This week, I'm speaking with Beth Kaplan -- a fellow Canadian author -- about writing non-fiction. We get into finding the right shape for memoir,  finding the thematic "hot moments" for your story, and the true nature of drafts.Beth is a former actrress and the author of a biography and two memoirs -- All My Loving and Loose Woman. The latter was a finalist for the Whistler Independent Book Award. She also the author of True to Life, a textbook guide to creative writing. She has taught nonfiction writing at two Toronto universities for thirty years and is the winner of the University of Toronto’s Excellence in Teaching award.Her new memoir-in-essays, Midlife Solo: Writing through Chaos to Find my Way in the World, was described in a newspaper review as “an extraordinary life, written with tremendous heart, insight, and humour.”It’s currently available from the publisher, Mosaic Press,https://mosaicpress.ca/products/midlife-solo More information about Beth, her teaching, books, articles, and blog, on her websitehttps://bethkaplan.ca/

This week on the podcast I'm speaking with Beth Barany,  and we get into story structure, play and experimenting -- especially for Science Fiction and Fantasy. Beth is an award-winning novelist, master neurolinguistic programming practitioner, and certified creativity coach for writers. She's also an experienced international speaker and podcaster. When she's not helping writers, Beth writes magical tales of romance, mystery, and adventure that empower women and girls to be the heroes of their own lives. And she makes short films and TV shows. You can learn more about Beth and sign up for her newsletter here. She also has a great podcast for Science Fiction and Fantasy writers, called How to Write the Future.

This week, I'm chatting with Karen Lea Armstrong, about her novel DROWNPROOFING, which is set in Northern Ontario. We talk about what it means to write a so-called "regional novel" -- one with such a strong sense of place. And we talk about Karen's publishing journey. Karen was in my First Book Finish program, so it's such a delight to see this book out in the world.

In this week’s episode, I’m speaking with Elizabeth Chatsworth, who is the author of the steampunk fantasy series, The Brass Queen. She’s also been in my First Book Finish program. We talk about how she wrote the sequel to The Brass Queen – Grand Tour: Brass Queen II – while facing some challenging life circumstances, and the roller coaster ride of publishing that followed.

Writing can be challenging at times, even more so when we’re tired. The problem nowadays is that it seems like we’re all always tired. Doesn't it feel that way to you?If we want to write for the rest of our lives and finish our books, we need to make sure we’re getting enough rest so we have the energy to write. But don’t fret—there are lots of little steps we can take to make a big impact on how we generate new energy as part of our creative process.

In this final episode of Season 3, I'm going back to interviews with writers who answered my final question: "What does it mean to you to be a resilient writer?" Listen to see if their answers match up with your understanding of what it means.

In this final episode of this Finishers mini-series, I am sharing some of the lessons I've learned in the past four years from helping nearly 200 writers to finish their books -- finish drafts, revise, edit and get their books out into the world

There are times when we wonder if it's all worth it, if our intention to finish a book and get it out into the world really matters. Join me for the first episode in a series dedicated to all the writers intending to finish their books in 2024.

Here's a truth: no one really has time to write a book, especially a first book. Yet we can still manage to get them written and out into the world. In today's episode I'll walk through how you can fit finishing your book into an already busy life. And here's a free resource for you as well -- my guide called 30 New Ways to Find More Time to Write.

As we start work on our book and the idea starts to take shape, the amount of work a book-length project takes can feel overwhelming. You’re left paralyzed and with a half-done draft—so now what? You have to change the way you view your book so you can turn it into a manageable project. Don’t let fear hold you back. It’s time for you to finish! Today's episode will show you how.

In today’s episode, I’ll walk you through the six phases of writing a book, which will not only make the overall book-writing process easier, but will help you defeat your self-doubt and get your book out into the world.

Writing a book and getting it published is a wonderful, fulfilling process… and it’s also very intimidating, especially for first-time authors and beginning writers. But don’t worry, writer - there’s a lot you can learn to make these processes easier, and Ellen Baker knows all about them. As she’ll tell you, some things take a lot of trial and error, but in the long run, they’ll help make your book the best it can be.

Doing research may be the highlight of the writing process for you, or it might be the part you put off as long as possible. Either way, research is critical—but it doesn't have to involve sitting at the computer for hours. Instead, author Mary Carroll Moore used the people around her as resources. Their insight helped make Mary’s writing accurate and engaging enough for her audiobook to remain on the Amazon bestseller list to this day.

Writer, have you ever been afraid of sharing your work? Finding the courage to do so can set you down a new path in your writing life, perhaps one you never thought was possible. Author Esther Schultz has been writing her whole life, but she never shared her work with anybody until her mother-in-law moved in. But after receiving encouragement from her, Esther took the leap into writing books and becoming independently published.

Life has a wonderful habit of getting in the way of our writing time. But if we want to finish our books, we can't stand by and let it happen. We need strategies to make time to get to the page. Author Debra Martens developed her own while constantly moving between countries and dealing with recurring illness, and even uses a lesson from time spent in recovery to this day to bolster her writing life.

As writers, we may sometimes write myths - but we can also be affected by them. I’m not talking about fantastical stories in this case, though. I’m talking about myths about writing, which harm us and can keep us from making progress, or keep us from writing, period. This week, we'll explore three myths that impact writers and how, once we know how to identify them, we can work through the issues they may cause in our writing lives.

As writers, we can be avoidant when it comes to sharing our writing. It can be an uncomfortable experience, especially with something as intimate and close to our lives as a memoir.  Author Stephanie Kain faced this dilemma when writing her memoir, and it left her wondering how she could get past her discomfort, especially when living in a small town. But eventually she had to choose what was more important - her comfort, or sharing her story.

Kimberly Ward knew she wanted to write a book about her experience taking her family sailing around the Caribbean. She came to my Book Finishers Bootcamp and took what she learned there to finally FINISH the book that had been years in the making. In this episode, Kimberly shares her experience as a new Indie writer. Listen for tips on finishing a book started  a long time ago and for tips on Indie publishing.

Achieving a state of flow in your writing life may sound difficult, or even like an impossible dream. But there are concrete ways that you can cultivate more flow in your life, and you don’t need anything special to get started. Insights from the field of positive psychology can have a huge impact on us as writers, and by learning a little more about it, you can get closer to living a writing life that you love.

I'm so pleased to welcome my friend Mari Ruddy to the show today. Mari is an alumna of my First Book Finish program, and her new book is just being released. Mari leaves nothing out in sharing her long and satisfying book completion journey with us, including lessons about self-publishing a quality book and how she raised the necessary funds to get her book out in the world.Get Mari's new book here: Extreme Healing: Reclaim Your Life + Learn To Love Your Body.