Keeping a Notebook

By Nina LaCourEducation Arts Books

Keeping a Notebook episodes

February 06, 2020 Self-Promotion
12 min
January 30, 2020 The Middle
New! Full transcripts of this season's episodes are now available at ninalacour.com/transcripts!
Learn more about Nina's online class, The Slow Novel Lab! ninalacour.com/the-slow-novel-lab
Today, Nina walks listeners through a part-brainstorming, part-outlining strategy for when they feel lost in the middle of their stories.
It's easy to feel lost at sea in the middle, to doubt our paths and lose direction. But by completing this two-part exercise, you'll learn to identify phases of your novel so that the middle is not longer as overwhelming.
9 min
January 23, 2020Emotion on the Page
The Slow Novel Lab is now open for enrollment!
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Highlights:
I want to experience the pleasures and sorrows of life through the page.
It’s no small feat to make a reader feel what your character is feeling, and much of my drafting and revision time is spent making sure I’m getting it right.
If something isn’t working emotionally in your story, go back to what came before. To what hurt your character. To what they need or fear.
9 min
January 16, 2020 The Past and the Present: Weaving Backstory into Your Story
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Highlights:
-We need something to connect to. Details of setting. Histories. Hints or statements about how the characters came to be who and where they are.
-Allow the past and present to have their own plots and progressions.
-Showing is great, of course, but telling can be powerful. So don’t shy away from stating things plainly when your story warrants it.

9 min
January 13, 2020 Five Strategies for Your 2020 Intentions
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Read Jocelyn K. Glei's blog post, "How to Feel Progress."
Highlights:
· Our goals have to be things we make happen for ourselves—not things we wait to be given.
· Overwhelm is a powerful opponent of productivity—but if you’re clear-eyed in your priorities you should be able to fend it off.
· Write yourself a new script—one that tells you what you secretly know: That you can do this.
· Speak to yourself as you would a friend. Today is a new day. Today can be the day you write.
· Writing is a practice. The more you do it, the better you’ll become at getting words on the page.
· I want to see myself moving forward in a way that tracking words or page count is not going to give me.
· Your work is a gift from you to yourself. Even when it’s messy, even when it’s not yet nearly what you want it to become.
10 min
July 02, 2019 Announcement
Nina talks about how life sometimes interrupts plans and shares some advice given to her by a friend.
Keep in touch with Nina, and hear more about this topic, by signing up for her mailing list here.
3 min
June 17, 2019 Experimentation
Once you’re lost in a scene, it really doesn’t matter where you are or how long you have. What matters is that the words are coming, you’re getting closer.
On the third episode of Season Two, Nina talks about how she manages to meet her writing goals and is working to find solutions to the stumbling blocks she faces along the way, such as time constraints and mindset; and how identifying these blocks and their solutions has helped her creative process.
She encourages listeners to experiment with their work processes and offers suggestions on how to do so.
She shares audio and written notes from listeners telling us about their goals and struggles, and how they address issues such as the constant distractions, changes in routine or lifestyle, as well as their efforts to find more joy in their work.
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750 Words
The Artist's Way
Get in touch with us at [email protected]
17 min
June 03, 2019 Self-Doubt
*The best writing happens when you forget that you're a person. *-Elana K. Arnold
On the second episode of this season, Nina shares an experience of self-doubt.
Later on, she and fellow author Elana K. Arnold answer a listener question about facing self-doubt during the process of writing a novel.
Elana and Nina talk about how self-doubt can be useful for a writer and how it can be channeled into characters for the work to be more authentic and resonant.
Elana K. Arnold
Sign up for the Slow Novel Lab!
The American Library Association (ALA)
15 min
May 20, 2019 Pressure
You can’t write a good novel without trusting yourself to write it.
On the first episode of the second season, Nina talks about the pressures writers feel at all stages of their journey and offers advice on how to get back to a place where inspiration sparks creation.
She shares her experience of writing the story she thought she was supposed to write instead of the one she wanted to tell, and how releasing that pressure resulted in her finding her career and her voice.
She discusses surrendering to uncertainty, what we can and can’t control within the publishing industry and how to reframe the pressure that cannot be lifted.
The Slow Novel Lab
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13 min
February 25, 2019 Ten Years, Five Books, Three Things I've Learned
Episode 8
-I share with you my plans for season 2 of Keeping a Notebook. Send your questions my way to [email protected]!

-I take you through the first ten years of what I intend to be a lifelong career.

-I talk about the expectations I had when Hold Still was published ten years ago, and how those expectations have changed with time.

-I tell you why the practice of writing is the most important thing to nurture, and what my intention for the next ten years of my career is in this regard.

-I offer my advice on how to go deep within, instead of out of your element when crafting a story.
Tour dates
You can order signed and personalized copies of the We Are Okay and Hold Still paperbacks here!
Read Courtney Summers' letter here.
My website, Twitter, and Instagram
13 min

About Keeping a Notebook

From the publisher's feed

A podcast on writing that explores the craft of fiction, answers listeners' questions, and provides strategies for a fulfilling writing practice and creative life, hosted by bestselling, award-winning…