Janyre Tromp is the former acquisitions editor for Kregel Publishing and is an award-winning novelist in her own right. Connect with her at https://beautifuluglyme.com.

In this episode, Lauren Mestitz shares how to:

1. Clearly define your goals

2. Develop a personalized plan

3. Regularly reflect, adjust, and review progress

Lauren Mestitz is a seasoned business leader with a proven track record of driving organizational success through strategic vision and effective leadership. With a decade of experience leading corporate teams, a Northwestern University (Kellogg) MBA, and a passion for coaching, Lauren partners with coaching clients to help them define and achieve specific personal and professional goals. Lauren specializes in helping clients struggling with accountability. 

She designs personalized accountability systems with her clients so they consistently reach their objectives, overcoming whatever obstacles arise along the way.

Lauren savors joy every day -  from delighting in walks with her sweet rescue pitbull Calypso; to deep conversations with clients, friends, and family; to silly dance parties in the kitchen with her fiancé Oscar. Her mission is to partner with clients so they can craft their unique, authentic, wholehearted best lives.

**A big thank you to our guest Tina Yeager for being our first recorded guest for the season 2 podcast!**

In this episode, author and licensed therapist Tina Yeager shares three best practices for writers:

1. Direct your mindset with an effective purpose-compass. 
2. Exterminate mental pests threatening your creative growth (cultivate teachability, humility, and childlike confidence & wonder).
3. Practice self-care by setting priorities and guarding margins.

LINKS:

Go to https://www.strucktheseries.com/ for STRUCK the digital streaming series.

To get Tina's guide sheet with the best practices for creatives, click here: subscribepage.io/zA2gih

About Tina Yeager:

Award-winning author, licensed therapist, speaker, and life coach, Tina Yeager hosts the Flourish-Meant podcast, Flourish Today radio show, and publishes Inkspirations Online. 

Licensed as a counselor since 2005, she has decades of experience teaching parenting to at-risk families, writing skills, emotional healing, and spiritual growth. Look for her online course, Subdue Stress and Anxiety.

Yeager has won over thirty awards and serves with Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Word Weavers, STRUCK digital streaming series, and Christian Women in Media Association. 

Look for her award-winning titles, Upcycled: Crafted for a Purpose (Bold Vision Books, Fall 2022) and Beautiful Warrior: Finding Victory Over the Lies Formed Against You.

For life coaching or to book her as an event speaker, check out tinayeager.com. 

When is it time for writers to pivot? Here are three best practices, or three things to keep in mind, when considering a shift or move:

1. Be open to different genres.
2. Be open to different publishing opportunities.
3. Be open to different types of marketing (because the wait can be long).

To connect with or learn more about bestselling novelist Johnnie Alexander, go to her website here: https://johnnie-alexander.com/
 

This is a faith-filled podcast episode that we're taping and Rachel will be sharing about how to release perfectionism and tips for leading a prayer-filled life.

Check out Rachel's newest book by going to her website: https://rachelwojo.com/   

Author Tim Shoemaker joins us in an amazingly insightful episode of the Serious Writer Podcast where he shares about starting strong in your writing, reaching the reader (and the parents, for those teen books!), and even told us a never-shared before secret about how he builds his speaking presentations.

We hope you enjoy!

Find Tim and his books at https://www.timshoemaker.com.

ABOUT TIM:
Tim is an award-winning author, and has a combined total of over twenty fiction and non-fiction books.

He has a passion for youth, for writing, and speaking. Blending the three together has proved to be one great ride! Tim has a desire to help youth avoid the traps in life ... the things that will hurt them. He wants to help encourage them to become young men and women of character,
integrity, and faith.
 
Tim, along with his wife, Cheryl, continue to work with youth weekly on a volunteer basis as they have for nearly three decades.

Picture book author and host of PB Spotlight Brian Gehrlein shares three best practices for picture book writers, including:

1. A process for reading and analyzing picture books: Determine what makes them work and what makes you want to read them. What’s motivating page turns. What’s known and unknown, what’s directly and indirectly being said?

2. The opportunity of pagination to go from manuscript to a book. 

3. Art notes and setting up moments for the art to tell the story as well as the power of a wordless/nearly wordless spread. 

Additionally, if you want to work with Brian, use promo code "BriansWolves25off" for 25% off. Check out his website here: https://www.pbspotlight.com.

We hope you enjoy this episode! 

In this episode Cyle and Bethany discuss why everybody should own the Christian book market guide and the importance of using this tool to cut your teeth in the writing world. Dancing on the head of the Pen discussion and how it helped Bethany beat writer's block. Tune to further your knowledge of the writing world and further develop your craft.

In this episode, Serious Writer co-owners Cyle Young and Bethany Jett share some interesting fun facts and share a few crazy not-so-commonly known writing vocabulary words, including mariko aoki, which explains why you might need a bathroom break when checking out books at the library or bookstore. 

Play Along:

• Can you guess which early 20th-century poet slept in a coffin? 
• What famous children's author had a secret closet of hats?
• What type of rotten fruit was kept in an author's desk drawer to help him write?

Also, Cyle's wife Patty gave us full permission to air this episode.   

All we know is that if she hadn't, Cyle might really wish we had his own secret hiding space, full of hats or not.

Articles on mariko aoki:
https://www.bustle.com/articles/102525-why-do-i-have-to-poop-in-bookstores-mariko-aoki-phenomenon-explains-the-weird-reasons-why