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BONUS Conversations with Authors and Industry Professionals
One of the best things about writers is how generous they are, sharing their stories and helpful advice with other writers. We love taking advantage, in the nicest possible way, of that generous spirit and sharing our conversations with The Creative Academy community. If you haven’t joined us yet, there are all kinds of great things waiting for you. Learn More
Motivation (idea to action)
Author Liza Palmer dishes on imposter syndrome
In this conversation, Eileen chats with Liza Palmer, the Emmy-nominated, internationally bestselling author of nine novels, and staff writer for BuzzFeed about imposter syndrome.
Scholar Stacey Miller on the psychology of writing
If you’ve ever kicked yourself for procrastinating when you “should” be working on your book, take 23 minutes to hear what Stacey has to say about why we do it and how we can beat the beast.
Author KC Dyer on her Yahtzee Method
Crystal Hunt chats with Amazon bestselling author and creative writing teacher KC Dyer about how to use her Yahtzee Method for hitting word count goals.
Author Donna Barker on working with a coach
Eileen and Donna chat about their experiences and offer their takes on what to look for in a writing coach.
Community (action to celebration)
Author John Mavin on being a great critique partner
Regardless of which side of the critique page you’re sitting on, John has some great advice to keep you confident in your words and your work-in-progress.
Author + Podcaster Jo-Ann Carson on Podcasts
Crystal Hunt chats with author and podcaster Jo-Ann Carson about starting up her podcast for authors called Blood, Sweat and Words.
Author Ronda Payne on confidence as a writer
Author Ronda Payne chats with Donna Barker about building a writers’ community and the confidence to call herself a writer.
Author Kirsten Mah on the value of a book club
Middle grade author, Kristen Mah chats about the value of a book club to her writing.
Craft (idea to manuscript)
Mary Robinette Kowal on writing short stories
Join Eileen in chatting with Mary Robinette about how writing short stories differ from writing full length novels. She shares her experiences as well as tips and suggestions for other writers.
Author Robyn Harding on writing thrillers
Author Robyn Harding (The Party, Her Pretty Face) shares her wisdom on writing thrillers. We discuss the different kinds of thrillers, using POV to your advantage and her approach to writing.
Angela Ackerman on One Stop for Writers
Angela Ackerman is co-author of six bestselling writing guides. A writing coach and international speaker, Angela believes that writers should never stop striving to learn and grow.
Author Susin Nielsen on writing humour for kids
Middle Grade and Young Adult author Susin Nielsen dishes on her experiences of writing humour for kids.
Publishing (manuscript to book)
Literary Agent Barbara Poelle on working with an agent
This discussion gives you a peek into how one agent works and offers advice for how you may want to pitch your work.
Will Dages from Findaway Voices on Audiobooks
Crystal Hunt chats with Will Dages from Findaway Voices about producing audiobooks, and how that provides some unique opportunities for indie publishing authors.
Voice Actor Brenda Wlazlo on audiobook narration
Brenda Wlazlo, a voice actor who narrates audiobooks talks about how she got into narrating audiobooks, what you need to think about in deciding on different voices for your characters, and what the recording and editing process look like.
Author Eileen Cook on working with an editor
Award-winning author and editor Eileen Cook shares with us about working with an editor and how to get the most out of that process.
Career (book to business)
Industry Pro Corey Alderin on BookBrush
Corey Alderin—Lead Developer at BookBrush— gives us a tour around the tool and shows us how we can use it to easily create professional looking 3D book covers, ads and social media marketing pieces with our books.
Author JP McLean on Rebranding a Book Series
Crystal Hunt chats with author JP McLean about rebranding her book series, and how she handled that process.
Author CJ Hunt on Scheduling Creativity
After having publicly announced her goal to write and publish 40 books by the time she was 40 — at age 38 with just one novel available at the time, CJ knew she needed a plan to achieve this ambitious goal. Learn how she was doing at the 8-month in mark it in this conversation.
Author Carissa Andrews on making writing your career
In this conversation with Donna, Carissa answers questions like: how do you juggle all of your different creative and marketing activities?