Episodes

47 minutes ago
47 minutes ago
Welcome to the Summer Writing Challenge which continues all through June, July, and August for 13 episodes.
Join us for quick writing tips, writers talking about challenges, and goal check-ins. [The final check-in will occur the first Wednesday in September, in the 1st episode of the Fall into Poetry series.]
In today’s episode, host M.A. Lee talks tech tools (only one with a cost) that create this series as well as the nuts and bolts for the writing challenge. 65,000 total words. 5,000 words per week. Counting all the words that go through the fingers.
Share your own challenge goals in the comments … and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode of The Write Focus. And whatever occurs, Write on!
Host M.A. Lee has published over 60 book-length titles of fiction and nonfiction under her three pen names. The Write Focus, started in 2020, offers information and guidance on productivity, process, craft, and tools, all for writers.
TIMINGS
- 00:40 Welcome / Intro to the Summer Writing Challenge
- 01:48 Quick Tip #1 How to Start Writing
- 04:52 “Interview” with M.A. Lee on Tech Tools
- 10:15 Check-In How-Tos for the SWC
- 11:34 Closing
Total Run Time = 12:34
Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.
Our current focus is Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
- You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters
- Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.
For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.
If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Wednesday May 28, 2025
6:21 / Writers on Writing / Teresa Inge
Wednesday May 28, 2025
Wednesday May 28, 2025
Writing in her car at midday is all Teresa Inge needs to create stories with strong protagonists. With 18 years of publishing experience, she keeps writing simple with laptop and trusty battery.
Once she has a theme placed in her Outer Banks setting, she gives her sleuth a business so they can encounter and investigate murder.
Teresa Inge is an award-winning mystery author in over a dozen anthologies and novellas. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, the Virginia Writer’s Club, and Hampton Roads Writers. By day, Teresa is an administrative assistant, notary administrator, and corporate reporter for a global financial firm. When not writing, she can be found on the classic car show circuit with her Torch Red 1955 Thunderbird.
This episode concludes our Writers on Writing series. Coming Next is the Summer Writing Challenge. M.A. Lee is setting the goal of 500 words daily, persistent and consistent—which can be very hard with all the distractions and disruptions of summer. The episode opens with a couple of minutes on the Challenge. The first SWC episode is June 4. Join in.
TIMINGS
- 00:40 Wrapping Up this Series / Unwrapping the Next Series
- 2:20 Welcome / Introduction to Teresa Inge
- 4:50 Writing Anywhere
- 8:00 Her Writing Process
- 15:35 Writing Humor / Researching
- 22:22 Marketing & Promotions / Her Upcoming Releases
- 24:40 Considering Indie
- 28:15 Books at the Banks Festival, October 18, 2025
- 30:10 Closing
Total Run Time = 31:15
LINKS
Teresa’s Website: http://www.teresainge.com
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/05/621-writers-on-writing-teresa-inge-next.html
Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.
Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
- You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters
- Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.
For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.
If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Wednesday May 21, 2025
6:20 / Writers on Writing / Linda Kay Hardie
Wednesday May 21, 2025
Wednesday May 21, 2025
Linda Kay Hardie may appear as the classic cat lady, but a conversation quickly revealed the deadly mind for dastardly deeds that she applies to her fiction.
Hardie is vice president of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and is an award-winning author who has appeared in many anthologies, four in 2024 and three in 2023.
She writes crime, horror, and fantasy stories but no romance. She tried once, and everyone ended up dead. Tragic. When not writing adult short stories, she writes stories and books for children, ages 2 to 12.
Linda writes recipes and is the reigning Spam champion for Nevada (yes, the tasty treat canned mystery meat) for her blue-ribbon recipe. Her first writing award was in fifth grade, when she won a first place trophy for an essay on fire safety. In 2022, she was honored with the Sierra Arts Foundation Literary Arts Award for fiction.
Linda is a member of Short Mystery Fiction Writers, Horror Writers Association, Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, and Cat Writers’ Association. She has a master’s in English from the University of Nevada, Reno, where she makes a living as a freelance writer and as staff working for Abyssinian cats.
TIMINGS
- 00:40 Welcome / Introduction
- 3:00 A Knack for Dastardly Deeds
- 7:15 Tech from the Early Days
- 11:35 Word Perfect and Open Office
- 15:25 Tech Refined but not New
- 21:00 Writing Stories, Short vs. Long
- 27:50 Brainstorming / the Subconscious
- 30:30 Charity Anthologies
- 35:30 Independent Bookstores
- 38:40 Closing
Total Run Time = 39:41
LINKS
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/05/620-writers-on-writing-linda-kay-hardie.html
Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.
Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
- You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters
- Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.
For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.
If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Wednesday May 14, 2025
6:19 / Writers on Writing / Lois Winston
Wednesday May 14, 2025
Wednesday May 14, 2025
Lois Winston is a strong writer, best known for her Anastasia Pollock Crafting series of cozy mysteries.
Early in her career, with Manuscript #2, she acquired an agent, but the roses of her writing journey still had thorns, a lesson to us writers that we control our success. Winston definitely controlled her success. She survived a bankrupt publishing house and the closure of a publisher’s entire cozy mystery line, but it was shenanigans with the contract that brought her into self-publishing.
She talks about it all, along with writing tools that can be a distraction, in this episode of The Write Focus.
Bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, middle-grade, and nonfiction. She sold her first book in 2005.
Currently she writes the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, featuring magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack, along with a supporting cast of characters, including Ralph, the Shakespeare-quoting parrot. Learn more at www.loiswinston.com where you can sign up for her newsletter and receive a free Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery.
TIMINGS
- 00:40 Welcome / Writing Bug Bites
- 4:15 First Cozy Mystery
- 6:40 Writing with Humor
- 12:00 Finding the Direction for the Anastasia Pollock series
- 15:00 Crime Scene Writer / Researching
- 17:33 Saving the Work
- 20:50 Story Collages, Images for Story, and on to Covers
- 25:00 Dealing with Distractions
- 29:25 Writing is a Marathon, not a Sprint
- 35:00 Winston’s Next Release and Audiobooks Releasing
- 37:25 Closing
Total Run Time = 38:25
LINKS
Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com
Booklover’s Bench: https://bookloversbench.com
The Stiletto Gang: https://www.thestilettogang.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anasleuth
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/722763.Lois_Winston
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lois-winston
TWF Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/05/619-writers-on-writing-lois-winston.html

Wednesday May 07, 2025
6:18 / Writers on Writing / Elizabeth Zelvin
Wednesday May 07, 2025
Wednesday May 07, 2025
While most writers settle into the comfort of one format, Elizabeth Zelvin explores the contrasting realms of poetry, novels, novellas, short stories, and flash fiction, all of them distinctly different in approach, situation, and writing style. Zelvin even loves writing cross-genre. She shares freely her writing, building a community, and writing tool tips.
Elizabeth Zelvin is the author of two long-running series, the Bruce Kohler Mysteries and the Jewish historical Mendoza Family Saga as well as the Emerald Love urban fantasy mysteries. Her series and standalone short stories appear in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and Black Cat Mystery Magazine. EQMM has called her "one of our genre's most celebrated short story writers." She currently blogs on SleuthSayers.
In addition to writing fiction, Liz is a poet, a singer-songwriter and a psychotherapist who was one of the pioneers of online mental health. Liz lives in New York City and summers at the unpretentious end of East Hampton, where she swims in the ocean, gardens, photographs the resident hummingbird, and exchanges waves with the occasional whale.
TIMINGS
- 00:40 Welcome and Introduction
- 2:30 When Poetry, Mystery, and Therapy Combine
- 6:00 The Wide-Ranging and Expanding Mendoza Family Saga
- 11:45 Narrative License yet Maintaining Historical Fact
- 14:26 Group Mystery Blogging
- 17:00 Networking and the Short Mystery Fiction Society
- 21:00 Using Track Changes in Word
- 28:45 Correcting Text, Designing Books, and Creating Covers
- 30:45 Cross-Genre Writing
- 35:00 Finding Places to Read Poetry Online
- 37:20 Closing
Total Run Time = 38:26
LINKS
Her website https://www.elizabethzelvin.com/
Poe's Deadly Daughters https://poesdeadlydaughters.blogspot.com/
Short Mystery Fiction Society https://shortmystery.blogspot.com/ and Subscribe to https://shortmystery.groups.io/g/main
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/05/618-writers-on-writing-elizabeth-zelvin.html
Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.
Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
- You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters
- Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.
For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.
If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Wednesday Apr 30, 2025
6:17 / Writers on Writing / Pamela Ebel
Wednesday Apr 30, 2025
Wednesday Apr 30, 2025
Pamela Ebel offers a wealth of wisdom in this interview for our writer-focused series. She pursues writing with the drive and curiosity and wit that she devoted to her previous careers.
Ebel has been published in Shotgun Honey, YELLOW MAMA EZINE, Kings River Life Magazine, The BOULD AWARDS 2020 and 2021 Anthology, Tomorrow and Tomorrow 2021 Anthology, and other venues. Her poetry has appeared in the Delta Poetry Review. A native of California, she now concentrates on tales from her original home state and tales from the highways of the South. She also knows, like the Ancient Greeks and the Irish, that as a Southern writer you can’t outrun your blood.
She has turned to writing full time as of 2020, obviously either perfect or bizarre timing, and this will be her fifth career. She lives in Metairie, Louisiana, with her husband and two cats.
TIMINGS
- 00:40 Welcome / Introduction
- 6:25 Writing for the Love of It
- 8:45 The Money that Writers Make
- 11:35 Treat Writing as a Business
- 14:35 Connecting with other Writers / SMART Plan
- 18:12 Submission Guidelines / the Shunn Format
- 23:40 Writing Tools
- 26:15 Traditional vs Self-Publishing / Writing is Competitive
- 28:15 Short Story Advantages / Opening up Creativity
- 33:30 Building the Writing Resumé
- 36:36 Last Words / Closing
Total Run Time: 38:47
LINKS
The Shunn MS Format https://www.shunn.net/format/
Pamela Ebel https://pamebel.com/
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/04/617-writers-on-writing-pamela-ebel.html

Wednesday Apr 23, 2025
6:16 / Writers on Writing / Charlotte Morganti
Wednesday Apr 23, 2025
Wednesday Apr 23, 2025
Charlotte Morganti uses a variety of tech, tracking her words, editing to improve those words, and formatting, all the way into marketing and newsletters. She shares tech helps, including ones that I haven’t heard of, as well as her journey into indie writing and publishing.
Before turning to writing award-winning mysteries, Charlotte Morganti was, at various times, a burger flipper, a beer slinger, and a corporate finance/mining lawyer.
Her novels and short stories range from gritty investigations to lighter capers. She usually sets her stories in small towns that miraculously harbor both villains and the sleuths who pursue them. Find out more at https://charlottemorganti.com.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome / Introduction
03:05 Morganti’s Writing Journey
07:05 Going Indie
13:09 Tech and the Writing Basics
16:25 Editing Helps
21:15 Vellum / Atticus
22:55 Tracking Progress
23:40 Marketing Tech
27:45 Newsletters
30:35 Her Releases this Spring
33:08 Closing
Total Run Time = 34:08
LINKS
Morganti’s site https://charlottemorganti.com.
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/04/616-writers-on-writing-charlotte.html
Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.
Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
- You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters
- Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.
For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.
If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Wednesday Apr 16, 2025
6:15 / Writers on Writing / Joan Ramirez
Wednesday Apr 16, 2025
Wednesday Apr 16, 2025
A writer does more than work with words. The heart becomes involved, often draining us emotionally. The logical side of our brain helps balance out emotions. When we venture beyond our desks and interact as Writer with the world, the ways we present ourselves and the opportunities we explore enrich us when we return to our little corner desks.
Joan Ramirez discusses all of the above and more in this episode of Writers on Writing. Her guidebook The Write Rules covers the various aspects of speaking, writing, presentations, and representing our official “writer-dom” to the world.
Joan Ramirez holds a Master of Science in Business, Medical, and Technical Journalism as well as two others in English as a Second Language and Elementary Education/Autism. She has published on a variety of topics from cochlear implants to the economy and has conducted workshops –domestic and foreign–on the nuances of business communications for managers and start-up companies. She is the leader of her own enterprise with training programs (over twenty-five years of expertise) for entrepreneurs at all levels. For many years she trained the technical staff of a large engineering firm in the nuances of business writing and verbal presentations.
The Write Rules, her latest publication, offers communications guidelines for becoming an entrepreneur. She has short stories in several anthologies and is working on a historical suspense trilogy set in WWII. She can be reached at writerjr1044@gmail.com.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome / Introduction
05:13 The Write Rules, a guidebook for English and Non-English Speakers
10:50 Importance of the Non-Verbal when Presenting Yourself
16:40 Writing The Write Rules
19:40 Writing Historical Fiction that Comes from the Heart
23:07 Opportunities Lurk Beyond the Job Description
26:32 Writing NonFiction vs. Historical Fiction
27:55 Venturing into other Writing
30:22 Closing
Total Run Time = 31:23
LINKS
https://www.facebook.com/joan.ramirez.98031
TWF Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/04/615-writers-on-writing-joan-ramirez.html
Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.
Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
- You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters
- Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.
For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.
If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Wednesday Apr 09, 2025
6:14 / Writers on Writing / O'Neil de Noux
Wednesday Apr 09, 2025
Wednesday Apr 09, 2025
Does a life in law enforcement give a special insight into crime? It certainly seems that way to me after interviewing O’Neil de Noux.
His first books were police procedurals, following his career in law enforcement just outside of New Orleans. Now he’s writing about private investigators and semi-retired detectives … and pursuing his stories in historical fiction as a satisfying challenge.
Like many writers, O’Neil delves into many genres, following his curiosity into multiple stories.
O’Neil De Noux (www.oneildenoux.com) is a retired police officer, a former homicide detective, and former private eye with 49 books and over 400 short stories published. His writing has been awarded the SHAMUS AWARD twice as well as the DERRINGER AWARD and POLICE BOOK of the YEAR (www.PoliceWriters.com). Two of his stories have been featured in the BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES annual anthology (2003 and 2013). He is a past Vice-President of the Private Eye Writers of America.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome / Introduction
2:11 Historical Fiction vs. Mystery Fiction
10:10 Writing Mentors
15:00 Indies Control Everything: Idea to Cover Design
18:46 Ideas Drive his Character Selection
24:30 Inspiration from Titles
28:00 Newest Release
32:00 Using Downtime to allow Drafts to Percolate
36:48 Closing
Total Run Time = 37:48
LINKS
website: https://www.oneildenoux.com/
Latest book: https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Dandelions-Lucien-Caye-Private-ebook/dp/B0D5YVPVHZ
Amazon Author’s Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/ONeil-De-Noux/author/
TWF Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/04/614-writers-on-writing-oneil-de-noux.html
Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.
Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
- You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters
- Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.
For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.
If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Wednesday Apr 02, 2025
6:13 / Writers on Writing / Randy Overbeck
Wednesday Apr 02, 2025
Wednesday Apr 02, 2025
Fellow Podcaster (and fellow former English teacher) talks technology, writing, and his Haunted Shores mysteries. We delve into ways to avoid anachronisms when writing historical fiction before venturing into his writing process, linear rather than a mix-match puzzle process.
Overbeck’s novel Cruel Lessons was categorized as “one of the best mysteries of 2023” and “ene of the best thrillers I’ve ever read!” Of his Haunted Shores mysteries, critics have called Overbeck a “master storyteller” who provides a “rollicking good” read.
TIMINGS
00:40 Introduction / Welcome
3:42 From Paper to Electronic
8:40 Authenticity with Historical Writing
13:30 Linear Story Writing
19:25 Podcast Creation
26:10 Echoes of Life in his 1st Novel
30:50 Haunted Shores mysteries
36:15 Closing
Total Run Time = 37:15
LINKS
Randy Overbeck’s site https://www.authorrandyoverbeck.com/books
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/04/613-writers-on-writing-randy-overbeck.html
Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.
Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
- You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters
- Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.
For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.
If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)