Are you wondering if you’re really ready to finish your book? 

Sometimes, it can be hard to tell – especially if we’re getting bogged down by our self-doubt. But that self-doubt can be a sign that you are ready to finish.

Listen to learn: 

• How to tell if you’re really ready to finish 
• Why we don’t always have to be working towards finishing a book
• How some of the best books come about
• Why writing our books takes time 

And while we at Resilient Writers want you to finish your book, it’s also important to remember that we don’t always have to be in a state of finishing to be a “Real Writer.” 

Here’s a sneak peek of today’s episode… 

[02:09]  I really strongly believe that there has to be time in a writer's life where we're just playing around. 

[04:12] I think a writer is someone who writes, but there's no question that it kind of gives you that extra...

How does one end up writing a biography? 

In the case of Merilyn Simonds, she was asked to write one by her friend Louise de Kiriline Lawrence. And though Merilyn didn’t like or read biographies at the time, she agreed. 

It left her with two tasks: searching through years and years of records, and figuring out how she was going to structure this biography. A conventional biography just wouldn’t do—Merilyn needed to be intrigued by the path she chose to follow in the telling of Louise’s story. 

The Path Through Biography, with Merilyn Simonds

Listen to learn: 

• Merilyn’s unique approach to writing a biography 
• How to organise records and research for your writing
• About the use of language at the sentence and paragraph level
• About moving from shorter to bigger writing projects

Here’s a sneak peek… 

[05:20] What bothers me about biographies is that sort of know-it-all stance. “I know...

Writing is a process, one that requires us as writers to continue learning. Or to start learning, as was the case for author Jane Baird Warren. 

Jane took to writing when she was searching for something that could be just for her, at a time in her life when she was a stay-at-home mom with two young kids. Jane fell into unexpected success after placing second in a short story contest, and for a while, felt like she was on top of the world. 

But Jane soon found that she didn’t have enough knowledge about writing to improve her work the way she wanted, and made the decision to return to school and get her MFA. 

But What About Second Book? With Jane Baird Warren

Listen to learn: 

• The importance of continuing to learn about writing 
• The value of having a writing community in your genre 
• About getting published when you’re completely new to the publishing process 
• About breaking the rules in your genre and the obstacles you might...

Being able to sit down and write for a long period of time is many a writer’s dream—but it can be hard to do. 

Life tends to get in the way, and as a result, we may end up putting our writing off. But staying consistent with our writing is important, and easier than you might think!

There are short periods of time in our lives that we can take full advantage of, if we know how to find them. Not every writing session needs to be long in order for us to produce good writing, or for us to see progress. 

How to Find More Time to Write, with Rhonda Douglas

Listen to learn:

• Why writing consistently is important 
• About how writing in Short Time sessions can help 
• How to fit more writing into your schedule 
• The importance of staying connected to your writing 

Here’s a sneak peek of today’s episode: 

[03:34]  I think it’s really important for us to have those times in our writing life, but sometimes...

Just because we don’t know where a writing project is going, doesn’t mean we can’t work on it with intent. 

Rona Maynard didn’t set out with the intent to write a memoir. In fact, what is now her latest book Starter Dog started as a series of Facebook posts, then grew into so much more. 

But those posts wouldn’t have existed if Rona hadn’t been looking for something to write—and if she hadn’t experienced a change in her perspective. 

Writing a Memoir in Essays, with Rona Maynard

Listen to learn:

• About writing memoir in essays 
• How to create structure for memoir in essays 
• How to turn something that isn’t a book into a book 
• How being grounded in our senses can help our writing

Here’s a sneak peek of today’s episode…

[03:04] I just wanted to figure out this great, big, complicated problem. And I thought it was all going to happen in my head.

[10:48] There are the ones...

There’s appeal to getting your MFA—but should you do it? 

An MFA isn’t for everybody, and for some, it’s not even achievable. 

That’s part of the reason why Gabriela Pereira, this week’s guest on The Resilient Writers Radio Show, founded DIY MFA and its accompanying podcast, DIY MFA Radio. 

Gabriela dreamed of a MFA that was more accessible and more affordable, and then took steps to make it happen. And now she shares that with other creatives, encouraging them to take an entrepreneurial approach to not only their education, but also their professional growth. 

MFA Pros & Cons (and your other options!)

Listen to learn: 

• About the barriers you might face in trying to get an MFA
• Why you may not need an MFA to achieve your goal
• About the creation of DIY MFA
• How to take care of your mental health as a writer

Here’s a sneak peek of today’s episode… 

[04:11] And somewhere along the lines,...

As writers, we are driven by inspiration. But a common question we face, both from ourselves and those around us, is, “where does the inspiration come from?” 

There are a million ways to answer this question, because the answer is different for all of us. But inspiration isn’t enough for just anyone to create a project unlike any other. 

Anita Lahey, poet and nonfiction writer, found that hers was enough. But she didn’t create her new graphic novel in verse alone—as she’ll tell you in this week’s episode. 

Listen to learn:

• Where Anita’s writing inspiration comes from 
• What it’s like to work with the same editor for multiple projects
• What it’s like to collaborate with another artist on a book
• The perennial question of what makes a good poem 

Here’s a sneak peek of this episode: 

[10:26] It was really fun, and I don't really know what the end result means, but people seem to like...

Our own lives are great sources of inspiration. There may even be experiences from our past that aren’t just enough to inspire a scene, but an entire novel!

Take The Ghost Keeper, written by Natalie Morrill, which came from a memory she wasn’t even sure she remembered right. 

But that memory, some research, and a submission to the HarperCollins UBC Prize for Best New Fiction, was enough to help Natalie rise from her MFA to become a published novelist.

Writing Historical Fiction, with Natalie Morrill

Listen to learn: 

• How to write a book in a perspective you haven’t lived yourself
• The stakes involved in writing historical fiction
• About the path to publishing via winning contests
• How you don’t have to travel to do research on your novel setting

Here's a sneak peek of today's episode...

[04:30 ] And it sort of came to me then that if I were to look back on my life, say, 20 years from then, what would I regret not doing? I just kind of...

Feedback. This word might make you jump for joy, or it might make you stash your manuscript in the back of the closet, away from prying eyes. 

Regardless of how getting feedback makes you feel, it’s important for writers to know that there is such a thing as a “wrong” time to get feedback. 

In fact, it’s possible that getting feedback at the wrong time can land a critical blow—one that may cause you to put your draft down indefinitely. 

In this week’s episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show, host Rhonda Douglas will go over when the right time to get feedback is, and how we may seek feedback when we’re actually looking for something else entirely. 

How to Get Useful Feedback on Your Writing

Listen to learn: 

• What you need to have done before seeking feedback
• Why you don’t need to send your beta readers a perfect first draft
• What you are actually looking for when you ask for feedback too early ...

Self-publishing gives authors a lot of freedom, but it can also leave us with a lot of questions. There is so much to this process, especially when it comes to the marketing aspect. 

We have to know how to advertise ourselves and our books to attract the right readers and get some books sold—which, for many of us, is a daunting task. 

In today’s episode, guest Shelby Leigh, a bestselling poet and book marketing strategist, is here to talk about her own self-publishing journey, and how she discovered the best way to market her books on social media. 

Listen to learn: 

• The importance of marketing to your specific audience
• How to market your books when self-publishing
• How to use BookTok (that’s “Book TikTok”) for marketing
• Why confidence in your story is important for marketing 

Here’s a sneak peek: 

[03:15] I didn't really know at the time that it was helping me, it was just something...