Dear Creativity...Let's Write

Meet Margaret McNellis

Margaret McNellis, MFA, M.A. is the author of the Heroes of Sherwood series, an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach who specializes in adding a dash of magick to her writers’ journeys, and a solo eclectic intuitive witch with a tarot/oracle deck addiction. She has a podcast–The Magickal Bard–which discusses the intersection of magick and writing. Margaret’s flagship course, Your Next Book, helps writers plan or fix their stories with the tarot.

Connect with Margaret McNellis

• Margaret on Instagram
• Margaret on Twitter
• Margaret’s Website

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In this episode, we discussed:

• 3-card spread – where the protagonist is now, what’s an action they can take, what’s the outcome going to be
• 1-card spread for a character – what is the character striving for? or what does this character fear?
• Margaret’s “Your Next Book” 9-card spread for planning out a novel – she mentions ths spread throughout the episode and shares the exact spread toward the end of the episode. It’s super helpful!
• What a spread is exactly and how to draw a card for them

Links

Holistic Tarot: An Integrative Approach to Using Tarot for Personal Growth byBenebell Wen – the book that Margaret recommends if you’re just getting started with tarot cards.

Meet Margaret McNellis

Margaret McNellis, MFA, M.A. is the author of the Heroes of Sherwood series, an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach who specializes in adding a dash of magick to her writers’ journeys, and a solo eclectic intuitive witch with a tarot/oracle deck addiction. She has a podcast–The Magickal Bard–which discusses the intersection of magick and writing. Margaret’s flagship course, Your Next Book, helps writers plan or fix their stories with the tarot.

Connect with Margaret McNellis

• Margaret on Instagram
• Margaret on Twitter
• Margaret’s Website

Like the Podcast?

Are you a subscriber? If not, I invite you to subscribe, so you’ll get notified every time a new episode goes up.

Click hereto subscribe on iTunes.

Click hereto subscribe on Stitcher.

And, if you’re enjoying what you’re hearing, I’d be super grateful if you left me a review. Those help other creative souls find this show, and they’re fun to read. To leave a review, open up the podcast in your podcast player, and scroll down to the bottom where it gives you the option to review the show.

Stay Connected with Amy

Join the bi-monthly cowriting/creating sessions, you cansubscribe to the newsletterto get ideas, tips, and inspiration to get started creating and acting on those creative callings.

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This episode is a recording of a live session that Uma did in the Let’s Write the Book Club, so I had a list of questions from members as well as one member who joined us live and asked about writing challenging emotions.

In this episode, we discussed:

• A brief discussion about language and writing your memoir in your first or second language
• What exactly is memoir and how it’s different from other genres
• How memoir is an importatn part of making meaning of our story and our lives and the importance of sharing that
• How we have a contract with our reader to tell our most truest and honest story
• The wisdom in the wound
• Some thoughts on writing your story as a memoir or as a novel
• Uma’s story of getting a contract with Hay House (which she attributes all to her mother after her mother passed)
• The value of getting a writing community and group to improve as a writer and increase your confidence especially when you’re first starting
• A great exercise to connect with the stories that want to be in your memoir using your body and memories
• A brief discussion about showing vs. Telling to capture the emotion in your memoir

Links

The first episode Uma did on the Dear Creativity Podcast

The Let’s Write Book Club – a monthly membership for writers who are ready to write

Uma’s Books

Understanding Death: 10 Ways to Inner Peace for the Grieving

Losing Amma, Finding Home

Lessons From Grace

Meet Uma Girish

Uma Girish is an award-winning author. Both of her most recent books were finalists for the Chicago Book Awards. After reading herLosing Amma, it is clear why. Her memoirs are beautifully written, both heartwrenching and uplifting at the same time – no easy feat to achieve for a writer. She is currently working on a memoir on her marriage.

Connect with Uma Girish

• Uma on Instagram
• Uma’s Website

Like the Podcast?

Are you a subscriber? If not, I invite you to subscribe, so you’ll get notified every time a new episode goes up.

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And, if you’re enjoying what you’re hearing, I’d be super grateful if you left me a review. Those help other creative souls find this show, and they’re fun to read. To leave a review, open up the podcast in your podcast player, and scroll down to the bottom where it gives you the option to review the show.

Stay Connected with Amy

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In this episode, we discussed:

• How she went from self-publishing to landing an agent and a deal with Harper Collins
• How writing in the morning before her day job is the best way she’s found to get her books written while working full-time
• Why she thinks reading (and reading a lot) in her genre gives her inspiration, especially when she’s feeling blocked
• Why a solid reversal in the middle of your book is key to avoiding a saggy (boring) middle
• The power of a pause of a few weeks to let your brain work on your book when you’ve written yourself into a corner
• How dreams can get us some of our best ideas
• Why she writes in and prefers writing in 1st person POV

Sandy’s Books

The Holiday Romance Series:

• One Summer in Santorini (#1)
• That Night in Paris (#2)
• A Sunset in Sidney (#3)
• A Sunrise Over Bali (#4)
• NEW RELEASE: A Wedding in Tuscany (#5)

Hilarious Stand-Alone Novel

• The Dating Game

Some of Sandy’s Favorite Novels

• The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough
• To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
• Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee
• Shakespeare, esp. the original rom com, Much Ado About Nothing
• The French Photographer, Natasha Lester
• I Heart New York – the first rom-com she read that made her believe that she too could write this genre

Meet Sandy Barker

Sandy is a writer, traveler, and hopeful romantic with a lengthy bucket list, and many of her travel adventures have found homes in her novels. She lives in Melbourne Australia with her partner, Ben, who she met while traveling in Greece. Their real-life love story inspired Sandy’s debut novel One Summer in Santorini, the first in the Holiday Romance series with One More Chapter, an imprint of HarperCollins. She has now published 4 books and she’s done all of this while working full-time at Pearson as an adult learning specialist.

Connect with Sandy Barker

• Sandy on Instagram
• Sandy on Twitter
• Sandy’s Website

Like the Podcast?

Are you a subscriber? If not, I invite you to subscribe, so you’ll get notified every time a new episode goes up.

Click hereto subscribe on iTunes.

Click hereto subscribe on Stitcher.

And, if you’re enjoying what you’re hearing, I’d be super grateful if you left me a review. Those help other creative souls find this show, and they’re fun to read. To leave a review, open up the podcast in your podcast player, and scroll down to the bottom where it gives you the option to review the show.

Stay Connected with Amy

Join the bi-monthly cowriting/creating sessions, you cansubscribe to the newsletterto get ideas, tips, and inspiration to get started creating and acting on those creative callings.

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In this episode, we discussed:

• Different types of editing
• How editing is not something you just hand off - it's actually quite collaborative
• What to look for in an editor
• How to find an editor
• What she's learned through the process of working with her own editor

Kris’ Book

• Destination Author by Kris Emery

Meet Kris Emery

Kris Emery is a non-fiction book editor for entrepreneurs, writers and speakers who want to extend beyond their current business services and reach more people with their message. With over a decade of working with words and a masters degree in linguistics, Kris guides first-time authors to write a valuable book that they can feel excited to put out in the world.

Connect with Kris Emery

• Kris on Instagram
• Kris on Facebook
• Kris's Website

Like the Podcast?

Are you a subscriber? If not, I invite you to subscribe, so you’ll get notified every time a new episode goes up.

Click hereto subscribe on iTunes.

Click hereto subscribe on Stitcher.

And, if you’re enjoying what you’re hearing, I’d be super grateful if you left me a review. Those help other creative souls find this show, and they’re fun to read. To leave a review, open up the podcast in your podcast player, and scroll down to the bottom where it gives you the option to review the show.

Stay Connected with Amy

Join the bi-monthly cowriting/creating sessions, you cansubscribe to the newsletter to get ideas, tips, and inspiration to get started creating and acting on those creative callings.

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Here’s what I discuss in this solo episode:

• The steps to becoming a writer
• How your inner critic will pipe up and what they might say at each phase of your embracing and acting on your new identity as a writer

Links to episodes I reference:

• Episode 34: Embracing Your Inner Critic
• Episode 77: Are your ideas original enough?
• Episode 73: Finding Your Writing Process
• Episode 44: Benefits of Feedback

Like the Podcast?

Are you a subscriber? If not, I invite you to subscribe, so you’ll get notified every time a new episode goes up.

Click hereto subscribe on iTunes.

Click hereto subscribe on Stitcher.

And, if you’re enjoying what you’re hearing, I’d be super grateful if you left a review. Those help other creative souls find this show, and they’re fun to read. To leave a review, open up the Dear Creativity Let’s Play podcast in your podcast player. Scroll down to the bottom and let the world know what you think!

Stay Connected with Amy

Subscribe to the newsletterto get ideas, tips, and inspiration to get started writing and creating and bringing your creative gifts and books into the world. You’ll also have access to twice-monthly co-writing sessions.

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Amy has not only become an amazing writer, but she’s pretty darn funny! She’s looking at writing a romantic comedy next. I want to thank Amy for taking the time to share her thoughts and wisdom on writing. I really enjoyed this interview.

In this episode, we discussed:

• How she learned to embrace and reboot her imagination as an adult and become a writer
• A great trick to deal with your inner critic, or “the gremlins” which is what Amy calls those negative voices
• How she uses power hours with her writing group to support her writing practice
• How her writing group provides accountability for her to show up to her writing (if you need this type of support, check out the Let’s Write Club).
• The value of the collaborative support of a good developmental editor, writing group, or book coach
• How she bases her victims on some real life not so nice people to add the emotional drive to those scenes and characters
• The value in writing what you know, especially if it’s a specialized field like she writes about organ transplant, because the author knows the details in an authentic and accurate way
• Using the concept of “pleasure bundling” to hold yourself accountable to your writing practice
• What’s next in her writing career!

Amy’s Books

• Cut by Amy S. Peele
• Matchby Amy S. Peele

Meet Amy S. Peele

Amy S. Peele RN, is the award-winning, best-selling author of Cut and Match, medical mysteries with a mission and a side of humor. Before becoming a writer Amy enjoyed a fascinating 35-year career in the organ transplant field which provides an authentic backdrop to her books. She learned early on in her medical career that humor was an important survival skill and studied improvisation at the world premier school, Second City, in Chicago.

Connect with Amy S. Peele

• Amy on Instagram
• Amy on Twitter
• Amy’s Website

Like the Podcast?

Are you a subscriber? If not, I invite you to subscribe, so you’ll get notified every time a new episode goes up.

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And, if you’re enjoying what you’re hearing, I’d be super grateful if you left me a review. Those help other creative souls find this show, and they’re fun to read. To leave a review, open up the podcast in your podcast player, and scroll down to the bottom where it gives you the option to review the show.

Stay Connected with Amy

Join the bi-monthly cowriting/creating sessions, you cansubscribe to the newsletterto get ideas, tips, and inspiration to get started creating and acting on those creative callings.

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Here’s what I discuss in this solo episode:

• The value of looking back at the past year (before we dive into setting goals for the new year)
• How to look back
• My big lesson on lowering expectations and how that’s shifted my own writing practice
• Why lowering your expectations for yourself might be the key to actually making more progress on your book
• A fascinating study that looks at the relationship between happiness and our expectations for ourselves
• You can follow Janet Conner here and/or check out her book The Lotus and the Lily. Her intensive is here.

Like the Podcast?

Are you a subscriber? If not, I invite you to subscribe, so you’ll get notified every time a new episode goes up.

Click hereto subscribe on iTunes.

Click hereto subscribe on Stitcher.

And, if you’re enjoying what you’re hearing, I’d be super grateful if you left a review. Those help other creative souls find this show, and they’re fun to read. To leave a review, open up the Dear Creativity Let’s Play podcast in your podcast player. Scroll down to the bottom and let the world know what you think!

Stay Connected with Amy

Subscribe to the newsletterto get ideas, tips, and inspiration to get started writing and creating and bringing your creative gifts and books into the world. You’ll also have access to twice-monthly co-writing sessions.

Connect onInstagram.

In this episode, we discussed:

• The value of mindfulness to help writers find calm and reach their creativity
• A few specific visualizations or prompts to get started
• How writing mindfully can help you open up to ideas and your imagination
• How these practices can help us become better writers

Lissa’s Books

• Milk Feverby Lissa M. Cowan

Meet Lissa M. Cowan

Lissa M. Cowan’s signature 21 Day Writing Meditation Course has close to 3,000 students and has been rated a top Art & Writing Course on DailyOM, a popular website that offers holistic living for the mind, body, and spirit. ​She is the author of MilkFever, a historical fiction novel (Demeter Press), co-translator from French of a book of poetic prose titled Words That Walk in the Night (Vehicule Press), and other fiction and non-fiction. Visit her author website for more about her writing, and the writing life. She holds an MA in English Studies from the Université de Montréal and a post-graduate diploma in writing from the University of Victoria, B.C. Along with teaching Write to Calm courses online, she also teaches in the writing program at Calgary University. She lives in the Gatineau Hills (Quebec, Canada) in a house high in the trees with her cat Toiyabe, a laid-back Nevadan.

Connect with Lissa M. Cowan

• Lissa on Instagram
• Lissa’s Website – write to calm

Like the Podcast?

Are you a subscriber? If not, I invite you to subscribe, so you’ll get notified every time a new episode goes up.

Click hereto subscribe on iTunes.

Click hereto subscribe on Stitcher.

And, if you’re enjoying what you’re hearing, I’d be super grateful if you left me a review. Those help other creative souls find this show, and they’re fun to read. To leave a review, open up the podcast in your podcast player, and scroll down to the bottom where it gives you the option to review the show.

Stay Connected with Amy

Join the bi-monthly cowriting/creating sessions, you cansubscribe to the newsletterto get ideas, tips, and inspiration to get started creating and acting on those creative callings.

Connect onFacebook

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In this episode, we discussed:

• Writing to market vs. writing what you feel inspired to write
• Freewriting to really get to know your characters
• Tips on how to make character’s voices distinct in dialogue
• Differentiating characters based on the impact they have on other characters in a story

Elizabeth’s Books and Books we discussed in the episode

• Georgie Girl by Elizabeth Sumner Wafler
• In Robin's Nest by Elizabeth Sumner Wafler
• Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass
• Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum

Meet Elizabeth Sumner Wafler

Elizabeth is a writer and the author of four novels. She is an active volunteer with the Women's Fiction Writers Association and loves working with developing writers through her side hustle Four Eyes Editorial. Elizabeth, her husband and cairn terrier Mirabelle recently moved from Charlottesville Virginia to the booming southern hotspot--and the place of her birth--Greenville, South Carolina, which Conde Nast ranked the sixth best small city in America. She never misses a farmer's market or chance to explore art, music, and foodie destinations, or hiking opportunities in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the upstate.

Connect with Elizabeth Sumner Wafler

• Elizabeth on Instagram
• Elizabeth on Twitter
• Elizabeth’s Website

Like the Podcast?

Are you a subscriber? If not, I invite you to subscribe, so you’ll get notified every time a new episode goes up.

Click hereto subscribe on iTunes.

Click hereto subscribe on Stitcher.

And, if you’re enjoying what you’re hearing, I’d be super grateful if you left me a review. Those help other creative souls find this show, and they’re fun to read. To leave a review, open up the podcast in your podcast player, and scroll down to the bottom where it gives you the option to review the show.

Stay Connected with Amy

Join the bi-monthly cowriting/creating sessions, you cansubscribe to the newsletterto get ideas, tips, and inspiration to get started creating and acting on those creative callings.

Connect onFacebook

Connect onLinkedIn.

Connect onInstagram.