Gerald is back! He had a lot of new ideas as her traveled, and is considering publishing his short stories as a collection. Crissy talks about her new job and getting 40 thousand words into a new series. They discuss finishing projects and how the Bradbury Challenge is effecting their lives.
Author mentioned:
Melissa Lummis

Rated: Clean
Crissy talks about how it felt to write full time. Now that she’ll have to go back to work soon some decisions need to be made. She also finished two short stories and sent them to her mailing list. Meanwhile, Maya began her travels, worked on formatting, and releasing her first short story release. Gerald will be back soon much to our relief, it’s just not the same! FYI, This episode should have been number 20 but in editing the backlog of episodes I got them all mixed up.
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

You are in a coffee shop and there is a ceiling fan and it is covered in ice-cream and there is ice-cream all over the walls.

Rated: Mild
This week Crissy and Maya discussed revision and Literary Fiction within the Genre’s. Then Crissy reads from her latest project.

Rated: Mild
This week Crissy and I discuss publishing our short stories and books. How do we price our works and how is that different for genre and literary fiction. We touch on some pretty controversial topics but try to figure out how we feel about cheap versus expensive books.
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

There’s a knock on the door and there is a package waiting for you. It is an old wooden crate with stickers on it from all over the world.

Rated: Mild
Today Crissy and Maya discuss their projects and thoughts on traditional vs. self-publishing from very different perspectives. We also talk about the future of short stories and technology.

Rated: PG-13 due to innuendo
Maya empties her nest, all three of us struggled with time. Gerald only wrote ONE story! I know, the horror lol. We discuss practical solutions to being more productive.
Disclaimer: So these episodes are coming out very late and in quick succession. Due to stress and organizational difficulties I had to make a choice. Either be even later, or use subpar audio. The next 4 episodes are not up to our audio standard so please bare with us until we are back to our normal standard.
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

A steampunk airship floating through the sky

Rated: Explicit
So these episodes are coming out very late and in quick succession. Due to stress and organizational difficulties I had to make a choice. Either be even more late, or use subpar audio. The next 5 episodes are not up to our audio standard so please bare with us until we are back to our normal standard.
This week Gerald wrote two stories, Crissy has post project depression and Maya realizes that the short story challenge is re-invigorating the poetry part of her brain.

Crissy was challenged by time management and we here how she overcame. Gerald was also challenged by time management as he prepares for his road trip. Maya was challenged by her anxiety and just so much happening all at one as she ditches her belongings and moves to… where.

We also talk writers conferences, fight scenes and sex scenes.

This Weeks Writing Prompt:
You’ve just moved house and in a cupboard you find a bloody knife.

Rated: Mildly Explicit
This week Gerald finished his archetype series and Maya used the writing prompt from the last episode. Crissy also did well and prepared a story for publication. For much of this slightly off topic episode, we discuss Hue Howey and Stephen King, then Gerald get’s us back on topic and we talk about why we write.
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

You are cleaning your files on your computers and you find one that you don’t remember putting there and all it says is, “Remember.”

Rated: Explicit for language
I am really behind in the editing of the Bradbury challenge so please be patient as I roll out several episodes this week. We are trying to remedy the situation and you can help! We started a Patreon campaign to raise funds to hire an audio editor so the shows will be out on time, with hire quality and we’ll be able to launch several new shows. Please read the details of our campaign here.
In this episode, Maya discusses revising the color of color for submission to a literary journal. Gerald talks about the ways he backs up his writing, and Crissy wrote despite being seriously ill and feeling depressed.
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

There are two children in the woods looking at the stars.
 

Guest: Karan Bajaj
Rated: Clean
This week we have a treat for you! Literary Roadhouse  Discussions in a new intermittent extra podcast where we discuss literature and writing with authors and other literary figures. Our first guest is Karan Bajaj.
Karan Bajaj is a #1 bestselling Indian novelist with more than 200,000 copies of his novels in print, both optioned into major films. Karan’s first worldwide novel, The Yoga of Max’s Discontent, will be published by Random House on May 3rd’ 2016. The book, called “The greatest adventure of our Generation” by The Daily Telegraph was inspired by Karan’s one year sabbatical traveling from Europe to India by road and learning yoga and meditation in the Himalayas.
During our discussion, we dove deep into how travel and adventure affects his writing. His own spiritual hero’s journey and the reflections seen in his novels and the four one plan that Karan lives by; where he works a normal job for 4 years and then takes a 1 year sabbatical to refill his well of spirituality and creativity. This a wonderfully interesting discussion on writing, reading and life, we hope you enjoy it.

THE YOGA OF MAX’S DISCONTENT will be published worldwide by Random House on May 3, 2016. The book is about a Wall Street investment banker who becomes a yogi in the Himalayas and is both a page turning adventure through the hidden underbelly of India and a contemporary take on man’s classic quest for transcendence.
The book is receiving excellent advance reviews with The Daily Telegraph calling it “The greatest adventure of our generation” and Sharon Gannon saying it’s “A superb meditation on effort and grace, on the level of Herman Hesse and Victor Frankl,”
Karan is also a yoga instructor and you can get a free meditation course, a Quit Sugar in 7 days nutrition guide, a yoga flow video course and other gifts when you order your book today. Details at www.karanbajaj.com/yogamax
Learn more about Karan:
Website: www.karanbajaj.com
Twitter: @realkaranbajaj
Instagram: realkaranbajaj
Facebook: www.facebook.com/author.karanbajaj
If you enjoyed this extra content, please support our Patreon campaign. We would love to add Literary Discussions to our regular podcast line up but are struggling with the audio editing. Just as the great painters and writers of old relied of Patrons to produce their art, every dollar of support will get us closer to hiring someone to do the audio editing. An audio editor not only would improve the audio quality but would help up launch three planned future shows. www.patreon.com/literaryRoadhouse
 

Rated: Explicit for Adult Language
Last week Crissy was sick and while we recorded the episode is late so you are getting two stories this week. Gerald finished the penultimate story in his archetypes collection and he is very happy with the depth of his story. Maya questions whether her story is actually a story. Please comment and let her know whether you would consider it flash fiction or slice of life prose. Despite her illness, Crissy got some good writing done after feeling inspired by Norwest Con.
We discussed short versus long fiction and how the Bradbury challenge is allowing us to play with our writing. Both Crissy and Maya have had the experience of having a short piece end up being part of a novel, while Gerald finds the two art forms quite different.
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

A thank you note from someone you don’t know.
 

This week Maya struggled with what to do when the voice isn’t right. When the voice isn’t right, she finds it almost impossible to move forward. Gerald will set a story aside and work on something else when confronted the problem. But Crissy likes to move forward and fix the voice in revision.
Maya likes the idea of switching to additional projects but a crucial problem for her is a block against working on another project when she still has a fear of not finishing projects. Both Gerald and Crissy offered solid advice on learning to work on multiple projects at the same time.
They also discuss writing accurately when dealing with race, timelines, or legal procedure. Maya writes characters with diverse backgrounds and is contemplating a police procedural. Surprisingly, all three hosts find visualizing timelines through drawings or charts helpful for keeping the details straight. Maya and Gerald also plan to use their personal networks to have their work checked for inconsistencies.
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

Picture a hierophant with swords around its head come to collect a woman. Why?
 

Crissy was inspired by a story this week that just flowed out of her and had a great writing week. Not only did she finish her story but she sent it out to her list.
Gerald also rocked, finishing a total of five good sized short stories in his archetype series.
Maya’s story had problems so she re-outlined it and plans to re-write it for next week. She also received her stories back from her editor, and both Crissy and Maya about the experience. Gerald hasn’t used an editor yet, but has gone to several critique groups. We also discussed language and vocabulary.
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

There is a wall full of medals. What is the story?
 

This weeks episode is not up to our usual audio standards due to some technical difficulties.
Are artists seen differently now? We had a discussion on the opportunities and problems with self publishing, as well as the increased respect for artists.
Crissy also finished her novel! After discovering that she had a problem with one of her finial chapters, she was able to overcome her writer’s block. Maya also took a huge step and sent four short stories to an editor.
Links Mentioned in this episode:
Lynda.com
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

They say if you drop off a building, the whole of your life flashes before you. So if you do that, what is the one thing that flashes before you.
 

Finding our writing styles has proved to be a challenging and interesting process. So far Gerald has written over a quarter of a million words and is just now discovering his style after spending time writing in many different genre’s. Maya is finding that doing intentional reading is helping her discover her personal style goals but she’s struggling to maintain that style consistently.
Crissy also discusses her attempts to write to market and why she writes in a niche genre. Maya analyses the pros and cons of traditional versus self-publishing for literary fiction. This was a good discussion that went over in time as we discussed the in’s and out’s of our larger projects and the skills we feel we’re still perfecting. We ended with readings that seem to exemplify each of our individual styles.
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

There is a clock with the hands set at 2 minutes to 12…
 

This week Crissy got real and overcame a major obstacle. Maya confronted her high expectations and Gerald’s story takes a dark turn. What is it about writing that so few people finish their writing projects. In this episode, we have a great discussion on what it takes to finish a story.
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

Get a friend and each of you create a character:

* What’s there name
* What is there Gender
* age
* where do they live
* who lives with them
* what newspaper do they read or channel do they what
* what are they afraid of
* what’s there dream

Now the characters meet.
 

Pardon the sound issues, we are working on it. This week Maya and Gerald discuss structural problems with their stories. Crissy was sick after catching conference crud, but still managed to start a story. She is a huge gamer and it was interesting to hear her discuss stories in gaming. Then we each read part of our stories. I gotta say, we are loving this new addition to the show. Enjoy!
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

A blinking white light in the dark…

Crissy is at a convention and records from her hotel this week. It sounds like a ton of fun but we’re all jealous of her hotel breakfast. Maya had writer’s block and drilling down a story to it’s most basic elements allowed her to overcome her lack of story. Gerald talks about another exercise he used to help a friend break writers block. We also tested a new segment that listener DarkenedMoor suggested. It was a great suggestion! If you have any comments or ideas for the show, we’d love to hear them.
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

Take three pieces of paper and make a numbered list 1-5. One the first sheet, list 5 characters/archetypes with no more than 5 words each. On the second sheet, list 2 strong desires you have and 3 strong desires people who aren’t like you have. On the third paper, list 5 random obstacles that could block a desire. As you make each list, do not consider the other lists. Then using dice or This Random Integer Generator select three random numbers 1-5. Use those numbers to select a character, a desire and an obstacle for your story.

Rated Explicit for Language
Wew, finally, here is this weeks episode!
Maya, Gerald and Crissy discussed researching our stories and different types of research. While research is important, it can easily be a procrastination minefield. We have enormous resources available through the internet, but is remote research enough to portray the experience of a location? What other types of research do we find helpful? Crissy’s research as a fantasy writer uses all the knowledge she’s accumulated over many subjects. While Maya worries about cultural and real world locations.
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

Rated PG-13 for comparing public brainstorming to having a sex tape
This week both Gerald and Maya experienced breakthroughs in their writing. Maya is happy with her words for the first time this year and Gerald had a flood of enjoyment. Going on a walk with a recorder helped Maya better understand her story from last week. They also discuss different ideas to get connected with their projects.
Mentioned in the Episode:
Ask Us Anything with R. L. Stine
Fates and Furies
This Weeks Writing Prompt:

If you go scuba diving deep into the ocean where all the corals and the fish are swimming around you, and you find something amazing and out of the ordinary down there… what is it?