A writer does more than work with words. The heart becomes involved, often draining us emotionally. The logical side of our brain helps balance out emotions. When we venture beyond our desks and interact as Writer with the world, the ways we present ourselves and the opportunities we explore enrich us when we return to our little corner desks. Joan Ramirez discusses all of the above and more in this episode of Writers on Writing. Her guidebook The Write Rules covers the various aspects of speaking, writing, presentations, and representing our official “writer-dom” to the world. Joan Ramirez holds a Master of Science in Business, Medical, and Technical Journalism as well as two others in English as a Second Language and Elementary Education/Autism. She has published on a variety of topics from cochlear implants to the economy and has conducted workshops –domestic and foreign–on the nuances of business communications for managers and start-up companies. She is the leader of her own enterprise with training programs (over twenty-five years of expertise) for entrepreneurs at all levels. For many years she trained the technical staff of a large engineering firm in the nuances of business writing and verbal presentations. The Write Rules, her latest publication, offers communications guidelines for becoming an entrepreneur. She has short stories in several anthologies and is working on a historical suspense trilogy set in WWII. She can be reached at writerjr1044@gmail.com. TIMINGS 00:40 Welcome / Introduction 05:13 The Write Rules, a guidebook for English and Non-English Speakers 10:50 Importance of the Non-Verbal when Presenting Yourself 16:40 Writing The Write Rules 19:40 Writing Historical Fiction that Comes from the Heart 23:07 Opportunities Lurk Beyond the Job Description 26:32 Writing NonFiction vs. Historical Fiction 27:55 Venturing into other Writing 30:22 Closing Total Run Time = 31:23 LINKS https://www.facebook.com/joan.ramirez.98031 www,joansbookshelf.com TWF Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/04/615-writers-on-writing-joan-ramirez.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Does a life in law enforcement give a special insight into crime? It certainly seems that way to me after interviewing O’Neil de Noux. His first books were police procedurals, following his career in law enforcement just outside of New Orleans. Now he’s writing about private investigators and semi-retired detectives … and pursuing his stories in historical fiction as a satisfying challenge. Like many writers, O’Neil delves into many genres, following his curiosity into multiple stories. O’Neil De Noux (www.oneildenoux.com) is a retired police officer, a former homicide detective, and former private eye with 49 books and over 400 short stories published. His writing has been awarded the SHAMUS AWARD twice as well as the DERRINGER AWARD and POLICE BOOK of the YEAR (www.PoliceWriters.com). Two of his stories have been featured in the BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES annual anthology (2003 and 2013). He is a past Vice-President of the Private Eye Writers of America. TIMINGS 00:40 Welcome / Introduction 2:11 Historical Fiction vs. Mystery Fiction 10:10 Writing Mentors 15:00 Indies Control Everything: Idea to Cover Design 18:46 Ideas Drive his Character Selection 24:30 Inspiration from Titles 28:00 Newest Release 32:00 Using Downtime to allow Drafts to Percolate 36:48 Closing Total Run Time = 37:48 LINKS website: https://www.oneildenoux.com/ Latest book: https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Dandelions-Lucien-Caye-Private-ebook/dp/B0D5YVPVHZ Amazon Author’s Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/ONeil-De-Noux/author/ TWF Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/04/614-writers-on-writing-oneil-de-noux.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Fellow Podcaster (and fellow former English teacher) talks technology, writing, and his Haunted Shores mysteries. We delve into ways to avoid anachronisms when writing historical fiction before venturing into his writing process, linear rather than a mix-match puzzle process. Overbeck’s novel Cruel Lessons was categorized as “one of the best mysteries of 2023” and “ene of the best thrillers I’ve ever read!” Of his Haunted Shores mysteries, critics have called Overbeck a “master storyteller” who provides a “rollicking good” read. TIMINGS 00:40 Introduction / Welcome 3:42 From Paper to Electronic 8:40 Authenticity with Historical Writing 13:30 Linear Story Writing 19:25 Podcast Creation 26:10 Echoes of Life in his 1st Novel 30:50 Haunted Shores mysteries 36:15 Closing Total Run Time = 37:15 LINKS Randy Overbeck’s site https://www.authorrandyoverbeck.com/books Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/04/613-writers-on-writing-randy-overbeck.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Business by day, fiction by night, writer Denise Forsythe is constantly looking for new ways to bring her writing into the world. She’s pursuing her longtime dream of writing fiction around the corners of her world and finding the vast differences between fiction and nonfiction, writing short vs. writing long, pantstering vs. outlining. Creativity comes with all of it. Denise Forsythe is an awarded and recognized writer of mystery, horror, and science fiction short stories under the pen name Denise Johnson. Her domestic suspense debut novel, MISCONCEPTION, is now available for purchase. A member of Sisters in Crime, Inc. and multiple Sisters in Crime chapters, she is a Charter Member of the Sisters in Crime Grand Canyon Writers chapter. Find out more about upcoming projects at deniseforsythe.com TIMINGS 00:40 Introduction 1:20 Constant Writing Tools 3:27 Scrivener vs. Word 5:40 Search Engines: an Indie Writer’s Friend 7:50 Marketing / Distributing 8:50 Catchy Ways to Attract Readers 15:33 Writing Dream / Writing Short vs. Long 18:40 Pantstering vs. Outlining 25:45 Closing Total Run Time = 26:46 LINKS https://deniseforsythe.com/ Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/03/612-writers-on-writing-denise-forsythe.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Jam-packed with goodness is this interview with Paul O’Connor, a writer of short stories and novels. You’re going to take tons of notes and bookmark this episode; the guidance is that fantastic. (No, that’s not hyperbole; that’s reality.) Paul O’Connor came into writing after he left the data-driven gaming industry. Gaming’s focus on productivity, Agile Planning, Return on Investment, and more to determine a product’s profitability are ideas that he converted to his own writing. He shares the simple yet important ways he uses data in this interview and in a slide show. Look for the Slide Show on Paul O’Connor’s page on the TWF website. Click the shareable link to copy, load into the URL of your browser, “go” and voila: the slide show. Paul Ryan O’Connor is a frequent contributor to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, where his debut short story, “Teddy’s Favorite Thing,” was voted a 2023 Readers Award. He has also been published by Mystery Magazine and Shotgun Honey. Paul is an active member of the Mystery Writers of America, and lives in Carlsbad, California, with his family and a borrowed dog. TIMINGS 00:40 Welcome / Opening Info 02:50 Tech’s Job = Speed our Process and Increase Publication 09:25 Slide Show Begins / Writing Process 13:50 Word Count vs. Writing Log 22:00 Marketing Trackers and Platforms for Submissions & Agents 30:00 Progress / Idea Tracking / Productivity 33:40 Closing Total Run Time = 34:40 #writing #writingtools #plotting #marketing #submissions #agents #progresstracker #revision #AI Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/03/611-writers-on-writing-paul-oconnor.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

First-time author Deede Blake shares the story of her first novel, The Russian Orphan. This epic thriller was a ten-year journey, required tons of research, and tells a story that demanded to be told. And we’re all over the world of writing in this interview. Deede is new to publishing although she’s been working on writing projects for years. While her training is in science, her greatest passion is reading, writing, traveling, history, and learning in general. Indeed, Deede has traveled to places on the globe that no American has ever been. She dabbled in writing poetry, essays op-eds and newsletters while practicing pharmacy until in her mid 30’s. She is currently working on a sequel to The Russian Orphan, entitled We Were Lost. This novel will deal directly with the issue of human trafficking. TIMIINGS / None Total Run Time = 38:08 Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/03/610-writers-on-writing-deede-blake.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

The mystery writer and seasoned audio broadcast pro Kathleen Kalb joins TWF for this episode. We have a wide-ranging conversation, touching on tech, the writing community and social media, her process, and changes in software. We end with her next release featuring Grace the Hit Mom, a consecrated assassin. That I have to read. Kathleen Marple Kalb describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels including the The Stuff of Murder, and the upcoming Ella Shane mystery, A Fatal Reception, both from Level Best Books. The Stuff of Murder will publish this March. As Nikki Knight, she writes the Grace the Hit Mom and Vermont Radio mysteries. Her most recent publication is Hound of the Bonnevilles, also coming out in March. Her stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, and others, and been short-listed for Derringer and Black Orchid Novella Awards. She’s served as Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and is a co-VP of the New York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat. TIMINGS 00:40 Intro / Clock-watching and More 04:17 Tech for Writing / the Writing Community 09:55 Instagram vs. TikTok / Writing Bibles in Tech / Tracking Changes 15:10 Outlining / Ideas File / Timelines 17:46 Avoiding Strict Strucure / Maintaining Character Voice 22:47 From Typewriter to Word 26:10 Grace the Hit Mom 32:00 Closing Total Run Time = 33:05 #writing #writingtools #plotting #coverdesign #booknarration #AI LINKS Website: https://kathleenmarplekalb.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kathleen-Marple-Kalb-1082949845220373/ Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/03/609-writers-on-writing-kathleen-kalb.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

The whimsy on a coffee cup is Rebecca Olmstead’s motto for her writing life. In an interview about that technology that started with a tech failure—a laptop crash—Rebecca Olmstead begins by discussing her bravery in moving from Word to Scrivener to Atticus to bring the best experience to readers of her fiction and nonfiction. Rebecca Olmstead is the award-winning author of the Gabrielle Dorian Mystery Series as well as several nonfiction books and multiple short stories. Her stories and articles have appeared in Malice, Matrimony, & Murder anthology, The Cellar Door: Dark Highways #3, The Upper Room, Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse, Jr., Live, Now What?, and Houseboat Magazine. Her story “A Deadly Conundrum” appeared in MURDER NEWYORK STYLE: NEWYORK STATE OF CRIME this year. She lives with her husband and the youngest of their five children in southeastern Washington with Sophie, their dorky black lab, Agatha, a black cat, and host of Jersey Wooly show bunnies. TIMINGS 00:40 Intro / Tech Failures 02:25 Pacemaker and Tech Successes 6:03 Tech as a Distraction 11:10 Problems with Writing a Series 13:33 Beginning her Writing Career 18:45 Writing (like Crochet) Opens the Unconscious 21:37 the Gabrielle Doran series / Newest Release 24:42 Venturing into another Series and Nonfiction 28:18 Writers Thrive on Reviews 29:18 Closing Total Run Time = 30:20 LINKS www.rebeccaolmstead.com www.watchgodwork.com Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/02/608-writers-on-writing-rebecca-olmstead.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

In cold Halifax, we meet writer donalee Moulton, who talks all aspects of technology. It’s everything tech: from the tech that we take for granted to knowing how detailed our tech descriptions have to be, and from the depths and limits we have on understanding tech to the practicalities of tech that’s helpful in our daily writing lives. donalee Moulton’s first mystery book Hung out to Die was published in 2023. A historical mystery, Conflagration!, was published in 2024. It won the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense (Historical Fiction). A short story “Swan Song” was one of 21 selected for publication in Cold Canadian Crime. It was shortlisted for an Award of Excellence. Other short stories have been published in numerous magazines, journals, and anthologies. donalee’s short story “Troubled Water” was shortlisted for a 2024 Derringer Award and a 2024 Award of Excellence from the Crime Writers of Canada. donalee is an award-winning freelance journalist. She has written articles for print and online publications across North America including The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Lawyer’s Daily, National Post, and Canadian Business. As well, donalee is the author of The Thong Principle: Saying What You Mean and Meaning What You Say and co-authored the book, Celebrity Court Cases: Trials of the Rich and Famous. LINKS Website: donaleemoulton.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donaleemoultonauthor LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaleemoulton/ X: @donaleeMoulton Instagram: donaleemoulton TIMINGS 00:40 Welcome / Distractions and Disruptions 04:35 Tech Tools 08:22 Tech that we take for granted 13:36 How deeply we need to understand tech in our novels 20:00 Helpful Tech 26:27 donalee’s Writing journey 33:00 A Psychopath for a Protagonist 36:00 Closing Total Run Time = 37:29 #writing #writingtools #plotting #coverdesign #revision #AI Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/02/607-writers-on-writing-donalee-moulton.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

A Couple of Bees came for an interview, and we laughed all the way through. Elise Brown is a young writer who has reached the pinnacle that some never achieve: a book on the verge of publishing and another book in revision, an agent who loves her work and a publisher eager to get the books out. Elise Burke Brown comes from a family of detectives, including a grandfather who filled her childhood with true crime stories she learned not to repeat at daycare. She is the award-winning author of the New Orleans-based Chase Harlem series. She teaches composition at the University of Alabama and runs the popular book blog A Couple of Bees Read, https://coupleofbeesread.com/. You can connect with her on Instagram as @EliseBurkeBrown_Author on on X as @couple_of_bees. Becky Brown has had several careers in her lifetime: retail management, stay at home mom, a charity organizer, a teacher, and a principal. She loves taking care of her granddaughters, quilting, photography, and reading. She’s new to writing and just started her memoir, Wings of Eagles: My Journey of Faith. Becky currently is president of her local quilters guild and is active in her church. She enjoys working with her daughter-in-law on our blog A Couple of Bees Read as well as serving as her beta reader and acting as her amateur publicist. TIMINGS 00:40 Welcome / their Podcast A Couple of Bees Read 04:50 Weekly Wine 9:00 Tech and more 14:57 Reading Out Loud 17:48 An agent who supports the work 23:55 A Two-Book Deal 27:00 Elise’s Process Total Run Time = 30:52 #writing #writingtools #plotting #coverdesign #revision #AI Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/02/606-writers-on-writing-couple-of-bees.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Travel and Death. We don’t normally put these two topics together unless we’re talking tragic accidents, but Dawn Barclay has found a way to create entertaining mysteries and relate true crime stories. After talking about Tech and tools, the writing process and productivity, she shares with us the two publications she will have this winter. In January she’ll release her newest domestic thriller, Deadly When Disturbed. February sees the multi-volume nonfiction Vacations Can Be Murder: The True Crime Lovers’ Travel Guide to New England. She will return with more true crime in a Mid-Atlantic edition followed by the Southeast before she explores bloody murder in the Mid-West. D.M. Barr is the pseudonym for Dawn M. Barclay, an award-winning author who writes psychological and romantic suspense under this pen name and non-fiction under her own. Her published novels include Expired Listings, Murder Worth the Weight, Saving Grace: A Psychological Thriller, The Queen of Second Chances, and Simple Tryst of Fate. TIMINGS 00:40 Welcome / Introduction / Tech Tools 5:09 Finding True Crimes of the Past 7:53 Trying AI for Translations 10:50 Problems with Tech and AI 19:30 Tech used in Active Writing 23:54 Dawn’s Process 25:00 True Crime, RomComs, and Domestic Thrillers Total Run Time = 31:10 #writing #writingtools #plotting #coverdesign #booknarration #AI Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/02/605-writers-on-writing-dawn-barclay-and.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Coming in this episode is a wealth of technology resources which only someone with a tech background can provide. Sarah Smith presents a powerpoint packed with resources. From assists in idea generation and organization, to plot and structure, formatting manuscripts and crafting covers, book descriptions, and audiobook development (so necessary in today’s marketplace), Sarah explains the riches available. We end with Sarah’s offer to consult with 25 writers through Zoom interviews about all things related to audiobooks. Check the Show Notes and the website for her powerpoint and special offer. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome / Introduction 02:22 Four Requirements of Tech 11:10 Powerpoint Tools begins / Planning and Plotting 18:30 Unusual Helps: Beeftext and Reverso 21:20 Editing / Formatting / Covers / Publishing 29:00 Audiobooks / AI Narration 35:14 Consultation Offer / https://app.simplymeet.me/soundwrights 37:33 Closing Total Run Time = 38:33 #writing #writingtools #plotting #coverdesign #booknarration #AI Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/01/604-writers-on-writing-sarah-smith.html Special Offer https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/p/sarah-smiths-special-offer.html Powerpoint Access to Tools as an mp4 https://youtu.be/S1qe1AFg1EM Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Two fountain pens and specific paper to encourage creativity. Computer systems like Linux as best tools. In a wide-ranging interview with everything from fonts to covers, John Connor with the UK press Murderous Ink shares it all. A connectivity glitch smack in the middle of the interview didn’t derail Connor. We continued on, with manuscript format and the concerns of publishers about document file types. The interview could easily have lasted all afternoon, but alas, Zoom called for an end. John ‘Jay’ Andrew Connor has been writing and publishing under a menagerie of names and genres since the late 1970s—sometimes even professionally. He’s worked at a variety of jobs, in various locations, and has also published small press, and semi-pro magazines in the past. Sadly, even though he is now on full time medication, he’s at it again. Memindip and the Persian Poet is the second in the Memindip Quartet—The Death and Life of an Unwilling Investigator series, set in an ‘alternative’ North African city, in 1969. The first of the four, Memindip Solves a Problem, appears in Crimeucopia — We’ll Be Right Back — After This! www.murderousinkpress.co.uk TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome and Introduction 5:40 “Write what you want to write.” 11:50 Tech and Critical Failures 15:30 Word Processing / MS Format & into Fonts 25:00 International Connection Glitching !*#@(%&) 27:00 Finding Software that Works 36:00 Print “Reads” Differently in Audio Form 39:00 Closing Total Run Time = 39:30 Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/01/603-john-connor-on-writing-publishing.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

In this episode we have All Things Narration ~ clearly, concisely, professionally ~ explained by the award-winning narrator / producer Scott Ellis of Scott Ellis Reads. From the various unseen and unheard jobs of the narrator before beginning, through major job of recording sessions and re-recording and the pick-ups after, to making the many files easily available for the writer’s use, the role of a great narrator is to help the writer’s story become more accessible to a wider audience. And Scott Ellis knows all of these jobs. He’s narrated over 100 audiobooks and coached several authors through the production or narration of their first audiobook. Being a retired teacher, Scott is all about performing and teaching. Scott Ellis Reads, his audiobook production company, started in 2019 and has a team of over 20 people that work in narrating, editing, marketing, and managing the business. Awards Audiobook Producer of Magda, Standing - IBPA 2024 Gold Medal Winner Young Adult Fiction Audiobook of the Year Narrator of Puck and Minnie: All That Is - named 2021 Young Adult Fiction Audiobook of the Year by Audiobook Reviewer. LINKS Visit his website:www.scottellisreads.com Visit his Classroom www.serclassroom.com   TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction / Narration as a Business 03:15 Technology and Narration 07:55 How a Narrator Works 11:50 Launching into a Narration 16:57 Funny Story about Accents 20:05 Taking a Chance on the Narration Biz 26:00 A Team of Narrators 33:55 No-No's 36:33 Closing TOTAL RUN TIME = 37:29 #narrationforwriters #narrationbusiness #pickinganarrator #voicesforbooks Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/01/602-writers-scott-ellis-talks-narration.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. The previous series was Fall into Poetry, at this link ~ https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7K1x02UAlihWKKom_5keJrg&si=Te8Jo1vLeu3rVkS4 Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Welcome to Interview Chaos as we interview Writers on Writing to have a great start to 2025. In this week’s episode, our focus is Marie Still, an award-winning thriller and horror author. She’s a marketer turned writer in the coronacoaster year. She took the giant step upon the urging of a friend. Marie Still torments her characters from Tampa Bay. She also writes women’s fiction under Kristen Seeley. Her novels include My Darlings (currently in development as a television series with Amazon MGM Studios), Bad Things Happened in This Room, We’re All Lying (named by Buzzfeed as one of the most anticipated mystery/thrillers of 2023), and Beverly Bonnefinche is Dead (a Silver Falchion Award finalist). Off the page, Marie can be found attempting to corral her five mostly friendly cats for a cuddle, surviving the affection from her very cuddly 150 lb Rottweiler, or keeping up with her four children. She’s also known to surprise her incredibly supportive husband with a new cat, to which he doesn’t complain (too much). TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:41 Introduction / Marie’s technology use 06:18 How Marie Writes 10:00 Roller Coaster Writing 13:00 Deciding to be a Writer 17:33 Marketing a Book vs. a Product 23:13 My Darlings’ Release / Hurricane Interference 27:08 Closing LINKS MarieStill.com Instagram: instagram.com/mariestillwrites TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mariestillwrites Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. The previous series was Fall into Poetry, at this link ~ https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7K1x02UAlihWKKom_5keJrg&si=Te8Jo1vLeu3rVkS4 Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Start 2025 with information about tech tools, productivity, and process as well as a few snippets on craft, all from active writers ... and narrators and publishers. Zoom interviews give us this opportunity. Write on!

Our poem for the Christmas holidays has two lessons for all writers. It comes from T.S. Eliot. My introduction to TSE came in college, either a survey course in modern poetry or as part of a literature survey. Professor C. Hines Edwards, dry and erudite, was one of two that I admired for his knowledge of poetry classical and structure-less. He introduced TSE’s “The Wasteland” to us, a long poem known for its allusions. The literary device allusions has its place in writing. In a few brief words, it opens doors to additional meaning … much as Christina Rossetti’s “From Sunrise to Starshine” did, with our realization that she’s a sleeping beauty, briefly awakened, now in her thorn-guarded tower. The allusion is the first of our two lessons, but it leads into the second, a contradictory lesson and our final one for this series. In January, The Write Focus starts a new series called Writers on Writing, active writers who share their knowledge of tech tools, productivity, and process, with a few snippets on the craft. Here’s Eliot’s poem, perfect for the holiday season. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction 01:17 Allusions / Easter Eggs 03:11 First Lesson 04:40 Symbolic Motifs 05:17 Re-Connecting with TSE 07:45 Second Lesson: Two-Sided 10:13 “The Journey of the Magi” 16:40 Closing Total Run Time = 17:38 #TSEliot #JourneyoftheMagi #Wasteland #HollowMen #allusion #discoverability #symbolicmotifs #motif #writingadvice Analysis is All Original Content / No AI Used LINKS TSEliot bio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot “The Wasteland” https://genius.it/www.bartleby.com/201/1.html “The Hollow Men” https://poets.org/poem/hollow-men “Journey of the Magi” https://allpoetry.com/The-Journey-Of-The-Magi Link to Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2024/12/549-fall-into-poetry-journey-with-ts.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Fall into Poetry. Here’s a link to the first episode: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7K1x02UAlihWKKom_5keJrg    Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

The Write Focus wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving week ~ full of rich holiday food, joyous time with people we love, awkward encounters with other people, and a money blast on Black Friday—which usually extends to Cyber Monday. This episode doesn’t fit with our Fall into Poetry series ~ although it does gift you with poems stuffed with thanks—and not so stuffed. No analysis or advice to writers, just poetry. It’s a Cornucopeia of Poems to share for Thanksgiving. TIMINGS 00:00 Introduction 00:40 “There’s Nothing like the Sun” 2:00 “November Night”, a cinquain 2:23 “I went to thank her” 3:10 Two called “November” 4:30 “Winter” Total Run Time = 5:37

We’re a week to Thanksgiving here in the USofA, and we have not one or two but three poems of gratitude to examine, giving us 6 lessons of Advice for All Writers. These three poems have quirky ways of matching to the holiday, thanks-giving and gratitude. The gratitude doesn’t take the gushing that usually fills most writings about thankfulness. The individual poets present their heartfelt emotion in a realistic manner. They’ve lived real lives and experienced pain and heartbreak, and they share this reality in the hopes that we can gain from their experiences. Reality rather than gushy platitudes? I’m in for that, every time. Like writing strong, rational characters with strong counterparts, allies and antagonists rather than weak straw-men which doesn’t prove anything about strength and intelligence and logic. Oops, preaching again. Herewith, our six lessons and three poems for this episode. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction / Lessons 1 & 2 03:40 Lessons 3 & 4 06:22 Cowper “Gratitude” 08:45 Sandburg “Our Prayer of Thanks” 13:20 Lesson 5 14:45 Nesbit “Gratitude” 16:15 Lesson 6 17:25 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time = 19:31 #audiencereaction #eclecticaudience #discoverability #williamcowper #gratitude #carlsandburg #edithnesbit Analysis is All Original Content / No AI Used LINKS William Cowper bio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cowper Cowper’s poem https://allpoetry.com/Gratitude-And-Love-To-God Carl Sandburg bio https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/american-literature-biographies/carl-sandburg Sandburg’s poem http://carl-sandburg.com/our_prayer_of_thanks.htm Edith Nesbit bio https://www.britannica.com/biography/E-Nesbit Nesbit’s poem https://www.poetry.com/poem/8831/gratitude Link to Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2024/11/fall-into-poetry-prepare-for-6-lessons.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Fall into Poetry. Here’s a link to the first episode: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7K1x02UAlihWKKom_5keJrg    Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

When we live our life in the present, being in the moment, we can develop a love-hate relationship with people and things we encounter daily. We don’t “love to hate” these; we love them at some times while at other times we hate them. We may happily encounter and deal with them, then on a day not too far away, we groan and say, “Not today, please, not today.” That contradiction, that contrariness, is engrained in our human nature. We aren’t changing our minds. Five days from now, love will re-emerge. When someone reminds us “You said you hated thus-and-so,” we retort “When did I ever?”, conveniently forgotten. As writers, we work to keep the predominant mood of a work. We don’t wish to confuse a reader. In longer works, we can gradually shirt the mood, dark to bright, Shorter works are better with one mood. We have strong tools to create mood and manipulate our audience with that mood. Our words are influencers upon the world. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction / Mood / Lesson 1 2:53 Tools to Influence Mood / Lessons 2 and 3 5:35 Frost and Clare 6:19 Frost’s “My November Guest” / Lesson 4 9:57 Clare’s “November” 13:00 Writer as Influencer 14:00 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time = 16:07 Analysis is All Original Content / No AI Used Bio of Frost https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost Bio of Clare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clare “My November Guest” https://poets.org/poem/my-november-guest “November” https://pickmeuppoetry.org/november-by-john-clare/ #johnclare #robertfrost #novemberpoems #mood #connotation #imagery #tone #atmosphere #poetaslegislator Link to Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2024/11/fall-into-poetry-writing-dark-and-bright.html Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Fall into Poetry. Here’s a link to the first episode: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7K1x02UAlihWKKom_5keJrg    Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)