Parents Who Write

How often do you read romance novels in which mental health issues are a normal part of the main characters?
Joining today’s conversation is Ginny Moore, a romantic historical fiction author, middle school assistant principal, and mother to three kids.
In this episode, you’ll hear Ginny share not only why her postpartum anxiety and depression went undiagnosed for far too long but also how subconsciously funneling her mental health issues into her main characters has helped her to know herself better, heal, and save her marriage.
So tune in to hear more about how Ginny uses romantic historical fiction to push boundaries—both externally among a more formal, ridged society and internally as characters wrestle with their worst sides.
Topics discussed in this episode:

• Struggling with depression, anxiety, and ADHD
• Using writing to cope with mental health struggles
• Using two lead characters to reconcile different sides of yourself
• Forcing characters to reckon with their worst sides amid history
• Oxford University’s unwanted, first female students
• How car notes evolved into a full novel
• The non-career goal of one writer
• Finding a great writing buddy
• Sharing your other hobbies with your audience
• Reaching burn out, again
• Favorite books

About Ginny:
Ginny B. Moore was the kid who loved kissing scenes in movies and always rooted for Mulder and Scully to hook up. Her first piece of writing was a horrendous fanfic romance based on The Three Musketeers when she was thirteen years old.
Ginny started reading romance during the pandemic. In an effort to avoid doom-scrolling social media, she decided to put her own stories to paper. She is a middle school assistant principal and has been in education for eighteen years. Most of her writing is done on her phone or in the parking lot of her kids' extracurricular activities.
When she is not writing, Ginny is a slow long-distance runner. She is the mother of three kids, two exceptionally stupid dogs, two codependent cats, and the grandmother to a hermit crab.
Get her books:

• Adding Up to Love: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSB9G8BS
• The Countess and the Casanova: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C2N89ZGW

Connect w/ Ginny:

• Website: https://www.ginnymooreauthor.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginny_moore_writes/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GinnyMooreAuthor/

Books discussed during the show:

• Author Sarah MacLean
• Author Tessa Dare
• Thornchapel series by Sierra Simone
• Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
• Matilda by Roald Dahl

Send us a text

Feeling stuck in your author journey? As an experienced editor, I specialize in helping writers like you, especially parents juggling family and creativity, finish and publish their books.
Take action on your writing dreams! Book a FREE 30-minute discovery call to discuss how I can help you implement these strategies and finally achieve your author goals.
https://calendly.com/parentswhowrite/30min-meeting
Bonus! Book your call and mention this episode for a free publishing check list.

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

Feeling stuck in your author journey? As an experienced editor, I specialize in helping writers like you, especially parents juggling family and creativity, finish and publish their books.
Take action on your writing dreams! Book a FREE 30-minute discovery call to discuss how I can help you implement these strategies and finally achieve your author goals.
https://calendly.com/parentswhowrite/30min-meeting
Bonus! Book your call and mention this episode for a free publishing check list.

Have you heard this advice read like a writer but have wondered what does that actually mean?
In today's episode, you are going to learn how this practice helps strengthen your writing, which books you should apply this approach to, and how to actually read like a writer.
Topics discussed in this episode:

• Books that resonate
• Subconsciously learning through imitation
• Deciding what lessons and techniques to keep and not keep
• Identifying what you don’t like
• Recognizing the patterns of storytelling
• Choosing books to read like a writer
• Understanding decisions regarding structure
• How to look at the book’s big picture
• How to study the first chapter
• How to observe the way the author handles transitions
• How and why you should track predictions and breadcrumbs
• How to study passages that suck you into the story
• How to study passages you find boring
• What to notice regarding how chapters tend to end

About Erin:
Erin P.T. Canning has worked for more than 15 years as a magazine and book editor, encouraging each writer’s individual voice and strengthening their writing goals.
She always planned to write a book. Then she had kids. While she focused on them, she stopped writing—for six years. Something deep inside was missing. Depression, anxiety, and anger forced her to search for herself, both for her sake and her family’s.
Despite fearing her skills had atrophied, Erin started writing again. One journal entry led to one blog post that led to her creating her podcast, Parents Who Write. Erin’s current role as a podcaster and writing coach enables her to help others pursue their writing dreams.
Finally, she finished writing her own shitty first draft and will release her first novel in 2023. She earned her MA in Writing from Johns Hopkins University, and she lives with her husband and their two 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

Feeling stuck in your author journey? As an experienced editor, I specialize in helping writers like you, especially parents juggling family and creativity, finish and publish their books.
Take action on your writing dreams! Book a FREE 30-minute discovery call to discuss how I can help you implement these strategies and finally achieve your author goals.
https://calendly.com/parentswhowrite/30min-meeting
Bonus! Book your call and mention this episode for a free publishing check list.

Have you started revising your story only to feel like you're going in circles? Does the revision process feel overwhelming and you don't know what to tackle next?
In today's episode, you are going to learn how you can use different lenses to review your work and how this method can help make the revision process less chaotic.
Tune in to learn 6 different editing lenses for the revision process that you can start using today.
Topics discussed in this episode:

• Changing your focus
• Simplifying overwhelm
• 1. Time and location
• 2. Showing emotions
• 3. Character arcs
• 4. Chapter purpose
• 5. Plot
• 6. Mood
• The four stages of the writing process

About Erin:
Erin P.T. Canning has worked for more than 15 years as a magazine and book editor, encouraging each writer’s individual voice and strengthening their writing goals.
She always planned to write a book. Then she had kids. While she focused on them, she stopped writing—for six years. Something deep inside was missing. Depression, anxiety, and anger forced her to search for herself, both for her sake and her family’s.
Despite fearing her skills had atrophied, Erin started writing again. One journal entry led to one blog post that led to her creating her podcast, Parents Who Write. Erin’s current role as a podcaster and writing coach enables her to help others pursue their writing dreams.
Finally, she finished writing her own shitty first draft and will release her first novel in 2023. She earned her MA in Writing from Johns Hopkins University, and she lives with her husband and their two 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

Feeling stuck in your author journey? As an experienced editor, I specialize in helping writers like you, especially parents juggling family and creativity, finish and publish their books.
Take action on your writing dreams! Book a FREE 30-minute discovery call to discuss how I can help you implement these strategies and finally achieve your author goals.
https://calendly.com/parentswhowrite/30min-meeting
Bonus! Book your call and mention this episode for a free publishing check list.

She’s far more excited about exploring the millions of ways a romance can go wrong, rather than right. Amanda Jane Schiller, a mom of one preteen and contemporary romance novelist, is on the show today.

In this episode, Amanda discusses the book that completely altered her previous views about writing and became the catalyst for her own writing style. She not only defines books about “romance gone wrong” but also gives us a sample of the psychological curiosities she gets to play with as she explores her character’s past.

Amanda also shares how she prepared herself for self-publishing so that the process wasn’t overwhelming, as well as what resources helped her most. And I give detailed examples of what it means to “read like a writer” and some of the other best writing advice I learned at university.

We also have an in-depth conversation about pursing our passions as adults, the roundabout ways we got here, and the messages we’re passing on to our kids. And, as always, we discuss which books we and our kids love most.

Get her books:
– Wicked Games and Wasted Years: Part 1:
https://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Games-Wasted-Years-Part/dp/B0962N9JTX
– Wicked Games and Wasted Years: Part 2:
https://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Games-Wasted-Years-Part/dp/B09WCJWNPS

Connect with Amanda:
– Blog: https://www.patreon.com/amandajaneschiller
– Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/ajschiller
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.schiller.9

Books discussed during the show:
– The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah
– The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
– Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
– The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
– The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
– Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
– The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
– Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
– The Bad Guys series by Aaron Blabey
– Dead Boy by Laurel Gale
– Fearless series by Francine Pasco
– The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Resources mentioned during the show:
– Reedsy.com
– Vellum
– KDP (Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing)
– Draft2Digital

For more content on writing, parenting, and life, visit LifeBeyondParenting.com.

Send us a text

Feeling stuck in your author journey? As an experienced editor, I specialize in helping writers like you, especially parents juggling family and creativity, finish and publish their books.
Take action on your writing dreams! Book a FREE 30-minute discovery call to discuss how I can help you implement these strategies and finally achieve your author goals.
https://calendly.com/parentswhowrite/30min-meeting
Bonus! Book your call and mention this episode for a free publishing check list.