POW Podcast UK

We’re celebrating our 40th episode with a little look at ways to boost your creativity. There are many ways to help your creativity, but hopefully you’ll get some new ideas and info from our comprehensive-ish research. 

Also this episode -

• Jenni can’t pronounce ‘Nietzsche’
• More "The Good Place" talk  
• DON’T GIVE UP
• Big up our hero Dr Rangan Chatterjee
• The return of talking about rollercoaster games – woohoo!
• Amazing insights into the world of charity shops and puzzles. 
• A silly word game of Rhyming Tennis

A special bonus episode featuring Jen's meanderings as she attempted NaNoWriMo 2019. 

Jen challenged herself to write a brand new novel over the course of November. That means 50,000 words. It was, as she finds out, a challenge. That is why they call it a challenge. Join her in an audio diary to find out exactly how many words she managed to write each day and her struggles with procrastination and plot lines.

We chat about Jen's NaNoWriMo achievement, what else we've done over the end of 2019 and what books and other sources of inspiration we've found lately. And then we talk a lot about puddings.

While Jenni only cleans her desk when she gets told off by her cleaner, and Marc settles into his brand new tailor-made studio workspace, we talk about the impact that your workspace has on your productivity and creativity.

Looking after and improving your environment is an extension of self-care, and will help you not only avoid procrastination but also being called Mr Treebus (if you don’t know who Mr Treebus is, all is explained in the episode). It makes an impact on your state of mind and when you feel good about where you are, you’re bound to create some amazing things.

Focusing on procrastination and taking on a new angle for this episode, we look at new directions, career paths and how we (well, Jen) could be avoiding big decisions by generally just faffing about.

Join us for a little catch up episode where we check in on each other and how we’re doing, motivation-wise.

We’ve come up against a strange sort of writer’s block when it comes down to finishing our book, so we talk through how writing letters from their characters has given us a push to get into the next phase of novel writing.

Will we achieve our Italian-sauce based goals? Will Jenni’s family get bored with constant pasta dinners? 

We have hit a wall in our book writing process, so we’ve decided to work on our plots.

We’re discussing writing challenges this time – the whys and hows of setting specific goals for your writing. If you want to stimulate your creativity and set some priorities for your writing, a challenge is the way to go.

Writing challenges give you some space to try something different – looking at perspectives, forms, narration and themes that you might not have tried before. Whether it’s something based the style of prose, or something more practical like scheduling in your writing into your day, there’s a writing challenge for you.

After discussing some types of challenges and the theories behind them, we find a challenge that works for us and we’re excited to see how this works for our book!

It’s Chriiiiiiiiistmas! Marc and Jen are back to give you a run down of the best Christmas gifts for the readers and writers in your life. 

With jingle bells at the ready and a naughty elf, Marc and Jen either think about what other people would like (Marc) or just write down what they want (Jen).  Along the way we ponder the trouble with goats and sheep, reminisce about the books we read as kids, confuse Albert with Abdul and reignite the Kindle debate.

Whether it’s a bestseller, something critically acclaimed or an off the wall choice, we’ve got a great selection should you need a last minute present. There’s still time, so make someone happy with a book specially chosen from the masters of procrastination.

In the midst of Nanny Flymo (#NaNoWriMo) Marc and Jen talk about getting feedback from their first chapters and the best ways to deal with critiques and comments from those lucky few that have finally had a peek at your writing.

If you’ve written a novel, short story or any sort of creative writing, there will be a time where you’re going to have to put it front of someone to read it and, hopefully, give you a bit of useful feedback. But what should you do with that feedback? We have some top tips to help you apply any criticism to your work. Whether it’s avoiding taking comments personally, extracting those golden nuggets and common themes or remembering the bigger picture, our advice should allow you to take feedback on board without sinking!

It’s also November, National Novel Writing Month, so check in with how we’re getting on with NaNoWriMo and listen to us talk way too much about pie and the problems with fitting in writing when that tricky old life stuff gets in the way.

This episode we talk to Janu Miah, a leadership and organisational development specialist, about rewards and motivation.

How can we use rewards to get ourselves out of procrastination holes? Jan guides us towards better uses of our time and how our minds work.

We love a bit of reality telly, and we've got properly sucked in to Channel 4's new show, The Circle. It's all about how people use and present themselves on social media, and what lengths they'll go to to become the most popular. 

We chat what we think about it, how it makes us think about our own use of social media (and how lucky we were to grow up on MSN Messenger!) and how the show works. We also talk about how fab Sophie Willan, the narrator of the show, is.

Join us in the excitement! And let us know what you think about The Circle!

Should you be striving for wellness as a creative? Despite the notorious anguished artist stereotype, we believe that you should look after yourself if you want to create amazing things. Looking after yourself and making time for the self care is a priority, and we talk about how you can start to do that.

We're back. You missed us, didn't you?

In this eagerly anticipated episode, we have highlights from our recent writing retreat. We pod directly from a beautiful setting, just outside Leicester, while we edit, rewrite and work through the beginning of our book, Too Much.

Are writing retreats useful? How do you approach them? What’s it like re-reading your first chapters, especially when a lot of them were written about 10 years ago? We cover all these points and more when we do our own mini writing retreat. As well as some plot holes, we discuss the differences in perspective and narrative in the first few chapters and how effective we thought it was.

Yaaaasssss! We have a new Queen! We are too excited about the dramatic reunion and finale of Drag Race Season 10 - and you just knew that we had to share our thoughts with you in another bonus episode!

We talk about the bust up at the reunion, Aquaria's well deserved win, whether the reveals were actually worth it, our dream Drag Parliament, our opinions on Eureka, Asia and Kameron, and of course the BUTTERFLY in the room.

Look out for our next full episode, hitting your devices soon.

How do you develop a plot? In this episode we talk about the best ways to develop your storyline, what the classic plotlines are and how our own novel fits into it all. We also try to fit in a discussion about Horcruxes wherever we can.

Jenni has a massive problem in developing plots on her own, but finds the process easier when writing with Marc. Why is that? We look at different techniques of plotting and storylines, structuring a novel, whether a character can carry a story and if actually it’s all down to confidence.

Also, are plots like songs? Is it all down to character? Are there really only six real plots? Are Christopher Booker’s plots plots, or are they themes? We try to classify our own novel into one of the seven classic plots and work out how we are structuring our storyline. 

Marc also talks about the fantastic background work he's put in on character development behind one of our characters, Darvin, and how it fits into how our plot is developing. Darvin goes from flimsy weirdo to Guy With a Backstory.

In this episode we explore character development by looking at one of our characters in more detail – the lovely Darvin. We explore some popular and less well known ways to capture a personality that you are writing about, while drinking prosecco and gradually becoming more random (and slightly slurred).

How can you approach character development? We look at techniques and tricks for getting an in depth feel for your character’s personality and background. This includes looking at things like online dating profiles, questionnaires, theme songs, family trees and loads more. Jenni and Marc chat about how all of these factors shape the character of our Darv and how it adds to the story.

This episode also includes...

Welcome to another special BONUS episode of the Procrastinate or Write Podcast! 

In this cheeky little extra chat, we talk about the weekend's Eurovision highlights. Find out who we loved, what the UK judges thought and the mysterious meaning behind Marc's Eurovision costume. It's all here!

Look out for our next full episode, hitting your devices soon.

This podcast features a wonderful interview with Esther Fairfax and Jenifer Klepfer - Esther Fairfax is the daughter of Lotte Berk, the creator of the Lotte Berk Technique, also known as ‘slutty yoga’ (although we found out after we recorded this that Esther hates that term!). Esther wrote an autobiography about her mother and her upbringing, and Jenni talks to her and Jenifer about the writing process, what they are writing now, and generally how to approach the wonderful ‘mish mash’ that is life and enjoying it for what it is. Apologies for the sound quality in this one, Jen really has to learn about microphone placement!

What we’ve learnt this episode:

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Procrastinate or Write Podcast! 

Ok, ok, we know, we know...ALL STARS 3 finished ages ago now...but we thought we'd share this nugget of audible wonderment, that we recorded ages ago, as a cute little bonus. You're welcome.

DRAG RACE SPOILER WARNINGS!

Look out for our next full episode, hitting your devices next Monday.

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Procrastinate or Write Podcast! 

Join Jenni and Marc at a cheeky kiki about Ru Paul's Drag Race and the first episode of Season 10!

SPOILER WARNING!

We're so excited about the finale of All Stars 3 that we couldn't wait to have a chat about Ru Paul's Drag Race Season 10 queens and pick out our favourites. Who do you want to win? Who do you think will crash and burn? Will Eureka's knee hold out? Tell us what you think!

Join us next time as we return to our usual scheduling with our April writing challenge!

Welcome to the 12th episode of the Procrastinate or Write Podcast! Join Jenni and Marc in the same room - wowzers - as we talk about the tips and tricks to overcome writers block. Your whole life will be sorted and you will never suffer from writer's block again as a result of this podcast*

What is writer's block? What's the definition of writer's block? Is it about being motivated to write or not knowing what to write next? We explore techniques such as free writing, writing games, motivation, muses and if you need them, as well top tips from Stephen King and other authors/bloggers.

This episode also includes...

In this episode we speak to first time published author and lovely lady, Negeen Papehn on the release of her book Forbidden by Faith.

Jen speaks to Negeen via the wonder of the internet in our first INTERNATIONAL interview! Woohoo!

We find out Negeen’s writing process, how she deals with procrastination and writer’s block and her journey to publication.

We also spend time with a fun writer’s game delving deep into another character in our own book – Hilary! What makes Hilary’s morning? If Hilary’s mum was a celebrity, who would it be?

That's right! It's our best bits! To celebrate our tenth episode...it's our bestest bits!

Thanks for joining us on our journey so far, it’s been lovely having you with us. Since we’ve been podcasting, we have over 40,000 words in our book!

Hello! It's us, Jenni and Marc! We've been friends for year...join us on our writing journey!

Our 9th episode of Procrastinate or Write includes

We are Jenni and Marc, we have been friends for years and we’re writing a book…join us on our journey…It’s Christmas time, there’s no need to be afraid…we’re here!

This episode includes:
- Our very special guest (and friend of the show), Gemma Powell! We discuss motivational techniques used in schools, managing your time, the importance of a digital detox and why it’s important to elevate the quality of your work and life balance…but who is Granny Flymo?

Welcome to Procrastinate or Write!

Its our survey episode! A few weeks back, you may recall taking part in our survey about the things that make YOU procrastinate and what you do to stop...well here are the results...and that's not all...this is the very first time, in POWpodcastUK history, that an episode has been recorded with Jenni and Marc being in the same room...we think you'll agree it's a marvellous joy to put upon your ears!

We are helped by coffee and the antics of Jen's beautiful dog, Boo. As well as the survey, we discuss writing fanzines and have a good old catch up! Enjoy!

Join in our discussion on the opening lines of our favourite books. Our 5th “Procrastinate Or Write” episode includes our chat about about whether the openings lines really matter? Do they set the tone for the whole book, or are they just there to grab our attention as a reader? Has an opening line ever put you off reading a book?

We also learn about the connection between free writing and tomato sauce… which is not to be confused with Italian cake.