This Week in Writing

This Week In Writing, Justin celebrates the first season finale with a panel discussion about books! We discuss the best books of the year and books making the best gifts this holiday season.

The amazing panel includes:

• Faith Adiele, author of Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun and a writer of A World of Calm on HBO MAX.
• Eric Smith, author of Don't Read the Comments and literary agent at P.S. Literary Agency.
• Gretchen Hardin, librarian at the Bee Cave Public Library and creator of the bookstagram, Eating Reading.

All of books mentioned in the episode are available in our expanded show notes at The Writing Cooperative.

This Week In Writing, Justin discusses writing about political issues, namely equality, with a panel from Our Human Family. The panel includes OHF founder and editorial director, Clay Rivers, and OHF editor for special projects, Sherry Kappel.

Check out OHF's book, Fieldnotes on Allyship: Achieving Equality Together.

This Week In Writing, Justin talks with Adam Leeb who co-founded Astrohaus, makers of the distraction-free writing device, Freewrite. The two discuss writing without distractions, product launches in a pandemic, and developing products for writers. 

This Week In Writing, Justin talks with Ron Dawson about how his book went from serial installments on Medium to traditional publisher. Plus, we get into NaNoWriMo tips to get you ready for this year's challenge.

Follow Ron on Medium, @RonDawson, check out Ron's book, Dungeons 'n' Durags (don't miss the soundtrack page), and his content marketing company, Blade Ronner Media. 

This Week In Writing, Justin talks to Benjamin Sledge and Kayt Molina about making money writing online. What's going on with the Medium Partner Program and what does it mean to diversify your writing? Find out with this week's discussion. 

This week's panel:

• Visit Benjamin's website and follow him on Medium.
• Follow Kayt on Medium and check out her YouTube channel, It Came From a Box.

This Week In Writing, Justin talks to the panel about self-publishing.

This week's panel includes Anangsha Alammyan and Sarah Hamilton (website, books, instagram).

This Week In Writing, Justin discusses how we improve as writers. 

Discussion Panel:

• Kathleen (Kat) O'Keefe-Kanavos: Website
• Mark Ellis: Website, YouTube
• Nita Sweeney: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube
• William (Billy) Fraiser: Website, Medium, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube

References:

• Natalie Goldberg: Writing Down the Bones
• Cheryl Strayed: Wild
• Nicolas Cole: The Art and Business of Online Writing (featured on Episode 12 of This Week In Writing)
• Simon Sinek: Start With Why (book) and TED Talk

This Week In Writing, Justin discusses how we explore creativity and find inspiration as writers.

Discussion Panel: 

• Rowena Roberts: Website, Instagram, and Facebook
• Michael Shook: Medium

References:

• Phillip Pulman's His Dark Materials trilogy
• Brenda Ueland: If You Want To Write
• TED: Do Schools Kill Creativity by Sir Ken Robinson

This Week In Writing, Justin talks to Nicolas Cole. Cole is a top writers on Quora and Medium. He leveraged both to start an online writing business helping executives tell their corporate stories. Cole just published a book, The Art and Business of Online Writing, where he shares his story and process so you can learn from his journey.

Show links: 

Buy The Art and Business of Online Writing on Amazon.

Visit Cole's website or follow him on Quora, Medium, Twitter, Instagram, and Substack.

Subscribe to Justin's Substack.

Visit The Writing Cooperative.

This Week In Writing Justin talks to a distinguished panel of freelance writers about how they maintain their careers.  

This Week's Panel: Deya Bhattacharya, Kendra Stanton Lee, and Melinda Crow. 

This Week's Featured Article: How To Be A Professional Freelance Writer: Invest In Yourself by Justin Cox 

This Week's Featured Links: (some links provide a small compensation if you purchase a product or service) 

• Your Yahoo Account Info Was Definitely Hacked by Laura Hautala 
• Hover 
• Dreamhost 
• TechTalk Newsletter by David Koff 
• 33mail 
• Why Serious Medium Writers Need a Personal Website by Danny Forest 
• Carrd 
• Wordpress Now Powers 30% of Websites by Paul Sawers 
• ProWritingAid

This Week In Writing, Justin is joined by Gretchen Hardin, librarian at the Bee Cave Public Library outside of Austin, TX. She gives us some great action book recommendations for our late summer reading. Plus we discuss her fantastic Instagram account, Eating / Reading which supplies a never-ending list of book recommendations paired with fantastic food. What more could you ask for?

Plus, stay tuned for 3 Reasons Your Fight Scene Sucks by J.A. Taylor

Are you writing fight scenes? Do they suck? In this week's featured article, J.A. Taylor shares some tips and tricks to make your fight scenes pop. Follow J.A. on Medium @itsjimnotjames.

Episode Links

• Scarlett Undercover by Jennifer Latham 
• Hope Never Dies: An Obama/Biden Mystery by Andrew Shaffer
• Steelheart by Branden Sanderson (part of The Reckoners Series)
• The Witcher Series by Andrzej Sapowski
• Eating / Reading on Instagram
• Follow Gretchen on Twitter
• Follow Bee Cave Library on Instagram

This Week In Writing, Justin is joined by Eva Gutierrez and Kirstie Taylor of Content Writer's Mastermind for a discussion about content writing.

What is content writing? How do you get started as a content writer and pitch your first client? And how do you deal with rejection? We cover all these topics and more.

Episode Links

Patreon.com/ContentWritersMastermind

Follow Eva Gutierrez: @theevagutierrez on Instagram, Website

Follow Kirstie Taylor: @wordswithkirstie on Instagram, Website

How To Tell Everybody That You're In Writing Mode by Viggy Hampton

Writing from home can be difficult, especially when you don't live alone. Thankfully, Viggy discovered an unconventional way to signify she's in writing mode. Follow Viggy on Medium @vmp22.

This Week's Discussion: What is your quirky writing ritual? 

Do you have a routine that gets you in the zone to write? That's what we're talking about in today's discussion.

This Week's Links:

Rhode Island Novelty Brown Emoji Poop Hat

What is Burnout and is it Permanent? by Emily Wilcox

You will have heard of it. You will have felt it. And you will have, I’m sure, wholeheartedly resented it. In today's episode, Emily Wilcox shares how writers can overcome burnout. Follow Emily on Medium @emwilcoxwrites.

This Week's Discussion: What is your favorite word?

We all have one. What is yours and how do you slip it into your writing?

4 Things I Did To Improve My Vocabulary by Devin Gleeson

How sizable is your diction? Did you know there are active and passive vocabularies? In today's featured article, Devin Gleeson shares how to grow your vocabulary. Follow Devin on Medium @DevinGleeson.

This Week's Discussion: What is your favorite word?

What is your favorite word and how do you weave it into your writing?

This Week's Links:

English Live: How Many Words Are In The English Language

The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon

When Were French Words Borrowed Into English?

Eytmonline

Characters Done Well: Personality Traits by Lynda Dietz

Have you ever taken a personality test? The DISC, Meyers-Briggs, Enneagram? In today's Featured Article, Lynda Dietz shares how these tests can help build our characters. Follow Lynda on Medium @lyndadietz4.

This Week's Discussion: What is your personality type? 

We talk about our personalities is and how they help or hinder our writing.

This Week's Links:

DISC Personality Test

16 Personalities

HumanMetrics Personality Test

The Personal Essay is Not Dead by Cherie Glimour

Apparently, the personal essay is dead. It died the same year as Miley Cyrus’ ‘Bangerz’. In today's Featured Article, Cherie Glimour explains why personal essays and blogs are still a valid form of writing. Follow Cherie on Medium @cherielee_37146.

This Week's Discussion: Do you experience writer's block? 

This week we share a few unique ways to overcome the pesky problem.

This Week's Links:

The Personal Essay Boom is Over by Jia Tolentino

The First Person Industrial Complex by Laura Bennett

I Married a Conservative by Cherie Glimour