#AmWriting

Why stick to any one genre? Our guest this week is Catherine Newman: memoirist, middle grade novelist, etiquette columnist and now the author of How to Be a Person: 65 Highly Useful, Super-Important Things to Learn Before You’re Grown-Up. While she’s at it, she writes a cooking blog, co-authored a book on crafts for kids and edits ChopChop, a kids cooking magazine. And she pens frequent funny essays for everything from O to the New York Times to the Cup of Jo website. In other words, she’s putting a pastiche of writing together and making it work with an insouciant disregard for any and all advice about self-branding or owning an niche or sticking to one topic or identity.

In fact, I’d argue that “insouciant disregard” might just BE her brand. 

This episode also includes the immortal words “I’ve never had to kill anything during the podcast before,” uttered by Jess—so that’s a reason to listen right there. But there are plenty of others—this is a real nitty gritty episode on building a career and getting things done.


#AmReading

KJ: Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

Recipes for a Beautiful Life by Rebecca Barry

Jess: Sure Shot by Sarina Bowen

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Missing You by Harlan Coben

Catherine: Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Sea Wife by Amity Gaige

The Chicken Sisters by KJ Dell’Antonia


Thanks to everyone who supports the podcast financially. To join that team, click the button below:

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.

Get New Episode Emails

Find more about Jess here, Sarina here and about KJ here.

When your book launches, you want to meet your readers where they are: anywhere people are talking about—or better yet, buying—books. Of course we want to support our local Indies (that’s why the links here are all to Bookshop.org)—but if there are readers on Amazon, we’re going to be there too. This week, we’re talking about how to get yourself set up on Amazon, Goodreads and Bookbub—and why you absolutely should.

For more info, check out our past Writer Top Fives on setting up your Amazon, Goodreads and Bookbub pages. Usually, Top Fives and Minisodes go out to our supporters, but we’ve made these three available to everyone—because the info in them is so great, and maybe a little because this way, you can see what you’re missing. If now’s your time to sign up to support the podcast, click the button.

Upgrade to Supporter

She might just have the perfect job. This week, Jess and I interview Abbe Wright, Senior Editor at ReadItForward.com and co-host of The Adaptables, a podcast that hashes over every detail of the movies and shows that are adapted from the books we love. 

Links from the pod:

I wanted to break up. Then he got a tattoo of my name.

Read It Forward Podcast

The Adaptables

The Longform Podcast

Bookbento (Read It Forward’s Instagram)

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Abbe: All Adults Here by Emma Straub

Jess: Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller

Nerve by Eva Holland

Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui

KJ: The Address Book by Deirdre Mask


Thanks to everyone who supports the podcast financially. To join that team, click the button below:

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. 

Get New Episode Emails

Find more about Jess here, Sarina here and about KJ here.

Back in December 2019, we set #WriterGoals for 2020.

We had no idea. This week, we go back in and revisit—which goals still stand? Which do we have to let go, and which just don’t feel right any more? Was there any point in setting these goals in the first place?

In the end, we decide (not very cheerfully, it has to be admitted) that while our goals are necessarily changing, they’re always worth setting and revisiting. We’ll all be settling down to think differently about what we hope for in what’s left of 2020. 

Are you revising your 2020 goals, or sticking to plan A? Head over to the #AmWriting Facebook group and tell us about it.

KJ: Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

The Body in the Garden by Katharine Schellman

Sarina: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Jess: Audible Original: David Sedaris, Themes and Variations

Rat by Stephen King (found in the If It Bleeds novella collection)


Hey—now is a great time to check out our sponsor, Author Accelerator, where you can launch a career as a book coach or get paired with the right coach to get your project moving. 

And if you’d like to support the creation of #AmWriting, we’d appreciate your help! Supporters get weekly Minisodes or Writer Top Fives—and our undying gratitude. Want in? Click the button.

Upgrade to Supporter

Our guest today is Anne Bogel, most recently the author of Don’t Overthink It, which came out on March 3, 2020. Followers of this podcast who’ve taken my advice may have checked out her podcast, What Should I Read Next, where she talks books, reading and recommendations with guests—because I’m a huge fan. Anne is also the author of I’d Rather Be Reading and Reading People: How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything, the host of a second podcast, One Great Book and the blogger behind the Modern Mrs. Darcy.com.

We talk about genres, owning your expertise, finding your voice and launching a book in a global pandemic. Some favorite advice goes straight to the title of Anne’s latest book: don’t overthink it. Sometimes, the right idea for a book is the one that’s always with you, that you’re interested in, that feels easy and obvious to you because it is—but isn’t such a cakewalk for everyone else.


#AmReading

Anne: Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel (available July 21st, 2020)

The Switch by Beth O’Leary, who also authored The FlatShare

KJ: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Jess: Wild Horses of the Summer Sun by Tory Bilski

The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Cobin

- - -

Thanks to everyone who supports the podcast financially. To join that team, click the button below:

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. 

Get New Episode Emails

Find more about Jess here, Sarina here and about KJ here.

This week, it’s Jess and I (KJ) talking to Olivia and Meghan from the Marginally podcast, which we love for its frank conversations about challenges and setbacks and day jobs and the struggle to keep your butt in the chair (sound familiar?).

We talked about finding your writing people, the joys of keeping that day job, and the things that grow from grabbing a friend and starting the thing you wish someone else would start. 

#AmWriting

Meghan: Followers by Megan Angelo
The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel

Olivia: Emma by Jane Austen (and all the movies)
Independence Square by A.D. Miller 

Jess: Wow, No Thank you by Samantha Irby

KJ: Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn

Do mystery and thriller writers ever “pants” their stories? What’s it like to give a dark protagonist some elements of your own history? How much fun is it to fill a book with references to all of your favorite books ever? 

We cover those things and more with author Peter Swanson, whose new book, Eight Perfect Murders, is a hybrid of psychological thriller and who-dunnit that all three of us loved. Also on the docket: we name our top three most terrifying children’s picture books. 

https://www.peter-swanson.com

#AmReading

KJ: Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

Storyworthy, Matthew Dicks

Peter: My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Whether you consider yourself a plotter or a pantser, we know you consider yourself a writer. You write. Enough said. If you’ve plotted or pantsed your way all the way through any narrative, you know what a tough job that is—and you might be able to help somebody else do it, too. In addition to matching writers with book coaches who help you keep your butt in the chair, our sponsor, Author Accelerator, offers book coach training and certification. If that sounds like it might be the perfect gig for you, head to authoraccelerator.com to learn more. 

Hey #AmWriting Listeners. It’s April 13, 2020, and this episode, like the last, is a throwback to a simpler time, when we left our homes without masks and took baristas and lattes and a whole lot of other things for granted. So it may feel jarring that we’re not discussing the current situation, but at the time there was little to discuss—and we wouldn’t have, anyway, because our guests, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, had so much fantastic advice to share about co-writing, writing suspense and just writing in general. They were a blast to talk to, and we hope they’re hard at work on a new thriller via Google docs. 

If you’re hard at work on a project—or would like to be—our sponsor, Author Accelerator, has some free resources for this tough time, including a free ebook—The brilliantly titled Writer’s Guide to Agony and Defeat, writing resources for families and an upcoming webinar with creativity coach Jennifer Louden that’s just what every writer needs: Why Bother? Why write this book, and why now? I’m already signed up for that one. Find more at authoraccelerator.com/spring2020writingresources.

Greer Hendricks  and Sarah Pekkanen are the co-authors of New York Times bestsellers The Wife Between Us, and An Anonymous Girl. Their latest book is YOU ARE NOT ALONE, on-sale March 3. We're recording just before its release, and it's getting a TON of buzz. I loved a Bookstagram review that called it "intrusive, suffocating and creepy. In a good way." 

 Here's the background on these two: Sarah is a former journalist and the author of 8 novels--with Greer as her editor. They decided to collaborate, and the rest is history--that we will be digging into in depth on the podcast. 

You’re going to be jealous. But in a good way. 

A video of how Greer and Sarah collaborate.

Before I Go to Sleep, S.J. Watson

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

Liane Moriarty

Some of our favorite co-written things: 

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan (They each took a character) 

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (They passed it back and forth) 

KJ's: The Knockoff and Fitness Junkie, by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza (They pass it back and forth, but Jo’s the plotter and Lucy provides the juicy stuff.) 

http://www.sarahpekkanen.com/

http://www.greerhendricks.com/

#AmReading

Greer: Dear Edward, Ann Napolitano

Sarah: Good Morning Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery, Catherine Gildiner

KJ: The Worst Best Man, Mia Sosa

Brooklynaire, Sarina Bowen

Sarina: What Happens Next, Colleen Clayton

Hey campers, KJ here. In this week’s episode, we talk to the brilliant Jessica Abel, a creativity coach extraordinaire, about how to get past whatever’s stopping you and develop a sustainable creative life. In so many ways, it’s a timely episode, and it WILL inspire you to get in there and get some work done.

But it may also inspire you to wonder what planet we are living on, as we lightly discuss such exotic activities as driving children to school and going to work. Sorry. That was Planet February, also known as the good old days. We were prerecording for some planned travel that—well, you know the drill. As we press go on this episode, life has changed for all of us—but in every other way, this call to creative action is completely timely. So take a break from the news and revel in it. It’s also a great time to check out our sponsor, Author Accelerator, where you’ll find a free seven-day writing challenge that can help you narrow in on the project you want to write—and let me just say I love that thing. I do it over and over again whenever I lose focus or start a new project. You’ll find it at www.authoraccelerator.com/amwriting. 

Here’s something else that might help: Jessica Abel’s What’s Stopping You Worksheet.  And be sure to follow her in all the places: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

She has more resources on her website as well. 

No transcript this week. It’s all just too much. But here’s what we’ve been reading: 

#AmReading (Watching, Listening) 

Jessica: Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, James Clear

The Stone Sky, the last book in NK Jemisin’s Broken Earth series

Jess: As Needed for Pain: A Memoir of Addiction, Dan Peres

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, Matthew Walker & Steve West

KJ: What Happens in Scotland, Jennifer McQuiston

Shout Out to the Get Booked podcast

Thanks to everyone who supports the podcast financially. To join that team, click the button below:

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. 

Get New Episode Emails

Find more about Jess here, Sarina here and about KJ here.

If you enjoyed this episode, we suggest you check out Marginally, a podcast about writing, work and friendship.

Hey writers—super-practical episode this week! Call it part two of the Sarina coaches KJ through her book launch series. This week, it’s the #MarketingMojo page—things you’ll need as you market your book no matter what the book is or when it launches. This is the road to creating things like back-of-the-book or flap copy, ad copy, social media post copy and more, for fiction and non-fiction both. 

We go in deep in the podcast, but here’s a quick primer, starting with the easiest and building up to the biggest challenges. Sarina suggests creating a Google doc with the following: 

#AmReading

Sarina: The Weight of Ink, Rachel Kaddish

KJ: Gaudy Night, Dorothy Sayers

Jess: The Biggest Bluff, Maria Kornikova 

No transcript this week, because of … things. All the things. Too many things. But the podcast is there and waiting! Enjoy, and stay safe.

PS: It’s a great time to check out our sponsor, Author Accelerator, where you can launch a career as a book coach or get paired with the right coach to get your project moving.