The Writing Podcast

No one welcomes the prospect of a rewrite. Especially when the realization that the thesis or main idea of the book has changed. It can be downright discouraging when your thinking evolves significantly, requiring you to rewrite sections or entire chapters. In this episode, we address the emotion of rewriting and the importance of slowing down when your thinking changes. You will come away feeling...

Agents of stupidity - that's what iconoclast Jim Morris calls advertising agencies that whitewash bad advertising and romanticize the profession. Jim is the author of Badvertising: An Expose´of Insipid, Insufferable, Ineffective Advertising. A 40-year advertising veteran, he knows his industry's foibles firsthand. In this episode, Jim discusses the process of coming up with the angle for his book,...

It's one thing to write a book. And quite another to sell your book. Author Andrew Keyt made a significant investment in the publicity of his book, Myths and Mortals: Family Business Leadership and Succession Planning (Wiley Finance). The first publicity phase was the six weeks after its launch, the second was the long slog since. In this episode, Andrew, who is also a professor in the business sc...

Amy Davies, author of "A Spark in the Dark," offers helpful tips to business writers on what a book can do for your business, how to energize your writing by narrowing your audience, and how to make progress one chapter at a time. Amy also discusses how she launched her book on Linkedin and uses her book to build her business.

Youth fantasy fiction and non-fiction writer Jaimie Engle wanted to be an author since she was a child. Three weeks before her first book, “Clifton Chase and the Arrow of Light,” was slated to be published, the publisher bailed. Jaimie had no choice but to figure out how to self publish the book. In this episode, Jaimie talks candidly about the long writing road to where she is today and the purpo...

A plan is essential to a promoting your book, no matter the size of your budget. In this episode, Melissa and Dave interview Jon Lokhorst, a leadership coach, trainer, and keynote speaker. In a few weeks, Jon will be launching his new book, “Mission-Critical Leadership: How Smart Managers Lead Well in All Directions," into the world. Aspiring authors will benefit from his approach to book promotio...

Every worthy endeavor requires time, discipline, failure, and persistence. And any grand undertaking will also include stretches of discouragement. In this episode, Melissa and Dave discuss the different kinds of discouragement and offer up some ideas for how to move past the days of doubt while making progress. One idea is to step away from your project for a time, while another is to double-down...

The American suburbs have little in common with the post-apartheid communities of Capetown, South Africa. Christina Quist knows this firsthand. She, her husband, and their five kids sold most of their belongings and moved from Ohio to the southern Hemisphere. Christina never imagined that she'd be dodging stray bullets and shooing baboons from her house. In this episode, Melissa and Dave interview...

The call came out of the blue. Lorilee Craker's book agent knew the business manager of Lynne Spears, mother of pop star Brittney Spears. A few hours together in Nashville sealed the deal, and Lorilee became the co-author of a New York Times bestseller. Writing success, like any kind of success, doesn't happen without the grind, the years of discipline. Lorilee has devoted her life to writing. Sin...

It takes grit to cover the morning weather, like award-winning broadcast meteorologist Amy Sweezey did for 25 years. For starters, she set her alarm for 2 AM every morning in order to clock in for the 4:30 AM news. It also takes grit to work on a book project for almost twenty years. Named "Broadcaster of the Year" by the National Weather Association in 2018, Amy had a vision to educate children o...

There are many reasons to self-publish your book or project. It's not just because you couldn't land a contract with a traditional publisher. One of the big reasons is control over intellectual rights, pricing, and, among other things, book packaging. In this episode, Melissa and Dave offer up three benefits of self publishing and how authors can benefit from this trend.

The Enneagram is everywhere. Based on 105 questions, the personality test casts personality types into nine buckets. Coaches, consultants, HR departments, leadership gurus - many use the Enneagram to help with team building and bonding, and self-understanding. In this episode, Melissa and Dave interview Alysa Clark, who is conversant in the Enneagram and working on her first book. Alysa assists us...

There's no joy like that of diving into a writing project with an author. If you need inspiration, hope, and practical help, this episode is for you. Melissa and Dave tell the writing, promotion, and publishing stories of five authors with whom they've work over the past several years. The five book projects couldn't be more different. Yet the threads of passion, persistence, and promise run throu...

There's a chasm between writing for yourself and writing for a client. Writing for yourself is, well, so personal. One foundational question is, "What do I want to evoke in the reader?" In this episode with Jennifer Olvera, Melissa and Dave explore the life of a professional writer. Jennifer has been a professional writer for more than twenty years, and she has written eight books. Her latest is "...

After the worry of never getting published comes the fear of not selling any books. On its heels comes the thought, "What if people hate what I wrote?" or "What if the reviews are exceptionally negative?" Sometimes, those anxieties can tempt us to write bland prose in an attempt to stay a member of, as writer Stephen King calls it, "polite society." In this episode, Melissa and Dave wrestle with t...

Entrepreneurs and writers have a lot in common. One is the persistence needed to fight through the doubts and insecurities that come when creating something from nothing. In this episode, Melissa and Dave discuss the writer as entrepreneur and why the entrepreneurial mindset is essential for writers on the road trip to complete their book. Writing demands patience, flexibility, and even a sense of...

Writers need editors. Editors amplify the voice of a writer. Editors assist with clarity, flow, and emotion. In this episode, Melissa and Dave make the point that the editor is almost always right. And that writers should welcome with open arms the feedback of an editor. That doesn't mean, of course, blindly accepting everything that the editor suggests. Melissa and Dave come up with four question...

What makes an idea substantive enough for entire book? In this episode, Melissa and Dave interview Cathy Carroll, founder of Legacy Onward, a leadership coaching practice for family businesses. After years in corporate, she was asked to run her father's  business, and learned first-hand the stark differences between corporate leadership and family business leadership. Cathy's experience became the...

There's an enormous energy required to start something new. And maybe even more energy is expended when restarting a book project after a long pause. In this episode, Melissa and Dave discuss the challenges of starting to write again. And how to pick up where you left off and, once again, make progress. They provide encouragement as well as practical advice for jumping back in the car and completi...

It's no snap turning a PhD dissertation into a book. For starters, a dissertation is positioned for a micro-audience (your committee members). The bulk of the project is focused on the research methodology. And the writing cadence of a dissertation is constantly interrupted by references to dead authors. The writing of a book must appeal to a completely different mindset than that of a dissertatio...

So what really motivates you to write and publish a book? In this episode, Melissa and Dave talk candidly about how publishing changes your life. Or doesn't. At least, not like you think it will. We all tend to have overblown expectations about publishing, whether sales or prestige. Publishing is an important mile marker, no doubt. And it can evoke a great sense of satisfaction. Unless you're on a...

Few aspiring writers wake up one morning with an idea for a book and start to write. Often, we think about an idea or ideas for months or even years before the decision to start writing is made. In this episode, Melissa and Dave interview Alysa Clark, a storytelling photographer who recently made the decision to start writing her book. Founder of "Water Street Dreams" and a regular blogger, Alysa...

Research is essential to a well-written book. We all know that, but how much research should you conduct? And when is enough enough? In this episode, Melissa and Dave identify different kinds of research and help aspiring writers with some of the basics of book research. This is an introduction to the topic of book research, meant to encourage writers to start with the question, "What do I want to...

Who likes to "network"? Not many of us. The very idea of standing around at a holiday soiree with a cocktail in hand trying to make small talk is enough to cause nausea. And yet building relationships now is essential as you promote your book later. In this episode, Dave and Melissa discuss how to build authentic relationships that you can draw on later in your book publishing and promotion journe...

Voice is your writing DNA. It's what makes your writing unique. It's what makes someone say, "You must read this author." Voice is how authors create a following. In this episode, Dave interviews Melissa about how she developed her writing voice. Melissa is frank about her insecurities and honest about the work she did to formulate her distinctive voice. This episode is for aspiring writers on the...