#AmWriting

Jan 30 2025 464 ep. 40 mins 193

#AmWriting Podcast artwork

Entertaining, actionable advice on craft, productivity and creativity for writers and journalists in all genres, with hosts Jessica Lahey, KJ Dell'Antonia and Sarina Bowen.

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Social Media: What Happens Now?

Jan 30 2025 46 mins

“I put my effort into building trust, showing up, and being present for people who have opted into my universe.” A slight paraphrase of Jennie NashOn the day we recorded this episode, no one really knew what was going to happen to TikTok (Jess thinks it’s going away, everyone else doubts her) and Sarina was attempting to manage all the emails from people asking her why she wa

Treat your writing like a business in 2025

Jan 23 2025 9 mins

I’m Sarina, and I’m a business nerd.Hi, my name is Sarina, and I’m a business nerd. I was born this way. I can’t help it. I realize that not everyone gets excited about spreadsheets, but if you have any writerly income at all, I’m begging you to make 2025 the year you treat your writing as a business. There are actually two reasons to do this:* First of all it’s centeri

The Making of a Workbook

Jan 16 2025 50 mins

Hi #AmWriters, Jess here. I’ve been wanting to do an episode on workbooks forever - on any form of companion text that pairs with nonfiction books, really. How do you propose them, write them, format them? You know me, I like the granular details. Fortunately, Ned Johnson and Dr. William Stixrud are publishing The Seven Principles for Raising a Self-Driven Child in March, and Ned

A People Pleaser Learns to Write the Book She Wants to Write

Jan 09 2025 49 mins

Essay collections—readers love them, but publishers and editors are often unconvinced. Jennie and KJ talk to Amy Wilson about getting that contract, finding the through line and writing a book about pleasing people while also remembering to please yourself. Links from the podMary Karr The Art of MemoirWendi Aarons Listen to Your Mother (Essay performances for Mother’s Day)Amy�

#AmWriting podcast bonus episode with Jess

Jan 05 2025 36 mins

Hi #AmWriters and subscribers to Jess’ content, Jess here, looking out my office window over a beautiful, snowy Vermont Sunday and thinking of you. We do these things called “Lahey Cafe” days in the Lahey household and we have one coming up this afternoon. Back when my husband and I were in graduate school and never got to spend time together away from the books, we would go

Using the Blueprint for Revision

Jan 02 2025 31 mins

This episode is about a #amwriting win! Meghan P. Browne wrote to us a while ago to share her happy news: her debut middle-grade novel that she revised in the Blueprint Challenge of 2022 and that we reviewed in one of our First pages episodes had just gone under contract! Welcome to Heaven was acquired by Liz Szabla at Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan), and publication is scheduled for

What's your word for 2025? We review 2024 goals and set up 2025 in Episode 428

Dec 26 2024 51 mins

We cover last years’ goals, and which of us feel great and which feel… less great. (And the audio is also less great, because 3 of us gathered in our local library and the acoustics/HVAC system noise were less than ideal.) We end up talking about the ways we feel we need to be as women (supported by some great men) in the coming year and years, the somewhat surprising bro-comme

From #FamilyStory to Fiction

Dec 19 2024 47 mins

Today, I'm so excited to talk to my friend, Rosa Kwon Easton, about her debut novel, White Mulberry.Rosa holds a very special place in my heart and my history because she was at the first ever workshop where I taught my Blueprint framework, which is a method of inquiry for getting a book out of your head and onto the page before you start to write. At that time, Rosa thought that s

Introducing the Winter Blueprint Challenge Coaches

Dec 17 2024 52 mins

Do The Blueprint With Us This Winter!Starting January 5, we’ll be walking you through the 14 steps of the Blueprint over 10 weeks. Some of the steps are very short and we combined them into one episode.Every episode speaks to fiction writers, memoir writers, and nonfiction writers. There are workbooks, and you will get a link to the digital download of the Blueprint book of your

Booklab: First Pages-- a work of nonfiction (Hippodrome) and a novel (Mermaid Diner) are put to the test

Dec 12 2024 32 mins

Hey listeners: This week, everyone gets a taste of what paid supporters get more regularly—a special Booklab: First Pages episode. Each month (and sometimes more often), we’ll choose two “first pages” to review. A first page, for our purposes, is the first 350 words of your book—fiction, non-fiction or memoir. We will read the page aloud on the podcast and discuss with a