On this annual birthday episode of the Beautiful Writers Podcast, my wish is to give the gift of conversations you haven’t heard before. Fresh and (hopefully) profoundly helpful content to uplevel your writing experience.
Today’s show makes my heart happy. It’s a collection of excerpts from industry superstars conducted over several years for the Beautiful Writers Group (my membership community, where this podcast was born and creatives get all sorts of writerly support for $25 a month). I’m elated to finally share some of my most cherished snippets of their advice today with you, free of charge.
We start this birthday party off with the author of Get It Done and Start Right Where You Are, Samantha Bennett (who joins me every month to answer questions in our monthly Q & A calls). Sam is a creative genius with an enviable bedside manner. Meaning, she gives our members soulful, tear-jerking, butt-kicking advice they can’t get enough of. I have no doubt she will get you motivated and EXCITED about what you can and will achieve—in as little as 15 minutes a day.
Next, Harrison Scott Key—winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor for his memoir The World’s Largest Man—will make you laugh (and blush) with his insane stories. Nothing and no one in his life are off limits. Harrison’s nearly unbelievable work ethic will either scare the hell out of you or renew your faith in scaling any publishing mountain. Warning: get earplugs for the kids! (Smiley.)
The bestselling author of Paris Letters and A Paris Year, Janice MacLeod-Lik, helps us say YES to our writing life over everything that doesn’t matter. She shares how she scripted a writer’s dream experience by ditching the day job to travel the world—in do-able steps. Plus, I can almost guarantee you’ve never heard what she learned about the power bookstores have over your book covers. (Say, what?!)
Arielle Ford, author of ten books (including her international bestseller The Soulmate Secret) has the unique mindset of having been a literary agent and top book publicist (with 12, #1 NYT bestselling placements). Though grounded and practical, Arielle bleeds mystical. For this show, she shares her Secret Sauce for connecting with the Unified Field, where everything you want—in publishing and in everyday life—is already waiting for you.
Tim Grahl, book marketing rockstar, is the author of Your First 1000 Copies and the recent, Running Down a Dream and helped five of his author clients hit the NYT bestseller’s list in the same week! In this conversation, Tim talks about how to put your best foot forward on Amazon (where, depending on the stat, between 40-65% of books are sold)—which includes details of ramping up your author page and how to get those pesky 1-star reviews removed.
Author Rhonda Britten, who has one of the most painful childhood stories imaginable, created a program to keep from taking her own life. Fearless Living has healed her and countless others and led to four books and an Emmy-winning role as a life coach for TV’s “Starting Over.” Rhonda is always coming up with new tricks and the one she shares here—a touching exercise for connecting deeply with your book—is one of the coolest tips I’ve ever heard.
And finally, acclaimed YA novelist, Aditi Khorana–who was my guest co-host here last month with best-selling novelist Rosie Walsh–shares how her 1,000-word a day diet helps her be so prolific. Among other things in this excerpt, we talk about how to train your beautiful muse to show up and play full out.
I wish I had time to share all of our BWG expert interviews with you here! But you can get immediate access to our full library (and other benefits of membership) at thebeautifulwritersgroup.com.
I hope you enjoy listening to this show as much as I did putting it together! And, I’d love to hear what tips or concepts make you say, “Ah-ha!” over here in the comments section of Facebook.
Yours,
Linda xo
