Turning Readers Into Writers artwork

051 - Accountability is key with gothic novelist Jo Buer

Turning Readers Into Writers

English - February 25, 2021 13:00 - 41 minutes - 28.6 MB - ★★★★★ - 7 ratings
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What's in this episode:

Jo Buer is the perfect example of why, even as a child, you mustn't let anyone stamp on your dreams. If you want to write stories, ignore the naysayers (even your primary school teachers) and follow your heart.

As a teenager, she went through the usual 'anxty' poetry and journals. As an adult she continued to write, but didn't pursue it with intention. She talked the talk, but didn't walk the walk until she noticed that a lot of her contemporaries weren't happy with their lot in life, instead were going through the motions.

She didn't want that for herself so started digging into publishing, submitting short stories and finally reworded one of her NaNoWriMo drafts and published it last year.

Jo took an undergraduate in English Literature, a big component of which was Creative Writing. From this experience she learnt how to give and receive feedback on her writing, which attributes to her confidence and future success.

I ask her what gave her the impetus to make 2020 her year for change, despite the pandemic and the anxiety that was going around the globe. She says,

"if we don't go after our dreams now, when will we?"

She wants freedom in life, and fiction is the way to attain that.

We talk about being an Authorpreneur, and why having a website, however simple, is an integral part of your business as a writer. Jo shares her experiences and how she decided what to include on her site.

We talk about the challenges around fitting in writing around the day job. As someone who already gets up at 4.30am, Jo Buer needed another way!

Accountability is a big part of Jo's success, not only by booking her editor in advance, but by telling her mailing list what she's doing and when it'll be done by. She doesn't want to disappoint anyone.

Jo Buer tells me about her debut novel, and what it is she loves about the gothic and ghost stories.

We talk, too, about the benefits of examining your mindset and the ways you can strengthen it to ensure resilience and success.

To round off, Jo Buer tells us about what she's working on now and her deadline of 1 March 2021.

You can more of our conversation around mindset and useful resources to boost your own resilience over at Patreon.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Self Publishing 101 Course from Self Publishing FormulaJo Buer's websiteRest Easy Resort, Jo BuerAuthorcats, Nick StephensonThe Right To Write, Julia CameronDon't Keep Your Day Job, Kathy Heller


Associated Blog Post:

https://emmadhesi.com/blog-post/jo-buer


If you're ready to stop talking and start writing, embrace a new writing practice and get your words on the page, then Ready To Write coaching is exactly what you need.

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