Writers Authors On Fire Podcast

Holly Johnson is a professional writer and blogger. Here's the link to Holly's Show Notes page with quotes, highlights, and links to Holly websites and social media connections. Holly and her husband Greg tell it like it is, "We've been able to ditch our 9-5 jobs, travel the world, and take control of our lives…all because we learned to manage our money. We want to help you do the same! In 2016 she earned $270,000 - $225,000 from freelance writing and $45,000 from blogging. Holly is "obsessed with money, travel and budgeting" but stresses she also loves frugality and using your money wisely. This focus has helped her become a staff writer at Get Rich Slowly, The Simple Dollar, Frugal Travel Guy, and U.S. News and World Report Travel. Her work has been featured on The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Forbes, Lifehacker, Yahoo!, and many other online publications. She loves freelance writing because she starts a piece, finishes it, and gets paid. She currently writes about travel fifty percent of her time an

Here's the link to the Show Notes page for Susan Stewart that features highlights, quotes, and links to websites and social media. Susan Stewart says she's been writing since she could hold a pencil. She's written in journalism, ghost writing, collaborative writing, editing, blogs, magazines, and written books. She's also written for homeschooling, preschool, and family markets. Her first books were written for niche homeschooling markets so she discovered Kindle and ebooks. That led to doing her own ebook formatting, after which she wrote Formatting e-Books for Writers. Today's ebook markets have opened many publishing opportunities for authors. There are tricks to formatting a high-quality ebook including what to do with tabs, paragraph breaks, your table of contents, links, sidebars, and more.

In this podcast episode, Getting the Most Out of Your Writers Conference, I talk about my tips for attending writers conferences. Here's a link to the Show Notes page for the show. I've taught this a several conferences to first timers, but there's something here for even seasoned writers. Topics covered include meeting and pitching editors and agents, planning, submitting manuscripts, tips on one sheets, books and articles, networking, rejection, after the conference, seven of the most important things to do at a conference, and much more. If you'd like a PDF of the tips in this week's episode, drop me an email and once it's finished, I'll send it along.

Judy Cornish is an attorney who specializes in elder care and has become an expert on providing dementia care. Here's the link to the show notes page for Judy's interview and her book. Judy is the author of The Dementia Handbook: How to Provide Dementia Care at Home and a second book going deeper into the intricacies of dementia care. In this interview, Judy explains what dementia is and that it's a condition, not a disease. She talks about the differences between providing care versus treatment. Her book is unique in how it looks at dementia as a psychological condition rather a medical condition. Providing care and keeping a loved one safe while helping them maintain a high quality of life is an important factor. Judy stresses how we have accepted childhood and adulthood as stages of life, but we've forgotten that elderhood is equally as valuable and is different than adulthood.

Elizabeth M Thompson shares from her years of experience of forming and guiding critique groups. Here's the link to her Show Notes page with quotes, and links to her website and social media. As the founder of Inspire Writers in Northern California, Elizabeth developed a community of writers who supported each other. Inspire offers critique groups, workshops, conferences, a newsletter and website, and a publishing arm. In this interview, Elizabeth talks about starting her first critique group, starting Inspire Writers, setting group guidelines, group size and meeting times and frequency, and the value of having your writing critiqued. We also talk about in-person and online groups, reading your work, who can be in the group, who is in charge, the length of what can be submitted, and more. In the second part of the interview, we talk about Elizabeth's writing, her best advice, favorite writing book, and being successful as a writer.

Kara Swanson is a young 20-year old up and coming writer with one book out and many more in the works. Here's the link to her Show Notes page with highlights, and links to her boo, website, and social media. Kara was raised in the jungles of Papua New Guinea by her missionary parents. No electricity, no Internet, no cars, no roads, just a small tribe of native people. Being immersed in a third world culture for so long shaped her view of what living really is. That gave her a great imagination, which influences her writing. She got her start by writing articles for magazines. At a camp for children of missionary parents, she met Charis Smith, and discovered they shared the same writing interests. That led to a co-authored book. In 2015 she was chosen as the most promising teen writer at the Mt. Hermon Christian Writers Conference. Kara writes stories that defy boundaries and push you to think beyond black and white. She was diagnosed with Lyme disease just before she was to start college, which affects her en

Katie Vorreiter works as a copy editor, proofreader, and fiction author. Here's the link to Katie's Show Note page with highlights and quotes, and links to her book, website, and social media. In this interview we spend the first part talking about editing, the types of editors that may be involved in the book creation process, and where proofreaders fit it. Katie shares information for those interested in becoming an editor. We talk about a few pet peeves editors have when reading manuscripts and she shares some writing tips from a copy editor's perspective. Then we transition to her writing and No Turning Back, her new just released book. We discuss her writing process, what sets her writing apart from others, how she tells if an idea is worth developing, and the most important thing in writing. Her advice on ideas to help struggling writers is excellent. Katie shares lots of great information and tips to help any writer, whether one writes fiction or nonfiction.

Forest Benedict is the author of Life After Lust, about overcoming sexual addiction. Here's the link to the Show Notes page with quotes, highlights, and links to his websites and social media. Forest is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who specializes in sexual addiction treatment - and has come out of recovery in this area. Part of his mission is to protect children from pornography. With the Internet everywhere, there's a huge need for this work. Forest is very vulnerable about his recovery as he describes the book and whom it's for. He describes how he collected 25 quality endorsements from high profile people in the specialized field. Life After Lust is intended for both male and female readers. Forest takes us through writing articles, which became the start of the book, its three sections, and writing "essentials" key steps in each chapter. We discuss the difficulties of writing about one's own personal recovery in such a hard subject and the faith component of recovery. Forest shares how he lai

David Hyde has written comedies and thrillers but all in the family safe and family friendly space. Here's the link to David's Show Notes with links to highlights and quotes, and his social media websites. David has taken extension courses in screenwriting and movie production from the Los Angeles School of Theater, Film, and Television. We talk about how he got started in screenwriting, how screenwriting differs from writing novels, the nuances of length and format of screenplays, types of screenplays, character development, screenwriting software, the importance of word efficiency in screenwriting, and then selling the screenplay. In the second part of the interview we talk about lessons he's learned about screenwriting, advice on the reality of writing screenplays, getting started in stage plays, two essential books to get you started in screenwriting, and lots more. This is an insightful interview filled with nuggets of information and tips about screenwriting and playwriting.

Athena Dean Holtz is an author, speaker, blogger, radio show host, and publisher. Here's the link to the Show Notes page for highlights, quotes, and links to Athena's websites and social media. Athena's first published project was a book for Vietnam veterans in 1986. After selling more than 10,000 copies, it was picked up and published mainstream, selling more than 250,000 with more than one million in print. That was in the old days before platform was a common writer's requirement. She founded Winepress, a Christian publishing house, which she later lost to a con man pastor. Full Circle is her new book telling her reception story. We talk about motive in writing and how some people's motive is to get to Amazon's bestseller status - no matter how they accomplish that, including manipulating sales for the bestseller list. Athena shares her view on the importance of critique groups. We learn about Redemption Press and it's options for authors looking for a publisher.  Athena shares her perspectives on aut

Stacy Hawkins Adams writes fiction and nonfiction, is a national columnist, blogs and helps writers. Here's the link to Stacy's Show Notes Page with highlights and quotes from her interview, and links to her websites and social media connections. Stacy started as a journalist, moved to writing Christian fiction, and then went into a freelance career. She now writes faith-based women's fiction, a parenting column, a blog on social justice issue for the Huffington Post, and her own Life Untapped blog. In this interview, Stacy talks about her journalist background and writing a column, and how that is reflected in her writing non-preachy faith-based fiction. Stacy talks about working through a plot and developing believable characters. Excellent information on balancing life and writing. 

Here's the link to Rene's Show Notes page with highlights, quotes, and links to her books, website, and social media connections. Rene Gutteridge writes suspense, comedy, novelizes screenplays and movies, and more; and loves story and the visual side of story in screenwriting. Rene calls herself a multifaceted writer. What comes through in this interview is how she loves story and the visual side of story in screenwriting. In college she studied screenwriting and her first things published were skits. From there she moved to fiction, getting 24 novels published and became interested in novelization. She was approached by Thomas Nelson to novelize the movie The Ultimate Gift. She's the head writer for the Skit Guys, who write short comedy skits. Rene's fiction is in the suspense and comedy genres, with series in each. Rene describes her emphasis on character development and writing characters that are not boring. We talk about the process of novelization of screenplays and movies. Rene shares lo

Jeanette Hanscome is a successful author with the voice of encouragement who has written fiction and nonfiction books, devotions, and articles. Here's the link for Jeanette's Show Notes with interview highlights and quotes, and links to her books, website, and social media. Author Jeanette Hanscome has a vision disorder called Achromatopsia, which means she has no color vision, is extremely light sensitive, and has visual acuity in the legally blind range. This presents challenges as she write. Describing scenes if tough because she cannot see colors. Jeanette talks about writing articles, devotionals, writing for compilations, and fiction and nonfiction books. She takes us through writing Running with Roselle and Suddenly Single Mom. Her favorite type of writing is devotionals that include personal experiences. Jeanette also speaks at writers conferences and loves to help new writers. She shares that writing has made her a braver person and that writing takes guts.

Harry Pacheco wrote Gladys Glasses, the first of five children's picture books about bullying. Here's the link to the Show Notes Page about Harry's interview with highlights and quotes, and links to his website and social media connections. After an incident at school where his daughter was bullied, in kindergarten, he became an advocate against bullying. He researched the market, tried to find a book that said what he wanted to say, and finding none, wrote Gladys Glasses. Harry takes us through the story development of his first two books. Then He explains the story of Stanley No Stripes, his second book, coming in 2017 and gives a brief synopsis of the other three books. Harry has marketed the book to schools, libraries, optometry businesses, to police and sheriff's departments, and more. He's been interviewed on TV and in many newspapers. This is a story of one man's dedication to help children being bullied, which turned him into a successful author.

Cara Brookins talks about building a house with her four children in her new book Rise: How a House Built a Family. Here's a link to Cara's Show Notes Page with highlights and quotes, photos, and links to her books, websites, and social media connections. Cara and her four great children, built a house. From scratch - using Google and YouTube videos as their instructional guides.The project is described in Cara's book, Rise: How a House Built a Family. Getting out of an abusive relationship, and being in a low place, she wanted to reconnect with her children - so they decided to build a house. It has a huge DIY project (do-it-yourself) that stretched the whole family. The book is written as a memoir. Rise sold at auction. Cara shares excellent advice for writers on connecting with other writers, marketing, social media, setting huge goals, determination, and more.

Cheri Cowell is an accomplished author, speaker, and owner of EABooks Publishing who loves to help authors get their books out through partnership publishing.Here's the link to Cheri's Show Notes Page with highlights and quotes, and links to her websites and social media connections. Cheri calls herself a sidewalk theologian, making complicated theological topics accessible and simple to understand. She went through a difficult time at one of her jobs and later rediscovered her love of writing. Her start was in writing devotionals and it taught her to write tight, succinctly, to use words effectively, and communicate a lot in only 250 words. Her first book, Directions: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life led to another book contract, which led to another, and another and it's grown from there - multiple devotionals and Bible studies. We talk about knowing your audience and the importance of attending writers conferences. Cheri gives us an overview of her company, EABooks Publishing, and it's partn

Hope Squires is an author of a nonfiction book who took part in the November 2016 NaNoWriMo month long writing project. Here's the link to Hope's Show Notes page with highlights, quotes, and links to her websites and social media connections. Hope wrote her first book when she was six! She laughs when she describes doing a second edition at age nine. She used a little blue typewriter for some of her stories. Later she became an English teacher. Her first book, The Flourishing Tree, was published in 2014. She walks us through the development of the book and why she wrote it. Needing a break from her second book, Hope decided to join NaNoWriMo and write a story around an extended family's experience during the Okeechobee hurricane in 1928. Her goal was 40,000 words and she took Sunday's off as a break from the daily word count demands. Having never written fiction before, Hope found it beneficial to use her family story because she could understand the characters more and talk to surviving family members for ba

Jake Heilbrunn is a 20 year old who wrote a soul-searching book about purpose and fulfillment. Here's the link to the Show Notes page for Jake's interview with highlights, quotes, and links to Jake's book, website, and social media connections. Jake wrote Off the Beaten Trail: A Young Man's Soul-Searching Journey Through Central America. He left college after 5-6 months when he developed a chronic skin condition, which led to anxiety and unfulfillment. That led to his traveling to Guatemala in South America for a four month exploration to discover purpose. His writing background was writing a blog about soccer. He heard the question, "What if the biggest risk we take is not taking any risk at all?" Jake found the site Workaway.info and decided to volunteer at a rural village in Guatemala. While there he journaled and the idea of turning it into a book became his purpose-driven mission. Returning home, he used mind mapping to create the book's flow and content. Jake decided to do a Kickstarter campai

Mark Schlichting describes himself as writing in the trans-media arena. Here's the link to Mark's Show Notes page with interview highlights and quotes, links to his books, and to his websites and social media connections. By training, Mark is an artist and an animator. In his younger days, he was the art director for a small publishing company. He transitioned into video and video games. He loved children's picture books and the challenge to bring a book alive. Mark was also interested in reading and how kid's learned to read, which led him to study child development. Mark's book, Harry and the Haunted House was turned from a paper book into an interactive digital product - an app. The digital app version has outsold the print version. Mark stresses that you have to think about how you are going to create the interaction between text, pictures, and the story elements. Many children's books are being turned into apps that appeal to today's digital minded kids. Mark talks about writing Harry and the Haunte

Jenna Victoria is a journalist who writes inspirational Christian romance and suspense. Here's the link to Jenna's Show Notes page with interview highlights and quotes, her book, and to her website and social media connections. Jenna used reading, and later writing, as an escape mechanism in her younger years. In high school, she was appointed as the editor of the school newspaper. In college she studied journalism and wrote for a newspaper. Now, writing fiction, she laughs when saying she's the queen of unfinshed fiction. She offers advice for those with unfinished manuscripts as she tells the story of getting her first book accepted and published. Her first writers conference, unknown to her at the time, was about witches and warlocks, paranormal, and more. Out of that experience came her tagline, fiction that feeds your faith. Her chemo treatments for cancer make writing challenging and she shares how she writes through fatigue and focus problems. Jenna goes in-depth into researching and writing War of the