Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

EP 252 - Broadening Your Writing Universe with Rona Gofstein

Jun 3, 2022

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Mark interviews Rona Gofstein, an Author Accelerator certified fiction book coach who specializes in helping writers of genre fiction develop, write and revise their novels. She also writes contemporary romance, is the president of Broad Universe, an international organization for women and alternatively gendered authors of speculative fiction, as well as president of the New Hampshire Chapter of RWA.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, thanks his patrons and provides them an update on June virtual hangouts and a word about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

During their chat, Mark and Rona talk about:

When Rona first started to play around with writing when back in college
How Julia Cameron's Book The Artist's Way inspired Rona to get serious about writing and publishing a book
Being a "feel your way through" type of writer
Knowing her characters really well, despite being a planstser
How Rona works through character sheets
The importance of having a "what would they never, ever do?" element on a character sheet
What Broad Universe is within speculative fiction and how they use it to help bring attention to a more diverse range of authors
Becoming an accredited Author Accelerator Book coach
Rona's love of helping writers realize their dreams of becoming a writer
The different types of clients Rona works with and the techniques and elements she helps them understand
Where and how Rona fits in her own writing
Continuing to do the "Morning Pages" from the previously mentioned book by Julia Cameron
How coaching and writing can help feed off one another for Rona
The Joan Didion quote: "I don't know what I think until I write it down."
And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on the idea of the morning pages that Rona does based on reading Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way.

Links of Interest:

Rona Gofstein is an Author Accelerator certified fiction book coach and specializes in helping writers of genre fiction develop, write and revise their novels. She writes contemporary romance and will be launching a new series and pen name later this year. Rona is the president of Broad Universe, an international organization for women and alternatively gendered authors of speculative fiction, as well as president of the New Hampshire Chapter of RWA. She desperately needs her morning coffee, thinks reservations are the best thing to make for dinner, and believes that one day she will find the magic planner that will keep her perfectly organized.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0