Two Hearts and One Braincell: Cassidy Carson & JT Hume Amateur Hour

Episode 114 of the "helping writers write" podcast touches on messages to our younger selves. What we have learned and what would we say to ourselves if we could go back in time. "Never give up" is the obvious advice, but the rest is not so obvious. Also discussed: -Paris (France) -Mark Twain -Our Basement -Retirement -Significant Birthdays -Going to College -Our current WIPs A...

Been a low and slow day at the CC and JT Amateur Hour where "we help writers write" because Spring has finally sprung. Woo! We talked about the craft of writing last week, which is the technical aspect of grammar, editing, and publishing. These are universal to all books. What is not universal is the creative process or the art of writing, so today's podcast is all about pulling word...

Episode 112 of our writer's podcast tackles Spring Cleaning, the ritual of opening the windows, letting in the fresh air, and getting your house organized. For writers, it's about the craft of writing: organizing your manuscripts, filing documents in their proper folders, and reorganizing your brain for the next manuscript. Also discussed: our basement (sigh), France, Mark Twain in Nevada,...

For those of us at certain age, we recall when Rod Serling spoke of the dimension of mind. Episode 111 of our "writer's podcast for writers" dives into the mind as we discuss "reality vs. memory." They're often not the same thing. We use a fender bender that CC and I saw firsthand this week. Even though it happens a few feet from us, we took away different perceptions o...

Another polyglot of a podcast from the Worldwide Headquarters where "we like to help writers write." We discussed writing comfort zones, and how writers like to stick to familiar troupes and character because they over a rich source of inspiration. John Grisham and his love for the Deep South is specifically mentioned, as is my books of Nevada. We push our own buttons (again) of the comp...

Another podcast, another joint therapy session. Northern Nevada is being pummeled by waves of rain and snow, and some of it overflowed into our basement. CC and I talk it out to get perspective and context, and as a means to reduce our stress. Also discussed: -Writing as an escape -Getting yourself into writing mode. -Memories and context. -Word games with kids. -Cochlear implants. -Rain and snow...

We clearly had things on our minds in this week's writers podcast: -Snow. -So much snow. -The Northern Nevada Floods of 1997. -Heated sidewalks at the Nevada Legislature. -Our respective works in progress. -Staying focused on the story at hand and not getting sidetracked. -So much respect for veterinarians and their teams. We wrap it up with a dive into the taxes that writers must consider every y...

Time for another CC and JT Amateur Hour "where production values go to die." We like to help writers write. The past is always present and grips us all in more ways than one. CC and I discuss how to fold the past into your writing. We talk about the Hume Museum. Peggy the doll there has been handed down through generations, and her wooden friends come from overseas. We also chat about the Hume Clo...

"The podcast where production values go to die" is more discombobulated than usual in this episode. We started talking about the value of developing routines and habits to establish comfort zones for writing. That's valuable stuff, but we somehow segued into the importance of fan fiction.  We have a lot of respect for these artists, especially for middle and high schoolers who write and put t...

CC and I meander all over the map in this week's podcast about Love. We agree, and we agree to disagree, but we're fairly safe in saying there are no absolutes other than "Love is Love."  We hope you have it all figured out for yourself because listening to this podcast, you can tell we are clearly clueless. Have a listen and let us know what we got right or wrong. And check us out at www.car...

We discuss "the doldrums," which we define as a normal interruption in the creative writing process. You have a story, but you don't what to with it or which direction to take it.  We're going through this ourselves. We have some ideas on what got us there and what it will take to get us moving again. We also chat about our gift to you on Valentines Day and current events. Have a listen and c...

We struggled this week with "the big reveal": the completely out-of-the-blue plot twist. Does it take the reader out of the story? Does it improve the plot? Does it change a "routine" experience into a memorable one for all the right reasons? Thoroughly spoiled: "The Crying Game" and "Murder on the Orient Express." We also discuss our personal works in progress. This and other goodies on our websi...

CC and I chat about what may be the most important emotional tool for a writer. We need a lot of moxie to get a book from a random idea floating in the ether to a real live book.  We talk about the challenges of believing in yourself, plus we give some ideas in how to keep believing in yourself. There's the usual updates about our works in progress, and we make a big announcement about our ne...

In today's Amateur Hour, CC and I discuss the books that took us from childhood reading to adult fiction, and the impact they continue to have on us as adults. We chat about sump pumps, our works in progress, and "From Tundra to Tiara," as well as our plans for the future. Have a listen and check us out at www.carsonhume.com . TIA! LYL!

Twenty-two months since we started in isolation, and here is our 100th episode of the CC and JT Amateur Hour ("where production values go to die"). This episode coincides with the debut of " From Tundra to Tiara ," so honestly, how could we not do this today? Not all is sunshine as real life taught us a valuable lesson about perspective (trigger: COVID). We're also thankful that small businesses s...

Our 99th podcast, and we're almost done with another cycle of writing-editing-publishing a book with "From Tundra to Tiara" being released tomorrow, Monday, January 9.  We talk at length about what we learned from our collaborative effort in writing a book, along with the challenges of contrasting writing styles and the English language itself. We segue over to the biggest roadblock for indep...

We started 2023 with a power and internet outage from a humungous storm that knocked out services for a hundred-plus square miles in Northern Nevada. We're finally back on line, so here is the delayed second chapter of your future favorite Netflix/Hallmark cozy romantic movie.  The first two chapters of "From Tundra to Tiara" are posted on our website , so feel free to follow along. It will b...

As promised, here we are, reading the first chapter of your future favorite Netflix/Hallmark cozy romantic movie. Well, we can hope, anyway. The first two chapters of " From Tundra to Tiara " are posted on our website, so feel free to follow along as we read. We also chat about good and bad holiday movies, and we pick our favorite of the season: " A New York Christmas Wedding " on Netflix. And the...

Ah, "the horror of the holidays are upon us," as my grandfather used to say. One common theme, no matter your culture or beliefs, are the strong emotions we feel during these days. CC and I remember two of our strongest Christmas memories, and we use them to illustrate how to transcribe those memories into prose. There's the usual chat about the plans for our current works in progress, and there's...

Jam-packed podcast where we talked about my completed space epic and how it differs from the three modern eponymous sci-fi adventures. Lots of talks about techno-babble and characters. If you're writing one, or considering writing one, here are some great ideas. Also: Two free chapters from our latest release, "From Tundra to Tiara," hitting the shelves on January 9, 2023! Go to our website at www...

Our single brain is on display in this podcast because we wandered all over the writer's landscape today, starting with writing posture, segueing to mojo and frame of mind, and ending with a chat about writers spending money. We did learn that CC and I had different elementary school experiences. Have a listen! Related: the podcast on Money got a lot of love this week, per the analytics.  We'...

Writing believable dialogue is one of the biggest challenges in prose because "dialogue is character," and characters are what drive our books. We discuss dialogue at length with examples from famous movies, and we provide ideas on how to improve your own written dialogue (spoiler: "listen"). We bring you up to speed on our own writing projects and the progress of our marketing plan for "From Tund...

A little bit longer post for this week's podcast. Tomorrow starts the presale of our new book on Amazon. This week, we discuss kicking off our marketing campaign tomorrow (Monday, November 21) with all sorts of plans and incentives. We're doing the title reveal this week and the cover reveal next week.  The biggest challenge will be navigating through the uncertainty of social media, which ma...

We chat about writing about the holidays, why Hollywood keep making holiday movies, and why people keep watching them. Themes include family, winter, and love. Minor spoilers of Love Hard, Die Hard, and others. We're over at www.carsonhume.com if you want to leave a comment or subscribe via WordPress. Have a listen! TIA & LYL! ( Flickr image made available from Steve McFarland via Creative Com...

Writing about politics can be rewarding and challenging, but it's easy to get lost in the weeds. CC and I give you ideas about how to focus on the story at hand without going too far off track. We talk about our current works in progress, Nanowrimo, graphic design, and the upcoming holidays. Pretty good podcast this week, if I do say so myself.  Have a listen and check us out at www.carsonhum...