Episodes
3 days ago
3 days ago
Here we are with More Techniques from Erle Stanley Gardner. We’re tackling Gardner’s solutions for Writer’s Block.
Look to the Show Notes for information about the nonfiction book that is the source for this information.
TIMINGS
- 00:00 Welcome
- 00:40 Introduction
- 01:11 Unmentioned Unmentionable
- 01:54 Notes & Rules on Work
- 07:30 Plotting Machines
- 12:20 Gardner, THE Plotting Machine
- 15:16 Flying Buttresses against Writer’s Block
- 17:10 Last Words / Closing
Total Run Time :: 19:17
LINKS
Secrets of the World’s Best-Selling Writer: the Storytelling Techniques of Erle Stanley Gardner. Francis L. and Roberta B. Fugate. Graymalki Media, 1975.
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 Defeat Writer’s Block, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers.
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 Mar 20, 2024
5:12 / Defeat Writer's Block / How One Pro Won the Battle
Wednesday Mar 20, 2024
Wednesday Mar 20, 2024
- 66,000 words per week
- 140 titles published ~ novels and short stories.
- Of that number, 100 of them sold over one million copies EACH.
- Translated into dozens of languages
- Used pen names because he was so prolific he had to disguise his output from editors
Who is this great Defeater of Writer’s Block? Let’s try one more clue.
- 271 TV episodes produced with his trademark character Perry Mason.
Have you guessed the writer? Erle Stanley Gardner.
To write 66,000 words each week and to publish 140 titles, Gardner had to have methods and techniques to Defeat Writer’s Block.
In his early days, before he became best-selling, Gardner had to learn story-telling techniques, all the craft skills of character, plot, conflict, and resolution (endings). He discovered practical methods and adapted them, and those served him well over his long career as a professional writer.
Let’s analyze the ones we can adapt to super-charge our own Write Focus.
TIMINGS
- 00:00 Welcome
- 00:40 Introduction
- 03:08 Writing Life Work Habits
- 04:38 Gardner’s 1st Technique
- 07:48 His 2nd Technique
- 09:05 His 3rd Technique (& the most important)
- 10:30 Two Touchstones for Stories
- 13:40 These Touchstones Defeat Writer’s Block
- 15:03 Five Guides for any Story
- 20:05 Last Words / Closing
Total Run Time :: 22:48
LINKS
Secrets of the World’s Best-Selling Writer: the Storytelling Techniques of Erle Stanley Gardner. Francis L. and Roberta B. Fugate. Graymalki Media, 1975.
Lester Dent’s Plot Formula (1st episode) Audio https://eden5695.podbean.com/e/322-short-narratives-part-1-mixed-miscellany-summer-series/?token=787f587776d16329864e1540c7138c9e
Video on YouTube https://youtu.be/jA6xHr44XMw
Lester Dent’s Plot Formula / printable pdf / https://mgherron.com/2015/01/lester-dents-pulp-paper-master-fiction-plot-formula/
Plot 7 (1st episode) Audio https://eden5695.podbean.com/e/504-plot-7-part-a-discovering-plot/
Archetypal Story Pattern / Greatest Plot Structure in the World (1st episode) Audio https://eden5695.podbean.com/e/stages-1-2-greatest-plot-structure-discplot-447/?token=1f886de066cbc760395ba4fc6edb7519
Link to Blog https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2024/03/defeat-writers-block-how-one-pro-won.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 Defeat Writer’s Block, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers.
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 Mar 13, 2024
5:11 / Defeat Writer's Block / Pro Writers part B
Wednesday Mar 13, 2024
Wednesday Mar 13, 2024
We’re back with more advice from Pro Writers on Defeating Writer’s Block.
Let’s launch straight into business.
TIMINGS
- 00:00 Welcome
- 00:40 Introduction
- 00:48 Barbara Kingsolver
- 03:00 William Stafford (poet)
- 03:51 Scott McCormick
- 09:16 Philip Pullman
- 12:06 Charlaine Harris
- 14:34 Last Words / Closing
Total Run Time:: 16:40
Links
None. Quotations came from a variety of internet sites.
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 Defeat Writer’s Block, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers.
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 Mar 06, 2024
5:10 / Defeat Writer's Block / Pro Writers part A
Wednesday Mar 06, 2024
Wednesday Mar 06, 2024
In the first part of this series, The Write Focus shared everything we had to say about Writer’s Block and how to defeat that three-headed monster.
When we research the topic, we find articles that claim 5 types or 10 types of Writer’s Block. Shudder. I don’t want even to contemplate 10 types. Yet I read the article—so you don’t have to. Guess what? Those 10 types are actually just an expansion of the 3 types we covered in our series—as were the 5 types.
And the solutions were exactly what we listed: breaks and escapes, switching projects, overcoming fears and learning new writing skills, pursuing a healthy lifestyle, regaining curiosity, and practicing creativity.
We can do this. We can DEFEAT WRITER’S BLOCK. (Shout it!)
In this segment, we’ll explore advice from other writers, pro writers who have to meet deadlines and are too professional to churn out boring words. Let’s explore what they say.
TIMINGS
- 00:00 Welcome
- 00:40 Introduction
- 01:53 Neil Gaiman
- 04:16 Ernest Hemingway
- 07:35 Hilary Mantel
- 08:53 Norman Mailer
- 10:00 Mark Twain
- 11:15 Neil Gaiman again
- 15:00 Last Words / Closing
Total Run Time = 17:08
Links
Quotations came from a variety of internet sites
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 Defeat Writer’s Block, with all NEW information based on host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers.
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 Feb 28, 2024
5:09 / Defeat Writer's Block / Overcoming Type 3
Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
Writer’s Block looms like a sharp-clawed monster over every writer. A daily discipline—No Day without Lines—is extremely helpful, no matter how many you schedule for a particular day.
Nulla Dies Sine Linea is our mantra, right?
We can overcome a simple refusal to write by maintaining discipline and side projects and our escapes when we’re overwhelmed.
We can defeat Procrastination by overcoming the Twin Fears of Failure and of Judgment. If our worries are failure and judgment, those problems are not with our writing but are inside ourselves. Root them out. Our writing is for us. Improve whatever weaknesses we see. When people point out weaknesses, consider these learning opportunities and keep improving.
We’ve reached the slimy cave of that real Horrible, Terrible Monster than can destroy everything, not just our writing but our hopes and joys.
Type 3 Writer’s Block is Inertia, and Writer’s Inertia kills words and contentment, plans and dreams, grace and well-being.
Yet we can and must defeat Inertia. Here’s how.
TIMINGS
- 00:00 Welcome
- 00:40 Introduction
- 02:13 Writer’s Inertia
- 02:40 Healthy Habits Defeat Inertia
- 09:07 Avoid Stagnating Slime
- 13:36 Wrap-Up
- 14:20 Last Words / Closing
Total Run Time = 16:25
Links to Think like a Pro, original source with other info added:
https://www.amazon.com/Think-like-Pro-Advent-Writers/dp/
Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/4AxWAd
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 Defeat Writer’s Block, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers.
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 Feb 21, 2024
5:08 /Defeat Writer's Block / Overcoming Type 2
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Defeating Writer’s Block is easy to say, not so easy to do. We writers have to discover the problem we’re having with those pesky little words.
1st, we have to find them—and they do like to hide.
2nd, we have to write them down—whether in a notebook or straight to the keyboard. That’s a whole problem on its own. We can’t count the Block as a simple disruption, a wholesale explosion of our writing time.
It’s the Desire and the Initiative to write that’s the problem.
In our diagnostic quiz, at the end of the Introduction segment, the weakness of our desire, the weakness of our initiative are driving factors that keep us out of our chair.
Type 1 of Writer’s Block is Writer’s Refusal, and I consider it the easiest of the Blocks to diagnose, admit, and defeat.
Type 2 is a harder Block to defeat. What is the Type 2 Block? Writer’s Procrastination.
TIMINGS
- 00:00 Welcome
- 00:40 Introduction
- 01:48 Writer’s Procrastination
- 07:05 Fear #1
- 09:35 Fear #2
- 11:47 Trolls
- 14:06 Last Words / Closing
Total Run Time = 16:14
Links to Think like a Pro, original source with other info added:
https://www.amazon.com/Think-like-Pro-Advent-Writers/dp/
Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/4AxWAd
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 Defeat Writer’s Block, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers.
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 Feb 14, 2024
5:07 / Defeat Writer's Block / Overcoming Type 1
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Hey! Our claim is that Writer’s Block doesn’t exist? And you say, “I don’t believe it. I’m blocked. I’m suffering with Writer’s Block.”
Believe it or not, the truth is that Writer’s Block does NOT exist. Not. No way. Nope. We can write, but something keeps us from writing what we very well need to write.
At the end of our last episode, the introduction to this series on Defeating Writer’s Block, we classified 3 types. Knowing the type that’s affecting us, that’s part of the solution to any Writer’s Block . . . for we can make claims, we can repeat a mantra–but something’s blocking us.
The other part of the solution to Writer’s Block is our WILL–even if we don’t want to write, we MUST. We NEED to. We gotta!
The only problem with saying “MUST and NEED and GOTTA” is that I’m afflicted with bloody-mindedness. As soon as someone commands must / need / have to / gotta–my bloody-mindedness kicks in. “Oh yeah? I think NOT.”
That’s where WILL comes in—and that’s our focus this week. Overcoming Type I of Writer’s Block, classified as Writer’s Refusal.
[Did I shout enough?]
TIMINGS
- 00:00 Welcome
- 00:40 Introduction
- 01:53 Writer’s Refusal
- 03:25 Overcome with Escape
- 05:45 Escape Exercise to Try
- 11:25 Overcome the Over-Schedule
- 17:15 When Numbers Help Words
- 22:45 Last Words / Closing
Total Run Time = 22:51
Links to Think like a Pro, original source with other info added:
https://www.amazon.com/Think-like-Pro-Advent-Writers/dp/
Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/4AxWAd
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 Defeat Writer’s Block, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers.
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 Feb 07, 2024
5:06 / Defeat Writer's Block / Introduction
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Can you name a phrase that every writer fears? Try “Writer’s Block”.
We writers all have a deep-seated fear when we hear those two words side by side. Writer’s Block—those should be forbidden to speak together.
We have quite a number of pro writers who claim there’s no such things as Writer’s Block, and I’m one of them—but I will admit that I find myself refusing to write or avoiding my desk or just stuck on a story. Distractions and disruptions occur, and before we know it, weeks—not days, weeks—have passed. With few words written, our writing plans are blown. Guilt descends—and the clouds of guilt and disappointment and dismay and more disrupters descend and . . . gosh, we don’t even want to think about it.
That’s the purpose of this series: we want to Defeat that Writer’s Block.
To do that, we have to look more closely at Writer’s Block than we want to. In this February month of love, let’s look at what prevents us from pursuing our love of writing.
TIMINGS
- 00:00 Welcome
- 00:40 Intro
- 01:46 Writer’s Block Doesn’t Exist
- 08:30 The Truth about Writer’s Block
- 13:55 Diagnostic Quiz
- 16:00 Last Words / Closing
Total Run Time = 17:00
Links
Links to Think like a Pro, original source with other info added:
https://www.amazon.com/Think-like-Pro-Advent-Writers/dp/
Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/4AxWAd
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 Defeat Writer’s Block, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers.
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 Jan 31, 2024
5:05 / Plot 7, part B / Discovering Plot
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
In the last episode, we began our look at a process method I call Plot 7. This week we finish the Plot 7 and our series on Discovering Plot. Coming up for February are four episodes on Overcoming Writer’s Block.
The Plot 7 is wonderful for sparking ideas for a new novel or novella. It’s too deep for a short story.
In the Plot 7 are the 7 most important scenes for the novel. We covered the Beginning, the Very End, and the Roughest Moment / the Ordeal. This episode covers the last 4 … and these are the hardest four.
By the time writers finish these 7 scenes, we have a great start on the story.
The between-scenes and sequels will remain for us to write—but we’ll know our direction and the whole process of drafting the novel will flow easily.
TIMINGS
- 00:00 Welcome
- 00:40 Introduction
- 03:25 Plot 4
- 04:54 Plot 5
- 07:57 Plot 6
- 10:33 Plot 7
- 12:35 Bringing It Together
- 14:50 Last Words / Closing
Total Run Time = 16:32
Link to Lester Dent’s Plot Formula for Short Stories
Episode 1 / Short Narratives / Mixed Miscellany https://eden5695.podbean.com/e/322-short-narratives-part-1-mixed-miscellany-summer-series/
Links to Think like a Pro, source for the Plot 7, other info added:
https://www.amazon.com/Think-like-Pro-Advent-Writers/dp/
Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/4AxWAd
Links to the Ebook Discovering Plot
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49
https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K
Link to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S
Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk
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 Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name.
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 Jan 24, 2024
5:04 / Plot 7 part a / Discovering Plot
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
We’re winding up the Discovering Plot series with the Plot 7, a quick way to launch into story and to reach that story’s heart … and discover if it will fly—or crash like my feeble attempts at paper airplanes.
Plot 7 comes from the writer’s guidebook Think like a Pro, by M.A. Lee, designed to turn a hobby writer into a pro writer with the necessary mindset changes.
We’ll break the Plot 7 into 2 episodes.
TIMINGS
- 00:00 Welcome
- 00:40 Introduction
- 01:17 Plot 7 Raison d’Etre
- 04:18 Plot 1
- 05:40 Plot 2
- 06:50 Plot 3
- 11:58 Last Words / Closing
TOTAL RUN TIME = 13:42
Links to Think like a Pro
https://www.amazon.com/Think-like-Pro-Advent-Writers/dp/
Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/4AxWAd
Links to the Ebook Discovering Plot
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49
https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K
Link to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S
Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk
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 Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name.
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.)