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Episode 151: NaNoWriMo: Prepping for Preptober

Dear Christian Indies,

I moved to Florida three years ago, and this time of year has caused a bout of homesickness to overwhelm me each and every time the calendar moves from August to September. In my home state of Michigan, the leaves are turning color, the temperatures are falling, and the squirrels are getting plump as they prepare to hunker down for the long, cold winter.

[Read more…] about Episode 151: NaNoWriMo: Prepping for Preptober

Episode 83: HELP! Tina Has Writer’s Block!

Every single writer portrayed in the media of my youth seemed to be stricken with this mysterious condition called, “writer’s block.”  This phenomena rendered said character unable to perform his craft, no matter where he went, or what remedies he tried, no matter how much his agent begged, cajoled, or threatened. 

For whatever reason – perhaps because of what I had learned about other non-real-life-threats which were, for some reason, also recurring themes in the media of my generation, such as quicksand and the Bermuda Triangle – I was entirely skeptical that this was a real life thing, this, “writer’s block.”

I mean, really, I would think as I watched such a show, licking popcorn and salty butter from my fingers in pre-Covid bliss. The dude is paid millions to write books. Can’t he just churn something out for his agent, already?

How I would have ceased to scoff had I known that my own experience with this mysterious phenomenon loomed on the horizon of my future. And little did I know that my dear Co-Host, Christina Cattane, would also someday be plagued by this creative paralyzation we call, “Writer’s Block.”

Tune in to see what advice we have for Tina, and offer yours in the live chat!

See you there,
Jamie

Episode 46: Passive Voice

 

“What do you want for dinner?”

“Whatever.”

“Hotdogs okay?”

“Fine.”

Chances are, you read aggression in the voice of one or more of the above characters, and chances are, also, that you’ve been a party to such a conversation  yourself, and in that moment thought, “(S)he is obviously upset, and not saying so. I wish (s)he would just tell me what the problem is, already!”

Just like no one likes passive aggressive behavior, very few readers can get down with a work that is loaded up with passive voice. Often, the trick to eliminating passive voice from your writing is identifying it in the first place, because it isn’t always as obvious as an attitude being flung at you by your spouse or your teenager.

Join us on the Christian Indie Writers’ Podcast this week as we discuss how to identify passive voice in your writing, how to fix it, and if it is ever a good idea to just leave it alone.

See you there,

Jamie

 

Episode 40: Collaboration

Hi Christian Indie Writers,  

In today’s podcast we are discussing collaborations. We here at the Christian Indie Writers Podcast recently decided to do a collaboration and thought we would let you all in on the process we went through to get that rolling. You’ll want to tune in for a special announcement regarding that very thing, as well as a chance to chime in on it.
As usual we will catch you up with what’s going on in our lives; check in to the accountability corner; and do a writing exercise. It was wonderful to have Jenifer back with us after her softball injury kept her off the air last week. We thank the Lord for her swift healing.  

If you’d like to participate in the writing exercise just set a timer for fifteen minutes. No cheating by trying to think of an idea before you start the timer. Then write a story using the words twilight, council, polite, embox, and constraint. We would love it if you shared what you wrote with us on social media.  

We would like to invite you to check out our Patreon page. We always post our podcast there for anyone to watch, including links to our writing exercises for you to read and see that we aren’t worrying much about punctuation, capitalization, and spelling in that 15 minutes.  

For just $2 dollars a month you can be our Patron and watch our postcast, which is our writing group meeting. We each submit something we want critiqued or need feedback on. This is where we move from simple encouragement like we do in the podcast and actually give it to each other straight.  

Until next time; 

Christina 

Episode 41: Back On Track

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

I think I’m a pretty encouraging person. Others might call me critical or blunt. They are probably right. But, understand, no matter how poorly I may at times articulate my ‘encouragment,’ it always comes from a place of wanting what’s best for others. My heart is to encourage you. Truly. I think it’s important to say that before continuing.

While perusing Twitter lately (yes, I realize the irony,) I have noticed a number of writers spending A LOT of time playing twitter games (i.e. autocomplete the following sentence, or, what’s your character’s favorite pie flavor.) I’ve also noticed a lot of Author Instagram posts with pictures of their workspaces…their immaculate, nothing out of place workplaces. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with any of these activities, but I have noticed it so often with some writers that it makes me wonder…are you actually getting any writing accomplished? I’m not posting any pictures of my workspace. It is a wreck…because I am writing there, not positioning my pencils properly.

So, here is my loving ‘encouragement’… stop wasting time! Sit down and actually write the words! (Was that too harsh? Reread first paragraph, please.)

In today’s episode, titled “Back on Track,” the ladies and I discuss the topic of distractions. We all have them, but if we are going advance our writing careers, we need to acknowledge those things that we allow to pull us away from our writing and learn how to avoid those traps.

If you missed the live broadcast, you can watch the replay HERE, or listen on iTunes HERE. But not if you haven’t written yet today. Go write first, then tune in!

Lovingly submitted,

Jen

Episode 39: Short Story Guidelines

This 100 word story (aka a “Drabble”) was written in honor of today’s episode. We started out sending out thoughts and prayers to Jen, who was absent due to an incident on the ball field.
(Way to put your heart, and face, into the game, Jen!) Honestly, though, we missed her and hope she is feeling better. We then discussed the benefits of writing short stories. Finally, we
listened to 8 pieces of short story writing advice from Kurt Vonnegut. If you’d like to take a stab at writing your own Drabble using our prompts, we’d love to read it!
–
Jamie

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