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!
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Jamie
Episode 24: Bullet Journals for Authors
This week our encouragement for writers is all about time management. We take on the task in a fun and creative way. Tune in to the podcast each week for more encouragement for writers and self-publishing tips!
Bujo…not just for the Boujee
I’ll be honest. When I first heard the term “Bujo,” I thought it must be something trendy and frivolous, like branding irons for your steak, or bat poop coffee. I can tell you now that I was so totally wrong. A “Bujo,” cutesy as it sounds, is actually an extremely practical, endlessly adaptable, and completely personalize-able way to manage and organize your life. What writer couldn’t use a giant helping of THAT? Am I right?!
The word “Bujo” is simply a mashup of the words “bullet” and “journal”. The idea originated as journaling via bulleted lists, instead of in the traditional longform paragraph style. Early versions were basic, black and white, ink on paper, practical tools. Now they can be simply that, or so much more, depending on the owner’s tastes and needs.
Join us this week as Rhonda and Tina cover the basics of Bujo, and then we discuss ways to make your Bujo as Boujee (or not) as you like.
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Jamie
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
Jenifer Carll-Tong is the best-selling author of historical Christian romances and co-host of the Christian Indie Writers’ Podcast.
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.
