“Two out of three Word Docs have books out this month, and so does special guest Lisa Hannett (aka Dr Lisa Bennett). How do you launch a book during lockdown? By asking Amy to interview all three authors and raise a virtual toast to their inevitable success. Happy book birthday, Word Docs!”

Bonus Book Launch Episode - tags

Allen & Unwin

Book Birthday

Book Launch

Currency Press

Her Perilous Mansion

Lisa Bennett

Lisa Hannett

Songs for Dark Seasons

Ticonderoga Publications

Watchlist

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People read stories about people, so learning how to write people is an important step on your journey. Whether you steal from real life or create out of whole cloth, whether you prefer heroes to villains, whether you regularly lose control of the characters you have brought into being – the Word Docs are right there with you. Their methods may differ, but one thing is certain: chocolate is likely involved.

Twitter: @TheWordDocs
Instagram: @TheWordDocs
Facebook: The-Word-Docs

Tags - Acting vs writing, Action scenes, Alcohol, Ambiguity, Authorial agency, Backstories, Book chocolate, Borrowing from real life, Capacity for change, Characters, Chocolate, Collaboration, Comfort food, Complexity, Conflict, Context, Creative constraints, Dublin, Evolution, Extras, Forced endings, Franchises, Galley slaves, Heroes, Internal conflict, Intuition, Kids, Killing off characters, Long-haul flights, Meaning of names, Merchandising, Metaphors, Moscato, Mundane details, Name dictionaries, Name dropping, Naming characters, Non-fiction, Obsession, Origins, Outlining, Parenting, Past/present/future thinkers, Past victories, Planning, Podcasts, Protagonists, Psychology, The Queen, Reading, Real people, Rebellious characters, Recurring characters, Relationships, Roll call, Rewriting, Runaway characters, Scale, Secondary characters, Shortlisting, Silent extras, Star Wars, Sugar addicts, Tea, Texture, “Tom the Paper Boy” phenomenon, Too many characters, Tragedy, Villains, Weather, Writing as therapy

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New writers beware: saying that you are one invites interrogation on the nature of your work, where it has been published, and how much you’re being paid – all difficult questions to answer when you’re starting out. Writers, ultimately, come in many different shapes and sizes. The Word Docs are here to help you find your place in the pantheon, and to guide your dealings with Grandma next time you visit.

Twitter: @TheWordDocs
Instagram: @TheWordDocs
Facebook: The-Word-Docs

Tags - The Act of creation, Agents, Alien ideologies, Audiences, Author copies, Awards, Bad Sex Awards, Baking, Being orphaned, Beta readers, Brag shelves, Bravery, Brutal honesty, Business cards, Cakes, Career paths, Character identification, Characters, Chocolate, Community, Competitiveness, Conferences, Confidence, Conflicting feedback, Consultation, Continuity, Criticism, Critics, Disappointment, Doctor Who, Downturns, Drawer stories, Dreamweavers, Editors, Exposure, Fact vs fiction, Failure vs success, Family, Feedback, Gender-swapping, Genre discrimination, Good news, Gratuitous side projects, Growing the pie, Happiness, Honesty, Hope, The Imagined reader, Imposter syndrome, Inadequacies, Innate genius, Jealous peers, Kids, The Loneliness of success, Luck, Madness, Milestones, Money, Moral arguments, Parents, Parody, The Passionate response, Publishers, Professional vs amateur, Pseudonyms, Public adoration, Punctuation, Qualifications, The Queen, Rated R, Respiratory diseases, Royalties, Self-assessment, Sex scenes, Sense of humour, Sharing the love, Skills, Star Wars, Stalkers, Tall Poppy Syndrome, Taxonomy of writers, Theses, Tribes, Validation, Vampires, Visibility, Wattpad, Werewolves, Withholding, Wordsmiths, Writers’ Associations, Writing for a living, Writer bling

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Your book is done. What comes next? Finding the right editor is just one of the many challenges that the Word Docs have faced with aplomb – or if not aplomb, at least with a cocktail and a good conversational opener. Alex, Amy and Sean will help you break down the wall between writer and publisher that sometimes seem insurmountable.

Twitter: @TheWordDocs
Instagram: @TheWordDocs
Facebook: The-Word-Docs

Tags - Access, Authenticity, Being a dick, Bangers & mash, Brainstorming, Brutal honesty, Canapés, Chocolate, Cocktails, Collaborators, Community, Conferences, Confidence, Conventions, Coursework cohorts, Credibility, Doctor Who, Double entendres, Elevator pitch, Emma Thompson on a unicycle, Fabio pants, Fake it vs make it, Festivals, Gossip, Homonyms, Human scum, Introversion vs extroversion, Meat alternatives, Merchandising, Momentum, My Dad Wrote a Porno, Name dropping, Nanna Joy, Narcissism, Networking, Publisher’s assistants, The Queen, Selling yourself vs selling your work, Self-promotion, Sex, Shamelessness, Shyness, Social anxiety, Sounding boards, Stable ponies, Stakes, Strategic socialising, Support ponies, Tall poppy syndrome, Track records, Two out of three rule, The Tyranny of distance, The Work is the work, Writers’ Associations

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Whether you’re a reclusive garret scribe or a gregarious cafe scribbler, you’ve put serious thought into the space you write. Alex, Amy and Sean are no different. They’ve experimented with rituals and rooms of their own. They’ve wrangled writers’ groups and writing retreats. One of them has gone to Antarctica in search of the ultimate office. The Word Docs learned their lessons the hard way so you won’t have to.

Twitter: @TheWordDocs
Instagram: @TheWordDocs
Facebook: The-Word-Docs

Tags - Accomplishment, Administration, All-nighters, Antarctica, The Best time to write, Bob Roberts, Book proposals, Bragging rights, Caffeine, Cats, Coffee shops/cafe culture, Cone of silence, Control vs chaos, Define “writing”, Distractions, Dublin, Exposure, Fake news, Fellowships, The Flow, Hell is other people, Hot chocolate, Housework, Kids, Lofts, Massages, Moscato, Multitasking, Music, Nanna Joy, Noise, Nature, Networking, Offices, Parenting, PhD, Pizza, Privacy, Retreats, Rituals, The Romantics, Sample chapters, Scotch Finger biscuits, The Secret, Seeking perfection, Sheds, Shovelling, Silence, Spotify, Standing desks, Star Wars, Storms, Swimming, Tea, Teenagers, Theme music, Tuning out, TV, Weather, Work/life balance, The Writer’s revenge, Writer cats, Writing environment, Writing goals, Writing groups, Writing in public, Writing on the road

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Where do ideas come from? Are there any new ones left? Does taking a long shower count as work? Is chocolate tax-deductible? The Word Docs share techniques, traps, and tales of times when inspiration has fled but the words must be put down regardless.

Twitter: @TheWordDocs
Instagram: @TheWordDocs
Facebook: The-Word-Docs

Baking, Beginnings with no endings, Boredom, Bread, Cooking, Community, Creative combinations, Creative music, Creative prompts, Daydreaming, The Definition of work, Daily wordcount, Deadlines, Demons, Double entendres, Downtime, Drafting, Dreams, Drinking games, Editing, Exhaustion, Fishes, Free association, Grants, The Grind, Ideas, Inspiration, Intuition, Ions, Left brain/right brains, Lightning bolts, Loose construing, Love, Mentorships, Movies, Music, Neologisms, New ideas, Notebooks, Play space, Process, Procrastination, Psychics, Reading, Refilling the well, Remixing, Researchm, Routine, Shakespeare, Schenectady, Spotify, Stages of writing, Storms, Sustaining creativity , Thesaurus, Titles, Unstructured time, Weather

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Alex, Amy and Sean check in from their underground bunkers, where their research, writing and teaching continue unchecked. How are they coping with physical isolation? How are you? New times call for new solutions. Stay safe, everyone

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Alex, Amy and Sean tackle a topic close to the heart of many writers and students: getting work in on time. When stopping is sometimes just as hard as starting, the question of how to know if a story is ready for the world is one the Word Docs have all wrestled with many times in their careers. From procrastination baking to life in the Zone, our experts take you on a deep, discursive dive into the life of a working writer.

Twitter: @TheWordDocs
Instagram: @TheWordDocs
Facebook: The-Word-Docs

Tags; Anxiety, Author copies, Caffeine, Cats, Chocolate, Christmas, Compulsive writing, Confessions, Contests/competitions, Cramming, Creative ownership, Deadlines, Discipline, Drafting and redrafting, Drinking games, Experimentation, Extensions, Fear of failure, The Freedom of the beginner, The Grind, Ideas, Kids, Letting go, Marking, Moscato, Neologisms, Perfectionism, Pseudonyms, Quality vs quantity, Skills, Star Wars, Structure, Students, Teaching, Twists, Work/life balance, Writing muscles, The Zone

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