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Special Treat: Lani Diane Rich Is Here!
Mes amis, I usually keep my guest posts to Wednesdays and Thursdays, but today’s guest is such a special friend and writer and teacher that I’m bringing her in early this week so you can meet her. Lani is a New York Times best-selling author, award-winning podcaster, and story expert, and she is my dear friend. She’s published 12 novels with Hachette, St. Martin’s Press, and Penguin, and has taught storytelling, screenwriting, and television production at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Her book, How Story Works: An elegant guide to the craft of storytelling is the last book you will ever need on story structure and…
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Sunday Snippet: The Discovery Edition
Several years ago, I attended an Indiana RWA event—Bob Mayer’s Write it Forward workshop. It was inspiring and Bob’s book, The Novel Writer’s Toolkit is one of my go-to references. He has lots of valuable things to say about writing and the process of writing. Another mentor is Lani Diane Rich, whose Chipperish Media’s How Story Works podcasts are an invaluable source of inspiration and education for any writer. From Lani, I learned about discovery—what begins my process when I write. All books begin with an idea, as Mayer says. That’s “the heart of your story.” For me, it’s mostly characters in my head banging around, begging for their stories…
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An Impostor’s Ah-Ha Moment
Have you ever heard of impostor syndrome? Basically, it’s “the persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own efforts or skills.” I suffer from this and I think most authors do. We are all pretty much people who are writing, not for the kudos for finishing a book, but because we have these characters in our heads begging to have their stories told. It has never occurred to me not to write, but I struggled with the idea of trying to get what I wrote published. Would it be good enough? Would people want to read it? Is…
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The Last 4,000 Words
I’m in the home stretch with Saving Sarah, book 4 of the Women of Willow Bay series. I can’t wait to finish it, but there is a little bit of bittersweet involved, too. I’m not positive, but I think this will be the last WOWB book. I have another woman in the village who could have a story, but I’m pretty sure it’s time to close this one out. I have a new book already started and I like the characters and the setting, which is Indiana, not Michigan. Of course, we’re up in northern Indiana near the dunes and Lake Michigan because I can’t imagine a story without a…
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Wednesday Chipperish Reminder
Lani Diane Rich’s fabulous podcast, JED BARTLET IS MY PRESIDENT, episode 6 is up! I’m headed there right now after getting a great report from the doc at my 6-month checkup–I’m healthy and strong, and my hair is adorable. (Yeah, my doc is a woman, so she notices stuff like that.) Gratitude for today: I am healthy and strong and my hair is adorable. 😉 Great time opening the lake cottage–we’re good to go for the summer. Wonderful to see the lake friends who were there this weekend–can’t wait to see the community all back together again. Terrific day Sunday with Liz and Duane–sure hope they’re frequent visitors this summer!…
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Some Saturday Entertainment
So we’re opening up the lake cottage this weekend–yay! We’re up and running–the water’s back on, the yard’s been cleaned up, the bathroom’s are cleaned, and the vacuum’s been run. We still have to wash windows/windowsills, scrub the back of the house, scrub the deck, and set up the porch furniture, but we’re getting there. It’s a gorgeous day here–60 degrees and sunny, sunny, sunny. We took some time out to Skype with Son and Grandboy, which is always a joy, but now I’ve got to head back outside to help Husband clean the deck. Before I go though, here are a couple of fun places for you to check…
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Wednesday Chipperish Reminder
It’s Wednesday, folks, and time for another episode of Jed Bartlet Is My President. Given the state of our current administration, a little political fantasy is unquestionably in order, don’t you think? I’m in, how about you? The amazing Dr. Kelly Jones–one of my dear pals from Betty days joins Lani for a discussion of “Six Meetings Before Lunch.” Kelly is delightful and I’m so jacked about her new podcast Southern Fried Scholar. I’m in, how about you? Also how about some gratitude? Today, I’m excited about my WIP, which is coming together like magic–the hero and heroine wrote their own love scenes, which made my job so much nicer.…
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Chipperish Is Coming!
So excited that my friend and editor, Lani Diane Rich has started a new podcast network called Chipperish Media! She is an amazing podcaster and delightful to listen to, so I know her podcasts will be terrific and I can’t wait for the first one, which drops March 8! It’s “Jed Bartlet Is My President,” and she and Daphne Olive will be talking about the pilot episode of The West Wing! Check it out and be sure to tune in on March 8–if you like what you hear, support Chipperish Media on Patreon–you’ll be so glad you did! Here’s a quick teaser for Jed Bartlet Is My President. I’m headed…