SPA Girls Podcast – EP186 – What Authors Get Wrong About Weapons of Mass Destruction
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Have you ever wondered whether your character would survive holding highly enriched uranium metal in their hand?
What about if they’d handled that green goo from the barrel marked with a radiation symbol?
That’s the kind of knowledge that you’ll get from listening to this hilarious episode of the SPA Girls Podcast. We talk to Natasha Bajema, an expert in national security issues, especially weapons of mass destruction (WMD), nuclear proliferation and emerging technologies.
She’s worked at cool places like the Pentagon and the National Defence University during her career (and yes, you can find out what she says to security every time they insist on searching her at the Pentagon).
Using examples from television shows like Madam Secretary, House of Cards and Jack Ryan, Natasha talks about how WMD like radiation, biological weapons, and chemical bombs really work, and how authors can avoid making terrible WMD faux pas…
Natasha is also a podcaster (authors of mass destruction podcast) and a mystery author and can be found at www.natashabajema.com
SPA Girls Podcast – EP185 – Interview with the Writer’s Detective, Adam Richardson
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It’s the start of Mystery May, and we have a doozy to start you off!
The SPA Girls spent time with Adam Richardson, an American cop who helps authors and screenwriters with their crime-fiction questions through his website and podcast called the Writer’s Detective Bureau. He knows his stuff – Adam spent seventeen years of his 20+ year law enforcement career as a detective – and he was able to answer all our silly/strange/just-plain-dumb questions about being a cop in the US.
We talk about everything from what writers need to know about law enforcement in the US, how the police and sheriff departments’ work, how detectives approach a crime scene and deal with witnesses and suspects, and a myriad of other interesting details.
Whether you write romance with a mystery subplot, or are a fully fledged suspense or mystery writer, this episode is for you.
Learn more from Adam at: https://www.writersdetective.com where you can sign up to his All Points Bulletin for writers.
Don’t miss his facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WRITERSDETECTIVE/
Adam’s podcast Writer’s Detective Bureau: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/writers-detective-bureau/id1418826910?mt=2
SPA Girls Podcast – Episode 123 – Interview With Nate Vella
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Using Sports Psychology To Help Your Writing
This week we talk with elite sportsman, Nathan Vella, about using tools from sports psychology to help writers. Nate has been a professional rugby player for the last seven years. In that time he has played in both New Zealand and Europe, and has amassed over 100 first class games, winning several championships. His strength besides his physical ability is his mental toughness.
Nate talks with Wendy, Cheryl and Shar about applying what he has learned in the competitive high-performance environment he thrives and works in, specifically:
- Importance of preparation
- The top two inches
- Visualization
- Why is Process the key?
- Dealing positively with negativity when you hit a challenge (or get a bad review!)
- Physical fitness goes alongside mental fitness
- Techniques for getting out of “the red zone” and into the (productive) blue zone
- Standing strong (literally)
- The importance of a great team culture – and how you can build that as a solo indie author
What’s the difference between Rugby Union and American Football? (no, it’s not just that we don’t wear protective gear!) : http://www.americanfootballinternational.com/9-differences-between-rugby-and-the-nfl/
Further reading about Sports Psychology and Business:
https://sportsandthemind.com/business-sport-psychology/
http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/applying-sports-psychology-to-business
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-superheroes/201107/why-you-may-want-stand-superhero
TED talk with Amy Cuddy: https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are/transcript
