Write Now! Workshop Podcast: Write A Book, Change The World

Today’s guest is historical romance writer, Joanna Davidson Politano! But don’t be fooled, Joanna’s books have more of a Gothic, almost literary, flavor. If you like Victoria Holt, for example, you may well love Joanna’s books. We chatted about her latest book, the beautifully written and very fun (adventure and mystery as well as romance)…

The lovely Susan May Warren is back, and this time with writing tools! It was all we could do, the last time she was on the show, to stay focused on her new book and not stray off into all the ways Susie May helps other writers. So this show is all about her helping…

There was so much to learn at the Romance Writers of America National Conference held in July this year in Denver, Colorado, that I decided to share some of it with you.

When I was at the Romance Writers of America National Conference last week in Denver, Colorado, I interviewed several of the attendees to find out why they were there and what their favorite part of the conference was. I hope you enjoy listening to all their responses! If you’d like to learn more about them,…

Editor and writing teacher 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 (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…

Shawn Smucker is the author of the young adult book, The Day the Angels Fell, and the brand new sequel, 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 with this missionary, writing his life story, Shawn felt the beginnings of what would become The Day the Angels Fell, his first novel. He self-published it, but his nonfiction agent asked to shop it around - and that and the sequel were sold to Revell.Shawn's writing journey is an interesting and inspiring story that will encourage you to keep going, no matter your genre. Speculative fiction can be a difficult sell, whether traditionally published or self-published, and writers might get caught in the sticky web of trying too hard to make their book stand out. Shawn encourages us to write the be

Last episode, we talked about doing a 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 accomplish those goals?For instance, one of my goals this year is to recover from burnout. The general "how-to" on that is a beginning, but it hasn't been enough for me to make the kind of progress I want and need to fully heal. It occurred to me that spending six days a week podcasting (to put out three episodes a week) is not conducive to my goal to recover from burnout. :-DSo when you find something in your personal life that is not getting the attention it needs in order for you to successfully complete the goal before the end of the year, what do you do?For me, I decided to use su

Normally, 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'm bringing you that presentation in its entirety. To see the slides I used, watch the episode on YouTube. There's lots of helpful information here, so follow along and see if you need to make any adjustments to your goals or production schedule to end the year with your definition of success!Good luck!

After 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 agent (turned author) Nathan Bransford's blog. There is really no way I can distill his "Query Letter Template" blog post down into a more concise explanation, so read it over and check out the "formula" for a great query letter.Nathan is also great about linking to other posts on his blog with related information, and you'll find several links in that post. But here are two more great posts on his blog - "The One Sentence, One Paragraph, and Two Paragraph Pitch" and "How to Write a Query Letter." So much great information here!And if you want someone else's opinion on how to write a great query letter, just do an Internet search - there is a ton of information out there! Here is another great one I found.

Sometimes, 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 life is hitting us in big ways, enjoying the small things - a flowering plant, a child's laugh, a quiet moment - can help us to change our perspective, too. And again, help us regain our gratitude.What's bothering you today? How can you look at it differently?Try Googling "encouragement for writers." Some of the things I found include great articles, Pinterest pages with fun images and quotes, and other people's experiences and how they dealt with them. Since what's bothering me is burnout, I Googled "burnout for writers" and found some helpful tips from other writers who have been through it.Not everything you find will agree with each other, not everything will be helpful to you personally, but you can f

Laura 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 Laura Drake has some great tips for you. Preparation and practice are the two key elements! But knowing when to stop talking is also a big part of a great pitch.Laura was here talking to us about the importance of the first five pages - what you'll need after the agent says, "Send me a sample!" So if you haven't heard it or need a refresher, listen to Episode 65 The First Five Pages again.You can find more on Laura, her books, and her Write Stuff Podcast at LauraDrakeBooks.com.

A 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 to create your ebook.Hurray! It's perhaps a small step that you now don't have to do, but it's one I'm glad to cross off my formatting checklist!If you use Scrivener for Windows, ignore this update. Vellum doesn't have a Windows version at this time, so you can't use it anyway. But if you can get access to a Mac computer, even occasionally, check out Vellum for creating ebooks, and now print books. You can download the software for free to try it out. Pay only if you decide you want to create the files. I love Vellum! It saves me hours for every book I publish.As a side note, I remembered as I was finishing up that I heard this week that Hallmark has an arm now called Hallmark Publishing. (I don't know when it started.) Th

Sometimes 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 smile, choose to have a good attitude, and go do it.Remember, there's a point at which we can reach decision fatigue each day. We've asked ourselves too many questions, or the same questions too many times, and our brain finally runs out of decision juice. ;-) So what can we do to get ourselves up and going?When at all possible, planning ahead for the thing you need to do will help you get up and do it without thinking about it. For instance, I lay out my running clothes the night before mornings I'm going to run. I check the weather so I can wear the right clothes. I fill my water bottle, lay out my keys, make sure my iPod or phone is charged enough, and I try to remember to put my sunglasses in the pile (though that one thing I do

Sydney 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 the real Nellie Belle's short stories and how it prompted her to write about this amazing woman's life. She tells us about talking to relatives to learn more about their common ancestor, and asking permission to mention other relatives from the still-living family members.Sydney also encourages listeners to write for joy, to tell their family's stories and share them with the rest of the family. Writing for publication, in this case, may be secondary or a non-issue. It's worth it just to share these stories so they aren't forgotten forever.In addition to historical fiction, Sydney has also published news articles, poetry, and short stories. Learn more about her and find he

I'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 in your story, too!But instead of creating a fictional avatar - I'm already creating tons of fictional characters! - I think of the one person that I think would like this book more than anyone else I know. I write different genres, so I have a different "perfect reader" for each one.For example, there's a reader named Donna who loved the first chapter excerpt/teaser for my Strays of Loon Lake series, so much so that she emailed me a couple times a year to ask me if it was done yet. :) When I write in that series now, Donna is the person I have in mind to entertain.My Traverse City in Love series has a different flavor - chick lit rather than sweet romantic comedy - and my friend Rachel is the main pe

Today'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 better understand what it's like to be on the receiving end, struggling with pride or wariness or embarrassment. They've helped me become a better giver by wording the offer in a way that makes the intended receiver feel more comfortable with saying "yes."I give an example of how you can turn a no into a yes and turn the situation into a double-blessing, for both you and the other person. Look around and see what people are offering to give you that you've been saying "no" to. How can you turn it into a yes? And how can that help you become a better giver?

Multi-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 traditionally published and indie published, so she gives us tips about how she juggles her writing commitments. She uses "writing blocks" to organize her time, and sets up smaller deadlines for herself - finish first draft by this time, edits by this time, etc.She's more of a "plotser" (part plotter, part pantser), and she uses a system called Story Equation to build her story. Then she speaks out the whole story to herself in a tape recorder so she can see if there are any holes or problems. Despite this pre-planning, she prefers to write a fast, messy first draft that is completely uncensored. When the first draft is done, then she rewrites and polishes to create the best stor

In 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 it over if you wonder at all if you're beginning to burn out in work or life.Thankfully, a link from that article lead to this one on "Overcoming Burnout."Out of curiosity, I clicked on other links about burnout, including this Wikipedia article, "Occupational Burnout," that gives a little background at the beginning into who started studying burnout and what they found.Because I want to know the spiritual side and what things I might be able to do or consider from a spiritual angle, I Googled "burnout in the Bible" and found this article, "What does the Bible say about burnout?"After I wrote a blog post called "Follow the Cheerios" about discovering that I am probably suffering from burnout,

As 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 with Boo coloring on the floor. She starts doing that toddler thing, rubbing her eyes, trying to stay awake, eyes drooping. And Sully gets her to follow him to his room by laying down a trail of Cheerios.Apparently, Cheerios are the modern-day bread crumbs. ;)This always makes me laugh! He treats her like a puppy, making a food trail for her to follow and then making a pile of newspapers in the corner for her to sleep on.And Boo follows him, eating one Cheerio at a time on the path. All goes well until she sees Sully’s big, comfortable bed. Then she leaves the Cheerios trail and climbs up and under the covers.Watching this scene again – I found it and embedded the video here – made me feel like that was something I could do r

Interviewing 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. :-D But I should have expected nothing less after I read the tagline for her website: Where love and faith cross paths...with murder.Patricia writes romantic suspense and says that murdering your characters is a great way to kill off your anxieties. (I think I'm going to try that! :-D ) What follows is a fun conversation about how she writes - an encouraging look at writing for pantsers!My biggest takeaway was when I realized that Patricia writes the scenes with the murderer or psychopath's point of view without knowing who the bad guy is - so it's just "he or she" - and later she'll have an ah-ha moment about who that person is in her story. I can't wait to try this!Patricia has a lot of great stuff on her blog, and she also suggests several