The Write Focus

3:34 / Interview with Sarah E. Burr / Mixed Miscellany Summer Series

Technology is Sarah E. Burr’s friend. It provided the sub-niche for her cozy mystery series, helped her locate an agent, and offers several side endeavors.

TIMINGS

• 0:43 Sarah E. Burr and her books and series. #FollowMe for Murder is out now.
• 4:58 the hybrid world: both indie and traditionally published
• 7:52 70 rejections before an agent; the wonder of the Twitter writing community
• 11:37 Creating a niche in tech info based on life experiences
• 16:15 Writing process: ideas at the beginning and during
• 19:38 Drafting and revision and a working document as a master book
• 25:14 Indie publishing and Kindle Create
• 29:20 Maintaining productivity
• 36:30 Best tool for writers

Sarah E. Burr is the award-winning author of the Glenmyre Whim Mysteries, Trending Topic Mysteries, and Court of Mystery series. She currently serves as the social media guru for the New York chapter of Sisters in Crime and is the creative mind behind BookstaBundles, a content creation service for authors. Sarah is the co-host of The Bookish Hour, a streaming YouTube series featuring live author interviews and book discussions. When she's not spinning up stories, Sarah is singing Broadway tunes, reading everything from mystery to manga, and enjoying walks with her dog, Eevee.

Links:

• Website:saraheburr.com
• Newsletter:https://bit.ly/saraheburrsignup
• #FollowMe for Murder:https://bit.ly/followmeformurder
• You Can’t Candle the Truth:https://bit.ly/glenmyrewhimmysteriesbook1
• Court of Mystery series:https://bit.ly/courtofmystery
• The Bookish Hour: The Bookish Hour -- Episode 1: Judy L. Murray - YouTube
• BookstaBundle, Social Media Content Creative Service https://www.saraheburr.com/bookstabundles

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 A Mixed Miscellany: Interviews with Writers / Fiction / Poetry / Nonfiction.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

3:33 / Interview with Anne Louise Bannon / Mixed Miscellany Summer Series

History and setting offer rich ideas for Anne Louise Bannon. When characters begin speaking to her, she knows that she has a winning series.

TIMINGS

• 0:04 Opening, Anne Louise Bannon and the turbulent LA County history, the setting of one series
• 2:00 Newest release: Death of an Heiress (see buy links below)
• 3:15 Anne’s interest in LA County’s history
• 7:12 Inspired by a history lecture
• 10:05 Cabot Cove syndrome; stumbling into a rich setting; characters who begin speaking
• 15:15 Anne’s publishing journey, finding the protagonist’s voice
• 20:35 Her writing process
• 23:03 Best tool for writing?
• 26:44 Hard vs. Easy: promotions and visual elements vs. dialogue and character voice
• 31:18 Switching from series to series
• 32:31 Maintaining productivity
• 34:20 the Chicken story
• 37:07 Closing

Record date June 17, Friday; release date for her newest novel June 18, Saturday

Anne Louise Bannon is an author and journalist who wrote her first novel at age 15. Her journalistic work has appeared in Ladies' Home Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Wines and Vines, and in newspapers across the country. She was a TV critic for over 10 years, founded the YourFamilyViewer blog, and created the OddBallGrape.com wine education blog with her husband, Michael Holland. She is the co-author of Howdunit: Book of Poisons, with Serita Stevens, as well as author of the Freddie and Kathy mystery series, set in the 1920s; the Operation Quickline series; and the Old Los Angeles series, set in the 1870s. Her most recent title is book four in the Old Los Angeles series, Death of an Heiress. She and her husband live in Southern California with an assortment of critters.

Website: https://annelouisebannon.com

Buy links:

• https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/death-of-an-heiress
• https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=9AtvEAAAQBAJ
• https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/death-of-an-heiress-anne-louise-bannon/1141254895?ean=9781948616218
• https://books.apple.com/us/book/death-of-an-heiress/id1619307081?itsct=books_box_link&itscg=30200&ls=1
• https://www.amazon.com/Death-Heiress-Anne-Louise-Bannon/dp/1948616211/
• https://www.vromansbookstore.com/book/9781948616218
• https://bookshop.org/a/14104/9781948616218

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 A Mixed Miscellany: Interviews with Writers / Fiction / Poetry / Nonfiction.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

Show your support with a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

3:32 / Interview with Melissa Bourbon / Mixed Miscellany Summer Series

A fantastical thread through every mystery with serendipitous finds from daily life inspires the best-selling author Melissa Bourbon. Also writing as Winnie Archer, she has several series, including the Book Magic series, Magical Dressmaking series, and the Bread Shop series.

Paying it forward, Melissa also has the Writer Spark Academy, with a blog and resources on a website and several courses on Teachable, the best place for self-paced and recursive learning online.

Her advice and inspiration is “Write the best book you want to read.”

Timings

• 0:03 Opening, with intros to her three main series
• 8:10 Starting a novel, with the focus on her Bibliomancy series
• 9:35 (Branding) the magical thread in all of her series
• 10:30 Melissa’s publishing journey
• 15:45 Idea to Publication: Melissa’s writing process
• 19:15 A Hybrid of pantster and plotter
• 19:48 Maintaining Productivity
• 20:30 the Writer Spark Academy
• 21:45 Melissa’s daily schedule
• 22:40 more on the Writer Spark Academy: website and Teachable courses
• 25:50 WSA example: Field Guide to Writing a Cozy Mystery
• 27:24 importance of recursive learning and Teachable’s model
• 29:00 workbooks for the WSA courses
• 32:38 Craft Chats on YouTube
• 33:50 Best Tool for Writing; writing out of order
• 36:30 Motivation to keep writing through the hard parts
• 39:54 Switching among different series
• 41:20 Brain FM for focusing and study music on Spotify
• 43:40 Closing

LINKS

https://melissabourbon.com/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/MelissaBourbonWinnieArcherBooks/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/bookishly_cozy

Book Warriors book group on FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BookWarriors

 

FOR WRITERSPARK ACADEMY

Courses: https://writersparkwritingacademy.teachable.com/

Website: https://writersparkacademy.com/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/TheWriterSpark

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/writer_spark/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnKN2ZVZwjoAOeHlBO-cRIw

 

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 A Mixed Miscellany: Interviews with Writers / Fiction / Poetry / Nonfiction.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

Buy a coffee to show your support at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

 

3:31 / Interview with Pamela Ebel / Mixed Miscellany Summer Series

From mainstream mysteries to weird and wacky and on to true crime with paranormal, Pamela Ebel doesn’t hesitate.

Direct from Pamela:

Groups for Crime Fiction Writers

1. Short Mystery Fiction Society https://shortmystery.blogspot.com/  A wide network of members with years of experience and success in writing crime fiction short stories and novels
2. Mystery Writers of America: They publish monthly newsletters with articles on writing and marketing Markets https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/2022/04/12-journals-with-no-fixed-deadlines.htmlhttps://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/2022/05/77-calls-for-submissions-in-june-2022.html

Writing Tools

• I do not use any of the numerous writing programs and formats on the market. I start all of my works on a legal pad. When I get to a point where I know the rest of the story will go, I move to the computer and use a basic Word program.
• I am a ‘pantser’ and let the story tell me where it wants to go. However, once the first draft is done, I do go back and look carefully for the elements of a plot and whether my characters are getting us where we need to go. I have Beta readers (several of whom also clean up spelling and grammatical issues for me.).

Maintaining Productivity

• By education and profession (BA, MA in Rhetoric and Public Address and 48 years of teaching communications courses at the university level and with a Law Degree and a solo practice, then 15 years as associate dean at a law school) both writing skills and my organizational skills were set long ago. I use an old-fashioned desk calendar with the month, weeks and days to keep track of my obligations.
• I use the same suspense system I used in law practice to keep track of deadlines for works in progress – 60 day notice of impending deadline; 30 day notice; 15 day notice; 5 day notice and prescription date.
• I also lead a critique group of four writers (covering a variety of genres and styles) that meets at my home every other week. I receive their stories ahead of time, write and return my written critiques to them, and then they have each other’s works that they critique at the gathering.
• I also teach a course on “Writing and Marketing Short Stories”  Both of these activities keep me involved with others who have my passion for writing and that keeps me writing also.

Publishing Decisions

Whether to seek a traditional publisher for your work; a hybrid publisher or self-publishing is a personal decision that should be made based on

• the amount of time you are willing to expend seeking a brick and mortar publisher (usually requiring an agent),
• 2) how much time you wish to tie up your work with a traditional publishing time line,
• 3) how much money your are willing to come out of pocket to get your work published,
• and 4) how much of your own money and time you can afford to market your work.

My bottom line is that whatever decision one makes in the journey to having your novel, novella, anthology or short stories or poetry see the light of day for the reading public is personal and valid for the author.

Do not let ‘the in crowd’ tell you what you ‘HAVE TO DO’ to be successful. Have a serious talk with yourself and your family and then do what satisfies you.

Timings

• 00:52 Opening for Pamela Ebel, into her fifth career: writing
• 2:00 Avoiding the word genre
• 4:18 Flash Fiction
• 6:16 Offering fiction for free on her website
• 7:40 Finding Turners ~ a series with retired circus animals
• 9:20 Writing a short story a week
• 10:45 Submission process advice
• 16:00 Finding markets
• 18:40 Best Help for Writing
• 20:45 How to find her work
• 21:50 Writing vs. social media; her story “Dead Men don’t Text” is upcoming on her Facebook page (link below)
• 23:30 Investing in your own writing
• 25:00 Novel vs. Short Fiction
• 27:25 When disasters affect the writing
• 29:35 Finding a short story in a novel
• 31:11 Avoiding boredom with the writing
• 33:30 Best Writing Tool
• 37:13 Never wait for validation from others
• 39:20 Closing

MORE LINKS

https://www.facebook.com/pamela.ebel.75

https://business.facebook.com/Pamela-Ebels-Mysterious-Tales-from-the-Cross-Roads-of-America-110015857359579/

https://www.shotgunhoney.com/authors/pamela-ebel/

 

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 A Mixed Miscellany: Interviews with Writers / Fiction / Poetry / Nonfiction.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. 

Buy a coffee to show your support at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

 

3:30 / Interview with Elaine Isaak (E.C. Ambrose) / Mixed Miscellany Summer Series

Genghis Khan. Medieval surgeries. The Bone Guard.

These intriguing story lines are the invention of Elaine Isaak, writing as E.C. Ambrose. In this excellent interview, Elaine shares her writing processes and several surprising methods in this episode of The Write Focus.

Timings

• 1:30 Opening
• 2:15 Focus on The Mongol’s Coffin
• 3:20 The allure of the High Middle Ages
• 4:10 Cross-cultural exchange and innovation
• 6:46 Medieval surgery, her first series, and the vision of a series protagonist Elisha Barber: “My god, I’ve killed them all.”
• 8:50 Publication Journey
• 9:34 Relinquishing control, traditional publishing, indie publishing
• 11:40 writing contest games
• 12:40 Elaine’s writing process
•             14:40 Outlining
•             15:55 Story Spine
•             16:34 Draft is done. What next?
• 19:12 Challenge of writing different series
• 24:41 Best writing tool
• 26:10 Research while writing
• 28:37 Maintaining Productivity
•             30:00 Family matters.
• 32:00 Best writing craft to practice
• 34:35 Benefit of local writing chapters.

www.ECAmbrose.com 

E.C. Ambrose | Penguin Random House

Amazon.com: E.C. Ambrose: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

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 A Mixed Miscellany: Interviews with Writers / Fiction / Poetry / Nonfiction.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

Buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

3:29 / Interview with Elle Andrews Patt / part 2 / Mixed Miscellany Summer Series

Elle Andrews Patt shares more of her writing life. The age-old question of plotter vs. pantster, the synopsis and her route to a hybrid writing life, writing with sensitivity and awareness, the synopsis and productivity, as well as Clickmagick, her best tool for marketing, and much more. We end with her multi-part writing advice. Join us.

Content

• 1:00 Plotter vs. Pantster
• 1:40 When books do not fit a marketing niche and the hybrid writer life
• 4:35 Writing with Sensitivity and Awareness
• 5:40 Plotting and the synopsis
• 10:20 ClickMagick for tracking links; importance for marketing and ROI (return on investment)
• 13:30 Productivity and deadlines
• 16:40 Changing process / practice adapts the process
• 17:45 Elle’s Best Advice (multi-part)

MORE LINKS from Elle

Synopsis: https://publishingcrawl.com/p/how-to-write-a-1-page-synopsis?s=r

Clickmagick: https://www.clickmagick.com/login/

Mark Dawson Ads for Authors: https://learn.selfpublishingformula.com/p/adsforauthors

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 A Mixed Miscellany: Interviews with Writers / Fiction / Poetry / Nonfiction.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

Buy me a coffee at  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

3:28 / Interview with Elle Andrews Patt / part 1 / Mixed Miscellany Summer Series

Elle Andrews Patt offers her perspective on writing, from the start of her publishing journey to writing series and spin-offs, all in this episode of The Write Focus.

Next week, she will share her views on plotter vs. pantster, the synopsis, Clickmagick and much much more. Join us.

Content

• 1:11 Opening
• 2:02 Elle Andrews Patt’s published writings
• 4:00 Her writing / publishing journey
• 5:00 Practice using Fan Fiction
• 7:50 Short Story vs. Novel
• 11:00 Stand-alones vs. Series (writing a series, cliffhangers: the ugly, the bad, and the good
• 15:35 Interconnected characters and spin-offs

LINKS

elleandrewspatt.com 

How To Grow A Novel: https://www.amazon.com/How-Grow-Novel-Mistakes-Overcome/dp/0312267495/

Reading Like A Writer: https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Like-Writer-Guide-People/dp/0060777052

Characters and Viewpoint: https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Fiction-Writing-Characters-Viewpoint/dp/0898799279 

 

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 A Mixed Miscellany: Interviews with Writers / Fiction / Poetry / Nonfiction.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

Buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

 

3:27 / Interview with Kaye George, part 2 / Mixed Miscellany Summer Series

This week we return to the wonderful Kaye George and her writing guidance.

She spills the beans on her writing journey, her process to start a mystery, her methods and tools, and productivity along with two keys that unlock success. She also provides our inspiration!

Enjoy part 2 of multi-published Kaye George, this week on the Write Focus.

TIMINGS

• 1:05 how to find her books; also, out-of-print books
• 2:40 updating her out-of-print books
• 3:45 how Kaye started writing
• 4:55 Kaye’s process to start a mystery
• 7:15 Five points to help plan clues, red herrings, suspects, etc.
• 8:35 What “National Best-Selling” means
• 10:00 the shrinking book markets and other worries
• 11:35 Helps to stay motivated and persistent
• 13:53 Kaye’s writing journey
• 14:50 Advice to New Writers and our Inspiration!

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 A Mixed Miscellany: Fiction / Poetry / Nonfiction / Interviews with Writers.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

Buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

3:26 / Interview with Kaye George, part 1 / Mixed Miscellany Summer Series

Multi-published Kaye George is our 1^st interview!

We had a grand conversation about how she develops her series, world building, writing short stories vs. writing novels, and work-for-hire, plus a lot more. And this is only the start of our interview.

Next week we’ll talk details about her writing process, productivity, and more and more.

Here it is, part 1 of our conversation with National Best-Selling writer of mysteries with a twist, Kaye George.

TIMINGS

• 1:14 Kaye George talks her books
• 4:19 World-building with her People of the New Land series
• 5:22 Imogene books set in Wichita Falls, TX
• 6:18 creative sparks for stories: Imogene and Neanderthal series
• 8:12 Imogene as a “heart”series and the reasons behind its development
• 11:04 Cat cozies: the Fat Cat series, work-for-hire and how to structure such a series. (See also 17:00)
• 12:38 Candy and cats: the vintage sweets series; what happens to authors and their books when publishers combine
• 14:29 over 50 short stories, many in anthologies (see also 16:40)
• 15:07 not self-published
• 15:52 writing short stories vs. writing novels; organizing methods for novels; spreadsheets
• 17:14 developing a brand
• 17:47 Short stories allow experimentation
• 18:11 work-for-hire logistics

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 A Mixed Miscellany: Fiction / Poetry / Nonfiction / Interviews with Writers.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

Buy me a coffee at  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

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.)

3:25 / Short Narratives, part 4 / Mixed Miscellany Summer Series

Building Blocks for Short Narratives

Do we ever start writing blind to story? Not blind as in sightless, but blind in having no idea where we are going with a story? I say no. Many writers agree with me. Even if we have only the faintest glimmer of an idea, we have something to guide us.

The best short narratives engage and surprise us. Lester Dent knows how to keep each story separate rather than a dull repetition. He decides main points before he begins; these are his building blocks. We should, too. This episode can help.

Timings

• 1: 20 Opening
• 2:09 Formulas with Pantsters, Plotters, and Puzzlers
• 5:08 Dent’s Building Blocks for all Stories
• 9:15 Dent’s Checklists for Each Story Part
• 11:19 Story-Song “Puff, the Magic Dragon”
• 14:38 Closing / Next Week
• 14:57 Inspiration / Sinclair Lewis

LINKS to "Puff"

https://youtu.be/Vg2RcXC8KSk

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/peterpaulandmary/puffthemagicdragon.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 A Mixed Miscellany: Fiction / Poetry / Nonfiction / Interviews with Writers.

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.)