QWERTY Writing Life Podcast

Rebelling Against Writing Rules

Welcome to Episode 8 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! We’re going to be rebels today! We’re sharing some writing “rules” that might just need to be broken. Creativity methods can be based upon others’ processes, but ultimately this is a personal thing. You have to listen to your instincts and—wait for it—know yourself to be able to morph something that someone else does into a process that works for you. Also, you have to accept the concept that maybe Your Process hasn’t been perfected yet, because you haven’t tried things or given yourself permission to make a new plan. We mentioned a fabulous artist during the beginning of today’s show. To see more about Kim Howes Zabbia, head over to her site www.kimhoweszabbia.com. We also mentioned a book by our dear friend, Autumn Lindsay. You can see more about her and her debut novel, Remaining Aileen, on her website www.autumnlindsey.com. For more information about us, the show and our writing craft book series, head over to logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, ring the bell on our YouTube channel. Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home at measmith.com. Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site, joyerancatore.com.

Perspective, Part 2

Welcome to Episode 7 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! We’re finishing our two-part look at Perspective with a focus on Details. Break it down and list it out, QWERTY Friend! We’re talking about fine-tuning those little details of our work and finding new ways to catch issues with them. Our QWERTY Challenge will have you making your own list. Questions? Comments? Want to share your list? You know what to do! Continue this week’s chat with us via email at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com. For more information about us, the show and our writing craft book series, head over to logosandmythospress.com/qwerty-writing-life. Subscribe in your favorite podcast portal. Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, ring the bell on our YouTube channel. Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home at measmith.com. Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site, joyerancatore.com.

Perspective, Part 1

Welcome to Episode 6 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! We’re kicking off a two-part look at Perspective, and this week’s focus is Big Picture.

We’re talking about looking at your work as a whole from a brand new perspective. That could mean from a different character’s point of view, physically moving yourself around or using technology to help you see it—or hear it—in a whole new light.

This week’s QWERTY Challenge will have you putting what we preach into practice in your own work. Let us know how it goes!

Continue this week’s chat with us via email. We’d love to hear your reactions, comments and questions to this week’s show! Email us at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com.

For more information about us, the show and our QWERTY Writing Life writing craft book series, head over to our QWERTY Writing Life page.

To keep up with the podcast, follow us on our Podbean site.

Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home.

Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site.

Blockades to Creating, Part 5

Welcome to Episode 5 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! We have reached the conclusion of our five-part series on Blockades to Creating. We hope you’ve enjoyed them as much as we have. Have you learned something about yourselves? We certainly have!

Part five brings you Mea’s Theory of Fear. Pour yourself a cup of something and pull out your notebook and pen for this one, because you’re going to want to jot a few things down! Mea walks us through what fear can do if we let it, what fear really is and how we can harness fear for our good.

Our QWERTY Challenge will help you take this theory and implement it into your own life right now. Are you ready to harness your fears?

Continue this week’s chat with us via email. We’d love to hear your reactions, comments and questions to this week’s show! Email us at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com.

For more information about us, the show and our QWERTY Writing Life writing craft book series, head over to our QWERTY Writing Life page.

To keep up with the podcast, follow us on our Podbean site.

Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home.

Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site.

Blockades to Creating, Part 4

Welcome to Episode 4 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! We’re already to part four of our five-part series on Blockades to Creating. We’re rounding out a couple of episodes that focused on varying aspects of emotional readiness with a candid look at how to evaluate our own works. Part of the self-evaluation process is understanding when we need to seek help and what kind of assistance we require. Another part we address is the need to then accept that help. In the end, though, we often have to make a choice and just trust our gut.

Pull out that piece you created after Episode 3 because we’ve got one more step for you in this week’s QWERTY Challenge!

Continue this week’s chat with us via email. We’d love to hear your reactions, comments and questions to this week’s show! Email us at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com.

For more information about us, the show and our QWERTY Writing Life writing craft book series, head over to our QWERTY Writing Life page.

To keep up with the podcast, follow us on our Podbean site.

Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home.

Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site.

Blockades to Creating, Part 3

Welcome to Episode 3 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! For the third of our five-part series on Blockades to Creating, we’re facing off with two formidable foes to all creatives—Self-Doubt and Imposter Syndrome. They have similarities and often hit us at the same time, but their biggest difference is in how they come at us. One’s internal; the other is external. Do you know which is which?

The most important thing to understand about these two is that we will face them both. That’s a given. We’ve got some suggestions for dealing with each and how to take what they teach us to make ourselves better. This week’s challenge is a fairly simple one that we’ll add a second step to in Episode 4, so be sure to tune in next time!

Continue this week’s chat with us via email. We’d love to hear your reactions, comments and questions to this week’s show! Email us at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com.

For more information about us, the show and our QWERTY Writing Life writing craft book series, head over to our QWERTY Writing Life page.

To keep up with the podcast, follow us on our Podbean site.

Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home.

Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site.

Blockades to Creating, Part 2

Welcome to Episode 2 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! We’ve got the second part for you in our five-part series on Blockades to Creating, and we’re going deep, friends. Emotional readiness, anyone?

Settle in for a candid chat about our own fears and hubris as well as some of the ways we didn’t expect our emotions to be stripped through the writing process. Writing or painting or anything creative is a deeply personal activity. If you’re not prepared for that, you might find yourself overwhelmed.

We close out with a conversation about the “whatever” guilt. You’ve probably heard of “mom guilt,” but that can apply to anyone—dad guilt, spouse guilt, friend guilt, fill-in-your-own-title guilt. Whenever you choose to pursue a creative passion in a public way, you’re also choosing to reorder your priorities or at least add to them, which can cause strain on any relationship in your life.

We’re sending you out into your week with a new QWERTY challenge. This one’s going to take you deep, but you’ll be thankful you take the dive!

Continue this week’s chat with us via email. We’d love to hear your reactions, comments and questions to this week’s show! Email us at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com.

For more information about us, the show and our QWERTY Writing Life writing craft book series, head over to our QWERTY Writing Life page.

To keep up with the podcast, follow us on our Podbean site.

Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home.

Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site.

Blockades to Creating, Part 1

Welcome to Episode 1 of the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith! We’re kicking off a five-part series on Blockades to Creating with everyone’s favorite—procrastination. You might be surprised to learn that, quite often, procrastination comes in the form of good things like research, webinars, books (*gasp*) and even daydreaming.

Mea and Joy share their biggest struggles with procrastination and how they played a role in keeping them from starting out on their writing journeys. They send you off with an introspective challenge for your week, along with a tip to help you accomplish it!

Continue this week’s chat with us via email. We’d love to hear your reactions, comments and questions to this week’s show! Email us at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com.

For more information about us, the show and our QWERTY Writing Life writing craft book series, head over to our QWERTY Writing Life page.

To keep up with the podcast, follow us on our Podbean site.

Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home.

Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site.

QWERTY Writing Life Podcast Trailer

Welcome to the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast! We're your hosts, Joy and Mea. We will share candid chats about out creative lives during these weekly episodes. Stick around, subscribe and chat with us!

QWERTY Writing Life Podcast Intro Episode

Welcome to the intro episode for the QWERTY Writing Life Podcast with Joy E. Rancatore and Mea Smith. We’re sharing a little about ourselves and our writing, our friendship with one another and a little about our podcast and what we hope to offer you in each episode.

The QWERTY Writing Life Podcast brings you weekly candid chats about our creative lives. Through these, we will provide tips and tricks and lessons learned from our own experiences as writers and creatives seeking to pursue our passions in public. We want this chat to include you and we want it to continue throughout the week, so drop us a line any time. We’ll also send you out into your week armed with a new QWERTY Challenge to implement something we discussed or to learn something about yourself and your work.

Continue this week’s chat with us via email. We’d love to hear your reactions, comments and questions to this week’s show! Email us at editorial [at] logosandmythospress [dot] com.

For more information about us, the show and our QWERTY Writing Life writing craft book series, head over to our QWERTY Writing Life page.

To keep up with the podcast, follow us on our Podbean site.

Or, if you’d rather see our grinning faces, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Can’t get enough of Mea? Head over to her online home.

Want to know more about Joy? Check out her site.