Will I Ever Finish This F#@king Book?

What if, hiding behind your perfectionism, is a very specific fear — and that’s what’s really keeping you from the finish line? In this season finale, I talk about hitting a wall near the end of Draft Six, having a truly excellent cry 😭 and accidentally creating the podcast you’re listening to right now. I break down the difference between a shiny object that pulls you away from the work and a us...

What if the fix to your story problems is hiding in plain sight — and what if, somehow, the answer is CATGOD? In this episode, I talk about the book-within-my-book and why it was turning into a many-tentacled nightmare. I share how a 3 AM idea turned a series of lifeless epigraphs into something far more exciting...and why sometimes the answer is emphatically not "just try harder. " Time...

What if the fastest way to save your book is to do this one embarrassing thing? In this episode, I talk about the genius of Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ Id List and how it can make writing fun again (for you and your readers). I share how the fanfic-within-my-book became a roiling cauldron of lusty fun and why I spent weeks telling myself it wasn’t allowed. 🚫 We’ll also get into the very important issue...

What if your scenes are dragging, not because nothing is happening, but because the real action is hiding somewhere you haven’t thought to look? 🔍 In this episode, I tackle scenes that look like they should work — goal, conflict, stakes, banter, the whole shebang — but still feel like limp little rags on the page. I share the two books that turned my conception of storytelling upside down, a tool...

What if finishing your book isn’t about having all the right answers? What if you need this magic ingredient instead? 🪄 In this episode, I share how a trip to Tacoma, WA accidentally changed my entire revision process—and the $3 item that became my new favorite revision tool.  I lovingly call out the part of my psyche that confuses “looking busy” with “actually doing shit,” and I break down the m...

What if that feeling of revision overwhelm is hiding your creativity kryptonite—and staring it straight in the face is what finally makes you invincible? (🐐 Or at least slightly less likely to delete your entire manuscript and take up goat herding.) In this episode, I tackle the craft problem of making my haunting subplot actually feel haunted, with special guest The Haunting of Hill House . 👻 I...

What if the reason you can’t start isn’t that you don’t know enough or haven’t planned enough, but because starting would make the thing real ? In this episode, I tackle the Ouroboros Problem 🐍 — how do you begin a book when the beginning depends on the ending, and the ending depends on the beginning? I break down why first chapters and blurbs are particularly thorny, then propose two simple ques...

What if that idea you’ve been dismissing as totally bonkers is the one that will change your life? In this first episode of ✨ Will I Ever Finish This Fucking Book? ✨ join me, Aven Winslow, romance author and Jungian Witch, as I invoke the central question of the season 👉 can I drag my second romantasy novel out of my mind, off my hard drive, and into readers’ hands without losing the magic that...