Log in

goodpods headphones icon

To access all our features

Open the Goodpods app
Close icon
headphones
Big Better Best Books

Big Better Best Books

Katarina Wallentin

With Authors, Readers & Other Endangered Species. Welcome to the Big, Better, Best Books podcast, a different kind of conversation with writers, illustrators, publishers, and book lovers from all around the globe. True storytelling is an art that refuses to die, a magic that will not be diminished. Every first page is the beginning of something new, a dance between author and reader that has never existed before. What creates a tale we get lost in? A story that touches us? What is fan fiction and why can't our kids get enough of it? Where is that elusive road to publication? And how do you write a book that changes the world? Your guide is author, speaker and dreamer – Katarina Wallentin. Come join us!
bookmark
Share icon

All episodes

Best episodes

Top 10 Big Better Best Books Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Big Better Best Books episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Big Better Best Books for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Big Better Best Books episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Big Better Best Books - One Of The Very Best Books I've Ever Read
play

09/10/19 • 30 min

What is one of your best book experiences? Talking about your favorite books can be a difficult conversation, especially if you’re an avid reader like today’s two lovely guests, because books serve different functions in different times and different areas of our lives.

Rebecca Hulse and Marilyn Bradford join Katarina today to discuss the books that have made the greatest impression on them in different periods of their lives, and how these books have impacted their lives.

Listen to open up new possibilities with books, discover new books, and learn how certain books find you, change you, and show you that other realities are possible beyond this reality.

Key takeaways:

  • Choosing the best book is impossible
  • Opening up whole new worlds of possibilities with books
  • Different books give us different things at different times of our lives
  • What is one of your best book experiences?
  • Characters who choose something greater
  • It’s not always about how well-written a book is, it’s about a sense of something greater
  • When the experience is over, what next?

Books:

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Big Better Best Books - The Adventure of Writing...You

The Adventure of Writing...You

Big Better Best Books

play

07/16/19 • 35 min

What is being you to you? Today is a special storytelling episode, as we talk about a book called “The Very Greatest Adventure is You Truly Being You,” a compilation of stories and quotes from people all over the world about what it really means to be you.

This conversation is an invitation to see the difference of you and acknowledge and celebrate it, not from separation, but really getting the gift of you that doesn’t exist anywhere else.

Listen to hear from some of the contributing writers from the book share their inspiring stories on the podcast and discuss the experience of creating the book together and learning about each other and themselves through the process.

Key takeaways:

  • Being you is something you create
  • Storytelling with the authors
  • Are you going to a party?
  • Coloring outside the lines
  • Why don’t they get it?
  • No need to hide
  • Being you, changing the world

Resources:

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Big Better Best Books - Meet the Writer Behind the Author
play

06/04/19 • 30 min

What is a ghostwriter? The ghost behind the pen. The surrogate parent. With the rise of self-publishing and the interest of personal journeys and stories, many people have the desire to share their story, even if they aren’t themselves writers, and ghostwriters give them the opportunity to do this.

Today, I am joined by the mysterious Teresa Stenson to talk about the secrets of ghostwriting. She is a published author under her own name, but also works with many other clients to help them tell their stories.

Join us to learn about what a ghostwriter does, what it’s like to be a ghostwriter, how they find the right voice, and the skill of grasping the essence of how a person expresses him or herself.

Key takeaways

  • Ghostwriters: how do they work?
  • Tricks for getting unstuck
  • The ghostwriting market
  • Writing autobiographies for other people
  • Advice for those interested in the profession
  • Ghostwriting opens your eyes to look at the world in a different way
bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Big Better Best Books - Flawless Communication Rediscovered
play

04/23/19 • 32 min

So many people try to communicate from a space that’s not them. Are you being you? Are you communicating from who you are? Or from the idea of who you think you should be? When you’re willing to show up as the uniqueness that you are, that is such a contribution to the planet.

My guest today is Kass Thomas, author of 7 Steps to Flawless Communication. Join us as we discuss the book and how Kass was inspired to write this excellent guide for greater communication, taking a complex topic and making it accessible to anyone.

Listen as Kass takes us through the steps and explains what it takes to become better communicators, and how that begins with understanding ourselves. Learn exercises and tools for transforming the way you connect and communicate with everything and everyone around you.

Key takeaways:

  • Why she wrote the book
  • The book is short and simple to understand, yet so powerful
  • Step one: show me the magic
  • Exercises and tools for better communication
  • Expand your zone and reconnect with the universe
  • Your communication is without flaw when you are present with it

Resources:

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Big Better Best Books - What The Bleep Is Fan Fiction?

What The Bleep Is Fan Fiction?

Big Better Best Books

play

02/12/19 • 29 min

What is fan fiction? Have you ever finished a television show, book, or movie and wished it could go on or felt disappointed in the ending? If so, fan fiction might be the answer!

According to our expert guests, Emilia Foot Wallentin and Ellen Santiago Pettersson, fan fiction is a continuation of a franchise you think ended too early or your own personal input of something you feel it was was missing, such as minority and LGBT representation.

Tune in to learn what inspires people to write fan fiction, why people are so passionate about it, and how you can get involved in reading or even writing your own fan fiction online.

Key takeaways

  • What is fan fiction exactly?
  • When writing RPF (real person fiction) authors must be careful
  • What’s so fun about writing fan fiction?
  • People often use fan fiction to write in representation they want to see, such as LGBT characters
  • Explaining the different terminology used in fan fiction

Resources:

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Big Better Best Books - Are ghosts the new black

Are ghosts the new black

Big Better Best Books

play

01/15/19 • 28 min

If people stopped ignoring spirits, what would be possible? What would happen in the world? Consciousness is available and magic is all around us, and you can make it dark or you can make it bright. It’s your consciousness that affects the universe, not the universe affecting your consciousness.

Shannon O’Hara heard voices and saw things as a child, thinking it was normal. Not until she was a little older did she begin to think she was crazy. Shannon’s book, Talk To The Entities, is about getting out of the fear, the judgment, and the upset about being conscious, especially of ghosts.

Listen to learn what it means to be conscious of entities (or ghosts), and why we don’t have to be afraid of them. Shannon shares the basic tools for dealing with ghosts, the different ways of perceiving entities, and why it doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult.

Key takeaways

  • Shannon co-created her book with entities
  • People who are entity sensitive are not part of the mainstream and not empowered
  • Shannon is currently working on a children’s book about entities
  • Dealing with ghosts isn’t scary, it isn’t complicated, it isn’t hard
  • It’s your consciousness that affects the universe, not the universe affecting your consciousness

Resources:

  • Talk To The Entities website
  • Talk To The Entities book
bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Big Better Best Books - Can You Die Happy?

Can You Die Happy?

Big Better Best Books

play

12/18/18 • 27 min

What if you can actually have ease with grief? Dying Happy: The Gift of Choice is a book by Wendy Mulder about looking after someone who is dying and doing it with ease and gratitude.

The biggest tool for Wendy was, right at the beginning, she made the choice care for her mother with ease, without stress, and without getting caught up with all the things that might go on when someone is ill.

Listen to learn how to receive the gift of being with someone who is dying, experiencing gratitude each day through the tools of Access Consciousness and the the possibility of choice, which honors that person and their life.

Key takeaways

  • Wendy’s book, Dying Happy: The Gift of Choice, came about through her experience taking care of her dying mother
  • She made a choice in the beginning to go through the process with ease
  • Access tools helped her experience each day with gratitude, freshness, and enthusiasm
  • What if you didn’t have to go into sadness?
  • The choice that you give your loved one by being with them with no point of view and no judgement is honoring of them and their life

Resources:

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Big Better Best Books - The Children's Book For Adults (Too)
play

09/24/19 • 24 min

Do you have the magical capacity of awareness? Today’s guest is Diva Diaz, a woman of many talents who has also recently become a children’s book author. Her first book is called Magia and the Feelings That Flew...Away, a book with a melody, one that takes you on a journey that children and adults of all ages can learn from and enjoy.

Magia is a little girl who lives in a magical land where many things are the opposite of what they appear to be. The book follows Magia’s journey to school one morning as she encounters different things and takes on the same feelings as those things. But she realizes those feelings she has are not her; it’s just her awareness of the world around her.

In Diva’s personal life, she works with something in Access Consciousness called X-Men, which is about how aware we truly are. Listen to learn about the difference between sensitivity and awareness, and how what we think is so wrong about us is actually our greatest strength, power, and ability.

Key takeaways:

  • The traditional form of rhyming: a melodious journey
  • What’s the difference between sensitivity and awareness?
  • Getting back to the core of who we were before we learned to be scared, doubtful, or untrusting
  • There’s nothing wrong with any child, it’s about the capacity behind the behavior
  • A huge door is opening for children labeled with autism, ADHD, and other “disabilities”
  • Asking questions that empower your children
  • The next Magia book: what new adventures will she go on and what will she learn?

Resources:

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Big Better Best Books - Goodbye

Goodbye

Big Better Best Books

play

10/08/19 • 1 min

Welcome to the last episode of the Big, Better, Best Books podcast. We are saying goodbye as Katarina takes a break from the amazing world of books and goes on some other wonderful adventures.

Thank you to everyone who has listened, everyone who has sent emails, and everyone who has ever recommended Big, Better, Best Books to one of your friends. If you would like to listen to any of the previous episodes, you will continue to be able to find them at bigbetterbestbooks.com or katarinawalletin.com

Remember: Books ARE magic. They HAVE magic. And they can create magic, if you allow them.

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Big Better Best Books - A Million Shades of Erotica

A Million Shades of Erotica

Big Better Best Books

play

01/29/19 • 31 min

What is erotic literature? What is it that actually draws us to it and makes it so exciting? Erotic fiction has always existed, even in ancient times, and erotica is much bigger than a sexual act. It gives us something that makes the world bigger and pushes our boundaries.

Georgia Watson is an Access Consciousness facilitator, a horse person, a painter, and she also has a secret business as an online dominatrix. She is today’s expert, and together we will explore the topic of erotic novels, why we read them, and what makes them so enticing.

Listen to learn more about pleasure and exploring your fantasies through erotic fiction and how the things that turn you on can be empowering, fun, and experienced without shame and completely guilt-free.

Key takeaways

  • Erotica versus porn: what’s the difference?
  • Fantasies don’t have to mean anything about you
  • Why do women write erotic fiction?
  • The seduction and flirtation of build up and anticipation in erotica
  • What if this topic didn’t have to have a stigma attached to it?

Resources:

Books:

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

Show more best episodes

Toggle view more icon

FAQ

How many episodes does Big Better Best Books have?

Big Better Best Books currently has 26 episodes available.

What topics does Big Better Best Books cover?

The podcast is about Society & Culture, Publishing, Reading, Writing, Storytelling, Podcasts, Books, Arts, Authors and Creative Writing.

What is the most popular episode on Big Better Best Books?

The episode title 'The Children's Book For Adults (Too)' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Big Better Best Books?

The average episode length on Big Better Best Books is 27 minutes.

How often are episodes of Big Better Best Books released?

Episodes of Big Better Best Books are typically released every 14 days.

When was the first episode of Big Better Best Books?

The first episode of Big Better Best Books was released on Sep 25, 2018.

Show more FAQ

Toggle view more icon

Comments