WRITE NOW! Workshop Podcast: Write a Book, Change the World with Kitty Bucholtz
290 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratingsWrite a Book, Change the World
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Episodes
089I – Keeping a Travel Journal: An Interview with Marcy Weydemuller
July 18, 2018 12:00 - 54 minutes - 75.3 MBEditor and writing teacher http://marcyweydemuller.com/ (Marcy Weydemuller) is back to show us how to use travel journaling to create both fiction and nonfiction. She's been blogging about the topic (https://mythicimpact.blogspot.com/2018/06/journal-with-impact-travel-influence.html (starting with this post)) as well as several other topics in her journaling series. She's got some great ideas on how to get started and how to keep notes so you can write up your experiences when you get back fr...
088I – The Fascinating World of Mystical Realism: An Interview with Shawn Smucker
July 12, 2018 12:00 - 40 minutes - 56.1 MBhttp://shawnsmucker.com/ (Shawn Smucker) is the author of the young adult book, https://amzn.to/2J1VFad (The Day the Angels Fell), and the brand new sequel, https://amzn.to/2L0fNLL (The Edge of Over There), tales of mystery and magic that will leave you wanting more. Today, Shawn talks to us about his journey to fiction and how it started by writing a nonfiction book for his aunt. He began earning his living co-writing memoirs for others, and one such experience took him to Istanbul. Working ...
087E – Our Personal Mid-Year Check-in
July 08, 2018 13:00 - 14 minutes - 19.3 MBLast episode, we talked about doing a https://podcast.writenowworkshop.com/086t-mid-year-restart/ (mid-year check-in with our writing goals) to see if there are any areas that need adjusting as we enter the second half of the year. Today, I'd like to talk to you about doing the same thing with your personal goals. Is there anything that you've been saying, "I want to get better at this" or "I want to do more of that" this year? If so, do you have some concrete tasks that you can do to accompl...
086T – A Mid-Year Restart
July 05, 2018 15:00 - 1 hour - 108 MBNormally, you'd get an interview today as you do every Thursday, but we are halfway through the year so I thought it would be good to check in and see how you're doing on your goals for the year. I suggest people do a self-check every 3-6 months to see if they're on track with the plans they set at the beginning of the year, and to see what needs to be adjusted. In May of this year, I spoke to a writers group in California on one of my favorite topics, when to hit the Restart button. Today, I...
085T – Writing a Query Letter
July 04, 2018 01:08 - 26 minutes - 36.1 MBAfter Laura Drake explained to us how to pitch our book at a conference last week, it seemed another logical topic would be how to write a query letter. And since I’m about to write a query letter myself, I figured the timing was perfect! My go-to resource for publishing information for ages was literary…
084E – A Change in Perspective
July 01, 2018 14:00 - 12 minutes - 16.6 MBSometimes, if we change our perspective, we can see things in our lives and in ourselves more clearly. When things are going great, and the little things are bothering us, a reminder that others have a lot more pain in their lives right now can help us to regain our perspective and gratitude. Conversely, if…
083I – Pitching Your Book at a Conference: An Interview with Laura Drake
June 28, 2018 14:00 - 45 minutes - 36.1 MBLaura Drake is back for a timely look at pitching your book! It’s conference season, and writers conferences are one of the best places to find and pitch your book to agents and editors who may be the right fit. But how do you say everything you want to say in 2-10 minutes?! Pitching veteran…
082T – Where Scrivener Meets Vellum
June 26, 2018 14:00 - 11 minutes - 15.5 MBA few days ago, I got a great email from Vellum. They wrote to let users know that if you use Scrivener as well, the new version 3.0 now has a choice to compile/export for “Vellum Export.” That means when you use that option, Scrivener will create the docx file that Vellum requires in order…
081E – When You Don’t Feel Like It
June 24, 2018 14:00 - 11 minutes - 9.28 MBSometimes you just don’t feel like doing what you need to do. You’re too hot, too cold, too tired, having too much fun. You don’t feel like it. How important is this thing you “have to do”? If it’s not important, no worries. But if it is, sometimes you just need to paste on a…
080I – Crafting a Novel Around a Real Person: An Interview with Sydney Avey
June 21, 2018 14:00 - 52 minutes - 72.8 MBSydney Avey is the author of three historical fiction novels including The Sheep Walker’s Daughter, The Lyre and the Lamb, and The Trials of Nellie Belle, a partially fictionalized tale of her great-grandmother’s life as the first female traveling court reporter in the American West. Today Sydney shares her story of how she came to read…
079T – Who Are You Writing For?
June 19, 2018 14:00 - 15 minutes - 20.9 MBI’ve taken a page from the big online marketing gurus, and twisted it to work for me as a novelist. They want you to figure out your avatar, your one perfect customer, and create all your sales and marketing information focused on what that one person would love. Well, it works great for staying focused…
078E – Receiving in Order to Give
June 17, 2018 14:00 - 10 minutes - 14.2 MBToday’s encouraging words are a reminder that sometimes you need to learn to be a good receiver in order to learn to become a better giver. The times in my life when I’ve been embarrassed at what someone wants to give me because I can’t reciprocate have been many. But those times helped me to…
077I – Digging Deep to Find a Great Story: An Interview with Susan May Warren
June 14, 2018 14:00 - 48 minutes - 66.9 MBMulti-award-winning author Susan May Warren offers us a fun and exciting look at how she built her current series, the action-packed Montana Rescue series. Storm Front, book 5 in the soon-to-be 6-book series, released on May 1, 2018, and we talked about those characters, subplots, settings, and more. Susie May is a hybrid author, both…
076T – Burnout: Getting Through to the Other Side
June 13, 2018 00:58 - 1 hour - 97.3 MBIn this deeply personal episode about my journey into burnout and my quest for a way out, I mention several articles and Bible verses which helped change my perspective and show me a path back to peace. Among those is this article on Psychology Today, “The Telltale Symptoms of Burnout…Do You Have Them?“ Definitely look…
075E – Follow the Cheerios
June 10, 2018 14:00 - 11 minutes - 15.8 MBAs I’ve been struggling to figure out where I’m going in life, a scene came to mind from the movie, Monsters, Inc. Near the beginning, when Sully and Mike are hiding Boo and trying to figure out how to get her back to her own world without getting caught, they are all in Sully’s apartment…
074I – Add a Little Murder: An Interview with Patricia Bradley
June 07, 2018 14:00 - 50 minutes - 68.9 MBInterviewing the lovely Patricia Bradley was an exercise in paradoxes. Hearing this sweet Christian woman pronounce in her soft, Southern drawl, “Oh, I love to talk about murder. It’s just fun” was just the beginning of my mind bending to look at things differently. 😀 But I should have expected nothing less after I read the…
073T – How to Track Sales for Sales Tax
June 05, 2018 13:00 - 21 minutes - 30 MBMost people don’t consider taxes “fun” but I’d like to help you at least not think of them as “hard.” The first step is helping you to organize your sales information so that you have the information you need when you need it. The easiest way to do that is to create an Excel file.…
072E – How a Pretend Person Got Me Back Into Writing
June 03, 2018 13:00 - 10 minutes - 14 MBWhile talking with Kristin Billerbeck during the last episode, I was so excited to tell her that her new book, The Theory of Happily Ever After, really helped me during the difficult time I’ve been having in finding my joy again, finding out if writing is still part of what I’m meant to do with…
071I – Chick Lit Is Not Dead: An Interview with Kristin Billerbeck
May 31, 2018 13:00 - 51 minutes - 70.5 MBWhen Kristin Billerbeck, author of The Theory of Happily Ever After, proudly insisted during this interview, “I refuse to back away from the chick lit title” for her genre of books, my heart did a little happy dance! I love chick lit, and I love Kristin’s books. 😀 She said that the first time she wrote…
070T – Using Chris Fox’s Plot Gardening System
May 29, 2018 19:49 - 20 minutes - 28.6 MBChris Fox came on the show last week to talk about his new book, Plot Gardening. I’ve been reading the book and making notes as I go through it, and it occurred to me that I might be able to help you as you work through a new book or try to figure out what…
069E – Play, Work, and Healing
May 27, 2018 13:00 - 15 minutes - 21.9 MBI’ve been reminded these last couple of weeks of the importance in my life of play – and how incredibly underestimated its value has become in my life over the last seven or eight years. I’ve been talking about the importance of the words we use – out loud and inside our heads, and how…
068I – Plot Gardening: An Interview with Chris Fox
May 24, 2018 13:00 - 36 minutes - 50.5 MBChris Fox is the author of his newest book, Plot Gardening, as well as Write to Market, 5000 Words Per Hour, and his latest favorite series, the Magitech Chronicles. He has been a full-time indie author since 2016, and spends his free time hiking, and making stuff up. In today’s episode, Chris explains how his…
067T – Using Laura Drake’s Checklist for Openings
May 22, 2018 13:58 - 15 minutes - 21.5 MBLast Thursday, author Laura Drake spoke to us about how to improve the first five pages of your novel to grab an editor’s or reader’s attention. She very kindly offered listeners a copy of her Checklist for Openings, a document she created to remind herself how to make her book and chapter beginnings the best…
066E – When Expectations Don’t Meet Reality
May 20, 2018 13:00 - 7 minutes - 10.9 MBI’ve been doing some work the last week or two on recovering my lost joy and regaining deep peace. I’ve found a lot of helpful references in my Bible and with my friends. But a lot of introspection led me to think about the adage that frustration comes when expectations don’t meet reality. That’s so…
065I – The First Five Pages: An Interview with Laura Drake
May 17, 2018 13:30 - 36 minutes - 28.9 MBExplicit Warning for this episode Award-winning author Laura Drake shares with us what she’s learned about making the first five pages of your novel the absolute best they can be from her years working with an editor in traditional publishing. She’s currently writing for Grand Central. Among the tips she offers: People come to books…
064T – Need a Vacation?
May 15, 2018 13:00 - 18 minutes - 25.8 MBOne of the most obvious reasons we start thinking about vacation is the approach of summer – which is the case in the Northern Hemisphere right now. Maybe you have plans to go someplace exciting, or visit family, or stay home and relax. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere right now, you might have had…
063E – Delight Leads to Discipline
May 13, 2018 13:00 - 14 minutes - 19.3 MBHave you ever been so crazy tired that nothing appeals to you anymore and you can’t remember why you used to love this, or what exactly about that used to delight you? I kinda feel that way right now. I was telling my friend that I don’t know if I even want to be a…
062I – Screenwriting Tips From the Experts: An Interview with Lee and Janet Scott Batchler
May 10, 2018 13:00 - 41 minutes - 57.6 MBLee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler are the writers of POMPEII, SMOKE AND MIRRORS, and BATMAN FOREVER, among many other projects. They have recently moved into producing, with Executive Producer credits on a movie to be released in 2018. In addition, Janet is a writing professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic…
061T – Let’s Talk About the Weather
May 08, 2018 14:55 - 12 minutes - 17 MBAs spring jumps into summer in the Northern Hemisphere, I’ve been thinking a lot about the weather. Where does the weather fit in our stories? How can we make it more interesting, not just a box we tick off our list of Everything That Goes Into a Scene? One way is to use the weather…
060E – Planning for Changes
May 06, 2018 13:00 - 9 minutes - 12.4 MBIn this episode, I share with you something I heard last Sunday at church – when I was supposed to be paying attention. Haha! But that’s the thing. If someone is really interesting, I get caught up in the tangents in my head when they say something that gets me thinking! Last week during the…
059I – Stretches and Exercises for Writers: An Interview with Bonnie DePue
May 03, 2018 15:54 - 52 minutes - 71.4 MBLast week’s guest is back for an encore presentation to give us some stretches and exercises we can do to feel better and have better brain function while we sit and type! Bonnie DePue is an Occupational Therapist, therapeutic riding instructor, and owner and founder of CHUM Therapeutic Riding in Dansville, Michigan, in the United…
058T – New Goal: Write Better
May 01, 2018 13:00 - 22 minutes - 30.5 MBWhen I published Love at the Fluff and Fold in August 2017, I realized it was the best book I’ve written so far and I entered it into the RWA Rita Awards. When it didn’t final, I was disappointed and took some time to try to process my feelings. In the end, I came to…
057E – Fear: Protection or Snare?
April 29, 2018 13:00 - 15 minutes - 21 MBSometimes fear protects us – like when we hear a rattle snake rattling a warning while we’re hiking in the desert, or when we hear a car coming when we’re about to cross the street. Other times it can be a snare for us – like when we fear that agents and editors have more…
056I – Feeding Your Body and Your Mind: An Interview with Bonnie DePue
April 26, 2018 13:00 - 39 minutes - 54.5 MBBonnie DePue is an Occupational Therapist, therapeutic riding instructor, and owner and founder of CHUM Therapeutic Riding in Dansville, Michigan, in the United States. As a therapist, Bonnie uses the horse’s movement and environment as a treatment strategy for children and adults with disabilities; as an instructor, she uses the therapeutic nature of horseback riding…
055T – 10 Things You Need to Know Before You Start Self-Publishing, Pt 2 of 2
April 24, 2018 13:00 - 30 minutes - 42 MBLast week, in Episode 52, I went through the first half of my list of ten things you should know to help you decide if self-publishing is a path you might want to take. Today I’m going through the second half of the list so that you know what questions you need to ask yourself,…
054E – Give Yourself a Break
April 22, 2018 13:00 - 8 minutes - 12.2 MBWhen we work hard on a big project, we tend to be tired when it’s completed. You know what’s the best thing to do when you’re finished? Take a break. Seriously. But how often do we do that? How often do we say, “I want to, but I don’t have time”? On the other hand,…
053I – Writing Historicals Set in WWII: An Interview with Sarah Sundin
April 19, 2018 13:00 - 40 minutes - 32.5 MBAuthor Sarah Sundin just published her tenth historical romance novel set in World War II. Why such a niche period? She’s heard so many stories from family members that the period just seemed right for her. With so many books in the same era, Sarah is known as a WWII author now. It’s become her…
052T – 10 Things You Need to Know Before You Start Self-Publishing, Part 1
April 17, 2018 13:00 - 22 minutes - 31.1 MBMany people believe that you need to commit to your publishing path before you even fully understand your options. They want you to choose traditional publishing or self-publishing and then learn what is required. I want to help you understand self-publishing so you can think about it and make an informed decision when you’re ready.…
051E – What’s Your Kryptonite?
April 15, 2018 13:00 - 13 minutes - 18.3 MBFor several mornings in a row, I woke up with the song “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down playing in my head. It’s a good song, I like it, and it’s on my superhero writing playlist. But I have no idea why it was in my head for days. It got me thinking, though. What is…
050I – Become a Story Genius: An Interview with Lisa Cron
April 12, 2018 13:00 - 55 minutes - 76 MBIn addition to teaching writing in the UCLA Extension writing program, Lisa Cron is the author of both Wired for Story and Story Genius. She is an energetic and enthusiastic speaker who will reignite your fire and passion for writing! Lisa says that her first book, Wired for Story, is more of an explanation of…
049T – Sticky Note Organization
April 10, 2018 13:00 - 23 minutes - 32.7 MBI love using sticky notes to get and stay organized in my writing. They work great for both fiction and nonfiction! You can use a variety pack and color code your brainstorming or your plotting, or you can use the plain yellow ones. (The plain yellow can be cheaper.) They work great for flat, non-textured…
048E – Commitment First: Choose to be True Despite Challenges
April 08, 2018 13:00 - 15 minutes - 21.4 MBWe have a lot of freedom in life, no matter who we are. Arguably, our greatest freedom is choosing who will we be. No matter what circumstances or people put obstacles in our way, we get to choose how we react and what principles will guide us. Choosing to be committed to those principles is…
047I – Why Writers Need Visual Content: An Interview with Elena Dillon
April 05, 2018 13:00 - 39 minutes - 54.8 MBYA Author Elena Dillon is the queen of helping confused and terrified writers learn to do things they didn’t think they could! Her website, Confused and Terrified Writer, is filled with helpful information about how to create excellent visual content for writers, as well as other helpful things, like a free how-to-use-Scrivener class. In this…
046T – Writing on a Trip
April 03, 2018 13:00 - 20 minutes - 27.7 MBI’ve moved a lot over the last 25 years, and taken even more trips. Whether it’s an overseas move or a weekend getaway, I’ve had to decide over and over what I can take with me to be able to keep working on my current project(s). The usual limits are space and weight, so taking…
045E – What Writers Can Learn From the Easter Story
April 01, 2018 13:00 - 17 minutes - 24.4 MBSince this episode is coming out on Easter, I thought it would be fun to look at what the Easter Story – and the story of the entire Bible – can teach us about writing a great story! I start with the end – writing a story where the reader is asking, “How can the…
044I – Return to Writing in a Kindle World: An Interview with Louella Nelson
March 29, 2018 13:00 - 41 minutes - 56.5 MBBestselling author Louella Nelson is a novelist, editor, and writing teacher. After the death of her mother, Louella found it difficult to write for nearly two decades. One day, she found inspiration for a new story, and things started coming together again for her. Louella was already editing Debra Holland’s books, so she was very…
043T – Creating a Music Playlist
March 27, 2018 13:00 - 20 minutes - 28.7 MBLots of writers use a music playlist to either get them in the mood for the piece they’re working on, or to actually have playing in the background as they pound out the words. I can’t listen to music with lyrics when I’m writing. I either stop writing and sing along, or I get distracted…
042E – Empathy Adds Flavor to Life
March 25, 2018 13:00 - 12 minutes - 17.2 MBRecently, a friend said to me that she understands how much work it is to move often because she had a period in her life when she moved a lot. Her empathy – understanding because you’ve been there – almost undid me. Sympathy – compassion for others despite not having been in their situation –…
041I – A Kindle World First-Timer: An Interview with Kristy Phillips
March 22, 2018 13:00 - 37 minutes - 51.9 MBKristy Phillips first started writing in Amazon’s Kindle Worlds only a few months ago after a conversation with Debra Holland, author and creator of the Montana Sky series. When Debra heard Kristy writes gold rush stories, she asked her to consider writing in her Kindle World. Now Kristy has the first book out in her…
040T – Starting Your Story Bible
March 20, 2018 14:00 - 26 minutes - 35.7 MBIf you’re writing a series, it won’t take long to find you’ve forgotten some of the details from your earlier books. What car did she drive again? Did he rent an apartment or buy a condo? Did she have a political science degree or an economics degree? Starting a story bible from the beginning –…