Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

EP 316 - Free Your Inner Non-Fiction Writer with Johanna Rothman

Jul 27, 2023

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Mark interviews Johanna Rothman about her latest book FREE YOUR INNER NON-FICTION WRITER.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Mark's new book Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard.

In the interview, Mark and Johanna talk about:

Why Johanna is often called The Pragmatic Manager
The thirty-years of consulting that Johanna has experience with
The fact that she is not a "natural writer"
Beginning to write in 1997 because she realized that speaking only wasn't a great way to market her business as a consultant
Advice Johanna received from Gerald Weinberg
How Johanna began to write short fiction in 2016
Being involved in the early days of "Agile" development
Why Johanna recommends writing in 15 minute chunks for non-fiction
Who the idea reader is for Johanna's book FREE YOUR INNER NONFICTION WRITER
How to keep a business-related blog interesting
How writing non-fiction includes universal story elements: "a person in a situation with a problem"
The "write fast to write well" concept
The importance of maintaining your voice
Why Johanna writes a question of the week on her blog
The book Obliquity by John Kay and how detours might help us better in the long run
Advice Johanna would offer to writers for getting better at their own non-fiction writing
And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on the importance of your author voice as well as the divergent ways you sometimes find your way to your destination.

Links of Interest:

Johanna Rothman, known as the “Pragmatic Manager,” offers frank advice for your complex problems. She helps leaders and teams learn to see practical alternatives that help them achieve more agility in their work. With that knowledge, they can choose what—and how—to adapt their product development.

For almost three decades, Johanna has helped her clients experiment with agile and lean alternatives for every piece of their product development. As a result, her clients create more management agility which translates to better business results.

A prolific writer, Johanna is the author of 18 books and hundreds of articles about many aspects of product development. She uses her trademark practicality and humor to focus on what people can do—and not take herself too seriously.

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