By
On
In Interviews
With 0 Comments


Good Friday, everyone! Can you believe it’s April already? Can you believe we’re almost halfway through the first NaNoWriMo of the year already?! I swear, the older I get, the faster time runs by. Anyway, let me introduce you to Jannie Mitzeiko Harvey, who is so generous to share with us something no writer can do without…

Flexible like a bamboo, adaptable like water, and always in pursuit of quality work and innate personal happiness—these are among a few things that describe Jannie. With the mantra of ‘Time can never be turned back’, combined with her passion for reading and writing, she supports overwhelmed authors with their administrative and marketing tasks so they can focus on what authors love to do: write!

During her spare time, she plans on her next travel, fangirls over her favourite Japanese idol group, Arashi, and saves money for her cat sanctuary. Check out her website here, or follow her on Facebook.

Project Development Planner for Writers

Hi Jannie! What is it that you’ve got in store for us?

Hi! I’ve recently created the Project Development Planner for Writers. It’s a planner specifically designed for the writer. I offer it for free, which is my way of giving back to the community.

And the community loves all things free! How is the Project Development Planner for Writers different from any regular planner?

Read More →

By
On
In Interviews, Special offers
With 0 Comments

Remember that crazy time I posted a Dutch interview… The horror, right?! Lucky for us, Maria Staal, together with Eva Kattz, has another book out, and this one’s in English!

So who are Eva Kattz and Maria Staal, authors of Fiction Builder! Outlining and Plotting your Novel in Three Constructive steps?

Eva and Maria are two friends who, unknown to each other, both set out to write fiction. Eva wrote a number of short stories and novelettes and became reasonably comfortable playing around with words. However, any attempts beyond 30K words inevitably fell apart. Maria at least managed to make it to a 50K words first draft, but without the help of a decent outline, her story became hopelessly stranded in a curiously plot-less world.

While Eva went looking for a How To book or course to help her finish her more extensive outlines, Maria realised she was so new to fiction that she still adhered to the Greatest Myth in Writer’s Land, otherwise known as ‘a magnificent story will come to you if you just sit down behind the keyboard and write!’ They decided to throw their resources together and soon discovered they could have been far more creative and productive years before, if they just had known how to outline properly.

Together they developed a new writing technique that starts where all the other How To Write books stop. Eva’s intuitive approach and vast knowledge of writing techniques perfectly combined with Maria’s practical, pioneering spirit. Now, they both use their own Fiction Builder method to write successful genre fiction.

Fiction Builder!

What is Fiction Builder! about?

Our book is a guide for every author with loads of good story ideas, but who struggles with completing an actual first draft. They end up thinking they are ‘bad’ writers, or, worse, that they lack talent. Fiction Builder! is meant to show these authors that there’s no such thing as a ‘bad’ writer. Anyone can develop their writing skills, and plotting is a vital part of that.Read More →

By
On
In Interviews
With 0 Comments

This month, we’ll be diving deep with Sherrie McCarthy, a writer who currently lives aboard her boat Falkor with her family. Sherrie believes passionately in the ability of creativity to heal. She also knows that life is messy and wonderful and painful and phenomenal. And writing helps sort all of those things out, which is why she created Creative Mermaids.

Creative Mermaids 

What is Creative Mermaids?

Creative Mermaids is about helping creatives dive deep to help them find the real reasons they are not creating. It’s about having the tools to bust past those blocks and living a creative and vibrant life on your terms.

There’s so much out there already. How is Creative Mermaids different?

Creative Mermaids is different because I believe in diving deep. I don’t think the reason we are not creating is as simple as saying we need to manage our time better. Self-sabotage is real and it’s insidious. Our brain likes to lie to us about the real reasons we’re not living the life we want to live. Fear of success is just as prevalent as fear of failure. But in this social media world we also have the fear of a very public failure and success. It amplifies everything. In my courses, books, and coaching, we dig deeper to find out what is really going on beneath the surface. And then we tailor the solutions you need. Not what your best friend needs or thinks you need!Read More →

By
On
In Reviews
With 0 Comments

In Conquering Writer’s Block and Summoning Inspiration: Learn to Nurture a Lifestyle of Creativity (Helping Writers Become Authors Book 5), K.M. Weiland, bestselling author of both fiction and non-fiction books and mentor of authors, offers tips and tricks to stay inspired as an author. Interestingly, halfway through the book, Weiland admits she doesn’t actually believe writer’s block exists. And that explains a lot.

Despite the title, this is not a book for people who suffer from actual writer’s block. As a mentor of writers who have been or are struggling with it, I can’t help but believe it exists and that it wreaks some serious havoc. The same way there is a difference between feeling the blues and being depressed, there is a difference between a writing rut and writer’s block.

If it’s writer’s block you’re suffering from, Conquering Writer’s Block and Summoning Inspiration: Learn to Nurture a Lifestyle of Creativity (Helping Writers Become Authors Book 5) is far from hands-on enough to actually make you conquer it, no matter what the title promises. Read More →