264: Being #Edited (is a Very Good Thing)
We love being edited. We love editors. But truth: sometimes being edited is hard. Sometimes you need to interpret things differently, ask questions or push back. In this episode, we talk about how to do that, what makes a good editor and how to find one, how to be edited in your freelance work and—my favorite—why you can’t say your editor is wrong.  #AmReading Jess: Turning Pointe: How a New ...
43m May 21, 2021
43m
263: No, Really, It's #Fiction: Writing novels that reflect (but differ dramatically from) your life with Emma Gannon
Emma Gannon is a best-selling author, a podcaster, a journalist, writer of fiction and non-fiction and just general woman-about-town, as known for her writing about the new world of work as she soon will be for her fiction. Her debut novel, Olive (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781524865009) , centers on a journalist who loves her career and the many other things that fill her world, friends, fun...
39m May 14, 2021
39m
262: #Breaking into Food Writing and Redefining Success with Reem Kassis
Our guest today is a wildly successful food writer who’s fresh off an appearance on Fresh Air—and who never “should” have written a cookbook at all. (Read on for a recipe.) Here’s her bio, in her own words: I grew up a Palestinian in Israel. I went to an American missionary school and by the grace of whatever gods were looking down on me and sheer grit, I came to UPenn for undergrad, where I s...
44m May 07, 2021
44m
261: Really #Funny, Real and Funny: Rom-Coms, plotting and finding characters with Mhairi McFarlane
Plotting and pantsing, loving your genre, voice, self-doubt… what didn’t we talk about with Mhairi McFarlane? And she has such a lovely Scottish accent to do it in, too. We know you’ll love this episode.  #AmReading Mhairi: The Flatshare (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781250295651) by Beth O’Leary (aka El Piso Para Dos (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9788491293064) in KJ’s Spanish version) Sweet...
41m Apr 30, 2021
41m
260: #Writing Without Knowing Where You're Going with Kristin Van Ogtrop
Working on an essay collection? Dreaming of becoming a literary agent? We were all over the map with Kristin Van Ogtrop, agent at InkWell Management, author of the essay collection Did I Say That Out Loud: Midlife Indignities and How to Survive Them (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780316497497) and former editor of Real Simple Magazine (which KJ mistakenly attributed to Conde Nast but is really p...
41m Apr 23, 2021
41m
259: More Q, More A: Organizing research, handling would-be writer friends, finding great editors and writing classes and the kicker: How Do You Become Liz Gilbert?
We love answering your questions! If we missed yours, head over to the Facebook group or reply to this episode and we’ll try to get there next time.  Links from the pod: early episodes on How to Get an Agent (https://amwriting.substack.com/p/125-findinganagent-880) , Planning your work (https://amwriting.substack.com/p/128-planitout-146) , Keeping Organized (https://amwriting.substack.com/p/11...
47m Apr 16, 2021
47m
258: Writing While #Broken: Talking Depression, Anxiety and Writer's Block with Jenny Lawson
Writing is hard. In this episode, we talk imposter syndrome, editing, the right headspace for reading your own stuff, why you might need a “nice” agent, reading your work aloud to friends, recording audiobooks in the closet, being years late on a deadline, sending your editor proof of life and the deep inner conviction that people only buy your book because they feel sorry for you. #ohyeah. #A...
39m Apr 09, 2021
39m
257: Become a #Better Faster Stronger Writer with Becca Syme
Who wouldn’t want to write better and faster? I can’t even imagine. Our guest this week is Becca Syme, creator of the Better Faster Academy, author of Dear Writer You Need to Quit (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780997970616) as well as other books in the Quit series and the author of the MatchBaker series of cozy mysteries (with such glorious titles as “Vangie Vale and the Murdered Macaron (http...
42m Apr 02, 2021
42m
256: Your Q's, A'd: Stealing ideas, asking for blurbs and the elusive "platform"
It’s part one of… who knows? As we answer questions from our email and our Facebook group (if you’re not part of that, jump in HERE (https://www.facebook.com/groups/hashtagamwriting?modal=false&multi_permalinks=1344092395968628%2C1344171532627381&notif_t=group_activity&should_open_composer=false&ref=notif&notif_id=1616162990080091) ). We answered questions about working with experts, talking ab...
40m Mar 26, 2021
40m
255: Episode 255 The Power of Writing as Play with Nalini Singh
Nalini Singh is a romance writer. Or, she was a romance writer until she decided she wanted to write a thriller. Jess and Sarina had so much fun talking about genre hopping and writing the books that speak to you. There’s no requirement that we stay in our lanes, Nalini reminded us. We also took some time to lament our dearly missed in-person writers conferences and Nalini gushed about the joy ...
35m Mar 19, 2021
35m
254: Episode 254 How to Prep a NonFiction Launch the Jess Way
Jess’s new book, The Addiction Inoculation (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780062883780) , launches April 6th, and we talk about all the things she’s done to set herself up for feeling like she’s done everything in her power to make this launch a good one. We discuss the differences between launching fiction and non-fiction, first book vs. second book, non-covid v. covid, when to hire a publicist...
40m Mar 12, 2021
40m
253: From Breakout Article to Book: Writing about #Nothing and Everything with Olga Mecking
Today's guest, Olga Mecking, is a freelance journalist who’s enjoyed exactly the version of success many freelancers dream about. She went from publishing her own work on her blog to pitching outside publications, gradually reaching bigger and bigger audiences until her article The Case for Doing Nothing in the New York Times became a breakout success and led to a book contract for her new book...
41m Mar 05, 2021
41m
252: How to Write a Post-Covid Romance with Alisha Rai
Alisha Rai writes fun, joyful contemporary romances about smart, mature people who still struggle to find love. And by mature, we don’t mean old—I mean, these characters make good choices and try to understand themselves and other people, but it’s still not easy. We talk about those character choices, but before we dig in, we discuss Alisha’s decision to set her current book, First Comes Like,...
30m Feb 26, 2021
30m
251: How to give your fun read a solid, poke-in-the-gut point with Anna North
It’s a freewheeling conversation about writing fiction that tells a great story—and makes you think about the world beyond the story, with January Reese’s Book Club pick Anna North. Links from the pod:  Anna’s essay on the writing of Outlawed (https://hello-sunshine.com/post/adventure-to-the-old-west-in-outlawed) #AmReading Anna: In the Distance (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781566894883) ...
48m Feb 19, 2021
48m
250: Growing Thick Skin: Handling #Haters, Commenters and Bad Reviews
Does this ever get easier? That’s the question we’re often asked by newer writers in the process of putting themselves out there and worried about how their work will be received. We were unanimous—yes, it does, and you don’t have to spend five years reading every single comment on your writing (and parenting, and intelligence, and everything else) from New York Times readers to get to the poin...
45m Feb 12, 2021
45m
249: Turning Data into #Narrative with Ron Lieber
In this episode, we go seriously pro, talking to Ron Lieber, the Your Money columnist for the New York Times and the author of The Price You Pay for College (https://ronlieber.com/books/the-price-you-pay-for-college/) and The Opposite of Spoiled (https://ronlieber.com/books/the-opposite-of-spoiled/) . Ron shares his system for writing information and data-packed chapters—or columns—while making...
47m Feb 05, 2021
47m
248: Mental #Chatter with Ethan Kross: Harnessing the voices in our heads for good
Our guest today, Ethan Kross, is one of the world’s leading experts on controlling the conscious mind. His new book, Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters and How to Harness it (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780525575238) , sits at that enviable intersection between academic and commercial nonfiction, and in a way that seems to be exactly where Ethan himself—who teaches in both the busi...
46m Jan 29, 2021
46m
247: #Writing All Over the Map with Jacob Sager Weinstein
This week Jess talks to Jacob Sager Weinstein, a writer who has done just about everything. He started out with highbrow aspirations, as he learned his craft from none other than Toni Morrison and Joyce Carol Oates, and has worked as a journalist, screenwriter, comedy writer as well as a fiction and nonfiction author. In his travels from Princeton to HBO to the sewers of London (really!) Jacob ...
45m Jan 22, 2021
45m
246: Historical #Fiction the Only Way I Know How with Beverly Jenkins
Beverly Jenkins is best-selling, award-winning, and still having fun with all she does—in other words, all the things we writers aspire to when we sit down at the desk. But when she first got started, she “didn’t have a clue”—and that might have freed her to do exactly what she wanted to do.  We talk keeping history accurate but still making it entertaining, the joy of placing characters in a ...
48m Jan 15, 2021
48m
245: #Pitching with Passion with Lisa Levenstein
Hey kids, we’re getting back to basics this week with a down-n-dirty episode on pitching, focused on opinion pages everywhere. We’re talking to Lisa Levenstein, an academic, historian and feminist (and the Director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program and Associate Professor of History at the University of North Carolina Greensboro) with two books under her belt: A Movement Wit...
38m Jan 08, 2021
38m
244: Setting Writer #Goals for 2021
Last year’s words: Abundance. Practice. Magic. This year? Generous, Organize, Flow. It’s only now, writing these shownotes, that I see a pretty pattern… which is more that one of us chooses words she wants to embody, one chooses words she wants to shape her actions and the other seems to be counting on the muse in what may be a dubious way. Who’s who? It might surprise you.  Welcome to our 202...
44m Jan 01, 2021
44m
243: #Fact-based Fiction and Fiction from Facts with Mark Olshaker
A little #AmWriting behind the scenes: as we headed into this recording, Jess texted KJ: Here’s the lowdown on Mark: I have been a fan of Mark Olshaker’s writing since I first encountered it in 1995. He may be best known for his work with former FBI Special Agent John Douglas, his writing partner since 1995, who pioneered the behavioral crimes unit at the FBI and inspired the Jack Crawford cha...
46m Dec 25, 2020
46m
242: Finding All the Voices: Writing Reflective #Nonfiction with Julie Lythcott-Haims
Writing nonfiction outside the memoir space usually means finding sources and stories that are not your own. Narrative, self-help, history, economics, social sciences, nature—no matter what your topic, this form of writing requires reporting, just as many freelance assignments do. So where do you go when you’re looking for sources? Often, your own backyard—and for lots of us, that can mean we i...
45m Dec 18, 2020
45m
241: Big #Booklaunch Day
Whew! This week, Sarina and KJ (that’s me writing as it usually is) both launched books—Sarina came out with Loverboy, second in KJ’d favorite Sarina series, The Company, while KJ FINALLY and after many many months got to see The Chicken Sisters come out into the world. Notice the different verbs there? That’s because our launches come from very different places, and we talk about that—as well ...
53m Dec 11, 2020
53m
240: #Editing for the Best Version of Your Vision with Tiffany Yates Martin
Who wouldn’t want a step-by-step process for revision? In her book Intuitive Editing (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781950830022) , this week’s guest, developmental editor Tiffany Yates Martin, lays out an approach that will help keep you organized, although sadly there is no magic wand involved. We talked to her about the big picture questions she asks before diving into someone else’s work:  ...
44m Dec 04, 2020
44m
239: #Writer Gift Extravaganza
It’s the gifts episode! Here are the links you’re looking for:  KJ: Redbubble (https://www.redbubble.com/en/) ❄️ Stamp blocks (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08917KPXD) ❄️ Stamp blanks and stencils (https://www.etsy.com/shop/FunForYourPlanner) ❄️ Frixion Pens (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KLLPYXK) ❄️ Leuchterm planner (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087T6YTN2) Jess: Planner cover (https://littlemo...
41m Nov 27, 2020
41m
238: Turning #Romance on Its Head with Lyssa Kay Adams
Every writer craves that high concept idea that leads to the breakout book, or in this case breakout series. For Lyssa Kay Adams, it came from that joke women often make about wishing their male partners read romance—and a moment in 2016 when she “just wanted to live in a world full of men who get it.” She created The Bromance Book Club (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781984806093) , about a grou...
41m Nov 20, 2020
41m
237: #Reporting from the Economic Trenches with Lauren Sandler
It’s a new #AmWriting episode! There’s a style of creative nonfiction in which a gifted writer tells someone else’s story. The story of a house being built, or a life in the wilderness—or, in the case of Lauren Sandler, the story of a young single mother in search of housing during her first year of motherhood. Lauren’s subject—a smart, driven young woman caught up in the system because of her...
44m Nov 13, 2020
44m
236: #Shipping Your Creative Work with Seth Godin
We don’t have a lot of repeat guests, but Seth Godin (https://www.sethgodin.com/) can come on the podcast any time he wants. Seth is a fountain of wisdom about writing, pitching, selling, and building your audience, and his new book, The Practice: Shipping Creative Work (https://seths.blog/thepractice/) , is a great addition to his (substantial) body of work.  Seth Godin is not only the master...
39m Nov 06, 2020
39m
235: Writer #Tech We Love
Campers, this week we’re talking about a topic near and dear to all our hearts, but most particularly Sarina, whose productivity levels are epic and who is always looking for something that will help her ramp up. We talk hardware and software that makes the writing process easier, or at least more varied; handwriting-to-text, voice-to-text, AI, editing software, citation software and throw in a...
45m Oct 30, 2020
45m
234: #Storybuilding with Jacob Wright from Dabble Writing Software
Have you ever, while banging out a document of any kind in Word or Pages or whatever, thought to yourself “Dang, this would be so much easier if ______.” Every writer has been there, but only a few rare souls actually go on to “I am going to make something that does that, darn it.”  Jacob Wright is that rare soul. Once upon a time, while drafting his own experiments in fiction, he pitched Scri...
38m Oct 23, 2020
38m
233: #TruthsAndMisdemeanors, Lacy Crawford on the gauntlet of legal & fact-checking
When I (Jess here) interviewed Lacy Crawford (https://lacycrawford.com/) about her new memoir Notes on a Silencing (https://lacycrawford.com/notes-on-a-silencing/) , we discussed the complex and often contradictory goals of publishers’ legal departments and fact checkers at periodicals such as Condé Nast/Vanity Fair, where Lacy’s first serial excerpt (https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/06/no...
44m Oct 16, 2020
44m
232: Smart, #Versatile and Writing all the Things with Morgan Jerkins
A book of essays. A memoir that’s truly a family history and an American history. And—soon—a novel. Morgan Jerkins talks starting a writing career as a millennial, the privileges necessary to survive (financially) in New York City while pursuing a writing career and fighting the urge to let other people decide whether to take your work seriously.  We cover so much ground in this interview, fro...
46m Oct 09, 2020
46m
231: #FindYourReaders with Dara Kurtz
It’s an age-old question: how do you build a platform big enough so publishers take notice? This week we interview Dara Kurtz, author of one self-published book and one traditionally published book. She shares her considerable, deliberate efforts to build her online readership for her site, Crazy Perfect Life (https://crazyperfectlife.com/blog/) , and translate fans of her website and Facebook ...
43m Oct 02, 2020
43m
230: So You Wanna Be a #Bookcoach with Jennie Nash
It’s—a podcast episode! With Jennie Nash, so you already know you’re going to love it and I don’t need to say any more. Sarina and I had a great time talking nitty gritty book coaching details with Jennie from a different perspective—what if you want to BE a book coach?  But don’t worry if that’s not of interest—this episode will still inspire you to take a professional approach to your work, ...
40m Sep 25, 2020
40m
229: #Interviewing with NPR's Celeste Headlee
It’s a madcap, free-ranging episode where we go from figuring out how to get your important work done (and quit doom-scrolling through your phone) to embracing that same phone for its best use: nourishing conversations with the people you love and then launch into some fantastic tips for interviewing experts (or podcast guests!) that you won’t want to miss.  Links from the pod and the scoop on...
47m Sep 18, 2020
47m
228: #Embedded with Jeff Selingo
Not everybody wants an author hanging around their office all day. Our guest is a best-selling education writer Jeff Selingo, (https://jeffselingo.com/) already an expert on college and higher education who took that one step further for his latest: Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9781982116293) . Jeff managed to embed himself in three admissi...
45m Sep 11, 2020
45m
227: The Joy of #Self-Promotion: promoting yourself and your work
It’s the topic every author seems to love to hate: self-promotion. Sharing our work on social media, pitching ourselves to podcasts and reaching out to friends and colleagues to ask them to boost us up in various ways can feel hard—but it shouldn’t. It’s part of the deal—and the people around you don’t mind. In fact, they want to know when you have a new book or article out, especially if you’r...
43m Sep 04, 2020
43m
226: Writing #ownvoices while respecting others, with Lauren Ho
Lauren Ho is the author of the debut novel Last Tang Standing (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780593187814) , which is getting HUGE buzz. It’s been called Bridget Jones meets Crazy Rich Asians, and it does deliver on that promise. Lauren is our very first guest to join us from Singapore, and it’s very late at night there but she managed to hold her own. We talk lawyers-turned-writers, selling a b...
54m Aug 28, 2020
54m
225: Get #ComfortablewithWeird How visualization and imagery help writers connect with readers, with Julie Berry
Our guest this week is children’s fiction and YA author Julie Berry, and here’s why: she gave a talk at a conference about visualizing and imagery that Sarina has “been thinking about for 7 years.” That should tell you how much gold there is in this episode—all kinds of useful stuff about how we use images and senses to spark our own creativity and build a connection with our readers in every g...
38m Aug 21, 2020
38m
224: From Mr. Rogers to #RealityTVJournalism with Andy Dehnart
We’ve got a great interview for you today with a freelance journalist who does a different kind of work than any of us ever have—out in the field reporting on his favorite subject: reality adventure TV on trips rife with travel and danger and expense reports. I think you’ll love it.  We talk about finding your topic and making that topic, well, topical by looking for what’s happening within th...
50m Aug 14, 2020
50m
223: #MythBusting: We take a bunch of myths about writing and tear them all up and throw them away
Write every day. Don’t read fiction while you’re writing fiction. My way or the highway. In a burst of frustration, we’re reminding ourselves—and you—that there’s no one way to get this job done, and if your way is counter to what some of the greats might tell you (we’re looking at you, Stephen King, even though we love you), that doesn’t mean it won’t work. A few links from the episode: Mini...
44m Aug 07, 2020
44m
222: #HomagetoJane with Sonali Dev
Hey campers—I hate reading you all a canned intro to our authors every time, so I’m winging it with our guest, Sonali Dev (https://sonalidev.com/) . I’m a fan of hers, so I feel like I know all the things. She’s the author of four straight-up romances, but her last-book-but one is the start of a series written in homage to Jane Austen, as is her latest, both set among the members of a political...
43m Jul 31, 2020
43m
221: #FeelingExposed in Memoir and Fiction
This week, Jess got a message from some family members who’d read the draft of her forthcoming book, The Addiction Innoculation. They had … thoughts.  Those thoughts turned out to be nothing drastic—but the emotional roller coaster Jess rode while waiting to hear more was a doozy, and got us all thinking about how much of ourselves is exposed when we write non-fiction with a memoir element, ho...
44m Jul 24, 2020
44m
220: #ComedicMemoir with Kari Lizer
Kari Lizer is best known for her work in television, as writer and co-executive producer of Will & Grace and the creator of The New Adventures of Old Christine. When her essays about parenting took the shape of a book, she found that her real life provided more than enough material for a comedic memoir. Aren’t You Forgetting Someone? (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780762469338) has it all - chic...
34m Jul 17, 2020
34m
219: Find Your Character's #WishSong with Susan Wiggs
We have trouble believing you haven’t already heard of our guest this week, Susan Wiggs, but just in case—she’s the author of many many novels, a multiple #1 New York Times bestseller and an overall amazing storyteller. Her current novel, The Lost and Found Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780062914095) , is on sale now and her most recent bestseller, The Oysterville Sewing Circle (https:...
44m Jul 10, 2020
44m
218: The #Indie-TraditionalTradeoff
This episode springs from a question asked in the #AmWriting Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/hashtagamwriting/) (if you’re not in it, you should be): Sarina has talked about her decision to be independently published, but we’ve never heard from Jess and KJ about why they go the traditional route. We discuss the three things you should think about when making the Indie/Tradition...
44m Jul 03, 2020
44m
217: #HowtoGetOnThatPodcast with Lauren Passell
You listen to podcasts. You love podcasts. (Perhaps we’re assuming here, but after all, we ARE a podcast.) And you’re a writer, with books or articles or ideas or other projects you want to get out into the world. Which just might mean you’ve imagined yourself as a guest on a podcast, sharing your work. (It’s the writer version of the sportscaster doing an imaginary play-by-play while a kid sho...
49m Jun 26, 2020
49m
216: #TheBiggestBluff with Maria Konnikova
This week we talk to Maria Konnikova (https://www.mariakonnikova.com/) about her new book, The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562852/the-biggest-bluff-by-maria-konnikova/) . After a series of devastating health and financial setbacks, Konnikova, a former New Yorker staffer whose other books include Mastermind: How...
45m Jun 22, 2020
45m
215: #TheSocialBookLaunch
This week, the How to Launch a Book series continues with everyone’s favorite: book launching on social media.  Twitter. Instagram. Canva (https://www.canva.com) . PicMonkey (https://www.picmonkey.com) . Crello (https://crello.com) . Pinterest. Linked In. Head blowing up yet? We talk about planning your launch social media, how to use social media and image-creating apps to share and promote an...
47m Jun 12, 2020
47m