PODCAST · arts
#AmWriting
by KJ
#AmWriting is a podcast and Groupstack hosted by KJ Dell’Antonia, Jess Lahey, Sarina Bowen, & Jennie Nash. Listen, read and join up for hard-won advice and inspiration to help you play big in your writing life and finish work that matters. amwriting.substack.com
Episodes
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Is Your Book Getting Better—or Safer?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit amwriting.substack.com Jess Lahey is the OG host of the #amwriting podcast and the author of The Gift of Failure and The Addiction Inoculation. She’s a teacher, a speaker, and a very accomplished journalist who writes for The Atlantic,...
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Do your Voodoos of Ambition Ever Get a Day Off?
I want to take you inside my favorite yoga studio in Santa Barbara. It’s called Yoga Soup, and it’s a giant, grounding mix of movement, actual nutrient-dense soup in a crockpot, fresh fruit from local trees, and community. My husband Rob and I practice there a few times a week, and one of our...
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Get better at seeing and solving problems in your own work.
You’ll get a regular Write Big episode tomorrow! Hi! As you may know, after ten years of #amwriting, KJ, Jess and Sarina are moving on to other endeavors and have handed the reins of the podcast to me. I’m honored—and very excited—to carry it forward. For the past nine months, I’ve been trying...
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How Do You Know When It’s Time to Blow Up Your Book?
Have you ever looked at a project you’ve poured years of your life into and realized… it’s fine? Not catastrophic. Not terrible. Just fine. No one wants to read a book that’s fine — and I am certain you don’t want to write one. The first step in making sure you do better than fine is to catch...
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Let’s chat about Episode 523!
Paid subscribers can join us in the chat to respond to this invitation! #AmWriting is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. If you haven’t caught episode 523 yet to hear me and Dr. Diana Hill talk about juggling all...
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Margin Notes: Juggling Opportunities and Rewriting the Story After Mistakes
On the #amwriting podcast’s Margin Notes, host Jennie Nash talks with Dr. Diana Hill, author of Wise Effort, about how writers handle mishaps and self-talk when juggling book-related obligations. Hill describes accidentally booking two plane tickets to a Washington, DC conference, prompting a...
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Let’s chat about Episode 522!
Paid subscribers can join us in the chat to respond to this invitation! #AmWriting is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. If you haven’t caught episode 522 yet to hear me and Stuart Wakefield talk about his…
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Margin Notes: Making Marketing a Creative Project with Stuart Wakefield
In this Margin Notes episode of the #amwriting podcast, host Jennie Nash talks with book coach and author Stuart Wakefield about approaching marketing as a creative project by making joyful “artifacts” that expand a story world rather than simply asking readers to buy a book. Wakefield shares his...
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You’re Invited: Come Chat about This Week’s Episode
Jennie filmed this quick video message for everyone about today’s episode! Paid subscribers, come into the chat to respond! (Not a paid subscriber yet? That’s okay! You can become one today!) #AmWriting is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming…
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Write Big: Beyond the Book Deal
Host Jennie Nash talks with novelist and journalist Caroline Madden about why writers crave traditional publishing deals and how that desire can become an unhealthy obsession tied to external validation and “pick me” energy. Madden recounts a 20-year path to publication, including losing two…
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Write Big: Traditional Submission Ends, Commitment Continues
In this episode of #amwriting, Jennie continues this series of “Write Big” episodes in which she vulnerably shares her own process of turning the Write Big concepts into a book, thanking listeners and inviting them to become paid subscribers. In this tough installment, recorded after a Zoom call...
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Bonus Margin Notes: Finishing the Blueprint: Recognizing the Shift from Planning to Writing
In a bonus #amwriting podcast episode, host Jennie Nash talks with academic writing coach Kathy Mazak of Scholar’s Voice (and host of Academic Writing Amplified) about how writers keep going after completing a blueprint and finish what they start. Mazak explains her mission-based work helping...
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Write Big: Stop Begging to Be Chosen Part 2
Jennie Nash introduces an upcoming series of Write Big episodes that share her vulnerable, behind-the-scenes process of turning Write Big concepts into a Write Big book, thanking listeners and inviting paid subscriptions. In this episode, she revisits her “don’t wait to be picked” stance while...
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BookLab: The Art of Storytelling with Kathleen Barber
Jennie Nash hosts a #amwriting podcast BookLab with guest Kathleen Barber, author of Truth Be Told and newly released Sisterhood Above All (co-written with Amayah Shaienne), and discusses Barber’s range across thrillers and romance, her character-first approach, and how RushTok inspired an...
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Hot Seat Coaching: Refining Andrew’s Gothic Vampire Chapter
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit amwriting.substack.com Jennie Nash hosts a hot seat coaching episode with #amwriting producer Andrew Perrella, who shares a 5,000-word draft of his Gothic vampire novel to be offered to paid subscribers. Jennie praises the draft as...
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Write Big: People Are a Good Use of Time Part 2
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe
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BookLab: 3 First Pages, 3 Vibes, One Question
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit amwriting.substack.com I knew we’d get a huge response to our callout for first page submissions for a BookLab with Jo Piazza and I was right. I zipped through the google doc, skimming (there is a particular art to choosing the right...
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Margin Notes: Monsters in the Archive with Caroline Bicks
On the #amwriting podcast’s Margin Notes, host Jennie Nash talks with Caroline Bicks, Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine and co-host of the Everyday Shakespeare podcast, about her book Monsters in the Archives: A Year of Fear with Stephen King. Bicks describes how she...
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Write Big: People Are a Good Use of Time
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe
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Live with Jennie Nash
Join the Blueprint Summer Challenge Starting a book? Stuck in a draft? Planning a revision? The Blueprint Summer Challenge is designed to help you make meaningful progress on your manuscript this summer. Over six weeks, beginning July 10, you’ll use the Blueprint—a proven framework for developing...
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Revising with the Blueprint: A Summer Challenge Success Story
Jennie Nash interviews author Meghan P. Browne about her journey from picture-book nonfiction to selling her first middle-grade novel, after participating in the 2022 Blueprint Challenge. Browne began the project in 2019, drafted it during her MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts, then used the...
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Hot Seat Coaching: Pressure-Testing a Story Engine with Two Villains
Jennie Nash introduces a hot seat coaching episode where Author Accelerator coaches Stuart and Margaret work through Margaret’s new Blueprint for a historical novel set in Florence in the 1400s. Stuart helps Margaret pressure-test the story engine by differentiating two opposing forces—an…
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Hot Seat Coaching: Reframing a Prostate Cancer Book for Clarity, Voice, and Marketability
In a hot seat coaching session on the #amwriting podcast, Jennie Nash coaches Brenna Humphries on a nonfiction proposal for Where It Hurts: A Couple’s Guide to Kicking Prostate Cancer, noting a disconnect between the proposal’s tone/claims and the sample chapters. They discuss how “salesy”...
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Reframing Success: A New Take on Self-Worth for Writers
On the #amwriting podcast’s “Margin Notes,” Jennie Nash talks with Dr. Diana Hill (author of Wise Effort) about how the urge to prove yourself—through resumes, accolades, or “pre-order my book” pleas—undermines authenticity and connection, especially when pitching ideas, proposals, or personal...
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Hot Seat Coaching: From Concept to Page: The Journey of a Thriller with Andrew Parrella
Jennie Nash returns to a #amwriting hot seat with novelist Andrew Perella. Building on prior guidance from ThrillerFest’s Samantha Skal, they refine Andrew’s thriller outline—especially antagonist Seward’s motivation, escalating twists, and clue/red-herring sophistication—while acknowledging...
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Write Big: Rejection as Rocket Fuel
In this #amwriting Write Big session, Jennie Nash discusses managing mindset during the submission process, sharing that her new book project is out with an agent in staged publisher batches and that rejections often arrive faster than acceptances because “yes” decisions take more time and...
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Write Big: Stop Begging to Be Chosen
Jennie Nash shares a #amwriting “Write Big” session on letting go of “pick me” energy in publishing. On the day her new agent submits her new nonfiction proposal, Nash—author of 13 books with both Big Five and self-publishing experience—describes feeling calm because she’s also “picking” her…
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Write Big: The Writer in the Arena
Jennie Nash hosts a Write Big session of the #amwriting podcast introducing an “arena” metaphor for writers, inspired by Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly (and Teddy Roosevelt’s “man in the arena” quote), Priya Parker’s The Art of Gathering, and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Jennie argues that writers…
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Big Time: How to find time abundance in your writer life
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe
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Hot Seat Coaching: Building a Killer Twist: Going Deeper Inside a Gothic Mystery Blueprint
Andrew returns with his latest blueprint for a gothic mystery, and the coaching quickly zeroes in on what will make it work: a clear, compelling villain and twists that truly land. With help from thriller coach and Thrillerfest executive director Samantha Skal, the discussion unpacks the hidden...
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Hot Seat Coaching: Exploring Protagonist Depth with Andrew Parrella
Andrew Lands on a Single POV—and Must Choose an Ending Jennie Nash coaches podcast producer Andrew Parrella through the third “hot seat” session of his Blueprint revision, where he gains clarity that his protagonist should be the sole point-of-view character, with other perspectives delivered...
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Write Big 16: How to Sound Like Yourself in a Noisy World
In this Write Big session, Jennie explores one of the most essential—and elusive—elements of writing: voice. In a world full of sameness (and increasingly, AI-generated language), what makes writing stand out is simple but not easy: sounding like yourself. This episode is sparked by a moment on…
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The Decision to Keep Writing After Grief, Illness, or Heartbreak
In this first installment of Margin Notes—a new series on the big decisions writers face—we explore a question many writers quietly carry: When life falls apart, do you keep writing… or step away? Jennie Nash is joined by clinical psychologist Dr. Diana Hill, author of Wise Effort, for a...
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You’re Not Stuck—You’re Holding Back
This episode is connected to: * Hot Seat Coaching #1 * Hot Seat Coaching #2 When you find yourself spiraling over a structural choice—looping between two different plot points or debating a table of contents—it’s easy to treat it as a technical puzzle to be solved with logic. But as book coach...
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Live with Jennie Nash
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe
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10 Years of #amwriting: Looking Back and Moving Forward
After ten years of the #amwriting podcast, KJ, Jess, and Sarina are marking a milestone—and a transition. In this episode, the longtime hosts reflect on what the writing world looked like when the show began and share their best advice for writers trying to do meaningful work. They also pass the...
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"I Had the Full Heart of the Question In My Hand."
It’s very rare for me to demand that the readers of my #AmReading substack pre-order something. And the bar to be my “Just One Book” is high. But here we go: The book is The Fountain—debut speculative fiction from Casey Scieszka—and you’ll want to read it, but even more, you’ll want to hear us…
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Write the Book Readers Can’t Stop Recommending (Write Big, Ep 14)
In this Write Big episode, Jennie Nash is joined by AJ Harper, author of Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives—Including Your Own, to talk about a more meaningful way to define success as a writer. AJ shares her concept of writing a “Top Three” book—one that becomes a reader’s…
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Ep 492: What book format benefits authors most?
Hello and welcome to Nerd Corner with Sarina and Jess! I love these episodes because I will never, ever know as much about the publishing industry as Sarina Bowen, and I learn so much from her. This week, she answers a question she got from a listener, paraphrased thusly: Dear Sarina, I want to...
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What Finishing a Book Teaches You About Showing Up (Write Big, Ep 13)
In this Write Big session, Jennie Nash talks with podcast co-host Sarina Bowen about what it really feels like to finish a book—especially the anxiety and pressure that can come with “finishing energy.” Sarina shares a powerful mindset shift: there is no summit in a writing career. You may reach...
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Quit Laughing at My WOTY It's Not Funny.
Our Goals for 2026: Jess is gonna finish a novel. Sarina is going to figure out what she wants a long haul writer career to looks like. KJ is going to write this book as hard as she can and for as long as it takes. Jennie is going to claim her authority in the writing space. Our Words of the Year...
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How to Take the (long, elegant) Gloves Off and Write Like You
Anyone who ever listened to Jenna Blum do interviews on the A Mighty Blaze podcast will not be one bit surprised to hear that we had a great time talking all things writing but most specifically writing BIG—which Jenna has absolutely done with her current book, Murder Your Darlings. Murder Your...
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Finding the Ideal Reader: How the Blueprint Shaped a Physician’s Next Project (Bonus Episode)
This is a Bonus Episode, which means that it doesn’t have any of the beautiful audio engineering from our amazing team. In this Bonus Episode, Jennie Nash talks with physician-writer Carolyn Roy Bornstein about how one Blueprint exercise brought clarity to a long-stalled book project. By...
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December Booklab
It’s the December Booklab, and while our booklabs are normally only for subscribers, we’ve made this one free as a little present to you—something to listen to while all the other pods are having a well deserved break.How this works: we’ve chosen two among the brave souls who have submitted their...
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Blueprint for Revision: The System That Makes Revision Finally Make Sense
Most writers start revision by re-reading their manuscript from page one — but that’s the least effective way to improve a book. In this episode, Jenny explains a clearer, more strategic way to revise using the Blueprint and the 3D Revision Process. You’ll learn how to step back, see your book…
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An Invitation to the January Blueprint!
It’s on again! The Blueprint is one of our most popular offerings—Our 10 step plan to help you define the book you want to write before you write 100k words in search of it—but this time we’re going in fast and we’re knocking this puppy out in just 6 weeks. Starting January 12 and rolling though...
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How to Write the Book Only You Can Write
Rachael Herron’s latest: The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland, is, truly and in so many ways, the book only she can write. It pulls from every part of her life: identity, spirituality, a love of what’s magical in the world, her joy in crafting and her understanding of community and family. I, of...
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Thanksgiving Gratitude
Hi all! In honor of Thanksgiving, we decided to share what we’re doing to get MORE of what we’re grateful for in our writing lives—as in, try not just to give a nod to gratitude but actually increase the things we do to feel it. Enjoy! Are you staring down a holiday shopping list with a haunted...
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Ep 475 Publishing Nerd Corner: How Audiobooks are Made
Jess here. Sarina and I discuss audiobook narration this week and explain how narrators get hired, paid, and dish some inside baseball on audiobook production. Transcript Below! Your subscription = good podcast karma. Sign up now to support the Podcast! SPONSORSHIP MESSAGE Hey, listeners, did you...
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Ep 472 Publishing Nerd Corner: Earning Out
Hey all, Jess here. Sarina and I both love these episodes where we, two certified nerds, get to hang out with likeminded individuals and dish. This week, we are going to talk about one of Jess’ most niggling worries: what does it mean to a publisher and an author to “earn out” a book advance and...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
#AmWriting is a podcast and Groupstack hosted by KJ Dell’Antonia, Jess Lahey, Sarina Bowen, & Jennie Nash. Listen, read and join up for hard-won advice and inspiration to help you play big in your writing life and finish work that matters.
amwriting.substack.com
HOSTED BY
KJ
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does #AmWriting have?
#AmWriting currently has 549 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is #AmWriting about?
#AmWriting is a podcast and Groupstack hosted by KJ Dell’Antonia, Jess Lahey, Sarina Bowen, & Jennie Nash. Listen, read and join up for hard-won advice and inspiration to help you play big in your writing life and finish work that matters. amwriting.substack.com
How often does #AmWriting release new episodes?
#AmWriting releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 549 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to #AmWriting?
You can listen to #AmWriting on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts #AmWriting?
#AmWriting is created and hosted by KJ.
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