Page One Podcast

Page One, produced and hosted by author Holly Lynn Payne, celebrates the craft that goes into writing the first sentence, first paragraph and first page of your favorite books. The first page is often the most rewritten page of any book because it has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. We interview master storytellers on the struggles and stories behind the first page of their books.

About the guest author:

Karen Winn received her MFA from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She also holds a doctoral degree in nursing. Born and raised in New Jersey, Karen now lives in Boston with her husband and two children. Our Little World is her first novel.  You can find her at: www.karenlwinn.com

About the host:

Holly Lynn Payne is an award-winning novelist and writing coach, and the former CEO and founder of Booxby, a startup built to help authors succeed. She is the author of four historical fiction novels, and her debut novel, The Virgin's Knot, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers book. Her books have been published in eleven countries and translated into nine languages. She recently finished her first YA crossover novel inspired by her nephew with Down syndrome and her love of Shel Silverstein's poetry. She lives in Marin County with her daughter and enjoys mountain biking, surfing and hiking with her dog. To learn more about her books and private writing coaching services, please visit hollylynnpayne.com.

If you have a first page you’d like to submit to the Page One Podcast, please do so here.

As an author and writing coach, I know that the first page of any book has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. So I thought to ask your favorite master storytellers how they do their magic to hook YOU. 

After the first few episodes, it occurred to me that maybe someone listening might be curious how their first page sits with an audience, so I’m opening up Page One to any writer who wants to submit the first page of a book they’re currently writing. 

If your page is chosen, you’ll be invited onto the show to read it and get live feedback from one of Page One’s master storytellers. Page One exists to inspire, celebrate and promote the work of both well-known and unknown creative talent.  

You can listen to Page One on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher and all your favorite podcast players. 

Hear past episodes.

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Instagram

Thank you for listening to the Page One Podcast! I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I loved hosting, producing, and editing it. If you liked it too, here are three ways to share the love:

1. Please share it on social and tag @hollylynnpayne.
2. Leave a review on your favorite podcast players.
3. Tell your friends.
4. Please keep in touch by signing up to receive my Substack newsletter with the latest episodes each month. Delivered to your inbox with a smile. You can contact me at @hollylynnpayne on IG or send me a message on my website, hollylynnpayne.com.

For the love of books and writers,
Holly Lynn Payne

@hollylynnpayne
host, author, writing coach
www.hollylynnpayne.com

Page One, produced and hosted by author Holly Lynn Payne, celebrates the craft that goes into writing the first sentence, first paragraph and first page of your favorite books. The first page is often the most rewritten page of any book because it has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. We interview master storytellers on the struggles and stories behind the first page of their books.

About the guest author:

Erica Ferencik is the award-winning author of the acclaimed thrillers The River at Night and Into the Jungle. The New York Times Book Review declared her latest novel Girl in Ice, “hauntingly beautiful.” Ferencik is known for taking readers on journeys to remote places in her first two novels and creating hallmark badass women protagonists. Her latest book, Girl In Ice, takes readers to a remote field station in the Arctic Circle where a university linguist uncovers the mysterious death of her brother. In addition to writing novels, Ferencik’s writing career spans 35 years and includes short stories, essays, ghostwriting, screenplays, a brief stint in filmmaking and a decade of standup and sketch comedy. Her work has appeared in Salon magazine, The Boston Globe and on NPR. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Boston University. You can find her online at EricaFerencik.com and follow her on Twitter @EricaFerencik.

About the host:

Holly Lynn Payne is an award-winning novelist and writing coach, and the former CEO and founder of Booxby, a startup built to help authors succeed. Her debut novel, The Virgin's Knot, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers book. Her books have been published in eleven countries and translated into nine languages. Her most recent novel, Damascena:The Tale of Roses and Rumi, was optioned for a film series. She's recently completed her first YA crossover novel inspired by her nephew with Down syndrome. She lives in Marin County with her daughter and enjoys mountain biking, surfing and hiking with her dog. To learn more about her private writing coaching services, please visit hollylynnpayne.com.

If you have a first page you’d like to submit to the Page One Podcast, please do so here.

As an author and writing coach, I know that the first page of any book has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. So I thought to ask your favorite master storytellers how they do their magic to hook YOU. 

After the first few episodes, it occurred to me that maybe someone listening might be curious how their first page sits with an audience, so I’m opening up Page One to any writer who wants to submit the first page of a book they’re currently writing. 

If your page is chosen, you’ll be invited onto the show to read it and get live feedback from one of Page One’s master storytellers. Page One exists to inspire, celebrate and promote the work of both well-known and unknown creative talent.  

You can listen to Page One on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher and all your favorite podcast players. 

Hear past episodes. 
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Instagram

Thank you for listening to the Page One Podcast! I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I loved hosting, producing, and editing it. If you liked it too, here are three ways to share the love:

1. Please share it on social and tag @hollylynnpayne.
2. Leave a review on your favorite podcast players.
3. Tell your friends.
4. Please keep in touch by signing up to receive my Substack newsletter with the latest episodes each month. Delivered to your inbox with a smile. You can contact me at @hollylynnpayne on IG or send me a message on my website, hollylynnpayne.com.

For the love of books and writers,
Holly Lynn Payne

@hollylynnpayne
host, author, writing coach
www.hollylynnpayne.com

Page One, produced and hosted by author Holly Lynn Payne, celebrates the craft that goes into writing the first sentence, first paragraph and first page of your favorite books. The first page is often the most rewritten page of any book because it has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. We interview master storytellers on the struggles and stories behind the first page of their books.

About the guest author:

Lee Kravetz is a science journalist and the author of two acclaimed works of non-fiction: Strange Contagion and SuperSurvivors, both published by HarperWave—which dovetail perfectly with The Last Confession of Slyvia P, his first work of fiction that explores manic depression in the lives of some of the greatest writers of the early 20th century. Kravetz has worked in publicity for some of the biggest publishers in the world and has written for print and television, including The New York Times, New York Magazine, Psychology Today, The Daily Beast, The San Francisco Chronicle, and PBS. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his family and is a member of the Writers Grotto and serves on the panel faculty for LitCamp. You can visit him at www.leekravetz.com and follow him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/leekravetz and Instagram @leekravetz

About the host:

Holly Lynn Payne is an award-winning novelist and writing coach, and the former CEO and founder of Booxby, a startup built to help authors succeed. Her debut novel, The Virgin's Knot, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers book. Her books have been published in eleven countries and translated into nine languages. Her most recent novel, Damascena:The Tale of Roses and Rumi, has been optioned for a film series. She's currently at work on her first YA crossover novel inspired by her nephew with Down syndrome. She lives in Marin County with her daughter and enjoys mountain biking, surfing and hiking with her dog. To learn more about her private writing coaching services, please visit hollylynnpayne.com.

If you have a first page you’d like to submit to the Page One Podcast, please do so here.

As an author and writing coach, I know that the first page of any book has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. So I thought to ask your favorite master storytellers how they do their magic to hook YOU. 

After the first few episodes, it occurred to me that maybe someone listening might be curious how their first page sits with an audience, so I’m opening up Page One to any writer who wants to submit the first page of a book they’re currently writing. 

If your page is chosen, you’ll be invited onto the show to read it and get live feedback from one of Page One’s master storytellers. Page One exists to inspire, celebrate and promote the work of both well-known and unknown creative talent.  

You can listen to Page One on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher and all your favorite podcast players. 

Hear past episodes.

Shoutouts: This episode supports National Poetry Month, where you can sign up to receive a poem-a-day curated in April by Naomi Shihab Nye and the 22in'22 a Zibby Books Initiative which encourages all of us to visit 22 bookstores in 2022. How awesome is that? Great idea Zibby Books! As an author, I love independent bookstores and believe they play a huge role in our communities, nurturing our love of literature and enriching our lives with programming and other events that promote literacy, bringing readers and writers together. Living here in the San Francisco Bay Area with more independent bookstores per capita than anywhere else in the country, I will be visiting many of my favorite bookstores in the coming months with my daughter in tow. Wherever this finds you, I hope you do the same. And while you get a great new book or two, please tell them about the Page One Podcast. Thank you for supporting your nearest bookstore and the authors whose work they carry. Happy browsing to all! 

Thank you for listening to the Page One Podcast! I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I loved hosting, producing, and editing it. If you liked it too, here are three ways to share the love:

1. Please share it on social and tag @hollylynnpayne.
2. Leave a review on your favorite podcast players.
3. Tell your friends.
4. Please keep in touch by signing up to receive my Substack newsletter with the latest episodes each month. Delivered to your inbox with a smile. You can contact me at @hollylynnpayne on IG or send me a message on my website, hollylynnpayne.com.

For the love of books and writers,
Holly Lynn Payne

@hollylynnpayne
host, author, writing coach
www.hollylynnpayne.com

Page One, produced and hosted by author Holly Lynn Payne, celebrates the craft that goes into writing the first sentence, first paragraph and first page of your favorite books. The first page is often the most rewritten page of any book because it has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. We interview the world's master storytellers on the struggles and stories behind the first page of their books.

About the guest author:

Mimi Winsberg, M.D., co-founded the behavioral health startup, Brightside, while serving as resident psychiatrist at Facebook’s Wellness Center. She appears regularly on Good Morning America, and her work has been featured in GQ, Glamour, Fast Company, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and Business Insider. Speaking in Thumbs is her first book.

Visit her website:https://www.drwinsberg.com

Twitter:   @mwinsberg      

About the host:

Holly Lynn Payne is an award-winning novelist and writing coach, and the former CEO and founder of Booxby, a startup built to help authors succeed. Her debut novel, The Virgin's Knot, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers book. Her third novel, Kingdom of Simplicity, won a First Prize Benjamin Franklin Award and Grand Prize for Writer's Digest. Her books have been published in eleven countries and translated into nine languages. Her most recent novel, Damascena:The Tale of Roses and Rumi, has been optioned for a film series. She's currently at work on her first YA crossover novel inspired by her nephew with Down syndrome. She lives in Marin County with her daughter and enjoys mountain biking, surfing and hiking with her dog. To learn more about her writing coaching services, please visit hollylynnpayne.com and follow her on Instagram and Twitter @hollylynnpayne.          

As an author and writing coach, I know that the first page of any book has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. So I thought to ask your favorite master storytellers how they do their magic to hook YOU. 

After the first few episodes, it occurred to me that maybe someone listening might be curious how their first page sits with an audience, so I’m opening up Page One to any writer who wants to submit the first page of a book they’re currently writing. 

If your page is chosen, you’ll be invited onto the show to read it and get live feedback from one of Page One’s master storytellers. Page One exists to inspire, celebrate and promote the work of both well-known and unknown creative talent.  

You can listen to Page One on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher and all your favorite podcast players. 

Hear past episodes.

Thank you for listening to the Page One Podcast! I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I loved hosting, producing, and editing it. If you liked it too, here are three ways to share the love:

1. Please share it on social and tag @hollylynnpayne.
2. Leave a review on your favorite podcast players.
3. Tell your friends.
4. Please keep in touch by signing up to receive my Substack newsletter with the latest episodes each month. Delivered to your inbox with a smile. You can contact me at @hollylynnpayne on IG or send me a message on my website, hollylynnpayne.com.

For the love of books and writers,
Holly Lynn Payne

@hollylynnpayne
host, author, writing coach
www.hollylynnpayne.com

Page One, produced and hosted by author Holly Lynn Payne, celebrates the craft that goes into writing the first sentence, first paragraph and first page of your favorite books. The first page is often the most rewritten page of any book because it has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. We interview master storytellers on the struggles and stories behind the first page of their books.

About the guest author:

Dean Koontz is the author of more than 100 books, 79 of which are New York Times bestsellers. He is one of twelve writers ever to have fourteen of these books rise to number one on the hardcover bestseller list and his books have also been major bestsellers in Japan and Sweden. He has been hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as “America’s most popular suspense novelist.” Dean is also a huge dog lover and is originally from Pennsylvania. He currently lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, and their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna. 

Dean's early years

After graduating from Shippensburg State College (now Shippensburg University), Koontz's first job after graduation was with the Appalachian Poverty Program, where he was expected to counsel and tutor underprivileged children on a one-to-one basis. His first day on the job, he discovered that the previous occupier of his position had been beaten up by the very kids he had been trying to help and had landed in the hospital for several weeks. The following year was filled with challenge but also tension, and Koontz was more highly motivated than ever to build a career as a writer. 

He wrote nights and weekends, which he continued to do after leaving the poverty program and going to work as an English teacher in a suburban school district outside Harrisburg. After a year and a half in that position, his wife, Gerda, made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: “I’ll support you for five years,” she said, “and if you can’t make it as a writer in that time, you’ll never make it.” By the end of those five years, Gerda had quit her job to run the business end of her husband’s writing career.

Visit his website: https://deankoontz.com/

About the host:

Holly Lynn Payne is an award-winning novelist and writing coach, and the former CEO and founder of Booxby , a startup built to help authors succeed. Her debut novel, The Virgin's Knot, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers book. Her books have been published in eleven countries and translated into nine languages. Her most recent novel, Damascena:The Tale of Roses and Rumi, has been optioned for a film series. She's currently at work on her first YA crossover novel inspired by her nephew with Down syndrome. She lives in Marin County with her daughter and enjoys mountain biking, surfing and hiking with her Labrador Retriever, Lady Gaia. To learn more about her writing coaching services, please visit hollylynnpayne.com.

Submissions to Page One:

If you have a first page of fiction that you’d like to submit to the Page One Podcast, please do so here.

After the first few episodes, it occurred to me that maybe someone listening might be curious how their first page sits with an audience, so I’m opening up Page One to any writer who wants to submit the first page of a novel they’re currently writing. 

If your page is chosen, you’ll be invited onto the show to read it and get live feedback from one of Page One’s master storytellers. Page One exists to educate, inspire, and celebrate the work of both well-known and unknown creative talent.  

You can listen to Page One on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher and all your favorite podcast players. 

Hear past episodes.

Thank you for listening to the Page One Podcast! I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I loved hosting, producing, and editing it. If you liked it too, here are three ways to share the love:

1. Please share it on social and tag @hollylynnpayne.
2. Leave a review on your favorite podcast players.
3. Tell your friends.
4. Please keep in touch by signing up to receive my Substack newsletter with the latest episodes each month. Delivered to your inbox with a smile. You can contact me at @hollylynnpayne on IG or send me a message on my website, hollylynnpayne.com.

For the love of books and writers,
Holly Lynn Payne

@hollylynnpayne
host, author, writing coach
www.hollylynnpayne.com

Page One, produced and hosted by author Holly Lynn Payne, celebrates the craft that goes into writing the first sentence, first paragraph and first page of your favorite books. The first page is often the most rewritten page of any book because it has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. We interview master storytellers on the struggles and stories behind the first page of their books.

About the guest author:

Jacquelyn Mitchard is the New York Times bestselling author of 22 novels for adults and teenagers, and the recipient of Great Britain’s Talkabout prize, The Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson awards, and named to the short list for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her first novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, was the inaugural selection of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club, with more than 3 million copies in print in 34 languages. Her essay collection, The Rest of Us: Dispatches from the Mother Ship, was drawn from her newspaper column syndicated by Tribune Media, and her other essays have been widely anthologized and published in magazines worldwide, and incorporated into school curricula. She served on the Fiction jury for the 2003 National Book Awards, and served as editor-in-chief of Merit Press, a Young Adult imprint under the aegis of Simon and Schuster. She is a Distinguished Fellow at the Ragdale Foundation and a DeWitt Clinton Readers Digest Fellow at the Macdowell Colony. Mitchard has also taught in the MFA programs for Creative Writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts, Miami University of Ohio and Western New England University. She lives on Cape Cod with her husband and their nine children. 

Author Website: https://jacquelynmitchard.com/
Twitter 
Facebook
Instagram
Goodreads

About the host:

Holly Lynn Payne is a writing coach and internationally published author in eleven countries whose work has been translated into nine languages. Her most recent novel, Damascena:The Tale of Roses and Rumi, has been optioned for a film series. She is the founder of Skywriter Books, an award-winning small press, publishing consultancy and writing coaching service. The former CEO and founder of Booxby, she lives in Marin County with her daughter and enjoys mountain biking, surfing and hiking with her labrador retriever, Lady Gaia. To learn more about her writing coaching services, please visit hollylynnpayne.com.

As an author and writing coach, I know that the first page of any book has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. So I thought to ask your favorite master storytellers how they do their magic to hook YOU. 

After the first few episodes, it occurred to me that maybe someone listening might be curious how their first page sits with an audience, so I’m opening up Page One to any writer who wants to submit the first page of a book they’re currently writing. 

If your page is chosen, you’ll be invited onto the show to read it and get live feedback from one of Page One’s master storytellers. Page One exists to inspire, celebrate and promote the work of both well-known and unknown creative talent.  

You can listen to Page One on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher and all your favorite podcast players. 

Hear past episodes.

Thank you for listening to the Page One Podcast! I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I loved hosting, producing, and editing it. If you liked it too, here are three ways to share the love:

1. Please share it on social and tag @hollylynnpayne.
2. Leave a review on your favorite podcast players.
3. Tell your friends.
4. Please keep in touch by signing up to receive my Substack newsletter with the latest episodes each month. Delivered to your inbox with a smile. You can contact me at @hollylynnpayne on IG or send me a message on my website, hollylynnpayne.com.

For the love of books and writers,
Holly Lynn Payne

@hollylynnpayne
host, author, writing coach
www.hollylynnpayne.com

Page One, produced and hosted by author Holly Lynn Payne, celebrates the craft that goes into writing the first sentence, first paragraph and first page of your favorite books. The first page is often the most rewritten page of any book because it has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. We interview master storytellers on the struggles and stories behind the first page of their books.

About the guest author:

ADAM NEMETT is the author of We Can Save Us All, one of ALA Booklist's "Top Ten Debut Novels of 2018." His work has been published, reviewed and featured in Rolling Stone, The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Salon, Lit Hub, Fatherly, Variety, LA Weekly, The New Yorker, and C-Ville Weekly. An excerpt of his novel was anthologized in The Apocalypse Reader. His latest article, “Journal of A Progressive Prepper” was published by Rolling Stone in 2021.

Adam graduated from Princeton University and received his MFA in Fiction/Screenwriting from California College of the Arts. He serves as creative director and author for History Factory, where he's written award-winning nonfiction books for Lockheed Martin, Brooks Brothers, City of Hope, and Huntington Bank, and directed campaigns for 21st Century Fox, Adobe Systems, HarperCollins, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, New Balance, Pfizer and Vitamix. 

He is the writer/director of the feature film, The Instrument (2005), which LA Weekly described as, "damn near unclassifiable." At Princeton Nemett co-founded MIMA Music Inc., a student organization that grew into an educational 501(c)3 nonprofit that has operated in 40 countries worldwide. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife and two kids. You can find him at adamnemett.com and on Instagram @thunderbirddisco.

About the host:

Holly Lynn Payne is the CEO and founder of Booxby , a startup helping authors succeed. Holly is also an internationally published novelist in ten countries whose work has been translated into nine languages. Her most recent novel, Damascena:The Tale of Roses and Rumi, has been optioned for a film series. She is the founder of Skywriter Books, an award-winning small press, publishing consultancy and writing coaching service. She lives in Marin County with her daughter and enjoys mountain biking, surfing and hiking with her labrador retriever, Lady Gaia. To learn more about her books and writing coaching services, please visit hollylynnpayne.com.

As an author and writing coach, I know that the first page of any book has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. So I thought to ask your favorite master storytellers how they do their magic to hook YOU. 

After the first few episodes, it occurred to me that maybe someone listening might be curious how their first page sits with an audience, so I’m opening up Page One to any writer who wants to submit the first page of a book they’re currently writing. 

If your page is chosen, you’ll be invited onto the show to read it and get live feedback from one of Page One’s master storytellers. Page One exists to inspire, celebrate and promote the work of both well-known and unknown creative talent.  

You can listen to Page One on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher and all your favorite podcast players. 

Hear past episodes.

Thank you for listening to the Page One Podcast! I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I loved hosting, producing, and editing it. If you liked it too, here are three ways to share the love:

1. Please share it on social and tag @hollylynnpayne.
2. Leave a review on your favorite podcast players.
3. Tell your friends.
4. Please keep in touch by signing up to receive my Substack newsletter with the latest episodes each month. Delivered to your inbox with a smile. You can contact me at @hollylynnpayne on IG or send me a message on my website, hollylynnpayne.com.

For the love of books and writers,
Holly Lynn Payne

@hollylynnpayne
host, author, writing coach
www.hollylynnpayne.com

Page One, produced and hosted by author Holly Lynn Payne, celebrates the craft that goes into writing the first sentence, first paragraph and first page of your favorite books. The first page is often the most rewritten page of any book because it has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. We interview master storytellers on the struggles and stories behind the first page of their books.

About the guest author:

Yasmin Angoe is the 2020 recipient of the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Emerging Writers of Color from Sisters in Crime. She is a first-generation Ghanaian American who grew up in two cultural worlds and currently lives in South Carolina with her blended family. Her debut novel, Her Name is Knight, was published by Thomas & Mercer, November 1, 2021.

You can find Yasmin Angoe on Twitter, Goodreads  and Instagram.

About the host:

Holly Lynn Payne is the CEO and founder of Booxby , a startup helping authors succeed. Holly is also an internationally published novelist in ten countries whose work has been translated into nine languages. Her most recent novel, Damascena:The Tale of Roses and Rumi, has been optioned for a film series. She is the founder of Skywriter Books, an award-winning small press, publishing consultancy and writing coaching service. She lives in Marin County with her daughter and enjoys mountain biking, surfing and hiking with her labrador retriever, Lady Gaia. To learn more about her books and writing coaching services, please visit hollylynnpayne.com or follow her on Instagram.

As an author and writing coach, I know that the first page of any book has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. So I thought to ask your favorite master storytellers how they do their magic to hook YOU. 

After the first few episodes, it occurred to me that maybe someone listening might be curious how their first page sits with an audience, so I’m opening up Page One to any writer who wants to submit the first page of a book they’re currently writing. 

If your page is chosen, you’ll be invited onto the show to read it and get live feedback from one of Page One’s master storytellers. Page One exists to inspire, celebrate and promote the work of both well-known and unknown creative talent.  

You can listen to Page One on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher and all your favorite podcast players. 

Hear past episodes.

Thank you for listening to the Page One Podcast! I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I loved hosting, producing, and editing it. If you liked it too, here are three ways to share the love:

1. Please share it on social and tag @hollylynnpayne.
2. Leave a review on your favorite podcast players.
3. Tell your friends.
4. Please keep in touch by signing up to receive my Substack newsletter with the latest episodes each month. Delivered to your inbox with a smile. You can contact me at @hollylynnpayne on IG or send me a message on my website, hollylynnpayne.com.

For the love of books and writers,
Holly Lynn Payne

@hollylynnpayne
host, author, writing coach
www.hollylynnpayne.com

Page One, produced and hosted by author Holly Lynn Payne, celebrates the craft that goes into writing the first sentence, first paragraph and first page of your favorite books. The first page is often the most rewritten page of any book because it has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. We interview master storytellers on the struggles and stories behind the first page of their books.

About the guest author:

Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series, which is set in Seattle and has sold more than seven million books worldwide. His latest book, The World Played Chess was published by Lake Union Publishing in October.

He is also the author of the Charles Jenkins espionage series and the David Sloane series of legal thrillers. He has written several stand-alone books, including the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, which was a Washington Post best book of the year and he’s written three other stand alone novels The 7th Canon and Damage Control; The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, for which he won an AudioFile Earphones Award for narration. Several of his novels have been optioned for movies and television series, most recently The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell.

Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Book Award for fiction and a three-time winner of the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He is a two-time finalist for the Thriller Awards and the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, and a finalist for the Silver Falchion Award for mystery and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Awards.

Robert Dugoni’s books are sold in more than twenty-five countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages.

You can visit his website at www.robertdugonibooks.com, and follow him on Twitter @robertdugoni and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/authorrobertdugoni.

And many thanks to Tom Joyce, for submitting your first page to us! It was great to have you on the show and hear you read from your debut novel, The Missing Peace. Joyce is a creative director and designer at Creativewerks and partner at Company History Productions, with offices in Tiburon, California and Washington DC. Previously creative director at Cohn & Wells Advertising and Retail Concepts; associate creative director at Visa USA, and art director at Cunningham & Walsh, Doyle Dane Bernbach and Allen & Dorward, Tom was a founding partner of Johnson Joyce Brennan, Inc. in San Francisco and a design consultant to other marketing communications agencies in the Bay Area. He has created corporate identities, print, broadcast and on-line advertising, product branding, B2B marketing, event graphics, posters, magazines, books, websites and social media campaigns.

About the host and producer:

Holly Lynn Payne is a writing coach and the CEO and founder of Booxby , a startup helping authors succeed. Holly is also an internationally published novelist in eleven countries whose work has been translated into nine languages. Her most recent novel, Damascena:The Tale of Roses and Rumi, has been optioned for a film series. She is the founder of Skywriter Books, an award-winning small press, publishing consultancy and writing coaching service. She lives in Marin County with her daughter and enjoys mountain biking, surfing and hiking with her labrador retriever, Lady Gaia. To learn more about her writing coaching and editing services, please visit hollylynnpayne.com.

As an author and writing coach, I know that the first page of any book has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. So I thought to ask your favorite master storytellers how they do their magic to hook YOU. 

After the first few episodes, it occurred to me that maybe someone listening might be curious how their first page sits with an audience, so I’m opening up Page One to any writer who wants to submit the first page of a book they’re currently writing. 

If your page is chosen, you’ll be invited onto the show to read it and get live feedback from one of Page One’s master storytellers. Page One exists to inspire, celebrate and promote the work of both well-known and unknown creative talent.  

You can listen to Page One on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher and all your favorite podcast players. 
Hear past episodes.

Thank you for listening to the Page One Podcast! I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I loved hosting, producing, and editing it. If you liked it too, here are three ways to share the love:

1. Please share it on social and tag @hollylynnpayne.
2. Leave a review on your favorite podcast players.
3. Tell your friends.
4. Please keep in touch by signing up to receive my Substack newsletter with the latest episodes each month. Delivered to your inbox with a smile. You can contact me at @hollylynnpayne on IG or send me a message on my website, hollylynnpayne.com.

For the love of books and writers,
Holly Lynn Payne

@hollylynnpayne
host, author, writing coach
www.hollylynnpayne.com

Page One, produced and hosted by author Holly Lynn Payne, celebrates the craft that goes into writing the first sentence, first paragraph and first page of your favorite books. The first page is often the most rewritten page of any book because it has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. We interview master storytellers on the struggles and stories behind the first page of their books.

About the guest author:

Daniel Handler is the author of seven novels, including Why We Broke Up, We Are Pirates, All The Dirty Parts and, Bottle Grove and most recently Poison for Breakfast, his first book for readers of all ages published by Liveright/W.W. Norton.

As Lemony Snicket, he is responsible for numerous books for children, including the thirteen-volume A Series of Unfortunate Events, the four-volume All the Wrong Questions, and The Dark, which won the Charlotte Zolotow Award. 

Handler has received commissions from the San Francisco Symphony, Berkeley Reperatory Theater and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has collaborated with artist Maira Kalman on a series of books for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and with musicians Stephin Merritt (of the Magnetic Fields), Benjamin Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie), Colin Meloy (of the Decemberists) and Torquil Campbell (of Stars).

His books have sold more than 70 million copies and have been translated into 40 languages, and have been adapted for film, stage and television, including the recent adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events for which he was awarded both the Peabody and the Writers Guild of America awards. He lives in San Francisco with the illustrator Lisa Brown, to whom he is married and with whom he has collaborated on several books and one son.

You may also find him on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, IMDB, and purchase his books via Upstream(for signed copies), Indiebound, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.

About the host:

Holly Lynn Payne is the CEO and founder of Booxby , a startup helping authors succeed. Holly is also an internationally published novelist in eleven countries whose work has been translated into nine languages. Her most recent novel, Damascena:The Tale of Roses and Rumi, has been optioned for a film series. She is the founder of Skywriter Books, an award-winning small press, publishing consultancy and writing coaching service. She lives in Marin County with her daughter and enjoys mountain biking, surfing and hiking with her labrador retriever, Lady Gaia. To learn more about her writing coaching services, please visit hollylynnpayne.com.

Thank you for listening to the Page One Podcast! I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I loved hosting, producing, and editing it. If you liked it too, here are three ways to share the love:

1. Please share it on social and tag @hollylynnpayne.
2. Leave a review on your favorite podcast players.
3. Tell your friends.
4. Please keep in touch by signing up to receive my Substack newsletter with the latest episodes each month. Delivered to your inbox with a smile. You can contact me at @hollylynnpayne on IG or send me a message on my website, hollylynnpayne.com.

For the love of books and writers,
Holly Lynn Payne

@hollylynnpayne
host, author, writing coach
www.hollylynnpayne.com