The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink.

Here’s what we talked about in this episode:

* Emma and I are finally back in the groove of writing after a long time away … and what the transition back into flow feels like.

* Working with editors and soliciting feedback … and ultimately, who are you writing for?

* Revising a completed draft and rearranging/adding scenes after the fact … and why the idea of ever doing that gives me (Johnny) chills.

* Plotting intuitively vs. overtly

* Writing and publishing as you go … sort of like what Sean and I did with Fiction Unboxed back in 2014 (on Kickstarter, before author Kickstarters were cool).

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink.

Here’s what we talked about in this episode:

* WE RETURN! AGAIN! Remember how on the last episode, we said, “WE RETURN!” and apologized for being gone for two months and then I said, “We’d promise not to do it again, but we absolutely will?” Well, turns out I know us well. So we started the episode by giving updates and talking about how the end of last year was weird. THIS TIME WE’RE ACTUALLY BACK. Maybe.

* Bill’s been writing and talked about the elusive “writer’s high,” which Emma and I both said we were working hard to get back, then talked about how hard it is to find that flow state again. Damn you, Bill.

* I’m impatient with worldbuilding. I didn’t realize until Emma talked about how long it takes to build worlds.

* Why live events are the best kind of book research and business work you can do as an author … kind of like less-shitty focus groups.

* We closed with the idea of being stubborn and writing what you want, as opposed to scoping the market and deciding in advance to write something that will sell. It’s all artists up in this motherfucker, so guess which way we leaned on that one?

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink.

Here’s what we talked about in this episode:

* WE RETURN! Sorry it’s been like 2 months since we recorded last. Life got in the way. We’d promise not to do it again but we absolutely will.

* Big creative leaps across the board since our last recording! Mike published his “memoir in verse,” Second Half. Bill’s still writing the story that’s been in his head forever. Emma was absent this week, but … yeah, I’m sure she did stuff, too.

* After hearing the all-over-the-place way Bill’s been writing, I couldn’t help but compare it to the COMPLETELY OPPOSITE way that I work, and am currently working with Sean Platt’s and my forthcoming Unicorn Heathens. I have to go from A to Z. Nothing changes orders. Ever. We talked a bit about process linearity, but then dove into …

* I’ve gotten into songwriting, in addition to book-writing. The story of why and how is here. But it’s interesting how the two are similar, and how I’m finding myself completely comfortable with writing song lyrics at the same time as I’m brand new and uncomfortable. It’s interesting.

* The clip of Bob Schneider talking about the song camp and how awesome I am is on this episode of his podcast with Clint Wells. The interesting part begins at time index 18:15.

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink.

Here’s what we talked about in this episode:

* I’m currently recording the audiobook of The Artisan Author (check it out here before it ends, if you’re a writer) — stories of recording foibles abound.

* Mike and I talked about the nebulous ideas of “the need to express oneself” and “refilling the creative well.” Both sound pretentious … and both are very real.

* I shared a “keeping track of the story” metaphor I haven’t talked much about before … that of “raking everything constantly back to the center.” (Stephen King doesn’t rake. He sets off bombs.

* And finally, I buried the lede with Mike by casually mentioning my return to the Unicorn Western story world — something I thought he knew, but that was instead an underwhelming announcement.

This week’s episode isn’t actually an episode of the ODBC! I thought I’d share it here, though, because I think faithful One Drink Book Club listeners would enjoy it.

Back in the long-long ago, I used to be on one of the first major self-publishing podcasts … early enough, in fact, that we simply called ourselves “The Self Publishing Podcast.” It was me and two fun, irreverent partners: Sean Platt and David Wright.

And guys, we had SO MUCH FUN on that show. It wasn’t just us, either; it was the audience that made it fun as well. We had a great community … and doing the Kickstarter for The Artisan Author (which is still going for just a bit longer, by the way) got me thinking about that old show and community. So I pitched Sean and Dave on doing a single “reunion episode of SPP” … and this is it.

OH! And if you’d prefer the video version of this show, it’s here.

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink.

Here’s what we talked about in this episode:

* We opened by talking about my thinking about the “college” portion of my current Kickstarter campaign for The Artisan Author. The short version is that college is cool and we should all watch more 80s movies about it. (Or, rather, the short version is that you should check it out here before it ends, if you happen to be a writer.)

* Do kids still read? If yes, how and how much do they read? And do they (as well as adults, really) take IDENTITY from their reading?

* Bill took us down a weird rabbit hole wherein he’s reading only parts of his favorite book out of order … and how the dissection ruined it, but not for the reasons that sound obvious as you read this sentence.

* Which led to a fascinating chat about how all kinds of art are collaborative, meaning that the creator can’t control at least half of the experience … which depends on what the reader/observer/listener/consumer brings to that art. This one was such a cool thread that it will be our topic for next time!

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink.

Here’s what we talked about in this episode:

* Mike, who just finished a poetry book he’s been working on, said he didn’t feel excitement or happiness on finishing … just sort of done. We talked about the “finishing the project” vibes and the oddity of it, seeing as I feel the same.

* Reliving the writing and editing of my very first book (The Bialy Pimps), I regaled the others with stories of how self-indulgent the first draft was, and how I fixed it.

* When is it true that theres’s “too much of the author in a book,” and how can you tell?

* I then dropped a BIG OL’ BTS EXCLUSIVE: A story about The Bialy Pimps’s early draft and exactly what I removed because it was so personal, it made for terrible reading. You’ll hear a scoop I’ve literally never shared before, about those early drafts, what I cut from them, and the true of this particular writer’s earliest working days.

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink.

Here’s what we talked about in this episode:

* We have our first guest, despite the fact that we don’t have guests on the show. Actually, we just expanded outward from the four of us who usually host ODBC from the local wine night group and this time included Bill’s wife Paula. (My wife will never come on. Sorry. She’s the opposite of into it.)

* We talked about how there are sometimes “seasons” for writers, and how it can be best to accept sometimes that you’ll be able to write and sometimes your attention should go elsewhere. (Teaser: Paula actually had a whole line of questions on this one that we talked about afterward and will definitely be discussing the next time she’s on.

* Then we talked bout the local book club and how terrified I am to have my book read by it. Also: What’s the function of book clubs? Is it really mostly about the wine?

* What’s this phenomenon of “reading the same book over and over” about? Bill and I equated it to the no-bullshit way we watch some TV shows.

* Everyone shared how they read differently as writers … or as regular listeners of the ODBC. What do you notice? What gets spoiled?

* Finally, we talked about a favorite geek-out topic of mine: the fine balance as a writer between sharing just enough information so that you’re being honest with a reader, while still subtly misdirecting them so they’ll be surprised by a twist or shock ending.

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink.

Here’s what we talked about in this episode:

* We began with a rousing discussion of writing techniques that annoy Bill, several of which I’ve definitely done. We then espoused our own annoyances, which made us all look like judgmental fuckers. Like: Excessive cliffhangers, too many short chapters, shocking openings, dialogue that would never make sense in the real world, too many adverbs, and the ever-popular practice of head-hopping.

* We then pivoted to what sounds like a super geeky discussion but was actually sort of fascinating: the strengths and value of various point-of-view/tense styles. Which style do you like best, and why?

* I told my famous “em dash” story. Which wasn’t actually famous at all.

* Emma then asked everyone a question about selling content that she’s also using for a lead magnet to get people onto her email list. Is a bonus story worth 99 cents? (HINT: I said yes. It’s 99 fucking cents, people.)

* We then spent the final three of the show with a rousing and sort of profound and existential discussion about whether or not genre writing is noble - whether we’ll be remembered after we’re gone as having made a difference. What do you think — is only Literature-with-a-capital-L helping to change the world? Or is it instead pretentious bullshit and we, the genre writers, are this world’s real heroes?

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink.

Here’s what we talked about in this episode:

* Why am I bothering to make bullet points? The entire episode was about the Artisan Author philosophy, and how that avenue might be the best (or only) option left for quality-and-art-minded authors to truly stand out. But it was a good chat. Really one for the ages.