Writer Craft Podcast

Hello aligned authors! I'm Valerie Ihsan, and this is Episode 224 of the podcast and it's October 15, 2026 as I record this.   Main Topic: Finding Your Voice Within Your Writing Process, with David Barnett     PATREON: Thank you to my existing patrons for believing in my work offline and here in the podcast. If you are a patron, in either tier, you get all my content, always. You can support me an...

(Main Topic): Anthony Aleman was born in 1988 and raised on the fourteenth floor of a South Bronx housing project at the height of the crack wars. He spent much of his childhood in foster care and group homes. He wrote BARLESS because the truth needs telling no matter how ugly it gets, and because no one is broken - every warrior carries scars. It is his first book, told in the voice of the boy wh...

What are you reading? Just finished:   On Fire Island (Jane Rosen) Nonfiction Cultish : The Language of Fanaticism (Amanda Montell) Creative Act (Rick Rubin)   Fiction: Unlikely Animals (Annie Hartnett)   (Main Topic): Residency:   Home:   original plan architect water concession little rental while building various reasons added up to can't start building until the water concession is final (6 mo...

Hello aligned authors! I'm Valerie Ihsan, and this is Episode 221 of the podcast and it's September 22, 2026 as I record this.   Main Topic:   Jane Ward (creativity, baking, travel, and how to do anything creative when you don't consider yourself an artist)   PATREON: Thank you to my existing patrons for believing in my work offline and here in the podcast. If you are a patron, in either tier, you...

  Why Romance Novels Are More Serious Than People Think,   with Francesca Frost   PATREON: Thank you to my existing patrons for believing in my work offline and here in the podcast. If you are a patron, in either tier, you get all my content, always. You can support me and my dreams and my writing and my aligned author life for $11.11 USD, and I will be so so grateful. Truly. Heart to heart. Grati...

Main Topic:   Balance and Flow with Steven Puri     PATREON: Thank you to my existing patrons for believing in my work offline and here in the podcast. If you are a patron, in either tier, you get all my content, always. You can support me and my dreams and my writing and my aligned author life for $11.11 USD, and I will be so so grateful. Truly. Heart to heart. Gratitude for your gifts. If you wa...

Main Topic:   Pockets of Pivots: Pivoting and Tweaking Your Way Through the First Year as a Full-Time Writer with repeat guest JP Rindfleisch IX       PATREON: Thank you to my existing patrons for believing in my work offline and here in the podcast. If you are a patron, in either tier, you get all my content, always. You can support me and my dreams and my writing and my aligned author life for $...

(Main Topic):   Wheel of Life overview: health, friends/family, significant other, personal growth, fun and leisure, home environment, career, money   What is your satisfaction in these areas? Goal: level them out for a smoother ride. It's not to increase all the levels to 10.   Ask instead: What # do you want this section to be at? What needs to happen for you to get that # where you want it to b...

Main Topic:   Writing, Traveling, and Trauma Healing: A Last Ditch Effort to Be Heard, with David Dean Haskell PATREON: Thank you to my existing patrons for believing in my work offline and here in the podcast. If you are a patron, in either tier, you get all my content, always. You can support me and my dreams and my writing and my aligned author life for $11.11 USD, and I will be so so grateful....

(Main Topic):   Tatyana Gosh is a holistic life and business coach, empowerment mentor, and yoga practitioner born in Bulgaria and based globally. She focuses on helping women overcome personal limitations, heal from trauma, and align their lives through conscious entrepreneurship, relationships, and spirituality.   Notes: Our work is similar. Yours is based on empowering women to understand and t...

Main Topic: Writing a Bridge Between the Physical and Spiritual Worlds with guest Rondalyn Whitney Rondalyn Whitney is a writer and mental health occupational therapist whose work thrives at the intersection of storytelling and real-life healing. After losing her husband in an automobile accident and becoming a solo parent, Rondalyn has made it her mission to show that mourning is an occupation ju...

PATREON: Thank you to my existing patrons for believing in my work offline and here in the podcast. If you are a patron, in either tier, you get all my content, always. You can support me and my dreams and my writing and my aligned author life for $11.11 USD, and I will be so so grateful. Truly. Heart to heart. Gratitude for your gifts. If you want coaching too (with TWO LIVE CALLS EACH MONTH, you...

Main Topic: Truth-Telling in Fiction and Memoir with Grace Sammon But our conversation spans The Difference Between Telling Your Truth and Owning Your Truth; The Ghostwriter as a Literary Device; and Why Fiction Holds What Memoir Sometimes Can't; Who Owns the Truth and what Silence costs us; invisibility, and relevance. (Really interesting conversation.) PATREON: Thank you to my existing patrons f...

PATREON: Thanks so much to new patron Faye Whyte.   Thank you to my existing patrons for believing in my work offline and here in the podcast. If you are a patron, in either tier, you get all my content, always. You can support me and my dreams and my writing and my aligned author life for $11.11 USD, and I will be so so grateful. Truly. Heart to heart. Gratitude for your gifts. If you want coachi...

In this conversation, we talk about: developing a book coaching program membership sites ghostwriting vs writing for self marketing in 90 day increments   PATREON: Thank you to my existing patrons for believing in my work offline and here in the podcast.   I've just revamped my Patreon Page. I'm so so so pleased with it and proud of my work in simplifying it. Too many pay walls and exclusions. Now...

PATREON: Thanks to new patron Heidi Walker!  Thank you to my existing patrons for believing in my work offline and here in the podcast.   I've just revamped my Patreon Page. I'm so so so pleased with it and proud of my work in simplifying it. Too many pay walls and exclusions. Now it is fresh and easy. If you are a patron, in either tier, you get all my content, always. You can support me and my d...

Hello Writers! I'm Valerie Ihsan, and this is Episode 208 of the podcast and it's April 8, 2026 as I record this.   Main Topic:   Infusing Self into Your Work When You Come Back to the Page (with Jessie Kwak ) (Part of the series on "Starting Over Again, or Coming Back to Yourself and Your Writing")   Become a patron of the arts and of me at Patreon.com/valerieihsan . And you can support my friend...

Hello Writers! I'm Valerie Ihsan, and this is Episode 207 of the podcast and it's March 31, 2026 as I record this.   Main Topic:   Changing the Way You Put Words on the Page: A conversation between two writers recovering from burnout and trying to get back to the page (Part of the series on "Starting Over Again, or Coming Back to Yourself and Your Writing") In this conversation, we talk about: bur...

5 TAKE HOME TIPS FOR GETTING STARTED ANYWHERE ON YOUR JOURNEY HOME Starting a series on "Starting Over Again, or Coming Back to Yourself and Your Writing"   (Next several episodes will have this flavor because I think we all get lost sometimes and struggle to get back to the page, get back to ourselves. I'm been struggling with this for a couple of years (I'm not going to lie and Instagram filter...

Erick is stepping away for some time. His mom just got diagnosed with cancer, so he wants to spend more time and bandwidth on her. And I'm moving to Costa Rica this month! In 2 1/2 weeks, so it is cray-cray over here.   Fresh new episodes will arrive in February (with a little bit of a revamp) and a special series on getting back to your writing or creative practice after grief, loss, addiction, o...

  Flawed Female Leads with guest Heather Snodgrass PATREON: Thank you to our existing patrons for believing in our work offline and here in the podcast.   Become a patron of the arts at Patreon.com/valerieihsan for books, writing instruction, coaching, and planning. Also, the Planner Plays and Monthly Reflections are always free for all members on my Patreon page. But I don't list them as Public",...

How POV Affects Your Story PATREON: Thank you to our existing patrons for believing in our work offline and here in the podcast.   Become a patron of the arts at Patreon.com/valerieihsan for books, writing instruction, coaching, and planning. Also, the Planner Plays and Monthly Reflections are always free for all members on my Patreon page. But I don't list them as Public", so click correct tier f...

Main Topic:   Finding Voice and Author Identity Through Social Media, with guest Anne Abel. PATREON: Thank you to our existing patrons for believing in our work offline and here in the podcast.   Become a patron of the arts at Patreon.com/valerieihsan for books, writing instruction, coaching, and planning. Also, the Planner Plays and Monthly Reflections are always free for all members on my Patreo...

(Valerie): launching my four-month book coaching container Aligned Author TODAY. The price is drastically cut this week (it's $667 off the regular price, and for 24 hours only starting now, the paid in full price -- with an extra whole month of coaching for free and ANOTHER LIVE discount on top-- is $1333 for FIVE months of coaching. The price will never be this low again. There is also a monthly...

Free masterclass: The Alchemy of Memory — Writing the Hybrid Memoir (Wed, Oct 8, 2025). Learn to braid personal narrative with research, family history, and big ideas—plus structures, privacy choices, and momentum tools. Includes a short meditation + oracle card pull. Save your seat → valerieihsan.com/hybrid   ***   Segment 1 (Announcements/Author Updates): (Valerie): planning my free masterclass...