Gracewriters Podcast

Belinda Pollard, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy celebrate four years of the podcast by going back to the beginning… our very first episode, WHAT IS GRACEWRITING?, which continues to be one of our most popular. At this time in history, for some reason God seems to be moving in a new way among creatives, using us to reach places and people that might not be open to other forms of communication. Whether you’ve joined Gracewriters recently or been with us from the start, we hope you enjoy touching base with who we are and what we’re all about.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.

Episode summary:

• How did Gracewriters begin, and what is Gracewriting?
• Changing the way Christians – and Jesus! – are portrayed and perceived in popular culture.
• How the idea for a Gracewriters Podcast developed, and the value of looking at the writing process, in fellowship, from a Christian perspective.
• How Belinda, Alison and Donita got involved in writing in the first place.
• Why we can sometimes find it hard to pray about our writing - worrying that we are "bothering God" - when in reality he loves to hear from us.
• The particular opportunities and difficulties for Christians who write for mainstream markets, and how we can work as a team.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy interview Buck Storm, the critically-acclaimed award-winning author of 8 literary Americana novels, who is also a songwriter and recording artist. Buck dives deep into the issues of engaging with biblical and cultural research, and writing from the heart about God’s extraordinary love.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.

Episode summary:

• Buck’s process of starting with a blank page and seeing where the story takes him.
• How creating cadence in songwriting transfers across to cadence in fiction, especially in dialogue.
• Buck’s habit of reading his books aloud to a family member once the draft is complete, and how seeing their reaction to the story informs his further work on the manuscript.
• How Buck wrote and researched The Light, the story of a broken, powerless person in the 50 days between the Resurrection and Pentecost – and how the process differed to his more intellectual book The List which looked at Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea coming to faith through prophecy. Authenticity and the power of research, plus the reactions of readers to the characters.
• Working at avoiding using a Western lens to understand biblical background.
• The relevance of OT prophecy today, and the power of how Jesus united Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who were from opposing parties.
• Changing popular culture as a writer, one person at a time, by sharing your heart with them on the page.
• Not writing to “teach a theme” but just to tell a story and share the love of God. Not knowing the theme until the book is finished, or even until the reader tells you what it means to them.
• Writing on automatic pilot vs the times when God really digs deep into the writer. Taking time out when it gets too mechanical.
• Praying for our writing, and the practice of praying without ceasing.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard and Donita Bundy interview romance novelist (and podcast co-host) Alison Joy. Alison writes romance novels set in Australia and the South Pacific. She shares a variety of research techniques she has developed to help her create fictional locations, events and characters that ring true.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.

Episode summary:

• How Alison got an idea for a novel series from an exercise class.
• Creating small town communities on the page using a combination of research and personal experience.
• Different ways to use recurring characters in a series.
• Using actual locations, buildings, sites, facilities to inspire authentic fictional ones.
• How Alison produced an actual country song for book promotion.
• Different research techniques used by Belinda and Donita – interviews, travel, experiences, googling, historical research.
• The benefits and pitfalls of research – how it enriches your writing and your life, but you can end up down rabbit holes!
• Coping with the uncertainty of whether we should be writing, especially when we don’t write “Christian” books.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy interview Billie Jauss, author of the books MAKING ROOM and DISTRACTION DETOX. Billie speaks across America and hosts the Family Room Podcast. She shares what she’s learned about finding God’s purpose in our writing – even when it’s surprising – and finding real solutions to toxic busyness, self-doubt, shame and distraction.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.

Episode summary:

• Being “dragged kicking and screaming” into writing. How Jesus opened unexpected doors and provided support.
• How 10 years of writing devotionals for a baseball website evolved into authoring a book.
• The secret blog Billie began when she became an empty nester.
• Adapting the devotional structure and content to create chapters of a book.
• Learning new writing skills through reading books and blogs, and observing what she liked and didn’t like about other people’s writing.
• Tackling imposter syndrome after the too-fast publication of her first book, and how it stopped her writing with purpose.
• Writing a list of negative thoughts that arose, realising she was her own worst bully as she would never say those things to someone else. Challenging each negative thought with the truth of scripture.
• Being too busy, and how to learn to say no so that there is time for God to speak into our lives. How we get in the way of someone else’s calling if we do the thing they are supposed to be doing.
• Finding moments of pause and listening to God. Listening to the Bible while exercising or driving.
• Changing popular culture by loving our neighbour.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy interview Jodie McCarthy, who writes quiet, contemplative words in the midst of a noisy and painful world. Her books of poetry and prayers are transparent expressions of grief and loss, but also hope and healing. Jodie is also honest about the times when creative writing needs to take a back seat for a season. 

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.

Episode summary:

• Journaling as a way of processing life, and how that led into blogging.
• How poetry helped Jodie process the emotions of infertility, miscarriage and grief.
• Becoming an “accidental author” when people shared her first book of poetry, and later an “accidental self-publisher”.
• Talking about hard things gives people permission to talk to you about their own hard things. Learning to hold other people’s heavy stories lightly helps you avoid overwhelm.
• How the content influenced Jodie’s production decisions, such as hardcover over paperback for a sense of solidity.
• Software (Scrivener) that helps with the process of organising a book and overcoming writer’s block. Also using old-school techniques and moving around handwritten or printed pages.
• Writing more poems than needed to allow choosing the best.
• The poetry market that is emerging on Instagram.
• Taking time from creative writing to work on analytical writing during a study program in Spirituality. A season of input rather than a season of output.
• The blessing of writing gracenotes in a time when the news is so heavy and everyone is feeling heavy.
• Jodie’s beautiful “prayer for creatives”.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard and Alison Joy interview our co-host, urban fantasy author, writing teacher, and preacher, Donita Bundy. Donita writes the Armour of Light series of spiritual warfare stories set in near-future versions of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of Revelation. She has useful tips for those writing on ‘Last Days’ themes, and encouragement for all of us who Gracewrite in an increasingly hostile and difficult world.  

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.

Episode summary:

• What End Times, End of Days and Last Days mean, and why these themes are so attractive to storytellers, both Christian and secular.
• How physical illness ‘accidentally’ led into Donita writing on these topics, and how her own health challenges have influenced the way she writes her characters.
• How Donita draws plot inspiration from Scripture and also from historical events and situations from the ancient world.
• The role of Bible study and prayer in apocalyptic writing, and in fact, all Gracewriting.
• The fear of getting it wrong, and how to persevere in spite of that.
• Encouraging readers as they feel seen and heard by what’s happening in the story. Writing with openness and honesty about genuine human struggles. Helping readers to feel less alone in their own battles.
• Encouraging readers to pay attention, and not become complacent in a world that is changing rapidly. Inspiring them to ‘choose God’ even when it’s hard.
• Entertaining readers with a good story.
• Thinking about what message your reader is going to go away with, no matter what genre or topic you are writing. How to open a fissure for the Holy Spirit to flow into someone’s heart through story.
• Giving readers (and us) the courage to stand in the challenges to come.
• Whether to make writing a priority in stressful times. Why our voice is needed.
• How the content of our writing might change in the Last Days. How our writing might be set apart from the world’s writing.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy interview book publicist Jason Jones, who works with authors and publishers around the world, producers and editors at some of America’s major news outlets and hundreds of faith-based media outlets. Host of the Book Publicist podcast, he has led campaigns for 11 New York Times best-sellers. He shares insights on the changing face of book promotion, including the rise of social media and podcasts.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.

Topics in this episode:

• Jason’s unexpected career progression into book publicity.

• How book publicity has changed in recent years – the rising importance of social media over traditional media and news outlets.

• Start very early with book promotion.

• Be prepared to do the work yourself and don’t expect your publisher to do all the marketing.

• Start small, start local.

• How the publicity cycle has changed in recent years – not all of it has to be at launch time.

• Promoting non-fiction vs fiction.

• Seasonal promotion at Christmas, and Christmas-themed books.

• The rising possibilities of being interviewed on podcasts.

• The value of perserverance.

In this episode, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy interview Belinda Pollard, author of crime novels, light memoir, devotionals and non-fiction. She is also founder of Gracewriters. Belinda shares what she learned from revising and republishing both a devotional book, MEET THE REAL JESUS, and her first crime novel, POISON BAY.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy interview Jack Countryman, author of 35 books based on Bible promises, blessings and prayers, which have sold more than 27 million copies. At 93, Jack has just released another book. He encourages all Christian writers, and especially those writing devotionals, and those who fear they are “too old”.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy interview Christian non-fiction author Jo Swinney. Jo’s books cover important and sensitive topics from dating to depression, but her most challenging project yet was co-writing a book on hospitality with her mother, Miranda Harris, after she had passed away.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.