SPA Girls Podcast – EP118 – How to Write a Successful Small Town Setting
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Small town settings are a common backdrop in romance. Writers love them because they give us a landscape that we can go back to again and again, with familiar secondary characters that our readers will recognise and become attached to. Readers love them because once they’ve found a town with a cool cafe, a watering hole where all the locals hang out, and characters they can fall in love with – well, why would they want to leave?
Wendy and Cheryl both have successful series featuring a small town setting, so this week they both talk about how to create fictional small towns that your readers will love, with tips and tricks that will take your town from ordinary to exceptional. They tell us how they put together the small towns in their contemporary series’, why they did it a certain way, including best practices on how to create a memorable small town. It’s a fascinating insight into the creative process, and well worth a listen… 🙂
Episodes 100 – 200 List
200 What we’ve learned so far…
199 Interview with Adam Croft – Mindset and Marketing
198 Find Your Sparkle – with Julie Schooler
197 Hack Your Muse – with Kelly McClymer
196 Public Speaking For Authors – with Alena Van Arendonk
195 The Magic Pill – with Laura Van Arendonk-Baugh
194 A Day In The Life Of A Writer
193 Keep It Simple
192 Interview with Skye Warren: Money Mindset and Facebook Ads
For Authors (Part Two)
191 Interview with Skye Warren: Time Management & Advertising
For Authors (Part One)
190 Dragon Wrangling with Scott Baker: secrets for
Successful dictation
189 Interview with Patricia McLinn: Writing by the seat of
Your pants
188 Interview with Morgana Best: Writing & Marketing
Cozy Mysteries
187 Interview with Geoff Symon: Wounds & Crime Scenes
186 Interview with Natasha Bajema, WMD for Authors
185 The Writer’s Detective with Adam Richardson
183 Facebook Advertising with Maria Luis ~ Part Two
182 Facebook Advertising with Maria Luis ~ Part One
181 Learn dictation with Kilby Blades
180 Interview with Brian Meeks, Mastering Book Descriptions
179 Interview with Tara Cremin, Kobo Writing Life
178 Interview with Larissa Reynolds – Newsletters Part Two
177 Interview with Larissa Reynolds – Newsletters Part One
175 Wrangling Facebook: How To Make It Work For You
174 How To Write A Regency Romance
173 How Do You Identify Your Writing Weaknesses?
172 Interview With Dan Wood, D2D
171 Interview With Serenity Woods
169 5 Goals You Need To Make In 2019
168 Jumpstart Your 2019 Marketing with 31 Quick To Dos for Jan.
167 Scheduling For Writing Success
166 Our 2018 Roundup
165 He Said, She Said: Creating Dazzling Dialogue
164 Interview with Steffanie Holmes: Reverse Harem
163 Interview with YA author Kelly St Clare
160 Amazon Excl v Wide – things to consider and how to market
159 Interview With Kathryn LeVeque
158 Some Like It Hot – Or Not. Heat Levels In Romance
157 Interview With Louisa George
156 The Kindness Factor: Helping You Achieve More and Stress Less
155 Editing
153 Characters: From Cookie Cutter to Kapow
152 Interview with Tina Dietz: Audiobooks
151 Interview with Grace Burrowes
150 Should You Prune Your Mailing List?
149 RWNZ18 Interview with Damon Suede & Geoff Symon
148 Interview with indie superstar, Bella Andre
147 Top Ten Traits for Success
146 Write Better Faster with Becca Syme
145 Newsletter Ninja Tammi LaBrecque
144 Looking After Your Creative Health
143 Interview with Carlyn Robertson from Bookbub
142 Personal Branding For Authors with Lauren Clemett
141 Ten Free Online Tools For Authors
140 Tempting Taglines & Heartstopping Hooks
139 Findaway Voices with Kelly Lytle
138 Get Your Writing Mojo Back
137 Interview with Toni Kenyon: facebook live & serials
136 Dealing with misinformation and change in Sp-ing
134 Interview with Kevin Tumlinson, Draft2Digital
133 Interview with Sara Rosett
132 Organization For Authors – how to keep track of your
research and book details without losing your mind
131 Interview with Ricardo Fayet of Reedsy
130 Critical Care: Leveraging feedback for success
129 Brand You
128 SAS Special: Interview with Johnny B. Truant & Sean Platt
127 Industry Insiders with Damon J. Courtney of Bookfunnel
& Christine Monroe of Kobo
126 SAS Debrief with Jami Albright
125 SAS Special: Interview with Michelle Spiva
124 SAS Special : Interview With Michael Anderle
123 Sports Psychology for Authors – Interview With Nate Vella
122 Using Sub Plots To Amp Up Your Writing
121 Interview with Scott King: Outlining Your Novel
120 Pen-names Pros, Cons and Possibilities
119 Reader Engagement with Nalini Singh
118 Writing the Small Town Setting
117 Handling Negativity and Naysayers
116 Tough Mindset Questions For 2018
115 Interview With Nicola Davidson: Sex and Sensibility
114 Tropealicious
112 Interview With Honoree Corder & Ben Hale: Write Like A Boss
111 Ten Health Hacks For Writers
110 Interview with Kathryn Burnett: Your Writing Audit For Future Success
109 Interview with Melissa Storm: What Readers Want
108 Interview With Zoe Dawson: Writing Across Genres
107 Interview With Dave Chesson, The Keyword King
106 Pros and Cons of Kindle Unlimited
105 Why YOU should do Nanowrimo
104 Ten Truths For New Self Publishers
103 Find 30 Minutes A Day EXTRA!
102 Your Christmas Presence: Maximizing the Holiday Season for Authors
101 The Writing Life: Interview with Katie Cross
100 100 Episodes! Retrospective with funny moments; changing AO title
SPA Girls – EP44 – Conference episode with Leeanna Morgan
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
This week we bring you a special episode direct from the Romance Writers of New Zealand conference in Auckland, New Zealand. Wendy Vella and Trudi Jaye tiptoed out of a workshop, grabbed the incredibly talented Leeanna Morgan along the way and hid out in one of the conference rooms, making her spill the beans on her self publishing career. And boy, does she deliver. This is a must listen episode for our listeners – Leeanna knows what she’s talking about. 🙂
Leeanna Morgan’s website: www.leeannamorgan.com
A guide to Self-Publishing: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/639118
Basic Marketing for Indie Publishers: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/634297
Formatting eBooks and Print books with Microsoft Word: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/624911
Smashwords Book Marketing Guide: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/305
SPA Girls Podcast – EP017 – Setting Goals for Success
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Thanks for joining us for episode number seventeen! We’re at the time of the year where we like to set some goals, and we decided to sit down and discuss how we do it; things like the kind of goals we like to set, how many we set, and the what we’ve done to make our goals work for us.
It’s a great episode, even if we are a little doo-lally from being on holidays here in sunny New Zealand… 🙂
If you’ve been thinking about setting goals for your author business, now’s a perfect time to start. There’s power in writing things down, as we all know…
And don’t forget that if you want to share your goals with us, head on over to the Facebook page and let us know what they are! We can help each other keep a track of them…
Goal Setting
You need to have a vision before setting your goals. What are you trying to achieve? When you have worked out that, you can set the goals to reach your vision. It’s the bigger picture!!
Remember that everyone is different, so goal setting is personal and needs to be done in a way that works for you. Here are a few examples that the SPA Girls use.
Write your goals down and put them on the wall, or attached to mirrors so you are constantly reminded.
Write a list of goals then prioritize them, or color code them, and then transfer them to your daily calendar.
Doing a collage of your goals.
Get a goal setting book, there are plenty out there.
Set your goals with a friend, and you can be accountable to each other.
Be SMART About Your Goal Setting
S – Specific, be as specific as you can be when setting your goals. Don’t make them vague.
M – Measurable, in order to tell how well you did on achieving your goals, you need to have a way to measure them. This also helps with accountability.
A – Achievable, make your goals achievable and something you are capable of doing. If they’re too hard, then chances are you won’t reach them. Believing is 90 percent of achieving.
R- Realistic, this also goes along with your goals being achievable. It’s about what’s realistic to you. It doesn’t matter what other writers want to accomplish. If you don’t believe you can make it happen, you won’t. So choose goals that are realistic to you.
T-Timed, setting a time limit on a goal (such as the end of 2016) is the only way you can really measure and find out how well you did with reaching it. The problem with setting a year-long goal, however, is you won’t see results right away, which could eventually make you want to quit. Remedy this by breaking down larger projects/goals into smaller goals so you can achieve little things more frequently throughout the year, and get closer to your vision.
Remember to set goals that help rather than hinder you.
Remember, goals change during the year, other factors need to be considered. Refocus, adjust, and move on.
Remember to reward yourself when you achieve your goals.
Remember to set positive and not negative goals.
Remember to set goals that you can control. Making bestseller lists is not something you can control. You cannot manipulate how many books you will sell.
Remember to reward yourself when you reach your goals, even if it’s a simple as a happy dance.
Everyone is different, so do what is right for you.
Motivation – what will drive you forward to reach your goal?
Links
http://betterwritinghabits.com/5-simple-steps-to-setting-smart-writing-goals/
http://www.amazon.com/The-12-Week-Year-Others/dp/1118509234
http://www.marketyourcreativity.com/about-lisa-jacobs/
