Writing and Editing

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My guest today is Steph Katzovi. She has a law degree, but she has spent most of her career as a speechwriter and strategic communications consultant. Now, though, she’s published a middle-grade novel about a girl who is away at camp when a hurricane comes. There are intentional life lessons in the book, and part of what I was interested in was how she maintained the balance between the book being an entertaining novel versus one full of wholesome lessons for kids.
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Steph's Website
https://stephkatzovi.com

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My guest today is Robin Schepper. For more than thirty years, she served at the highest levels of American politics and government, including presidential campaigns, and she was also executive director of Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity initiative, Let’s Move! She’s just published a memoir, and I was interested in some of the details in it as well as how she went about writing it. How do write about something when you’re so busy? Do you take notes along the way? Do you just hope you have a good memory?
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Robin's Website
https://robinfschepperauthor.com/

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My guest today is Michael Wallach. He’s a screenwriter, but he’s also now produced a timely documentary about COVID-19, calling it a “viral delusion.” He’s worth listening to for an alternative take on the three years of lockdown and crisis we all went through.
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The Viral Delusion: The Tragic Pseudoscience of SARS-CoV2 & the Madness of Modern Virology
https://paradigmshift.uscreen.io/

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I’m solo today and I want to talk about one of the three things that you should get back from your editor when they send you back your edited text. One is that document. The other is the style sheet, which I covered in a previous episode (see the show notes). And the other is a carefully and clearly written cover letter.

Writing & Editing Episode 155: What Is An Editor's Style Sheet and What Is It For?
https://writingediting.ca/episode/155-what-is-an-editors-style-sheet-and-what-is-it-for/

Joke-Telling Scene from Sling Blade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUfMgc-b9zw&ab_channel=hotamuh

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My guest today is Amy Bernstein. She’s a writer and book coach, but also has an excellent knowledge of the current publishing landscape. I invited her on specifically to talk about those publishers and services that some writers pay to help self-publish your book—and especially the dubious services and the outright scams to watch our for. This is “Caveat Scriptor: Watch Out for Scam Self-Publishers,” episode 188 of the podcast.

Amy’s Website
https://amywrites.live/

Writer Beware Blog
https://writerbeware.blog/

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A couple of short announcements before the episode. First is that I’m not doing my usual “A Few More Words” feature today. I’ve done a lot of interviews over the past month or so, and I want to get those posted. I still have well over 150,000 words to go in English, so that feature will be back in a week or so. Second is that I was interviewed on a podcast hosted by the guy—his name is Matt Balaker—I co-wrote a book with about 4 years ago now, a bio of a standup comedian. Our topic is, well, that book (and a few other things). If you want to listen to or watch it, check out the link in the show notes. So, on to today’s episode. My guest today is Diane Hatz. We talk about transitions in one’s writing career, not only psychologically but also technically, as in: should I have my own blog? should I be on YouTube? should I stick to Substack? It’s a great chat. This is “The Joy and Stress of Writing and Change,” episode 187 of the podcast.

Diane’s Blog
https://wholehealthygroup.com/blog/

Diane’s Substack
https://substack.com/@dianehatz

Diane on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weaf80bvfhM&ab_channel=DianeHatz

Wayne Being Interviewed by Matt Balaker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZg19Z-IvI8&t=3s&ab_channel=TheMattBalakerPodcast

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I’m solo today and this episode is a kind of prequel. I’m going to be interviewing the great American writer Lorrie Moore in a few weeks about her new novel, I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home, due to be published later this month. I’ve been a lifelong fan of her work, and in this episode I will give an overview of her past works, and my views on what it is about her books and her style that makes her exceptional. The title of this episode is “This Is What I Mean by Literary Fiction,” number 186 of the podcast.

Loorie Moore’s Amazon Author Page
 https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lorrie-Moore/author/B000APWFEY

Lorrie Moore’s First Published Story in “Seventeen” Magazine (1977)
 https://archive.org/details/sim_seventeen_1977-01_36_1/mode/2up
(scroll to page 92) 

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My guest today is Heidi Fiedler. She’s a writer, editor, coach, and teacher, with a focus on children and pre-teen adolescents. I asked her to come on the show to talk about the whole process of putting together a successful book for these readerships.

Heidi's Website
https://www.helloheidifiedler.com/

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I talk about the two most known uses of this word in English, one the very common "self-deprecating," and the other, the less well-known sense in computing. Along the way, I discover that the two big dictionaries, the Oxford English Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Unabridged, don't include the latter meaning, and the definition in the OED hasn't been updated fully in a long time.

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_character_property#Deprecated

Collins COBUILD Dictionary
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/deprecate (scroll down)

Dictionary of Computer Science, Engineering and Technology (editor: Philip A. Laplante), Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2017

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Before I get to today’s conversation, I have an announcement about swag. In the next few weeks I will publish my 200th episode and I wanted to celebrate a little by giving thanks to you, the listeners. I started the show in January last year, and both listenership and downloads have increased steadily, which makes me very happy. And I’ve been very grateful for the nice things some of you have said in reviews. I don’t have hard-to-find first editions for you, or cold hard cash, but a mousepad inside a small cotton totebag, both with the show’s logo. Small tokens, yes, but my thanks are big. Just go to the contact form at WritingEditing.ca and send me your mailing address, and I’ll send them to you (until they run out). Again: thank you.

So, for today’s episode …

My guest is Todd Brison, who describes himself as an “optimist who writes.” He's an Amazon best-selling author and award-winning ghostwriter. I met him on Substack, where he writes What Makes Great Writing? We had a great discussion about the importance and impact of the quality of writing in all sorts of media. This is “Worse Writing Is Harder to Get Through,” episode 183 of the podcast.

Todd’s Website
https://www.toddbrison.com/

Substack
https://www.whatmakesgreatwriting.com/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/ToddBrison

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddbrison/