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EP 361 - The Author Wheel with Greta Boris and Megan Haskell

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Release Date: 05/23/2024

EP 389 - "Now You've Gone" with Cathy Rankin and Ken K. Mary

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews Cathy Rankin and Ken Mary about Cathy's new single "Now You've Gone." On October 29, 2024, Cathy Rankin released her debut single “Now You’ve Gone,” featuring renowned musicians David Ellefson (formerly of Megadeth) Ken Mary (formerly of Alice Cooper) and John Ronson. The emotional track, inspired by deeply personal experiences, reflects on themes of love, grief, and ultimately hope. Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word from this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by the - Only available until the end...

EP 388 - Unconditional Boundaries with Andy Lidstone

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews Andy Lidstone about the unconditional boundaries he talks about in his life coaching as the Uncondictional Coach. This episode is sponsored by the patrons who support this podcast at and . Links of Interest: Andy Lidstone is the Unconditional Coach. Andy's biggest dream it to help other people reach their goals. And HIS goal is to help people of all walks of life make their dreams into reality. He believes the best communities are the ones made up of people that build each other up and help one another reach for the...

EP 387 - Rambling Reflections From The Disappointing Aftermath

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

In this solo episode Mark reflects on how disappointed he is with the recent US election, and the importance of creators, artists, and writers to continue to do their work as storytellers and improving the world. This episode contains adult language, but only for a brief moment when Mark loses his cool when trying to express his anger and frustration. Links of Interest: (Book) The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of and is Licensed under...

EP 386 - Inside Every Poem, a Raging Sea of Writerly Advice with Liz Worth

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews Liz Worth about her new poetry book Inside Every Poem, A Raging Sea. Mark skips the regular introductory matter to skip right to the interview. In their interview Mark and Liz talk about: How the book is about p laying with the idea of the cross-over or similarities between spell-writing and poetry The way that every line, every word counts in each of them Thoughts on what intuition really is as opposed to what many people think it is The importance of having to know the rules before you break them and how that works in both divination and writing How a lot of the poems...

EP 385 - Rambling Reflections From The Road: Go West Not So Young Man

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

In this solo episode, Mark shares a few thoughts from his hotel room in Victoria, British Columbia, on Canada's West Coast. This episode is sponsored by the patrons who support this podcast at and . Links of Interest: The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By

EP 384 - Rambling Reflections From The Road: World Fantasy Con 2024

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

In this solo episode, Mark shares a few thoughts from the hotel room at World Fantasy Con 2024 in Niagara Falls, New York. This episode is sponsored by the patrons who support this podcast at and . From Mark's extremely detailed bullet points about what he wanted to reflect on: 1) Coming to WFC. 2) The nature of relationships in the writing world/community 3) Feeling like a real writer (via recent events) 4) But also feeling like a failure - afternoon at Indigo 5) Links of Interest: The introductory, end, and bumper music for...

EP 383 - 20 Haunting Years

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

In this solo episode Mark talks through the logic and reasoning behind a recent book launch by sharing a little of his own experience and publication history. This episode is sponsored by the patrons who support this podcast at and . Mark shares the behind-the-scenes story of: Why he first self-published the book One Hand Screaming in 2004 The logistics and strategy behind making it fully returnable and why he was trying to push the envelope of publishing so early in the digital publishing revolution A little bit of his experience as a writer in those manual "mail out...

EP 382 - From Page to Platform: How to Succeed as an Author Speaker

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

EP 381 - Showcasing Independent Bookstores, Publishers, And Authors with Andrew Snook

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews Andrew Snook about his writing and editing work as well as Canadian Independent Publishers magazine, which is celebrating its first anniversary. Prior to the interview Mark welcomes new Patrons, shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor This episode is sponsored by FROM PAGE TO PLATFORM by Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn. You can learn more about the book at . In their conversation, Mark and Andrew talk about: Celebrating the first year of publishing Canadian Independent Author Andrew's first ventures self-publishing...

EP 380 - Passion Project Publishing with Brianna Wodabek

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews Brianna Wodabek, Assistant Manager of Digital Marketing at HarperCollins about her lifelong love of reading, books, and writing, and her evolution in the book industry. Prior to the interview Mark welcomes new Patrons, shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor This episode is sponsored by FROM PAGE TO PLATFORM by Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn. You can learn more about the book at . In their conversation, Mark and Brianna talk about: How Brianna always loved reading and writing, but also knew that she wasn't...

More Episodes

Mark interviews Greta Boris and Megan Haskell of The Author Wheel.

Prior to the interview Mark shares a brief personal update and a word from this episode's sponsor.

Prior to the interview, Mark reads comments from recent episodes, shares a personal update, and a word about this episode’s sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by ScribeCount (affiliate link). Spend less time logging in to multiple platforms and crunching numbers, and more time writing and marketing your books thanks to ScribeCount’s handy all-in-one interface.

In the interview Mark, Greta, and Megan talk about:

How Megan started writing as a creative outlet when she was working for a major accounting firm
The writing done on the train on the way in to work in Los Angeles and the blogs she had written
Continuing writing after having her daughter in 2012 and then publishing her first book before her second child was born
Greta's magazine background (her father was an editor and publisher of some major magazines back in the day)
The writing she did for a number of magazines over the years and the various genres and topics she took on
Being inspired by interviewing a bunch of fiction authors, including Joanna Penn
How Greta got her first publisher doing a Twitter pitch
Twitter pitches being really good for writing log lines
Megan and Greta's "meet cute" at the Southern California Writer's Conference in 2014
Pitching a course to that conference at a later date so they could attend it again without having to pay which got turned into a book (Publish: Take Charge of Your Author Career)
How they started The Author Wheel courses, podcast, and other resources
The metaphors for The Author Wheel
The way they try to break topics down into the smallest bits possible to simplify people
Why it's helpful to recognize that authors are all at different places and there are so many different paths and choices an author can make
Their course Trope Stacking and Other Genre Magic which is a companion to a quick-guide Understanding Your Genre
Greta's pioneering with writing a book she felt was a "Cozy Horror" novel
Strategies for mixing and layering in genres that are complimentary to one another while creating something unique
How writing to an outline made Megan feel like her creativity was being stifled
The way that Megan and Greta collaborate in their writing, the podcast, the social media, and the courses
And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on the idea of the "Twitter pitch" and the benefit of having to craft writing that has tight restrictions as well as the importance of understanding that there's no one-size-fits-all solution, and that there's no single right way for authors to do things.

Links of Interest:

Greta Boris is a USA Today Bestselling mystery and thriller author. Megan Haskell is an award-winning fantasy adventure author. Together, they founded The Author Wheel, publishers of books, courses, and a podcast to help writers overcome roadblocks and keep their stories rolling.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

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