Dear Writer

This author spotlight episode, we welcomed on the show C.M. Healy. C.M. is an author of children's books ranging from early readers to poetry collections, and he also has published two YA Fantasy novels in his 'Beyond the After' series. We greatly enjoyed talking to C.M. about his books and his process.

On this culturing creativity episode, we explored the benefits of cowriting, and discussed our experience as coauthors. We talked about the challenges involved, and how we overcome them.

This episode of Dear Writer, we begin a three part series on the journey so far, beginning with our attempts to be traditionally published. We discussed the reasons why traditional publishing can be attractive, and our personal reasons for pursuing this pathway.

We reviewed two great resources on this talking shop episode. Sarah chose The Magic Words: Writing great books for children and young adults by Cheryl B. Klein, and Ashley took a new approach and discussed an article she'd read: World Line and Narrative Realism. Julia J.C. Blau and Amy Rose Capetta. Journal of Creative Writing Studies. Vol. 5. 2020. Article 9.

This week on Dear Writer we had Kaitlyn Legaspi in the author spotlight. Kaitlyn writes young adult fantasy and has published four books, three as part of her 'Dark Irregular' Trilogy, and the first of her 'Cardholder' series. It was great to chat with Kaitlyn about her experience and her process, and we enjoyed learning all about her books.

This week for our culturing creativity episode, we discussed the effect clutter has on creativity: good, bad or neither? We talked about our personal habits, and whether we think these habits make us more or less productive.

On this month's hour long episode, we deep-dived into theme and began threshing out what it really is and why it's important. We talked about how we use theme and ways to deepen the theme without coming off as 'preachy'.

In this talking shop episode, we discuss two of the writing tools that have been helpful to us in our writing. This month, Ashley’s choice was Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon, and Sarah attempted to unravel some of the many benefits of reading On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. For their leisure reading this month, Sarah has been...

In the author spotlight this week, we had an enlightening chat with Patrick D. Kaiser about his verse novels. Patrick has written several poetry collections, as well as some action-packed verse thrillers. The second book of the Death-Bringer Chronicles, Sight, is now available on amazon for purchase. Patrick is kindly donating 50% of the proceeds from this book to help out a friend who is undergoi...

In this culturing creativity episode of Dear Writer, we discussed the benefits of music in creating inspiration. This included both inspiration for plot events and character development within your book, but also in encouraging the muse to roll up his or her sleeves and get down to business!

In another of our hour-long episodes of the podcast, we discussed the importance of setting to a novel, including how setting can add to different aspects of the novel and how it can be used to deepen the readers understanding of both the external plot and the character’s inner struggles.

In this talking shop episode, we reviewed two different writing tools. Ashley’s choice this month was The Elements of Style (4th Edition) by William Strunk Jr and E.B. White, and Sarah reviewed the Story Grid, with the book being written by Shawn Coyne, and the accompanying podcast produced by Shawn Coyne and Tim Grahl. In our leisure reading time, Sarah talked about Everything I Never Told You by...

On our fifth author spotlight episode, we have Keith R. Fentonmiller. Keith works for the Federal Trade Comission as an attorney by day. In his spare time, he writes historical fantasy novels. The first novel of his series, Fate Accompli, is due to be published on May 18th by Ellysian Press. He is also the author of Kasper Mützenmacher’s Cursed Hat, which was previously published by Curiosity Quil...

In this culturing creativity episode, we explore procrastination. Why writers procrastinate, our own personal foibles and flaws, and what you can do to stop procrastinating and start writing.

On our hour-long episode this month we talked about researching; why it's important for writers to research, how we do it, and some tips and tricks we use to make it more bearable, and sometimes (dare we say it?) fun. In one of Ashley's researching tips, she mentioned the use of a reference manager. For those of you who are interested in using this method, she recommended Mendeley, which you can d...

On our talking shop episode this week, Ashley talks about an amusing grammar book titled 'Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English' by Patricia T O'Connor. And Sarah reviewed a book on horror writing called 'Writing in the Dark' by Tim Waggoner. Also, as always listen in for the novels we're reading this month!

On our author spotlight this week, we had a great talk with Emé Savage about her books. Emé writes soulful fantasy with mysticism, magic and mayhem. She has published two books, with a third soon on the way. Note: We did have some minor technical difficulties with this podcast. Please note at 14.30 minutes, it should say "And so the Gidat, the lady, is sent by the Creator [to take T’Gan, a boy] ou...

We experimented with freefall (aka free writing) on Dear Writer this week, which proved an interesting and useful tool for developing creativity. Listen in to see how it went.

To celebrate the 20th episode of Dear Writer, this week we have a... um... treat? We're sharing with you all some absolutely terrible poetry which hopefully you will enjoy at our expense. If you have never heard someone die laughing in the middle of a poetry slam, this episode is for you.

This week on Dear Writer we explored several writing resources, and we both chose other podcasts to review and discuss. Sarah talked about The Creative Penn Podcast, hosted by Joanna Penn, while Ashley's choice for the month was also a podcast, The Career Author Podcast, hosted by Zach Bohannon and J. Thorn.

On our author spotlight interview this month, we have M.H. Woodscourt, who has written a number of novels in the realms of science fiction and high fantasy. We had a great talk that encompassed Melissa's sources of inspiration, sticking points, and her experience of the indie-publishing world.

Episode 17: It's Okay to Relax by Linderson Creations

This week we talk about stumbling blocks: places where no matter how hard you try, it seems impossible to break through, especially in those early chapters. Listen in to find out about our personal struggles, why we think they exist, and what we do about them.

In our second Talking Shop episode, we talk about two of the writing resources we've found helpful on our journey. Sarah discusses The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing: Everything You Need to Know to Create and Sell Your Work, by the editors of Writer's Digest. The book is exactly what it says, and extremely comprehensive, with bonus interviews by some big name authors. Ashley turns to podcasts...

We're back this week with another author spotlight episode, this time featuring Jamez Holmes. We had a fascinating discussion with Jamez about his process for writing, and how other media such as video games and film influence his work. Jamez is lucky enough to focus on his writing full time, and is working on his first novel.