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Gwenda Bond writes YA and children’s fiction. Her novels include the Lois Lane series, which bring the iconic comic book character front and center in her own YA novels, and the Cirque American series, about daredevil heroines who discover magic and mystery lurking under the big top. Her nonfiction writing has appeared in Publishers Weekly, Locus Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. She has an MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in a hundred-year-old house in Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband and their unruly pets. There are rumors she escaped from a screwball comedy, and she might have a journalism degree because of her childhood love of Lois Lane.

Craft Tip: When you’re starting a scene, ground the audience in the scene, where the character is and what they’re doing, rather than in the character’s head.

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[Read more…] about Ep. 031: Gwenda Bond

Aya de Leon directs the Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley. Kensington Books published her debut feminist heist novel, UPTOWN THIEF, in July 2016. Her writing and performance work has received acclaim in the Village Voice, Washington Post, Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, SF Bay Guardian and the East Bay Express. A graduate of Harvard College, with an MFA from Antioch University, Aya has been an artist in residence at Stanford University, a Cave Canem poetry fellow, and a slam poetry champion. She publicly married herself in the 90s, and from 1995 to 2012 hosted an annual Valentine’s Day show that focused on self-love. She also blogs and tweets about culture, gender, and race.

Craft Tip: Adopt NaNoWriMo as a lifestyle. The more you write, the better you get.

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TRANSCRIPT BELOW:

[Read more…] about Ep. 030: Aya de Leon

Special New Year’s episode! I intend to make this an annual episode, and I loved recording this because it made me sit and really think. In this episode, I go back over last year’s goals and whether I hit them or not. I talk about my goals for 2017 (big! awesome! also do less!), including some open, frank talk about financials. Enjoy!

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Transcript after the jump:

[Read more…] about Ep. 029: New Year Goals with Me!

J.F.Penn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers on the edge, as well as bestselling non-fiction for authors published under Joanna Penn. Joanna’s site for writers, TheCreativePenn.com has been voted one of the Top 10 sites for writers three years running. She is a professional speaker on creative entrepreneurship, digital publishing and internet marketing, and was voted one of The Guardian UK Top 100 creative professionals 2013.

Craft Tip: Balance consumption with creation.

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Dani Shapiro is the bestselling author of the memoirs Still Writing, Devotion, and Slow Motion, and five novels including Black & White and Family History. Her work has appeared in many places including The New Yorker, Granta, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and has been broadcast on “This American Life”. Dani was recently Oprah Winfrey’s guest on”Super Soul Sunday.” She has taught in the writing programs at Columbia, NYU, The New School and Wesleyan University; A contributing editor at Condé Nast Traveler, Dani lives with her family in Litchfield County, Connecticut. Her next book, Hourglass, will be published by Knopf in the spring of 2017.

Craft Tip: More than anything: have patience.

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Sign up for Rachael’s FREE weekly email in which she encourages you to do the thing you want most in the world. You’ll also get her Stop Stalling and Write PDF with helpful tips you can use now to get some writing done (free).