Episode 79: Learning to Listen and Ignore, with R.L. Syme

Author and career coach Becca Syme writes mystery as R.L. Syme, including the cozy culinary series The Matchbaker Mysteries, and has written several genres of romance, including historical, contemporary, paranormal, and romantic suspense. She was nominated for a Genesis Award in Contemporary Romance and has won several writing contests in historical romance, young adult romance, and contemporary fiction. She holds membership in Romance Writers of America, Novelists, Inc. (NINC) and Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

Becca lives in the snowy mountains of Montana and has worked with kids in various nonprofit settings that involve music, theater, dance, food, and after-school fun.

She’s the creator and founder of the Better-Faster Academy, and has been teaching the popular Write Better-Faster course on author success alignment for six years.

In a broad-ranging conversation, host Patricia McLinn talks to Becca about learning throughout a writing career both by listening to others and, sometimes, ignoring them.

In R.L.’s words: “I have a mantra that’s, ‘question the premises.’ and so its, the advise that might be really great for you might actually make me not able to write.” [37:10]

You can find R.L. Syme at:

Her website

Facebook

Patreon and

Goodreads

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

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Episode 76: Finishing the Book, with Sara Rosett

A native Texan, USA Today bestselling author Sara Rosett grew up reading and dreaming of writing books. Her stories and essays have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Military Wife’s SoulGeorgia MagazineThe Writer and Romantic Times Book Review.

She is the author of the High Society Lady Detective series, the Murder on Location series, the On the Run series, and the Ellie Avery series. Sara also teaches an online course, How to Outline a Cozy Mystery.

Publishers Weekly called Sara’s books “satisfying,” “well-executed” and “sparkling.” She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and Novelists, Inc.

Sara talks with host Patricia McLinn about completing her first book, and nurturing a writing career.

In Sara’s words: “I said, if I’m going to spend any time doing anything, I want to write a book because that’s something I’d always wanted to do. I thought, if I’m going to take time away from being a mom and running the household and all that, ’cause I had two kids under 3, I would try and write. So that’s what I did. I wrote during nap time and it took me forever, but I finally got a book finished.” [32:04]

You can follow Sara at:

Her website

Amazon

Goodreads

And Facebook

sara rosette authors love readers

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

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Show Notes

Transcript coming soon

https://vurbl.com/station/3kQK3bj0mxX/

 

Episode 67: The Extras: Doubling Down with Paty Jager and Julianne MacLean

Host Patricia McLinn shares never before heard clips from conversations with authors Paty Jager, right, and Julianne MacLean. These conversations focus a singular subject: How their own stories often have surprised them.

julianne maclean paty jager

Paty Jager developed as a freelance writer for local newspapers. Now as a published and award winning author, she works from her alfalfa farm in Eastern Oregon. All her work has Western or Native American elements in it, along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her penchant for research takes her on side trips that eventually turn into yet another story.

Julianne MacLean is a USA Today bestselling author of more than 30 novels, including historical romance and the contemporary women’s fiction Color of Heaven series. MacLean is a four-time Romance Writers of America RITA finalist and has won the Booksellers’ Best Award, the Book Buyers Best Award, and a Reviewers’ Choice Award from the Romantic Times for Best Regency Historical Romance of 2005 (Love According to Lily).

You can follow Paty at her:
or
paty wager

You can find Julianne on:

*Her website

*Facebook

*Twitter

julianne maclean

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

Episode 66: The Extras: Overtime with Ann Charles

USA Today bestselling author Ann Charles writes award-winning mysteries that are splashed with humor, romance and whatever else sounds fun. Ann lives in the Northern Arizona mountains with her husband, children and a sassy cat. After many years and several colleges, she obtained her bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis on creative writing from the University of Washington.

When she’s not dabbling in fiction, she’s penning writing-themed articles or standing on her workshop soapbox, sharing what she has learned over the years about the writing craft and self-promotion.

Ann Charles and host Patricia McLinn compare and contrast setting stories in real versus imaginary places, talk about deadlines, goals and more in this extras episode.

You can find Ann at:

her website

Instagram

or

Twitter

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month by pledging atPatreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

 

Episode 62: A Long Time Coming, with Paty Jager

Award-winning author Paty Jager and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. On her road to publication she wrote freelance articles for local newspapers and enjoyed her County Extension job as a 4-H Program Assistant. Raising hay and cattle, riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her penchant for research takes her on side trips that eventually turn into yet another story.

Paty talks with host Patricia McLinn about what it takes to move from a concept to a book and all the iterations in between. This “long time coming” reflects Paty’s own road to becoming a novelist.
In Paty’s words: “My ideas come from everywhere … I’ll be listening to a song and I’ll come up with a story that goes with it because it won’t go away. So then I put it aside and write it down.” [17:20]
You can follow Paty at her:
or
authors love readers paty jager

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month — that’s only 25 cents per episode! What a deal! — by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

authors love readers paty jager

Episode 60: Don’t Fight the Story, with Laura Durham

North Carolina-based Laura Durham has been writing for as long as she can remember and plotting murders since she began planning weddings. Better Off Wed, inspired by her wedding planner work, won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. The Annabelle Archer wedding planner mystery series is now up to 12 with the Feb. 4 release of The Truffle With Weddings, which involves a Valentine’s Day wedding and a poisoned box of chocolates.

When Laura isn’t writing or wrangling brides, she loves traveling with her family, paddleboarding, perfecting the perfect brownie recipe, and reading.

Laura talks with host Patricia McLinn about how stories have a mind of their own and, as much as the writer might desire the story to go one place, she or he must heed the story.

In her words: “I feel like when you’re writing and something is stuck, or you feel like you are … sometimes we’re fighting against what needs to happen in the story.” [26:02]

You can follow Laura at her:

website

Twitter

or

Instagram

laura durham authors love readers

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month — that’s only 25 cents per episode! What a deal! — by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

Episode 59: Writing the Familiar and Unknown, with Jeff Carson

Jeff talks with host Patricia McLinn about how he began writing while missing things familiar but digging into the freedom of writing things that are unknown.
In his words: “One of the biggest mantras I was telling myself was ‘what would I not do in this situation?’. I’m a super cautious person in real life — probably like a lot of people — but David Wolf goes into danger head on! So I ended up not writing what I knew.” [8:10]
You can follow Jeff at:
or

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month — that’s only 25 cents per episode! What a deal! — by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

Episode 57: Writing to the Finish, with Melissa F. Miller

Former attorney Melissa F. Miller is a USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 bestselling legal thrillers, suspense thrillers, romantic comedy mysteries and forensic thrillers. Her books share two common threads: pulse-pounding, tightly plotted action and smart, unlikely heroines and heroes.

Born in Pittsburgh, Melissa followed life and love to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and ultimately south central Pennsylvania. But she secretly still considers Pittsburgh home.

As a lawyer, she clerked for a federal judge, practiced in the offices of major international law firms and ran a two-person law firm with her lawyer husband. Now, powered by coffee, she writes legal thrillers and homeschools her three children.

More than 1 million readers have downloaded Irreparable Harm, the first book in her 11-title Sasha McCandless series. Twisted Path, Book 4 of her Bodhi King series, is set to release Feb. 19. Her most recent release (December) is the fifth story in the We Three Sisters romantic mystery series, Wedding Bells and Hoodoo Spells: Sage’s Wedding.

Melissa talks with host Patricia McLinn about source envy, how deadlines affect your writing, and what to do when you’re ready to throw out your half-written book.

In her own words: “I never go hunting for ideas. And I’m sure you’ve had this experience: people will tell you they have a great idea for a book and maybe you want it. And you think, I have more ideas than I could possibly write.” [11:09]

You can find Melissa at:

Her website,

Facebook

Twitter

and

Instagram

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month — that’s only 25 cents per episode! What a deal! — by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

Episode 55: Plotting Ahead, with R.J. Patterson

R.J. Patterson, an award-winning writer and mystery/thriller author, grew up in a military family and spent some of his formative years living on the estate of an English baron and baroness. Upon returning to the United States, R.J. entered the field of journalism where he won numerous writing awards and was published in prestigious U.S. newspapers, including The New York Times. He later left journalism full-time to pursue writing books, starting with the sports reporter Cal Murphy series of murder mysteries. The Man From Leningrad, Book 5 of his Ed Maddux spy thriller series, came out in November. Book 16 of his popular Brady Hawk series is due to be released in February.

R.J. now resides in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and four children.

R.J. talks with host Patricia McLinn about plotting ahead to create continuity while maintaining the flexibility to bring back beloved characters.

In his own words: “I have a big arc that I scripted out a long time ago — this is where the story is going and where it’s going to end up. And so about 10 percent of it is that thread in all the novels … that strings them together.” [20:35]

You can find R.J. at:

His website

Facebook

and

Twitter

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month — that’s only 25 cents per episode! What a deal! — by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

Episode 54: You Have to First Be a Reader, with J.F. Penn

British author J.F. Penn has traveled the world in her study of religion and psychology. She brings these obsessions as well as a love for thrillers and an interest in the supernatural to her writing.

Her fast-paced ARKANE thrillers weave together historical artifacts, global locations, and a hint of the supernatural. Described by readers as “Dan Brown meets Lara Croft.”

Joanna talks to host Patricia McLinn about using traveling at motivation for her books and how she spent many years as a reader before becoming an author.

In Joanna’s own words: “All readers are intelligent people, and they know books, they love books, and it intimidates them. And they think, ‘I could never do that.’ But the problem with being a reader is you’re reading a finished product. SO the thing that kind of changed my life as a writer was realizing that there was a first draft.” [10:06]

You can find Joanna at her:

Website

Facebook

or

Twitter

jf penn authors love readers

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the podcast enough to want to support us for future episodes. You can do that with as little as $1 a month — that’s only 25 cents per episode! What a deal! — by pledging at Patreon. It’s vital to Authors Love Readers to have your support. Thank you!

Please also consider rating/reviewing the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thanks to DialogMusik for the instrumentals that accompany this podcast.

authors love readers joanna penn