#AmWriting

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 2020 year in review/2021 goals episode. We’d love to hear your plans for the year—and how last year went. Come visit us on Facebook and share!

Jess: Come Out Come Out podcast

Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search-And-Rescue Dog by Susannah Charleson

KJ: Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know by Alexandra Horowitz

Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin

Deep Work by Cal Newport

Niksen: Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing Nothing by Olga Mecking

Frontier Follies by Ree Drummond

Sarina: The Search by Nora Roberts

The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry (Out of Print)

Blindsided by Victoria Denault from Sarina’s new imprint Heart Eyes Press

We’ve got a new sponsor! Thanks to The Great Courses for coming on board. Jess has been a fan for literally years, while Sarina and KJ are planning to catch up. Find out more at https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/amwriting.

And—is this the year you launch your own book coaching business? You know how much we love Author Accelerator, and their book coaching course is everything you need to get started. Find out more at bookcoaches.com/amwriting.

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 character in Silence of the Lambs. Together they have written many books including Mindhunter, about the role of behavioral profiling in catching violent criminals. His work with Douglas has landed him on the bestseller lists, but he has also written five novels and his nonfiction and documentary work covers subjects as wide-ranging emerging infectious disease, forensic emergency medicine, bioterror, the Lindburgh baby, and victims’ rights. He is also an Emmy-award winning filmmaker, as if that’s not enough AND, in a topic near and dear to my heart, he wrote, produced, and directed the film Discovering Hamlet, about one of my favorite productions of Hamlet directed by Dereck Jacobi and starring Kenneth Branagh. He follows Branagh and Jacobi from first read-throughs to opening night in 1988 and it’s now my life goal to see this film. Mark began his career as a journalist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Wall Street Journal, NYT, WaPo, and USA Today and I am SO very excited to talk with him today!

The result was every bit as fun as you’d imagine. We talked about finding the real story behind Silence of the Lambs, the “other kinds of detectives”—epidemiologists—and drawing a story based on taking a fact and running with it. Mark quotes Tom Clancy: “The difference between fiction and non-fiction is that fiction has to make sense.” Plus, our guest eviscerates Henry James.

Mind of a Killer PBS episode.

The Killer’s Shadow and The Killer Across the Table

MindhuntersInc.com

Mark’s favorite crime fiction: George Pelecanos, Laura Lippman, Ian McEwan

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren

KJ: Plain Bad Heroines Emily M. Danforth

Jess: Writings on an Ethical Life by Peter Singer

The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow

Great Books by David Denby

As we say every week—we’re so proud to be sponsored by Author Accelerator and Dabble. If you’re wondering—why Dabble and not Scrivener? For us, it’s that plotting tool and the intuitive way it works, but others have weighed in—check that out here with a little Dabble v. Scrivener scoop.

And if listening to all of our conversations about book coaching has made you think, hey—that’s the career for me—then you’ll want to head to Author Accelerator’s BookCoaches.com to see how you can make that happen. 

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 inadvertently only talk to people who share our perspective, and sometimes our privilege. 

Nobody knows that better than Julie Lythcott-Haims. For all her books, and most particularly for her latest, Julie has made it a point to draw from sources that reflect the diversity of our larger national experience. We talked about finding those sources, owning the need to seek out specific points of view and how you know when you’ve got it right.

Links from the Pod

Ed Yong’s article in the Atlantic about what he’s learned as he’s worked to diversify his sources: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/i-spent-two-years-trying-to-fix-the-gender-imbalance-in-my-stories/552404/

Adrienne LaFrance on gender bias in her own reporting: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/02/gender-diversity-journalism/463023/

Our Minisode on diversity in sources for non-fiction work, from light-hearted articles on favorite baby food flavors to seriously researched pieces for high-profile outlets. BIPOC, non-binary and women are outweighed by white men when it comes to who gets quoted in the news, whether the voice is adding an expert perspective or just a little local color. In it, we suggest the following:

SheSource

Informed Voices

NPR’s Source of the Week and how to use it.

Columbia University’s list of female, non-binary and BIPOC experts on the media

HARO

Julie: The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs

Jess: Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition by Patricia Churchland

KJ: Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Sarina and KJ have news!

The Chicken Sisters is out tomorrow, 12/1. Today’s the last day to pre-order! Signed copies here, Bookshop.org here, Amazon here—and if you order from your local indie and fill out this form, I’ll mail you a signed bookplate.

Sarina's novel Bittersweet, the first in her USA Today bestselling series, is currently free at all vendors. Farmers make the Earth move. Amazon: https://geni.us/FreeBittersweet

Apple: http://geni.us/BsIbooks

B&N: http://geni.us/bsbreach

Kobo: http://geni.us/bskreach

Google: http://geni.us/bsgreach

Book-gift shopping? Grab KJ’s 12 Days of Books to Give (and Get) list here for everything you need for your Austen-loving brother, your thriller-hound mom and the friend who craves a cozy escape.

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 as, of course, ALL the Reese Witherspoon Book Club backstory. 

You can grab a copy of Loverboy in all kinds of ways: 

🗝️ Audio https://geni.us/Audio-LB

🗝️ Amazon https://geni.us/Amazon-LB

🗝️ Apple https://geni.us/Apple-LB

🗝️ Kobo https://geni.us/Kobo-Lb

🗝️ Nook https://geni.us/Nook-LB

🗝️ Google https://geni.us/Google-LB

And there are a bunch of ways to buy The Chicken Sisters. There’s YOUR Indie bookstore--and if you buy it there and fill out this linked Google doc, I'll mail you a signed bookplate for it.

There's The Norwich Bookstore, which has signed actual copies.

There's MY Indie: Still North Books.

There's Bookshop.org.

There's Amazon.

There's Barnes and Noble.

White Walls: A Memoir About Motherhood, Daughterhood and the Mess in Between, Judy Batalion

Year of No Clutter: A Memoir, Eve Schaub

Slow: Simple Living for a Frantic World, Brooke McAlary

Chasing Slow: Courage to Journey off the Beaten Path, Erin Loechner

Jess: Distress Signals by Catherine Ryan Howard

The Liar’s Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard

Sarina: Winter Street, Winter Stroll, Winter Storms, Winter Solstice by Elin Hildebrand

KJ: Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Thanks for listening! As a heads up if you’re book-gift shopping make sure you grab KJ’s 12 Days of Books to Give (and Get) list here for everything you need for your Austen-loving brother, your thriller-hound mom and the friend who craves a cozy escape.

And did you know supporters of the #AmWriting podcast get a little something extra weekly? Whether it’s a Writer Top Five like Emails to Send During Your Book Launch, a #Minisode like Novel in #Process Part 1: Finding an Idea, or one of our new product reviews and other things we’re inspired to share, bonus stuff is ALWAYS dropping into their inboxes and pod-players. To get more #AmWriting for just a few bucks a month, click the button.

Upgrade to Supporter

And we love our sponsors! Check out Dabble Writing Software if you haven’t already, and visit BookCoaches.com/amwriting to learn more about Author Accelerator’s amazing book coach training (hello, holiday gift that keeps on giving) or for their free book coach matching service.

Who wouldn’t want a step-by-step process for revision? In her book Intuitive Editing, 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: 

Is the main story question clear?

Do the characters drive the story?

Do we/the characters end up somewhere different than where we began?

Where does the momentum flag (because it will, somewhere) and why?

Then we deep dive into questions of finding objectivity in your own work, micro-suspense, suspense vs. tension, writing manuals and—most important of all—how important it is to know that all first drafts are terrible and revision is part of the work. 

If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland

How to Grow a Novel by Sol Stein

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein

*FREE* Editorial Summit - December 6th

Tiffany: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

KJ: Ties that Tether by Jane Igharo

Sarina: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Sarina and KJ have news!

The Chicken Sisters is out! Signed copies here, Bookshop.org here, Amazon here—and if you order from your local indie and fill out this form, I’ll mail you a signed bookplate.

Sarina's novel Bittersweet, the first in her USA Today bestselling series, is currently free at all vendors. Farmers make the Earth move. Amazon: https://geni.us/FreeBittersweet

Apple: http://geni.us/BsIbooks

B&N: http://geni.us/bsbreach

Kobo: http://geni.us/bskreach

Google: http://geni.us/bsgreach

Book-gift shopping? Grab KJ’s 12 Days of Books to Give (and Get) list here for everything you need for your Austen-loving brother, your thriller-hound mom and the friend who craves a cozy escape.

Did you know supporters of the #AmWriting podcast get a little something extra weekly? Whether it’s a Writer Top Five (like TK LINK), a #Minisode (like TK LINK) or one of our new product reviews and other things we’re inspired to share, bonus stuff is ALWAYS dropping into their inboxes and pod-players. To get more #AmWriting for just a few bucks a month, click the button. 

Support #AmWriting

And have you checked out our sponsors? If listening to Tiffany makes you think, that is my total dream job, you need to head to bookcoaches.com/amwriting to learn more about the side gig that could supply much-needed consistency to your writing income or become your full-time passion.

And have you tried Dabble writing software yet? If you’ve been thinking about testing out a tool to go beyond the ordinary word processor and make your work easier, this is the one we recommend. We invited Dabble to sponsor the podcast because, in short, it’s awesome. It’s easy to use, it works offline and on, it’s always synced up and always available on all the platforms and it makes finding your way around in your manuscript easy and even fun—and it’s designed to minimize distractions and keep you going. Find out more, and do a free trial, at dabblewriter.com. 

It’s the gifts episode! Here are the links you’re looking for: 

Redbubble ❄️ Stamp blocks ❄️ Stamp blanks and stencils ❄️ Frixion Pens ❄️ Leuchterm planner

Planner cover ❄️ Jess’s favorite sticky tabs ❄️ 

Hedgehog Pencil Holder ❄️ Post-its that fit over planner months ❄️ Corkicle (it doesn’t come with the sticker, sorry… but actually I (KJ) have extras and if you asked me I could probably mail you one if I don’t get too many asks! Just reply to this email and I will see it.)

Jess: Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir

KJ: The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow

Sarina: The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes by Xio Axelrod

Zowie! Thanks for listening. If you want to check out our last gift episodes (and guides), click the years: 2019 2018 2017.

If you’ve got other ideas we should know about, share them in the #AmWriting Facebook group.

And if you’d like to subscribe to the shownotes email or support the podcast, click the button.

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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, about a group of men who read romance to understand their relationships and their partners. That became her first novel, quickly followed by Undercover Bromance and Crazy Stupid Bromance, and we three have read and loved them all. We talk indie v. trad, breaking out, building a series, writing diverse worlds and more.

Jason Rogers’ Men’s Health article

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

Kobo Libra

Overdrive

Lyssa: Just a Heartbeat Away by Cara Bastone

Snapped by Alexa Martin

Sarina: Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas

Jess: The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

Crazy Stupid Bromance

KJ: Ties That Tether by Jane Igharo

All Stirred Up by Brianne Moore

Speaking of romance, we love you, our listeners. Our sponsorships pay for the production and hosting of the podcast, but you support the time and work we put into being there for you every week, both by following us, reviewing the pod and keeping in touch, and with your financial contributions. #AmWriting supporters get a weekly bonus in the form of a minisode, a Writer Top Five or a little backstage burst of whatever the three of us are talking about that week (like Sarina’s new product review plans. Want in on that? Click here. 

Upgrade to Supporter

And we love our sponsors! Check out Dabble Writing Software if you haven’t already, and visit BookCoaches.com/amwriting to learn more about Author Accelerator’s amazing book coach training (hello, holiday gift that keeps on giving) or for their free book coach matching service.

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 own history, and desperate for not just housing but an education, a career, and love and a life of her choosing—was unlikely to ever find a way to tell her own story without Lauren’s help. 

“She chose me as much as I chose her,” says Lauren. We talk to Lauren about how that relationship was formed and how, although the act of observing something changes it, Lauren tried to let Camilla’s story unfold as though she weren’t there, even while her own daughter was demanding to know why they didn’t just let Camilla sleep on the couch. If you’re interested in long-form journalism, or just in the process of embedding yourself into someone else’s life, you’ll love this episode.

Links from the Pod:

Lauren’s latest book This Is All I Got: A New Mother's Search for Home

Find Lauren on her website: www.laurenosandler.com

Lauren: The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante

KJ: The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins

Jess: Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy

Thanks for letting us into your inbox. If you’ve got questions, comments, episode ideas, head to the #AmWriting Facebook group or email us at [email protected]. 

Want more #AmWriting? Support the podcast with just a click of the button below for less than $2 an episode, and get weekly Writer Top Fives like Top 5 Mindfulness Tricks For Better Writing Sessions or Minisodes like How an Editor Considers an Essay.

Support #AmWriting

Have you checked out Author Accelerator’s Book Coach training at bookcoaches.com/amwriting? Seriously, if every time you hear us talk about book coaching, you think to yourself—hey, I could do that!—you should. They have great programs for fiction, non-fiction and making your side-gig full time—and they offer tuition help for BIPOC coaches as well—more info on that at bookcoaches.com/equity.

And if you haven’t tried Dabble yet, YOU MUST. Just go play with the storyline building tools. Trust us.

We don’t have a lot of repeat guests, but Seth Godin 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, is a great addition to his (substantial) body of work. 

Seth Godin is not only the master of the short pithy book of helpful advice, he’s the master of dishing out that advice straight from his brain to yours, as well. He does not have to stop and re-frame. He does not meander about his point. Not one bit. He’s a fountain of quick sentences that wallop you upside the head with their truth and clarity and demand to be written down. Here are just a few from this interview, which you won’t want to miss: 

“Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions"

“There is never enough reassurance from outsiders” 

“Don’t let your audience expect another greatest hits album every time”

“Be the boss of the process”

“Creativity is an act of leadership”

Jess, Sarina and Seth talked about getting the work out there to your readers. That’s it. Shipping the work. Sure, we also talked about how it gets done because we always do (and Seth reveals Isaac Asimov’s advice for getting 400 books written) but in the end, the work has to end up with your readers. 

We did not talk books this week because we were on a tight schedule and Seth had so much wisdom to share, we skipped it. However, Seth recommended the documentary Double Take about the sculptor Elizabeth King, who is quoted in The Practice: “Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions.”

Find more about Jess here, Sarina here and about KJ here and don’t forget our sponsors and partners, Author Accelerator’s Book Coach training at bookcoaches.com/amwriting and DabbleWritingSoftware. They’re hand-picked because we LIKE them. So check them out.

Finally—KJ here—Obviously, with The Chicken Sisters coming out in December, book marketing has been on my mind.

One thing I learned in the last go-round when How to Be a Happier Parent came out is that it’s a bad idea to do it alone. There’s no way I could have done the whole launch by myself and you know, still had all my faculties intact.

One piece of help I got was taking a course called How to Launch a Bestseller from Tim Grahl, a book marketing phenom who’s had dozens of clients on the bestseller list. He pushes my buttons a little—because no matter what anyone says, you CANNOT make a bestseller yourself and to believe you can is to set yourself up for failure—but his advice is solid.

Another piece of help I got was from Sue Campbell, a book launch coach who helped me execute some of the monster-sized launch plan I put together based on Tim’s course. We had fun together and did some really fun things, like a quiz (find your parenting mantra).

Sue was actually personally trained by Tim and now she’s launching a really cool thing.

It’s a monthly membership that will give authors the resources they need to build an audience and the opportunity to pick Sue’s brain on a weekly basis. 

Basically, Sue’s the perfect person to help you set and reach your goals for your author career.

Membership in the club includes:

Another big benefit: this club is a flexible way to get marketing help when you need it. There’s no long-term commitment. 

And she’s offering a free-month trial right now. There are live calls every Friday at 1 p.m. Pacific time/4 p.m. Eastern.

I know for myself, having a community of like-minded people helps me make huge progress. (Heck, that’s what the #amwriting podcast and Facebook group is all about!)

I highly recommend you give Sue’s Your Next 9000 Copies club a try. I’ll be there too. And this is, as you’ve probably guessed, an affiliate link for the #AmWritingPodcast, so use it and you support us too. But I wouldn’t recommend Sue if I didn’t believe in her.

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 few other ideas for good measure. Links to everything we discuss are below.

Post-It App: Capture

Dragon Naturally Speaking

Otter

Rev.com

Whitelines

ProWritingAid

Nebo

BookEnds

Dabble

Scrivener

#AmReading

Jess: The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer

KJ: His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie

Thanks to everyone who supports the podcast financially—we hope you’ve been loving recent treats like the Minisodes from Jess: What Really Sells Books and KJ: Why I Love Plotting Books (and which to grab) and the Top 5 Things to Know About Using a Pseudonym. To join that team, click the button below (we’re kinda having a fall sale!):

Upgrade to Supporter

But it’s all good. The pod is free as it always has and always will be. This shownotes email is free, too, so please—forward it to a friend, and if you haven’t already, join our email list and be on top of it every time there’s a new episode.

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Find more about Jess here, Sarina here and about KJ here and don’t forget our sponsors and partners!

If you’re getting into NaNoWriMo this year, head over to the #AmWriting Facebook group to find your fellow-listener-lunatics—and consider trying out Dabble Writing software, which was specifically designed for plotting and writing fiction. Dabble is extending its free trial throughout the months of October and November, so you can try it out without any fear of losing your work, and it’s easy to export everything you’ve done right out at the end if it’s not for you. But we think it will be! Find out more at dabblewriter.com.

And if what gets YOU salivating is the prospect of helping writers turn all those rough NaNo drafts into something that’s ready for their next level, , you should check out bookcoaches.com/amwriting, where our sponsor, Author Accelerator, offers the training you need to turn your passion for stories into a full-blown side gig or business. You’ll find all the info, as well as a free video series to help you decide if book coaching is right for you, at bookcoaches.com/amwriting.