Become a Writer Today

You may find yourself wanting to write a book based on your life experiences, but where and how do you start? And once you've written it, how do you then get that book published?

My guest in this episode is Amanda Cosgrove. After putting her son through drama school, she felt compelled to share her story with other parents who are about to embark on the same journey.

Amanda runs a dance and drama school in Wales, so she already had a fair bit of background knowledge in this area, and yet, like many parents, she had no experience of the higher education process.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why Amanda wanted to write a book in the first place
• Who was Amanda writing for?
• How to deal with rejection
• Writing a non-fiction series

Resources:

• Amanda Cosgrove

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How many times have you been in the full flow of writing or editing, only to be distracted by the doorbell or a phone notification or 101 other things? And how long does it take you to then get back into that flow?

My guest on this episode is psychologist and author Phil Dobson. He's an expert in teaching people how to tap into their creativity, manage their distractions, and build resilience.

Phil also explains how we can work smarter, not harder, and the importance of having a solid early morning or evening routine.

You can learn more about working on your creativity and how to work smarter not harder in Phil's online course, The Working Smarter Programme.

In this episode, we discuss: 

• Three steps to better creativity
• Using The Disney Technique to realise and tap into your potential
• What happens when you allow yourself to stop, step back and give your brain some space
• Your relationship with your mobile phone
• Prioritizing your personal and work-life

Resources:

• BrainWorkshops
• The Pomodoro Technique
• Freedom 
• The Brain Book
• The Working Smarter Programme 

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If you enjoyed the show please leave a review on Apple. And if you have any questions you can find me on Twitter @BryanJCollins

Thanks for listening!

My guest in this episode is experienced freelance writer Zulie Rane. She is not only a popular freelance writer on Medium, but she also writes for B2B and B2C clients and is also a ghostwriter, all of which provide her with multiple income streams.

An excellent place to start your freelance writing career is by posting articles on Medium, and this is something that I discuss in more detail with Adrien Drew in a previous episode.

I wanted to know what advice Zulie had for freelance writers who are just starting. Medium is something we talk about, along with other ways that freelance writers can get started.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The importance of having multiple income streams as a writer
• Ways to get yourself noticed as a freelancer
• Write what you know about
• What to charge for your work
• Should a writer ever work for free
• The world of ghostwriting

Resources:

• Medium
• ConvertKit
• Clearvoice
• Upwork
• Zulie Writes

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If you enjoyed the show please leave a review on Apple. And if you have any questions you can find me on Twitter @BryanJCollins

Thanks for listening!

Have you ever considered entering a writing award?

I used to enter writing competitions to deal with procrastination and writer's block. And although I didn't win anything, it forced me to finish off pieces of writing, and I also benefitted from the feedback I got from the judges.

My guest on this episode knows all about writing awards. Paula Sheridan is an award-winning historical fiction novelist and founder of the Page Turner Awards. 

The awards are now in their second year and include categories for fiction, non-fiction, screenwriting and other categories that we discuss in the interview. 

I wanted to know why she launched the awards in the first place, and can an award change a writers life?

The awards are open for submission now at The Page Turner Awards.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why Paula founded the Page Turner Awards
• What makes a good submission for an award
• Do awards sell books?
• Paula's advice for entering The Page Turner Award

Resources:

• The Page Turner Awards
• Campfire
• ProWriting Aid
• Scrivener

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Support the show

If you enjoyed the show please leave a review on Apple. And if you have any questions you can find me on Twitter @BryanJCollins

Thanks for listening!

In the episode, I have an interesting catch up with Christina Kaye of Write Your Best Book.

I was a guest on Christina's podcast last year, so it was good to switch roles and ask her the questions.

Christina has self-published and traditionally published a number of books, most of which fall into the suspense genre. She also coaches new authors about how to overcome some common mistakes that new authors and writers make so that they can publish their best book.

In this episode we discuss:

• How and why Christina set up Write Your Best Book
• How Christina came close to giving up writing altogether
• Why you should write what you love to read
• How Christina uses advertising on Google and Facebook
• The mistakes that new authors make
• How to use TikTok to promote yourself as a writer
• An authors mindset

Resources:

Write Your Best Book
Scrivener
Reedsy
Tips on Becoming an Author
Bryan Collins on Write Your Best Book Podcast

Support the show

If you enjoyed the show please leave a review on Apple. And if you have any questions you can find me on Twitter @BryanJCollins

Thanks for listening!

Brett Godfrey is a multitalented author of the thriller Black Sunrise.
He's worked as a lawyer, an engineer, and a pilot, which has given him some hair raising experiences.

In this episode, we discuss those experiences and how Brett draws on them to help write his thriller books. He also talks about his writing process and how he spent many years developing the premise for Black Sunrise until he was happy to publish it, and he also touches upon his approach to self-censorship.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why you should hire both a developmental editor and a copy editor
• Going back through your manuscript to hone and refine the story 
• Drawing on your own personal experiences
• Referring to old diaries and journals for inspiration
• Using vivid language to express emotions
• Staying faithful to a character
• Learning to turn off your inner censor and let the writing flow

Resources:

brettgodfrey.com
Black Sunrise

Support the show

If you enjoyed the show please leave a review on Apple. And if you have any questions you can find me on Twitter @BryanJCollins

Thanks for listening!

Goodbye, 2020. 

Like many, I felt a sense of relief saying those words on New Year's Day.

I put off recording  this review for a week or two. 

The days of 2020 bled into each other, with nothing notable to punctuate the weeks and months, beyond grim news about the virus or elections.

But here we are, with a vaccine in sight. When we’ll get it and if life will return to normality in 2021, is a bigger question.

So in this annual review, I'll cover what did and didn't go well during 2020 and what's in store for 2021.

Resources
Read my Annual Review (plus check out my Substack newsletter)

How to Build a Niche Website That Earns Six Figures A Year with Jon Dykstra

The Zettelkasten Method with Sascha Fast

The Best Journals to Buy In 2021

Masterclass Review

Support the show

If you enjoyed the show please leave a review on Apple. And if you have any questions you can find me on Twitter @BryanJCollins

Thanks for listening!

Almost all writers need to jump-start their writing occasionally and using prompts on a daily basis can really help with that.  

Personally, I think that daily writing prompts are so useful I wrote a book full of them. 

If you'd like to try using prompts, and like the idea of them popping up on your phone, there is a fantastic prompt app available called Daily Prompt, and I recently had the chance to catch up with its co-creator Ryan Lindsey. 

I wanted to understand how he came up with idea for creating such an app in the first place and how writers are using prompts to drive their writing habits. 

In this interview we discuss: 

• The idea behind The Daily Prompt
• How they come up with ideas for prompts
• The community of writers that's developed within the app
• Gamification within the app to encourage daily writing
• The introduction of competitions in the app
• Keeping all the writing that's done in the app safe and secure

Resources:

The Daily Prompt
Deviant Art
Day One
the.fitness.hippie

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If you enjoyed the show please leave a review on Apple. And if you have any questions you can find me on Twitter @BryanJCollins

Thanks for listening!

This episode is a little bit different in that I'm not interviewing anybody. Instead, I'm going to give you some insights which will help you with your creative writing projects.

Experience shows that it's important to write. But why?

It's a question that I answer in this week's podcast episode and, I'm not going to give you just one reason, I'm giving you seven.


Resources:
The Savvy Writer's Guide to Productivity

Support the show

If you enjoyed the show please leave a review on Apple. And if you have any questions you can find me on Twitter @BryanJCollins

Thanks for listening!

Medium is the number one platform for non-fiction writers who want to find readers, share their message and earn a little for doing it. Members of the partner program regularly earn four and five figures a month.

But what if you’re just starting out and don’t have and subscribers, much less a portfolio? 

Is it too late to start writing on Medium?

Adrian Drew is the editor and owner of one of Medium’s top publications Mind Cafe. His publication focuses on personal development and receives over 200 submissions a week. 

In this interview, Adrian explains:

How to get started writing and earning on Medium, even if you have no followers

• What editors of top Medium publications usually look for
• How much you can expect to earn as member of the Medium partner program
• What types of images and tags to use
• How to drive traffic to and attract readers of your articles

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Attention Writers!
What's the best grammar checker of 2020? Find out in this review and claim a discount.

Support the show

If you enjoyed the show please leave a review on Apple. And if you have any questions you can find me on Twitter @BryanJCollins

Thanks for listening!