Welcome to Episode 28 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! November is almost half done, so we’re wondering: Are you still pumped about writing now that NaNoWriMo is almost halfway over? Whether you are participating in NaNo or not, motivation is ALWAYS in the Creative’s conversation. Today’s topic is all about motivation and determination. We’re putting our own definitions to each for the creative context and attempting to answer the frequently asked question of how to maintain motivation with, we hope, some more long-term answers.

Our QWERTY Challenge will have you going deep again and asking yourself some deep questions about who you are so you can decide who you’re going to be and how you’re going to get there. 

Subscribe and ring the bell for new episode notifications. Then, continue this week’s chat with us via email. We’d love to hear your reactions, comments and questions to this week’s show! Email us at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com.

For more information about us, the show and our writing craft book series, head over to logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, subscribe and ring the bell on our YouTube channel. Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home at measmith.com. Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site, joyerancatore.com.

Joy mentioned her love for the Photoshop tutorials done by Aaron over on https://phlearn.com. If you’re a photo editing fan, check them out! Also, if you’re in the market for business cards and other marketing materials, give https://www.gotprint.com/home.html a try. Joy loves their products. Her author cards are their Trifecta, and she’s getting standard ones for her Press and square ones for all things QWERTY Writing Life!

We wanted to start off this month of Thanksgiving with an episode of thanks to the mentors in our lives, the people who have helped us get where we are. Find out who we’re talking about in Episode 27 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast. Since you’ll want to know more about some of the incredible people we mentioned, here’s where to find them:

https://www.logosandmythospress.com/about

https://rachaelherron.com/

http://howdoyouwrite.net/

https://shows.pippa.io/thewriterswell

http://sowritesrachael.com/

https://www.authoraccelerator.com/momwrites

https://rachaelritchey.com/

https://maggiestiefvater.com/

https://www.thecreativepenn.com/

https://www.michellekeener.com/

https://www.writermomsinc.com/

http://findingthelightseries.com/

https://authordevonharry.com/

https://tauricox.com/

In this week’s QWERTY Challenge, we encourage you to make a list of your mentors or encouragers and take it a few steps further.

Please share our podcast with your friends! We’d love for them to be our new friends, too! Questions? Comments? You know what to do! Continue this week’s chat with us via email at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com. For more information about us, the show and our writing craft book series, head over to www.logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, ring the bell on our YouTube channel. Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home at www.measmith.com. Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site, www.joyerancatore.com.

November is right around the corner and, for writers, November is synonymous with NaNoWriMo! We decided to share a little about this exciting month of goal-setting and habit-building and to give our best tips to anyone participating. Welcome to Episode 26 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast! Check out the links we mentioned during the show and a couple of posts by Joy with more tips and thoughts on the NaNo process:

https://www.nanowrimo.org/

https://www.thecreativepenn.com/healthy-writer/

http://www.joyerancatore.com/2018/07/05/what-is-camp-nano/

http://www.joyerancatore.com/2018/08/02/what-happens-when-you-dont-win-camp-nano/

In this week’s QWERTY Challenge, we’ve got a call to action for NaNo participants and for non-participants.

Please share our podcast with your friends! We’d love for them to be our new friends, too! Questions? Comments? You know what to do! Continue this week’s chat with us via email at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com. For more information about us, the show and our writing craft book series, head over to www.logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, ring the bell on our YouTube channel. Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home at www.measmith.com. Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site, www.joyerancatore.com.

Living a creative life can be amazing, but it’s not without its cons. In Episode 25 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast, Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith share how those negatives look in their own lives and chat about ways to handle them. They also reveal some HUGE NEWS!! They are honored to be part of the 2020 Women in Publishing Summit where they will speak with Alexa Bigwarfe on the topic “How to Find and Keep a Critique Partner: Dream BIG Together.” Here’s the link for more info about this incredible online Summit: https://womeninpublishingsummit.com.

In this week’s QWERTY Challenge, we’re giving you active steps to tackle the creative cons in your life. Let us know how it goes! Drop us a line at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com

Please share our podcast with your friends! We’d love for them to be our new friends, too! Questions? Comments? You know what to do! Continue this week’s chat with us via email. For more information about us, the show and our author resource book series, head over to www.logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, ring the bell on our YouTube channel. Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home at www.measmith.com. Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site, www.joyerancatore.com.

Welcome to Episode 24 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! We’re getting real in this episode with some downfalls creatives might face and thoughts on how to heal the damage they can do.

In this week’s QWERTY Challenge, we’re sending you virtual hugs and asking you to think through your own creative downfalls and identify how to heal the wounds in your own lives even as you prepare to defend yourself against future ones.

Please share our podcast with your new friends! We’d love for them to be our new friends, too! Questions? Comments? You know what to do! Continue this week’s chat with us via email at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com. For more information about us, the show and our writing craft book series, head over to www.logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, ring the bell on our YouTube channel. Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home at www.measmith.com. Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site, www.joyerancatore.com.

Welcome to Episode 23 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! Thanks for joining us for another extra special episode recorded at our alma mater, William Carey University. If you missed Episode 22, that’s okay! These two don’t build on each other. We’re answering different questions for the students we had the honor of speaking to. This week we’re sharing our very best writing craft tips and sharing some favorite resources. Here are links to the ones we mention!

Rachael Stephen: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXjda70KpggxCpmrLpxdHuw

Holly Lisle’s Writing Classes: https://hollyswritingclasses.com

Rachael Herron’s “How Do You Write?” Podcast: https://rachaelherron.com/category/podcast/

Ann Patchett: http://www.annpatchett.com

Nanowrimo: https://www.nanowrimo.org

Recommended Podcasts: 

• • QWERTY Writing Life: https://www.logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life

Please share our podcast with your new friends! We’d love for them to be our new friends, too! Questions? Comments? You know what to do! Continue this week’s chat with us via email at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com. For more information about us, the show and our writing craft book series, head over to www.logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, ring the bell on our YouTube channel. Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home at www.measmith.com. Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site, www.joyerancatore.com.

Welcome to Episode 22 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! Thanks for joining us for an extra-special episode. We recorded this one side-by-side at our alma mater, William Carey University, where we had the honor of speaking as guest lecturers to a creative nonfiction class. We managed to get two podcast episodes out of it, so click on through to hear the first part all about the things we wish we’d learned or done earlier—our Coulda, Woulda, Shouldas.

In this week’s QWERTY Challenge, we’re urging the students and YOU to spend some time visualizing your life and thinking through how you can achieve what you really want to in your lifetime.

Please share our podcast with your new friends! We’d love for them to be our new friends, too! Questions? Comments? You know what to do! Continue this week’s chat with us via email at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com. For more information about us, the show and our writing craft book series, head over to www.logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, ring the bell on our YouTube channel. Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home at www.measmith.com. Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site, www.joyerancatore.com.

Welcome to Episode 21 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! Flowing forward from last week’s topic, we’re chatting about Allowing Faith in Your Art. We have a couple of theories about how holding back the inner convictions we hold most dear when it comes to our artistic endeavors can lead to blockades in production and often stems from some type of fear. We’ve got some encouragement for you as well!

In this week’s QWERTY Challenge, we’re urging you to dig deep within and evaluate yourself. It might not be easy, but we believe it will be worth it for you and for your art. Drop us a line and let us know how it goes!

Please share our podcast with your new friends! We’d love for them to be our new friends, too! Questions? Comments? You know what to do! Continue this week’s chat with us via email at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com. For more information about us, the show and our writing craft book series, head over to www.logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, ring the bell on our YouTube channel. Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home at www.measmith.com. Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site, www.joyerancatore.com.

Welcome to Episode 20 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! We’re chatting about how we were Created to Create but, somewhere along the way, we lost our ability to just let go and … CREATE! We’re sharing why we think that is and a few things we can do about it.

In this week’s QWERTY Challenge, we’re channeling a creative idea from The Artist’s Way by Jullia Cameron. Learn more about this incredible resource on creativity on her website: https://juliacameronlive.com/books-by-julia/the-artists-way-a-spiritual-path-to-higher-creativity/. Drop us a line and let us know how it goes!

Please share our podcast with your new friends! We’d love for them to be our new friends, too! Questions? Comments? You know what to do! Continue this week’s chat with us via email at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com. For more information about us, the show and our writing craft book series, head over to www.logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, ring the bell on our YouTube channel. Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home at www.measmith.com. Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site, www.joyerancatore.com.

Welcome to Episode 19 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! We’ve got an exciting announcement for you this week—the topic and … TITLE! … for our upcoming writing craft book! In case you missed last week, this is part two of a two-part series all about Support Teams! In this show, we’re focusing on our Creative Ties—these are the fellow creatives we partner with to form outstanding support systems. We’re sharing how these support teams can help and how we can return the support. Plus, we’re giving you some tips on where to find yours. And, we’re shouting out to our favorite online writing support groups, links below!

•  https://www.facebook.com/groups/Writermomsinc/

We want to hear how the QWERTY Challenge goes for you, too; so please drop us a line. If you join some new groups or meet up with new creative friends, please tell us about it. And, share our podcast with your new friends! We’d love for them to be our new friends, too! Questions? Comments? You know what to do! Continue this week’s chat with us via email at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com.

For more information about us, the show and our writing craft book series, head over to www.logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, ring the bell on our YouTube channel. Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home at www.measmith.com. Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site, www.joyerancatore.com.