Category Archives: Audio

Did a freebie online writing workshop today. You can take the workshop.
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The workshop is Creating Characters With Character. My host is Cindy Rushton, and we did this live on the air, so it has the usual rough edges you get with a live workshop…but also the energy you get from someone pacing around the room talking and gesturing (that would be me—cannot sit still while I’m doing a workshop).

I liked the system enough that I’ve created an account for myself. We’re in the midst of chaos (of a good kind) here, so I won’t be able to use it right away. But I’d like to be able to do some live Q&As with writers on your writing questions, and maybe just some discussions on different aspects of writing.

Let me know what you think.

Two Awesome Success Stories
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I got these e-mails today, and received permission to post both of them.

This one from Liz B.

Hi Holly!
I have to tell you straight away. I’m so excited! I’ve bought the Feb Package yesterday, not for the Writers Block course specifically, it was the Hawkspar draft and revision stuff that sold me. I’m sure that “looking over your shoulder” is going to be an education in itself. But last night, as much as I’m aching to read the Hawkspar stuff, I decided to try How to Beat Writers Block instead. I listened to the first four sections of the course. It’s absolutely brilliant! No — it’s better than that — it’s absolutely bloody brilliant!

I have been blocked for a little more than a week now, trying to finish the revision of my WIP. For some people that wouldn’t be a big deal; the only deadline I have is self-imposed. For me it was a big deal because this is a work that I love. It deserves my best and the last chapter wasn’t nearly as good enough, but I couldn’t fix it. The tricks in the Plot clinic weren’t working for me. BTW that one helped me through the sticky middle of this WIP and is a fabulous course too.

This morning everything fell into place! I KNOW what the answers are to the questions I was afraid to ask. And I’ll bet you already know that my muse has been screaming the answers at me for weeks. It’s so OBVIOUS when you let yourself listen!

Thank you just doesn’t cover it. In the unlikely event that I get published (I’m a realist but I still dream) your name will be front and center the acknowledgments.

All the best, and I do hope that March is a better month for you,
Liz

PS. I keep forgetting to put this in. I was lucky enough to be one of the few who recived a signed Talyn hardback last year. I also hit the jackpot again yesterday, when you said I’d get another one. I don’t want to be greedy. You have a lot of fans out there who’d give their right arm … well may not their right arm, it’s really difficult to type one handed … for a signed copy of that. Please send it to one of the people who didn’ t get their order in fast enough to qualify.
Liz

So one more person who came in early yesterday gets a signed copy of Talyn. I’ll notify that person as soon as I check the list to see who was next.

And this one from Nancy B. (Different B, though. :D )

So glad I could help. You offer such tremendous resources, it’s the
least one writer can do for another!! Using one of the items I bought
yesterday, I managed to break through a two year block on a project that
I thought was destined for the incinerator (and I can tell you, the main
character has been none too happy about it — he’s been trying to
insinuate himself into every other project, just so his story can be
told)!

Hope the turmoil on the homefront settles down so that you can
concentrate on “the book”, and that you and yours stay healthy and
happy!!

As we used to say in my youth, Peace, man!

Nancy

I LOVE success stories!

And All the Pieces Are Back Together
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So. Heard from Air Force Kid, and he’s okay. That’s my huge news.

Big news is, the store is back up and running, and has two new goodies.

21 ExplodeThe small one is 21 Ways to Get Yourself Writing When Your Life Has Just Exploded, which I wrote in response to a friend who was beta testing the writer’s block course, but was trying to write after just coming off a couple years of major life upheavals. This is an area where I have lots of practice. I realized that a series of instantly usable solutions to specific writing questions would probably be useful, so this is the first in the CRITICAL SKILLS SERIES.

The next one will probably be 7 Steps to Getting the Book Written When You Have A Job, A Life, Kids, Three Pets, and You Want to Sleep AND Eat, Too.

BWBAnd the final version of How To Beat Writer’s Block (And Have FUN Writing From Now On) is available now, too. It includes 21 Ways, and has gotten some terrific feedback from the beta testers (some of which I’ve included on the page.)

And now, because I’ve been working 14-hour day for the past two weeks, and more than that the past two days, I’m going to go sack out on the couch and take a nap.

Off tomorrow, back to writing Moon & Sun II on Wednesday.

Swamped
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I’m doing final wrapping up on How to Beat Writer’s Block (And Have FUN Writing From Now On). It’s primarily an audio course, but I’m adding some additional written material to it. Reports from beta users are coming back pretty excited, but I did have some problems with accidental overdubbing on one track, and a few funky mislabeling problems, so I’m having to do some re-recording.

The course will debut on Nov. 19th along with the upgraded store software that will let me deliver it. Margaret and the store beta testers are hard at work on THAT end of this whole thing.

Everything is coming together. I think.

I’m just hoping it isn’t doing it in the Bermuda Triangle.

Doing the podcast today
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It’s late. Really, really late. Deadlines clobbered me, but I’m back on my feet now.

And I have a bunch of wonderful questions; today I’ll answer some of them. No new mic yet—the sound will be awful as usual. With luck, the content will overcome that.

Thank You
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I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to listen to the podcasts and vote on the one you thought most useful. The episode with the most votes was Episode 2: Writing Trilogies Series–Part One. I’ve sent that off, and it will be the episode in contention for the first-ever Parsec Award in the category Best Writing Series.

Now there’s a new poll up. How often do YOU write?

Nominated for A Parsec
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The Holly Lisle On Writing podcast has been nominated for a Parsec Award in the category of Best Writing-Related Podcast. Considering what’s out there, I don’t expect to win. However, I do have to submit what I think is the best episode, and I’d like to take my best shot at making the short list. (It’s an honor just to be nominated, but I am … er … somewhat competitive by nature.)

However, I’m not the person to judge best episode, because I’m not the end user. I think the best episode has to be judged by the people who hear it and find it useful, or not, as the case may be, and not by the creator. So I’ve added a poll to the weblog. This will be unscientific—I have no idea how I might reach any sort of random sampling of the people who have listened to the show. But it’s the best I can do on short time and no budget. :D

You can listen to all the shows under consideration just by clicking on the little Libsyn podcast widget in the sidebar to your left. You can get details of the shows on my Libsyn Page. The poll is in the sidebar to your left.

You can also leave comments to this post on why you chose the one you did.

I’ll close the poll this Friday, and send the episode that has the most votes.

Thanks for your help on this.

The Latest Podcast Is Now Available
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This is Episode 4: The One On Deadline.

Warning: I AM on deadline, so I did not edit this at all. All the ummms and ahhhs are still in there, I did not add music, and I did not tinker with the sound quality. This sucker has NO production values whatsoever. Until I’m done with this insane deadline, however, any podcasts I do have to be crammed into writing time, and I can’t afford to be fancy.

My apologies in advance. The questions and answers are both pretty good, I think. The quality of the sound is not.

I also meant to include a direct link to the interview Mur Lafferty did with me, which aired on her podcast, “I Should Be Writing,” last Saturday. Here’s the interview link, belatedly.