Write Now With Sarah Werner | For Writers, On Writing

Episode 005: Abraham Allende It's time to sit back, relax, and enjoy another episode of Coffee Break. I love talking with people who have interesting stories to tell. And Abraham Allende -- former Cleveland sportscaster and current bishop of the Northeastern Ohio Synod of the ELCA -- has many. Language has been a central part of Bishop Allende's career, from teaching high-school French to broadcasting Cleveland Indians games under the name Allen Davis. And he continues to speak, teach, and write professionally today -- though now it's from the pulpit. Despite any misgivings you may have about organized religion, I think you'll enjoy our conversation about the power of language and the messages we choose to share. We also talk about what it means to be called to a vocation. (You know, like writing. Or teaching. Or whatever it is you feel called to do.) Oh, and the importance of being authentic. All good stuff. Visit Bishop Allende's blog, or read more about him at Cleveland.com. Want to be on Coffee Break

Welcome to Episode 028 of Write Now. I've returned from my annual writing retreat and we've got some catching up to do. Should I take a writing retreat? I've spoken with a lot of writers over the years about the merits of a writers' retreat. And the question of Should I? isn't really fair to ask, since the answer has been a resounding Yes! from all surveyed. Perhaps a better question to ask is: How do I keep the good effects of a short-term writing retreat going throughout the year? Takin' it to the woods. I know the woods aren't for everyone, but they're where it's at for me. And this year, I witnessed a lot of cool stuff, including a tiny snake, a toad that sat on my foot, and something mysterious howling in the night. But best of all, I found stillness and silence. I had time to process my thoughts (and time to even have thoughts in the first place). I ate when I was hungry and slept when I was tired, and read and wrote whenever the urge struck me -- which, in this environment, was often. You don't nee

Help support this podcast on Patreon! >> It's November--and you know what that means! Or maybe you don't, in which case I'll tell you: it's NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH! And the way I see it, November is a time to celebrate all writers, not just novelists. That includes you. Get ready for the writing frenzy with episode 027 of Write Now. What is NaNoWriMo, and is it right for me? NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month (because who wants to say that over and over?), and over the years this has become a sort of marathon for writers. The challenge? To write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, from November 1-30. Yes, that's nearly 1,700 words per day. Yes, that's insane. But it can also be kind of fun, and a great way to get into a daily writing habit. Keeping NaNoWriMo realistic. NaNoWriMo is a positive, inclusive event that encourages everyone to tell a story, and I love it for that. But it can also be incredibly difficult to meet and keep up with the daily word count. That's why I advocate partici

Episode 004: Dave Booda It's time to sit back, relax, and enjoy another episode of Coffee Break. Dave Booda (that's him, with the magnificent man-bun) of the Darken the Page podcast got in touch with me a while ago about recording a podcast episode together, and I thought it sounded like a great idea. SO THAT IS WHAT WE DID. Enjoy our banter about the creative process and all the STUFF that comes with it. :D Please note: This episode originally aired as Episode 43 of the Darken the Page podcast, but Dave very generously let me use it for today's Coffee Break as well. Thanks, my friend! Interested in Coffee Break? I'm always looking for exciting people to showcase with casual conversations about creativity, writing, and work/life balance. Send me an email at hello [at] sarahwerner [dot] com or contact me if you're interested in a guest appearance. WOOOO, email! Find out all of the latest haps when you sign up for my email newsletter! I promise I won't spam you. :) Subscribe to Coffee Break (& Write Now). Yo

Help support this podcast! >> Episode 026 of the Write Now podcast is once again sponsored by my good friend Dave Booda at the Darken the Page podcast. Check it out! Life isn't always as amazing as we'd like it to be. ...To put it lightly. Sometimes the Powers That Be decide that juggling the usual work/life/writing balance just isn't hard enough, and sends us fun new things to deal with on top of it all. Things like illness, depression, toxic people, and bad situations at work. So what's a writer to do? Keep yourself from getting lost. Sometimes, it's easy for all that rotten stuff to get to us -- to corrupt us, to dishearten us, to discourage us from writing. But you're stronger than that. Today we're going to talk about that, and about how to stay true to yourself during the toughest times. Tell me your thoughts. How do you deal with all of the negative stuff that life throws your way? Submit your thoughts or questions on my contact page, or simply email me at hello [at] sarahwerner [dot] com. I can'

Episode 003: Matt Paulson Hey friends. It's time for another Coffee Break! Today, I'm speaking to my good friend Matt Paulson, the author of two books and finance blogger-turned-entrepreneur. Matt is a smart dude who did something really interesting. He built a software program to gather financial data and generate blog posts about it. So today he's talking to us as the writer who literally built his own robot replacement. It's like science fiction, but it's REAL LIFE! And Matt has seen an incredible amount of success. That left Matt the writer with nothing left to write -- so he started writing books. One of those books he wrote in just 18 days (which you'll hear more about in this episode), and it's about an aspect of being a writer that often gets overlooked or pushed to the sidelines -- marketing. Matt's newest book, Email Marketing Demystified, is a great and accessible way to gain a following for bloggers, novelists, and writers of all kinds. He spills some secrets in this episode about when to sta

Help support this podcast! >> Episode 025 of the Write Now podcast is sponsored by my good friend Dave Booda at the Darken the Page podcast for creatives of all kinds. He's a smart and funny dude. Check it out! LET'S TALK ABOUT BOOKS AGAIN! Today's podcast is a follow-up to last week's episode about 5 of my 10 favorite books. In this episode, you'll learn about the remaining five, as well as the reasons why they're so important to me: My remaining 5 favorite books! All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle Sabriel by Garth Nix Storm Front by Jim Butcher I'm so excited to share these books with you! Tell me your thoughts. Do you have a favorite book (or two or three or fifty)? Have you read any of the 10 books on my list of favorites? What did you think of them? Submit your own thoughts or questions on my contact page, or simply email me at hello [at] sarahwerner [dot] com. I can't wait to hear from you! Lea

Episode 002: Mad Like Alyce Welcome to another episode of Coffee Break! This week, I'm talking to lifestyle blogger Mad Like Alyce, who offers a special focus on living a healthier life with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and chronic pain. This is a great podcast episode for any writer who has a blog or is thinking about starting a blog! In our conversation, Alyce & I talk about the importance of selecting a niche for your blog without letting it confine or label you, how to draw inspiration from other bloggers while maintaining your own voice, how much time to spend writing a post vs. how much value it provides to your readers, and so much more. Alyce is not only a writer but a tech geek like myself, and so you'll also get some tips on starting your blog on a shoestring budget, using Google Analytics to understand and grow your blog traffic, and finding the right blogging platform. I hope you enjoy it. Visit Alyce's blog. You'll find Alyce online at madlikealyce.com, where she blogs about living 

Help support this podcast! >> DID YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE BOOKS? This is a good thing, because episode 024 of the Write Now podcast is all about books. Hooray! This week's episode is sponsored by my good friend Dave Booda at the Darken the Page podcast. Dave is passionate about exploring the creative process, and his interview-style podcast lends some great perspective. Check it out! What are your favorite books? As writers, we tend to love books. Many books, various books, perhaps even all books. But we still have our favorites -- those books that we've had since childhood, books that comforted us when we were afraid, that kept us company when we were lonely. Those books that contain characters we count closer than our friends and remind us of all the possibilities life can bring. Here are 5 of my 10 favorite books, along with the reasons why. My favorite books! Today's podcast is about 5 of my 10 favorite books, and it gives you some background on why they're so important to me: Pattern Recognition by W

A truly delightful conversation with the author of the Thornleigh Saga about crafting a real page-turner. Support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/sarahrheawerner 

Help support this podcast! >> Oh man. Episode 023 of the Write Now podcast is about SUCCESS. Get ready  for some kind of MONTAGE or MOTIVATIONAL POSTER, probably! ...Or, you know, a nice earnest discussion on what it means to find success as a writer. What does success look like for you as a writer? It's something that we all daydream about but rarely give any serious thought: What would it look like if we were successful? I think that a lot of writers interpret success as a "luck of the draw" type fate, and to a certain degree, that's true. But I think those writers also tend to underestimate the power of strategic planning and goal-setting. It all starts with understanding and defining what success means for and looks like to you as a writer. For you, is success: Changing the way your society operates? Shaking up the status quo? Spreading an idea? Selling a lot of books? Making a ton of money from selling a ton of books? Hitting the New York Times or Amazon bestseller list? Or is it something e

Help support this podcast! >> Hey friends. Have you ever questioned your writer-ly destiny? Then Episode 022 of the Write Now podcast is for you. What if I simply wasn't meant to be a writer? I received a letter from a very bright, very talented young writer named Amanda who was wondering whether she was actually meant to be a writer. Her letter affected me so much that I decided to dedicate this episode to exploring the topic. Amanda writes, I'm not sure if I'm meant to be writing... I like coming up with characters and thinking about the situations they would get into. I like developing the characters. I love dialogue particularly. ...But I spend maybe 5% of my writing time actually writing. The rest of the time, I am in misery. I agonize over my faults until I can barely move, let alone be creative... I'm just wondering if I should even be writing at all. Can someone maybe have a passion for writing but then shouldn't do it anyway? Wow. It took me a while, but I was finally able to provide Amanda with

Help support this podcast! >> My friends. Episode 021 of the Write Now podcast is about writer's block and how to defeat it. GET READY. Have you ever struggled with writers' block? Writers' block can seize any writer at any point during the writing process. But that doesn't mean you can't fight back! In today's podcast episode, I talk about what to do when: You can't come up with an idea You have too many ideas and you can't commit to just one You don't know what to write next You've strayed from your outline and you don't know how to get back on track You're bored with what you've written You don't feel like writing You're paralyzed by fear You're stuck in revision purgatory The many cures for writers' block. From writing exercises to the steps to getting unstuck (WN 013), getting yourself in a writing mood (WN 008), or regaining your confidence (WN 005), you'll want to make sure that you choose the cure that fits your situation. I'll help you do that in today's episode. Going through a period o

Help support this podcast! >> I never intended to go into marketing. In fact, I just kind of fell into it -- and realized I was fairly decent at it. In marketing, I've learned a lot about truth (and how people respond to truth) that I'll share with you today in Episode 020 of the Write Now podcast. Truth! Beauty! Right? There's an adage that says, "Writers are professional liars." I can understand the cynicism and humor that lie beneath that statement, but I don't agree with it. Not a bit. When you're writing to connect with people, whether it's an account of factual events or a story about unicorns piloting spaceships through a multiverse of rainbows, you have a responsibility to tell the truth. The fiction writer is the penultimate truth-teller. The resonant and enduring beauty of fiction doesn't lie in a mere faithful retelling of events. And simply writing what you know (yet another writing adage) is not enough. We write and read fiction to connect with others -- to find truths in one another. As Erne

Help support this podcast! >> Do you have a writing mentor? Find out why it's super-important to have one in Episode 019 of the Write Now podcast! Every writer needs a mentor. What are the benefits of having a writing mentor? How do you go about finding one? Is it possible you have one already? And how can you tell a good mentor from a bad one? SO MANY QUESTIONS! Good thing I have so many answers. You are not alone. I think that, in general, writing as seen as a fundamentally solitary, isolated, and alone process. We imagine writers sitting up late at night at a well-shadowed desk, sipping cognac by the fire, shut into an office or study, out for a lonely walk. Maybe it's a man, maybe it's a woman. Heck, maybe it's this guy: (Sorry, I couldn't resist. That pipe-chomping, suspender-wearing image of a writer really cracks me up.) Point is, I don't think it's healthy for a writer to be perfectly 100% alone in their craft. Good vs. bad mentors! I share the story of how I met my current mentor, Melissa, and w

Help support this podcast! >> Hey there, friends. In episode 018 of the Write Now podcast, I'm going to give you some advice that I'll bet you don't hear all that often: Fail a lot. As writers, why are we such perfectionists? Why do we expect perfection from ourselves? Shouldn't we understand better than anyone else that the human creature is inherently and beautifully flawed? I know, I know. I'm guilty of this, too. But let's do something we writers tend to be not-super-great at and dive headfirst into REALITY and admit: We are human. We are not perfect. And that is okay. Go ahead and repeat that a couple times, whether out loud or simply to yourself. Because it's true, and it's true of everyone. Especially if you're the type of person who protects yourself from failure -- and by doing so also prevents yourself from trying. And protects yourself from success. Failure fun facts: Failure is not rejection -- rejection is subjective feedback. Failure is not the opposite of success -- failure is a step

Help support this podcast! >> Welcome to Episode 017 of the Write Now podcast, my lovelies. I am so glad you're here. Today we're going to talk about your work/life/writing balance. Where are you putting your energy? If you go out to iTunes and check out the Write Now podcast "about" info, you'll see it says: "A weekly podcast for aspiring writers looking to find a healthy work/life/writing balance." Sometimes, I feel like three separate selves trying to work together, instead of one self trying to find balance: my work self, my life self, and my creative writing self. And they don't always get along: Work self: This is your professional side -- the one that is paid to meet & greet clients, counsel people over the phone, make sandwiches, pour concrete, teach math, serve lasagna, balance the company budget, and lead a team. Life self: This is the "home" you -- the part of you that takes care of and hangs out with your family & friends, washes the dishes, binges on Star Trek: TNG reruns, volunteers at the a

Help support this podcast! >> This is the sweet 16th episode of the Write Now podcast with yours truly. Sometimes we lose that spark. Remember when writing used to be fun? Or better yet, satisfying? You can find that feeling again. It might just be a matter of letting go of some other stuff that matters less. It's about understanding what it is you love about writing. Here are some simple questions you can ask yourself that will guide your mind back into a happy writing place. Ask yourself... What was it that made you fall in love with writing in the first place? Reveling in the sheer number of possibilities? Getting lost in a unique story that was all your own? Playing out an imagined fantasy? Sharing a message you were passionate about? Next, ask: What changed? Did someone kill your confidence and tell you your writing wasn't great? Did you, for some reason, begin to feel ashamed of what you had written? Did you lose yourself in trying too hard to be like another, more famous, writer? Finally

Help support this podcast! >> Welcome to Episode 015 of the Write Now podcast. We're going to be talking about something I've wanted to talk about for a while. SO I HOPE YOU HAVE BEEN WANTING TO HEAR IT! (Hint: the topic is BOOKS, you guys!) Why do writers need to read? "Reading is essential if you're going to be a writer." You've heard it from teachers and fellow writers and books on writing. Heck, you've even heard it from me. (And from Stephen King.) But why? Why is it so essential for writers to read? 8 benefits of reading for writers: Reading lets you understand what a reader wants -- and what you need to give your own readers. Reading gives strong fundamentals in story structure and plot development. Reading gives you a feel for and can expand your own ideas of stylistic items such as graceful narration, metaphor, transition, voice, and more. Reading gives you both inspiration and drive to move forward in your own work. Reading is a great way to get ideas! Reading shows you what's already bee

Help support this podcast! >> YOU GUYS it has been a while. But I am back, and the foam on my delicious cappuccino is as fluffy and delightful as the suds in an angel's bathtub. (Is that weird? Maybe that's weird. But it's TRUE.) Anyway, I'm glad you're here. Where do you write? It surprises me sometimes -- where I am able and where I am unable to write. Can you write anywhere? Or do you have certain objects, snacks, or environmental enhancements (whatever that means) that you need to be able to write? The conditions can never really be perfect, I've found. BUT. If they could be perfect... Sarah's perfect writing environment: Large flat wooden desk for handwriting, brainstorming, and doodling. Plenty of paper, pens, and pencils to alleviate scarcity anxiety. Plants. Plants everywhere. Comfortable upright chair (too comfortable or slouchy and I will fall asleep). A window. Perfect silence -- or, if that's not realistic, lyric-less music to drown out sound. A soft rain or snow. Coffee-accessible. My