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This week on the podcast, Stephanie interviews her friend, author B.L. Thoma, who shares her unique writing journey from a dream to the screen. It’s the direction so many authors hope their book takes from being traditionally published to being optioned for the screen. 

B.L. Thoma’s first novel, Hear My Whisper, in her Morgan’s Landing series was written in an unexpected way, yet it opened up opportunities and helped her discover her gift for storytelling. 

And so I got out of bed, I grabbed a spiral book, I crawled back in bed, I wrote and wrote everything I could remember from a dream. 

It’s not how you usually hear about a book being written, but what it illustrates is how every writer has their own way. 

You approach your writing in a way that works for you. It’s what B.L. Thoma emphasizes during the podcast.  

With B.L. Thoma’s series being historical fiction, she did a lot of research to ensure accuracy of the details and staying true to the characters she created. 

When you listen, you’ll get a glimpse into B.L. Thoma’s wonderful sense of humor that she integrates masterfully into her writing.

Something would just,  it just happens in my brain and I could just insert, and I would just be sitting there laughing at it.  And I thought, I hope everybody else laughs, I'm laughing.

The success B.L. Thoma is experiencing did not happen overnight. It’s been a long road with a lot of learning along with some unexpected connections. 

What you’ll discover is the power of setting your mind on a goal and continuing to take the next step.

It’s not a story you can replicate, but it’s one you don’t want to miss listening to this week. 

There’s so much packed into this episode from hearing about B.L. Thoma’s writing process to multiple rounds of edits to getting the query letter just right. 

Connect with B.L. Thoma online at https://midweststoryteller.com/

A little bit about B.L. Thoma from her website: 

B. L. Thoma is an award winning author, capturing readers with her original, fun, historical romances as well as short stories and non-fiction. With a background in homeschooling and youth theater, she’s written plays and a children’s book as well. She lives in the heart of the Midwest, just a hop, skip and a jump from where she was born and raised, enjoying life with her family and her chatty cat. She shares her passion here for books, healthy living, creativity and laughter. It’s been said that success is attained when a person is unable to tell whether they are working or playing. That’s what happens when she writes!

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In this week’s episode, Stephanie chats with Book Coach and Editor, Sue Toth.

You’ll get insight into what it looks like to work with a book coach and an editor. 

For Sue Toth, who holds both titles in her business, there’s a distinct difference between the two and they’re important to consider as you think about your needs as a writer.

Did you know there are different approaches an editor can take when working with your manuscript? 

If not, you’ll get a quick overview this week.

If you’re tempted to use one of the many tools available to writers online, like Grammarly or ProWritingAid, to edit your work, you’ll want to listen to what Sue has to say about the importance of connecting with another human being about your writing. 

Sue is not just an editor. She also works with writers as their book coach.

She connects with writers at different stages of their writing journey and adjusts her approach based on individual needs.

It’s very common for writers to find Sue when they’re feeling unmotivated and stuck. 

The other big thing that I find with authors is sometimes they'll come to me when their motivation is lagging for whatever reason. They're not happy with the book. They don't like the way it's going. They feel like, Oh, I thought it would be such a great idea to write a book. And now I don't have time. So a lot of Things that I will work with with my clients to our motivational things, um, you know, find a different place to go and write or  a different time of day or schedule it into your calendar.

You know, the way you would schedule a doctor's appointment or something like that schedule time for writing into your day. It's, it's not going to get done unless you make it an appointment and you make it as important as every other appointment in your day.

Sue is dedicated to helping authors get to their writing goal. 

You’ll walk away from this episode with practical tips and insights into what to consider if you’re at the stage of hiring a book coach or an editor. 

Connect with Sue online:

https://suetoth.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/suetoth/
https://www.facebook.com/suetothediting
https://www.instagram.com/suetothediting/
https://www.threads.net/@suetothediting

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It’s time to celebrate!

Thank you listeners, guests and loyal subscribers for your support! 

We show up each week for you.

Our hope is you feel inspired to keep taking the next step on your creative journey. 

This week on the podcast, we’re taking a walk down memory lane as we look back at our year of podcasting.

When we started the podcast, we had no idea what we were doing, but we knew we wanted to offer valuable guidance to writers and share great stories.

It’s become our favorite project each week.

We keep it authentic and real because we know it’s important. 

You want to hear real stories from real writers and that’s what we offer you.

It’s not easy to pinpoint a favorite episode because each one offers something unique to you.

If you’ve joined us later in our releases, we hope you’ll take a look back at episodes that came along earlier. 

Many of our early episodes are still being downloaded today. 

The behind-the-scenes data gives us insights into our community of listeners and we dig into the details in this episode.

We are transparent about the challenges we’ve faced creating an online community space for writers and how this has led to the creation of courses.

The Memoir Cohort Course led by Elizabeth is a course that will transform your writing. If you’re looking back at your year and you haven’t reached your writing goal for your memoir, it’s a course to put on your calendar for 2025. 

Stephanie will be offering a course in January 2025 to help you organize your writing using Scrivener. If you’re overwhelmed and getting lost in Word or Docs, you’ll want to join this course to discover how Scrivener can change your writing experience and productivity.

In December 2024, we’re taking a break from podcasting to allow the pause to rejuvenate us for the coming new year, so if you’re not caught up on episodes it will be a great time to binge listen to ones you’ve missed.

As you listen this week, what can you celebrate?

Thank you again for joining us on this creative journey!

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You've been there. You walk into a room and feel overwhelmed by the mess in the space. It can feel like a lot to figure out how to get it organized. You’ve tried before, but it just doesn’t stick.

You might just want to look up our guest, Julianna Strickland, who has been featured in the New York Times and has a partnership with the Container Store, on this week’s podcast for inspiration and connect with her to help you get organized.

There’s no shame in getting help.

In fact, it can be incredibly empowering to connect with someone who can help solve something you’ve been struggling with that’s blocking your creativity.

If you’ve been feeling stuck, getting organized might be your answer.

When you clean up your space you open space for creativity.

There's something about knowing your things are in their place that allows your brain to focus on your art. Even when you're not paying attention, you're naturally organizing your things and it's distracting for your mind.

You want the feeling of being organized because it far exceeds the experience of looking at the space.

You're clearing space in your brain and it can become addictive to organize your space when you begin to see the result of being more productive.

You’ll feel more connected to your creative work.

You don’t have to be type A to get organized and transform your life.

If you have the desire to be organized, you can do it.

If organizing is not your thing, you'll benefit from having someone teach you how to get your space in order so you can get back to your work as a creative.

You naturally see the beauty in all that you have and you want to enjoy it, but then you get lost in what you have, like the 100s of books, and forget to focus on your own creativity.

There can be a domino effect to making one simple change and allowing it to flow into the next.

You can make your space functional and beautiful. It’s okay if you need to call upon someone for help.

website: https://spacecamporganizing.com
course: https://spacecamporganizing.com/makebetterspace
IG: https://www.instagram.com/makebetterspace/
Personal IG: https://www.instagram.com/julianna_strickland/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/makebetterspace/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@spacecamporganizing
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@makebetterspace

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It’s an especially exciting episode this week as we welcome an author who is local to us, here in Colorado, and we’ll be welcoming her to our local book club meeting next month.

Lara’s book, The Table: Seasons on a Colorado Ranch, was the result of completing her MFA at Western State University and submitting it for consideration for publication by the University’s press. It was selected and Lara was surprised and incredibly grateful.

It was a process of taking a series of personal essays and turning them into a full-length memoir. Her memoir shows her grit and gratitude for the seasons of life and reflections on the golden moments to embrace when navigating through difficult times. 

It’s a memoir about her life on her family’s ranch where they raise Hereford cows and gather thousands upon thousands of bales of hay each summer. What you’ll discover as you read is it’s not just the stories of her family’s experiences, but an invitation to walk in her shoes and understand the experience of ranchers in our area in Colorado. 

You’ll learn about the challenges being faced by ranchers as developers moving into the area are offering attractive sums of money to acquire land for multi-family housing developments. 

There’s insight into cattle ranching and the meaning of its impact on our environment.

She was fortunate to have the support of her family who gave her space to write her book, but there were still struggles with staying focused. You’ll be interested to listen and learn about a special visitor to one of her writing spaces. 

Lara masterfully weaves together various threads of her life story to connect the pieces that have contributed to her family’s success in their ranching business and in their lives. It hasn’t always been easy, but there’s a true sense of gratitude and fortitude in the work being done.

There’s a discussion of the editing process and how even with a publisher you can find errors after a book has been printed, but you can reach out and make sure any changes are made before future books are printed. 

You’ll appreciate it when she talks about getting distracted and how easy it can be to be pulled away from your work. We’ve all been there. It’s why finding a place that’s not in your own backyard can be beneficial to your writing process. It can be too easy to decide to do the laundry, mow the lawn, or any other number of house chores. 

We invite you, like Lara does in her memoir, to join her at The Table: Seasons on a Colorado Ranch. If you’ve written personal essays, you’re sure to find inspiration for turning your stories into a full-length memoir.  

Who is Lara Richardson?
A former white-water rafting guide on the Arkansas River, LARA RICHARDSON lives with her husband and five kids on their family ranch in Salida, Colorado, where they raise over 300 Hereford mother cows and calves and grow over 30,000 bales of hay each summer. A voice for land stewardship, sustainable beef production,
and the family farm, she is a 2021 graduate of Western Colorado University’s MFA Program in Nature Writing. The Table is her first published work.

Find Lara online:
Lara Richardson Website
Lara on IG
Lara Richardson on Facebook

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This week we’re talking about our September Book Club reading of Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. .

It’s a memoir by a celebrity that will surprise you.

You’ll stop and think about the aspects of your life that shaped your decision making and paved the path you’re on today.  

We’ve all had moments in life when we’re at a crossroads with a decision to make and opportunities present themselves.

What were the greenlights that opened new pathways for you whether expected or unexpected? 

The journey to living your life expressing your true creative self isn’t linear. There will be obstacles in your way and it’s up to you to decide how you’re going to face those moments. 

Greenlights are a way of seeing a path through when you’re feeling stuck. 

It might not be a book you’ve thought about picking up, but we found it surprisingly interesting.

It doesn’t read like a traditional memoir because it’s structured with stories from McConaughey’s life that illustrate ideas and thoughts he presents for reflection about life.

McConaughey shares stories of navigating his relationships with his family, his journey to the screen, and his eventual marriage and role as a father.

There’s an interesting sense of connection when reading this memoir, even though he’s a celebrity, because this book allows you to stop and reflect on your own life.

We’re all looking to connect with others and this book brings that to the forefront. There’s a sense of humanity and depth of creativity throughout. 

McConaughey shows a lot of resilience as he navigates the challenges of his upbringing and landing his first acting roles. 

You’ll find inspiration from the diligence he shows in his dedication to his craft as an actor. He didn’t want to be pigeon-holed into acting in one type of film, so he created the space for himself that he wanted despite pressures from producers to accept certain roles. 

A great reminder about building space as a creative that works for you.

While it doesn’t read like a typical memoir because he spends time helping shape some of the ideas to take away from his stories, there’s a lot in his memoir that anyone can connect with in their own life. 

Are you ready to start reading? If you don’t have a copy of Greenlights, you can get a copy here. 

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In this week’s episode of the podcast we’re talking about our decision to offer our own weekly writing sessions on Zoom for anyone on our email list rather than join or promote the offerings from NaNoWriMo. If you’ve been in the writing community for a while, you’re familiar with NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, which has occurred every year in November since 1999, and became a non-profit organization in 2006. The goal of participating in NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words, or a novel, in a month. Recently, there’s been a lot of buzz in the writing community from writers who have moved away from collaborating or being associated with NaNoWriMo because of their stance on the use of AI technology and allegations of allowing a known child sexual predator to join their online forums. NaNoWriMo originally stated they supported the use of AI for disabled and marginalized communities. Needless to say, there was a lot of pushback from these communities and the broader writing world online who felt this stance undermined writers and the profession. One of the big issues surrounding AI is authors discovering their books have been used to train the algorithm and they’re not receiving any royalties from the use of their books. Essentially, their intellectual property has been taken without their permission to build the databases for AI to generate ideas and content for users who choose to write a book using AI. We’re most concerned with the original stance from NaNoWriMo being ableist and classist, and the lack of attention to safety for young writers in online forums. NaNoWriMo has since replaced their statement with a new perspective that doesn’t commit one way or another, and while they sent out apologies to their audience, many writers are not impressed. The fever pitch level of disdain for NaNoWriMo has many writers creating their own writing months and communities. The decision to engage with NaNoWriMo’s activities in November is up to you, but we wanted to present our perspective for you to consider how you can join with real people who are here to encourage and support your development as a writer. We invite you to join us every Monday in November from 3pm to 4pm MST on Zoom. As a subscriber to our newsletter, you’ll automatically receive the Zoom link when it’s time, but if you know of anyone else who would be interested, please encourage them to join our email list so they don’t miss out on this opportunity to show up and write. It’s about connecting with other humans and sharing in the creative energy. The human element is what’s missing when you stand behind AI. There are certainly benefits to using generative AI, such as ChatGPT, when it comes to activities like brainstorming, or suggestions for ideas, but the actual writing of the stories needs to be from the individual.  

Nothing can replace the human touch on a writing project.

Every one of us has our voice, and our voices are authentic, and it’s what readers connect with when they take hold of your stories. It’s why we have this podcast and we’re working to build an online community for writers to write and learn together to improve their craft. There’s so much great writing that happens in the company of other writers. It’s been almost a year now of showing up each week for our community, and we know the value of showing up week after week dedicated to the creative process. 

We look forward to se

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You’ll be quickly drawn into Paula’s story of researching, writing, and publishing her book that shares the heart-wrenching details of child soldiers in Colombia alongside her own coming-of-age reflection as someone who was born, but not raised, in Colombia. Paula Delgado-King is the author of Leonor. It’s her first book that started as a policy paper when she was a grad student at Columbia University in International Affairs back in 2001. At the time, Paula was interested in what the United Nations was doing to help children exercise their rights and she focused her attention on Bogotá, Colombia. It was a natural point of focus for Paula who is originally from Bogotá, having been born there, but her family was forced to leave when she was 9 due to threats against her family. When she traveled to Bogotá, to start researching and reporting about the experiences of children, it was her connection with Leonor, a young girl from a halfway home in Bogotá, that had her eager to return every couple of months to learn the latest in her story. Paula’s passion and dedication to sharing this story is evident. It took her a long time, but she knew it needed to be out in the world. As writers, it’s interesting to think about how long it can take to get our stories into the world. You may be able to relate to what Paula has to share in this episode and find you’re ready to write your story. Paula’s book is a unique blend of nonfiction and memoir. An exploration of a culture that’s familiar, yet at the same time not familiar, and writing with an awareness of needing to effectively explore her experience in connection with Leonor’s. Paula was pulled into Leonor’s story because of her experience as a woman who was under attack simply for being a woman. She kept in touch with Leonor for about 19 years to ensure she correctly captured the truth and the details of Leonor’s experience. Paula made the decision to eventually add her own story to help make Leonor’s story more accessible to a reader. It’s an exploration of connecting with her heritage and exploring her own coming of age story when she wasn’t able to grow up in Colombia. There were certainly many challenges in the writing process to weave her story with Leonor’s. She was very thoughtful and diligent in making sure she was true to her voice and Leonor’s voice. It’s not an easy topic, but it will make you stop and reflect on your own life. You also don’t want to miss hearing about Paula’s writing process and balancing it with motherhood. She also shares about navigating rejection and what she learned along the way. It’s an episode that is sure to inspire, so go ahead and click the button below to listen. Who is Paula Delgado-Kling? Paula Delgado-Kling holds degrees in comparative literature/French civilizations, international affairs, and creative writing from Brown, Columbia, and the New School, respectively. ​Leonor​, for which she received two grants from the Canadian Council for the Arts, is her first book. Excerpts of this book have appeared in Narrative, The Literary Review, Pacifica Literary Review, and Happano.org in Japan. Lately, Paula’s side gig is that she has, to her great surprise, become a tennis mom.
You can connect with her online here: IG @pauladelgadokling Faceboo

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Episode 44: Healing Through Storytelling

If you’re interested in memoir, here’s another great episode of the podcast that follows an emerging theme we have going right now focused on the power of sharing our stories. In this week’s episode, Elizabeth talks with Lenore about how her need for healing, after experiencing a myriad of health symptoms, encouraged her to create a podcast dedicated to sharing her story about being a survivor of a true crime. But, it was ultimately through the process of writing her stories that she found healing. When mental and physical illness started to take hold of her life, Lenore met with a psychologist who shared with her the impact PTSD can have on your life. If you’ve experienced any trauma, you may be familiar with the toll it can take on your well-being. Lenore started to use writing as a therapeutic tool, much like our guest, Cheydrea, from last week’s episode, and it became her most important strategy for managing the intensity of her emotions. The healing was not overnight. It took Lenore years and years to work through the trauma she experienced. We often start to layer our trauma and because of how our culture functions, we keep moving forward without looking back. However, the compounding effect of this can be detrimental to your health, and that’s what Lenore started to see in her own life. While we all have different experiences, we can learn so much from each other’s stories. There’s a common understanding about the journey of overcoming experiences and processing the feelings that can be relatable. When you know you’re not alone there’s so much healing that happens and your story can help someone else navigate their life. 

I think that's why the power of telling our stories, no matter the details of the trauma or the hardship that we went through,  it's the process of overcoming and the feelings and the um, coping mechanisms that are very relatable and that's, I think, knowing that we're not alone in those, that's how we get through and I think that's what's really powerful about memoir.  - Lenore

Lenore’s own podcast was her approach to recording her experience as a way to get her ideas out so she can eventually write her book. Her focus was on the power of the survivor and the qualities all human beings share for survival. Often the focus in true crime is on the perpetrator because of our fascination with criminal minds as a culture, but what about the survivor?

 While Lenore was working with the psychologist and remembering her experiences, writing allowed her to have some emotional detachment from her experience. She discovered her strength was through writing her stories which allowed her to get it out of her and onto paper, and she found her voice through the creation of her podcast. If you think you can’t remember something, start writing about it and you’d be amazed at what you can remember. 

 I think that's, you know, that's the power in, in a good story told  a way that, um, really allows the reader to, to find, um, their own journey because, I mean, that's the point. -Lenore

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In this episode, Elizabeth talks with Andrea Seiler (pen name: Cheydrea) about her experience writing a memoir. During the process, Andrea shifted into writing poetry and creating art, which brought so much healing to her life creating a transformation she wasn’t expecting. Her life has been forever changed because she started writing down her stories. 

Andrea started writing down the stories of her life during the pandemic, and there was a point when depression started to set in and she knew she needed to do something to shift. She started creating artwork, an unexpected yet welcomed direction for her, because the writing process had brought up a lot of pain and her art helped with healing. 

She knew writing a memoir could take a long time and so she went back through her writing and started to take out the pieces that were easier to handle. It allowed her to manage the overwhelm of the pain she was experiencing. She was not a poet before she started writing her book, but it was through poetry she was able to find her voice and amplify it to share with the world.   

Writing was the medium that helped her through a really difficult time when she was spiraling into depression and falling out of love with so much in her life. As humans, we all have different ways we navigate the tough moments in our life, and for many of us, it is through writing that we are able to find healing. She was motivated to write to help rid herself of the pain. It was the most logical solution to write poetry and include her artwork. 

Andrea’s daughter encouraged her to publish it as a way of showing what’s possible to heal from trauma and your life stories. She discovered what was possible when you use a creative medium to share your story with others and how much bravery there is with that. 

You can hear the gratitude for the journey her writing took her on when you listen to Andrea on this podcast episode. She feels confident now and knows how to use her voice. You don’t want to miss a visit to her website which is absolutely beautiful and feels like a warm invitation from a friend to sit down and have a conversation. 

Quote from Andrea
Writing is clarity. And even now in my state as I sit here, if I'm confused about something or I'm in turmoil about something, I'm going to go sit down and start writing because I need clarity. 

Where can you find Andrea online:
Book: ​A Poet's Playground (https://amzn.to/3Y2IgbL) affiliate link to support our podcast
Website: ​https://cheydrea.com/​
Social media: @cheydrea 
She shares her podcasts @andrea.writer.artist on Instagram. 

Are you ready to write your memoir? Save your seat in the upcoming Memoir Cohort Course: https://inspired-writer-collective.ck.page/42427911ef

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