PATREON: Thank you to our existing patrons for believing in our work offline and here in the podcast.  Become a patron of the arts at Patreon.com/valerieihsan for books, writing instruction, coaching, and planning. Go to Patreon.com/strangeairstories for short stories in the paranormal mystery genre. Announcements: 2024 Writer Craft Writing Retreat and Workshop registration open; https://valerieihsan.com/retreat (Day Passes $400) Three Story Method: Writing How-To Books out now. Focus and Finish: Goal-Setting and Strategic Planning for Writers (First in Series; out now.) Black Springs Saga Book 1 out now (it's the prequel) 99 cents (Accidental Stranger Book 2 preorder this coming week) SWWC and Write in the Harbor (Erick teaching.) (Valerie will be at Write in the Harbor this year, too!) Host of Ghost Story Weekend for Wordcrafters. (Erick)   Author Update: Erick:   Valerie: back much better (still stiff) and knee improving, but slow; seeing the need to focus on my health needs (physical and mental) speaking Alaska Writers Guild conference in Anchorage in October and Write on the Sound in Gig Harbor, WA in November. Working with my Burnout Recovery plan; Updates through my Patreon page.   I'm reading:  (Gina's Reads) "But Everyone Feels This Way" Paige Layle - memoir on autism diagnosis; "Quit" Annie Duke  Thunder Song by Sasha taqŵšeblu LaPointe The Entire Sky by Joe Wilkins Erick:   Notes: Main Topic starts at 17:25. https://ginasoldano.com/author-spotlight-valerie-ihsan/ (Valerie's Author Spotlight feature on Gina's blog) Getting to the Heart of Why We Write (Gina's podcast) The Curious Compassionate (marketing podcast for children's books) with currated booklist Nia's Rescue Box (50% of profits go to Colorado Food Rescue) Food Rescue U.S. (national) Noise cancelling headphones Writing short Organized folders in Google and date every document (DATETitle.docx) Type with thumbs. Know what project I'm working on. Think about it first (a lot). Leave the sentence open (notes for rest of scene). Prefer writing memoir or essays and middle-grade fantasy (faves), but picture books are easy right now for those stolen moments. Writing in multiple genres not a choice. Have stories and ideas in brain. Have to get them out. Direction of energy is career and curiosity led. Focusing on picture book and middle grade (rather than memoir and novels) right now. Would like to be more focused in my direction: querying and direct submissions. Drafting emails and query moments during the screaming moments. Admin on laptop at couch. Things that work for me: Grace. Bullet journaling. Lists on post-it notes, less stressful to move the list than rewriting the list on a new day. Daydreaming and stickers. The Practice by Seth Godin (Your work needs to rhyme with itself.) Ginasoldano.com Podcast, all the socials, IG @gina.soldano, Substack, (check out new Core Connected Marketing/Substack)   Find Us:   Valerie's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/valerieihsan Erick's Linktree link: https://linktr.ee/erickmertzauthor Patreons:  https://patreon.com/valerieihsan    https://patreon.com/strangeairmysteries Tools: Passion Planner: https://passionplanner.rfrl.co/e86j8 (affiliate link) Discount Code: VALERIE150 ProWriting Aid: https://prowritingaid.com/?afid=9378 (affiliate link) Resources:  "How to write an eavesdropping scene" on Erick's blog Reading Critique Group for Writers FB Group (Jennie Komp's group) 3 Bird View FB page (Jennie Komp's business page) Author XP (marketing for authors) (bi-monthly promotions) Raven Publicity (publicity for authors) The Shades of Orange (Rachel, Book Blogger on YouTube) for book recommendations SF/Fantasy/Horror Contact Erick for business-starting advice or building a website. Contact Valerie for author coaching. Thomas Umstattd Jr, at Novel Marketing Podcast. Ep255: How to Create an Email Onboarding Drip Campaign Russell P. Nohelty and Monica Leonelle's book, Get Your Book Selling on Kickstarter. Balance meditatio