“If the language isn’t there, I have difficulty showing up for the idea” - Jenny Anderson

Jess here. Rebecca Winthrop, Director of the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, and Jenny Anderson, award-winning journalist, paired up to write one of my favorite education and parenting books in recent memory: The Disengaged Teen.

While I adore the book and could go on for ages about it, that’s not why I invited these two to come on the podcast. I am fascinated - and strangely horrified - by the idea of co-writing. Maybe it’s my control issues, who knows. I’ve asked Sarina Bowen about her writing partnerships with Tanya Eby and Elle Kennedy (come ON now, have you read their award-winning trilogy, Him, Us and Epic?) so I thought I’d give her a bit of a break and ask Rebecca and Jenny to tell me all about how their writing collaboration went with this book.

I learned a lot during this podcast, but the thing I’m definitely taking with me is the concept of “clearing” before a collaboration or writing session. I’ve tried it a few times and so far, I love it. No, I can’t find any links for this specific practice despite the breadcrumbs “Narrative company” and “clearing,” so if you find out on your own, drop me a line so I can give credit where credit is due.

Things we mention in the episode:

Jenny’s Substack, How to Be Brave

Rebecca’s newsletter over at LinkedIn, Winthrop’s World of Education

Sharepoint

QUICK NOTE for non-fiction writers! Friend of the pod Christie Aschwanden is running her non-fiction book proposal workshop again for the first time since 2022. It’s 8 weeks long and participants are carefully vetted (requires an application) and it’s had great results in the past. All details HERE: The Book Proposal Factory.

Do you have a Doubt Monster? (Doesn’t everyone?) Amy Bernstein is an Author Accelerator certified writing coach, an #AmWriting Blueprint Challenge coach, a writer, a creative coach and many other things—but for our purposes, the author of Wrangling the Doubt Monster—a delightful book that you can open on any page for help wrangling your own doubts into something that you can live with, in the vein of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art or Gretchen Rubin’s Outer Order, Inner Calm. In this episode we talk—what else?—doubt monsters, declaring ourselves as writers and all the ways we live with our self-doubt and write anyway.

Links from the Pod

Bancroft Press

Amywrites.live

Persephone Books

The Making of a Marchioness, Frances Hodgson Burnett

Beacon Street Books

KJ’s #AmReading Substack

One of the things I think we do well with on this podcast is addressing the long game of writing. It’s not just about writing a good book or pitching one or selling one, but about the work of doing it over and over again, of succeeding and failing, of PERSISTING. That’s why I love this conversation with Tiffany Yates Martin, who is an author herself under the penname, Phoebe Fox, but who also for 30 years has been a developmental editor working with major publishers and New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today bestselling and award-winning authors. She is a respected leader in the writing education field and my friend and colleague. Her new book, The Intuitive Author: How to Grow and Sustain a Happier Writing Career addresses the long sweep of a writing career. And I think there's a lot for all of us to learn from this book and this conversation.

You can find Tiffany via her website, on Instagram at @tiffanyyatesmartin, or check out her books Intuitive Editing and The Intuitive Author.

“I put my effort into building trust, showing up, and being present for people who have opted into my universe.” A slight paraphrase of Jennie Nash

On the day we recorded this episode, no one really knew what was going to happen to TikTok (Jess thinks it’s going away, everyone else doubts her) and Sarina was attempting to manage all the emails from people asking her why she was promoting businesses on The Place Formerly Known as Twitter (she wasn’t, she quit that app and someone promptly squatted on her name, pretended to be her and began promoting for-profit businesses). What do we do when we can’t trust the people in our social media circles to be who they say they are and what is the future of social media as a whole? We discuss these and many other questions.

Things we talk about:

“I’d rather be taken than be hard” Sarina quoted this via “a pastor,” and search as I may, I can’t find an attribution. We discuss the sentiment.

The OpEd Project founded by Katie Orenstein

Mighty Networks

I called it the “red square app” but it’s actually the Red Note app or “Xiaohongshu” and as of this writing, is still the top free app in the Apple store. Here’s an explainer on the app from NPR.

I’m Sarina, and I’m a business nerd.

Hi, my name is Sarina, and I’m a business nerd. I was born this way. I can’t help it. I realize that not everyone gets excited about spreadsheets, but if you have any writerly income at all, I’m begging you to make 2025 the year you treat your writing as a business. There are actually two reasons to do this:

* First of all it’s centering. Treating your writing as a grownup activity helps you frame your goal-setting around writing. It holds you accountable to your goals

* Secondly, and more practically, it makes tax time is so much easier, and it might save you money

First, let’s do a little primer on how writerly income affects your taxes. Unlike a job, which sends you a W2 in January, writers are technically self-employed. In fact, the first time someone pays you for a book or an article, you have just become an entrepreneur.

So, congratulations on your promotion from artist to businessperson. Let’s go over what that means for you. I must offer a disclaimer here: I’m not a tax professional and I’m not your tax professional, so please ask an accountant in your state if you have actionable questions.

Most writers treat themselves as sole proprietors for tax purposes. That means you’re doing business as yourself, and you haven’t taken the additional step of forming a separate taxable entity. For the purposes of today’s episode, let’s assume that you’re in this category.

Depending on the dollar amount—and the professionalism of the people who paid you—a 1099 tax form may appear in your mailbox in January of next year. That 1099 will also be reported to the IRS, who will expect you to report it on your taxes. When done correctly, this income shows up on your schedule C.

It’s possible to deposit your writing income in your regular checking account, and many people do. But what if we assume that your writing business will continue to grow in volume and complexity? Then it’s time to consider treating your writing as a business in 2025.

The first way to do that is to open a second checking account. My tiny bank in New Hampshire offers this kind of account for free. Opening it was as easy as going into the branch and explaining that I wanted an account for my sole proprietorship. This is the where you’ll deposit any earnings you make as a writer.

The second useful account is an extra credit card that only gets used for business purposes. If you have any expenses during the writing year, they all belong on this card. Such as:

* Substacks you pay for to help further your writing career. (See what I did there?)

* Websites you join to assist in your work

* Transportation to writing-related conferences and research

* Printed materials you purchase for research

* Stock photography

* Your Canva subscription, etc

Every one of these things is a business expense. Any money you spend in service to your writing career is deductible from the income you made from your writing. When you’re just getting started, the legitimate expenses might well exceed your income. This all gets netted out on Schedule C of your 1040.

If you have this setup, you won’t have to scramble to figure out your business income and deductions at tax time. Your writing bank and credit card statements will tell the whole story.

Furthermore, if you’re self-published, the business bank account provides an added layer of security. In my publishing business, I have had to provide my banking details to countless publishing platforms. I like knowing that my banking information is separated from my family’s money.

This is also true of your social security number. There’s a fix for this, though. To avoid sharing your social security number with publishers and publishing platforms, all you have to do is request an EIN, or employer identification number from the IRS. It’s simple, it takes only minutes, and I’ll put the link in the show notes.

And there you have it. Your homework assignments are ready—you’re opening a couple of accounts and requesting an EIN from the IRS. It’s not the sexiest part of your writer journey, but don’t let that stop you.

Until next week, writers, keep your butt in the chair and your head in the game.

Links!

Your EIN can be attained here: https://sa.www4.irs.gov/modiein/individual/index.jsp

Hi #AmWriters, Jess here. I’ve been wanting to do an episode on workbooks forever - on any form of companion text that pairs with nonfiction books, really. How do you propose them, write them, format them? You know me, I like the granular details. Fortunately, Ned Johnson and Dr. William Stixrud are publishing The Seven Principles for Raising a Self-Driven Child in March, and Ned was willing to come on the podcast and teach me all about the nuts and bolts of putting a workbook out into the world.

This episode truly flattened my learning curve, and I hope it does the same for you.

People and things we talked about in this episode:

William Stixrud

Katie Hurley and A Year of Positive Thinking for Teens

Tina Payne Bryson, The Whole-Brain Child and Bottom Line for Baby

StrengthsFinder2.0

TriMetrix

Moo.com

Can you make custom post-it notes? Yes, yes you can.

The Disengaged Teen by Rebecca Winthrop and Jenny Anderson

LAST Last Call: Join the Winter 2025 Blueprint Challenge

If you have big goals for 2025 that include writing, finishing or revising a book, you’ll want to join us for the Winter 2025 Blueprint Challenge.

We started January 5, but it’s JUST not too late to jump in. We’ll be walking Blueprinters through the 14 steps of the Blueprint over 10 weeks. Some of the steps are very short and we combined them into one episode—and the first step is indeed on the shorter side, so you still have time to catch up if you subscribe now.

Every episode speaks to fiction writers, memoir writers, and nonfiction writers. There are workbooks, and you will get a link to the digital download of the Blueprint book of your choice.

We’ll also be hosting weekly AMAs (ask me anything), write-alongs, and Zoom meet-ups with coaches—and KJ will be writing her own Blueprint, and Jennie will be coaching her through it in weekly episodes. For more about the challenge, check out these past posts:

* What the Blueprint is and why Jennie made it

* Introducing the winter book coach hosts

* Overcoming Pantsing Pitfalls: How the Blueprint Method Can Save Your Story

* The Blueprint is the Solution for Time-Strapped Writers

* How to Use a Blueprint for Revision

* Befriending the Blueprint

If you finish your Blueprint during the Challenge, you will be eligible to win a review from either Jennie or KJ. (If you missed the #AmWriting Success Story about the writer who won the Blueprint Sprint grand prize in 2022, give it a listen. It’s very inspiring! It’s right HERE.)

It’s going to be such a good time and we’d love to have you join us!

The Blueprint Challenge is for Supporters only—10 weeks to plan the book you want to write instead of 90K words figuring it out. You in?

Essay collections—readers love them, but publishers and editors are often unconvinced. Jennie and KJ talk to Amy Wilson about getting that contract, finding the through line and writing a book about pleasing people while also remembering to please yourself.

Links from the pod

Mary Karr The Art of Memoir

Wendi Aarons

Listen to Your Mother (Essay performances for Mother’s Day)

Amy’s first book: When Did I Get Like This?

Zibby Owens, Zibby Books

Ina Garten

What Fresh Hell (Amy’s podcast)

Happy to Help: Adventures of a People Pleaser, Amy Wilson

#AmReading

Jennie: Be Ready when the Luck Happens, Ina Garten

KJ: Meditations for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman

Reasons Not to Worry, Brigid Delaney

Amy: Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Judi Dench

Last Call: Join the Winter 2025 Blueprint Challenge

If you have big goals for 2025 that include writing, finishing or revising a book, you’ll want to join us for the Winter 2025 Blueprint Challenge.

We started January 5, but it’s JUST not too late to jump in. We’ll be walking Blueprinters through the 14 steps of the Blueprint over 10 weeks. Some of the steps are very short and we combined them into one episode—and the first step is indeed on the shorter side, so you still have time to catch up if you subscribe now.

Every episode speaks to fiction writers, memoir writers, and nonfiction writers. There are workbooks, and you will get a link to the digital download of the Blueprint book of your choice.

We’ll also be hosting weekly AMAs (ask me anything), write-alongs, and Zoom meet-ups with coaches—and KJ will be writing her own Blueprint, and Jennie will be coaching her through it in weekly episodes. For more about the challenge, check out these past posts:

* What the Blueprint is and why Jennie made it

* Introducing the winter book coach hosts

* Overcoming Pantsing Pitfalls: How the Blueprint Method Can Save Your Story

* The Blueprint is the Solution for Time-Strapped Writers

* How to Use a Blueprint for Revision

* Befriending the Blueprint

If you finish your Blueprint during the Challenge, you will be eligible to win a review from either Jennie or KJ. (If you missed the #AmWriting Success Story about the writer who won the Blueprint Sprint grand prize in 2022, give it a listen. It’s very inspiring! It’s right HERE.)

It’s going to be such a good time and we’d love to have you join us!

The Blueprint Challenge is for Supporters only—10 weeks to plan the book you want to write instead of 90K words figuring it out. You in?

Hi #AmWriters and subscribers to Jess’ content, Jess here, looking out my office window over a beautiful, snowy Vermont Sunday and thinking of you. We do these things called “Lahey Cafe” days in the Lahey household and we have one coming up this afternoon. Back when my husband and I were in graduate school and never got to spend time together away from the books, we would go to cafes (Caribou Coffee on Main Street in Chapel Hill, NC was our favorite) and spend time together while studying. We kept this practice up once we had kids and now our daughter (a college student) asks for them regularly when she has essays to write or studying to do at home. Today, I’m serving up a King Arthur chocolate babka I baked yesterday, the wood stove is burning, and we will all sit at the dining room table with tea and coffee and chocolate-stained fingers while we work on our respective projects. I’m still slogging away on a book proposal, so that’s my task at the Lahey cafe.

Before I leave for the cafe, however, I wanted to offer up a bonus episode of the #AmWriting podcast for you. Last week, for the final AMA of the year, I invited EVERYONE, not just subscribers, to ask me anything, and boy, they did. I love these AMAs because they get at the heart of our most basic intent when we started this podcast over four hundred episodes, which was to flatten the learning curve for writers. If we, or someone we interview, have learned something through a mistake or stumbled upon something useful, why make someone else repeat the effort. Also, AMAs are a throwback to my career as a teacher, which I miss very much.

So enjoy the podcast version of last week’s AMA as well as some pen recommendations recommendations for left-handed writers from Bungu (not sponsored, I’m just obsessed with their products and their TikTok, @bungustore). I’ve linked the pens here:

Zebra Sarasa Dry is their top choice, apparently because the ink dries so fast

Uni Power Tank (pressurized ink!)

Uni Jetstream

Pento Energel

It’s a working weekend, so I’m off to work on some annoying administrative details of my book proposal and play with my new kitten, Lila.

Thanks for reading #AmWriting! This post is public so feel free to share it.

This episode is about a #amwriting win!

Meghan P. Browne wrote to us a while ago to share her happy news: her debut middle-grade novel that she revised in the Blueprint Challenge of 2022 and that we reviewed in one of our First pages episodes had just gone under contract! Welcome to Heaven was acquired by Liz Szabla at Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan), and publication is scheduled for Spring 2026.

Meghan shared that this manuscript was destined for the drawer if it hadn’t been for the 2022 Blueprint Challenge. In this episode we discuss what the challenge helped her to do.

When she was finished with the revision, she decided to submit for our First Pages episode. “The First Pages submission leap was the test I needed to see if I cared enough to push through to the finish line,” she says. She submitted it, we reviewed it, and she tweaked the first page according to our response. The Booklab episode where we reviewed her first page can be found here: Redacted Kitty-Cat and Welcome to Heaven

If you’re a paid supporter and would like to submit a page for the First Pages review, fill out the form HERE. Include your title, genre and first 350 words. We’ll let you know if it’s been chosen and when to expect your episode to drop.

We’re just thrilled for Meghan and so grateful at the tiny part we played in helping her bring her book to life.

You can find Meghan at meghanpbrowne.com and check out her other books, including The Bees of Notre-Dame.

Join the Blueprint Challenge Next Week

If you have big goals for 2025 that include writing, finishing or revising a book, you’ll want to join us for the Winter 2025 Blueprint Challenge.

Starting January 5, we’ll be walking you through the 14 steps of the Blueprint over 10 weeks. Some of the steps are very short and we combined them into one episode.

Every episode speaks to fiction writers, memoir writers, and nonfiction writers. There are workbooks, and you will get a link to the digital download of the Blueprint book of your choice.

We’ll also be hosting weekly AMAs (ask me anything), write-alongs, and Zoom meet-ups with coaches—and KJ will be writing her own Blueprint, and Jennie will be coaching her through it in weekly episodes. For more about the challenge, check out these past posts:

* What the Blueprint is and why Jennie made it

* Introducing the winter book coach hosts

* Overcoming Pantsing Pitfalls: How the Blueprint Method Can Save Your Story

If you finish your Blueprint during the Challenge, you will be eligible to win a review from either Jennie or KJ. (If you missed the #AmWriting Success Story about the writer who won the Blueprint Sprint grand prize in 2022, give it a listen. It’s very inspiring! It’s right HERE.)

It’s going to be such a good time and we’d love to have you join us!

#AmWriting is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

We cover last years’ goals, and which of us feel great and which feel… less great. (And the audio is also less great, because 3 of us gathered in our local library and the acoustics/HVAC system noise were less than ideal.)

We end up talking about the ways we feel we need to be as women (supported by some great men) in the coming year and years, the somewhat surprising bro-commentary some of us get around our work, and how we feel like sticking together is going to be the key to maintaining our sense of self in 2025.

It got pretty deep. Writer goals, sure, we have those. But we have more.

We also reviewed our Words of the Year, then announce this year’s. I guess I should make that a big reveal? But I just don’t have it in me, so here we go:

KJ: Inner Compass (which tells me that 2 words is FINE)

Jennie: Teflon (you’ll love the discussion around this one)

Sarah: Presence (she’s reserving the right to refine this)

Jess: Growth (and a surprising announcement about her return to student life! There, there’s your cliff-hanger-go listen.)

Links to things we discuss:

Pacemaker app

Five Year Lie audiobook

Blueprint for a Book Winter Challenge

Submit for First Pages Booklab!

What’s your word for 2025 going to be? We love discussing and brainstorming words, so lay it on us in the comments.

If you have big goals for 2025 that include writing, finishing or revising a book, you’ll want to join us for the Winter 2025 Blueprint Challenge.

Starting January 5, we’ll be walking you through the 14 steps of the Blueprint over 10 weeks. Some of the steps are very short and we combined them into one episode.

Every episode speaks to fiction writers, memoir writers, and nonfiction writers. There are workbooks, and you will get a link to the digital download of the Blueprint book of your choice.

We’ll also be hosting weekly AMAs (ask me anything), write-alongs, and Zoom meet-ups with coaches—and KJ will be writing her own Blueprint, and Jennie will be coaching her through it in weekly episodes. For more about the challenge, check out these past posts:

* What the Blueprint is and why Jennie made it

* Introducing the winter book coach hosts

* Overcoming Pantsing Pitfalls: How the Blueprint Method Can Save Your Story

If you finish your Blueprint during the Challenge, you will be eligible to win a review from either Jennie or KJ. (If you missed the #AmWriting Success Story about the writer who won the Blueprint Sprint grand prize in 2022, give it a listen. It’s very inspiring! It’s right HERE.)

It’s going to be such a good time and we’d love to have you join us! Plus, we have a sale on annual memberships until December 31, 2024 only—save 25% if you decide you’re in now.