Justin and Jon update their progress so far in the new year, including a competition win and a huge pivot in publishing strategy. Our hosts then talk about their resolutions and goals for 2023.

First half of the episode: Our hosts give some updates on whats been happening since August. 

Topics include:
-Books they've suggested/read
-Shows they watched (big Andor fans!)
-Justin's competition results
-Jon's querying journey
-Friend of the podcast landed an agent!

Second half of the episode: A few live-readings

-First, Justin shares one of his first short stories, originally drafted back in 2020, called "The Man Who Knew Everything"

-Jon then reads one of his essays from "Carseat Conversations" called "A Note to the Babysitter"

-Finally, Justin reads a very raw first draft of a new intro to one of his competition short stories, "Live Bait"

Justin and Jon discuss their reactions to each of these pieces, and even do a little workshopping together on the last one.

Justin and Jon reflect on their summers and get a little vulnerable about where they're at in their journeys to become authors.

Afterward, the pair live outline a story from randomly generated prompts.

Justin and Jon share a conversation with Marla Taviano, centering around her most recent work, "unbelieve: poems on the journey to becoming a heretic"

This is the longest podcast episode we've ever recorded, and the conversation went in a lot of different directions. (All of which we really enjoyed!) 
Some of those topics include:
-Being vulnerable in your writing
-The importance (and challenge) of building a platform
-Self publishing vs. traditional publishing
-How moving forward imperfectly is infinitely better than staying put, waiting for perfection
-How Marla's life and views have changed, and how that has affected her writing journey
-Xanga Journals and Myspace

Justin and Jon discuss how to write effective humor. What makes something funny? Jon, who has published humorous essays and signed with an agent for his collection "Carseat Conversations" gives tips for writing humor. Justin, who has written humorous short stories for competition, shares industry-professional judges' feedback. Both aspiring authors read work samples in this episode.

Justin and Jon undertake another prompted live outline. The prompts this time:
Genre: Thriller
Character: A pilot
Action: Outrunning the Police
Location: A hospital
Object: A Pill

Justin and Jon continue with their "How to" series regarding elements of a story. Next up: Plot. Listen in to hear how these two aspiring authors approach, strategies, and perfect their plots.

Randy Spears, an author who has self published 17 books which have combined for nearly $20,000 in sales, joins us on this episode of Writing in Progress.

Topics include:
Marketing Strategies
Self publishing vs Small Press
The logistics of publishing to Amazon
Designing Book Covers
How important are revisions?

Justin and Jon plan a story live from some randomly drawn prompts:
Genre: A mystery
Subject: Idiot-proof
Character: A mountain climber
Location: A focus group

Listen along as they brainstorm ideas and tie them together in creative ways.  We spent a lot of time talking about the hook, plot point, characters, and ending.  How do you make a satisfying twist, which is so important to the genre.  We hope you join us as we try to find out!

After almost 11 months away, Justin and Jon return to Writing in Progress and give updates on what's been happening in their writing journey.
A few of the topics discussed:
-The long path to publishing
-Dealing with rejection
-Celebrating accomplishments
-Pivoting from "The Plan"
-Writing competitions
-Recruiting Beta Readers
-A fork in the road: submitting smaller pieces to publications or self-publishing a collection?