#amwriting With Jess & Kj

We welcome Shane Burcaw. You thought writing was hard? Try doing it with no muscles. Shane Burcaw is the author of three books: Laughing at My Nightmare, the picture book Not So Different: What You Really Want to Ask About Having a Disability, and his new book, Strangers Assume My Girlfriend is My Nurse. Shane and his girlfriend, Hannah Aylward, host the YouTube channel, Squirmy and Grubs, with nearly 400k subscribers. Their YouTube channel reads: “Once upon a time, a boy with no muscles fell madly in love with a beautiful girl who had plenty of muscles to spare. The townsfolk gasped with horror at the sight of their disgusting interabled relationship, but they didn’t care.” Kirkus calls Strangers Assume My Girlfriend Is My Nurse, "An accessible, smart-assed, and unexpectedly tender exploration of life, love, and disability." We talked about the how of writing for Shane, (which included a shout out to the Remote Mouse App) but even more about the why--and why Jess's students in particular (along with m

Parkland author Dave Cullen on everything you ever wanted to know about pitching and writing a topical nonfiction book at top speed (and going broke doing it). We talked to Dave Cullen, about writing Parkland: Birth of a Movement, in ten months while he was 3 years overdue on his current book.  "I'm just not gonna tell Gail," he said of his editor when he took the first assignment from Vanity Fair--but there was something going on with the Parkland students that grabbed him, and he--with the help of his agent, Betsy Lerner--grabbed it.  "I just had to." He describes the process of writing the book, how the length, plan and due dates evolved--and how he almost went broke doing it.  #FaveIndieBookstore Dave's #FaveIndieBookstore is Books & Books in Miami Beach, FL. "It was the only store I specifically asked to visit on my tour." #AmReading A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia Berlin  Motherless Brooklyn, Jonathan Letham This episode was sponsored by Author Accelerator, the boo

Story expert Lisa Cron joins Jess and KJ to dig into the mechanics of a good book, including the difference between plot and story, and looking beyond “what happened” to “why did it happen”. To talk to Lisa Cron is--unless you've already read Story Genius or Wired for Story--to possibly flip everything you thought you knew about story--fiction, nonfiction, short, long, whatever--onto its head. Story, she points out, isn't plot. It isn't what happens, and then what happens next, and then what happens next. It's the why behind those happenings. It's not, well, a spaceship just landed on the green in front of the library, and I'll either a) rush towards it or b) head for my car. It's WHY I do those things. It's not just what I do next, but what it is about me, now the main character in this rather stressful tale that may end with us all being the entrees on some giant interstellar menu, that makes me make the no doubt terrible choices that I make (good choices make bad books). And that's my backstory. Whi

Jess and KJ extemporize on the power of stickers - where the only thing that matters is getting into the work, and getting the words out. And some bonus advice to authors on what not to do. Kj here, with a confession: I've been lying to myself Letting myself off the hook.  Not keeping my butt in the chair and my head in the game. I mean, sure, I had lots of excuses. I've been traveling or doing intense farm stuff since April 12. That's almost a month with--count them--only two days of being entirely home without travel or a major, all-day farm commitment. So okay then. Some of those days I called it. I knew I wouldn't get anything done on my next book, and I didn't. Some of those days I had a reasonable plan. Open the file. Stay with the work. That's all. But SOME days... some days I futzed around. I kept moving the needle. I let myself quit because "I'm really not focusing" or "this isn't getting anywhere" and although I had time to do something, and plans to do something, I didn't manage to

Podcasting from Mom 2.0 Conference with podcaster, journalist and author, Nicole Blades. She tells us about the pros and cons of skipping an agent, using rejection as fuel, and the joys of the writer community. Nicole Blades is a Podcaster (Hey, Sis! Podcast), Author of Have You Met Nora?, The Thunder Beneath Us, & Earth's Waters --and this is a glorious episode, recorded live and in person at Mom 2.0, in which we really capture the joy of writing, of finding your novel, of getting to do what we do.  We also get into Tall Poppies, the writer's sharing group (I'm not sure what to call it) started by Ann Garvin, which also includes the Bloom   website. I've been seeing this crew ALL OVER Insta this week, sharing each other's books like crazy, and I love it. It's a formalizing of the writer's community we all love and dream of and hopefully have (and we DO--it's called the #AmWriting Facebook group, and while we may not formalize the sharing of each other's work, we sure do do it).  And I say, as I

It's hard enough to start a subscriber email. But what if--like freelance writer Lyz Lenz, who has two books coming out in the next twelve months--you asked your fans to pay for it? It's so crazy, it might just work. Hello from the Mom 2.0 conference, where Jess and I just did a panel on Launching a Speaking Career. More on that in an upcoming episode--but meanwhile, this one's a real thought-provoker. Most of us struggle with what's a good use of our time in our writing careers. We've talked a lot about the value of an email subscriber list when it comes to selling books and sharing your work--but what if the email is your work, or becomes a way to share your work?  Journalist Lyz Lenz uses Substack to share a largely subscriber-only email with a group of readers/fans whose financial support has helped to carry her through the ups and downs of a freelance career.  Other links mentioned in the episode:  Lyz Lenz's Contently Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture, Roxane Gay Ann Friedman

Uber-Coach Jennifer Louden on finding your "enough" and letting it power you forward.

Math storyteller [Steven Strogatz](http://www.stevenstrogatz.com/) makes both calculus and dictation seem approachable and fun. #notkidding Jess, we learn, was told in an early math class not to give up her day job, and so she gave up on math—until she found [Steven Strogatz](http://www.stevenstrogatz.com/), whose writing puts a human, topical, understandable face on numbers from algebra to calculus, and glories in seeing “the math in everything”. If you’re the master of a topic that seems too narrow, academic or wonky for a larger audience, consider finding fresh ways into the subject—or “every way,” says Strogatz. If you can’t relate to one analogy, he’s ready with another, and it’s that willingness to try multiple ways to get his ideas across that’s made his work popular. Strogatz is a teacher first, writer second (now you know why he and Jess bond)---and he uses dictation to find his way into a more natural voice in his writing in the simplest way possible: he holds his phone up to his mouth while h

Mignon Fogerty on Pet Peeves, riding a wave and what to do if you're a writer--and grammar still scares the bejabbers out of you. Plenty of writers #fangirl on Mignon Fogerty, who took her own quest to make grammar rules easy and accessible and turned it into a mini-empire. In her case, the podcast came first, the books second--and what followed is a fun exploration of being creative around a subject and finding a way to make it your own.  A few links from the episode: Peeve Wars Board Game The Grammar Devotional: Daily Tips for Successful Writing from Grammar Girl #AmReading: Semicolon, McKayla Debonis Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere), Lisa Cron I Miss You When I Blink: Essays, Mary Laura PhilpottA KJ mentioned A Circle of Quiet, from Madeline L'Engle. And then she ended up not liking it. Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe,

Part 2 continues with Sarina Bowen's guidance about what you should put in your email list, and how to market your email before, or after, you’re published.

Sarina Bowen guides us through where and how to start up an email list, how to grow it and how to keep it healthy in the first part of a two parter on email lists.

Mary Laura Philpott on how to launch a book into the world, with a few regrets and ideas for do-overs.

Accusations of plagiarism and general bad behavior are everywhere in the writing world. Sarina Bowen joins the conversation about what plagiarism is and isn't and how to protect yourself (and keep from accidentally screwing up).

Omitting wan words to tighten your writing, and battling the inevitable arrival of professional jealousy.

You heard it here first: KJ sold her novel. We talk about how the deal happened, why she took a pre-empt, and building a career.

...in which Jess and KJ share tips about about answering calls for anthology submissions

...in which Jess and KJ talk with computer science professor, and author, Cal Newport on the concept of digital minimalism and the benefits it can have on the writing process.

...in which Jess and KJ tackle a classic writing question: can you read in your genre while you’re writing in it without absorbing other voices and ideas?

…in which successful freelancer Kimberly Moran describes how she has created a home and work life that feeds her writing, and how she's always hustling to find new opportunities.

…in which Jess and KJ talk with award-winning biographer, Ruth Franklin, author of Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life, and find out what it takes to write an account of someone else’s life.