Pencils&Lipstick podcast

Amy Vansant started AuthorsXP.com, a website dedicated to helping authors promote their books and build their audience. Authors can find newsletter buidlers, giveways, facebook ad help, reviews, beta readers and more at AuthorsXP.com. 

Today Amy tells us how she started it, how the site has grown and what new items are coming for indie authors.

If you haven't tried it, you should! 

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Find the transcription for this episode here.

Daria White is a writer of sweet romance, christian ficiton and cozy mysteries. With over ten novels she knows what it takes, and doesn't take, to get that book written. Which is why she started the group NoTimeWriter Mentorship program to give writers the support and encrouagement they need to write and finish their book!

Find out more about Daria and her courses, podcast and NoTimeWriter mentorship here. 

Wnat to become a book coach? Check out Author Accelerator here.

Want to support the show?

Go here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/PencilsLipstick

Looking for tips on writing, publishing, and storytelling? Join my writers' newsletter! https://www.subscribepage.com/katcaldwellnewsletter

Want more information on my books, author swaps, short stories and what I’m reading? Sign up for my readers' newsletter.

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You know I've struggled with outlining my novels, so when Plottr offered to come on Pencils&Lipstick and talk me through their software, of course I said, "Yes!"

This week Troy talks all things outlinging, plotting, and even editing using Plottr. He's sold on the product and has been their teaching guy for a few years now so he knows what he's talking about. If you're struggling with outlinging your book, take a listen and see if Troy can convert you. I used it as a back outlining input and I have to say, I liked it. It showed a chapter hole, just like Troy talks about in the interview. Try out Plottr for free for 14 days! (These links to Plottr are my affiliate links)

Want to support the show?

Go here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/PencilsLipstick

Looking for tips on writing, publishing, and storytelling? Join my writers' newsletter! https://www.subscribepage.com/katcaldwellnewsletter

Want more information on my books, author swaps, short stories and what I’m reading? Sign up for my readers' newsletter.

Find the transcription for this episode here.

Today I talk with Stacy Frazer, a fellow Author Accelerator Book Coach, about the key things a writer needs in their manuscript, about her webinar and much more!

Stacy Frazer is a formerly repressed creative soul turned speculative fiction writer, YA fantasy author, Author Accelerator certified book coach, and the founder of Write It Scared. 

Her mission is to help fiction writers let go of the self-doubt spiral and find clarity and confidence in their stories so they can finish their books. 

Stacy firmly believes that the only creative license required to write a novel is one's lived experience and that you can learn all the tools to craft a book that makes you proud!

When not writing, reading, or working with writers, you can find Stacy hanging with her daughter or on the trail with her big goofy labrador, Gus Gus. 

To connect with Stacy, please visit her website: www.writeitscared.co. You can also email her at [email protected] or follow her on Instagram @WriteitScared.

Find the Time Management Blueprint here.

Want to support the show?

Go here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/PencilsLipstick

Looking for tips on writing, publishing, and storytelling? Join my writers' newsletter! https://www.subscribepage.com/katcaldwellnewsletter

Want more information on my books, author swaps, short stories and what I’m reading? Sign up for my readers' newsletter.

Find the transcription for this episode here.

They say to delete your darlings, but how do you know what is a darling? How can you decided which scenes to keep and which scenes to delete?

In this show we'll go through simpel ways to look at the scene and decide is it's a keeper or it needs to be tossed. You can get the worksheet here.

Want to support the show?

Go here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/PencilsLipstick

Looking for tips on writing, publishing, and storytelling? Join my writers' newsletter! https://www.subscribepage.com/katcaldwellnewsletter

Want more information on my books, author swaps, short stories and what I’m reading? Sign up for my readers' newsletter.

Find the transcription for this episode here.

Rachael Biggs is an author, screenwriter, copywriter and journalist. She studied creative writing at UBC, UCLA, and with masters of the craft Syd Field and Robert McKee. In 2016 she earned a screenwriting diploma from Vancouver Film School with a focus on television. 

Her memoir Yearning for Nothings and Nobodies debuted to critical acclaim and was adapted for the screen as Behind the Eight Ball.

She is a frequent contributor to print and on-line publications and her short fiction appears regularly in literary magazines including Door is a Jar, Angel City Review and Charge Magazine. 

She divides her time between Vancouver and Los Angeles. 

And I Was Like November is available for pre-sale now, and pubs January 31, 2023.

Kindlepreneur blog Words to Avoid in Writing blog post. https://kindlepreneur.com/words-to-avoid-in-writing/

Want to support the show?

Go here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/PencilsLipstick

Looking for tips on writing, publishing, and storytelling? Join my writers' newsletter! https://www.subscribepage.com/katcaldwellnewsletter

Want more information on my books, author swaps, short stories and what I’m reading? Sign up for my readers' newsletter.

Find the transcription for this episode here.

I'm happy to have Denise Baden back on the show this week to talk about all the projects she had going on, namely writing fiction for the COP27 summit in Egypt! Denise came on a year ago to talk about her novel, Habitat Man, which offered some gentle solutions that the average person could implement in regards to helping fight against climate change. This year we talk full novel competitions, collecting stories for an anthology and more!

You can learn more about Denise at https://www.dabaden.com

Find No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save Our Planet.

If you want more information about the novel contect or to submit your novel, please go here. https://www.greenstories.org.uk

Want to learn more about becoming a book coach? I recommend Author Acclerator. Check them out here.

Want to support the show? Go here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/PencilsLipstick

Looking for tips on writing, publishing, and storytelling? Join my writers' newsletter! https://www.subscribepage.com/katcaldwellnewsletter

Want more information on my books, author swaps, short stories and what I’m reading? Sign up for my readers' newsletter.

Find the transcription here.

Sally Stevens is a singer/lyricist/choral director who has worked in film, television, concert, commercials and sound recording in Hollywood since 1960. She sings the main titles for The Simpsons and Family Guy and her voice can be heard on hundreds of film and television scores.  She has put together choirs for John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, and many others for film scores, and was choral director for The Oscars for 22 years. In the earlier years she toured with Ray Conniff, Nat King Cole and Burt Bachrach, and she has also written lyrics for Burt Bacharach, Don Ellis, Dominic Frontiere, Dave Grusin, and others. 
 
Her short fiction, poetry and essays have been included in Mockingheart Review, The OffBeat, Raven’s Perch, Hermeneutic Chaos Literary Journal, Los Angeles Press, The Voices Project, and Between the Lines Anthology: Fairy Tales & Folklore Re-imagined.   I Sang That: A Memoir From Hollywood is available from Amazon. 

Sign up for the Top Questions Fiction Writers have about Native Americans here.

Wnat to check out Janice Hardy's blogpost?

Here is the episode from The Creative Penn podcast.

ProWritingAid link is here.

Thank you for listening! If you want to support the show please go here. 

Transcript can be found here.

We all get it sometimes. That feeling that there's no reason to keep writing. Today I talk about my experience with writer's despair and giv eyou 5 ways to fight it and keep going.

To shop journals and books go here (https://katcaldwell.com/shop/) and use code PODCAST to get 20% off your order. For edits or coaching (it is 20% off the first month of coaching) go here (https://katcaldwell.com/contact/)to set up a time to chat with me and in the notes mark PODCAST so I know to take 20% off).

Want to support the show?

Go here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/PencilsLipstick

Looking for tips on writing, publishing, and storytelling? Join my writers' newsletter! https://www.subscribepage.com/katcaldwellnewsletter

Want more information on my books, author swaps, short stories and what I’m reading? Sign up for my readers' newsletter.

Find the transcript for this episode here.

This week we take a pause to consider gratitude. American society has always been a go-getter, hard working society and writers are no different. In Indie Publishing we have found ourselves extremely busy with all the work that goes into creating and selling a book even after it's written. We're ll so busy that we forget sometimes to pause for a moment of gratitude. To give thanks for what has gotten done, what did go right or what got set right after it went wrong.

So let's do that. Let's start with gratitude.

This episode gives each of my listeners 20% off my shop as well as my coaching and developmental edits. To shop journals and books go here (https://katcaldwell.com/shop/) and use code PODCAST to get 20% off your order. For edits or coaching (it is 20% off the first month of coaching) go here (https://katcaldwell.com/contact/)to set up a time to chat with me and in the notes mark PODCAST so I know to take 20% off).

Want to support the show?

Go here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/PencilsLipstick

Looking for tips on writing, publishing, and storytelling? Join my writers' newsletter! https://www.subscribepage.com/katcaldwellnewsletter

Want more information on my books, author swaps, short stories and what I’m reading? Sign up for my readers' newsletter.

Transcript found here: http://pencilsandlipstick.com/ep-157-starting-with-thanks/