The Writer's Mindset

This week, we're talking to our very own Kristina Adams all about how her writing process has changed over the last six years and sixteen books.

You'll learn:

• What it's like to write a book to write a spin-off series that overlaps with your very first book
• How to write and publish more efficiently
• Why writing is an ongoing journey - and that's a good thing!
• Why Kristina's latest book, Hollywood Heartbreak, feels like it took so much longer to write (even though it didn't)

Show note

• 00.00 – Introductions
• 01.50 – Pet Ownership Room 101
• 04.00 – A poem about poo.
• 05.40 – Interview with Kristina Adams
• 05.55 – How does Kristina feel having finally finished Hollywood Heartbreak?
• 09.40 – Overlapping woes…
• 14.00 – It made Kristina cry!
• 16.00 – The pains of going through your own work.
• 19.30 – Kristina couldn’t even be bothered to watch Castle…
• 20.35 – Outlining became double important for this book.
• 24.30 – Even Ellie outlines now!
• 26.30 – Who needs friends?
• 30.00 – What made us want to retry outlining?
• 31.40 – How Kristina outlined her latest fantasy book.
• 35.00 – The ongoing journey of writing.
• 36.50 – Why did Kristina change the opening of Hollywood Heartbreak so many times?
• 39.20 – Answer questions and add suffering.
• 43.20 – When can you buy Hollywood Heartbreak?

Kristin N. Spencer spends part of each day imagining up new worlds and beings when she isn’t busy with her three children, two dogs, and husband. When she's not writing, editing, or mothering, you can find her sewing cosplay costumes, watching geekesque movies, or reading voraciously. Her purpose in life is to help people tell awesome stories, and her favourite shape is a hexagon.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why copy editing is so important
• What the differences between copy editing and proofreading are
• How to work with a copy editor
• Why Microsoft Word is a magical editing tool

Show notes:

• 00.00 – Introductions
• 01.45 – Every story?!
• 03.41 – Just write it!
• 06.00 – Interview with Kristin Spencer
• 08.20 – What even is copy editing?
• 11.20 – What is nesh?
• 11.50 – What’s the difference between proofreading and copyediting?
• 15.15 – Common copyediting mistakes that writers make.
• 21.00 – Proofreading cannot happen until copyediting has happened.
• 22.30 – Are adverbs a dirty word?
• 26.00 – The 6 story killers!
• 28.30 – Gotta get the hook.
• 31.30 – The perils of over describing.
• 34.00 – Don’t try and sound fancy for no reason.
• 37.00 – Stick in the right head!
• 43.20 – What to do with those scenes you need to get rid of.
• 45.00 – Tense, tense, tense some more!
• 48.10 – Stick to formatting standards.
• 50.55 – Tell tale signs that you skipped the copyediting…
• 57.00 – When do you even start copy editing?
• 1.03.00 – How do you choose a copyeditor?
• 1.05.30 – Which one book changed Kristin’s life?
• 1.08.25 – A gift for all of our listeners!
• 1.10.00 – Where can you find out more about Kristin? (and find a copyeditor!)

Read the book that changed Kristin's life

• Amazon UK *
• Amazon US *

*Affiliate link. It won’t cost you any extra to purchase through one of our links, but we will get a small commission for every purchase.

Jenna Moreci is a bestselling author of dark fantasy and science fiction, as well as a YouTube sensation with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. The Savior’s Champion, her first novel in The Savior’s Series, was voted one of the Best Books of All Time by Book Depository.

Born and raised in Silicon Valley, Jenna spends her free time laughing until her face hurts with her goofball fiancé and snuggling with her tiny dog.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to get over your fear of being on video
• When to start building your author platform
• The types of content your audience wants to see
• How long it takes to put together a video

Show notes:

• 00.00 – Introductions
• 01.25 – Writing process Room 101.
• 03.10 – Ellie’s first car analogy…
• 04.00 – Kristina hates reading her own work.
• 06.00 – Interview with Jenna Moreci.
• 07.50 – Why did Jenna start a YouTube channel, despite never wanting to?
• 10.20 – The benefit of embracing who you are.
• 14.40 – Dealing with the douches.
• 17.40 – Time is the biggest challenge.
• 19.55 – The best part of running a YouTube channel.
• 22.20 – The stresses of creating content.
• 24.50 – Top tips for starting your own channel.
• 27.50 – The beauty of not beating around the bush.
• 29.00 – Is it harder to be so straight talking as a woman?
• 29.50 – Generating ideas for content.
• 31.40 – Tube Buddy?
• 32.40 – Creating the perfect titles to grab attention on YouTube.
• 35.30 – Getting comfortable in front of the camera.
• 40.00 – Do we all need a corporate background?
• 46.15 – You’re gonna suck at first, but you can get past it.
• 51.45 – The silver lining of your first book.
• 53.50 – Embracing costumes.
• 55.45 – Don’t take it so seriously.
• 59.00 – Mummy paint?
• 1.02.50 – Which book changed Jenna’s life?
• 1.05.50 – Where can you find more of Jenna Moreci?

Download the book that changed Jenna's life - Ella Enchanted

• Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3mFlmUC *
• Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3HnhyPP *
• Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/ella-enchanted/id553174334?itsct=books_box_link&itscg=30200&ls=1&at=1000l335I *

*Affliate link.

To kick off season four—and 2022—we've got a juicy one for you! We invited back previous interviewees and asked them what their top launch tip for the year ahead is.

Featuring:

• Sacha Black
• Daniel Willcocks
• Tim Lewis
• Terra Kelly
• Matty Dalrymple
• Elizabeth Spann Craig

Show notes:

• 00.00 – Introductions
• 01.25 – Daniel Willcocks and the perils of putting all your eggs into your first book.
• 05.30 – Tim Lewis and building a community for your book.
• 07.40 – Terra Kelly and creating a conversation.
• 09.25 – Elizabeth Spann Craig and getting into ads.
• 10.30 – Matty Dalrymple and accommodating your own needs.
• 13.30 – Sacha Black and doing your launch your way.
• 16.40 – Kristina’s top secret top tip. 

Check out some of the bloopers from the first year of The Writer's Mindset podcast!

What has Ellie learned since recording our season two episode 'Perfectionism in first drafts'? How will it impact her writing process going forwards? And what could you learn from her mistakes? Find out in our latest revisited episode...

Do you struggle to set writing goals you can stick to?

Ellie's about to revisit one of our early episodes and share some tips that have helped her since then.

In this episode, to tide you over until season 4 starts in January, Ellie revisits our very first episode: 9 reasons you can't finish your work in progress!

Show notes:

• 00.00 – Introduction
• 02.10 – Ellie didn’t nail her tension.
• 04.15 – Audience expectations weren’t explored enough.
• 06.50 – Ellie’s original plan was way too complicated (and boring!)
• 09.15 – Learning to be confident in yourself.
• 12.40 – Introductions
• 13.20 – Have you done enough research?
• 14.40 – Getting to know your characters.
• 17.55 – You’ve gotta know where you’re going.
• 20.00 – Getting tense.
• 23.30 – Do you know what your audience are expecting?
• 28.10 – Stop overthinking!
• 30.40 – Writing chronologically is overrated.
• 32.00 – Stop confusing your brain with multitasking.
• 34.40 – You have permission to make your first draft as terrible as possible.
• 36.55 – Keep things simple.
• 39.00 – No one else is going to prioritise your writing for you.
• 42.40 – Believe in yourself.
• 44.40 – Proving to yourself that you can do it.

Phew, what a year! In our final episode of 2021, we reflect on what we've learned about writing, podcasting, and ourselves. Expect some surprising truths and thought-provoking revelations.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why it's OK to not achieve your goals (no, really)
• What made us fall in love with outlining (when thinking about it used to make Kristina feel ill)
• The importance of feeling supported
• What Ellie's creative writing MA taught her
• And much more!

Show notes:

• 00.00 – Introduction
• 01.35 – Did Ellie achieve her 2021 writing goals?
• 02.10 – Kristina didn’t come close!
• 04.10 – Kristina fell out of love with writing this summer.
• 06.30 – The universe delivered.
• 08.30 – Ellie hated a certain project this year…
• 11.40 – The first book is a given?
• 13.00 – Ellie realised all over again that she loves writing.
• 13.40 – Kristina dived into fantasy and worldbuilding.
• 16.00 – Kristina can see how much she’s grown.
• 17.00 – Don’t talk about YOU in your marketing.
• 17.40 – The Victorians ate WHAT?
• 18.30 – Ellie’s super into outlining now.
• 20.00 – Ellie’s on a writing roll!
• 22.00 – The power of removing the thinking.
• 23.50 – What’s Ellie changing going forwards?
• 24.50 – All of the learning comes from finishing your first book.
• 25.20 – Kristina embraces morning writing.
• 28.45 – Outlines need to be super specific.
• 30.30 – Kristina is a Australophile.
• 31.20 – What is Kristina working on going forwards?
• 32.25 – Podcasting was a learning curve for both of us.
• 35.30 – Quick tips on YouTube.
• 36.40 – What is the hardest part of podcasting?
• 40.30 – Ellie learned to be vulnerable.
• 42.15 – Kristina has high standards.
• 45.10 – Learning to lean into the authentic you.
• 50.15 – Lessons from our interviewees.
• 51.00 – Email marketing, email marketing, email marketing.
• 52.00 – If you lean into who you are, you’re going to find people who like you for you.
• 54.20 – You’ve got to know the rules before you can break the rules.
• 55.45 – Thank you for all your support!

May King Tsang – first name is May King – calls herself the UK’s #1, and the original, FOMO Creator.

The crux of her work is to create content: real, raw, and right now. Creating the buzz across your socials gets the lurkers excited where they may buy into your product, service, digital challenge or your next event and that’s what she can help you do for your next launch, challenge festival, or conference.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why FOMO matters for authors
• How to get over your fear of social media
• Ways to create a community around you and your writing
• Social media book launch strategies

Show notes:

• 00.00 – Introductions
• 02.50 – Ellie has a surprise for listeners in December.
• 06.30 – Ellie has been doing lots of planning.
• 08.50 – Kristina is ahead of schedule!
• 14.35 – Interview with May King Tsang
• 15.15 – But what is FOMO?
• 16.00 – Is FOMO just for book launches?
• 17.25 – Can we just wing it when it comes to generating FOMO?
• 19.10 – Do we have to use social media?
• 20.30 – What’s the best social media platform to start with?
• 22.20 – Do authors have to create audio or video to create FOMO?
• 25.30 – It’s just not about you.
• 29.00 – No one’s going to buy from you if they don’t know who you are.
• 31.10 – The more the better when it comes to posting on social media.
• 34.10 – Tried and tested techniques for authors generating FOMO.
• 36.40 – What are you doing this weekend?
• 39.00 – Go where your audience is. And stalk your local journalist.
• 41.40 – How do you know if it’s even working?
• 44.00 – The importance of showing the good and the bad.
• 49.00 – The author community is very supportive.
• 52.40 – What is one book that changed her life?
• 53.30 – Where can you go to find more about May King?