Welcome to The Writing Coach. On this podcast, I speak with the instructors, editors, coaches, and mentors who help writers and authors create their art, build their audience, and sell their work.

Episode #72 of The Writing Coach podcast features our first ever guest host, Lori Puma.

Lori Puma is a Story Grid Certified editor who helps writers turn first drafts into stories readers can’t put down. Lori started her writing career publishing scientific papers that also double as sleeping aids. Since then, she’s done a lot of things, including working as a marketer and having her work published in places such as the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Mashable. Lori’s focus as an editor is helping writers build the storytelling skills they need for a career writing fiction.

Lori scored the role of guest host by making the rather unusual pitch of offering to interview me on my own show. It was a great opportunity to talk about my coaching process with The Writing Coach listeners.

During our discussion, I describe:

* What I consider to be the fundamental elements of writer’s craft

* The importance of starting your story planning with genre

* My real thoughts on pantsing vs. planning

* The three biggest challenges writers face while crafting a novel

* Why a coach’s role is to open up new doorways of possibility to our clients

* What I recommend writers do when their plans go off-track

* And much more!

Listen to the episode now:

The Writing Coach #72 Show Notes

Get your copy of Lori’s fantastic free guide: The Structure of a Page-Turning Novel.

Visit Lori’s website here.

Read Lori’s article, “Story Grid Translated Into Common Writing Terms”.

Follow Lori on social media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lori_puma

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/loripumapage

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/loripuma

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