Embracing the Fiction Author Journey

Have you had that moment when your words flow effortlessly onto the page and what you write completely surprises and delights you?
Joining today’s conversation is Jackie Amsden, an indie comedy author, podcaster, and mom of two. In today’s episode, you’ll hear about how tapping into creative space helped Jackie reconcile her struggle with becoming a mother and the loneliness she felt throughout that transition.
You’ll learn why a writing habit doesn’t have to be done a certain way and how having kids can make our creativity more efficient. Tune in to also find out how Jackie has began reshaping the identity of mom through her writing.
Topics discussed in this episode:

• Feeling alone a new mom who also writes
• How Jackie thought writing had to be done, before having kids
• Tapping into that creative space and feeding the soul
• How passion and motivation change after becoming a parent
• How to not forget your creativity
• Using writing to play with the identity of mom and reshaping it
• Jackie’s desire to connect with more writers
• Using podcasts to connect with specific communities
• Favorite books
• BONUS: Using Fancy Nancy as an example for a strong voice
• BONUS: Advice on digging deeper into why you’re not writing

About Jackie:
Jackie Amsden is an indie comedy author and host of These Mums Write podcast. She is currently working on a MomCom about a stay-at-home mom who needs to pretend to be an ex-con to get a job.
She has children, ages 6 and 13, who provide an endless source of hilarious one-liners and also a great deal of lower back pain. She lives in Vancouver, the Canadian one.
Connect w/ Jackie:

• Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jackieamsden
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackieamsden/

Books and resources discussed during the show:

• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, by Elizabeth Gilbert
• You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life, by Jen Sincero
• Midlife Bites: Anyone Else Falling Apart, Or Is It Just Me?, by Jen Mann
• Welcome to the Neighborhood, by Lisa Roe
• Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up, by Alexandra Potter
• The Wayside School series, by Louis Sachar
• Pinkalicious series, by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann
• Fancy Nancy, by Jane O’Connor

Send us a text

Looking for an editor or book coach?
As an indie author, editor, and book coach, I teach authors how to untangle their jumbled ideas and tackle each writing stage one at a time.
With my 20 years’ experience and my master’s in writing, I have a 4-stage process that takes authors from struggling with overwhelm to finishing their manuscripts with confidence and direction in 6 months.
As such, I love spending time with my clients and watching them grow into strong, knowledgeable authors. Read more here, and schedule a call to see if we're a good fit: https://calendly.com/erinptcanning/30min-meeting.

Did you know that you don’t have to sit down and write a story from beginning to end? You can start with an idea for a specific storyline or scene, skip the exposition, and get right to the good stuff.
Writing like this will fuel your creativity. But how do you avoid a jumbled mess?
In today’s episode, you’ll learn the advantages of using Google Docs to craft your story whenever you get inspired to write.
With specific examples, Erin highlights the built-in features in Google Docs and Word that will help you organize your ideas and make it easy to jump from chapter to chapter or scene to scene.
You’ll also get easy instructions for formatting Word documents, which will make prepping for submission a painless process. Tune in to get started!
Watch the full video tutorial via YouTube: https://youtu.be/qjbMeZBrrOA

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Discovering the benefits of writing with Google Docs
• Naming your documents for easy filing and version control
• Styling your text to create an automatic outline
• Navigating to specific chapters and scenes
• Using key words to identify the focus of your chapters at glance
• Incorporating unwritten scenes as placeholders
• Changing the default fonts for styles
• Formatting documents in Word

About Erin:

For 15 years, Erin has worked as a magazine and book editor, encouraging each writer’s individual voice and strengthening their writing goals. When she became a parent, she set aside her own writing aspirations to focus on her family. As the years passed, she grew increasingly anxious, depressed, and angry until she realized that she had forgotten who she was beyond being a parent.
Despite fearing her skills had atrophied, Erin started writing again. She first created her blog, Life Beyond Parenting, and then created the Parents Who Write podcast. Erin’s current role as a podcaster and writing coach enables her to help parents pursue their writing dreams.
She earned her MA in Writing from Johns Hopkins University, and she has finished the first draft of a fantasy-romance novel. She lives with her husband and their two young boys in Maryland.
Connect with Erin:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erinptcanning
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/erinptcanning
• Facebook group: https://facebook.com/groups/parentswhowrite
• Book a free 30-minute consultation call: https://calendly.com/parentswhowrite/30min-meeting

Send us a text

Looking for an editor or book coach?
As an indie author, editor, and book coach, I teach authors how to untangle their jumbled ideas and tackle each writing stage one at a time.
With my 20 years’ experience and my master’s in writing, I have a 4-stage process that takes authors from struggling with overwhelm to finishing their manuscripts with confidence and direction in 6 months.
As such, I love spending time with my clients and watching them grow into strong, knowledgeable authors. Read more here, and schedule a call to see if we're a good fit: https://calendly.com/erinptcanning/30min-meeting.

Parenthood brings unmeasurable joy, but it’s also possible to feel lost in a new world of responsibility. For writers, this radical shift in priorities can move writing to the bottom of their list.
In today’s special episode, Erin’s friend and colleague, Maria, interviews her. Erin shares the lead up to losing her identity and her motivation for writing after parenthood, as well as how she found the resources to get back to expressing herself through writing, dreaming, and being the kind of parent she’s proud of.
Erin and Maria also discuss breaking the cycle of generational trauma. You’ll hear what led Erin to create this podcast and her future dreams.
Vulnerability is key to self-awareness and change, so take the first step to reconnect with yourself by tuning in now.
Topics discussed in this episode:

• Erin describes her journey as a writer and editor
• When and why Erin lost her motivation for writing
• Struggling with undiagnosed ADHD and anxiety
• Erin’s breaking point and impetus for change
• Breaking the cycle of trauma and its constant work
• What helped Erin reconnect with herself and her writing
• Erin’s favorite way to eat a potato!
• Where does Erin see herself in 15 years?
• Progress in Erin’s relationships, fulfillment, and self-nourishment
• Why Erin is sharing her story and how she’s already meeting her goals

About Erin:
For 15 years, Erin has worked as a magazine and book editor. When she became a parent, she set aside her writing aspirations to focus on her family.
Despite fearing her skills had atrophied, Erin started writing again to unearth her identity beyond being mom. She shared her journey through her blog, Life Beyond Parenting. Erin’s current role as a podcaster and writing coach enables her to help parents pursue their writing dreams.
She earned her MA in Writing and has finished the first draft of a fantasy-romance novel. She lives with her husband and their two young boys in Maryland.
Connect with Erin:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erinptcanning
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/erinptcanning
• Book a free 30-minute discovery call: https://calendly.com/parentswhowrite/30min-meeting

About Maria:
Maria Secoy spent more than a decade in the classroom helping students grow as authentic writers. She wrote and published her first romance novel, Alongside Lucy, in February 2022, which has since reached #4 on the Amazon Best Sellers List.
After hearing stories of editors gone wrong, flopped cover designs, marketing, and anxiety over the self-publication process, she launched All Write Well, which includes a team of supportive experts to meet the self-publishing needs of writers.

Send us a text

Looking for an editor or book coach?
As an indie author, editor, and book coach, I teach authors how to untangle their jumbled ideas and tackle each writing stage one at a time.
With my 20 years’ experience and my master’s in writing, I have a 4-stage process that takes authors from struggling with overwhelm to finishing their manuscripts with confidence and direction in 6 months.
As such, I love spending time with my clients and watching them grow into strong, knowledgeable authors. Read more here, and schedule a call to see if we're a good fit: https://calendly.com/erinptcanning/30min-meeting.

The process of writing can be joyful, freeing, and nourishing to the soul. But when you become a parent, everything changes. The love for writing does not waiver, but the time to dedicate to your writing does.

Joining today’s conversation is Nancy McCabe, a single mom and accomplished professor who has published several books. She grew up loving stories but didn't think she could make a career out of writing.

With an intrinsic desire to write, Nancy had to intentionally carve out time to write her numerous books. She found fun ways to integrate her love of writing into motherhood, thus enabling Nancy to find a balance that worked and inspired her writing.

Erin speaks to Nancy about her writing projects, the writing process, and important female authors. They also discuss how many films and television shows miss the mark on capturing the spirit of a novel’s story, and they touch on the lack of diversity in classic children’s books.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Learning to love teaching
• Shaping a life around writing
• Deciding to be a single parent through adoption
• Folding our kids into our writing lives
• Rereading children’s books from an adult perspective
• Nancy’s book, Little Houses to Little Women: Revisiting a Literary Childhood
• Female authors and characters who love to write
• Joe’s new ending in the Little Women film
• Embracing the messy first draft as part of the writing process
• Erin details her current WIP fantasy book
• Advice on revision techniques and feedback
• Missing the mark from book to screen

About Nancy:

Nancy McCabe, an author and a Pushcart winner, directs the creative and professional writing program at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and teaches in the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University.

She became a single parent by choice when she adopted her daughter from China in 1999, writing two memoirs about China adoption and homeland travel while her daughter was growing up and dragging her along on research trips and book tours.

Get her books:

• Can This Marriage Be Saved? A Memoir
• Following Disasters: A Novel
• From Little Houses to Little Women: Revisiting a Literary Childhood
• Crossing the Blue Willow Bridge: A Journey to My Daughter’s Birthplace in China
• Meeting Sophie: A Memoir of Adoption
• After the Flashlight Man: A Memoir of Awakening
• Vaulting through Time (forthcoming)
• AMAZON PAGE: https://www.amazon.com/Nancy-McCabe/e/B001K8OBBA

Connect with Nancy:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nancy.mccabe.92
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/nancygmccabe
• Website: https://www.nancymccabe.net/

Books discussed during the show:

• Betsy Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace
• Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud

Send us a text

Looking for an editor or book coach?
As an indie author, editor, and book coach, I teach authors how to untangle their jumbled ideas and tackle each writing stage one at a time.
With my 20 years’ experience and my master’s in writing, I have a 4-stage process that takes authors from struggling with overwhelm to finishing their manuscripts with confidence and direction in 6 months.
As such, I love spending time with my clients and watching them grow into strong, knowledgeable authors. Read more here, and schedule a call to see if we're a good fit: https://calendly.com/erinptcanning/30min-meeting.

Both of these ladies didn’t realize that confidence was the key to get them writing.
Angel Trusty, a mom of four, writing coach, and editor, AND her daughter, Rachel Trusty, author of four novels, are on the show today.
In this episode, Angela shares how writing lessons through homeschooling helped her to parent better, how she's tackling imposter syndrome, and what she absolutely loves about the editing process.
Rachel discusses why she initially hated writing and how she turned that dislike into a passion. She also talks about what she finds fascinating about character development and the various genres she experiments with. And Rachel shares what surprised her most about self-publishing and what mindset she adopted that’s helped her to absolutely love the revision process.
And all three of us shared some major discoveries that became game changers for us in terms of the writing process.
Get their books:

• Homeschool Connection Journal:
  https://www.amazon.com/Homeschool-Connection-Journal-Angela-Trusty/dp/B097SPGP7P/
• Rachel's Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Trusty/e/B073Q6W6TM

Connect with Angela:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homeschoolparadigm/
• Podcast (coming soon): https://homeschoolparadigm.com/coming-soon/
• Website, Homeschool Paradigm: https://homeschoolparadigm.com
• Website, Editing: https://mywritingcheck.com
• Schedule a coaching call: https://calendly.com/angela-trusty-hw/60min

Connect with Rachel:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ByRachelTrusty/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/byracheltrusty/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHLjn84eIPlihPqxva4__2w

Books discussed during the show:

• Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
• Georgana's Secret by Arlem Hawks
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
• The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
• Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham

Send us a text

Looking for an editor or book coach?
As an indie author, editor, and book coach, I teach authors how to untangle their jumbled ideas and tackle each writing stage one at a time.
With my 20 years’ experience and my master’s in writing, I have a 4-stage process that takes authors from struggling with overwhelm to finishing their manuscripts with confidence and direction in 6 months.
As such, I love spending time with my clients and watching them grow into strong, knowledgeable authors. Read more here, and schedule a call to see if we're a good fit: https://calendly.com/erinptcanning/30min-meeting.