#AmWriting

Hi all! Jess here. I met performer and voice educator Cate Frazier-Neely through a mutual friend earlier this year, at a Sungazer concert. I was at the concert because my son is a massive fan of Sungazer bassist and YouTuber Adam Neely and Cate was there because she’s Adam Neely’s mom. When the topic of conversation turned away from my son’s hero worship of her son and toward writing and publishing (doesn’t it always?) she revealed she’d made ALL THE MISTAKES when self-publishing her first book, and, of course, I sensed an opportunity for an episode.As this is a podcast all about flattening the learning curve for writers, I asked her to come on and tell us all the ugly details about publishing her book so we could learn from her mistakes. Links from the PodCate Frazier-Neely: https://www.catefnstudios.comEpisode 185: #AudioExplosion with Tanya EbySinging Through Change: Women's Voices in Midlife, Menopause, and Beyond by Cate Frazier-NeelyThe Authors GuildWe had such a great time chatting we didn’t even get a chance to discuss what we’ve been reading!Want a “coaching call” of your own? Email us at amwriting@substack.com. We can’t promise to respond to every email, but we might answer your question on an upcoming episode—or invite you into the hotseat!Think you’d be pretty good on the other end of a coaching call? Then you should consider becoming a certified book coach through Author Accelerator’s book coach training program. It’s everything you need to know to begin working with clients on writing, planning, revising and querying (and then learning more and getting better with every new client and with Author Accelerator’s support and team behind you). Choose a fiction or nonfiction specialty, study with a cohort and design a new business or side-gig that works for you. Learn more at bookcoaches.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Why can’t I finish my novel?KJ here, and when I saw that heartfelt cry in our Facebook Group, I knew we had to answer. Because finishing is hard, y’all. It’s harder than starting. It’s harder than showing up to the page. There comes a moment in so many projects when the wheels are spinning but the Matchbox car just isn’t going anywhere.Ophir Lehavy is a coach herself, working with students to help them find ways to get their work done and feel more successful about it—so she knew the benefits of having someone else try to help you tease out the things that are getting in your way. There are many reasons for feeling stuck or stymied, but they often boil down to two things: feeling unable to take time away from other things, or being able to take the time—but not knowing what to do next. We talk about both, and drill down hard on moving from one stage of a project to another, when the rhythm and goal have changed and you can’t simply keep doing what you’re doing—and come up with strategies to get Ophir, or anyone who’s stalled out, back on the road. If you’ve got a coachable problem, we’d love to hear from you! Email us at amwriting@substack.com. We can’t promise to answer every email, but if your question is one that many listeners share and we can help with, we’ll try to answer it on the podcast, and we might even invite you on so we can really dig in.Links from the pod:Julie and Julia: The book and the movie.Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done by Jon AcuffHow to Write an Autobiographical Novel & Edinburgh by Alexander CheeJennie Nash’s Blueprint for a BookSave the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody#AmReadingOphir: The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy LefteriA Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel AllendeKJ: The Donut Trap by Julie TieuAnd—got a burning question about a writing life issue? Something on your mind you’d love for us to help you with? Email us at amwriting@substack.com. We can’t promise to answer everyone, but if we think we could be useful to you (or know someone who can) and if your issue is of interest to other listeners, we might invite you to come on the podcast for a little coaching.Finally, KJ here with a little news about Author Accelerator’s Book Coach Certification Program. I’m in the middle of it! You might remember this bonus episode, where Jennie Nash and I discussed “Shiny Thing Syndrome” and I was dubious about whether working with other writers as a book coach was a great side gig or a distraction for ME. Since then, I’ve been trying on the coach role in a number of small ways, and I’ve decided to go all in. This program is absolutely everything you need to get started from the editorial, coaching and business perspectives. It’s also entertaining and inspirational and makes me want to leap in right away. Learn more at Bookcoaches.com. (Want to see what I’m doing? Click here.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

How do I find a writing group and what if they’re mean? That’s a question we get asked a lot, and we always encourage writers to reach out in our Facebook group or boldly throw it out there anywhere else online that you hang out and see what happens. You don’t even have to trade pages to be a writing group. You look for the kind of support and camaraderie you need. But if you’ve ever thought of hying yourself off to your local version of Grub Street or our local spot for in-person writer-ness, The Writer’s Center to find your people—or possibly starting an in-person writer-connection-thing of your own, then you’ll want to listen to my conversation with Joni Cole, founder of said Writer’s Center and the author of Toxic Feedback: Helping Writers Survive and Thrive, Good Naked, and the This Day series, which collects diary entries from women all across the United States on a single day, and the host of the podcast Author, Can I Ask You. Joni and I talk starting writing groups, running them, keeping it positive and making sure you don’t lose your own work in the process of helping others.Links from the podWriting Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway The Place Between Breaths by An Na#AmReadingJoni: Embassy Wife by Katie CrouchAmerican Dialogue by Joseph J. EllisLess by Andrew Sean GreerCraft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses(KJ and Jennie discussed Craft in the Real World in Episode 275: Writing While White (or otherwise part of the historically dominant paradigm))KJ: Writing the Romantic Comedy by Billy MernitFind Joni: jonibcole.com The Writer’s Center in White River Junction, VT This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

The hardest part about writing a book is … all of it. Or, arguably, whichever part you’re doing. For our guest on this episode, listener Emily Henderson, it’s something like “I know what I want to write about, but I don’t know how.Structuring memoir or non-fiction (or, for that matter, fiction) is hard, y’all. And I think it gets talked about less in many ways that other elements of craft. We have this illusion that you come up with an idea and then you write it and it’s the writing that’s hard. But taking that idea and even getting it into a writeable shape is also hard. Are you writing a how-to book? A chronological story? A series of essays? An exploration of a big idea through a smaller lens?You may not know until you try. We talk about exploring all the iterations and then—ironically, since what Emily hopes to do is explore her “Covid project” of running every street in Santa Barbara—we helped Emily build a NaNoWriMo-style “project” around finding her book’s structure and getting some words on the page. In the process, we talked structural failures, revisions and the importance of choosing a book and topic that you want to live with for a few years.Talked about on the pod (again): The Art of the Book Proposal by Eric Maisel#AmReadingEmily: Sue Grafton’s alphabet series C is for CorpseShoulder Season by Christina ClancyKJ: Carnival of Snackery by David SedarisTheft By Finding also by David SedarisJess: The Secret History by Donna TarttBoyfriend by Sarina Bowen (and then we list all of our favorite Sarina Bowen books and discuss the importance of finding a book that’s your particular flavor of ice cream)Find Emily: emilykathleenwrites.com IG: @EmilykathleenwritesWant a “coaching call” of your own? Email us at amwriting@substack.com. We can’t promise to respond to every email, but we might answer your question on an upcoming episode—or invite you into the hotseat like Emily.Think you’d be pretty good on the other end of a coaching call? Then you should consider becoming a certified book coach through Author Accelerator’s book coach training program. It’s everything you need to know to begin working with clients on writing, planning, revising and querying (and then learning more and getting better with every new client and with Author Accelerator’s support and team behind you). Choose a fiction or nonfiction specialty, study with a cohort and design a new business or side-gig that works for you. Learn more at bookcoaches.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Hello listeners! Jess here. I had the chance to interview one of my former students, Will Morey, about his career as a writer. He has always been talented, and even way back when I knew him in high school English class (actually, since he was eight) he has dreamed of working in movies and television. We talk through his entire career, from a high school screenplay about vampires to working in professional theater, to helping create (and this was a new word for me) “Mockbusters,” or close-but-not-quite versions of big Hollywood blockbuster films, to working as a “Conform,” (another new word to me) to breaking through and writing animated features such as Spy Kids: Mission Critical and Dragons: Race to the Edge and Dragons: Rescue Riders. He’s currently querying literary agents for a novel he completed this year and in true #AmWriting fashion, we had to talk about how he selected the agents he has decided to reach out to and why. At its core, this is a discussion about an education in writing for television and how the “little jobs” are often incredibly valuable as learning experiences in an industry with its own process, language, and expectations. And a walk down memory lane for Jess and Will. Links from the PodWill Morey on Twitter: willofmarsWill Morey on Instagram: @will_of_mars#AmReadingWe did not do #AmReading because, to be honest, Jess was using her own personal version of Zoom and we’d bumped up against our time limit. And—got a burning question about a writing life issue? Something on your mind you’d love for us to help you with? Email us at amwriting@substack.com. We can’t promise to answer everyone, but if we think we could be useful to you (or know someone who can) and if your issue is of interest to other listeners, we might invite you to come on the podcast for a little coaching. Finally, KJ here with a little news about Author Accelerator’s Book Coach Certification Program. I’m in the middle of it! You might remember this bonus episode, where Jennie Nash and I discussed “Shiny Thing Syndrome” and I was dubious about whether working with other writers as a book coach was a great side gig or a distraction for ME. Since then, I’ve been trying on the coach role in a number of small ways, and I’ve decided to go all in. This program is absolutely everything you need to get started from the editorial, coaching and business perspectives. It’s also entertaining and inspirational and makes me want to leap in right away. Learn more at Bookcoaches.com. (Want to see what I’m doing? Click here.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Querying and submitting is a jungle, campers—and yet if it’s done right, it can not only work out happily in the end, but seem as if it were meant to be. “Meant to be” after a year of additional work, anyway.Mindy Carlson has just signed a 2 book deal with Crooked Lane Books. The first, Her Dying Day, comes out June 7, 2022. I asked her to come on to talk about her road to publication--because she revised and resubmitted her novel not just once but twice before signing with her now agent. Said agent was one of her top choices and among the first she submitted to, but it was a long road to that happy ending. Mindy tells the whole story in this episode, in which we also talk revisions, when editors know what’s wrong—but not necessarily how to fix it, writing conferences, thriller plotting and more.Links from the PodThe Big Thrill (the online magazine of the International Thriller Writers Association)Mindy’s interview with Anthony Horowitz Episode 229 #Interviewing with NPR's Celeste Headlee#AmReadingMindy: The Family Plot by Megan CollinsDial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. SutantoKJ: No Bad Deed by Heather ChavezA Special Place for Women by Laura HankinAnd—got a burning question about a writing life issue? Something on your mind you’d love for us to help you with? Email us at amwriting@substack.com. We can’t promise to answer everyone, but if we think we could be useful to you (or know someone who can) and if your issue is of interest to other listeners, we might invite you to come on the podcast for a little coaching. Finally, KJ here with a little news about Author Accelerator’s Book Coach Certification Program. I’m in the middle of it! You might remember this bonus episode, where Jennie Nash and I discussed “Shiny Thing Syndrome” and I was dubious about whether working with other writers as a book coach was a great side gig or a distraction for ME. Since then, I’ve been trying on the coach role in a number of small ways, and I’ve decided to go all in. This program is absolutely everything you need to get started from the editorial, coaching and business perspectives. It’s also entertaining and inspirational and makes me want to leap in right away. Learn more at Bookcoaches.com. (Want to see what I’m doing? Click here.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

The whole “am I showing, or am I telling” inner debate can be tough in every part of a novel, memoir or nonfiction-with-elements-of-memoir draft. You don’t want to “tell” about the action. You don’t want to “tell” about the setting. And goodness knows you don’t want to “tell” what the character is feeling.Except when you do. Sometimes a little telling, in the form of inner dialogue, is exactly what the reader needs to feel a part of the story, not just the happenings. Sarina, Jess and KJ are all in for a conversation about how to immerse a reader in emotions, reactions, fears, self-doubt and even self-deception. Got an inner dialogue question you’re wrestling with? Try sharing it in our Facebook group—and for other burning questions, small and large, email us at amwriting@substack.com. We can’t respond to every email, but we might answer your question on an upcoming show—or even invite you on for a little coaching.All links and quotes from the pod are below—but first, did you know that making a podcast is not free? (We know, the nerve of people, wanting to be paid for their production or platforms or tools. You’d think they needed to eat or something.) Our sponsors pay for our production, but the time and effort we put into creating #AmWriting is supported by you, lovely listeners. If you’d like to chip in for more interviews, coaching, career and craft advice and all the #AmWriting things, click the yellow button. (Until I proofread this, that said “lick the yellow button”. Don’t do that.)Links and quotes from the pod:From In Her Boots:“Jasmine was still a little leery of the animals, so I set out to charm her with them. **Here’s what my editor said here:  Maybe Rhett could think here about how the animals always made her feel good and she wants to impart some of that to Jasmine, who is stretching so far outside her comfort zone to help Rhett? This could be a nice friendship moment to show Rhett caring about Jasmine.** After we fed the entire crew—which would make any human popular—I gave Jas Brownie’s curry comb and showed her the places where he loved to be scratched, and together we groomed the little pony to a sheen, Jas brushing while I pulled his mane and tail. Jas ran inside and emerged with a bandana that we tied in his forelock, giving him a rakish look suited to his personality, and at the same time we both pulled out our phones.”Here’s the revision: “Some barn time would absolutely help me feel better. If Jas was a little more comfortable with them, I knew she would feel the same way, and I wanted that for her. I didn’t care about the Maggie part of it. I’d overheard her on the phone with Zale last night, and I wanted her to know that the farm was a refuge for her no matter what. After we fed the entire crew—which would make any human popular—I gave Jas Brownie’s curry comb and showed her the places where he loved to be scratched, and together we groomed the little pony to a sheen, Jas brushing while I pulled his mane and tail. Jas ran inside and emerged with a bandana that we tied in his forelock, giving him a rakish look suited to his personality, and at the same time we both pulled out our phones.”From We Are Not Like Them:p. 113 “I’m relieved to see that the crowd really is peaceful, so many faces filled with righteous conviction and purpose. Nonetheless, my cynicism kicks in. Ain’t nothing changed but the music. All the clever signs and chants, the people who showed up just so they could post it to their social media, what does it add up to?”From Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake:p. 161 “She laughed and then hoped he’d meant her to.”p. 179 “Rosaline didn’t want to jinx it, and possibly she was reading too much into one ambiguously encouraging look from Marianne Wolvercote, but she thought she could do okay this week. Possibly even well? After all, she had a strong concept. And the part of her that used to do homework under test conditions was now secretly rather glad to get to practice in an unfamiliar kitchen.”Also mentioned:Beach Read by Emily HenryTalia Hibbert#AmReadingJess: The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History by Thor HansonKJ: We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride & Jo PiazzaSarina: The Enneagram in Love: A Roadmap for Building and Strengthening Romantic Relationships by Stephanie Barron HallGO GET A BOOK COACH! Or learn to be one. Seriously, if you’ve been thinking about it, what are you waiting for? Authoraccelerator.com or bookcoaches.com. Just take a look. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to what I think we’ll designate as a fresh new season of #AmWriting! We are mixing it up a bit this fall. It’s KJ here, and I’ll be doing some great interviews on craft and getting the work done. Jess has some interviews up her sleeve as well, and Sarina will be joining us regularly for what I like to think of as “Masterclass” episodes on craft and process. We’ll also be doing some “coaching calls” with listeners who’ve written in with a burning question that one or more of of can help with—so if you’ve got something on your mind about your writing life, let us know at amwriting@substack.com. We can’t promise to answer every email, but if your question strikes us as something where we can helpfully weigh in, we’ll answer it—and we might just invite you to be a guest on the pod while we do.BUT TODAY, enjoy my interview with Heather Chavez. Heather is the author of one amazing, fast-moving, can’t put it down heck of a ride thriller: No Bad Deed. Listen to this hook: A woman pulls over to help when she sees a man beating up another woman by the side of the road. He turns to her and says, you let her die, I let you live.And OF COURSE SHE DOESN’T. I asked Heather to join me to talk about ideas, and hooks, and most importantly the difference between an idea, a premise, a situation—and an actual, honest to gosh plot that becomes an entire, satisfying book. (The road between those points is so long, ammirite?)We had a great time talking about that process, and I hope you enjoy it. Links from the PodHeather: https://heatherchavez.com, Twitter: iamHRChavez, FB: heatherchavezauthor, and IG: @iamhrchavezHeather’s books: No Bad Deed and (for preorder) Blood Will Tell#AmReadingHeather: The Family Plot by Megan CollinsFor Your Own Good by Samantha DowningWhere I Left Her by Amber GarzaKJ: No Bad Deed by Heather ChavezOUR FANTASTIC SPONSOR Author Accelerator matches writers with certified book coaches! Head to authoraccelerator.com if you’re ready for top-level feedback on your draft, outline or idea in fiction, non-fiction and memoir. The service is free (and it might not be free forever….) and done entirely by hand so that each author is matched with a coach who connects to the project. Get matched today! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

The author I’m interviewing today, Joy Imboden Overstreet, holds the distinction of having procrastinated on writing her first book longer than any previous #AmWriting guest—about 40 years. She is also the writer whose essay on her son’s unusual business venture enabled me, in my role as an editor at the NYT, to publish the paper’s first illustration of a personalized vibrator, and I will forever be grateful to her for that.But wait, I hear you saying. Forty years? Forty? How did Joy manage to make it happen? Don’t worry—that’s exactly what we talk about in the episode. The backstory:Back in 1975, Joy created a workshop program in the San Francisco Bay area on the her book’s topic: finding freedom from obsessing about food, weight and body size. When she sold the business to her partner to go to graduate school in public health in 1980, she fully intended to write a book based on her work, but—spoiler—things happened, and then more things happened (including a pretty thriving freelance career) until she woke up and realized her 80th birthday was only two years away and the book still only existed in her head. So she sat right down and typed it out and it was super easy. The end.This is where I pause for Joy to laugh really hard.So, Joy pulled it off, and in this episode she walks us through what it took to finally get her butt in the chair, and how—and with whom—she kept her head in the game. A word about what we DON’T talk about—this isn’t a podcast about body perception or our beliefs around it, so while we necessarily touch on Joy’s personal journey, there’s nothing shaming or promoting of diet culture in the episode (or in Joy’s book). We’re focused on Joy’s accomplishment: going from “someday I will write a book” to “the end.”Links from the pod:Joy’s book: The Cherry Pie Paradox: The Surprising Path to Diet Freedom and Lasting Weight LossAuthor Accelerator’s book coach matching serviceJoy’s essay in the New York Times: When Sex is a Family Business#AmReadingJoy:The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy PaulHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman BarrettThe Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der KolkImprove Wisdom—Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up by Patricia Ryan MadsonKJ:The Husbands by Chandler BakerThe Lost Apothecary by Sarah PennerLots of love for our sponsor, Author Accelerator, in this episode! Joy and KJ both talk about our coaching experiences and how even when we work solo, the time we spent getting that intense support really helps. If you’d like to be matched with a book coach, visit Author Accelerator—or if book coaching sounds like the right career or sidegig for you, head to bookcoaches.com to learn about Author Accelerator’s Book Coach Certification Program. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Stephen King says: Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. In this episode, we dare to ask if maybe that’s not always the case. Does having to put your idea into words and get it into another person’s head weaken it--or force you to make it strong?Links from the pod:The Idea: The Seven Elements of a Viable Story for Screen, Stage or Fiction by Erik BorkGreat Stories Don't Write Themselves: Criteria-Driven Strategies for More Effective Fiction by Larry BrooksLibro.fm#AmReadingKJ: The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie FraserThe Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun BythellJess has criticisms:A Carnival of Snackery by David SedarisA Slow Fire Burning by Paula HawkinsThe Plot by Jean Hanff KorelitzAnd—got a burning question about a writing life issue? Something on your mind you’d love for us to help you with? Email us at amwriting@substack.com. We can’t promise to answer everyone, but if we think we could be useful to you (or know someone who can) and if your issue is of interest to other listeners, we might invite you to come on the podcast for a little coaching.Finally, KJ here with a little news about Author Accelerator’s Book Coach Certification Program. I’m in the middle of it! You might remember this bonus episode, where Jennie Nash and I discussed “Shiny Thing Syndrome” and I was dubious about whether working with other writers as a book coach was a great side gig or a distraction for ME. Since then, I’ve been trying on the coach role in a number of small ways, and I’ve decided to go all in. This program is absolutely everything you need to get started from the editorial, coaching and business perspectives. It’s also entertaining and inspirational and makes me want to leap in right away. Learn more at Bookcoaches.com. (Want to see what I’m doing? Click here.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe