Trey has moved on to the world of professional judging, so we're bringing Charlie out of the bull pen to join us as we reveal and react to our prompts for the first ever Writing Battle Heart Competition! Listen along for a little strategy and advice... and a lot of laughs and fun conversation.

*Episode Sponsor*
This episode is brought to you thanks to episode sponsor Ryan Fleming. You can follow Ryan on instagram at Ryan.david.fleming. The message Ryan selflessly wanted us to promote?
"Don’t stop working on your writing craft :)"
So, know Ryan is cheering you on, and can't wait to see what you write next.
Thank you again for supporting the podcast, Ryan!

If you'd like to become a member of our Patreon community, you can join via this link.

Former Writer's Playground winner Ryan Fleming joins WiP for the fourth time, and tonight we're discussing the 10th challenge with is officially underway!

We start the conversation by diving into some data Ryan has collected from past winning stories, then we live-react to this round of prompts! We close things out by tipping our hand ever-so-slight in how we're planning to move forward.

We hope you join us, whether it's this comp or the next!

Writer's Playground Website

Our Patreon

Friends of the pod--Maggie and Charlie--rejoin Justin and Jon for a live outline. This is a good one, folks. Great way to end 2024!

We start from scratch: a giant spreadsheet of prompts and a random number generator. About an hour and a half later, we'd outlined a very interesting story! We hope you enjoy the journey with us, and maybe learn a few things about how experts like Maggie and Charlie approach idea generation and story development.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/WritinginProgressPodcast

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: writinginprogresspod

Good friend of the pod, Trey Dowell, drops by to discuss his recent Writing Battle win and transition to professional judge.

Topics include:

-Behind-the-scenes hilarity of how Trey found out he won

-Trey realizes a theme common in many of his recent/best stories

-A super-secret insider tip (/maybe bug?) Justin discovered during submission this round.

-Trey gives insight into his transition to professional judge and what he'll be looking for when judging the upcoming Heart competition in Writing Battle!

*Also* Jon and I have set a date for the Not Quite Write Prize entry drawing! We will randomly choosing our winners on the evening of Wednesday December 18th. You must have joined one of our paid subscriptions before that time if you'd like to be entered.

Good Samaritans receive one entry. WiPpersnappers receive five. Episode Sponsors receive twenty. The drawing pool is currently at 30 entries for two tickets. Each member can only win one ticket, so your odds are still very good!

The winners will be announced during this month's bonus episode on the Patreon. **Note: Bonus episodes will usually only be available to WiPpersnappers and Episode Sponsors, but we're going to make the first episode (and drawing results) available to Good Samaritans as well.

The link to join our Patreon is here. 

Justin and Jon reunite for the first time in a few months, and do a little catching up. The episode begins with some exciting news about our new Patreon community and collaboration with Not Quite Write, a writing podcast from Australia.

Link to the Patreon (ie. how you enter the giveaway)

Link to Jon's published essay, "Grandma Ward"

Link to Justin's published story and interview in MockingOwl Roost

Link to Justin's new web page (still a bit of a work in progress)

After a few months away, why not just casually drop our longest episode ever with our highest profile guest just before midnight on a random Thursday?

Shelby likely doesn't need any introduction from us. Her debut novel, Remarkably Bright Creatures (Yes, the octopus book that everyone you know who's read it seems to love) has sold over 2 million copies, has been on the New York Times Best Seller list multiple times, was a "Reads with Jenna" pick on the Today Show, and was awarded the 2023 McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns First Novel Prize by the Writer's Center.

Shelby was so kind to join us for a *long* and *late* evening back in August. She answered every question with care, great insight, vulnerability, and humility. This was such a great experience for us and we can't wait to share her insight with you, our listeners. We talked a lot about RBC, both the backstory and questions about the piece itself. We talk about Shelby's process, and how her writing-life has changed since the book found so much success. We also asked several questions submitted by members of the Writing Battle forum, and it was great to hear her answers!

*Note from Justin: "Why the delay?"

The main reason... life has been busy. I took a lot of care with this audio file, and to be fully transparent it required a little more work than our typical interview. So the editing process took several hours, and I frankly haven't had several hours to sit in my basement and work uninterrupted until my life finally settled down just a bit in November. I apologize to those who have been waiting on it patiently!

Jon and Justin speak with THE original recipient of the Writing Battle Debrief Panda--and author of Butcher the Doll--Charlie Rogers.
Topics include:
-marathon-writing sessions
-how to plan for efficient drafting
-using writing competitions to grow larger works
-screenwriting advice
-the importance of giving back to others in the writing community

You can find the link to Charlie's Website here. (You can purchase Butcher the Doll from this site.)

It's our favorite Writing Battle Tradition!
2 time champion, Maggie Schreier, and reigning co-MVW, Trey Dowell, join Justin & Jon to talk this season's Writing Battle.
This episode was recorded live on the night it all started, with each author's genuine reaction to the genres and prompts they received. (Nothing identifiable was shared, of course!)
If you feel like you need *more* Writing Battle in your life between these nano-duels, you've come to the right place!

Justin and Jon welcome one new and one familiar guest to the program. What do they each have in common? They've both won Writer's Playground in the past! Holly Grover Brandon placed first overall in the most recent, eighth, Writer's Playground Challenge. Ryan Fleming was the overall champion back in the fourth Writer's Playground Challenge.

We couldn't ask for better guests to discuss the potential prompt combinations for the ninth Writer's Playground Challenge, which is officially underway!

The episode begins with an update from Justin and Jon, as is customary. If you'd like to skip directly to the interview, it begins at the 24:00 mark.

"I didn't want to just stay in one lane. I had lots of lanes that I loved."
To say Rachael wears a lot of hats is a massive understatement. She's written (and illustrated!) her own children's book, a series of writers' prompts books, a comedic short story collection, an urban romance novella, and--most recently--a sci-fi western thriller, "Race to Novus". Oh, she also started her own small press, "Page Turn Press", which has recently released its first multi-author anthology, which Rachael edited, "Spread: Tales of Deadly Flora".

This interview was a ton of fun and we learned a lot from Rachael in our short talk. The interview begins 19:10 into the episode.

Show notes:
The link to Rachael's website is here.
The link to "The Four Types of Writers" Youtube video is here.
A link to Page Turn Press' website is here.

Errors:
-In the intro, Justin miss-spoke and mistakenly said Rachael uses her full name for her books for adults and her pseudonym R.A. Clarke for her books written for children. It is actually the opposite. It's Rachael Clarke for her children's books and R.A. Clarke for her adult work.

-At one point in the interview, Justin asks Rachael about her press and calls it "Page Turner Press", which is a different press entirely with several negative reviews. Rachael's press is called "Page Turn Press"