.3 MBSubjects covered What’s new with Ingram Spark Ingram Spark website redesign and enhancements By mid-March, users will start seeing changes to the Ingram Spark website. Enhancements will provide a more user-friendly, intuitive way for users to set up titles on Ingram Spark. Other new tools include one that gives a "title health score" based on metadata and a currency converter for prices in markets outside the United States. Ingram Spark will also be launching a free formatting tool tha...
Common misconceptions new authors have about publishing
April 16, 2020 17:25 - 9 minutes - 13.7 MBAuthor misconceptions about the future of publishing Upcoming creativity and change most likely in the indie publishing space One common author misconception: Traditional publishing is end all be all Indie publishing offers a way in for many authors for who aren't embraced by traditional publishing Another misconception: That traditional publishing is putting out the best books Indie space is really exciting and features voices that need to be heard Traditional publishing is not focuse...
Common Mistakes of Indie Authors by Kathy Meis of Bublish
April 03, 2020 04:55 - 21 minutes - 17 MBCommon Mistakes of Indie Authors by Kathy Meis of Bublish
Three Questions with Jonathan Maberry
March 20, 2020 16:33 - 7 minutes - 6.31 MBThree Questions with Jonathan Maberry Jonathan Maberry, writing career, cross-genre writing
SFWC Volunteer Meeting 2020
January 30, 2020 22:40 - 40 minutes - 37.4 MBDawn Frederick, explains how her journey to master roller derby skating is similar to the writer’s journey
November 08, 2019 03:28 - 11 minutes - 17.4 MBHow Roller Derby and Writing are Very Similar! Owner of Red Sofa Literary, the amazing Dawn Frederick, explains how her journey to master roller derby skating is similar to the writer’s journey in this podcast interview with host Alex White.
Meet Kinga Jentetics of PublishDrive, one of Forbes’ Top 30 Entrepreneurs under 30, in this interview with host Carla King
October 25, 2019 00:18 - 22 minutes - 32.9 MBKinga Jentetics is the founder and CEO of PublishDrive, an eBook publishing platform. Learn about the importance of thinking globally for your ebook, how simplicity is the focus of this platform, and what differentiates PublishDrive from other distributors.
SFWC HOST ALEX WHITE INTERVIEWS NYT BESTSELLER GAIL CARRIGER
October 09, 2019 04:42 - 17 minutes - 27.2 MBListen as 13-time New York Times bestselling author (and archaeologist) Gail Carriger talks with host Alex White about the pros and cons of her meteoric rise to the top and how she’s managed her fame over time. And learn how publishing has changed in the past decade from her perspective.
HOST ALEX WHITE INTERVIEWS SMASHWORDS FOUNDER MARK COKER!
September 27, 2019 02:12 - 11 minutes - 17.4 MBMark Coker is the founder of Smashwords, the leading distributor of indie eBooks, and the creator of the Smart Author podcast that details the evergreen best practices of successful self-publishers. Mark is one of the good guys in publishing. Check out his views on the industry here.
Host Ransom Stephens interviews Thriller Author Rick Acker
September 13, 2019 03:13 - 20 minutes - 29 MBWe’ll keep you in suspense no longer! Thriller author Rick Acker explains how he writes legal thrillers at a steady pace of 500 words per day while commuting in to work on the train.