#AmWriting

Here’s the deal: Jess and I (KJ here) have been rolling with different energies lately. She’s letting the spirit move her. Being inspired. Putting time into other creative projects and inviting that to feed her soul. I’m stepping over other projects, telling the spirit I’m not home right now and keeping the spotlight in one place.

In this episode, we talk about when you can—and can’t—go with the flow. How we handle it when other ideas beckon, but a deadline demands our attention. What we do between projects and why. And why KJ puts a meal plan on the fridge every week, while Jess asks “what do we feel like eating?”—but that does NOT mean Jess can’t make a plan and stick to it, or that KJ never follows the muse. (Although, re: dinner: I don’t CARE what you feel like eating. This is what we’re having.)

As always, if you’ve got a pressing writerly question you’d like us to answer or that you might be willing to work through on the show, email us: [email protected]. 

Special Care Instructions blog post

Jess’ video on Instagram

KJ’s dumb headphones

A Soft Murmur web app

Inventing Anna

2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love by Rachel Aaron

Blueprint for a Book by Jennie Nash

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book on Novel Writing You'll Ever Need by Jessica Brody

Take Off Your Pants!: Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing by Libbie Hawker

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Outlander Lady: Diana Gabaldon

The Vortex: A True Story of History's Deadliest Storm, an Unspeakable War, and Liberation, Scott Carney and Jason Miklian

KJ: The Secret to Superhuman Strength, Alison Bechdel

Hey—have you been spending small amounts on short term classes, watching videos and using up every possible opportunity for free feedback? Reworking the same pages over and over in your writing group? Are you starting to feel like you’re stuck in one stage of the process? Maybe it’s time to consider making a bigger investment in your career and working with an Author Accelerator Book Coach. No one can guarantee that you’ll write a book that will snag an agent or a excite an editor. But a coach can help you move forward, finish a book or proposal you’re proud of and approach the next stage of the process like a pro. I know it helped me! If that sounds like something you need, visit authoraccelerator.com to get matched with a coach who can help you.

Your first book, we’ve all found, is usually something you’ve been mulling for a while. You second might be the same—so the question, how do you get you ideas, seems both confusing—I don’t know—and unnecessary—I have lots. Nonfiction, essays—when we first get started we’re bursting at the seams. What to write next isn’t a problem—until it is. Or until you find yourself wanting to think about ideas differently—about what you want to write or say, but also how you’d like it to be received and by who.

In this episode, we talk ideas from scrawled capture (where and how) to evaluation and expansion. Do we wait for the time to be right for an idea, or run with it and hope for the best? Who do we turn to when we’re not certain what we have or what to do with it? And when do we decide to settle down with one for a few weeks or months or years, and why? 

Links from the pod

Episode 299: How to Sell Any Book to Any Publisher with Sue Shapiro

Episode 301: Do Morning Pages Work?

KJ Charles: How to Write a Book When You Can’t Write a Book “Every book you read is a choose your own adventure that the author has already played.”

Are you serious about writing a nonfiction book this year? Author Accelerator is offering a nonfiction book incubator starting February 28th. There are only a few seats in this intensive program because you will get 1:1 coaching on every single step of the process AND you will have the chance to pitch your proposal to a pool of agents and publishers at the end -- a fabulous opportunity. Apply for the program HERE -- and get a strategic session with Jennie Nash to kickstart your work. We think Jennie and her book coaches are terrific -- tell her we sent you!

Here’s Katherine Center, author of soon-to-be 9 bittersweet comic novels that have been described as “the best medicine for human souls,” on her relatively late-in life discover of romance novels: “I felt like I’d discovered chocolate cake after a lifetime of eating boneless skinless chicken breasts.”

We dig deep into the process of figuring out what you love in a book and how to find it in your own work, from analyzing other books to the importance of the reading journal, and then we get into the craft of writing books that satisfy the readerly urges you share, embracing unifying tropes, finding the compelling hook and how to ground a story that seems to big to be true by creating real characters with relatable problems in familiar settings. I took some serious notes here, people. I’m going to have to listen again!

Katherine Center :

Something Wilder, Christina Lauren (Also mentioned The Unhoneymooners)

Book Lovers, Emily Henry

The Long Game, Rachel Reid (sequel to Heated Rivalry)

KJ: Boyfriend Material, Alexis Hall

Are you serious about writing a nonfiction book this year? Author Accelerator is offering a nonfiction book incubator starting February 28th. There are only a few seats in this intensive program because you will get 1:1 coaching on every single step of the process AND you will have the chance to pitch your proposal to a pool of agents and publishers at the end -- a fabulous opportunity. Apply for the program HERE -- and get a strategic session with Jennie Nash to kickstart your work. We think Jennie and her book coaches are terrific -- tell her we sent you!

KJ here. Sarina wanted to try Morning Pages, the most famous ritual from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way—a book that, tbh, has never, ever floated my boat, just as my resistance to morning pages—in my mind, a variation on journaling, which I have also never liked—has been strong.

But Sarina wanted to try it. So we did, she in a fairly systematic way and me in what I still have to concede was more than a little half-assed. And now, having recorded the podcast, and kinda-sorta-promised to try this again later, I write these show notes still unconvinced. I already do creative things. I don’t think I need to free up my creativity. Is there really anything WRONG with only wanting to do the thing if it makes a thing—something someone might read, in the case of writing, but in other arts as well? That’s how I am. I’ll knit a hat, but I’m not just gonna sit here and knit. I like to draw but I like to share what I drew. And there’s no better art than making beautiful, tasty cookies and cakes.

I get it. Perhaps that’s a very Puritan approach to creativity, but I don’t feel like I only have “permission” to do it if it’s useful. I feel like it’s only fun if it ends in something. I go back and forth on whether that’s a good thing.

Well, these are unusual shownotes. Do you like Morning Pages? Do you do them? Every day, some days, always at the same time… how? What do you think comes from it? We’d love to hear your answers in the #AmWriting Facebook Group.

The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron

Video: Julia Cameron discusses morning pages

The prewriting concept comes from the excellent book From 2K to 10K by Rachel Aaron

Becca Symes, The Quitcast

Atomic Habits, James Clear

Sarina: Loud is How I Love You, Mercy Brown

KJ: Apples Never Fall, Liane Moriarty

KJ also mentioned The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman and Major Labels, A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres by Kelefa Sanneh

Are you serious about writing a nonfiction book this year? Author Accelerator is offering a nonfiction book incubator starting February 28th. There are only a few seats in this intensive program because you will get 1:1 coaching on every single step of the process AND you will have the chance to pitch your proposal to a pool of agents and publishers at the end -- a fabulous opportunity. Apply for the program HERE -- and get a strategic session with Jennie Nash to kickstart your work. We think Jennie and her book coaches are terrific -- tell her we sent you!

300 is a lot of episodes, and we have recorded them. Things we’ve learned—the most famous guests aren’t necessarily the one that have the most to teach us—UNLESS you ask the right questions.

WOTY Recap: Jess: Evaluate KJ: Play Sarina: WIP

Everyday Calendar, by Simone Giertz (there is no link on MOMA, sorry!)

It was actually an opera singer who got stuck in the closet. Here’s a This American Life Opera about it. It’s a TOTALLY WORTH IT rabbit hole down which I am sending you.

“Hustle” episode: How to Get Work as a Freelancer

Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott

Rachael Herron’s Annual Money Episode

The free NFT book dude

#whatpublishingpaidme

Reading with Babies Toddlers and Twos

ARTIFACT, 30 Seconds to Mars

Tanya Eby

Jess: Sarina’s latest, The Best Men

The Latinist by Mark Prins—read the print version

Superhot Wing Man on YouTube

Sarina: The Other Man by Farhad J. Dadyburjor

KJ: All the Feels by Olivia Dade

Jess recommends: The Stand-In by Lily Chu

How, HOW has it taken us this long to bring you the amazing Sue Shapiro? Sue teaches what is unquestionably THE class on publishing personal essays—her motto is “Instant Gratification takes too long” and her students’ success record is astounding. She’s the author , co-author or editor of 16 books in genres ranging from memoir to middle-grade and including self-help and fiction. She’s a poet, an essayist and a teacher of such generosity and enthusiasm that I could probably just stop talking right now and let her go and you’d still end this podcast going man, I learned so much! Her latest book is The Book Bible: Sell Your Manuscript—No Matter What Genre—Without Going Broke or Insane, and there is no one more qualified to write it. 

The Book Bible should be taught in the first session of every writing program or MFA. It’s a how-to on getting published, but also a primer on the industry as a whole—an industry every writer should understand, ideally early in their career. We talk about learning hard lessons, the dream of “becoming a writer” as opposed to “becoming a poet/novelist/literary figure” and how many, many different ways there are to make this particular sausage. 

The Byline Bible: Get Published in Five Weeks

Amy Klein, The Trying Game

Samantha Wextein, agent

Jess’s 3 part blog post: When Opportunity Knocks (part 1, part 2, part 3)

Five Men Who Broke My Heart, Susan Shapiro

KJ’s book coaches: Jennie Nash and Susanne Dunlap

Email Sue at: [email protected]

LOOK! Sue hosts an online event at The Strand: How to Publish in Any Genre 1/22 at 6 PM.

Sue: Black American Refugee, Tiffanie Drayton 

KJ: The Frederick Sisters Are Living the Dream, Jeannie Zusy

Jess: The Latinist, Mark Prins

Find Sue: susanshapiro.net

IG: @ProfSue123

Twitter: @SusanShapironet

Are you serious about writing a nonfiction book this year? Author Accelerator is offering a nonfiction book incubator starting February 28th. There are only a few seats in this intensive program because you will get 1:1 coaching on every single step of the process AND you will have the chance to pitch your proposal to a pool of agents and publishers at the end -- a fabulous opportunity. Apply for the program HERE -- and get a strategic session with Jennie Nash to kickstart your work. We think Jennie and her book coaches are terrific -- tell her we sent you!

“Just a little jaunt to Ireland to research my next book.” If that sounds like a dream to you, we asked Sarah Stewart Taylor—author of The Mountains Wild, A Distant Grave and the forthcoming The Drowning Sea, all set in Ireland and the somewhat-less-glamorous Long Island—to explain how she made that dream a reality, even before she sold the first of her books. We talk about why research travel matters, when and why Sarah chooses to use real neighborhoods or locations in her fiction, how she spends her time (hint—you have to suck it up and be a tourist) and why it’s so important to “get extra”. 

Sarah: Matrix by Lauren Groff

Ilaria Tuti - Flowers Over the Inferno, The Sleeping Nymph

Jess: Once there Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone by Diana Gabaldon

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

KJ: Louise Erdrich, The Sentence

Also mentioned: narrator Davina Porter

Class with KJ! I’m teaching a 4 week long online class I call “Cry Harder: Taking the Reader on an Emotional Roller Coaster” through the Flying Books School of Reading and Writing on Thursday nights from January 20th through February 10th.  Emotional journeys are at the core of every story, whether it’s Die Hard or Fried Green Tomatoes—and they can easily get lost in the excitement of creating and pulling off that external plot. 

We’ll talk about finding the emotional arc in other writers’ work as well as your own; how to infuse a book with emotion after the plot is already established, when to “show” emotion and when it’s important to go right ahead and “tell”; and how to make sure the emotional arc doesn’t disappear when the plot gets hot and heavy. Students are welcome to submit a synopsis and 10 pages from a work in progress for class discussion and feedback, but it is not required. Writers of all experience levels are welcome. Details HERE, and I’d love to see you there!

Are you serious about writing a nonfiction book this year? Author Accelerator is offering a nonfiction book incubator starting February 28th. There are only a few seats in this intensive program because you will get 1:1 coaching on every single step of the process AND you will have the chance to pitch your proposal to a pool of agents and publishers at the end -- a fabulous opportunity. Apply for the program HERE -- and get a strategic session with Jennie Nash to kickstart your work. We think Jennie and her book coaches are terrific -- tell her we sent you!

Alison Zak has just been “jolted from being a writer to being an author” with the interest in her non-fiction book proposals—but with that interest came questions about… The dreaded platform problem! 

That was the subject line of the reader email that caught our attention, and the problem is follows: you’ve got a great non-fiction proposal—but a relatively small existing “platform”. What is a platform, you ask? Well, it could be an offline community, a reputation, an academic or business space that you’re prominent in, or your reach as a professional writer in other’s spaces (i.e. the NYT, ESPN, McSweeney’s—but it’s more probably a question of online reach. As in, followers on email, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or for a blog or podcast. Numbers are important, but intensity and engagement matter too, as do being an active part of the community you want to reach, even if it’s led by others. We talk building platform and how to explain the platform you have to publishers who might think only numbers matter.

Episode 127: #AmBranding with Carol Blymire

The Creative Shift Podcast: Does Social Media Sell Books?

The Creative Shift Podcast: Leigh Stein episode 1 - Behind the Book Launch of a Novel

The Creative Shift Podcast: Leigh Stein episode 2 - Focus on What You Can Control.

alisonzak.com

Instagram: @animal_asana

Twitter: @animal_asana

Gretchen Rubin

Mary Laura Philpott

Be the Gateway by Dan Blank

Newsletter Ninja by Tammi Labrecque

Your First 1000 Copies by Tim Grahl

Are you serious about writing a nonfiction book this year? Author Accelerator is offering a nonfiction book incubator starting February 28th. There are only a few seats in this intensive program because you will get 1:1 coaching on every single step of the process AND you will have the chance to pitch your proposal to a pool of agents and publishers at the end -- a fabulous opportunity. Apply for the program HERE -- and get a strategic session with Jennie Nash to kickstart your work. We think Jennie and her book coaches are terrific -- tell her we sent you! 

Words of the Year from 2021/New words for 2022

Jess: 2021: Organize 2022: Evaluate

KJ: 2021: Flow 2022: Play

Sarina: 2021 Generous 2022: TBD

Oh. What. Fun. by Chandler Baker

Jetpens

Scrivener

Hoopla

Libby/Overdrive

Last week y’all heard me—KJ—rave about the coaching certification I’m working towards with our sponsor Author Accelerator. I have learned so much—about my own work, and how to help others’ with theirs. I spent five years editing others’ work at the New York Times, and I’m a good editor—but no one ever taught me how to help other writers feel excited about those edits before. (At the Times we kind of went in for the “my way or the highway” approach, with a solid dose of “if you can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen”.) And I’ve never understood story as well as I do now. If that all makes you intrigued to set some goals around starting up a book coaching career of your own, learn more at bookcoaches.com or sign up with our affiliate code HERE.

(And if you want to see what kind of (pretty dang limited) coaching I’m offering, click HERE.)

What did we notice evolving in the industry? What worked and what didn’t in our own writing lives? Here’s our take. We’d love to hear yours—check in via the #AmWriting Facebook group.

Findaway Voices acquired by Spotify

Penguin Random House/Simon Schuster merger

Storytell acquired Audiobooks.com

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

Reading Apps like Radish

The Shrink Next Door

KJ: You only need one plot.

Sarina: Write the flap copy first.

Jess: My best writing comes from what I’m immersed in and I need the freedom to write about those things. (Blog post: Look at the Sky, Grown and Flown: Parenting Creative Children.)

Y’all heard me—KJ—rave about the coaching certification I’m working towards with our sponsor Author Accelerator. I have learned so much—about my own work, and how to help others’ with theirs. I spent five years editing others’ work at the New York Times, and I’m a good editor—but no one ever taught me how to help other writers feel excited about those edits before. (At the Times we kind of went in for the “my way or the highway” approach, with a solid dose of “if you can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen”.) And I’ve never understood story as well as I do now. If that all makes you intrigued to set some goals around starting up a book coaching career of your own, learn more at bookcoaches.com or sign up with our affiliate code HERE.

(And if you want to see what kind of (pretty dang limited) coaching I’m offering, click HERE.)