A sidestep into screenwriting led Ryan Hines back to writing short stories, novels, and flash fiction. He talks challenges and the Writer as a Thief of Life. That’s the best Quick Tip any writer can offer.

Our Summer Writing Challenge has concluded, and in the last Check-In I offer stats and more. We open with a Quick Tip before Ryan talks writing challenges.

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 39:28

LINKS

Ryan’s Site https://ryanmhines.com/

His podcast https://moonshineland.podbean.com/

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/09/635-summer-writing-challenge-week-14.html  

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at [email protected].

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Santa Barbara screenwriter Todd Goodlett talks scripts, drafting and revising, conflict, and more in this week’s episode of our Summer Writing Challenge.

Our last Quick Tip, # 13, is entitled the Writing Wonderland, and it feels like a Wonderland when I considered the statistics for our 13th Check-In. Our final Check-In will be the next episode.

On to our last August episode, with two more to come in September.

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 37:53

LINKS

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/08/634-summer-writing-challenge-week-13.html  

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at [email protected].

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Thriller writer Jeffrey James Higgins turns our interview into a smooth journey without any hitches in today’s episode. Located in the DC area, he helps writers with his salon, located at Elaine’s Restaurant , the literary hub of Alexandria, VA. If you’re in that area, do check out the salon.

We’re winding down the last days of the Summer Writing Challenge with a Quick Tip on Cover Considerations.

Check-In # 12 and my novella is finally on the last portion of its journey, all smooth traveling now.

Let’s begin.

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 38:42

LINKS

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/05/633-summer-writing-challenge-week-12.html  

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at [email protected].

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Can you see Autumn yet? I’m yearning for it, my special time of the year.

Autumn is the anniversary of this podcast, starting five years ago, and my publishing journey, 10 years ago. It’s always wonderful to me. I see no signs yet, but I’m definitely looking—even though it’s much too soon.

We can be that way with our writing: rushing toward the end, especially when we juggle multiple projects—that’s the focus of our Quick Tip this week

Our interview is with Michael Dabney, a former journalist now inspired to write about a private detective in mid-1980s Philadelphia.

The Check-In closes the episode. Let’s begin.

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 41:21

LINKS

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/08/632-summer-writing-challenge-week-11.html  

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at [email protected].

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Into August and the last month of the Summer Writing Challenge with Week 10. Our interviews will stretch two extra weeks of September.

Delia Pitts gives us a wonderful interview with fantastic information to share.

We’re thinking Cocoons in the Quick Tip ~ it’s always wise for writers to think in metaphors, don’t you think?

My Check-In is all over the place as I’m finishing the Rough and Drafting the manuscript and working on this podcast, all at once.

Let’s begin.

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 39:40

LINKS

Delia’s site deliapitts.com

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/08/631-summer-writing-challenge-week-10.html

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at [email protected].

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

We’ve reached the end of July, two-thirds of our Summer Writing Challenge. How are you doing on your summer goal? Share your progress in the Comments.

In this week’s episode our talk is with cozy fantasy mystery writer Elle Hartford.

We start with a Quick Tip on creating Reader Magnets, and we conclude with our Check-In.

Let’s begin.

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 29:04

LINKS

Elle's website: https://ellehartford.com/

The Silver Deck Link: https://books2read.com/the-silver-deck  *The ebook is still free for new newsletter subscribers! The purchase link is for anyone interested in the special print edition.

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/07/630-summer-writing-challenge-week-9.html  

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at [email protected].

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

It’s Week 8 of the Summer Writing Challenge.

Eight is symbolic of two disparate meanings: 1] almost to completion, when completion is symbolic 10, and 2] a step beyond perfection, as 7 is the perfect number.

We’re not perfect. We’re not even a step before, let alone beyond. We do try.

After a Quick Tip on the 2 Requirements for Every Story, we have our interview with writer Paula Messina. Closing, as usual, is the Check-In.

Let’s begin.

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 23:55

LINKS

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/07/629-summer-writing-challenge-wk-8-and.html  

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at [email protected].

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Welcome to our mid-July week for the Summer Writing Challenge.

Our interview introduces Ron Katz, who brands his mysteries as The Sleuthing Silvers.

We open with a Quick Tip on Antagonists and close with a Check-In. I’m burning ahead to my goal—which is always a good place to be.

On to the episode!

TIMINGS

Total Run Time = 20:52

LINKS

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/07/628-summer-writing-challenge-interview.html  

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at [email protected].

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

July 9 means we’re in the 6th week of the Summer Writing Challenge.

Returning to us in this episode is donalee Moulton, a great writer living in one of my favorite locations, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

We open with a Quick Writing Tip on Using Twists then close with a Check-In, as usual.

donalee Moulton’s first mystery book Hung out to Die was published in 2023. A historical mystery, Conflagration!, was published in 2024. It won the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense (Historical Fiction). donalee has two new books coming out in 2025, Bind and Melt, the first novels in a new series, the Lotus Detective Agency.

A short story “Swan Song” was one of 21 selected for publication in Cold Canadian Crime. It was shortlisted for an Award of Excellence. Other short stories have been published in numerous anthologies and magazines. donalee’s short story “Troubled Water” was shortlisted for a 2024 Derringer Award and a 2024 Award of Excellence from the Crime Writers of Canada.

donalee is an award-winning freelance journalist. She has written articles for print and online publications across North America including The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Lawyer’s Daily, National Post, and Canadian Business. As well, donalee is the author of The Thong Principle: Saying What You Mean and Meaning What You Say and co-authored the book, Celebrity Court Cases: Trials of the Rich and Famous.

TIMINGS

The Wide Set of Writing Challenges / Repeating Challenges / Challenges when Writing in Different Genres / Developing a Second Skin / Conflicting Feedback / Acquiring Objective Distance / New Releases in a Series

Total Run Time = 34:17

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at [email protected].

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Midsummer brings us to July, and we start July with an interview of Toronto writer Karen Grose.

Before the interview, we have a Quick Writing Tip: Don’t completely panic when characters take over the story. It’s then that we cede control of the story to them.

After our interview, we close with the 5th Check-In.

We’re early days still for our writing challenge and the novella that I’ve chosen to write.

Share your successes and problems AND solutions in the Comments.

Karen Grose’s debut novel, The Dime Box, was selected by Amnesty International for its 2021 Book Club. The Chinese language version, retitled as The Lost Daughters, was published by Sharp Point Press, Taiwan, in 2023. Karen’s second and third novels are Flat Out Lies and All June Left Behind.

Karen has flash, poems and short stories in journals and anthologies, both in print and online. She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters-in-Crime-Toronto and National, and the #thrillsandchills writing group. Track her down on X: @kgrose2, IG: karengrosewrites, FB or at www.karengrose.ca

TIMINGS

Her Writing / Revising based on Themes / Using Writers’ Groups / Paying it Forward / Newest Release

Total Run Time = 26:00

LINKS

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/07/626-summer-writing-challenge-wk-5-and.html  

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at [email protected].

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)