WRITE NOW! Workshop Podcast: Write a Book, Change the World with Kitty Bucholtz – Details, episodes & analysis

Episode 292: In the return of Write Now Workshop Podcast after a too-long sabbatical, Kitty joins Podcasthon (https://www.podcasthon.org/) and over 1000 other podcasters around the world who are highlighting their favorite charity. Today we welcome back Bonnie DePue and CHUM Therapeutic Riding (https://www.chumtherapy.net/), Kitty’s favorite charity!

Learn more about CHUM and what they do and how you can support them, and writers will find encouragement and ideas on how to add real-life charities to their stories to increase reader engagement.

Alessandra Torre is our guest today sharing her top 4 take-aways from just the marketing portion of the 2022 Inkers Con writers conference. (Not even her top 4 overall!) If you'd like to sign up for the conference, you can still access the digital version -- and Alessandra kindly gave us a $50 off coupon! Enter the code WNWPODCAST at Inkers Con to get your discount!

Download the Author Assessment Worksheet today! A gift from Alessandra!

EPISODE 282E

In today's Encouraging Words episode, I share my experience of the first time I ran in the snow just last month. It was cold and wet and more miserable than fun, but I did it. And it reminded me of how I can look at the harder parts of my writing life and see how I can tweak my attitude to make it through -- and even enjoy it. I hope this helps you find a similar parallel in your own life to talk yourself through the harder areas and on to accomplishment!

EPISODE 192

We've had a lot of "new normal" forced on us lately, but what if we take charge and create our own new normal? We're creative people, we can think of ways to make our new circumstances work for us!

In this episode, I talk about how to redefine the structure of your day so you still attain your overall goals. I mention my own health goals, business goals, and keeping some fun time in the schedule - because it is way too easy to work all the time, or not much at all when you work at home.

You have more power over your life than you realize! Make choices that work for you, and you can add more joy and laughter into your life. Now is the time to harness your creative energy to make changes that just might continue working better for you after our current restrictions are lifted.

EPISODE 191I

Today’s guest is Brad Borkan, author of When Your Life Depends On It (co-written with David Hirzel, audiobook narrated by Dennis Kleinman). Brad's specialty area is decision sciences, how businesses and people make decisions.

We have a fascinating discussion about Antarctic explorers, the main characters in his nonfiction book, and how we can learn from their choices, both for our own modern life and for our fictional characters. These people made life and death decisions every day and rarely ever died. How did they manage that?

Brad tells us how he found his co-writer (even that was a risk), and explains how they spent a lot of time working on the outline before they started writing. After reading just a few paragraphs of the finished book, Brad decided they needed a professional audiobook narrator. Now all three men are not just a team, but lifelong friends.

You’ll love the exciting stories Brad shares in this episode! It’s interesting how the lessons learned from these explorers also applied to how Brad’s team formed and grew. He reminds us that teamwork is an important part of survival and growth in any area of our lives.

You can learn more about Brad and the book on his website (https://extreme-decisions.com/), on Amazon, and wherever books are sold.

EPISODE 190E

This month for our Encouraging Words episode, I asked my friend Markus Watson to join us. We discuss how people weren't made to be in isolation, and some things we can do to overcome the emotional effects.

Markus explains the "Robinson stories" and we talk about the ideas of families and people being lost and in isolation. We also talk about a lot of ways we can use technology to overcome the feeling of being alone.

EPISODE 189I

Today's guest is James Blatch from Mark Dawson's Self Publishing Formula talking to us about one of their online classes that's open just a couple more days from when this episode goes live on April 2, 2020.

I'm a student in both of Mark's courses, Self Publishing 101 and Advertising for Authors. I took the 101 course after hearing Mark talk about a couple things I didn't know how to do on his podcast, The Self Publishing Show. I figured if I could improve my book's chances of selling even to a small degree, it would be worth the cost of the class.

I don't have any affiliate links, but I'm such a fan of everything Mark and James and John do, I wanted to be sure you knew about it as well. James also mentions in the interview that for a limited time, they are making their SPF University (not a real university) FREE to everyone! So click the link and sign up! And check out the 101 class while you're there. It might be just what you've been looking for.

https://learn.selfpublishingformula.com/p/101

http://selfpublishingformula.com/spfufree

https://selfpublishingformula.com/spf-podcast/

EPISODE 188I

Today’s guest is romantic suspense author Natalie Walters, author of the brand new Silent Shadows coming out on March 31, 2020. Listen to the end to find out more about pre-order goodies you can receive directly from Natalie if you order the book before March 31. :)

[Sorry about the audio and video hiccups in this episode! With sooo many people using the Internet and streaming at the same time, this was the best quality we could get at the time.]

Chatting just a couple weeks into the Covid-19 pandemic, Natalie and I decided to talk about what's happening, how it's affecting our lives and the lives of those around us, and how it affects us as writers.

So many people are having to give up things they’ve been working toward for years - graduation ceremonies and parties, celebrations like my 30th anniversary party and trip, and innumerable other events, large and small. But Natalie has been telling their son that they will celebrate, but differently now, and maybe do a bigger celebration later when people can get together again. Trying to put things in perspective, we need to remember that this will pass - and we may find ourselves being refined to become better people.

There are also lots of things to inspire us - people going to visit grandparents and playing tic-tac-toe on each side of a window, people finding a way to give some of the extra they have to others in need, people creating flash mobs in social media to open your windows at a certain time to sing or exercise together.

Because it's all about people. Our world is created by our actions and reactions, and while we may feel so many things are outside our control right now, our actions and reactions are within our control. Natalie and I share a lot of ideas for how we can all do things to help our little corners of the world survive and thrive.

Remember that exercising grace and care and encouragement towards those around you as well as yourself will help this crisis feel more manageable. Helping others in big and small ways will help you feel better about the world.

And no matter what genre we write in, there are ideas in the headlines and stories now that can help us add depth to our own stories as we write and edit. Or maybe you'll get new ideas, for even the smallest part of your story, when you ask “what if” based on how things are happening in the world around you right now. It can add the sense that this story feels like real life.

You can learn more about Natalie and her books at her website, where you can also find her social media links. And remember, pre-order goodies are available to anyone who orders Silent Shadows between now and Tuesday, March 31, when the book comes out!

EPISODE 187T

Since our world has been tipped on its side from the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), many of us find ourselves trying to make sense of a new normal. Maybe you're working from home for the first time, and it may not have transitioned in a smooth and easy way. Maybe other people are at home now that you're not used to having in your work space, and you all have to figure out how to get things done without getting irritated at each other.

I wanted to give you a whole bunch of reminders/ideas about things you can do to make this period a little easier. From taking an afternoon walk to spring cleaning to finishing watching that online class you never finished, we can find ways to make this temporary period not so bad.

I hope you enjoy my enthusiasm and encouragement, especially if you really needed a boost today! :-D

EPISODE 186T

This week I attended the first ever live event hosted by the Self Publishing Show podcast with Mark Dawson and James Blatch. It was awesome!!

First of all, there is nothing like being with your people, the folks who "get" you, who don't have a blank look on their face when you talk about your writing, or editing, or read-through rates, or ad ROI.

Second of all, the amount of positive energy running through the room, through the restaurants when we got together to eat, even as we walked together to the tube station in London to go home - I felt like I was high. :-D

The speakers were incredible and I wanted to share a little of what they talked about with you. I couldn't share a lot of details because it was a paid event and some of the speakers wanted the information to stay with those who attended or paid for the videos after, totally understandable. But I give you the highlights here and name a lot of people and companies you can Google to find out more about them!

I hope you enjoy the episode and feel inspired and encouraged by all the positive energy and publishing tips! :-D