358: Intoxication for Inspiration: Do drugs and alcohol unleash the muses? Episode 358
We discuss the role of intoxicants using research and anecdote
36m Apr 21, 2023
36m
357: The Anxious Writer: Turning fears into superpowers. Episode 357
Anxiety becomes action with Morra Aarons-Mele, author of The Anxious Achiever
40m Apr 14, 2023
40m
356: Writerly Tech: the hardware, the software and the why. Episode 356
We’ll admit it. We like our writerly gear. We get a little rush from visiting our favorite Vermont stationery store together. (In fact, we just did this last week.) But in all seriousness, we spend a lot of time on this job, so it’s good to figure out what works for us. Today Sarina takes us through her novel-writing tech stack. She covers hardware, software and the “why” behind the tools she ...
19m Apr 07, 2023
19m
355: In My Expert Opinion: Pitching, Prepping, and Nailing Interviews for TV and Radio
Becoming an expert takes years of work and many of you have asked how you can take that expertise out for a spin in the media. I don’t blame you. From the moment the my first Atlantic article, “Why Parents Need to Let Their Children Fail” (https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/why-parents-need-to-let-their-children-fail/272603/) went viral in 2013, I was eager to get on televisio...
39m Mar 31, 2023
39m
354: Good Writing Comes Last: the form and function of a solid book outline, episode 354
Jess here, because I hate outlining. Hate it. It sounds boring and feels like an assignment, writing stripped of all flow and joy. I asked KJ and Sarina to help me with this problematic mindset, because my novel in progress clearly needs a solid outline and yet every time I go back to work on it, I feel irritated, frustrated and blocked. Thank goodness for my accountability buddies, because th...
37m Mar 24, 2023
37m
Sensitivity Reader Reboot: looking your topic from all the angles, with Jordan Shapiro and Jazz
Recently, someone on Twitter asked if sensitivity readers are still a resource writers utilize and where to find them. Yes indeed, sensitivity readers are still a great resource, and since we interviewed Jordan Shapiro and a sensitivity reader he worked with on his book, Father Figure: How to Be a Feminist Dad. I hope you enjoy this re-airing of episode 266 the #AmWriting podcast. Hey all, Jes...
47m Mar 17, 2023
47m
353: Unraveling Nonfiction Research and Writing: Episode 353 with Peggy Orenstein
This week, Jess and KJ talk to journalist, author, and lifelong knitter Peggy Orenstein (https://www.peggyorenstein.com/) about research, nonfiction writing, expertise, and examining the unexamined in ordinary life. Peggy’s newest book is , Unraveling: What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World’s Ugliest Sweater. (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/un...
42m Mar 10, 2023
42m
352: How to Write a Novel in Three Months, Sarina-Style (Episode 352)
Hey all! Today Sarina brings you a fun but tricky topic: how to write a novel in three months. Should you do it? Maybe. It depends on the book. Not every book can or should be written in 90 days. But if you’re game to try, Sarina gives you: 4 things you need to know about the book before you start 5 tips for writing scenes more quickly 3 things to try when you’re stuck Links from the Pod ...
30m Mar 03, 2023
30m
351: A Workbook for Your Story: Episode 351 with Adrienne Young and Isabel Ibañez
True confession time: Sarina and I have always wanted to make something like this. I’m talking about The Storyteller’s Workbook (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780593539439) , which is a gorgeous combination of structural writing guide and writing bullet journal created by Isabel Ibañez (http://isabelibanez.com/) , the author of Woven in Moonlight (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781645672050) and W...
42m Feb 24, 2023
42m
350: Writing Three Books Without Typing a Word: Episode 350 with Leslie Hooton
Dictation, inspiration, deleted fragments and where the real work begins.
36m Feb 17, 2023
36m
349: How to Write (More than just) Erotica: Episode 349 with Rachel Kramer Bussel
STOP. Do not think to yourself, well, I don’t want to write Erotica—why is this podcast/book for me? This conversation, and the book, How to Write Erotica (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781627783194) , that inspires it, goes far beyond any pre-imagined specifics you have about writing scenes, stories and books focused on which bit of bodily anatomy goes where—because to write good erotica, you h...
49m Feb 10, 2023
49m
348: Are You Ready to Pitch? The Answer is in Your Query. Episode 348 with Julie Artz
Your query (or your jacket copy) can tell you if your story is ready to pitch to agents (or offer readers)--if you're willing to listen.
48m Feb 03, 2023
48m
347: Start More than You Can Finish: Redefining failure with Becky Blades in Episode 347
Okay, some us (hand up here) start ALL THE THINGS. But some of us don’t like to start what we don’t think we will finish (and even those of us who start a lot sometimes beat ourselves up for that). But if you don’t start stuff you cannot finish stuff. So: here’s Becky Blades, author of Start More than You Can Finish (https://www.beckyblades.com/start-more-than-you-can-finish/) (which—and this ...
1hr 1m Jan 27, 2023
1hr 1m
346: Thousand Miles to a First Novel: Episode 346 with Kristen Mei Chase
On this week’s episode, Jess and KJ talk to Kristen Mei Chase, an OG mommy blogger, journalist, former professor, podcaster, CEO of the Cool Mom Picks Network, and now, novelist. Her book, Thousand Miles to Graceland (https://coolmompicks.com/blog/2022/06/08/get-all-shook-up-a-thousand-miles-to-graceland/) comes out on January 24, 2002, and we discuss the long road to publication for her (very ...
44m Jan 20, 2023
44m
Flashback Friday -- Episode 71: Building relationships with booksellers with Mary Laura Philpott
Hello #AmWriters! Someone in the #AmWriting Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/485904005120809/) asked about the best ways to connect and build relationships with bookstores, so we decided to revisit this older episode with bestselling author and Emmy-winning television host Mary Laura Philpott (https://marylauraphilpott.com/) . Drawing on her many years working at Parnassus Books ...
48m Jan 13, 2023
48m
345: When it comes to goals, boring is good. Episode 345: Goals--or not--for 2023
A few assorted 2023 goals that I have no doubt I can achieve: Finish this box of Wheat Thins Take down holiday decorations before July. Read … some books. Let the dogs in. Hey, look at that. Already I can check off #1. Jess, Sarina and I just aren’t feeling the goals this year. Oh, we have them. But they’re mostly “do that again” or “yeah, stick with that” kinda things. . I’m gonna write a...
36m Jan 06, 2023
36m
344: 2022 in the Rear View Mirror: Episode 344
We make a point of setting goals every year—and, even more importantly, actually looking back to see whether we achieved them, and why. We’ve talked a lot in past years about the importance of setting the right kind of goals (you can get a short PDF on goal-setting and a worksheet below)—by which we mean goals you can control. You can’t sell your book to a publisher—that’s not a goal within you...
43m Dec 30, 2022
43m
Flashback Friday -- Episode 251 How to give your fun read a solid, poke-in-the-gut point with Anna North
My motto for 2023 is “good writing comes last” but it might as well be “story first”, which is why we’re re-sharing this interview with Anna North (http://www.annanorth.net/) , author of three novels, most recently Outlawed (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781635578249) —the January 2021 Reese’s Book Club pick. Outlawed has a powerful theme and message and what we call, in the interview, a “poke-i...
48m Dec 23, 2022
48m
343: Friends Don't Let Friends Write Books Without Hooks. Episode 343
Hooks, tropes, high concept. Comps. The publishing world tosses those phrases around like juggling balls, and I for one (as usual it’s KJ here) had a hard time understanding them for ages, especially the idea of a hook. But now I get it. A hook, in short, is the thing that gets someone—agent, editor, reader, movie-goer, etc—to say, following a one or two sentence description of the book: SOLD....
48m Dec 16, 2022
48m
342: It Turns Out What I Really Want to Write About is... Episode 342, from memoir to marketable, with Emily Grosvenor
Sometimes you have to start with a memoir (that you never publish) to figure out who you are and where you’re going. Today’s guest has a nice impressive bio—but 8 years ago, she was just a writer staring at a screen and working on, as many of us do when we first start, a memoir. Emily Grosvenor is the editor of Oregon Home magazine (https://www.oregonhomemagazine.com/) , Willamette Week’s desi...
52m Dec 09, 2022
52m
341: Talking TikTok (and Reels too): Episode 341 on Video content--the Why, the How To, and is it Worth the Time Suck?
Hey #AmWriters! Jess here. I recorded a bunch of videos to answer all of your questions about creating video for book marketing but in the end, I figured an entire episode needed to happen in order to really get into the topic. I started creating daily videos based on the content in The Addiction Inoculation because I wanted to the information out there, and if it sold some books or rustled up...
36m Dec 02, 2022
36m
340: How to Tell Someone Else's Story: Episode 340 with Allison Gilbert
Pain by Elsie Robinson (https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/pain-8) Imagine discovering that one of the highest paid, most well known journalists in the world, whose voice dominated the Hearst media empire for more than 30 years, who wrote something like 9,000 published articles… has basically disappeared from living memory. That’s the story of Julia Scheer and Allison Gilbert’s biography: Liste...
49m Nov 25, 2022
49m
339: Lit Mags, Grants and Residencies: a best-we-can how-to for an always changing but more approachable than we imagine world. Episode 339 with Patrice Gopo
Ever feel like some things are just outside your ken? I’m that way with literary magazines. And I’ve never found the right retreat or residency, or applied for a grant, and I know sometimes it’s just that I don’t think I belong in that world. But worlds don’t usually just reach out and drag you in. That’s a fave theme of ours around here—you can’t be published unless you write something, etc. ...
52m Nov 18, 2022
52m
338: The 30-Day Revision: Episode 338 How KJ Revised a Novel in 30 Days/189 Hours and approximately 72 Chocolate-Covered Peeps
Many of you have heard me (this is obviously KJ) whine about my revision in process. Well, I’m here to report that it’s done, and successfully. Below is a full description of the process, and in the episode you’ll hear me talking about it with Jennie Nash. I detail everything except the Peeps that fueled me, and I decided it was wrong to leave them out. So, in addition to a lot of butt-in-chai...
51m Nov 11, 2022
51m
337: Publishing's Secret Side-Door: Episode 337 Writing Object Lessons and Books-for-series with Maria Teresa Hart
Sometimes your first book is a gateway. For me—KJ—it was Reading with Babies, Toddlers and Twos (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781402278167) , a book I wrote in 2006 with Susan Straub. Susan was the expert and I was a rising writer with a lesser expertise riding on her coattails. We pitched the book before I had many bylines at all—but adding the words “is the author of the forthcoming book…” to...
38m Nov 04, 2022
38m
336: Why You Should Do NaNoWriMo (and how to make the most of it) 336
I (KJ here) adore Nanowrimo. Tell me it’s impossible to write a whole novel in a month, especially a month with Thanksgiving in it, and I will set out to prove you wrong. My first novel, The Chicken Sisters started as a NaNo project, as did Playing the Witch Card (which is probably coming out in Fall 2023). I… cannot NaNo this year (yes it’s a verb), because my next set of revisions, with an a...
41m Oct 28, 2022
41m
How Butter Makes Everything (Including Books) Better: Writing Can't-Stop-Won't-Stop Fiction with Theodora Taylor (Flashback Friday)
Listeners, we’re sharing this interview again because if you’re not already subscribed to Theodora’s substack, (https://7figurefiction.substack.com/) you should be. We sent you a taste of it this morning on top of this episode. We adored talking to TT, as we like to call her around here—but now that she’s revved up her Substack, every single time we’re texting back and forth about its brillianc...
44m Oct 21, 2022
44m
335: How to Work with Small Presses and Literary Magazines—Episode 335 with Terena Bell
Listeners, you KNOW we got granular with this one because there are just plain so many links! Terena Elizabeth Bell has been writing all her life. Her first short story was published in a literary magazine when she was in college—almost thirty years ago, and she’s published many since and won multiple awards. She’s also written for more than 100 publications, including The Atlantic, The Guardi...
52m Oct 14, 2022
52m
335: How Productive Writers get it done (by listening Flashback Friday with Laura Vanderkam) (Replay of Episode 116)
If you’ve listened to any of us for any time at all you know we love Laura Vanderkam, author of I Know How She Does It (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780143109723) and 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781591844105) . People often attribute to KJ a piece of advice she learned from Laura: People are a good use of time. We think of Laura every time we start...
44m Oct 07, 2022
44m
334: Using tropes and genres like a pro: Ep 334 with Alexis Hall
Alexis Hall describes himself as a genrequeer writer of kissing books. You may know him as the author of Boyfriend Material (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781728206141) and Rosalyn Palmer Takes the Cake (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781538703328) , both of which we’ve talked about here. But like recent guest Emily Henry and so many others, those successes were far from his first rodeo. Head to h...
36m Sep 30, 2022
36m
Which Kind of Writer Are You? Flashback Friday with Gretchen Rubin (Replay Episode 107)
Kids, this interview with Gretchen Rubin is just too good not to share again. Find more about Gretchen, and sign up for her always interesting newsletter, here (https://gretchenrubin.com/) . Want to know which tendency you are? Take the quiz here (https://quiz.gretchenrubin.com/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=homepage) . And which tendency would you attribute to your hosts? Answers coming soon… ...
47m Sep 23, 2022
47m
333: Very Serious About Fun Reads Ep 333 with Emily Henry
THIS EPISODE. “Overnight success” Emily Henry (https://www.emilyhenrybooks.com/) reminds us that she’s not—she published three sad-and-serious YA novels before she embraced her real calling and wrote the book she craved—Beach Read (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781984806734) , which she says “I never expected to send to anyone.” This discussion was so true to our hearts (KJ writing, Sarina co-s...
35m Sep 16, 2022
35m
332: How to Plan for Fall When You Don't EVEN Know... Episode 332
WHOA heading into fall like Photo by Gareth Harrison (https://unsplash.com/@gareth_harrison) on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com) Hope you’re feeling the fall mojo more than we are. Struggling here, which is a bummer because usually fall is the season that gives when it comes to forward momentum. We, a subset of three, can’t tell if this is a mood that’s overtaken us all, or if it’s life stage ...
37m Sep 09, 2022
37m
331: How to Go From Planning a Book to Writing One: Blueprint for a Book Step 10
It’s time to put this baby to work. What now? You’ll just have to listen. This is the last episode in the 10-part Blueprint for a Book Series. Start with Step 1 (https://amwriting.substack.com/p/322-find-your-why-blueprint-for-a) , do the work (we’ll give you an assignment every week), and in 10 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation for a first draft or revision of your project that will hel...
53m Sep 02, 2022
53m
330: But Does this Book Work? Blueprint for a Book Step 9
If you’re not excited to dive in, something’s wrong. You’ve got a why, a point, an audience. You’ve thought market, found a way to drive your book forward. Found the one or two sentences that describe every chapter or scene and made yourself consider why those chapters or scenes belong and now—you should feel ready to write. But are you? Sometimes we fool ourselves. We think we’ve got all th...
1hr Aug 26, 2022
1hr
329: One Outline to Rule Them All (Even if You Hate Outlining): Blueprint for a Book Step 8
Writing is, sadly, not like reading. Plenty of writers, including all of us on this episode, write a few hundred thousand words before we figure that out. Because in some ways, writing words about characters you’ve invented is easy. They go for coffee! They banter! And writing words about your non-fiction topic of choice, or the hike you took in the Sierra Nevadas—same same. It’s writing the ...
49m Aug 19, 2022
49m
328: How to Drive that Narrative Forward: Blueprint for a Book Step 7
People don’t behave logically, but they are illogical in logical ways. What makes you want to turn the page? You know how it is with some books—you just can’t put them down. Fiction, sure, thrillers, mysteries, but that’s not all. Non-fiction books can be page-turners too, even when they don’t seen to have a story. What makes The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up work even for people who never...
52m Aug 12, 2022
52m
327: What's the Structure of Your Narrative? Blueprint for a Book Step 6
The structure of a book is only inevitable in hindsight. Non-writers don’t usually notice structure unless it leaps out at them—reverse chronology, say, or an epistolary narrative. But structural choices loom huge for non-fiction writers and are no less important for memoir and fiction (although straight chronological is the white-shirt-and-blue-jeans of structure—relatable, easy to execute an...
49m Aug 05, 2022
49m
326: There Must Be Change: Blueprint for a Book Step 5
I want to believe I can change. Show me how. The “arc of change” is famous in fiction, and it’s much the same in memoir–but there’s a change and shift in non-fiction too. Change is what pulls the reader from the beginning to the end of every narrative book. Without the promise of change, your reader feels like they’re going nowhere, and they won’t come along for your ride.  In fiction and mem...
47m Jul 29, 2022
47m
325: Your Jacket Copy is Your Promise to the Reader: Blueprint for a Book Step 4
How do we make our ideal reader say Oh—THIS is the book for me? In our first two episodes, we dug down into why we write and how to share that why with the reader. In the last episode, we hung a quick right and got really practical about that reader and how to reach her–in other words, we talked about the market and why it’s important to understand where your book will sit on the shelf if you ...
43m Jul 22, 2022
43m
324: Who Will Read My Book? Know Your Market: Blueprint for a Book Step 3
In the first two Blueprint steps, we went high level, talking about your why and your point, and why those are key things to consider in writing the book you want to write–that will reach the readers you want to reach. In this episode, we get practical. Because while you need a why and a point to reach readers, you also need to know something about those readers–where they hang, what they’re lo...
45m Jul 15, 2022
45m
323: What's Your Point? Blueprint for a Book Step 2
I’m writing this book because I want people to read it. Step 2 in the Blueprint for a book challenge only sounds easy. In Step 1, we talked about your why. For Step 2, we invite you to find your point – which is what you want your reader to feel or know or do when they are done. It’s not the same thing! If you want to get all AP English on this, we’re talking about the theme. Or from the non-f...
49m Jul 08, 2022
49m
322: Find Your Why: Blueprint for a Book Step 1
We sit down to write because we have something to say. It’s beginning! This Episode marks the beginning of the 10-part Blueprint for a Book Series. Start here, do the work (we’ll give you an assignment every week)—and in 10 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation for a first draft or revision of your project that will help you push through to “the end”. For the details on the challenge, and to ...
45m Jul 01, 2022
45m
321: 321 What Do You Want to Achieve this Year--and are you half-way there?
It’s the things-that-aren’t in the episode edition of your weekly #AmWriting email! First off, about 60 seconds in, I mention (this is KJ, it’s nearly always KJ) a podcast I like. But then I flake off to look up the name… and forget to ever mention it again. It’s the Crappy Friends Podcast (https://www.crappyfriends.net/) with Kristan Higgins and Joss Dey. And it’s FICTION GOLD. Every week, a ...
46m Jun 24, 2022
46m
320: 320: How to Create Your Own Market
This episode is for you if: you’re starting, re-starting or sparking a freelance career with a focus on something you’re passionate about OR you’ve ever thought the heck with this, I’m striking out on my own.  Sometimes the best way to find a publication that reaches the readers you want is to start one. That might mean starting a Substack or a podcast—hello out there, Burnt Toast (https://vir...
1hr 3m Jun 17, 2022
1hr 3m
319: But Everything is so SHINY: Episode 319, Coaching journalist Alison Myers on restarting a writing career.
It’s hard to start. It’s hard to finish. It’s hard to choose. Sometimes writers (especially those who have had to step back from a professional journalism job for family or other reasons) have all the ideas and in some sense, all the time to execute them, and the result isn’t wild productivity, but a frustrating spinning of wheels—because if everything is possible, how do you choose? What if yo...
57m Jun 10, 2022
57m
318: Yes You Can Write In More Than One Genre. Here's how: Episode 318 flips the shelves.
Oh yeah we’ve been there. Heck, we are there. Pigeonholed. Safe in our little bunker. Maybe just a tiny bit typecast. Jumping genres can be exciting, scary, nerve-wracking. But it can be done. Everybody gravitates to one genre or another when we get started. Maybe nonfiction feels a little less threatening—or maybe it feels too hard and fiction is your starting place of choice. Maybe you’ve be...
43m Jun 03, 2022
43m
317: How Writing Middle Grade is Different, and How It's Not: Episode 317 with Jamie Sumner
I don’t think we’ve ever talked about middle grade on #AmWriting, which was why I was so delighted to talk to Jamie Sumner, author of Roll With It (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781534442566) , One Kid’s Trash (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781534457034) , Tune It Out (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781534457010) and the forthcoming, literally any day now The Summer of June, which you should order ...
51m May 27, 2022
51m
316: Living with Writer Envy. Episode 316: We wanted to call this conquering it but we can't.
Some of us, which might be all of us, have spent a decent amount of time writhing in the throes of writer envy lately. Can’t IMAGINE what we’re talking about? Never opened Facebook to see news of yet another Netflix deal, or celebrated a friend’s fantastic New York Times review while just a little bit kind of secretly asking yourself where yours was? Well, bully for you. Go listen to another po...
48m May 20, 2022
48m
315: When Your Agent Doesn't Like Your Idea as Much as You Do: Episode 315 with Kristen Green
Jess here. On this week’s episode, I talk with New York Times bestselling author Kristen Green (https://kristengreen.net/) about her first book, Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County: A Family, a Virginia Town, a Civil Rights Battle (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/something-must-be-done-about-prince-edward-county-kristen-green?variant=32205596295202) and her new book, The De...
48m May 13, 2022
48m