Show Notes
Warm welcome to our new listeners, and welcome back long-time listeners. Here's the link to join our free self-guided accountability group for the month of April: https://www.facebook.com/groups/88cupsofteaselfguidedaccountabilityapril2020/ If you'd love a chance to be one of the voices in the 30-consecutive days of recording for our collective stories throughout this time, head over here to submit: https://88cupsoftea.typeform.com/to/DB2voV Head over to https://www.instagram.com/88cupsoftea/ to watch Sara Zarr's Instagram takeover filled with exciting behind-the-scenes footage of her writing life! --------------------------------------- Are you curious about how to lean into the slower periods and making the most out of that time? How about learning more about publishing deadlines and how to best ask for an extension? Or strategies to help you move closer to your writing goals? We talk about it all and more with Sara Zarr. Sarah is the acclaimed young adult author of Gem & Dixie, The Lucy Variations, Story of a Girl, and her upcoming novel Goodbye from Nowhere. She's a National Book Award finalist and two-time Utah Book Award winner. Her novels have been variously named to annual best books lists of the American Library Association, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, the Guardian, the New York Public Library, and the Los Angeles Public Library and have been translated into many languages. She is a MacDowell Colony Fellow and has served as a judge for the National Book Awards. Sara and I kick off our conversation discussing her emotional and courageous journey to becoming a full-time author and the importance of creating a life that supports your writing. She drops some real-talk on how to financially support yourself and your writing career and how to sustain it long-term. We then dive into the importance of community and a support system to lean on as your career evolves. Further in, we chat about publishing deadlines and how to best make use of the low times during the publishing process to grow other projects or work other jobs to bring in more income. She shares her experience shifting publishers and editors for her book Gem & Dixie and how she stopped herself from going down the bitterness and resentfulness path and chose a gratitude mindset instead. We talk about how important it is to not compare yourself to others on social media and ration your social media use. And later, we chat about her upcoming YA novel Goodbye from Nowhere and her first nonfiction novel Courageous Creativity. She shares the invaluable tip of removing expiration dates you've put on your writing goals. And we wrap up our conversation discussing her writing process and the steps that help get her writing flowing. Please say 'Hi' to Sara on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/sarazarrbooks/ Head over to Sara's shownotes page at https://88cupsoftea.com/sara-zarr to download her writing prompt and to find the resources and books mentioned in her episode, tweetable quotes, and the timestamps of highlights throughout the entire conversation.
More from 88 Cups of Tea
Warm welcome, Storytellers! If you're looking for a super intimate space where you can meet fellow storytellers and experience what it's like to be a part of our community, come hang out with us in our private Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/88cupsoftea. We check in with each other on the daily, and have weekly threads where you can update each other about your work-in-progress, along with swapping recommendations for books and tv shows, and there's a whole lot more that happens in there. Join us at https://www.facebook.com/groups/88cupsoftea/! --------------------------------------- We are thrilled to announce we are beginning the process of building out 88 Cups of Tea's volunteer positions and would love to hear from you if you're passionate about 88 Cups of Tea and want to be a part of building out our future. Fill out our application here: https://88cupsoftea.com/volunteer/ --------------------------------------- Tochi Onyebuchi is the author of Beasts Made of Night, its sequel Crown of Thunder, War Girls, Riot Baby, and its sequel and his newest novel Rebel Sisters. In our conversation, we explore Tochi's writing process, the ways it's evolved over time, and how he continues to find joy in the process. Tochi shares how to cultivate a specific kind of confidence that enables us to bring our story ideas to life, and how to maintain that confidence to pave way for equity in publishing. Join us for a conversation filled with crafting advice from overcoming your writing fears to plotting intricate threads in your stories and much more. Please say 'Hi' to Tochi on Twitter! https://twitter.com/tochitruestory Head over to his shownotes page at : https://88cupsoftea.com/tochi-onyebuchi to download his writing prompt and to find the resources and books mentioned in his episode, tweetable quotes, and the timestamps of highlights throughout the entire conversation.
Warm welcome to our new listeners, let's continue and build upon the momentum surrounding the active work to create a just and equitable system for the black community. Head over to our page of resources of recommended learning: https://88cupsoftea.com/learn/ If you're looking for a super intimate space where you can meet fellow storytellers and experience what it's like to be a part of our community, come hang out with us in our private Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/88cupsoftea. We check in with each other on the daily, and have weekly threads where you can update each other about your work-in-progress, along with swapping recommendations for books and tv shows, and there's a whole lot more that happens in there. Join us at https://www.facebook.com/groups/88cupsoftea/! --------------------------------------- We are thrilled to announce we are beginning the process of building out 88 Cups of Tea's volunteer positions and would love to hear from you if you're passionate about 88 Cups of Tea and want to be a part of building out our future. Fill out our application here: https://88cupsoftea.com/volunteer/ --------------------------------------- Stacey Lee is an award-winning author of historical and contemporary young adult fiction, including Outrun the Moon, Under a Painted Sky, The Secret of a Heart Note, and her most recent novel, The Downstairs Girl. In our conversation, Stacey reflects on how she cultivated her inner confidence as a storyteller at a young age and how it's continued to grow throughout her writing career. She opens up about the invaluable writing strategies she learned as a lawyer that helps her see the importance of every single word on the page and craft authenticity in her characters. Filled with crafting advice on detailed research processes, using metaphors to write strong protagonists, finding critique partners, and more, our conversation will be sure to spark inspiration and joy. Please say 'Hi' to Stacey on Twitter! https://twitter.com/staceyleeauthor Head over to her shownotes page at https://88cupsoftea.com/stacey-lee to find the resources and books mentioned in her episode, tweetable quotes, and the timestamps of highlights throughout the entire conversation.
Warm welcome to our new listeners, let's continue and build upon the momentum surrounding the active work to create a just and equitable system for the black community. Head over to our page of resources of recommended learning: https://88cupsoftea.com/learn/ If you're looking for a super intimate space where you can meet fellow storytellers and experience what it's like to be a part of our community, come hang out with us in our private Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/88cupsoftea. We check in with each other on the daily, and have weekly threads where you can update each other about your work-in-progress, along with swapping recommendations for books and tv shows, and there's a whole lot more that happens in there. Join us at https://www.facebook.com/groups/88cupsoftea/! --------------------------------------- We are thrilled to announce we are beginning the process of building out 88 Cups of Tea's volunteer positions and would love to hear from you if you're passionate about 88 Cups of Tea and want to be a part of building out our future. Fill out our application here: https://88cupsoftea.com/volunteer/ --------------------------------------- Kat Cho is the international bestselling author of Wicked Fox and Vicious Spirits and the co-host of the Write or Die Podcast. In our conversation, we reflect on our experiences navigating the pandemic as a human, a creative, and an author. Kat shines a light on the act of writing as a transformative source of solace and joy in the most challenging of times as we discuss her journey moving through grief, and fleshing out her stories that emerged from the rawest heartbreak that evolved into the most powerful form of hope. In a conversation lined with transparency and vulnerability, Kat shares wisdom on the human experience beyond her years. Please say 'Hi' to Kat on Twitter! https://twitter.com/KatCho Head over to her shownotes page at https://88cupsoftea.com/kat-cho to find the resources and books mentioned in her episode, tweetable quotes, and the timestamps of highlights throughout the entire conversation.
Warm welcome to our new listeners, you can follow us on Instagram @88CUPSOFTEA to keep up with our latest posts and Instagram stories where we announce new episodes and essays, feature our favorite quotes, and host Instagram Story takeovers by some of your favorite authors. And join our private Facebook group to experience the warmth and encouragement of our community first-hand! ---------------------------------------
Warm welcome to our new listeners, let's continue and build upon the momentum surrounding the active work to create a just and equitable system for the black community. Head over to our page of resources of recommended learning: https://88cupsoftea.com/learn/ You can follow us on Instagram @88CUPSOFTEA to keep up with our latest posts and Instagram stories where we announce new episodes and essays, feature our favorite quotes, and host Instagram Story takeovers by some of your favorite authors. So make sure to head over to https://www.instagram.com/88cupsoftea/ so you don't miss out on the next takeover! --------------------------------------- Curious about the different roles of an editor? How they help authors transform their stories and make them come alive? How about the ways to break into the publishing industry as an editor or literary agent? Or tips for crafting a strong query letter and the value a literary agent will bring to your career? We talk about it all and more with Molly O'Neill. Molly is a literary agent with Root Literary. Books that Molly has worked on have gone on to become #1 New York Times Bestsellers, have been made into major motion pictures, and received countless awards, honors, and accolades. Most recently, her clients' books have been honored to receive National Book Awards longlist nomination, the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature, the Schneider Family Book Award, and as ALA Odyssey Honors for Audiobooks and Goodreads Choice Awards nominees, among many others. In part 2 of our conversation, we discuss how she discovers and pursues new writing talent and matches them with the best editor to help their stories come alive. She shares how an author's social media presence and writing competition victories can be a path to grabbing a literary agent's attention but it's not the only journey an aspiring author has to take and that spending your energy on making your writing the best it can be is the most important aspect. Further in, Molly talks about the query letters that have stood out to her the most and tips for improving your own query letters. She lists helpful writing and publishing resources you won't want to miss, how supporting and contributing to the publishing community will help you create connections and opportunities, and smart financial moves to make when you receive your first book advance. And later, we talk about how your relationship with writing can change when your writing hobby turns into your job, the role self-awareness plays as you're trying to reach your writing goals, and strategies for finding inspiration and uncovering the story you've always been meant to tell. Please say 'Hi' to Molly on Twitter! https://twitter.com/molly_oneill Head over to her shownotes page at https://88cupsoftea.com/molly-oneill to find the resources and books mentioned in her episode, tweetable quotes, and the timestamps of highlights throughout the entire conversation.