Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

In this episode Mark interviews Premee Mohamed, a Nebula, World Fantasy, Ignyte, Locus, and Aurora award-winning Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based in Edmonton, Alberta.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word from this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by the Show, Don't Tell Writing Podcast with Suzy Vadori. In this weekly show, Suzy brings you writing techniques, best practices, motivation, inspirational stories from real live authors out there making it in the world, and actionable advice that can help you turn that book you're writing into the bestseller you know deep down that it can be.

In their interview, Mark and Premee talk about:

• How Premee introduces herself as a writer in different contexts
• The snobbery that can exist in the CanLit spaces in relation to sci-fi/fantasy/horror
• The generous umbrella of the term "speculative fiction"
• Being drawn to write in the speculative genres because that's what she liked to read
• The first completely partially illustrated story Premee remembers finishing when she was eight years old
• The Stephen King anthology (authorized stories set in the world of The Stand) was the most Premee had been offered for a short story ever
• The agent Premee found for selling her first book and having worked with them for almost nine years
• The common response of a multi- or cross-genre book confusing publishers who liked it because they didn't know "where to put it" on the shelves
• How the awards Premee has won so far haven't really moved the needle at all in terms of increasing book sales
• Premee's forthcoming books that are coming from the big five publishers
• Loving the writing anyway, and how Premme would write even if she wasn't publishing
• Premee's experience as a Writer in Residence at the Edmonton Public Library
• Advice Premee would offer to writers looking for a publisher to sell their writing to
• How she used to be a pantser but is now a completely converted outliner
• How Premee's only self-publishing experience being a painful experience because it was work she did not enjoy, but how it led to her selling enough units of the ebook that it helped cover a trip to Dublin for a World Con
• The powerful impact of Canada's PLR program for writers
• And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on a few items that came up in the conversation.

Links of Interest:

• Premee Mohamed's Website
• EP 478 - The Pinocchio Problem
• EP 475 - Writing Emotions and Making the Reader Feel with Jeff Elkins
• Substack Article - Hat Switch on the Highway: A Tale of Two Marks
• Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Mark's YouTube channel
• ElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)
• Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
• Stark Realities Book
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• 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
  • Only Monsters in the Building
  • Once Bitten (Novella)
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
• Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
• I Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises

Premee Mohamed is a Nebula, World Fantasy, Ignyte, Locus, and Aurora award-winning Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based in Edmonton, Alberta. She has also been a finalist for the Hugo, British Fantasy, British Science Fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Crawford awards. In 2024, she was the Edmonton Public Library writer-in-residence, and she has taught at establishments including the Banff Institute for the Arts, the Clarion Workshop, and the Carl Brandon Society. She has judged short fiction contests for CBC and Alberta Views Magazine and can be found on her website at www.premeemohamed.com. She is represented by Michael Curry of DMLA.

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

This episode features an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Mark's book STARK REALITIES: Stacked-up Lessons Every Writer Needs To Know About The Business of Writing and Publishing. The chapter is called "The Pinocchio Problem."

Prior to the main content Mark shares a brief personal update and a word from this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by the book STARK REALITIES: Stacked-up Lessons Every Writer Needs To Know About The Business of Writing and Publishing.

The Truth About Building a Writing Career With No Sugarcoating, Just Real Talk. The Honest, practical guide that every writer needs.

Learn more about this book at markleslie.ca/starkrealities

Links of Interest:

• Stark Realities Book
• Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Mark's YouTube channel
• ElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)
• Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• 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
  • Only Monsters in the Building
  • Once Bitten (Novella)
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
• Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
• I Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises

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 recorded while driving between Waterloo, Ontario and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on his way to attending StokerCon, a horror writer conference, Mark shares some reflections on his dual life as an author-supporting industry representative and a horror author.

This episode is sponsored by Author Nation, being held in Las Vegas Nov 13 through 14, 2026

Learn more about Author Nation and register at AuthorNation.live.

Links of Interest:

• Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Mark's YouTube channel
• ElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)
• Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• 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
  • Only Monsters in the Building
  • Once Bitten (Novella)
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
• Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
• I Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises

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 grammar educator Patty McGee about her new book NOT YOUR GRANNY'S GRAMMAR as well as how grammar should be approachable rather than feared.

Prior to the interview Mark comments from recent episodes and related Stark Reflections content, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by an affiliate link to Manuscript Report. Use code MARK10 at checkout and save 10% off your own personalized report.

In the interview, Mark and Patty talk about:

Talk about:

• Patty's background as a teacher and how she tried to make the experience as rich as possible for students
• The challenge of when she first approached teaching grammar
• Looking for a new time of entry point for grammar learning
• Grammar being more than just the traditional basics, including sentence construction and sentences types that can make our writing more fluid and better express what we want readers to experience in our writing
• How identifying parts of speech in grammar has often become a kind of gatekeeping element in how to use grammar
• Patty being a literary consultant but preferring to call herself a "traveling teacher"
• How a lot of adults carry a lot of baggage about grammar
• Removing the punitive nature of the way grammar is approached and taught
• Patty's use of grammatical manipulatives and being allowed to play with them
• Certain long-time rules such as the "comma splice" rule that might be going away due to common modern use
• How handwriting is one of the most useful ways of remembering and building skills by firing more neurons than typing does
• Things to remember about the discomfort and fear of grammar such as "grammar isn't rules, grammar is art" and "grammar isn't rules, grammar is style"
• And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on a few things about the conversation and also interjects with something from his personal update that he forgot.

Links of Interest:

• Patty McGee's Website
• Article: Survival Dance: How Humans Waltzed Through the Ice Age
• Article: With This Pen, I Thee Connect
  • Patreon Version
  • Substack Version
• Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Mark's YouTube channel
• ElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)
• Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• 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
  • Only Monsters in the Building
  • Once Bitten (Novella)
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
• Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
• I Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises

Patty McGee is a nationally recognized literacy consultant, speaker, and educator passionate about transforming classrooms into spaces where language and learning come alive. With decades of experience as a teacher, coach, and advocate for delightful literacy practices, Patty has worked alongside educators across the country, partnering to unlock the full potential of their students through innovative and practical teaching strategies. Not Your Granny's Grammar is her third book. Connect with Patty at www.pattymcgee.org.

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 Elkins, The Dialogue Doctor, about writing emotion and a new in person gathering he's organizing in Baltimore in late 2026.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episode, a personal update, and a word from this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by Author Nation, being held in Las Vegas Nov 13 through 14, 2026

Learn more about Author Nation and register at AuthorNation.live.

During their conversation, Mark and Jeff talk about:

• Jeff's latest book in the Dialogue Doctor series on writing emotions
• How Jeff has never really done any marketing for his books
• Struggling with intense self doubt
• Co-authoring with JP Rindfleisch IX
• The concept of thinking about how a scene makes the reader feel instead of how the character feels
• How in a world of AI you should be the most human you can be and how it leads to the question: "What does it look like, what does it mean to write like a human?"
• Seven different ways you can manipulate the reader's emotional journey and how they've come from the coaching Jeff does with authors
• Recentering our story around the question of what our character's growth is
• The book THE ANTI-RACISM WORKSHOP
• The concept of the reader's ally character to either increase or relieve the pressure, or tension in a moment
• Jeff's in person gathering happening in Baltimore later this year
• And more...

After the interview, Mark reflects on four different things from the conversation, and includes an additional personal update that comes with a reflection.

Links of Interest:

• The Dialogue Doctor
• The Fiction Makers Conference (Aug 22, 23, 2026)
• Jeff's Previous Appearances
  • EP 312 - The Dialogue Doctor Will See You Now With Jeff Elkins
  • EP 266 - "Let's Talk Dialogue with Jeff Elkins," He Said Reflectively
  • EP 157 - A Conversation with Jeff Elkins, The Dialogue Doctor
  • EP 226 - Reflective Round Table - December 2021
  • EP 172 - Understanding and Navigating Gender
• Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Mark's YouTube channel
• ElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)
• Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• 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
  • Only Monsters in the Building
  • Once Bitten (Novella)
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
• Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
• I Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises

Jeff Elkins is the founder of the Dialogue Doctor where he and two other passionate coaches help authors and provides free resources and a supportive community. He's the author of 13 novels, 5 books on the craft of writing, and over 100 short stories. He has worked with hundreds of authors over the years and helped thousands more via his many resources, his public speaking, and the Dialogue Doctor podcast.

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 Canadian writer Colleen Anderson about writing horror and speculative fiction and poetry as well as non-fiction articles.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episode, a personal update, and a word from this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by Author Nation, being held in Las Vegas Nov 13 through 14, 2026

Learn more about Author Nation and register at AuthorNation.live.

In the interview, Mark and Colleen talk about:

• How they've known each other mostly online
• Colleen's editing of the Tesseracts Seventeen anthology which Mark had a story in
• The Canadian horror anthology that Mark and Colleen Anderson are going to be which is coming in December 2026
• Colleen's forthcoming poetry collection (TO THE LAST ION) and the poetry collection she published last year
• How Colleen uses such things as an instance of alien abduction and body horror in one of her poems to illustrate societal observations about things like the way we do body modifications or live within a world of stereotypes
• The prevalence of body horror lately and how it's often about a loss of control
• A look at universal monsters in a recent article Colleen wrote
• A definition of what body horror is, and a discussion of the Bram Stoker Award winning novel Queen of Teeth
• The days of paper manuscript submissions and the logistics involved in that
• The open mic workshop that takes place at places like StokerCon for speculative and horror poetry
• How Colleen decides what format an idea is going to take
• Putting in her "poet brain" instead of her "fiction writer brain" in some instances
• The methods Colleen uses to find markets to submit her writing to and how some of them work
• Finding and applying for various grants for writers/artists/creatives
• Advice Colleen would offer to writers wanting to submit their writing to various markets
• Colleen's first experience doing a live reading
• Some of the conferences Colleen is going to be attending in the next little while
• Where people can find Colleen online

After the interview Mark reflects on the value of writing and submitting short pieces and the potential earning. He also talks about CanCon and the way different music/sounds can stir up emotions and deep memories and even things like Canadian pride.

Links of Interest:

• Colleen Anderson's Website/Blog
• Nov 2, 2025 Episode of The Creative Penn Podcast (Creating While Caring with Donn King)
• Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Mark's YouTube channel
• ElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)
• Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• 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
  • Only Monsters in the Building
  • Once Bitten (Novella)
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
• Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
• I Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises

Colleen Anderson has been widely published across eight countries, with works appearing in publications such as Weird Tales, Cemetery Dance, Amazing, and Shadow Atlas. Rhysling Award winner for "Machine (r)Evolution" and a two-time winner of the SFPA's dwarf poetry contest, she has been nominated for Pushcart, Elgin, Rhysling, and Dwarf Stars Awards. She is a Canada Council, BC Arts Council and Ladies of Horror Fiction grant recipient. Her poetry collections include The Lore of Inscrutable Dreams, I Dreamed a World, Weird Worlds, and Vellum Leaves and Lettered Skins as well as two fiction collections A Body of Work and Embers Amongst the Fallen. Colleen freelances as an editor, and has served on the SFPA executive, as well as British Fantasy Award and Stoker juries. She lives in Vancouver, BC where she searches for mermaids.

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 Donn King about his new book ANCHORED FOR THE STORM, about caregiving, and about creativity.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episode, a personal update, and a word from this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by Author Nation, being held in Las Vegas Nov 13 through 14, 2026

Learn more about Author Nation and register at AuthorNation.live.

In the interview, Mark and Donn talk about:

• The difference between goals and missions
• How Donn has always been a writer of some sort and how that will always be the thing that stays even when he cuts other things back
• Writer's Block versus when the well runs dry
• Understanding how not being true to yourself can be something that leads to depression
• Thinking of yourself not as a speaker or a writer, but an expert in a particular field and which you can share those things through speaking and writing
• The recent passing away of Donn's severely disabled daughter Hanna and the 24-hour required care she had needed
• Donn's preferred 2 to 3 hours of uninterrupted time for writing . . . and how being unable to do that suggested to him that he could NOT write. And how that all changed when he found ways to get writing done in much smaller chunks, like 5 minute slots
• How there are currently roughly 50 million unpaid caregivers in the US today and yet how they can feel so alone
• Re-examining what it means to creative even for those who are writers or artists
• Being able to serve your person by taking care of yourself
• How when you are a caregiver you are in constant crisis without any indication that it will ever end
• How Donn has been grieving as a parent for over numerous decades
• Donn's book of devotionals for caregivers who don't need another inspirational slogan, ANCHORED FOR THE STORM
• The question of "why do bad things happen to good people" and how it relates to the concept of a dog watching a human rushing about in their daily life without being able to comprehend what the human is doing and why the human is doing it
• The generic and stereotypical things people can say when addressing someone else's loss
• The value of not feeling alone and how that can help people drawing strength from one another
• The Andy Weir novel PROJECT HAIL MARY and the recent movie adaptation
• The Warren Buffett story about the idea of giving up things you really want to do in order to achieve the most important things that you want to do
• Being aware of how Donn lost his "best-earning years"
• Mark's recent "Publishing Wide But Shallow" talk
• Donn knowing how to do a proper book launch, but not having the capability of getting those things done
• Advice Donn would offer to others who are in a care-giving situation
• What to say when you're not sure what to say
• And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on the value in connecting (even when that interview either wasn't recorded or wasn't "used" for anything other than a personal connection with someone else, on the incredible power writers have to ensure someone else out there doesn't feel alone, and the importance of being honest when you're not sure what to say to someone in a delicate situation.

Links of Interest:

• Donn King's Website
  • Anchored for the Storm
  • Creating While Caring
• King's Chronicles (Substack)
• Pint and Portal Podcast: Find Success Beyond Amazon (YouTube)
• Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Mark's YouTube channel
• ElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)
• Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• 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
  • Only Monsters in the Building
  • Once Bitten (Novella)
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
• Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
• I Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises

Donn King is an author and speaker who has spent years helping writers and speakers connect with audiences in authentic ways. Donn's books and podcast, The Alignment Show, explore how to live in courageous alignment with your values. He blends a warm, slightly playful style while still grounding his work in credibility. His goal is to prove that words, when used with honesty, heart, and craft, can shift lives.

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 Orna Ross, an award-winning novelist, poet, creative catalyst, and founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors about her recent move towards focusing all her social media energy on Substack.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episode, a personal update, and a word from this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by Author Nation, being held in Las Vegas Nov 13 through 14, 2026

Learn more about Author Nation and register at AuthorNation.live.

In the interview, Mark and Orna talk about:

• That one time in London at a Kobo device launch event when Mark and Orna were hanging out together
• Orna's background as a writer, a poet, and a freelance journalist
• Her experience in both self-publishing and traditional publishing
• The origin of wanting to create something to help support authors who were self-publishing, and the 2012 launch of ALLI (Alliance of Independent Authors) at London Book Fair
• The connection one of Orna's multi-book writing projects has to do with Irish poet W.B. Yeats
• Orna's experience with deciding to go "all in" with Substack
• One of the best things about Substack, which is how "everything" can be there (blog, socials, "patrons," serialization of a novel, poetry, self-development for creativists)
• How on Substack you can segment what goes out to different people
• Orna's recommendation for authors considering not doing it the way she did it, but instead picking a single lane and staying in it
• The main mistake Orna sees a lot of authors making on Substack
• How Substack is completely different than everyplace else on social media
• The difference between notes and posts on Substack
• The visibility of analytics of what's working, who is interacting with what, etc
• Advice Orna would give to writers related to "meaning and purpose" as well as understanding our value
• And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on the idea of simplicity in execution, creating things that are "unmistakeable human" and how Orna describes herself as a "Creative Catalyst."

Links of Interest:

• Orna Ross's Website
• Orna Ross on Substack
• Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Mark's YouTube channel
• ElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)
• Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• 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
  • Only Monsters in the Building
  • Once Bitten (Novella)
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
• Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
• I Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises

Orna Ross is an award-winning novelist, poet, creative catalyst, and founder of the Alliance of Independent Authors

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 Becca Puglisi about the new book THE FEAR THESAURUS which she co-authored with Angelea Ackerman.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word from this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by the Show, Don't Tell Writing Podcast with Suzy Vadori. In this weekly show, Suzy brings you writing techniques, best practices, motivation, inspirational stories from real live authors out there making it in the world, and actionable advice that can help you turn that book you're writing into the bestseller you know deep down that it can be.

In their interview, Mark and Becca talk about:

• The Descriptive Thesaurus series and how The Fear Thesaurus is book 11 in this series
• How Becca and Angela are trying something new this year with their latest release - selling it direct before making it available on all the various retail channels
• The fear that came in the process of putting this book together
• How there's not a lot out there about character fears
• The human needs that become impacted because of past trauma, and what a person fears and tries to avoid
• The way so many of these experiences connect directly to a character's fear and ultimately their character development in your writing
• Looking at healthy/normal responses versus trauma inspired or unhealth/abnormal responses
• How fears can cross over from something normal and unremarkable to another thing that becomes an overblown reaction
• The way this book is a great accompanying text to the Emotional Would Thesaurus
• Looking at how fear plays into story
• A bit of a background behind the series and the first book: The Emotion Thesaurus
• The common element of "show, don't tell" that runs through all of their books
• The authors' hope is that the entries in the book gives them ideas that they can take, modify and apply to the specifics of their characters
• How their previous book The Emotion Amplifier ties in beautifully to this book
• A character's greatest fear versus an everyday fear
• The way that fear is a great way to mobilize the reader's connection to the story
• The breakdown of fears and the way the book is laid out
• Selling this book directly on their Shopify store on April 15, 2026 before launching it to all the other retailers a month later
• The Fear Hub available at their website when they order the book off their direct store
• The overall website of Writers Helping Writers and the great 20+ years of resources that reside there, including free resources and downloads and handouts
• Combining one's gifts with the things one is passionate about
• The origin story of how Becca and Angela first met and decided to collaborate on The Emotion Thesaurus
• Advice Becca would share with beginning writers based on her more than twenty years as a writer and almost twenty years of helping other writers

After the interview Mark reflects on several different things related to his conversation with Becca.

Links of Interest:

• Writers Helping Writers
• The Fear Thesaurus
• Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Mark's YouTube channel
• ElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)
• Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• 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
  • Only Monsters in the Building
  • Once Bitten (Novella)
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
• Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
• I Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and best-selling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and other resources for writers. Her books have sold over 1.4 million copies and are available in multiple languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online resource for authors that's home to the Character Builder and Storyteller's Roadmap tools.

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 former publicist to the stars Isabelle Knight who is the founder of Build Your Author Brand, an online consultancy helping fiction and non-fiction authors to grow your readership, raise your profile and give your books the best chance of success.

Prior to the interview Mark shares that he is on the road at the Writers and Illustrators of the Future annual workshops and gala as one of the writer judges and is using his digital voice clone from ElevenLabs to record the introduction and closing reflection. He also shares a word about this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by an affiliate link to Manuscript Report. Use code MARK10 at checkout and save 10% off your own personalized report.

During the interview Mark and Isabelle talk about:

• Isabelle's background as a publicist for film, TV, and books
• Recognizing how there's a real knack of knowledge for creating an effective brand/profile
• Teaching authors the basics of that branding without using the terms PR or publicity
• The idea of creating foundations of how an author can be able to pitch their books to an audience
• How talking about marketing can quickly fill authors with a sense of terror
• The importance of wanting to know, before helping an author, what makes them tick
• How the author's story is what tells us who they author is and ultimately "why do we care?" about your book(s)
• Finding the themes that can tie books together rather than what makes them different when an author has written more than one book
• The challenge of wanting, too much, to share the details from a book, the plot, the tropes, etc versus sharing higher level themes and patterns
• The misconception that PR and Publicity is only for celebrities or people who are comfortable being in the spotlight
• A misperception that authors have about how to provide content for social media
• How Isabelle doesn't work like a traditional publicist
• The course that Isabelle runs with a cohort about three times a year
• And more...

After the interview Mark shares a few reflections about the conversation.

Links of Interest:

• Build Your Author Brand
• Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Mark's YouTube channel
• ElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)
• Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• 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
  • Only Monsters in the Building
  • Once Bitten (Novella)
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
• Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
• I Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises

Former publicist to the stars, including titans of industry JK Rowling and the BBC, Isabelle Knight is the founder of Build Your Author Brand, an online consultancy helping fiction and non-fiction authors to grow your readership, raise your profile and give your books the best chance of success.

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