The Novel Writing Podcast

Comic book author and serial Kickstarter Caleb Palmquist joins me to talk about what he's learned from running over 20 Kickstarters.

He has a lot to say about failure and finding your audience, both of which are important parts of the "successful creator" journey.

This was a follow-up episode to Halie's interview with Caleb on the YouTube Channel, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFCgDNLxBx4

What to do next…

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What happens when you're in the middle of your draft and the plot has gone out the window, or you have no idea where to go next?

The danger is "procrastiplotting" which I think is just a fancy word for writer's block.

Learn how I deal with Procrastiplotting and how to identify when it's ACTUALLY a problem.

What to do next…

Get the first 5 days of the challenge + worksheets for FREE (trial challenge) Sign up for The 60-Day Novel Writing Challenge Sign up for the next round of Professional Premium Jo...

Did you know you lose up to 23 minutes of attention every time you get distracted?

This is the reality: you can't do two things at once, and if you try, your attention pays for it.

Multitasking has been a myth for years, and yet we all believe we're immune to the actual cognitive cost of task switching, which is what really happens when we think we can write and research at the same time.

Find out more about task switching and what we can do instead in order to make faster progress on...

What are you saying "no" to in order to write? 

We all make tradeoffs in life, and definitely in writing. 

If you've ever had the urge to blame something else for "stopping" you from writing, this episode is for you.

What to do next…

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How would you write a better relationship portrayal?

Not necessarily "better" as in "good", but rather, more realistic. 

We all have good and bad examples of relationships in real life, but I think we all get sucked into the temptation to idealize written relationships.

This episode is a prompt to reevaluate the idealizing, and lean into reality a bit more when writing relationships, no matter what genre you're in.

What to do next…

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What's an ARC reader? 

What do ARC readers even do?

And why do you need to know about them before your book is even done?

As much as many authors hate to admit it, building a readership before you even release is one of the things successful authors do (both indie and traditional), and ARC readers are a key part of that.

Listen to this episode to find out what ARCs do, why they're important, and what to expect when planning an ARC campaign.

What to do next…<...

Sunk cost is the time, effort, money, or energy invested in something that ultimately doesn't work. 

Sunk cost FALLACY is when we believe that we have to keep doing that thing because if we don't, all that investment is WASTED.

But the investments you make into things that ultimately become sunk costs are never wastes, and this episode details why.

So if you've ever felt like you can't give something up but you know it's not the right thing to continue doing, listen to this episode.

Resource: 

https://www.scribbr.co...

Last week's episode may have left you with some questions, primarily this one:

How do you recruit alphas, betas, and critters?

You can find these magical people in several places, but it can feel like hunting unicorns at times.

In this episode, I list a few places you can find ABCs.

What to do next…

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What are alphas, betas, and critters (aka critique partners)? 

Are they different? The same? What exactly do they do?

In this episode, I talk about how I define each of these types of feedback partners, and whether you need any of them at all. 

What to do next…

Get the first 5 days of the challenge + worksheets for FREE (trial challenge) Sign up for The 60-Day Novel Writing Challenge Sign up for the next round of Professional Premium Join The 60-Day Novel Writing Challenge Facebook Group Follow the 60-Day Challenge on Inst...

Have you ever made a decision, started working on it, and then realized that you probably should have chosen something else?

But then you feel like you HAVE to keep going because if you don't, then your integrity is at stake, or you'll feel like a failure if you "quit"?

Insert a decision pivot.

You don't have to remain beholden to the decisions you made in the past, and this episode details how.

What to do next…

Get the first 5 days of the challenge + worksheets for FREE (trial ch...