The Writing Podcast

Anna LeBaron was born into a polygamist cult. She endured the unimaginable: abandonment, horrific living conditions, child labor, and sexual grooming. At 13, she escaped to a new life, though it took decades for her to recover. In our interview, Anna discusses the process of writing her memoir and how she used a professional editor to help her create the scenes for her story. Anna gives practical...

There's a ancient saying that money is not so much the problem; it's the love of money that causes the trouble. There's another truth about the topic: It's really hard to write about money - specifically, your money. And yet, that is exactly what Jennifer Risher does in "We Need to Talk: A Memoir about Wealth." She and her husband became what only can be described as an "ultra high net worth" fami...

Life is not easily broken down into writing segments. Executive Coach Rose Hollister made time for writing while commuting into Chicago from her home in the western suburbs. Rose runs a coaching and consulting practice and has written for the Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. She has also written a book for young adults who've just landed their first corporate job called "No...

There are at least three distinct phases in launching a book into the world. The second phase is the six-week to three-month window when the book is released. It's when your book is new news. Kaitlyn Bouchillon has built a business as a virtual assistant helping authors launch their books. Her focus is on creating and managing book launch teams. In this interview, Kaitlyn explains the role of a bo...

Gone are the days when the phrase "self-published" referred to a second-rate book. Today, many authors choose the self-publishing route because it gives them control over their book rights, a faster time to market, and a higher margin per book. Bookbaby.com has ridden the self-publishing trend to become one of the largest book services companies in the world. In this interview with Bookbaby.com pr...

Positive, warm, and encouraging - three qualities not typically associated with literary agents. But literary agent Adria Goetz exemplifies all three. In this practical interview, Adria explains her process for sorting through all the queries she receives by email. She also discusses how to pitch your book to agents via Twitter and how she discovers new writers through the social media platform. S...

What, exactly, is a memoir? Is it simply a great story? Or is it a style of writing that addresses a larger theme? Yes. In this practical interview with Mickey Maudlin, Senior VP and Executive Editor at HarperCollins, he distinquishes between memoir as a genre and memoir as a writing style. He also helps aspiring writers ask a basic question, "Why would someone buy my memoir?" A few authors might...

How do two authors write one memoir? Patrick Gray and Justin Skeesuck co-wrote ”I‘ll Push You,” and their awards for the memoir speak for themselves. The book chronicles not just their unique journey on the Camino de Santiago, a 500-mile trek through Spain, but the lifetime friendship of Patrick and Justin, who suffers from a neuromuscular disease that has robbed him of the use of his arms and leg...

"How do I find a literary book agent?" is one of the most common questions of aspiring writers. In this episode with literary agent Don Gates, founder of The Gates Group, he identifies the three C's that agents seek in a new author: Concept, Crowd, and Content. In other words, the book concept needs to rock, the author must have a following or some means to distribute the book, and he or she also...

Unless you are writing a textbook, curiosity is what makes your writing memorable. It all starts with the questions that you ask of others. More specifically, the follow-up questions that evoke emotion, stories, and insights. You also want to be curious of your ideas as you write, asking, "Why do I really believe that?" In this episode, we discuss the role of curiosity and how it raises the qualit...

A few of you rise before dawn, run 10 miles, and write 1,500 words - all before 7 AM. Bully for you. The rest of us, however, structure our lives a bit differently. In this episode, we identify the six models of writing discipline. The first is the aforementioned Early Riser model, and the second is the "Edge of the Toilet Seat" model. The goal is to find a writing discipline model that works for...

There are a thousand clichés about how to take the first step of a long journey. But they all have one thing in common: you have to start. In this episode, we offer up a series of tips for taking that first step, including the importance of fighting through and overcoming the so-called imposter syndrome. At some point, no matter how insecure we feel, the only way to overcome our emotion is the phy...

The golden era of magazines is a distant memory. Part of their demise was the Internet, which flooded the world with free content. Even today, however, magazines feature some of the best writing for a variety of reasons. In this episode, we identify five lessons from magazines that can help you improve your book writing. One of those is the hook or angle of every article in a magazine. Each articl...

You're not a writer if you've never been absolutely lost while working on a piece, whether a blog, an article, or, especially, the chapter of a book. Writing is thinking in motion. You may have not thought about your idea in this way before, until you laid down that sentence. In this episode, we offer up what amounts to five writing hacks to help you find your way once you've become lost. One hack...

Emily Bouchard's approach to landing media interviews for her book was quite simple. She reached out to a journalist and asked for one. She didn't know how to create a press release, so she googled it. And then created one. Seems like we all can do that! Emily is a Family Dynamics Coach to ultra high net worth families, and author of "Estate Planning for the Blended Family" and "Beginner's Guide t...

The reasons for writing a memoir are many. Some write to understand their past; others share truths from their past to help others. Still others write memoirs as a way of preserving their family history. In this episode, we introduce the topic of writing a memoir and identify five basic elements to keep in mind when starting out to write one. Every person has a story to tell. It's how you tell the...

Story. Story. Story. No one argues with the idea that stories are one of the primary ways we communicate as humans. It's one thing to enjoy a great story. And quite another to write a great one. In this interview with Steve Mathewson, author of "Art of Preaching Old Testament Narratives," he lays out the four essential elements of writing a great story. He also discusses the importance of "strateg...

It can never be about the money. No realistic financial model for book publishing exists, unless of course, you hit the lottery with your first. In this episode, tech founder and book writer Dave Parker applies start-up thinking to writing, publishing, and promoting his book, Trajectory Startup: Ideation to Product/Market Fit. Our interview with Dave is realistic yet practical. The time is now to...

Self-doubt is the constant road companion of the writer, and especially of the aspiring writer. Self-doubt can be paralyzing. Contribute to procrastination. Even derail the writing journey altogether. In this episode, we discuss at length the shadow of self doubt and how aspiring writers can step into the light and overcome their self-doubt. The only way through the self-doubt is the act of writin...

When your book is launched, you've got about three months. And then your book becomes old news. Your publisher moves on. So does the media. And then the long slog to promote your book begins. In this episode, we interview Tyndale Publishers author relations director Andrea Martin on how to stay focused when the promotions don't go as planned. You'll come away encouraged to keep pressing on and to...

We want to pivot a bit and discuss how to spot and eliminate clichés as you write your book. Whoops, we need to eliminate "pivot" from this introductory copy! In this episode, we regale each other with the challenge of how to write in fresh language. A cliché is simply a word or phrase that is overused, tired, well worn. If you want your book to be read - and then referred - you'll want to do the...

The last thing a writer may want to add to the journey of publishing a book is the job of building a social media following. It's a slog. Tedious. And unless you're a gregarious, larger than life celebrity, building your following takes thought and skill. In this episode, Dave once again interviews Melissa on how she has built her Instagram following. This time, the topic is hashtags. Melissa clea...

She calls it her "pop in" writing discipline. Caryn Rivadeneira, who has published 13 books, learned to make writing progress while sitting on the edge of the toilet as her kids splashed in the bathtub. In this wide-ranging interview, Caryn discusses the value of writing a full book proposal, even for those who plan to self publish. She also clarifies the job of a good book agent and why some writ...

If you want to write, you'll need a way to promote your book. One common way is through social media. In this episode, Dave interviews Melissa about a data analytics project that helped her identify five key insights about how to improve her engagement on Instagram. Melissa's son Davis, a stats, econ, and math major at Northwestern University, analyzed the response to Melissa's Instagram posts ove...

What is the starting point for writing a book? Do you just sit down one day and start to write? That's not a bad idea. At least you create a bit of momentum. But there are some additional, practical ideas to help you make more progress more quickly. In this episode, Melissa and Dave strip back the book writing process to its very beginning. They identity seven ways to begin the writing process. Yo...