Nancy Christie's Blog, page 28

Wednesday Writing Inspiration for 4.20.22 from Richard Bausch

Words for writers from Richard Bausch

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Thoughts on writing and life for April 2022

It’s never too late to work toward your goal.

Just a few thoughts about the importance of staying focused on your goals, even if you think it’s too late for you to achieve them, because, after all, you never know.

This is an excerpt from my The Writing Life newsletter for April 2022.

You can also listen to it on my Living the Writing Life podcast.

Every now and then I’ll come across book reviews where the reviewers said what they read changed their life. Altered their thinking about their rel...

Living the Writing Life podcast with memoirist, poet, and playwright Deborah Tobola

On my Living the Writing Life podcast, my guest Deborah Tobola and I discuss the role the arts can play in the lives of those who are incarcerated, what led her to become involved with prisoners, and her goal in writing her memoir.

Listen to the episode here.

Deborah's work has earned four Pushcart Prize nominations, three Academy of American Poets awards and a Children’s Choice Book Award.

Hummingbird in Underworld: Teaching in a Men’s Prison, A Memoir won a Next Generation Indie Book Award in Social Justice, a Nautilus Silver Book Award in Heroic Journeys, a Readers’ Favorite bronze medal in Non-Fiction – Social Issues, and first place in Chanticleer International’s HEARTEN Awards. It was also a finalist in the Willa Literary Awards’ Women Writing the West in Creative Nonfiction.

Deborah has worked as a journalist, legislative aide and adjunct English faculty member in Alaska and California. She began teaching creative writing in California prisons in 1992, taking the job of Institution Artist Facilitator at the California Men’s Colony in 2000, before retiring at the end of 2008.

In 2014, Deborah returned to prison as a contract artist, where she currently teaches creative writing and theatre at the California Men’s Colony.

In 2009, she founded the Poetic Justice Project, a program of the William James Association, the country’s first theatre company created for formerly incarcerated actors, where she serves as artistic director.

Poetic Justice Project’s pandemic miracle, the play Terms of Confinement is now on YouTube, written by her, is based on writings from her students who had been incarcerated.

Wednesday Writing Inspiration for 4.13.22 from Flannery O’Connor

Words for writers from Flannery O’Connor

 

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Tuesday’s Tips: How Substantive Editing Can Improve Your Novel

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

Making Your Novel Better with Substantive Editing

If you’re considering whether substantive editing can improve your novel, today’s post will give you some insights into the process and benefits from my first-person experience—my first foray into this uncharted (and intimidating!) territory.

A little scene-setting: Several months ago, I had finished my novel manuscript, REINVENTING RITA, and had (with much trepidation) sent it to an agent who had expressed inte...

Wednesday Writing Inspiration for 4.6.22 from George V. Higgins

Words for writers from George V. Higgins

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Living the Writing Life podcast with author Dana Spiotta

On my Living the Writing Life podcast, my guest Dana Spiotta and I discuss the impact of gender and age on writing—in terms of the types of topics covered, the depictions of female characters, and on creativity itself. Listen to the episode here.

Dana is the author of five novels: Lightning Field (2002), Eat the Document (2006), Stone Arabia (2011), Innocents & Others (2016), and her most recent, Wayward (2021) that was called by the New York Times a “virtuosic, singular and very funny portrait of a woman seeking sanity and purpose in a world gone mad.”

Dana has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rome Prize, the St. Francis College Literary Prize, and the John Updike Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Wednesday Writing Inspiration for 3.30.22 from Gustave Flaubert

Words for writers from Gustave Flaubert

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Interview with novelist Kim Smith

This is an excerpt from my post on Focus on Fiction. Click here to read the full interview.

Kim Smith is the author of the Mt. Moriah Series, a collection of romantic women's fiction, as well as fantasy, mystery, and YA. Her books have made Amazon Top 100 lists, climbing as high as #1. A devout coffee addict, Kim is a full-time author living in Central Florida with her husband and their charming Chihuahua dog, Lady Darby Doolittle.

In the following excerpt from my interview with her, Kim answers a few questions about her latest book and her use of social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube to reach her fans.

Let’s start with your newest book, The Little Theater, that just came out. Tell us about it.

It’s the fourth in the Mt. Moriah series—an uplifting small-town romance where two opposites attract. And the fact that they live close enough to see each other’s home, certainly helps. It’s all fun and games until a celebrity comes to town and ends up in your salon. Sarah Greene knew better than to get involved. Men were the bane of her existence. Asher Shelton, a well-loved movie star, moves to Mt. Moriah to get away from stardom. He never expected to fall in love.

Building an author platform and expanding your fan base is a challenge for virtually all the authors I have spoken with. What were some of the strategies you used to get your name out there and generate buzz about your books?

I am a screamer. I got on every social media network who would allow me to sign up and I started talking about my books. Then, I decided to get a podcast, and a YouTube channel, and went to differing formats to get new ways to gain friends.

Once COVID hit, in-person events came to a grinding halt. How did you handle the pandemic restrictions and still promote your books?

Well, I am always online so that was really not too hard. I did go through quite a lot of health debacles during that time, so NOT being in person worked to my advantage. I participated in an online creatives conference so that I was still being "Seen."

You are on TikTok. How does that platform stack up against the “older” ones: Twitter and Facebook, for example? What do you like about using TikTok as a way to reach readers?

I love TikTok. Not only am I on it for writing purposes, but I am a huge fan of the platform. I left Facebook this year, due to the lack of participation for writers (you have a hard time being seen there). I filled all that time I spent on FB on TikTok and it has been a great move. Twitter also has proven to gain me a lot of traction.

You also have a YouTube channel called Writer Groupie. How are you using it?

Writer Groupie is so much fun. I started out using it to help other writers. I love to chat about writing and learn other's processes. Then, I decided to go solo and see if I could do YouTube as a sort of writing guru. Now I am producing short videos there and I JUST LOVE IT!!!

Wednesday Writing Inspiration for 3.23.22 from Octavia E. Butler

Words for writers from Octavia E. Butler

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