StoryADay presents: I, WRITER - A Writing Podcast about Building a Successful Writing Practice

Setting writing goals is one thing. Living with them, quite another. This month's theme at StoryADay is Goals Vs. Reality. LINKS: Your invitation to the March Hangout:  https://stada.me/319hang Breaking Writers' Block ebook: https://amzn.to/2Xq13My The YouTube version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/QNfeGG6hsPA

What kind of writer are you? What kind of culture do you want to create? What kind of writing life are you aiming for? In this episode I ponder these questions and talk a little about this month's theme of Flash Fiction. And I invite you to share what inspires you, right now: https://stada.me/124 :LINKS: Seth Godin's The Big Sort https://stada.me/g-bigsort Chuck Wending's blog post about writers a...

What do you do when it's difficult to write? Here's what I did this week. You can find all the links and discussion I talked about, here: https://storyaday.org/when-writing-stalls And here's the Serious Writers' Accountability Group (SWAGr) for Feb 2019: https://storyaday.org/swagr-feb-2019/      

As a writer, what do you need? Do you need a desk? A room of your own? Scrivener? A pad and paper and something to lean on? The answer is probably 'it depends'. And it's important to figure out what you need, and when.  Other writers (often in the form of writers' groups) can help you find your groove as a writer.  In this episode I talk about finding your groove, and the value of writers' groups....

In which I encourage you to celebrate the end/start of the year however makes you happiest! If you want planning docs find them here: https://stada.me/pace If you want to set some goals for January, check in at StoryADay.org on Jan 1 for our SWAGr group. And if your goals are simply to stand in front of the mirror every day and say "I am a writer" (see last podcast for identity), that's OK too (I...

Should you focus on your goals (the outcome you want) or your identity ("I am a writer") if you want to succeed? This week I talk about the idea that it is much easier to create a good habit if you see yourself as the type of person who DOES a thing, rather than as someone who wishes they had the ability/time/resources to do a thing.   LINKS: Atomic Habits by James Clear:  https://stada.me/atomic...

Encouraging you to find the creative joy in your writing at this midpoint of NaNoWriMo (or what ever writing challenge has you down), through playfulness.    Rekindling Your Writing Excitement Mid-Project On this episode of the StoryADay podcast, Julie Duffy shares advice on how to regain excitement for writing projects that have become daunting or overwhelming, especially in the context of a mont...

Advice about how to get unstuck when you still have 30,000 words to write! RESOURCES: Unsticking Yourself thread on Twitter: https://stada.me/unstuck Tony Conaway's article on public readings: https://stada.me/tonytalk Further reading: What To Do When You're Stuck In The Middle of Your Novel, (https://stada.me/wdstuck) from Writer's Digest, with advice from the excellent DIYMFA book by Gabriela Pe...

NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writers' Month, is well underway. By this point in week two your story might have become a little bit, well, stuck. In these next two episodes I share tips and advice from myself and others about how to get unstuck when you still have 30,000 words to write!   Unsticking Yourself thread on Twitter: https://stada.me/unstuck Tony Conaway's article on public readings:  ht...

Join our critique 'week', Oct 21-31 (because wouldn't it be nice if every week had a couple of extra days to get stuff done?) and get access to the Revisions & Critique Mini Course as well as having me and 3 of your peers critique your work. Use the code: octearlybird before noon (EST) on Sunday, Oct 21 to save $20 https://stada.me/crit18  

This month, as we transition from StoryADay September into the rest of our writing lives, I encourage you to slow down, turn left, and break things. LINKS SWAGr:  https://stada.me/swagr Opening Lines Article:  http://storyaday.org/opening-lines/

In which I talk about when (writerly) promiscuity is good, and announce the winners of the September giveaway of Windy Lynn Harris's book, "Writing & Selling Short Stories & Personal Essays". Bonus points if you can spot the sound of my kid's hamster trying to break out, in the background. #IThoughtHamstersWereSupposedToBeNocturnal

This could be a really short podcast (just me screaming "NO!"), but I decided to talk in a more constructive way about the reasons why I think it's important to write fast first drafts and save revisions for later. With thanks to my StoryADay Superstars group for raising this talking point as they go through StoryADay September.  

Firstly I talk about some people who are making short and long fiction work for them: Mary Robinette Kowal, whose new novels The Calculating Stars grew out of a short story, The Lady Astronaut of Mars; and Diana Gabaldon, who writes short stories in her Outlander universe to keep her readers occupied while she's working on the longer novels. I also talk about slang: Writing prompt: http://storyada...

Writing a longer work like a novel can get a bit overwhelming. Today I encourage you to use short stories to explore areas of your novel's world that you might not have dug deeply into. This can help unblock the writing process and get you back to a place where you're enjoying your writing. LINKS ==== Write on Wednesday prompts: https://stada.me/wow

This month I am still talking about writing for minor holidays and anniversaries. In this podcast I reveal the grand plan behind this: it's a system for focusing on particularly stories, regularly. I talk about the importance of systems (because apparently Ihave a problem with the word "routine") and I recommend you check out Tim Grahl's new book Running Down The Dream. If you want a super-bundle...

Minor holidays are a great opportunity for writers to show editors why they need to publish *this* story *now*. Forget about the over-subscribed holidays of Valentine's and Christmas. Instead, write about some oddball holidays.  All StoryADay's prompts in June will be tailored to these odd little holidays and anniversaries. Listen to this episode to find out why you might want to write an Arbor Da...

This month at StoryADay we're all about revisions. This episode takes a look at how to revise your short stories without becoming overwhelmed, and invites you to think about submitting a story to StoryADay's showcase: Storyfest, coming up on June 23-24.  

StoryADay May is over and now we get to celebrate. This episode talks about upcoming themes at the StoryADay blog, the Serious Writers' Accountability Group and the upcoming StoryFest showcase of all our hard work

This week I share some of the prompts from week 4 of StoryADay May 2018, talk about creativity and limits, and encourage you to dive into the community at StoryADay. Also, I talk about drug discovery and wheelbarrows... LINKS Serious Writers' Accountability Group (SWAGr): https://stada.me/swagr

The problem with doing something hard (like writing) is not that you aren't good. It's that it's hard to know how long to work before you decide that you really aren't any good.  (Hint: It's longer than you think. And you may never be able to tell!) How to keep going when you're not sure if you should.   Resources mentioned in this episode: My author interviews at NaNoWriMo's blog: http://blog.nan...

In Week 2 of StoryADay May 2018 we're working on craft-based writing prompts (character desires, conflict, structures, openings and endings). Picking up skills and putting down words. But now that the novelty has worn off, what can you do to rekindle your excitement about writing every day for a month?

The first week of StoryADay May 2018 is drawing to a close. In this episode I tell you about  The webinar I did with NaNoWriMo's Young Writer's Program, Marya Brennan: http://stada.me/ywplive The Superstars program, and how you can still join (today): http://stada.me/superstars Here's where you can find all the prompts for StoryADay May 2018: http://stada.me/may2018 And I answer a question about b...

In this episode I give you my top three tips for a successful month of writing an introduce the new StoryADay Superstars program: http://storyaday.org/storyaday-superstars (membership comes with a month of free access to Duotrope, my favourite online source for writing markets)

Apologies that the audio is a little crackly on this one, but it's worth sticking with, to hear the infectiously enthusiastic Windy Lynn Harris and me, gabbing about the joy of short fiction. Windy Lynn Harris is the author of Writing & Selling Short Stories & Personal Essays (Writer's Digest Books, 2017)