All Episodes

400: Trusting Your Gut on a Complicated Plot

399: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Self Publishing

398: His Years of Writing Eloquently: The Return of A.J. Jacobs

397: Starting Energy v. Finishing Energy: How the work gets done, start to finish.

396: Daring to Kickstarter with Rachael Herron

395: Episode: 395 Who Owns an Idea?

Flashback Friday: Writing While #Broken

394: Things Jess Learned This Month, Ep. 394

393: I want to sell books. But I'm also writing what I want to write. Episode 393 with Jo Piazza

392: How to Be a Good Literary Citizen: Volunteer at a Writing Conference

Flashback Friday: How Do You Write a Non-Fiction Book in less than a Year?

391: Why You Should Take a Plot-walk

390: Coaching call with author, educator & speaker Katie Kinder

389: How to Create a Substack that Delivers (for you and your readers) Episode 389 with Dan Blank

388: What’s on the Cutting Room Floor?

387: The Art of Manifesting for Tired and Skeptical Authors

386: Episode 386: Under the Weather Productivity

385: What I Think About When I Think About Job Offers

384: Unapologetically Re-creating our Abundant Zone of Genius

Flashback Friday: Become a #BetterStrongerFaster Writer with Becca Syme

Flashback Friday: Episode 293, how to build a literary life with Zibby Owens.

When Inner Dialogue Isn't "Telling" and When It Is in Memoir and Fiction

383: How to Restart Your Work after an Unplanned Pause

382: How Sarina's Reading Journal Makes Her a Better Novelist: Episode 382

381: How to Find the Right Speaking Agent: Ep 381

380: National Novel Planning Month (that should be a thing)

379: A Million Little Pieces that can Make or Break a Speaking Engagement: Episode 379

378: Six Seasons in One Episode: Cookbooks as Memoir with Gesine Bullock-Prado, Ep 378

377: Writing for Tweendom: Jamie Sumner on writing difficult topics and the glory of middle grade fiction

376: Flinging a Fall Book out into the world

375: Reinvention Marketing: Selling Your Book for Years After Pub Day

374: From Idea to Execution: Building a Book

373: Never Carved in Stone: Letting Ideas Evolve

372: Ideas and Nonfiction: Your Book Idea Contains Multitudes

371: When Good Ideas Go Bad (the most common mistakes writers make)

370: Memoirs for the Marketplace: A Blueprint for Success

369: You Are the Protagonist (memoirs need ideas too) with Rachael Herron

368: How to Decide if Your Book Idea is Solid (or Solid Enough)

367: The Airport Game (or, how to come up with 8 ideas on a 3 hour long flight)

366: Welcome to the Idea Factory (Good Writing Comes Last, Part 2)

365: How to Start a Novel (and keep going) Episode 365

Summer Reading for Writers (plus a #FlashbackFriday: Episode 269)

364: Satire: writing just below "over-the-top" with Jane Roper Episode 364

363: How to Hate Your Work and Also Sell It-- at the same time. Episode 363

362: Talking Fat Talk and Substack Success: Episode 362 with Virginia Sole-Smith

Flashback Friday: Episode 288 with Joni Cole

361: Scrivener Tips: It's only taken Jess 361 episodes to deliver on her promise

360: Summoning My Accountability Buddies: Because Sometimes Writers Need Deadlines, ep 360

359: Dealing with Goal Fatigue What to Do When the Goals Aren't Getting You Anywhere, Ep. 359

Flashback Friday: Jodi Kantor Chases the Truth

358: Intoxication for Inspiration: Do drugs and alcohol unleash the muses? Episode 358

357: The Anxious Writer: Turning fears into superpowers. Episode 357

356: Writerly Tech: the hardware, the software and the why. Episode 356

355: In My Expert Opinion: Pitching, Prepping, and Nailing Interviews for TV and Radio

354: Good Writing Comes Last: the form and function of a solid book outline, episode 354

Sensitivity Reader Reboot: looking your topic from all the angles, with Jordan Shapiro and Jazz

353: Unraveling Nonfiction Research and Writing: Episode 353 with Peggy Orenstein

352: How to Write a Novel in Three Months, Sarina-Style (Episode 352)

351: A Workbook for Your Story: Episode 351 with Adrienne Young and Isabel Ibañez

350: Writing Three Books Without Typing a Word: Episode 350 with Leslie Hooton

349: How to Write (More than just) Erotica: Episode 349 with Rachel Kramer Bussel

348: Are You Ready to Pitch? The Answer is in Your Query. Episode 348 with Julie Artz

347: Start More than You Can Finish: Redefining failure with Becky Blades in Episode 347

346: Thousand Miles to a First Novel: Episode 346 with Kristen Mei Chase

Flashback Friday -- Episode 71: Building relationships with booksellers with Mary Laura Philpott

345: When it comes to goals, boring is good. Episode 345: Goals--or not--for 2023

344: 2022 in the Rear View Mirror: Episode 344

Flashback Friday -- Episode 251 How to give your fun read a solid, poke-in-the-gut point with Anna North

343: Friends Don't Let Friends Write Books Without Hooks. Episode 343

342: It Turns Out What I Really Want to Write About is... Episode 342, from memoir to marketable, with Emily Grosvenor

341: Talking TikTok (and Reels too): Episode 341 on Video content--the Why, the How To, and is it Worth the Time Suck?

340: How to Tell Someone Else's Story: Episode 340 with Allison Gilbert

339: Lit Mags, Grants and Residencies: a best-we-can how-to for an always changing but more approachable than we imagine world. Episode 339 with Patrice Gopo

338: The 30-Day Revision: Episode 338 How KJ Revised a Novel in 30 Days/189 Hours and approximately 72 Chocolate-Covered Peeps

337: Publishing's Secret Side-Door: Episode 337 Writing Object Lessons and Books-for-series with Maria Teresa Hart

336: Why You Should Do NaNoWriMo (and how to make the most of it) 336

How Butter Makes Everything (Including Books) Better: Writing Can't-Stop-Won't-Stop Fiction with Theodora Taylor (Flashback Friday)

335: How to Work with Small Presses and Literary Magazines—Episode 335 with Terena Bell

335: How Productive Writers get it done (by listening Flashback Friday with Laura Vanderkam) (Replay of Episode 116)

334: Using tropes and genres like a pro: Ep 334 with Alexis Hall

Which Kind of Writer Are You? Flashback Friday with Gretchen Rubin (Replay Episode 107)

333: Very Serious About Fun Reads Ep 333 with Emily Henry

332: How to Plan for Fall When You Don't EVEN Know... Episode 332

331: How to Go From Planning a Book to Writing One: Blueprint for a Book Step 10

330: But Does this Book Work? Blueprint for a Book Step 9

329: One Outline to Rule Them All (Even if You Hate Outlining): Blueprint for a Book Step 8

328: How to Drive that Narrative Forward: Blueprint for a Book Step 7

327: What's the Structure of Your Narrative? Blueprint for a Book Step 6

326: There Must Be Change: Blueprint for a Book Step 5

325: Your Jacket Copy is Your Promise to the Reader: Blueprint for a Book Step 4

324: Who Will Read My Book? Know Your Market: Blueprint for a Book Step 3

323: What's Your Point? Blueprint for a Book Step 2

322: Find Your Why: Blueprint for a Book Step 1

321: 321 What Do You Want to Achieve this Year--and are you half-way there?

320: 320: How to Create Your Own Market

319: But Everything is so SHINY: Episode 319, Coaching journalist Alison Myers on restarting a writing career.

318: Yes You Can Write In More Than One Genre. Here's how: Episode 318 flips the shelves.

317: How Writing Middle Grade is Different, and How It's Not: Episode 317 with Jamie Sumner

316: Living with Writer Envy. Episode 316: We wanted to call this conquering it but we can't.

315: When Your Agent Doesn't Like Your Idea as Much as You Do: Episode 315 with Kristen Green