Writers Authors On Fire podcast

David Hyde has written comedies and thrillers but all in the family safe and family friendly space. Here's the link to David's Show Notes with links to highlights and quotes, and his social media websites.

David has taken extension courses in screenwriting and movie production from the Los Angeles School of Theater, Film, and Television. We talk about how he got started in screenwriting, how screenwriting differs from writing novels, the nuances of length and format of screenplays, types of screenplays, character development, screenwriting software, the importance of word efficiency in screenwriting, and then selling the screenplay. In the second part of the interview we talk about lessons he's learned about screenwriting, advice on the reality of writing screenplays, getting started in stage plays, two essential books to get you started in screenwriting, and lots more. This is an insightful interview filled with nuggets of information and tips about screenwriting and playwriting.

Athena Dean Holtz is an author, speaker, blogger, radio show host, and publisher. Here's the link to the Show Notes page for highlights, quotes, and links to Athena's websites and social media.

Athena's first published project was a book for Vietnam veterans in 1986. After selling more than 10,000 copies, it was picked up and published mainstream, selling more than 250,000 with more than one million in print. That was in the old days before platform was a common writer's requirement. She founded Winepress, a Christian publishing house, which she later lost to a con man pastor. Full Circle is her new book telling her reception story. We talk about motive in writing and how some people's motive is to get to Amazon's bestseller status - no matter how they accomplish that, including manipulating sales for the bestseller list. Athena shares her view on the importance of critique groups. We learn about Redemption Press and it's options for authors looking for a publisher.  Athena shares her perspectives on author platform, becoming a bestseller, editing, your writing ideas, and much more.

Stacy Hawkins Adams writes fiction and nonfiction, is a national columnist, blogs and helps writers. Here's the link to Stacy's Show Notes Page with highlights and quotes from her interview, and links to her websites and social media connections.

Stacy started as a journalist, moved to writing Christian fiction, and then went into a freelance career. She now writes faith-based women's fiction, a parenting column, a blog on social justice issue for the Huffington Post, and her own Life Untapped blog. In this interview, Stacy talks about her journalist background and writing a column, and how that is reflected in her writing non-preachy faith-based fiction. Stacy talks about working through a plot and developing believable characters. Excellent information on balancing life and writing. 

Here's the link to Rene's Show Notes page with highlights, quotes, and links to her books, website, and social media connections.

Rene Gutteridge writes suspense, comedy, novelizes screenplays and movies, and more; and loves story and the visual side of story in screenwriting. Rene calls herself a multifaceted writer. What comes through in this interview is how she loves story and the visual side of story in screenwriting. In college she studied screenwriting and her first things published were skits. From there she moved to fiction, getting 24 novels published and became interested in novelization. She was approached by Thomas Nelson to novelize the movie The Ultimate Gift. She's the head writer for the Skit Guys, who write short comedy skits. Rene's fiction is in the suspense and comedy genres, with series in each. Rene describes her emphasis on character development and writing characters that are not boring. We talk about the process of novelization of screenplays and movies. Rene shares lots of tips for writers of fiction and screenwriting, and novelization of movies and screenplays.

Jeanette Hanscome is a successful author with the voice of encouragement who has written fiction and nonfiction books, devotions, and articles. Here's the link for Jeanette's Show Notes with interview highlights and quotes, and links to her books, website, and social media.

Author Jeanette Hanscome has a vision disorder called Achromatopsia, which means she has no color vision, is extremely light sensitive, and has visual acuity in the legally blind range. This presents challenges as she write. Describing scenes if tough because she cannot see colors. Jeanette talks about writing articles, devotionals, writing for compilations, and fiction and nonfiction books. She takes us through writing Running with Roselle and Suddenly Single Mom. Her favorite type of writing is devotionals that include personal experiences. Jeanette also speaks at writers conferences and loves to help new writers. She shares that writing has made her a braver person and that writing takes guts.

Harry Pacheco wrote Gladys Glasses, the first of five children's picture books about bullying. Here's the link to the Show Notes Page about Harry's interview with highlights and quotes, and links to his website and social media connections.

After an incident at school where his daughter was bullied, in kindergarten, he became an advocate against bullying. He researched the market, tried to find a book that said what he wanted to say, and finding none, wrote Gladys Glasses. Harry takes us through the story development of his first two books. Then He explains the story of Stanley No Stripes, his second book, coming in 2017 and gives a brief synopsis of the other three books. Harry has marketed the book to schools, libraries, optometry businesses, to police and sheriff's departments, and more. He's been interviewed on TV and in many newspapers. This is a story of one man's dedication to help children being bullied, which turned him into a successful author.

Cara Brookins talks about building a house with her four children in her new book Rise: How a House Built a Family. Here's a link to Cara's Show Notes Page with highlights and quotes, photos, and links to her books, websites, and social media connections.

Cara and her four great children, built a house. From scratch - using Google and YouTube videos as their instructional guides.The project is described in Cara's book, Rise: How a House Built a Family. Getting out of an abusive relationship, and being in a low place, she wanted to reconnect with her children - so they decided to build a house. It has a huge DIY project (do-it-yourself) that stretched the whole family. The book is written as a memoir. Rise sold at auction. Cara shares excellent advice for writers on connecting with other writers, marketing, social media, setting huge goals, determination, and more.

Cheri Cowell is an accomplished author, speaker, and owner of EABooks Publishing who loves to help authors get their books out through partnership publishing.Here's the link to Cheri's Show Notes Page with highlights and quotes, and links to her websites and social media connections.

Cheri calls herself a sidewalk theologian, making complicated theological topics accessible and simple to understand. She went through a difficult time at one of her jobs and later rediscovered her love of writing. Her start was in writing devotionals and it taught her to write tight, succinctly, to use words effectively, and communicate a lot in only 250 words. Her first book, Directions: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life led to another book contract, which led to another, and another and it's grown from there - multiple devotionals and Bible studies. We talk about knowing your audience and the importance of attending writers conferences. Cheri gives us an overview of her company, EABooks Publishing, and it's partnership publishing model where you have a team helping you step by step. She describes their submission process, editing, packages, cover and layout work, their unique marketing coaching service, and how EABooks works with authors - and what sets them apart from other publishing groups. Cheri takes us through an excellent process of determining what success means as a writer. Her advice for struggling writers is perfect and needs to be heard - and followed. And she importantly implores us to have a teachable spirit. Then she weighs in on the value of ebooks to reach readers who won't buy print books.

Hope Squires is an author of a nonfiction book who took part in the November 2016 NaNoWriMo month long writing project. Here's the link to Hope's Show Notes page with highlights, quotes, and links to her websites and social media connections.

Hope wrote her first book when she was six! She laughs when she describes doing a second edition at age nine. She used a little blue typewriter for some of her stories. Later she became an English teacher. Her first book, The Flourishing Tree, was published in 2014. She walks us through the development of the book and why she wrote it. Needing a break from her second book, Hope decided to join NaNoWriMo and write a story around an extended family's experience during the Okeechobee hurricane in 1928. Her goal was 40,000 words and she took Sunday's off as a break from the daily word count demands. Having never written fiction before, Hope found it beneficial to use her family story because she could understand the characters more and talk to surviving family members for background. We talk about the challenges of writing fiction when all you've done is nonfiction. She shares her method of writing in her moleskin notebooks, away from her computer. Hope is adamant that participating in NaNoWriMo can be a good experience but says to plan ahead of time. She already has a story idea for 2017. If you have never heard of NaNoWriMo, this is the perfect interview to whet your appetite.

Jake Heilbrunn is a 20 year old who wrote a soul-searching book about purpose and fulfillment. Here's the link to the Show Notes page for Jake's interview with highlights, quotes, and links to Jake's book, website, and social media connections.

Jake wrote Off the Beaten Trail: A Young Man's Soul-Searching Journey Through Central America. He left college after 5-6 months when he developed a chronic skin condition, which led to anxiety and unfulfillment. That led to his traveling to Guatemala in South America for a four month exploration to discover purpose. His writing background was writing a blog about soccer. He heard the question, "What if the biggest risk we take is not taking any risk at all?" Jake found the site Workaway.info and decided to volunteer at a rural village in Guatemala. While there he journaled and the idea of turning it into a book became his purpose-driven mission. Returning home, he used mind mapping to create the book's flow and content. Jake decided to do a Kickstarter campaign to fund the editing, layout, and video in order to create a quality book. He uses video including YouTube to reach people, blogs, and continues to write. His next venture is a three-hour workshop to Your Break Through Year.