#AmWriting

Podcasting from Mom 2.0 Conference with podcaster, journalist and author, Nicole Blades. She tells us about the pros and cons of skipping an agent, using rejection as fuel, and the joys of the writer community.Nicole Blades (https://www.nicoleblades.com/) is a Podcaster (Hey, Sis! Podcast), (https://www.heysispodcast.com/) Author of Have You Met Nora?, (https://www.nicoleblades.com/have-you-met-nora) The Thunder Beneath Us, & (https://www.nicoleblades.com/the-thunder-beneath-us) Earth's Waters (https://www.nicoleblades.com/earths-waters) --and this is a glorious episode, recorded live and in person at Mom 2.0, in which we really capture the joy of writing, of finding your novel, of getting to do what we do. We also get into Tall Poppies, (https://tallpoppies.org/) the writer's sharing group (I'm not sure what to call it) started by Ann Garvin (https://tallpoppies.org/team/ann-garvin/) , which also includes the Bloom   (https://tallpoppies.org/bloom/)website. I've been seeing this crew ALL OVER Insta this week, sharing each other's books like crazy, and I love it. It's a formalizing of the writer's community we all love and dream of and hopefully have (and we DO--it's called the #AmWriting Facebook group, and while we may not formalize the sharing of each other's work, we sure do do it). And I say, as I so often do, that one of my favorite things about being a writer is that it's so easy and wonderful to share and celebrate each other. Because for one thing, we're all in this because we love books and good writing. And for another, nobody who likes books ever just bought one book. Other links mentioned in the episode:Steven Pressfield (https://stevenpressfield.com/books/)BookPeople, Austin, TX (https://www.bookpeople.com/)#AmReadingDaisy Jones & The Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524798628)The Accidentals, Sarina Bowen (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781942444626)Heavy: An American Memoir, Kiese Laymon (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781501125652)My Father's Stack of Books, Kathryn Schulz (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/25/my-fathers-stack-of-books)Chase Darkness With Me: How One True-Crime Writer Started Solving Murders, Billy Jensen (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781492685852)The Other Americans, Laila Lalami (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524747145)#FaveIndieBookstoreThis episode was sponsored by Author Accelerator, the book coaching program that helps you get your work DONE. Visit https://www.authoraccelerator.com/amwriting for details, special offers and Jennie Nash’s 2-tier outline template. Nicole's #FaveIndieBookstore is Books Are Magic, Brooklyn, NY  (https://www.booksaremagic.net/) "Even though I now live in Connecticut, I still feel like I can own this bookstore. Because ... Books Are Magic"Find out more about our guest, Nicole Blades, here (https://www.nicoleblades.com/) — and check out her latest book, Have You Met Nora? (https://www.nicoleblades.com/have-you-met-nora) here or at Libro.fm. (https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781501968747-have-you-met-nora)Find more about Jess here (http://www.jessicalahey.com/) , and about KJ here (https://kjdellantonia.com/) .If you enjoyed this episode, we suggest you check out Marginally, a podcast about writing, work and friendship (https://www.marginallypodcast.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

It's hard enough to start a subscriber email. But what if--like freelance writer Lyz Lenz, who has two books coming out in the next twelve months--you asked your fans to pay for it? It's so crazy, it might just work.Hello from the Mom 2.0 conference, where Jess and I just did a panel on Launching a Speaking Career. More on that in an upcoming episode--but meanwhile, this one's a real thought-provoker. Most of us struggle with what's a good use of our time in our writing careers. We've talked a lot about the value of an email subscriber list when it comes to selling books and sharing your work--but what if the email is your work, or becomes a way to share your work? Journalist Lyz Lenz (https://lyzlenz.com/) uses Substack (https://substack.com/) to share a largely subscriber-only email (https://lyz.substack.com) with a group of readers/fans whose financial support has helped to carry her through the ups and downs of a freelance career. Other links mentioned in the episode: Lyz Lenz's Contently (https://lyzlenz.contently.com/)Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture, Roxane Gay (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062413512)Ann Friedman's Newsletter (https://www.annfriedman.com/weekly)#AmReadingHeavy: An American Memoir, Kiese Laymon (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781501125652)Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love, Dani Shapiro (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524732714)Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, Erik Larson (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780307408877)Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, Mark Bowden (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780802144737)The Last Stone: A Masterpiece of Criminal Interrogation, Mark Bowden (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780802147301)#FaveIndieBookstoreLyz Lenz's fave is Next Page Books (http://npbnewbo.com/) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "Bart knows all the local gossip and has always been a great supporter of my work." Find out more about our guest, Lyz Lenz, here (https://lyzlenz.com/) —and check out the first of the TWO books she's working on this year, God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss and Renewal in Middle America on IndieBound. (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780253041531)This episode was sponsored by Author Accelerator, the book coaching program that helps you get your work DONE. Visit https://www.authoraccelerator.com/amwritingfor details, special offers and Jennie Nash’s 2-tier outline template (the one KJ swears by).Find more about Jess here (http://www.jessicalahey.com/) , and about KJ here (https://kjdellantonia.com/) .If you enjoyed this episode, we suggest you check out Marginally, a podcast about writing, work and friendship (https://www.marginallypodcast.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

Uber-Coach Jennifer Louden on finding your "enough" and letting it power you forward. 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

Math storyteller [Steven Strogatz](http://www.stevenstrogatz.com/) makes both calculus and dictation seem approachable and fun. #notkiddingJess, we learn, was told in an early math class not to give up her day job, and so she gave up on math—until she found [Steven Strogatz](http://www.stevenstrogatz.com/), whose writing puts a human, topical, understandable face on numbers from algebra to calculus, and glories in seeing “the math in everything”. If you’re the master of a topic that seems too narrow, academic or wonky for a larger audience, consider finding fresh ways into the subject—or “every way,” says Strogatz. If you can’t relate to one analogy, he’s ready with another, and it’s that willingness to try multiple ways to get his ideas across that’s made his work popular.Strogatz is a teacher first, writer second (now you know why he and Jess bond)---and he uses dictation to find his way into a more natural voice in his writing in the simplest way possible: he holds his phone up to his mouth while he walks the dog and talks into his notes app, the one where you just press the little microphone button on the iPhone.I’ve tried this (this is KJ) and it makes me crazy, because I struggle not to watch the words come out and correct them. For Strogatz, though, the opposite is true. “It helps me get around my OCD tendencies,” he says. “If I’m writing on a keyboard and see the words, my immediate instinct is to start deleting them.”#AmReading[Educated, Tara Westover](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780399590504)[The Tangled Tree, David Quammen](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781476776620) [Inheritance, Dani Shapiro](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524732714)[Dead Wake, Erik Larson](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780307408877)#FaveIndieBookstoreSteven Strogatz's Fave is [Buffalo Street Books](https://www.buffalostreetbooks.com/) in Ithaca, NY. It's his local--"I was just in there last week. You just feel surrounded by great books." Buffalo Street Books is a co-op! Members join and get dividends, year-end profit-sharing (I'm guessing they're not getting rich there, but still) and--best of all--their local bookstore is still alive and kicking. Find out more about our guest, Steven Strogatz, [here](http://www.stevenstrogatz.com/) — and check out his latest book, [Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781328879981), on [IndieBoundor](https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781328879981) at [Twitter](https://twitter.com/stevenstrogatz).This episode was sponsored by Author Accelerator, the book coaching program that helps you get your work DONE. Visit [Author Accelerator](https://www.authoraccelerator.com/amwriting) for details, special offers and Jennie Nash’s 2-tier outline template.Find more about [Jess here](http://www.jessicalahey.com/), and about [KJ here](https://kjdellantonia.com/).If you enjoyed this episode, we suggest you check out [Marginally, a podcast about writing, work and friendship](https://www.marginallypodcast.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

Mignon Fogerty on Pet Peeves, riding a wave and what to do if you're a writer--and grammar still scares the bejabbers out of you.Plenty of writers #fangirl on Mignon Fogerty (https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl) , who took her own quest to make grammar rules easy and accessible and turned it into a mini-empire. In her case, the podcast (https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/quick-dirty-tips/grammar-girl-quick-and-dirty-tips-for-better-writing) came first, the books (https://us.macmillan.com/author/mignonfogarty/) second--and what followed is a fun exploration of being creative around a subject and finding a way to make it your own. A few links from the episode:Peeve Wars Board Game (https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/grammar-girl-s-peeve-wars)The Grammar Devotional: Daily Tips for Successful Writing from Grammar Girl (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780805091656)#AmReading:Semicolon, McKayla Debonis (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781978328365)Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere), Lisa Cron (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781607748892)I Miss You When I Blink: Essays, Mary Laura Philpott (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781982102807) A (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780312379353)KJ mentioned A Circle of Quiet (https://www.madeleinelengle.com/books/non-fiction/a-circle-of-quiet/) , from Madeline L'Engle. And then she ended up not liking it. (https://kjdellantonia.com/2019/04/08/a-book-that-will-get-you-out-of-your-head-and-one-that-wont/)Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe, Steven Strogatz (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781328879981)Laughing at My Nightmare, Shane Burcaw (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781250080103)Find out more about our guest, Mignon Fogerty, here (https://us.macmillan.com/author/mignonfogarty) —and check out her books on IndieBound (https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=grammar+girl) or at Libro.fm.  (https://libro.fm/search?q=mignon+fogerty&searchby=authors&sortby=relevance&country=all&country_select=#results)This episode was sponsored by Author Accelerator, the book coaching program that helps you get your work DONE. Visit https://www.authoraccelerator.com/amwritingfor details, special offers and Jennie Nash’s 2-tier outline template.Find more about Jess here (http://www.jessicalahey.com/) , and about KJ here (https://kjdellantonia.com/) .If you enjoyed this episode, we suggest you check out Marginally, a podcast about writing, work and friendship (https://www.marginallypodcast.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

Part 2 continues with Sarina Bowen's guidance about what you should put in your email list, and how to market your email before, or after, you’re published. 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

Sarina Bowen guides us through where and how to start up an email list, how to grow it and how to keep it healthy in the first part of a two parter on email lists. 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

Mary Laura Philpott on how to launch a book into the world, with a few regrets and ideas for do-overs. 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

Accusations of plagiarism and general bad behavior are everywhere in the writing world. Sarina Bowen joins the conversation about what plagiarism is and isn't and how to protect yourself (and keep from accidentally screwing up). 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

Omitting wan words to tighten your writing, and battling the inevitable arrival of professional jealousy. 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