Writing in Real Life

Writing in Real Life

By Barry Lyga & Morgan BadenArts
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Writing in Real Life episodes

  • Episode 49: The One where They’re Snowbound
    Ep. 049: The One where They’re Snowbound
    Barry Lyga & Morgan Baden
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    Snowed in with Leia for the first time. Further discussion of discipline: For parents and for writers. The importance of beginning (not beginnings). Barry races the Grim Reaper. Plus: Authors who are just too damn precious.

    Links:

    • Blizzard of 2016 lives up to the hype, and then some
    • Donner Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    • What is inertia? | Northwestern University
    • Vow to Write Better, Not Faster in 2016, Despite Our Binge-Loving Culture
    • Anniversary Gifts by Year | Traditional Anniversary Gifts | Hallmark
    • The Pomodoro Technique
    • The Pomodoro app for iPhone
    • Rate us on iTunes
      • 32 min
    • Episode 48: The One with Baby Blood
      Ep. 048: The One with Baby Blood
      Barry Lyga & Morgan Baden
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      Re-opening the discussion of whether authors should be paid more. Younger comes back for Season 2; Barry has opinions. Baby Fight Club! Leia transcends separation anxiety, to our mutual glee and disappointment. Morgan actually finishes a book she doesn’t like. Barry asks for help from the audience.

      Links:

      • Eugene's comment on Episode 47: The One with Discipline (Not the Fun Kind)
      • The 10% Solution by Ken Rand | Amazon | BN.com
      • Guild's Letter to Publishers Calls for Real Change to Book Contracts - The Authors Guild
      • Writing in Real Life — Episode 33: The One with Royalties
      • Younger | Official Website | TV Land
      • When we talked about Younger before: Writing in Real Life — Episode 22: The One where They Finally Talk about Marriage
      • Smile by Raina Telgemeier | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
      • Morgan is Reading: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
      • Alan Rickman, Harry Potter and Die Hard actor, dies aged 69 - BBC News
      • Rate us on iTunes
        • 30 min
      • Episode 47: The One with Discipline (Not the Fun Kind)
        Ep. 047: The One with Discipline (Not the Fun Kind)
        Barry Lyga & Morgan Baden
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        Doctor-approved: Be mean to your baby! Is your first baby just practice? Morgan foreswears Barry’s revision advice. Focusing on one project at a time. Followup on Barry’s Cheat Method for Revision and a discussion of what you need to know about your protagonist before you start writing.

        Links:

        • Scrivener (app for writers on Mac and Windows)
        • Rules for Writing Multiple Books at Once — Barry Lyga Dot Com
        • Twin Peaks -strange path of Albert Rosenfield -fragment - YouTube
        • Morgan Recommends: The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
        • 'Kingfisher' Girls Will Dance Their Way Into Your Heart : NPR
        • Barry is Reading: You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
        • Rate us on iTunes
          • 39 min
        • Episode 46: The One that Flourishes
          Ep. 046: The One that Flourishes
          Barry Lyga & Morgan Baden
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          The year that was and the year to come, with our best moments of 2015, along with our goals and wishes for 2016. Plus: The Barry Lyga Cheat Method for Fixing Pacing. (This episode is brought to you by the word “Flourish.”)

          Links:

          • End of the Year Wrap-Up 2015 | Holly Black
          • Ask Polly: Should I Just Give Up on My Writing? |- The Cut
          • The Secret Sea Goodreads page
          • Word On The Street | Sesame Street
          • Steve Jobs: Apple Almost Went Bankrupt Because It Failed to Innovate | Mac Rumors
          • Apple CEO Tim Cook Embraces Cannibalization of iPad, iPod, Mac | AllThingsD
          • Rate us on iTunes
            • 34 min
          • Episode 45: The One with Morgan's Memory Problems
            Ep. 045: The One with Morgan's Memory Problems
            Barry Lyga & Morgan Baden
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            Morgan cheats on Barry. Taking stock of what we’ve read this year. Morgan’s memory is terrible. Barry resists going all Campbell on Star Wars. Wisdom from Sylvia Plath. Plus: Great first lines!

            Links:

            • Morgan guests on the Scholastic Reads podcast: "Kids’ Books Holiday Hotline"
            • morganbaden.com: "My year in books: 2015"
            • Memento (2000) - IMDb
            • Exo by Steven Gould | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
            • Jumper by Steven Gould | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
            • A Force Awakens Review By a Star Wars Rookie | WIRED
            • How The "Star Wars" Lightsaber Was Designed
            • The Hero with a Thousand Faces
            • Sylvia Plath — The Bell Jar
            • Fitzgerald Might Disagree With His 'No Second Acts' Line : NPR
            • Friday Night Lights TV Show - NBC.com
            • "Black & Blue" | The Players' Tribune
            • Boy Toy by Barry Lyga | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
            • 'Sports Night': An oral history, starring Aaron Sorkin and his cast | EW.com
            • Hockey “goons”
            • "wiggle worms and zipzorps" -- The One Where Chandler Gets Caught - Friends Central ...
            • The Gunslinger by Stephen King | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
            • The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
            • Rate us on iTunes
              • 30 min
            • Episode 44: The One with Morgan's R&R
              Ep. 044: The One with Morgan's R&R
              Barry Lyga & Morgan Baden
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              Barry reconsiders NaNoWriMo. Picking Morgan’s brain. Is writing an compulsion? Should it be? Leia walks like crazy and gets a sibling. An update on Morgan’s agent search.

              Links:

              • Barry’s rant on lists and awards: "Episode 43: The One where Morgan Disses Alan Moore"
              • Barry’s rant on NaNoWriMo: "Episode 42: The One where Barry Drops the Baby"
              • Sara’s comment/question on writing groups: "Episode 41: The One where They Argue about Blazing Saddles"
              • Sarah Maclean
              • Melissa Walker
              • Micol Ostow
              • Kent’s comment on obsession: "Episode 37: The One in the Park"
              • BB-8™ by Sphero – Sphero Store
              • Morgan is Reading: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
              • Barry Recommends: A Prayer for the City by Buzz Bissinger | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
              • Rate us on iTunes
                • 37 min
              • Episode 43: The One where Morgan Disses Alan Moore
                Ep. 043: The One where Morgan Disses Alan Moore
                Barry Lyga & Morgan Baden
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                Morgan has a cold. Barry’s dirty little fable succeeds. Leia starts to demand things in no uncertain terms. Why on earth would you combine YA and Dr. Seuss into the same list? Barry rants about lists and awards and why you shouldn’t care. Plus: What book should every 16-year-old American read?

                Links:

                • BarryLyga.com: Unsoul’d is #1
                • Unsoul’d by Barry Lyga | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Kobo
                • Historically Speaking: Holy Moley!
                • Top 10 YA & Children’s Books | TIME
                • 100 Notable Books of 2015 - The New York Times
                • Amazon.com: Best Books of 2015: Books
                • The 18 Best Fiction Books Of 2015
                • The Best Books Of 2015, According To Goodreads
                • Alan Moore awards
                • Kennedy Center Honors
                • Every 16-Year-Old In Sweden Will Read Chimamanda Adichie's "We Should All Be Feminists" - BuzzFeed News
                • We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Adichie | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
                • You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
                • Rate us on iTunes
                  • 32 min
                • Episode 42: The One where Barry Drops the Baby
                  Ep. 042: The One where Barry Drops the Baby
                  Barry Lyga & Morgan Baden
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                  A discussion of NaNoWriMo. A caution about holiday time in publishing and an invocation of Lyga’s Law. Should authors respond to negative reviews? Comparing books to babies. What would Morgan do if someone panned Gillian Anderson? Morgan looks to her past to figure out her future.

                  Links:

                  • NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month
                  • "42"
                  • There's no "I hate NaNoWriMo" Twitter account, but here's a Google search
                  • Accidental Tech Podcast
                  • Marco Arment: "I got here with over a decade of hard work building what I have. You can tell yourself you can’t do it forever, or you can start today."
                  • Christmas Vacation Bonus Check Scene - YouTube
                  • Christa Desir: "I suggest you remove the suggestion box"
                  • John Scalzi: "Mmmm… One Star-rific!"
                  • "Tawdry piece of rag fiction" -- one-star review for Boy Toy
                  • The Cut: "Parenthood Means Constantly Imagining Worst-Case Scenarios"
                  • "Best of Christmas Story - You'll Shoot Your Eye Out.m4v ..."
                  • Barry is Reading: The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
                  • Iowa Writers' Workshop
                  • Rate us on iTunes
                    • 43 min
                  • Episode 41: The One where They Argue about "Blazing Saddles"
                    Ep. 040: The One where They Argue about Blazing Saddles
                    Barry Lyga & Morgan Baden
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                    Why we hate Libba Bray. What special guests would you like to see on the show? Morgan starts a new project. Barry wants to start five new projects. Scheduling time to talk to your spouse. How do you critique something that’s in a genre you don’t like? Plus: A nanny for Leia???

                    Links:

                    • OnBeing.org: "The Breaking and The Blessing of Motherhood" by Courtney E. Martin
                    • "And I'm back in the game!" from 10 Things I Hate About You
                    • Lifehacker: "You May Actually Fall Asleep Faster If You Try to Stay Awake"
                    • Fast Company: "Balance Two Careers In One Family Without Arguing"
                    • A Practical Wedding (blog)
                    • A Practical Wedding by Meg Keene | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
                    • Blazing Saddles: An AFI Pick for the Top 100 Comedies of All Time
                    • Blazing Saddles: List of Awards and Nominations, including for Writing
                    • Blazing Saddles: 4-Star Review from Roger Ebert
                    • Rate us on iTunes
                      • 37 min
                    • Episode 40: The One with Libba
                      Ep. 040: The One with Libba
                      Barry Lyga & Morgan Baden
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                      Special guest Libba Bray joins the show! We discuss being married to your agent and when your kid wants to be a writer. Texting edits to authors. The glory and the danger of research. Plus: Outlining — threat or menace? Also, the title to the third Diviners book!

                      Links:

                      • BGLiterary.com: Home of Barry Goldblatt Literary
                      • Earth-3 - DC Comics Database - Wikia
                      • Mirror universe - Memory Beta - Wikia
                      • The Sweet, Far Thing by Libba Bray | Amazon | BN.com | iBooks | Indiebound
                      • Fulcrum
                      • Barrylyga.com: This Week in Rejection!
                      • Harlem Nights (1989) - IMDb
                      • The Rutles
                      • Supergirl - CBS.com
                      • Men in Black - Memory Erase - YouTube
                      • Scrivener - writing app for Mac and Windows
                      • The Shining - "All work and no play..." - YouTube
                      • Rate us on iTunes
                        • 48 min

                      About Writing in Real Life

                      From the publisher's feed

                      New York Times bestselling author Barry Lyga (I HUNT KILLERS) and publishing communications executive Morgan Baden discuss a range of related issues, from writing to parenthood.