The Writer&#039;s Life

209: Writing Romance in Your Non-Romance Novel: Writing Craft

Dear Christian Indies,

It’s almost Valentine’s day!

On last week’s episode, we taught you about “breaking up” with info-dumping.

This week, we’re all about love!

That’s right, we’re talking all about love in books, and specifically books that are not (or at least should not be) classified as “romance.”

Did you reflexively lift a brow as you read that last sentence?

#208: Dump the Info Dumping: Writing Craft

Dear Christian Indies,

This week we are returning to our Writing Craft series with an episode focused on curing the dreaded tendency to info dump in your work.

If you’ve ever attempted to read a book that is full of the infamous info dump, you’ll certainly understand why this particular writer faux pas causes books to end up on my “Did Not Finish” (DNF) pile.

#207: Back to Basics: Bringing Back the Joy in Writing

Dear Christian Indies,

We are always so excited to hear from a listener, so it was quite a treat to receive a message from listener Jessica Glidden, who reached out to us with a topic idea for an upcoming episode. Her suggestion that we go “back to basics” was a good one, we thought, and when we asked her for clarification, she did not disappoint!

Jessica asked, “why not dig in and re-discover the joy of writing, the reason you write in the first place?”

#206: How to Reach Your New Year Goals

Dear Christian Indie,

If you tuned in to the podcast last week, you heard from the hosts about what they hoped to get out of the year 2023.

I am writing this in the moments following that episode, and I’ll be honest, in the days leading up to planning today’s episode, I experienced more anxiety than I have in a long time. Why? Because, dear Indie, I had no idea what I was going to say.

It was difficult for me to think about going into the new year without goals to crush, without a mission to accomplish, without the next step forward clear.

#189: What Makes an Author ‘Successful’?

Dear Christian Indie,

I’m bummed to say events in my personal life will keep me away from the podcast today. As we are going to be down one host for this week’s episode, we’re stepping away from the theme of giving excellent and effective critique. Instead, Jen and Tina are going to facilitate a discussion about what it takes to be a “successful” writer.

#186: Questions for the Hat: Shenanigans with Jamie and Jen

#185: Dear Writer, Are you Intuitive?: A Live Q&A with Becca Syme

Dear Christian Indie,

Having Becca Syme on our podcast as our very first guest ever was an amazing honor. Now, she’s coming back, ready to present for us the idea that we as writers may be what is known as, “Intuitive.”

She’s written a book on the subject, “Dear Writer, Are You Intuitive?” and I’m going to share a bit of its premise here (from previous link):

#182: Negative Book Reviews: The Writer’s Life

Dear Christian Indie,

You’ve done it; you’ve published a book, and you’re ready to shout your accomplishment to the world. You love your story, and consider yourself an author worthy of a place on your targeted readers’ “To Be Read” pile. Of course, you know you’re not perfect—no one is, after all, but certainly you are not expecting to be called out on your imperfections, which have secretly haunted you since the day you first put fingers to keyboard.