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Episode 42: Online Writing Groups

“I just don’t understand you kids today and your obsession with technology,” Norma Jean said, shaking her head and grabbing another ear of corn. “All these newfangled computers and
interwebs and things.”
“Grandma, technology isn’t all bad,” Betty Sue said, tearing the long green leaves from the ear she was holding then breaking the thick stump off the end.
“I can’t think of a single way technology has benefited me.”
“Grandma, you have a telephone. And a radio. And a television.”
“Well, that’s different.”
Betty Sue rolled her eyes at the familiar expression. She knew better than to argue when her grandma used it. Still, she was not about to surrender the point. She chose her next words
carefully.
“Remember when you told me about the writing group you had back when you lived in Maple Pointe?”
Norma Jean set her corn in her lap and looked wistfully away. “I do remember. Golly how I miss those gals.”
Betty knew her words had hit their target. She carried on with gusto. “Imagine, Gram, if there was a way for you to re-start your writing group.”
“Impossible,” Norma Jean said, “Hyacinth’s gone to Florida for half the year, Brenda’s moved in with her son in Vegas, and Laura Sue, who’s only the next town over, doesn’t drive.”
“It’s not impossible, Gram. There is a way for your writing group to start meetings again, thanks to the miracle that is modern technology.”
Tune in to today’s episode of The Christian Indie Writers’ Podcast to learn how Norma Jean, and YOU, can put together an online writing group!
See you there,
Jamie

Episode 33: Camp Nano…Should You Participate?

There were several title suggestions for today’s episode: Rhonda’s Inquisition, Three Tarts on the Spot, Convince Me…I could go on. The fitting title was “Convince Me” because I put them to the task today and they did convince me I should participate in Camp Nano for the first time.

If you’re on the fence about committing your valuable time to Nano for the second time in the last five months, watch our discussion and see if it will help you decide.

Episode 23: In the Trenches: Publishing Your Novel

Writing your book is hard. It takes dedication and true grit to take a story idea and turn it into an 80,000 word representation of that story. So, before I go any farther, if you have been able to type the words “The End,” then congratulations! If you have yet to finish your novel, then let me encourage you… you can do this! The world needs your story!

After all that hard work, the rest should be easy. Just hit the publish button, right? Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple. Next comes the editing, then book covers and layout, then marketing and promotion, and the list goes on and on. It can be overwhelming. It can be frustrating. We know. Because we are smack dab in the middle [Read more…] about Episode 23: In the Trenches: Publishing Your Novel

Episode 13: Story Structure

Hello Christian Indie Writers,
Welcome to another episode of our Podcast in which we discuss Story Structure. Whether you are writing a romance novel, a thriller, or a noir detective story your story will have a structure. The genre you choose may determine the one you use, or you may choose to stick with a basic 3 act or 4 act structure.
But how do you choose? That is just one of the questions we try to answer on todays podcast. For example, we talk about the dystopian novel that I am writing and how I chose to use a heroes journey type story structure. We will also discuss several other kinds of structures; what they look like and how they work.
I hope that you will find value in todays discussion. Please leave us a comment to let us know how you’re liking the podcast so far and what type of things you’d like us to discuss in the future. Speaking of the future, we are having a NaNoWriMo kick-off party on October 31st. It will be a live-stream broadcast starting at 11 pm Eastern time concluding with a word sprint at midnight. You won’t want to miss it. It’s going to be a blast.
Subscribe to our newsletter or Youtube channel for more information, or to get access to our free resources which include; the “Critique Cheat Sheet”, the “Romance Plot Sheet”, the Creating “Captivating Characters” worksheet, and the “It’s a Wonderful World Building Worksheet”.

Episode Nine: Prepping for Nano

Dear Readers,

When you watch our podcast  about Prepping for NaNoWriMo today, you might notice that I look flushed and unprepared. There is a good reason for that. It’s because I was completely unprepared. For whatever reason, I missed the planning meeting in which our recording time was changed and where I’d been assigned hosting duties for the week. When I got the call saying I was expected to be recording at that very moment, I was forty minutes into a treadmill session and a twenty minute drive from where I record.

You’ll see that my lovely co-hosts were able to pick up my slack and everything went smoothly, but I hope this week you will take away something from it as valuable as I did. I was reminded of the importance of preparation and the need to be intentional in my writing career. Proverbs 6:6-8 reminds us to see the ant and watch how he labors. He has a goal that no obstacle short of death will stop him from reaching.

Last year when I decided that I wanted to be a published and successful author, achieving my daily writing tasks was my first priority. But since then, my fiction writing has taken a backseat to… well, basically everything else in my life.

  • My local history and genealogy work has taken a much larger portion of my time than I originally allotted to it…
  • My garden…see, our gardening season is pretty short here in Michigan so I need to spend as much time out there as I can…
  • And then of course my husband and family want a huge chunk of time too…

Excuses, all. I needed this podcast today to get my priorities back in order.

I hope this week’s show will be an encouragement to you whether this is your first NaNoWriMo, you’ve stayed on track since last year’s Nano or you’ve fallen off the horse like I did. Let us know in the comments how your Nano plans are coming along then be sure to tune in all of October for our “Preptober” episodes.

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