The year is half over. How in the heck did that happen?

Before TB and Clare discuss 2019 so far, they start off with new descriptive words for TB, and she’s quite pleased when Clare calls her grumpy. TB is kinda an odd one. Clare admits she’s been a rebel from a young age.

Clare reveals a new ice cream flavor, and for the second week in a row, TB approves. It might have something to do with the fact that it involves TB’s favorite drink: gin and tonic. Clare claims she’s famed for her gin and tonics. She uses a secret ingredient, which isn’t such a secret in the US but is revolutionary in the UK.

Clare and TB dive into this week’s question: How’s your 2019 going at the halfway mark? TB admits it’s been rough so far. She had trouble with a project earlier in the year and has been playing catchup since then. Clare has hit many of her goals but not all of them. Overall, she’s okay with where she’s at, and she’s started a new project. Woot! Both TB and Clare have given advice to the other but don’t remember dispensing the advice, although in each instance the wise words were followed. It’s fab to have a caring friend! The bottom line is: there’s so much to do and learn in the writing biz, but it’s best not to overwhelm yourself. Set reasonable goals and reassess when need be.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

https://www.patreon.com/rachael

https://www.thecreativepenn.com/

https://lezreviewbooks.com/lesfood-yummy-recipes-for-your-lesfic-menu/

https://lezreviewbooks.com/lesbian-books-quizzes-trivia-personality-tests/

Stop back next week for another lively conversation. If you’d like to leave a comment on the episode, head over to www.lesbianswhowrite.com. They’d love to hear from you. Or you can email them at: [email protected].

Happy listening!

Clare and TB

We’ve entered the dog days of summer, but Clare isn’t showing signs of fatigue. Her introductory skills have reached a new level, impressing the heck out of TB. Please give a round of applause for Clare!

TB has big news. Her latest novel: A Shot at Love (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TZRLFV9), book one of The Village Romance series (https://lesbianromancesbytbm.com/the-village-romance-series/), has been published. Woohoo! Clare’s book, A Taste of Love, the second book of the trilogy, will be out the week of July 24th.

Clare has had a week of watching the Women’s World Cup and hearing Elizabeth Gilbert speak. The two discuss Gilbert’s books, and Clare says Gilbert is an engaging and authentic speaker. Both TB and Clare love to hear writers talk about their process. Clare recommends Rachael Herron’s How Do You Write Podcast. In fact, Clare’s been a guest (http://howdoyouwrite.net/episodes/103). Woot!

In ice cream news, Clare reveals another flavor from her book, A Taste of Love. TB actually gives Clare the double thumbs-up. A first in LWW history!

The duo moves on to the main subject of this week’s episode: editing. They dive into what editors do. How do you get one? How do you work with one? Clare and TB break down the three types of edits they recommend: developmental, copyedit, and proofread. It’s imperative to find an editor who understands your writing style and whom you can trust. They agree that going through the editing process is a wonderful education, and each project helps them hone their craft. The bottom line is: editing is an investment in your future and in your writing business.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

http://howdoyouwrite.net/

https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/magic-lessons/

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Magic-Creative-Living-Beyond-ebook/dp/B00S52M350

https://www.amazon.com/000-Words-Hour-Faster-Smarter/dp/1548182494

Stop back next week for another lively conversation about how Clare’s and TB’s years are going at the halfway mark of 2019. If you’d like to leave a comment on the episode, head over to www.lesbianswhowrite.com. They’d love to hear from you. Or you can email them at: [email protected].

Happy listening!

Clare and TB

Clare Lydon's finest hour

It's July, it's hot, it's humid, it's another episode of Lesbians Who Write! This week, TB is relieved she's not an elephant but disappointed by BookBub's lesfic representation during Pride month. Meanwhile, Clare has been bra shopping and reveals that she's been putting her bra on incorrectly her whole life. It's all about centering your nipple, so say the fitting professionals. Clare and TB always said this podcast would be educational. You're welcome.

In other news, Clare reveals another ice cream flavor from her new book. TB in nonplussed. These two should never go for ice cream together.

Onto the main topic, and both Clare and TB reveal how they work with designers and also that they've worked with a variety during their careers. The key is to be clear about your brand, what your cover needs to say, and also to make sure your cover is reflective of the lesbian fiction genre you're in. They discuss the state of lesbian book covers as a whole (not brill) and hope to persuade more people to invest in their product by giving it a pretty jacket. Because readers really do judge a book by its cover.

Stop back next week for another lively conversation about choosing an editor. Probably with less nipple chat, alas. If you’d like to leave a comment on the episode, head over to www.lesbianswhowrite.com. They’d love to hear from you. Or you can email them at: [email protected].

Happy listening!

Clare and TB

Another week in the lives of two dynamic lesbian fiction authors! This time around, TB has a summer cold and is dosed up on medicine. (Please send sympathy and donuts to the usual address.) Meanwhile, Clare has had a week of jollying around London Town, seeing gigs, staying up past her bedtime, and being stalked by Sarah Waters. Or was it the other way around? She's not sure.

Clare with ice cream in gob.

TB is still laying off the cookie dough, and Clare still hasn't won Hamilton tickets. She's British. She's stoic about it. In our new section, Clare reveals another ice cream flavor from her new book, A Taste of Love. TB is baffled and has no idea what one of the ingredients is. Clare is baffled that TB's baffled. There is much bafflement.

Onto the main topic, and both Clare and TB agree that working for yourself as a full-time author means no one day is ever the same. But that's okay. However, the key thing that does stick in their daily routine is exercise for both, meditation for Clare, and then key blocks of work time where they get the writing, podcasting, and/or marketing done. Working for yourself means you can have flexibility and freedom, but working hard to meet all your deadlines is key!

Stop back next week for another lively conversation about lesbian fiction book covers. If you’d like to leave a comment on the episode, head over to www.lesbianswhowrite.com. They’d love to hear from you. Or you can email them at: [email protected].

Happy listening!

Clare and TB

TB & Clare start the episode by chatting about their weeks. TB had a nightmare of a week getting her village romance book ready for a proofread, and she’s now realizing the July 8th release date is quickly approaching, causing some panic. She also had a migraine from hell. The big news is her Cotswolds novel has a title: A Shot at Love. Woot!

Clare’s week was the exact opposite of her previous week. Just seven days ago she was pleased with the second draft of A Taste of Love, while this week she started second-guessing everything. There was a lot of groaning. But she pulled a lot of long days to tame the third draft, and it’s with the editor. Double woot!

After discussing the latest Women’s World Cup results (they are lesbians after all), the duo turns their focus to the question of the week: Are You an Out and Proud Lesbian Fiction Author?

Clare is an advocate of being out, and her wife teases Clare for always saying, “Hello, I’m gay.” Although, Clare claims she doesn’t always say it quite like that. Also, she is amused by people’s reactions when they find out she writes lesbian romance. Sometimes, though, even in safe places, Clare has found not everyone is supportive.

TB, who is out and attends many writing conferences as a lesfic author and runs a website promoting lesbian fiction (https://iheartlesfic.com/) is a bit more reticent talking about being a lesbian fiction author among the masses. It’s not because of the L-word, though. She gets tired of people asking her questions about being an author, the most popular being, “How much do you make?”

Clare has an award dilemma, which she finds a bit awkward after the LWW episode on awards (https://lesbianswhowrite.com/lww-7-what-do-we-think-of-literary-events-awards/), but TB encourages her to enter her book as a way of promoting lesbian romance.

The big takeaway this week is Clare and TB believe it’s important to write and promote lesbian fiction because it’s important to have positive representation.

Stop back next week for another lively conversation about the writing life. If you’d like to leave a comment on the episode, head over to www.lesbianswhowrite.com. They’d love to hear from you. Or you can email them at: [email protected].

Happy listening!

Clare and TB

TB & Clare start the episode by chatting about their weeks. TB had a week of no writing, and she ended up doing a lot of organizing and a three-day juice cleanse, which she didn’t enjoy one bit.

Clare’s week started off badly with Tottenham losing the Champions League final. Workwise, though, she’s been smashing it. She’s nearly done with the second draft of her village romance novel, which officially has a title: A Taste of Love.

They got a slew of comments on last week’s episode, including two new commenters. This makes the duo happy, and they encourage listeners to weigh in on this week’s debate, which is a hot one.

Then they buckle down to discuss traditional and indie publishing. They launch into the pros and cons of traditional publishers after chatting about what constitutes traditional publishing in regards to lesbian fiction. Both Clare and TB are indie authors, and they give their insight into the pluses and minuses of going indie, but they do lean into the positives more. The big sticking points boil down to two key areas: royalties and freedom. And they burst a bubble about how much traditional publishers will market all books they put out. Spoiler: they don’t do all that much anymore. The big takeaway is to weigh all the pros and cons and make the best decision for your life and books, but the two don’t hide the fact that they think indie is the way to go.

For a listing of lesbian fiction publishers, visit this page on I Heart Lesfic: https://iheartlesfic.com/contact/lesfic-publishers/

Stop back next week for another lively conversation about the writing life. If you’d like to leave a comment on the episode, head over to www.lesbianswhowrite.com. They’d love to hear from you. Or you can email them at: [email protected]

TB & Clare kick off this episode by chatting about their weeks. TB had yet another bloody disaster, and Clare struck out five times scoring Hamilton tickets. On the village romance front, TB has sent her novel to be proofed. Clare, who is on the second draft, was knocked down by two migraines. Ouch!

Highlights: during the episode, Clare manages to crush TB’s historian heart twice, and TB finally breaks Clare near the end of the recording.

Then it’s down to the topic of the day: writing lesbian sex scenes. They discuss the difference between romance and erotica. The duo shares tips for how to write them, including key things writers should think about and what to avoid, including two words in particular. TB and Clare disagree about including gratuitous scenes, and they confess to spending a lot of time thinking about body parts and sexual terms, all for the craft of course. The big takeaway is to remember these scenes are about characters and emotions.

Stop back next week when they’ll be discussing choosing between indie and traditional publishing. If you’d like to leave a comment on the episode, head over to www.lesbianswhowrite.com. They’d love to hear from you. Or you can email them at: [email protected]

TB & Clare kick off this episode by chatting about their latest village romance books: TB is on the final lap, while Clare has just completed draft one. Round of applause for both! TB and Clare have also been on writing retreats where they penned all the words (both), ate all the ice cream (TB), and drank all the wine (Clare). Clare also reveals she’s opened up a shop on her website so you can buy directly from her: find it here - https://payhip.com/custardbooks

TB has organized a massive lesfic sale on I Heart Lesfic, which runs May 27th through May 31st. Over 200 books are involved. More details can be found here: https://iheartlesfic.com/

Then it’s down to the topic of the day: audiobooks and should you be doing them? The short answer is yes. But the dynamic duo back up that single word with a whole bunch of stats that show how audiobooks are the future. Although being a historian, TB mistrusts the future. She’s going to work on that.

They both share their experiences of finding narrators and creating audiobooks, how to distribute them, what they cost, and whether or not they make you any money as an author. Both agree it’s early days in the audiobook space, but the options for authors are opening up at a quick pace. The bottom line is, if you’re serious about this as a career, you can’t afford to ignore audio.

Resources mentioned in the episode include:

The Creative Penn episode: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/03/25/verbalize-power-of-words-damon-suede/

ACX: https://www.acx.com/

Findaway Voices: https://findawayvoices.com/

Lesbian Audiobooks on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/1498493863718913/

Lesbian Audiobooks website: www.lesbianaudiobooks.com

Stop back next week when they’ll be discussing writing lesbian sex scenes! If you’d like to leave a comment on the episode, head over to www.lesbianswhowrite.com. They’d love to hear from you. Or you can email them at: [email protected]

Clare & TB are full of beans this week. TB has had no disasters (amazeballs!), and Clare is belatedly celebrating the Spurs’ historic progression to the Champions League final. Although, she still hasn’t won Hamilton tickets. It’s TB’s birthday (cue balloons!), and Clare chats about going on a writing retreat in a caravan and also hails the wonder that is Eurovision. TB is nonplussed.

The topic of the week is lesbian fiction genres: love them or loathe them? TB is on the fence once more. She needs to get down. She might hurt herself. She loves genres because they let readers find her. She loathes them because she doesn’t want to be put in a box. Clare pushes her in and shuts the lid.

Clare & TB run down the key genres in lesbian fiction but stress if you want to make a living, romance is the way to go. Luckily, they both love romance! They discuss how to choose a genre for your book, give their thoughts on not being too precious, and reveal how to get Amazon to give you extra categories. They’re KDP magicians!

Plus, listen for the Sarah Waters stories, and then let Clare and TB know yours!

If you have a comment about the episode, please leave it in the comments below or email [email protected] Also, if you have a suggested topic for an episode, please let them know! Join them next week when Clare and TB are going to be discussing audiobooks.

Clare is back from Jamaica and has a cold. So, if you think she normally has a sultry voice, you’re going to love her on this episode!

TB kicks off by telling us about her latest disaster. She’s fractured her hand but kept on writing (kinda) through the pain. Fiction doesn’t stop for fractures in her household! She’s within touching distance of finishing her Cotswolds novel, due out in June. Whoop! Clare also says that in between lounging on a Jamaican beach and drinking ALL the rum punch, she too has moved her novel forward and is now over halfway through her first draft. Kudos.

Clare & TB were overwhelmed with comments this week, a lovely problem to have, so please keep them coming. They promise a shout-out, and they love to hear from you.

The topic of the week is word counts: should you care about them? Both Clare & TB give a definitive yes and no answer. Don’t you just hate that? The thing is, though, word counts can be motivating if used correctly, but don’t use them as a stick to beat yourself with. That’s not helpful.

Clare shares her best and worst word count months so far this year, causing TB’s jaw to drop. TB says she struggles sometimes with keeping her head above water in her drive to hit her word counts. However, both agree some kind of measurement to track your progress – word count or hour count - is essential if you want to make this your career and have the ability to plan ahead. Clare has a light bulb moment and is overjoyed!

Clare mentions Neil Gaiman doesn’t use word counts, rather he counts the number of pages he fills in his notebook. (Listen to the interview on the Tim Ferriss podcast here: https://tim.blog/2019/03/28/neil-gaiman/). Clare & TB both agree writing in sprints and with no distractions will help you get your words down and achieve your word count goals.

Two good books on the subject are Chris Fox’s 5,000 Words Per Hour: Write Faster, Write Smarter (https://www.amazon.com/000-Words-Hour-Faster-Smarter-ebook/dp/B00XIQKBT8) and Rachel Aaron’s 2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love (https://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-Faster-Better-ebook/dp/B009NKXAWS).

If you have a comment about the episode, please leave it in the comments below or email [email protected] Also, if you have a suggested topic for an episode, please let Clare and TB know! Join them next week when they’re going to be discussing lesbian fiction genres.