Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews Kerrie Flanagan and Cary Bergeron from CraveBooks.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a brief personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

During the interview, Mark, Kerrie and Cary talk about:

• A bit of a background about Kerrie's writing, publishing, and industry experience, including her multiple previous appearances on the Stark Reflections podcast
• Cary's experience running a marketing agency and how CraveBooks was initially a side project that grew into something bigger
• The challenge with many of the promo sites and the fact they don't "save" or "keep" the details from an author of previous promotions
• What CraveBooks.com is and how it works as a marketing platform tool for authors
• How CraveBooks owns and operates about eight of those sites, but also has connections via third party promotion sites
• How Kerrie and Cary met and started working together
• Where Mark and Kerrie first met
• The "Version 2" of CraveBooks, AKA, CraveBooks 2.0 and the bells and whistles that will be included in that
• How you have a free author profile on CraveBooks
• vice about marketing in general
• And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on a couple of different things from the conversation.

Links of Interest:

• CraveBooks (affiliate link)
• Other episodes featuring Kerrie Flanagan
  • EP 209 - Growing Sales, Subscribers, and Twitch Marketing with Kerrie Flanagan & Chuck Harrelson
  • EP 117 - Multi-Layered Collaboration with Kerrie Flanagan, Chuck Harrelson, and MacLeod Andrews
  • EP 45 - Co-Authoring with the Writers Behind C. K. Wiles
  • EP 31 - Writing and Selling Magazine Articles with Kerrie Flanagan
• Findaway Voices
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Crave Books is a full-service eBook site and daily email service that gives readers free and bargain eBooks and connects readers and writers. The site also offers a variety of book promotional opportunities and service for authors to raise their profiles and reach new readers.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews Sudbury area writers Matthew Del Papa and Vera Constantineau.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a few listener comments reminds listeners about sending THEIR reflections for forthcoming Episode 300, provides a personal update and shares a word about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

During the interview, Mark, Mat and Vera talk about:

• Vera and Mat's backgrounds as writers
• How humor is always going to show up in almost anything that Vera writes
• Haibun Poetry, which is a form that combines haiku and with prose poem
• Mat's very first book of "railroad stories" and how a lot of his work is focused on his home town of Capreol, Ontario
• What's funny about disability?
• How humor can be a coping mechanism for dealing with frustration
• Vera's love of poetry and fascination with Japanese forms of writing
• How poetry is a way of giving the shortest word picture imaginable
• The uniqueness of Latitude 46 Publishing, the publisher releasing both of these books in the spring of 2023
• The way large publishers commonly make "we just published a book like that" restrictions
• Mat and Vera billing themselves as the "Rolling Writers" when promoting these books
• How small presses can be a really great resource for writers
• A focus on what is unique about writers from Northern Ontario and the mutual respect and understanding in the local writing community
• The benefits and drawbacks of being a writer in a northern community as opposed to a larger city
• A bit about Sudbury Wordstock, a fantastic literary festival that is celebrating its 10th year in 2023
• A look at the geography and physical breadth of Canada and how one has to really hustle and really "want it" in order to be successful as a performer in Canada
• The term "criplit," the divisiveness in the use of the term among disabled writers and why that writing is important
• How the use of Zoom during the pandemic has been a boon for folks who have mobility issues and difficulty getting out and about
• Dealing with the inability to travel for book promotions
• Vera becoming a Poet Laureate of Greater Sudbury the day the pandemic started, but how that helped her bring Sudbury to the world
• How the pandemic taught a lot of able bodied people the concept of "not being able to do something you want to be able to do"
• And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on the important of community, the uniqueness of the Sudbury writing community, and an element from Mat's email signature that he finds inspiring.

Links of Interest:

• Matthew Del Papa's Website
• Vera Constantineau's Website
• Latitude 46 Publishing
  • EP 224 - Being an Independent Publisher and Bookseller with Heather Campbell
  • EP 189 - From Stage to Page and Back to Stage with Rod Carley
• Sudbury Writers Guild
• Findaway Voices
• Submit YOUR reflections for Episode 300
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Matthew Del Papa lives in Capreol. He joined the Sudbury Writers' Guild in 2009 and served two years as president. A voracious reader, Matthew has written for local newspapers and websites, contributed to magazines, and together with Lisa Coleman-Brown co-authored a fund-raising novella entitled Nightmare at the North Pole for the Northern Ontario Railroad Museum & Heritage Centre (Greater Sudbury's #3 tourist attraction).

Having self-published ten titles, either as author or editor (and sometimes both), Matthew always has a project or two on the go. The majority of his work is humorous and focused on Northern Ontario, specifically his home town.

His titles include: The Legend of Capreol Red: And Other Stories From a Railroad Town; Nursing Doubts: The Miss Hattie Mysteries; Green Eyes Through Capreol: More Stories From a Railroad Town; Creepy Capreol: Chilling Tales From a Railroad Town; Captivating Capreol: Thoughts From a Railroad Town; Creepy Capreol, Jr.: Chilling Tales From—and For—Young Minds; Capreol At Bat: The Fastball Years; Creepy Capreol, Jr. 2: Too Many Zombies; and Merry Capreol: Christmas Stories From a Railroad Town.

Matthew's first essay collection, Jerry Lewis Told Me I Was Going to Die, is being released May 6th, 2023 by Latitude 46 Publishing.

Vera Constantineau lives in Copper Cliff, ON. She served a two-year term (2020-2022) as poet laureate of Greater Sudbury. The pandemic arrived on the scene the day her appointment was affirmed forcing her to rethink the role, which was very community oriented. She spent a good part of her two years on zoom and travelled around the world to workshops and poetry events. Her podcast, The PL Pod, gathered a following that included regular listeners in the UK, Ireland, Japan, Sweden and Australia as well as the US and Canada. Her poetic focus is the Japanese forms of haiku, senryu, tanka and haibun.

In addition to her interest in poetry, Vera writes both fiction and nonfiction. In 2019 her essay Options was included in an anthology, Against Death—35 Essays on Living, published by Anvil Press of Vancouver. In 2020 her haiku placed third in the Martin Lucas Award for Haiku in England. Vera's early writing coered a ten year span as a humour columnist. Her weekly column appeared in several Northern Ontario Community newspapers.

Vera is the author of Daisy Chained, a collection of short fiction, three lines at a time, a chapbook of haiku that has gotten excellent reviews.

Vera is the Haiku Canada Regional Representative for Ontario and a member of the Haiku Society of America, a member and past president of the Sudbury Writers' Guild as well as a member of NOWW Thunder Bay.

Her poetry collection, Enlightened By Defilement was published in April of 2023 through Latitude46 Publishing of Greater Sudbury.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews Jo Buer, a gothic suspense and literary fiction author from New Zealand who describes herself as a sucker for the supernatural, time travel, and all things woo-woo.

Prior to the interview, Mark reminds listeners about sending THEIR reflections for forthcoming Episode 300, provides a personal update and shares a word about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

In their conversation, Mark and Jo talk about:

• The many different ways that Jo is "bookish"
• Being able to go back all the way to when she was five years old, and how Jo fell in love with her school's library
• Writing about a gift she was given when she was six years old and the belief she had, even then, that her writing was stellar and would capture the attention and praise of her teacher
• The devastation and determination that early experience left her with as an author
• Publishing her first book, a collection of short stories in 2020
• Finding herself in a really dark place with a significantly negative impact on her self esteem, and how that determined voice of herself at 6 years old kicked in
• Being too hard on herself by trying to measure up to the productivity of a full time author while being a part-time author with another full time job
• Jo's podcast Alchemy for Authors
• Her role as a teacher and how that might tie back to her own experience having her enthusiasm squashed as a six year old
• The challenge of hosting a podcast while being such an introverted person
• How overthinking and looking for the "perfect" solution can often get in an author's way
• Jo's experience working at Chapters and Indigo when she lived in Canada
• One of the most heart-breaking and frustrating things about seeing how bookstores deal with mass market paperback returns
• Her experience working in a library, including speaking to the various people who came in there
• How, if you're an introvert, for example, you've sometimes got to "fake it"
• Advice that Jo would give to her younger self
• And more...

After the interview, Mark reflects on the "fake it" approach as well as Jo's advice about leveraging a photo of your younger self.

Links of Interest:

• Jo Buer Website
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
• Jo's Podcast: Alchemy for Authors
  • Instagram
  • Alchemy for Authors Newsletter
• Brandon Sanderson's Response to WIRED article
  • Mark's Patron Post with audio of that article and his reflection
• Findaway Voices
• Submit YOUR reflections for Episode 300
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Joe Buer is a gothic suspense and literary fiction author living in New Zealand. She is a sucker for the supernatural, time travel, and all things woo-woo. From an early age she came to realize that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

She lives in an ordinary house in an ordinary town with her husband and feline familiars, Atlas, Gaia, Zeus, and Hades. When not doting on her cats, devouring self-help books or gorging on chocolate, she writes slightly dark, sometimes scary, often ghostly stories with a smattering of romance.

Jo is also the host of the Alchemy for Authors podcast - a podcast to transform and supercharge your writing life.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews Canadian Epic Fantasy author Richard H. Stephens about finally realizing a life-long dream of writing, about how his fourteen book fantasy series was inspired by hearing an Iron Maiden song in 1982, and about selling print books at in person events.

Prior to the interview, Mark reminds listeners about sending THEIR reflections for forthcoming Episode 300, provides a personal update and shares a word about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

In their conversation, Mark and Richard talk about:

• Richard's epic fantasy writing, which is told in trilogy batches, all within the same universe
• How the song "Run to the Hills" from Iron Maiden in the early 1980s put the story that became his first trilogy into his head, but also how Richard's serious start in writing didn't start until 2017
• How his first novel was called "The River Styx" for the first 33 years that he kept it kicking around in his head
• Pitching his first novel to an agent, and then realizing this was something he could do for himself
• Publishing 14 books in the "Soul Forge" universe since 2018
• A bit of a background on the reasoning behind retiring from Waterloo Police Service, and how that allowed him to be able to write
• Richard's analogy of being the race car driver with a fantastic pit crew (his wife, family, and the professionals he works with) that helps him look good
• Why Richard invests so much into in person and print selling
• Meeting David M. Kelly at GraphicCon in Sudbury, ON and how Richard learned a lot from David in that type of environment
• How 2020 was supposed to be their "breakthrough" year
• The value of what happens when a person browsing at Richard's table realizing they're actually talking to an author
• The epic-fantasy themed costumes that Richard will sometimes wear when doing an event in person
• The trilogy discount promotional pricing that Richard can offer
• Ordering print copies from a local printer (in Toronto) rather than having them shipped from Amazon
• The trailer Richard has for doing in person events with the book covers on it
• Richard's advice on not being afraid to engage with people, and don't be shy about sharing the fact that you are the author
• How, even with a sign that has your photo on them and a "meet the author today" people still don't "get it" that the author is right there
• The importance of trying different ways and approaches to see what works best for you
• Making someone's day by offering a woman who was having a bad day the opportunity to name a dragon in one of his books
• How Richard decides which in person book events are worth it and which ones aren't
• Advice Richard would give to his younger 1982 self
• And more...

After the interview, Mark reflects on the importance of making it clear, despite when things seem like they're already overtly obvious, as well as how we all tend to focus on our "one star" elements rather than our "five star" ones.

Links of Interest:

• Richard H. Stephens
• Printing Legacy (Toronto area Printer)
• Findaway Voices
• Submit YOUR reflections for Episode 300
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Richard H. Stephens began writing circa 1974; a bored child looking for something to do. A trip to a local bookstore saw the proprietor introduce him to the works of Terry Brooks and Stephen R. Donaldson and his writing life was forever changed.

Richard worked in a warehouse for 22 years, before going back to school. Graduating with honours, he joined the local Police Service. In 2017, Richard resigned from the Police Service to pursue writing full-time. With the support of his family, he has finally realized his boyhood dream.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark chats with Dharma Kelleher who writes action-driven thrillers that explore the complexities of social and criminal justice in a world that favors the privileged. She is one of the only openly transgender authors in the crime fiction genre. They talk about that and a lot more.

Prior to the interview, Mark reminds listeners about sending THEIR reflections for forthcoming Episode 300, provides a personal update and shares a word about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

In their conversation, Mark and Dharma talk about

• Dharma's "long, torrid" life-long affair with writing, and beginning to write on a manual typewriter in their teenage years
• What happened in the intervening years, including getting a degree in journalism
• Coming out as transgender, initially to self in college, and then later on. And the challenges of doing that in the deep south of the US
• Celebrating 25 years of marriage in 2023
• Falling back in love with writing in 2007 thanks to NaNoWriMo
• Spending eight years focusing mostly on the craft of writing
• Pitching to 90 agents and then landing a deal with a New York publisher
• Coming to the realization that the trad pub model wasn't going to work (due to the publisher requiring print book rights even though they weren't planning on publishing beyond eBook)
• Getting tired of hearing the "we already had a transgender author book this year" from publishers
• Red Market's release in February 2023 and how Dharma is selling it directly before doing a wide publishing release
• How you get it early and get more when you buy it direct from the author
• Switching from a WooCommerce to a Shopify website for direct sales
• Doing the best they can to deliver their books to any customer wherever they are on the planet
• Being the first person in Arizona to donate a kidney to a stranger and how that was part of the inspiration for Red Market
• The Jinx Ballou Crime Thriller series and how crime thrillers, mysteries, etc are often about "justice"
• Some of the things writers can get wrong when they include transgender characters in their fiction
• Disclosure (Netflix) - that takes a deep dive into those tropes
• The importance of giving transgender characters agency in fiction
• How the tropes can cause real harm, not just hurt feelings
• Dharma's love of numbers and love of writing being among their biggest passions
• And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on two of the things that came up in their discussion.

Links of Interest:

• Dharma's Website
• Queer Women Kick Ass (dot com)
  • Red Market (direct sales link)
• Trailer for Disclosure (Netflix)
• Lambda Literary: Three Transgender Crime Writers (Dharma, Robyn Gigl, Renee James) Talk Thrills and Challenges of Writing in the Genre
• Epic Reads: YA Fiction with Transgender and Non-Binary Characters
• Goodreads: Novels of Trans Protagonists by Trans authors
• Findaway Voices
• Submit YOUR reflections for Episode 300
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Dharma Kelleher writes action-driven thrillers that explore the complexities of social and criminal justice in a world that favors the privileged. She is one of the only openly transgender authors in the crime fiction genre. Dharma lives in Arizona with her wife and a black cat named Mouse. Learn more about Dharma and her work at https://dharmakelleher.com.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews Jeff Adams and Michele Lucchini about their new book, CONTENT FOR EVERYONE: A Practical Guide for Creative Entrepreneurs to Produce Accessible and Usable Web Content.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, reminds listeners about sending THEIR reflections for forthcoming Episode 300, a personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

In their conversation, Mark, Jeff, and Michele talk about:

• Their new book, released March 1, 2023 entitled CONTENT FOR EVERYONE and who the book is for
• Their backgrounds working at Useablenet and how it relates to this new release
• Jeff's Big Gay Fiction Podcast, which has been going on for eight years now
• Pioneering digital accessibility with UseableNet
• Thinking about accessibility as an opportunity or a basic expectation
• It being hard for Jeff and Michele to not notice accessibility issues out there on the net
• The genesis of the book and how it became a collaborative effort between the two of them
• Conveying a message in the widest way possible so that the widest number of people can consume it
• The importance of color contrast for people with low vision
• Considering the different ways different users interact with a web page
• A good rule is "do not rely on a single sense when you communicate"
• A theme running through the entire book: Being true believers in that if you know WHY you have to do something, you'll be a lot more committed in doing it
• An approach to consider if it feels too overwhelming to take on the task of making one's work more accessible
• Accessibility is about reaching as many potential customers as possible
• All of the conditions that might be creating a temporary disability
• How the only wrong thing to do is to do nothing
• The oddness of the situation where someone who requests something in a more accessible format is asking a favor rather than just laying out a fundamental expectation
• The idea of thinking of an accessible format as an "extra task" rather than a basic and fundamental task
• The importance of progress over perfection
• And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on a few specific learnings he took away from it and ways he can grow and improve/expand upon his mindset related to accessibility.

Links of Interest:

• Content for Everyone
• UseableNet
• WebAIM's Contrast Checker
• Jeff Adams (& Will Knauss)- Big Gay Author Podcast
• Jeff & Will on Draft2Digital Self-Publishing Insiders Live (Blog)(YouTube)
• Episode 293 - The Capacity to Unlearn and Relearn with Diane Devenyi
• Findaway Voices
• Submit YOUR reflections for Episode 300
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Jeff Adams is a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies by the International Association of Accessibility Professionals. As the Accessibility Operations Director for UsableNet, a company focused on making the digital world more accessible and usable, he consults with clients around the world about digital accessibility. In addition, Jeff's a creative entrepreneur as an author of queer romance and queer young adult fiction and co-host of the Big Gay Fiction Podcast.

Michele Lucchini is the Vice President of Delivery and Accessibility Operations for UsableNet and oversees the teams responsible for ensuring client's success in their digital accessibility program. Michele's background is rooted in software development first and moving to team and operation management later. Thanks to experience gathered in over two decades, Michele is an expert and helping companies, from the largest to the smallest, making their digital experiences accessible.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

In this episode Mark interviews Diane Devenyi, a former tax lawyer who shifted her focus to education reform, and her new book Dear Genius, Harness the Hidden Power in your ABCs.

Prior to the main segment, Mark reads comments from recent episodes, invites listeners to submit reflections for forthcoming episode 300 welcomes new patrons and shares a few words about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

During their chat, Mark and Diane talk about:

• Diane's start in a non-creative realm, with the belief she was going to be a tax lawyer
• Publicly announcing at an educational meeting that she was there to re-vamp education on the planet back in 1999
• Universal design: AKA "Learning for everyone"
• How the current education system was built to support an earlier century of humans -- ie, creating workers rather than thinkers
• The Alvin Toffler Quote: "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."
• Working on ways to shift things when it comes to education
• How easy it is to resolve some issues when you know what underlying element you're looking for
• The way Diane's book "Dear Genius" helps
• How to make Diane's method work in larger sized classroom settings, including doing it with 80 campers at one time in a summer camp setting
• Going to get her Masters of Education and how that led to having to put the summer camp on hold
• The concept of having families experience this together in an immersive setting
• Part of the process of actually learning/relearning the letters of the alphabet using clay
• Deciding to take on partner dancing later in life and how that completely changed her life
• A Grade 4 experience that taught Diane that they don't want to know what her best is, but they wanted her to be the best at what they wanted her to do
• Why, even if a person uses a typewriter and never hand-writes letters, how going back to the foundation of properly printing letters can make a significant difference
• From your hand, through your heart, and into your head
• Gaining a sense of resilience from unlearning and relearning something
• The March 2023 2-Day Boot Camps Diane is running online
• When your curiosity in life gets a kickstart
• And more...

After the episode Mark reflects on the importance of unlearning and relearning regardless of your age or how much you believe you might already have learned, and how he is planning on doing that to continue to grow as a writer and a person.

Links of Interest:

• The Learning Force (Diane's website)
• 7 Figures Podcast - How to Successfully Sell Wide (beyond Amazon) with Mark Lefebvre (YouTube)
• The Creative Penn - Global Wide Self-Publishing with Mark Leslie Lefebvre (YouTube)
• BookBub Blog - 10 Tips for Growing a Wide Global Audience
• Findaway Voices
• Submit YOUR reflections for Episode 300
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Diane Devenyi, LLB, MEd, is a former tax lawyer who shifted her focus to education reform when she became deeply troubled by learning struggles she observed in her children's classrooms. This has become her life-long passion. With more than 20 years in the field, she is sharing her observations about literacy and learning in a "Dear Genius" series of books, with "Harness the Hidden Power in Your ABCs!" being the first. Her hope is that children and adults everywhere can finally find relief and the freedom to soar in their own zone of genius.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews Oskar Söderberg, a thirty-five year old husband, father of two, and full-time IT employee about his writing life and the process leading up to publishing his debut novel, The Broken Pyromancer, coming in March 2023.

Prior to the main segment, Mark reads comments from recent episodes, shares a personal update, and a few words about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

During their chat, Mark and Oskar talk about:

• Oksar's long-held perspective of how cool writers were, with the romanticized images he always had
• Writing and self-publishing a book back in 2017, which did not work out well, and which he ended up taking down
• His main takeaway from that experience
• His first novel, which is with an editor as the interview was being conducted and is coming out in 2023
• What the Sweden Amazon site is like
• How Kindle Unlimited is not available in Sweden
• What platforms are not available to authors in Sweden
• The different genre Oskar is writing in for this new book
• Teaching himself programming in order to build a game for IOS and Android that is like a "choose your own adventure" interactive horror adventure (Gray Sojourn: Wandering Souls)
• Learning more about the world of self-publishing from listening to a number of podcasts (especially The 6 Figure Author Podcast)
• The expected/planned release date of the new novel, entitled The Broken Pyromancer
• Why Oskar decided to publish his books wide, and his understanding that the process can take a lot of time
• A look at the similarities and differences of advice for an author from Sweden versus an author in the US
• How eBooks aren't really a thing for readers in Sweden
• Oksar being the only person he knows who owns an eBook reader
• The popularity of audiobook apps and platforms like Storytel
• Oskar's learning about the reader magnet process and how it helped him go through the process and learning all the pieces of it, including testing the waters
• The proliferation of rookie mistakes that are so easy to find, despite all the great content, information, and resources for writers

After the interview, Mark reflects on a few things Oskar mentioned and thanks Patrons of the podcast.

Links of Interest:

• Oskar's Website
  • Novella: Eldspark Academy
  • The Game
• 6 Figure Authors Podcast
• EP 291 - The Importance of a Hero Who Looks Like You with Alicia Mccalla
• BookBub Blog - 10 Tips for Growing a Wide Global Audience
• Findaway Voices
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Working full time in IT, Oksar Söderberg is a 35 year old father of two tiny terrorizing girls trying to squeeze enough time in to become an author by any means necessary's. He is a reader, writer, and lover of fantasy (and some horror), with debut novel, The Broken Pyromancer, coming early 2023. Stay tuned!

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews writer, narrator, and creative Alicia McCalla about her work creating thrilling stories of courage, bravery and strength featuring kick-ass Black women leads in SciFi, Fantasy & Romance.

Prior to the main segment, Mark reads comments from recent episodes, thanks new Patrons, shares a personal update, and a few words about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

During their chat, Mark and Alicia talk about:

• How Alicia is two different versions of a superwoman and the way her brand is quite powerful
• Courage, bravery, and strength
• The strong women in Alicia's life, and her legacy
• Sharing badass, strong, and powerful black women who use their spunkiness, brains, and abilities
• Recognizing the power of a black Star Trek captain
• Dressing up in cosplay as a Starfleet captain when going to get a Covid booster shot
• How ground-breaking Nichelle Nichols' role in the original Star Trek was, and what happened when she wanted to quit
• The importance of having a superhero who looks like you, and Alicia's husband's experience with wanting to go to school for Halloween as Spider-Man, but being told by another child he couldn't be Spider-Man because he was black
• How the Civil Rights Movement could really be understood as a Women's movement
• Some of the differences between White Feminism and the approach to feminism taken by Black women
• The difference between Feminism and Female Empowerment
• The Miles Morales Into the Spiderverse movie
• The toxicity and racism that exists within science-fiction fandom
• Alicia's experience sitting on a panel at Dragon Con with a white male participant who claimed they didn't "see" the differences between white and black people and that "race" doesn't matter
• Crying unabashedly when seeing the Black Futurism in the movie Black Panther
• The experience of Alicia and her husband giving away their Black Panther and Wonder Woman watches to children in Ghana
• How selling direct can be both empowering and terrifying
• The exclusive audio available only via Alicia's website for those dedicated fans who really want it
• Having an international audience of readers all over the world and how the public library of South Africa is a place that many readers seem to be consumed her books
• Not being able to finish a book project because of a character who was deeply based on her grandfather who Alicia lost
• Narrating under the pen name Alicia Speaks

After the interview, Mark reflects on the importance of understanding how something that seems normal or just "fits" for one person, might not be experienced in the same way for another. Case in point: Both Mark and Alicia's husband dressed up as Spider-Man when they were children, but Mark wasn't told that he couldn't because of the color of his skin.

Links of Interest:

• Alicia McCalla's Website
• The Publishing Blues Brothers (YouTube)
• Weird Al's Song "One More Minute" (YouTube)
• Findaway Voices
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Alicia McCalla is a creative entrepreneur who writes, narrates and creates merchandise for readers and customers who love thrilling stories of courage, bravery and strength featuring badass, spunky and smart Black women main characters. If you are a Blerd or Nerd who loves talking about strong Black women and female empowerment in SciFi, Fantasy, Romance and sometimes Horror then join in on Alicia's blog discussions or follow her on social media.

Alicia began writing and self-publishing professionally in 2012. In the beginning, she wrote part-time while she worked full-time as a School Media Specialist. Tragedy struck and her only child, an officer in the US Navy was lost at sea. This single event changed everything. With the overwhelming intensity of her grief brain, she had to re-learn how to live fully while honoring her son's legacy (he was one of her largest supporters and champions. He even produced a theme song for her work). She often takes the time to acknowledge her grief journey in her blog posts.

Now, Alicia is a full-time writer, audiobook narrator & merchandiser sharing stories and products of courageous, brave and strong Black women warriors. She enjoys writing kick-ass sistas with skills, swords & superpowers. Alicia is Black Girl Nerd and regularly Cosplays strong female superheroes, warriors and maybe even a fairy. Because of her love of fan merchandise and desire to see Black women represented in SciFi and Fantasy Merchandise, she launched her shop Alicia McCalla's Emporium featuring superheroines, vigilantes, huntresses and much more.

Alicia's influences include Octavia Butler, LA Banks, Faith Hunter, Sherrilyn Kenyon and Patricia Briggs.

She is an activist in the movement towards diversifying Science fiction and Fantasy (#diversityinSFF). She created the first "State of Black Science Fiction 2012" blog tour, is an active member in the State of Black Science Fiction FaceBook group and has a Pinterest account where she actively curates topics related to Black Warrior Women, Black Science Fiction, Fantasy and more.

Alicia writes for adults with her brand of Black superheroes, dark fantasy, Urban Fantasy, paranormal, and horror. She is a former Women Marine-Reservist and a decorated war veteran. Alicia is a native Detroiter who currently resides in metro Atlanta with her loving husband and many nieces and nephews. Sign-up on www.aliciamccalla.com for free reads, updates, sneak peeks, and merchandise coupons.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

In this solo episode, Mark reflects on how continues to be inspired by teacher, mentor, and friend Jim Turcott.

Prior to the main segment, Mark shares a word about this episode's sponsor segment.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

• Findaway Voices
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0