Dear Writer

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 and discusses one podcast she found extremely helpful to developing the opening lines and paragraphs of our books. The podcast, Helping Writers Become Authors, is hosted by K.M. Weiland and has many useful hints. Also keep listening to hear what novels we're currently reading.

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.

Welcome to the second episode of our miniseries, Culturing Creativity. Ever wondered what a typical day looks like for us? Listen in to find out. We have a chat about how we structure our days, and following that discuss how we manage to fit everything into our busy schedules. We don't always succeed. And, with that comes the acceptance that sometimes, you really can't do everything. But we do our best, every day, to culture the creativity in our lives.

After an exciting first few weeks of introducing each of our miniseries, we have now rolled back around to our monthly hour-long episode. This time, we are talking about perspective, and we dive into the pros and cons of first person, third person limited, and third person omniscient. Tune in to hear our thoughts and our experience of using each perspective in our writing. As always, our mistakes of the month are on (or off?) point. Stay tuned to the end to hear the ridiculous mistakes we pick up when reading over our work.

In the first of our 'talking shop' miniseries, we have a chat about two books we've found useful to develop our writing. Sarah's pick this month was Dreyer's English by Benjamin Dreyer. And Ashley's choice was a compilation of interviews, titled Writers on Writing, and edited by James Roberts, Barry Mitchell, and Roger Zubrinich. Listen in to hear all about these useful resources, and after we discuss what books we're reading 'for fun' this month (although, it's all fun, isn't it?).

For our inaugural author spotlight, we have Dan Saunders as our guest, who is a new author of his novel Spice Traders, which is coming out in March 2021. We had a great talk with him about his personal challenges, and his thoughts on becoming an author. He also talks about resources he uses, such as the famed 'On Writing' by Stephen King. Listen in to find out more.

Welcome to the first episode of our miniseries, Culturing Creativity. In this episode, we have a good chat about the way nature influences our writing, and techniques we use to nurture our creativity. Even when it's literally a blizzard outside, nature can still be a presence in our creative lives and inspire our writing. Listen in for tips on how you might include nature in your own life to grow your creativity.

This month we relax into a more casual discussion of our favorite excerpts and try to pinpoint what was done well in each. We include several excerpts from our our first novel, When the Rain Falls, and discuss techniques we used to bring atmosphere and tension into our novel. We also talk about our goals for 2021, and the years beyond, discussing where we see our writing life headed and sharing some exciting news about the podcast!

The seventh episode of Dear Writer explores some misconceptions about both medicine and science, and how not to annoy your readers! We talk about the types and timings of injuries, and how to avoid common pitfalls. If you're of the squeamish variety, we do (lightly) gloss the surface of anatomy and physiology, and we recognize that to some people, this topic might be stomach turning! But, don't worry, we let you know when to click the fast forward, and here's the timestamp for the 'it's all safe now' point: 34:12

Wow, what a great discussion we had this month. We talked about the ins and outs of creating believable characters. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did! Our 'mistakes of the month' were as entertaining as ever, and a special thanks to one of our listeners who contacted us with a side-splitting word mix-up.

On this episode, we delve into plot problems and how to solve them, whether it be how to get from point to point in your outline, or how to rework something that's already been written. And don't forget to stay tuned for our mistakes of the month!

This month, we welcome Dr. Melodie Lindsay to the show, who is a professional proof-reader and the founder of her company, Doclins. We delve into the dangers of over-editing, what it is, and how to stop it. For proof-reading for your thesis or manuscript, head over to www.doclins.com

This month, Ashley and Sarah take a look at whether there is such a thing as too much research before starting a novel. How do you know when to stop? How do you research? What do you need to know? These are all questions the aspiring writer must face, at some point or another.

On the second episode of Dear Writer, we explore the question, 'Do you truly need life experience to write well?' The approach we took to this was primarily geared towards young writers vs older writers. We delve into our memories of writing as teens, making comparisons and applying knowledge we've learned on the way to answer the question. And stay tuned to listen to our 'mistakes of the month,' where we divulge some of our weird and wonderful mistakes to listeners.