88 Cups Of Tea With Yin Chang

If you’d love to keep 88 Cups of Tea going strong, please consider supporting us through our Patreon membership. We added EARLY ACCESS TO INTERVIEWS for our Super Storyteller patrons in the $8.88 tier. Your kind support at any of our tiers is so helpful. A heartfelt thank you in advance. https://www.patreon.com/88cupsoftea ------------------- Are you curious about writing a memoir? Are you having trouble finding and refining your writing voice? How important are writing classes and workshops to your professional writing career? We get into all of that and more with today’s guests, hosts and producers of Writing Class Radio, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. In today’s episode, we dive right into the importance of focusing on one genre at a time instead of jumping genres, developing your writing voice by practicing and being authentic in telling the truth, and refining your voice by modeling your writing after “the greats”. We learn how their podcast came to fruition and get a close look at their partnership

Shannon Gibney is the author of "See No Color", drawn from her life as a transracial adoptee, which won the Minnesota Book Award and was hailed by Kirkus as “an exceptionally accomplished debut” and by Publishers Weekly as “an unflinching look at the complexities of racial identity.” In her latest novel, "Dream Country", she writes of the nightmarish spiral of death and exile connecting America and Africa, and of how one determined young dreamer tries to break free and gain control of her destiny. Shannon’s episode is deeply eye-opening and informative as we go into the details about writing her newest novel, from research to the challenges she faced, and we discuss transracial adoption along with her previous novel. We also touch on the editor and author relationship and how Shannon’s dynamic with her editor flourishes her own writing. A must-listen for every storyteller.  Say 'Hi' to Shannon on Twitter! To access Shannon's shownotes page, click here! ------ Click here to read our 3-year anniversary event su

If you’d love to keep 88 Cups of Tea going strong, please consider supporting us through our Patreon membership. We added EARLY ACCESS TO INTERVIEWS for our Super Storyteller patrons in the $8.88 tier. Your kind support at any of our tiers is so helpful. A heartfelt thank you in advance. https://www.patreon.com/88cupsoftea  ----------------- Are you wondering what the financial realities are for writers? Are you on the fence about MFA programs? Are you facing a creative block? Get ready for this motivating conversation featuring today’s special guest Nova Ren Suma. Today's new episode is proudly brought to you by Scrivener, a writing software that is regularly used by new writers and New York Times bestselling authors alike. Many of our own podcast guests and listeners are loyal fans of Scrivener. If you haven’t tried them out yet, they’re giving our Storytellers a special 20% discount by using the code '88CUPSOFTEA' at checkout, WOOHOO! You're supporting our show by grabbing yourself a copy to try Scrivener

If you’d love to keep 88 Cups of Tea going strong, please consider supporting us through our Patreon membership. We added EARLY ACCESS TO INTERVIEWS for our Super Storyteller patrons in the $8.88 tier. Your kind support at any of our tiers is so helpful. A heartfelt thank you in advance. https://www.patreon.com/88cupsoftea --- Are you struggling with the timeline of the publishing process? Are you curious about staying organized as a writer? How do you keep track of each character’s storyline and remain consistent? Get ready for this motivating conversation featuring today’s special guest Aisha Saeed. Aisha is a New York Times bestselling author. She wrote WRITTEN IN THE STARS which was listed as a best book of 2015 by Bank Street Books and a 2016 YALSA Quick Pick For Reluctant Readers. She is also the author of the middle-grade novel AMAL UNBOUND a Summer 2018 Indie Next Pick, An Amazon Best Book of the Month, has received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus and is a Global Read Aloud for 2018

If you’d love to keep 88 Cups of Tea going strong, please consider supporting us through our Patreon membership. We added EARLY ACCESS TO INTERVIEWS for our Super Storyteller patrons in the $8.88 tier. Your kind support at any of our tiers is so helpful. A heartfelt thank you in advance. https://www.patreon.com/88cupsoftea ------ Today's episode: How do you figure out your character’s objective? How do you stay on top of your writing deadline using spreadsheets? How do you balance the plot demands of suspense with character development? What’s the relationship like between an author and an editor? Get ready for this motivating conversation featuring today’s special guest Gretchen McNeil. Gretchen is the author of the YA horror/suspense novels POSSESS, 3:59, RELIC, GET EVEN, GET DIRTY, and TEN and her latest novel #MURDERTRENDING. Gretchen shares all the advice and tips she’s learned from her own experiences transitioning from a performing background into a writing career. Along with her technique of applying

Please be sure to listen through ALL three announcements. Here are quick links from the announcements:   ANNOUNCEMENT 1: Click here to RSVP! Only RSVP if you are 100% able to make it!  ANNOUNCEMENT 2: For the email subject line, please write “Writer for 3-Year Anniversary Event” ANNOUNCEMENT 3: If you'd love for your photo to be displayed at the event, send me an email with the subject line “88 Cups of Tea birthday polaroid” and send $2 to www.paypal.me/88cupsoftea to help with the cost of printing. If you'd love for your message/note to be featured in the display, send me an email with the subject line “88 Cups of Tea birthday message”.     

What do you do after getting rejected over 300 times? Need all the advice on MFA writing programs? How do you stand out in the querying process? Get ready for this motivating conversation featuring today’s special guest Rachel Heng. Rachel is a Singaporean novelist and short story writer. Her debut novel, Suicide Club: A Novel About Living, will be published next Tuesday, July 10th! An early congratulations and happy book birthday to Rachel! Her fiction has received a Pushcart Prize Special Mention, Prairie Schooner's Jane Geske Award, and has been recommended by The Huffington Post, NYLON, Book Riot and The Independent recently featured Rachel in the article titled 'The Emerging Authors To Look Out For in 2018'. Rachel does not hold back on all the advice and tips she’s learned from her own experiences with rejection and getting into an MFA, and she’s so generous to pass on all her wisdom including some seriously incredible querying advice. Do. Not. Miss. This. Say 'Hi' to Rachel on Twitter!   --- I have

If you’d love to keep 88 Cups of Tea going strong, please consider supporting us through our Patreon membership. We added EARLY ACCESS TO INTERVIEWS for our Super Storyteller patrons in the $8.88 tier. Your kind support at any of our tiers is so helpful. A heartfelt thank you in advance. https://www.patreon.com/88cupsoftea  ----------------- Finally, we're releasing the full, non-edited 3 hour long conversation with V.E. Schwab. This bonus episode is proudly brought to you by Fab Fit Fun! (Be sure to use the promo code 'TEA' for $10 off your first box)  Say 'Hi' to V.E. Schwab on Twitter! ---   Have you checked out our archive of episodes by yet?

How do you approach agents during the querying stage? How do you the one who will champion your work? How important is the pacing of your manuscript in order to keep your readers intrigued? Do you struggle with writing and editing difficult and emotional scenes? We get into all of it with today’s special guest: R.F. Kuang. Her debut novel, “The Poppy War” was recently released and is the first installment in a trilogy that grapples with drugs, shamanism, and China’s bloody twentieth century. R.F. immigrated to the U.S. as a child and just graduated from Georgetown University where she studied Chinese history with a focus on Chinese military strategy, collective trauma, and war memorials. In addition to working on the rest of her installments of “The Poppy War” trilogy, she’s a 2018 Marshall Scholar and will be heading to the University of Cambridge to do her graduate studies. Today's episode is proudly brought to you by Fab Fit Fun! (Be sure to use the promo code 'TEA' for $10 off your first box) Sabaa and I 

If you’d love to keep 88 Cups of Tea going strong, please consider supporting us through our Patreon membership. We added EARLY ACCESS TO INTERVIEWS for our Super Storyteller patrons in the $8.88 tier. Your kind support at any of our tiers is so helpful. A heartfelt thank you in advance. https://www.patreon.com/88cupsoftea  ----------------- Do you struggle with the day-to-day of parenthood and the professional life? Can one person really make a difference in standing up to bigotry? What are the differences between honesty and kindness, and when are they called for? We unpack all of that (and way more) with today’s special guest: Sabaa Tahir. Sabaa is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of "An Ember in the Ashes" and its sequel, "A Torch Against the Night". Her highly anticipated third book "A Reaper at the Gates" just released this week! And guess what else? This is Sabaa's second time on the show, our first-ever repeat guest! Click here to listen to her first episode.  Today's episode is proudly brough

Have you always wanted a close relationship with your grandparent? Do you dream of writing a children’s book and have no idea where to start? Do you struggle with juggling your professional and personal responsibilities while writing? We get into all of that (and way more) with today’s special guest: Minh Le. Minh is a national early childhood policy expert, author of “Let Me Finish!”, and has written for the New York Times, the Horn Book, and the Huffington Post. A first-generation Vietnamese American, he went to Dartmouth College and has a master’s in education from Harvard University. Today's episode is proudly brought to you by Fab Fit Fun! (Be sure to use the promo code 'TEA' for $10 off your first box) The conversation with Minh is so full of heart. I can’t even begin to explain how much this discussion filled my soul and I’m thrilled to finally share this episode with you! Say 'Hi' to Minh on Twitter and be sure to head over to his shownotes page. It's PACKED with highlights of the topics that are cove

If you’d love to keep 88 Cups of Tea going strong, please consider supporting us through our Patreon membership. We added EARLY ACCESS TO INTERVIEWS for our Super Storyteller patrons in the $8.88 tier. Your kind support at any of our tiers is so helpful. A heartfelt thank you in advance. https://www.patreon.com/88cupsoftea  ----------------- Have you ever reached a point where you wanted to give up on your creative dreams after piles of rejections? Have you been struggling to push past a serious creative block? How about knowing when to put a story aside, and when to start a new one? We get into all of that (and so much more) with today’s special guest: Stephanie Garber. Stephanie is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of "Caraval" and "Legendary" that just released this week! Her debut novel, Caraval, has been translated into over 30 languages, and the film rights for it have been optioned by 20th Century Fox. I can’t get enough of soul-filling conversations and this chat with Stephanie

If you’d love to keep 88 Cups of Tea going strong, please consider supporting us through our Patreon membership. We added EARLY ACCESS TO INTERVIEWS for our Super Storyteller patrons in the $8.88 tier. Your kind support at any of our tiers is so helpful. A heartfelt thank you in advance. https://www.patreon.com/88cupsoftea  ----------------- Where does a literary agent find new author clients? What are specific examples of query letters that really catch an agent's attention? We get into all of that (and so much more) with today’s special guest: Eric Smith. He’s an author, blogger, podcaster, and literary agent for P.S. Literary. As an author, his first humor book, The Geek's Guide to Dating, was an Amazon 2013 Best Book of the Year selection in Humor, as well as a Best of the Year pick by PopSugar and Wired's GeekDad. He’s also the author of the young adult novels “Inked” and its sequel “Branded”. Eric’s newest Young Adult novel “The Girl and the Grove” was just released this month. You know I love picking o

If you’d love to keep 88 Cups of Tea going strong, please consider supporting us through our Patreon membership. We added EARLY ACCESS TO INTERVIEWS for our Super Storyteller patrons in the $8.88 tier. Your kind support at any of our tiers is so helpful. A heartfelt thank you in advance. https://www.patreon.com/88cupsoftea --- Jenny founded The Bent Agency nearly 10 years ago and it has now grown into having nine agents with a strong focus on international rights and has offices in New York City and London. Her agency works with each author to map the publishing career of their dreams and make it a reality. They pay careful attention to details, from the terms of a first contract, editorial work and cover design, to the publisher’s marketing and publicity plan, royalties and sales figures. The Bent Agency prides themselves on nurturing and discovering authors who they can help propel to the top of their category. They’ve even earned a reputation where they’re known for their work ethic, their responsiveness,

If you’d love to keep 88 Cups of Tea going strong, please consider supporting us through our Patreon membership. We added EARLY ACCESS TO INTERVIEWS for our Super Storyteller patrons in the $8.88 tier. Your kind support at any of our tiers is so helpful. A heartfelt thank you in advance. https://www.patreon.com/88cupsoftea --- In today’s episode, we’re featuring our conversation with Victoria Aveyard from the archives! During the time of the original release back in January 2016, Victoria just celebrated her 21st week on the New York Times list for “Red Queen”, the first book in her series. Movie rights for the series were also sold to Universal Pictures with Gennifer Hutchison (from "Breaking Bad") penning the film adaptation and Elizabeth Banks in talks to direct. According to The Hollywood Reporter, RED QUEEN is similar to HUNGER GAMES, GAME OF THRONES, X-MEN, and CINDERELLA. Since the time of her episode release back in 2016, Victoria has now published three #1 New York Times bestselling and USA Today bes

Nikki Grimes is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of dozens of children’s and young adult books as well as a poet and journalist. Throughout her prolific career, Nikki has highlighted stories and characters from communities that have been largely underrepresented in young people’s literature. Her latest novel, "Between The Lines", is the thought-provoking follow-up to her critically acclaimed "Bronx Masquerade", where readers follow the lives of a group of classmates that School Library Journal calls “a perfect blend of the many facets of American teens’ lives.” It also shows the capacity poetry has to express ideas and feelings, and connect us with ourselves and others. Nikki received the Coretta Scott King Award for "Bronx Masquerade", and has also received four Coretta Scott King Honors. In 2017, she was awarded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for her substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. She has written more than fifty books, including "The Road to Paris", "Jaz

Rachel Caine is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of more than fifty novels in a diverse range of genres and categories. She has been honored with multiple awards from RT Booklovers Association and the Texas Library Association, and was honored with two spots on the 2012 “Most Favorite Books of UK Schoolchildren” list. More recently in 2017, she began writing thrillers with the huge bestsellers "Stillhouse Lake" and "Killman Creek". In early July of this year, she’ll also be releasing “Smoke and Iron”, her 4th book in the Great Library Series where she continues the adventures of her unforgettable characters from "Ink and Bone", "Paper and Fire", and "Ash and Quill". In Rachel’s episode, we discuss how she first fell into storytelling, how her musical background taught her to be in the moment with her writing, and how she met her first editor and then sold her first book. Be sure to pay special attention to the helpful advice on carving out time for your writing around a

Emily X.R. Pan is the New York Times bestselling author of her debut novel “The Astonishing Color of After”. She is the founding editor-in-chief of Bodega Magazine, and a 2017 Artist-in-Residence at Djerassi, and she received her MFA in fiction from the NYU Creative Writing Program where she was a Goldwater Fellow.   “The Astonishing Color of After” received five starred reviews and is a Wall Street Journal’s top 12 picks of the season. Entertainment Weekly described her first novel as “accessible and compelling.” and was also recommended by other popular media outlets like Buzzfeed, Book Riot, PopSugar and more. In today’s episode, we get deep into discussion about Emily’s career paths and why and how she made the shift from business to writing. We dive into the details about “The Astonishing Color of After”, from the family story that inspired her to write the novel, to discovering the voice in her story, and to her editing process. Emily also shares what it was like to re-discover Taiwan as an adult for th

Rhoda Belleza is a children’s editor at a publishing house and is the author of “Empress of a Thousand Skies” and “Blood of a Thousand Stars”.  The New York Times Book Review wrote, “Intergalactic political intrigue, family betrayal and coveted thrones feature in this space opera story…real-world analogues and social commentary make Empress of a Thousand Skies an important and relevant novel.” In Rhoda’s episode, we chat all about her love for action movies and how that led her to novel writing. We dive into her experiences as an editor at a publishing house and how that helped her explore the other sides of the publishing world, and how being an editor helped to improve Rhoda’s own writing. We dive into the details about her novels “Empress of a Thousand Skies” and “Blood of a Thousand Stars”, from the inspiration behind the characters, to the world building, and to closing out your characters and ending your story. Further into our conversation, we break down how joining a writing community you trust can he

Kelly Loy Gilbert is the author of "Conviction", a William C. Morris Award finalist, and her newest novel, “Picture Us in the Light”. In today’s episode, Kelly brings us behind-the-scenes of “Picture Us in the Light” from discussing the inspiration and catalyst for her new novel to a detailed look at Kelly’s hands-on research process for the story. She walks us through the importance of strong character building when crafting conflict scenes, how to craft authentic characters whose experiences are different from our own, and how to weave empathy into the story by reflecting on personal experiences.   Further into our conversation, Kelly shares advice on coping with and overcoming writer’s block to move forward with your work, how you can work with your support network to strengthen your story’s plotlines, and she also shares why it’s crucial to give yourself permission to step away from your story. Say 'Hi' to Kelly on Twitter! She will also be taking over our Instagram stories for the release of her episode,