Episoder
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Midsummer brings us to July, and we start July with an interview of Toronto writer Karen Grose.
Before the interview, we have a Quick Writing Tip: Don’t completely panic when characters take over the story. It’s then that we cede control of the story to them.
After our interview, we close with the 5th Check-In.
We’re early days still for our writing challenge and the novella that I’ve chosen to write.
Share your successes and problems AND solutions in the Comments.
Karen Grose’s debut novel, The Dime Box, was selected by Amnesty International for its 2021 Book Club. The Chinese language version, retitled as The Lost Daughters, was published by Sharp Point Press, Taiwan, in 2023. Karen’s second and third novels are Flat Out Lies and All June Left Behind.
Karen has flash, poems and short stories in journals and anthologies, both in print and online. She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters-in-Crime-Toronto and National, and the #thrillsandchills writing group. Track her down on X: @kgrose2, IG: karengrosewrites, FB or at www.karengrose.ca
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome and Quick Tip # 503:18 Interview with Karen GroseHer Writing / Revising based on Themes / Using Writers’ Groups / Paying it Forward / Newest Release
21:40 Check-In # 524:50 ClosingTotal Run Time = 26:00
LINKS
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/07/626-summer-writing-challenge-wk-5-and.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 Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
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The Summer Writing Challenge enters the 4th week of June with a slight tiptoe into July.
How is your challenge progressing? Share your goal and project, problems and solutions, and successes in the Comment Section.
Our interview this week is with Judy Penz Sheluk. As a Quick Tip, I chatter about writing a coherent story. We finish with the Check-in.
A former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the bestselling author of two mystery series: The Glass Dolphin Mysteries and Marketville Mysteries. Her short crime fiction appears in several collections, including the Superior Shores Anthologies, which she also edited.
With a passion for understanding the ins and outs of all aspects of publishing, Judy is the founder and owner of Superior Shores Press, which she established in February 2018.
Judy has also written two how-to guides to publishing. Finding Your Path to Publication: A Step-by-Step Guide was the Winner of the 2024 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Nonfiction. Finding Your Path to Publication also won First Place in the Prescriptive/Informative Nonfiction category of the 12th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published E-book Awards (to be announced May 2025). The follow-up to that book, Self-publishing: The Ins & Outs of Going Indie, provides an insider’s insight into the world of self-publishing.
Judy is a member of International Thriller Writers, Inc., the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she served on the Board of Directors, most recently as Chair.
She lives in Northern Ontario, Canada, with her husband, Mike, and their golden retriever, Enzo. Find her at www.judypenzsheluk.com.
Here we go.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome and Quick Tip # 404:20 Interview with Judy Penz ShelukChallenges with health and attending Killer Nashville / Challenges with a Publishing Closing / Challenges with Self-Publishing / Writing Short Chapters / Killing the Darlings / Judy’s Newest Release
29:15 Check-In # 432:05 ClosingTotal Run Time = 32:44
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 Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
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Mangler du episoder?
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Welcome to our third week of June and our third week of the Summer Writing Challenge.
How is your challenge going? Share your progress in the Comments, and hit the LIKE button whenever you enjoy an episode.
Our interview this week is with veteran writer Al Sirois, based in North Carolina although he began writing in his home state of Connecticutt.
We’ll conclude this episode with our check-in.
However, first is our third Quick Tip. We’ve started our idea, and we’ve prepped the background. Now we must consider the 3 Cornerstones of Story.
Sirois’ Bio~
I am a writer, ghostwriter, developmental editor & graphic artist. I sold my first story in 1973. I’ve appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Fantastic, Amazing Stories, and online at Electric Spec, Mystery Weekly, Every Day Fiction and Flash Fiction Online, et al. My first book was a children's book, DINOSAUR DRESS UP, from William Morrow in 1992. My story “In the Conservatory” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. I have also ghostwritten more than a dozen works of science fiction and fantasy, as well as memoirs and cozy mysteries. In June 2024, Regal House Press published MURDER IN MENNEFER, the first volume of my YA trilogy set in ancient Egypt. The second volume, IMHOTEP AND THE QUEST FOR KUSH, will be published in June of 2025. My first self-published book, BEFORE BAKER STREET, is now available from Amazon. I live in North Carolina with my wife, novelist Grace Marcus.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome and Quick Tip #303:40 Interview with Al SiroisHis Challenge View / Pantstering vs. Plotting / Using Life Experiences / Outlining / Juggling Projects / Freelancing since 2009 / Collaborating / Benefit of Change
27:55 Check-in #330:28 ClosingTotal Run Time = 31:28
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 Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
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In this episode of the Summer Writing Challenge~
A Quick Tip on what you need before you start writing, the Interview with Joan Ramirez on Organizing and Prioritizing and Reaching into Characters, and our Check-in for the week.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome01:18 Quick Tip #25:00 Interview with Joan RamirezBio and The Write Rules, Challenges in Writing, Prioritizing Tasks, Solutions to Challenges, Allotting Specific Times for the Major Elements of Story, Using Life to Inform Writing, Notes in Writing and Presentations, Letting Characters Lead, Using Body Language and Sensory Details
29:20 Check-in #231:15 ClosingTotal Run Time = 32:15
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 Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
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Welcome to the Summer Writing Challenge which continues all through June, July, and August for 13 episodes.
Join us for quick writing tips, writers talking about challenges, and goal check-ins. [The final check-in will occur the first Wednesday in September, in the 1st episode of the Fall into Poetry series.]
In today’s episode, host M.A. Lee talks tech tools (only one with a cost) that create this series as well as the nuts and bolts for the writing challenge. 65,000 total words. 5,000 words per week. Counting all the words that go through the fingers.
Share your own challenge goals in the comments … and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode of The Write Focus. And whatever occurs, Write on!
Host M.A. Lee has published over 60 book-length titles of fiction and nonfiction under her three pen names. The Write Focus, started in 2020, offers information and guidance on productivity, process, craft, and tools, all for writers.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome / Intro to the Summer Writing Challenge01:48 Quick Tip #1 How to Start Writing04:52 “Interview” with M.A. Lee on Tech Tools10:15 Check-In How-Tos for the SWC11:34 ClosingTotal Run Time = 12:34
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 Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
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Writing in her car at midday is all Teresa Inge needs to create stories with strong protagonists. With 18 years of publishing experience, she keeps writing simple with laptop and trusty battery.
Once she has a theme placed in her Outer Banks setting, she gives her sleuth a business so they can encounter and investigate murder.
Teresa Inge is an award-winning mystery author in over a dozen anthologies and novellas. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, the Virginia Writer’s Club, and Hampton Roads Writers. By day, Teresa is an administrative assistant, notary administrator, and corporate reporter for a global financial firm. When not writing, she can be found on the classic car show circuit with her Torch Red 1955 Thunderbird.
This episode concludes our Writers on Writing series. Coming Next is the Summer Writing Challenge. M.A. Lee is setting the goal of 500 words daily, persistent and consistent—which can be very hard with all the distractions and disruptions of summer. The episode opens with a couple of minutes on the Challenge. The first SWC episode is June 4. Join in.
TIMINGS
00:40 Wrapping Up this Series / Unwrapping the Next Series2:20 Welcome / Introduction to Teresa Inge4:50 Writing Anywhere8:00 Her Writing Process15:35 Writing Humor / Researching22:22 Marketing & Promotions / Her Upcoming Releases24:40 Considering Indie28:15 Books at the Banks Festival, October 18, 202530:10 ClosingTotal Run Time = 31:15
LINKS
Teresa’s Website: http://www.teresainge.com
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/05/621-writers-on-writing-teresa-inge-next.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 Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
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Linda Kay Hardie may appear as the classic cat lady, but a conversation quickly revealed the deadly mind for dastardly deeds that she applies to her fiction.
Hardie is vice president of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and is an award-winning author who has appeared in many anthologies, four in 2024 and three in 2023.
She writes crime, horror, and fantasy stories but no romance. She tried once, and everyone ended up dead. Tragic. When not writing adult short stories, she writes stories and books for children, ages 2 to 12.
Linda writes recipes and is the reigning Spam champion for Nevada (yes, the tasty treat canned mystery meat) for her blue-ribbon recipe. Her first writing award was in fifth grade, when she won a first place trophy for an essay on fire safety. In 2022, she was honored with the Sierra Arts Foundation Literary Arts Award for fiction.
Linda is a member of Short Mystery Fiction Writers, Horror Writers Association, Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, and Cat Writers’ Association. She has a master’s in English from the University of Nevada, Reno, where she makes a living as a freelance writer and as staff working for Abyssinian cats.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome / Introduction3:00 A Knack for Dastardly Deeds7:15 Tech from the Early Days11:35 Word Perfect and Open Office15:25 Tech Refined but not New21:00 Writing Stories, Short vs. Long27:50 Brainstorming / the Subconscious30:30 Charity Anthologies35:30 Independent Bookstores38:40 ClosingTotal Run Time = 39:41
LINKS
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/05/620-writers-on-writing-linda-kay-hardie.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 Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
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Lois Winston is a strong writer, best known for her Anastasia Pollock Crafting series of cozy mysteries.
Early in her career, with Manuscript #2, she acquired an agent, but the roses of her writing journey still had thorns, a lesson to us writers that we control our success. Winston definitely controlled her success. She survived a bankrupt publishing house and the closure of a publisher’s entire cozy mystery line, but it was shenanigans with the contract that brought her into self-publishing.
She talks about it all, along with writing tools that can be a distraction, in this episode of The Write Focus.
Bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, middle-grade, and nonfiction. She sold her first book in 2005.
Currently she writes the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, featuring magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack, along with a supporting cast of characters, including Ralph, the Shakespeare-quoting parrot. Learn more at www.loiswinston.com where you can sign up for her newsletter and receive a free Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome / Writing Bug Bites4:15 First Cozy Mystery6:40 Writing with Humor12:00 Finding the Direction for the Anastasia Pollock series15:00 Crime Scene Writer / Researching17:33 Saving the Work20:50 Story Collages, Images for Story, and on to Covers25:00 Dealing with Distractions29:25 Writing is a Marathon, not a Sprint35:00 Winston’s Next Release and Audiobooks Releasing37:25 ClosingTotal Run Time = 38:25
LINKS
Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com
Booklover’s Bench: https://bookloversbench.com
The Stiletto Gang: https://www.thestilettogang.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anasleuth
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/722763.Lois_Winston
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lois-winston
TWF Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/05/619-writers-on-writing-lois-winston.html
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While most writers settle into the comfort of one format, Elizabeth Zelvin explores the contrasting realms of poetry, novels, novellas, short stories, and flash fiction, all of them distinctly different in approach, situation, and writing style. Zelvin even loves writing cross-genre. She shares freely her writing, building a community, and writing tool tips.
Elizabeth Zelvin is the author of two long-running series, the Bruce Kohler Mysteries and the Jewish historical Mendoza Family Saga as well as the Emerald Love urban fantasy mysteries. Her series and standalone short stories appear in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and Black Cat Mystery Magazine. EQMM has called her "one of our genre's most celebrated short story writers." She currently blogs on SleuthSayers.
In addition to writing fiction, Liz is a poet, a singer-songwriter and a psychotherapist who was one of the pioneers of online mental health. Liz lives in New York City and summers at the unpretentious end of East Hampton, where she swims in the ocean, gardens, photographs the resident hummingbird, and exchanges waves with the occasional whale.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome and Introduction2:30 When Poetry, Mystery, and Therapy Combine6:00 The Wide-Ranging and Expanding Mendoza Family Saga11:45 Narrative License yet Maintaining Historical Fact14:26 Group Mystery Blogging17:00 Networking and the Short Mystery Fiction Society21:00 Using Track Changes in Word28:45 Correcting Text, Designing Books, and Creating Covers30:45 Cross-Genre Writing35:00 Finding Places to Read Poetry Online37:20 ClosingTotal Run Time = 38:26
LINKS
Her website https://www.elizabethzelvin.com/
Poe's Deadly Daughters https://poesdeadlydaughters.blogspot.com/
Short Mystery Fiction Society https://shortmystery.blogspot.com/ and Subscribe to https://shortmystery.groups.io/g/main
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/05/618-writers-on-writing-elizabeth-zelvin.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 Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
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Pamela Ebel offers a wealth of wisdom in this interview for our writer-focused series. She pursues writing with the drive and curiosity and wit that she devoted to her previous careers.
Ebel has been published in Shotgun Honey, YELLOW MAMA EZINE, Kings River Life Magazine, The BOULD AWARDS 2020 and 2021 Anthology, Tomorrow and Tomorrow 2021 Anthology, and other venues. Her poetry has appeared in the Delta Poetry Review. A native of California, she now concentrates on tales from her original home state and tales from the highways of the South. She also knows, like the Ancient Greeks and the Irish, that as a Southern writer you can’t outrun your blood.
She has turned to writing full time as of 2020, obviously either perfect or bizarre timing, and this will be her fifth career. She lives in Metairie, Louisiana, with her husband and two cats.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome / Introduction6:25 Writing for the Love of It8:45 The Money that Writers Make11:35 Treat Writing as a Business14:35 Connecting with other Writers / SMART Plan18:12 Submission Guidelines / the Shunn Format23:40 Writing Tools26:15 Traditional vs Self-Publishing / Writing is Competitive28:15 Short Story Advantages / Opening up Creativity33:30 Building the Writing Resumé36:36 Last Words / ClosingTotal Run Time: 38:47
LINKS
The Shunn MS Format https://www.shunn.net/format/
Pamela Ebel https://pamebel.com/
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/04/617-writers-on-writing-pamela-ebel.html
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Charlotte Morganti uses a variety of tech, tracking her words, editing to improve those words, and formatting, all the way into marketing and newsletters. She shares tech helps, including ones that I haven’t heard of, as well as her journey into indie writing and publishing.
Before turning to writing award-winning mysteries, Charlotte Morganti was, at various times, a burger flipper, a beer slinger, and a corporate finance/mining lawyer.
Her novels and short stories range from gritty investigations to lighter capers. She usually sets her stories in small towns that miraculously harbor both villains and the sleuths who pursue them. Find out more at https://charlottemorganti.com.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome / Introduction
03:05 Morganti’s Writing Journey
07:05 Going Indie
13:09 Tech and the Writing Basics
16:25 Editing Helps
21:15 Vellum / Atticus
22:55 Tracking Progress
23:40 Marketing Tech
27:45 Newsletters
30:35 Her Releases this Spring
33:08 Closing
Total Run Time = 34:08
LINKS
Morganti’s site https://charlottemorganti.com.
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/04/616-writers-on-writing-charlotte.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 Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
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A writer does more than work with words. The heart becomes involved, often draining us emotionally. The logical side of our brain helps balance out emotions. When we venture beyond our desks and interact as Writer with the world, the ways we present ourselves and the opportunities we explore enrich us when we return to our little corner desks.
Joan Ramirez discusses all of the above and more in this episode of Writers on Writing. Her guidebook The Write Rules covers the various aspects of speaking, writing, presentations, and representing our official “writer-dom” to the world.
Joan Ramirez holds a Master of Science in Business, Medical, and Technical Journalism as well as two others in English as a Second Language and Elementary Education/Autism. She has published on a variety of topics from cochlear implants to the economy and has conducted workshops –domestic and foreign–on the nuances of business communications for managers and start-up companies. She is the leader of her own enterprise with training programs (over twenty-five years of expertise) for entrepreneurs at all levels. For many years she trained the technical staff of a large engineering firm in the nuances of business writing and verbal presentations.
The Write Rules, her latest publication, offers communications guidelines for becoming an entrepreneur. She has short stories in several anthologies and is working on a historical suspense trilogy set in WWII. She can be reached at [email protected].
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome / Introduction
05:13 The Write Rules, a guidebook for English and Non-English Speakers
10:50 Importance of the Non-Verbal when Presenting Yourself
16:40 Writing The Write Rules
19:40 Writing Historical Fiction that Comes from the Heart
23:07 Opportunities Lurk Beyond the Job Description
26:32 Writing NonFiction vs. Historical Fiction
27:55 Venturing into other Writing
30:22 Closing
Total Run Time = 31:23
LINKS
https://www.facebook.com/joan.ramirez.98031
www,joansbookshelf.com
TWF Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/04/615-writers-on-writing-joan-ramirez.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 Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
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Does a life in law enforcement give a special insight into crime? It certainly seems that way to me after interviewing O’Neil de Noux.
His first books were police procedurals, following his career in law enforcement just outside of New Orleans. Now he’s writing about private investigators and semi-retired detectives … and pursuing his stories in historical fiction as a satisfying challenge.
Like many writers, O’Neil delves into many genres, following his curiosity into multiple stories.
O’Neil De Noux (www.oneildenoux.com) is a retired police officer, a former homicide detective, and former private eye with 49 books and over 400 short stories published. His writing has been awarded the SHAMUS AWARD twice as well as the DERRINGER AWARD and POLICE BOOK of the YEAR (www.PoliceWriters.com). Two of his stories have been featured in the BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES annual anthology (2003 and 2013). He is a past Vice-President of the Private Eye Writers of America.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome / Introduction
2:11 Historical Fiction vs. Mystery Fiction
10:10 Writing Mentors
15:00 Indies Control Everything: Idea to Cover Design
18:46 Ideas Drive his Character Selection
24:30 Inspiration from Titles
28:00 Newest Release
32:00 Using Downtime to allow Drafts to Percolate
36:48 Closing
Total Run Time = 37:48
LINKS
website: https://www.oneildenoux.com/
Latest book: https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Dandelions-Lucien-Caye-Private-ebook/dp/B0D5YVPVHZ
Amazon Author’s Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/ONeil-De-Noux/author/
TWF Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/04/614-writers-on-writing-oneil-de-noux.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 Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
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Fellow Podcaster (and fellow former English teacher) talks technology, writing, and his Haunted Shores mysteries. We delve into ways to avoid anachronisms when writing historical fiction before venturing into his writing process, linear rather than a mix-match puzzle process.
Overbeck’s novel Cruel Lessons was categorized as “one of the best mysteries of 2023” and “ene of the best thrillers I’ve ever read!” Of his Haunted Shores mysteries, critics have called Overbeck a “master storyteller” who provides a “rollicking good” read.
TIMINGS
00:40 Introduction / Welcome
3:42 From Paper to Electronic
8:40 Authenticity with Historical Writing
13:30 Linear Story Writing
19:25 Podcast Creation
26:10 Echoes of Life in his 1st Novel
30:50 Haunted Shores mysteries
36:15 Closing
Total Run Time = 37:15
LINKS
Randy Overbeck’s site https://www.authorrandyoverbeck.com/books
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/04/613-writers-on-writing-randy-overbeck.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 Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
-
Business by day, fiction by night, writer Denise Forsythe is constantly looking for new ways to bring her writing into the world. She’s pursuing her longtime dream of writing fiction around the corners of her world and finding the vast differences between fiction and nonfiction, writing short vs. writing long, pantstering vs. outlining. Creativity comes with all of it.
Denise Forsythe is an awarded and recognized writer of mystery, horror, and science fiction short stories under the pen name Denise Johnson. Her domestic suspense debut novel, MISCONCEPTION, is now available for purchase. A member of Sisters in Crime, Inc. and multiple Sisters in Crime chapters, she is a Charter Member of the Sisters in Crime Grand Canyon Writers chapter. Find out more about upcoming projects at deniseforsythe.com
TIMINGS
00:40 Introduction1:20 Constant Writing Tools3:27 Scrivener vs. Word5:40 Search Engines: an Indie Writer’s Friend7:50 Marketing / Distributing8:50 Catchy Ways to Attract Readers15:33 Writing Dream / Writing Short vs. Long18:40 Pantstering vs. Outlining25:45 ClosingTotal Run Time = 26:46
LINKS
https://deniseforsythe.com/
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/03/612-writers-on-writing-denise-forsythe.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 Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
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Jam-packed with goodness is this interview with Paul O’Connor, a writer of short stories and novels.
You’re going to take tons of notes and bookmark this episode; the guidance is that fantastic. (No, that’s not hyperbole; that’s reality.)
Paul O’Connor came into writing after he left the data-driven gaming industry. Gaming’s focus on productivity, Agile Planning, Return on Investment, and more to determine a product’s profitability are ideas that he converted to his own writing. He shares the simple yet important ways he uses data in this interview and in a slide show.
Look for the Slide Show on Paul O’Connor’s page on the TWF website. Click the shareable link to copy, load into the URL of your browser, “go” and voila: the slide show.
Paul Ryan O’Connor is a frequent contributor to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, where his debut short story, “Teddy’s Favorite Thing,” was voted a 2023 Readers Award. He has also been published by Mystery Magazine and Shotgun Honey. Paul is an active member of the Mystery Writers of America, and lives in Carlsbad, California, with his family and a borrowed dog.
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome / Opening Info
02:50 Tech’s Job = Speed our Process and Increase Publication
09:25 Slide Show Begins / Writing Process
13:50 Word Count vs. Writing Log
22:00 Marketing Trackers and Platforms for Submissions & Agents
30:00 Progress / Idea Tracking / Productivity
33:40 Closing
Total Run Time = 34:40
#writing #writingtools #plotting #marketing #submissions #agents #progresstracker #revision #AI
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/03/611-writers-on-writing-paul-oconnor.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 Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
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First-time author Deede Blake shares the story of her first novel, The Russian Orphan. This epic thriller was a ten-year journey, required tons of research, and tells a story that demanded to be told. And we’re all over the world of writing in this interview.
Deede is new to publishing although she’s been working on writing projects for years.
While her training is in science, her greatest passion is reading, writing, traveling, history, and learning in general. Indeed, Deede has traveled to places on the globe that no American has ever been. She dabbled in writing poetry, essays op-eds and newsletters while practicing pharmacy until in her mid 30’s.
She is currently working on a sequel to The Russian Orphan, entitled We Were Lost. This novel will deal directly with the issue of human trafficking.
TIMIINGS / None
Total Run Time = 38:08
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/03/610-writers-on-writing-deede-blake.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 Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
-
The mystery writer and seasoned audio broadcast pro Kathleen Kalb joins TWF for this episode. We have a wide-ranging conversation, touching on tech, the writing community and social media, her process, and changes in software. We end with her next release featuring Grace the Hit Mom, a consecrated assassin. That I have to read.
Kathleen Marple Kalb describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels including the The Stuff of Murder, and the upcoming Ella Shane mystery, A Fatal Reception, both from Level Best Books. The Stuff of Murder will publish this March.
As Nikki Knight, she writes the Grace the Hit Mom and Vermont Radio mysteries. Her most recent publication is Hound of the Bonnevilles, also coming out in March.
Her stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, and others, and been short-listed for Derringer and Black Orchid Novella Awards. She’s served as Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and is a co-VP of the New York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.
TIMINGS
00:40 Intro / Clock-watching and More
04:17 Tech for Writing / the Writing Community
09:55 Instagram vs. TikTok / Writing Bibles in Tech / Tracking Changes
15:10 Outlining / Ideas File / Timelines
17:46 Avoiding Strict Strucure / Maintaining Character Voice
22:47 From Typewriter to Word
26:10 Grace the Hit Mom
32:00 Closing
Total Run Time = 33:05
#writing #writingtools #plotting #coverdesign #booknarration #AI
LINKS
Website: https://kathleenmarplekalb.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kathleen-Marple-Kalb-1082949845220373/
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/03/609-writers-on-writing-kathleen-kalb.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 Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
-
The whimsy on a coffee cup is Rebecca Olmstead’s motto for her writing life.
In an interview about that technology that started with a tech failure—a laptop crash—Rebecca Olmstead begins by discussing her bravery in moving from Word to Scrivener to Atticus to bring the best experience to readers of her fiction and nonfiction.
Rebecca Olmstead is the award-winning author of the Gabrielle Dorian Mystery Series as well as several nonfiction books and multiple short stories.
Her stories and articles have appeared in Malice, Matrimony, & Murder anthology, The Cellar Door: Dark Highways #3, The Upper Room, Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse, Jr., Live, Now What?, and Houseboat Magazine. Her story “A Deadly Conundrum” appeared in MURDER NEWYORK STYLE: NEWYORK STATE OF CRIME this year.
She lives with her husband and the youngest of their five children in southeastern Washington with Sophie, their dorky black lab, Agatha, a black cat, and host of Jersey Wooly show bunnies.
TIMINGS
00:40 Intro / Tech Failures02:25 Pacemaker and Tech Successes6:03 Tech as a Distraction11:10 Problems with Writing a Series13:33 Beginning her Writing Career18:45 Writing (like Crochet) Opens the Unconscious21:37 the Gabrielle Doran series / Newest Release24:42 Venturing into another Series and Nonfiction28:18 Writers Thrive on Reviews29:18 ClosingTotal Run Time = 30:20
LINKS
www.rebeccaolmstead.com
www.watchgodwork.com
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/02/608-writers-on-writing-rebecca-olmstead.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 Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
-
In cold Halifax, we meet writer donalee Moulton, who talks all aspects of technology. It’s everything tech: from the tech that we take for granted to knowing how detailed our tech descriptions have to be, and from the depths and limits we have on understanding tech to the practicalities of tech that’s helpful in our daily writing lives.
donalee Moulton’s first mystery book Hung out to Die was published in 2023. A historical mystery, Conflagration!, was published in 2024. It won the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense (Historical Fiction).
A short story “Swan Song” was one of 21 selected for publication in Cold Canadian Crime. It was shortlisted for an Award of Excellence. Other short stories have been published in numerous magazines, journals, and anthologies. donalee’s short story “Troubled Water” was shortlisted for a 2024 Derringer Award and a 2024 Award of Excellence from the Crime Writers of Canada.
donalee is an award-winning freelance journalist. She has written articles for print and online publications across North America including The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Lawyer’s Daily, National Post, and Canadian Business.
As well, donalee is the author of The Thong Principle: Saying What You Mean and Meaning What You Say and co-authored the book, Celebrity Court Cases: Trials of the Rich and Famous.
LINKS
Website: donaleemoulton.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donaleemoultonauthor
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaleemoulton/
X: @donaleeMoulton
Instagram: donaleemoulton
TIMINGS
00:40 Welcome / Distractions and Disruptions
04:35 Tech Tools
08:22 Tech that we take for granted
13:36 How deeply we need to understand tech in our novels
20:00 Helpful Tech
26:27 donalee’s Writing journey
33:00 A Psychopath for a Protagonist
36:00 Closing
Total Run Time = 37:29
#writing #writingtools #plotting #coverdesign #revision #AI
Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/02/607-writers-on-writing-donalee-moulton.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 Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy
Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr
You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Write to us at [email protected].
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.)
- Se mer
