People Who Do Things

Laura and John talk about their two paths to publishing: Laura with her traditional contract, and John with his self publishing. Also, tips and tools for getting reviews for your book, whichever way it is published, from Kirkus Reviews to Net Galley.

Laura and John welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Richard Drew to the podcast. Richard has been an Associated Press photographer for more than fifty years and has been front row to many historic events, from the assassination of Robert Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, to the fall of the towers on 9/11. He is known for his image Falling Man from 9/11.

Laura and John catch up after a busy summer and talk about progress and next steps as they are both preparing books for publishing. Laura is in revisions for her publisher, and John is about to release his eighth book independently. They also discuss their next projects and what their plans are for those. 

John welcomes special guest, PWDT's own Laura Buchwald to talk with her about some big announcements in her world. They also discuss progress in their WIPS (works in progress), and more!

Laura and John contemplate self doubt in writing, how it ties to ego and confidence. They also go through a few 'best first lines' of book, according to The Guardian. 

Laura and John welcome author Barbara Josselsohn into the PWDT virtual studio to talk about her book The Lilac House, being a prolific author, managing multiple points-of-view in a book, and her recipe for a great first chapter. 

Laura and John talk about their WIPs (work in progress) and  their processes for revising and editing. As usual, they get sidetracked talking about other things, such as Yellowstone, Marc Maron, and more. 

Laura and John distract themselves from writing by talking about what it takes them to get motivated to write. 

Laura and John discuss the importance of creating three-dimensional protagonists and antagonists, and how much detail to give supporting characters. 

Laura and John welcome Claudia Zuluaga back to the podcast. We talk about writing tips and advice for new writers, when you are no longer an aspiring writer, and finding time and 'your place' to write. 

Laura and John talk about what comes first: plot or character. 

In what we'll call our Season Two premiere after a summer break, Laura and John catch up on what projects they are working on, the benefits of taking breaks, the excitement of new projects, and prove neither of them know how to pronounce Taiki Waititi's name.

We talk to Brian Niemietz about writing for New York City tabloids The Daily News and the New York Post, covering nightlife in the city, and hanging out with James Brown.

We talk to Deborah Way, founder of The Keepthings, an Instagram submission based memoir project. A hat your dad wore. Your grandmother's diamond ring. An artificial hip. People post a photo and a short description of the item and what it means to them. 

Laura and John talk about the Association for Writing Professionals conference they attended last week in Philadelphia, sessions they attended, the book fair, and share comments from others at the conference.

Laura and John talk with Elena Perez, poet, YA author, and current staff writer on the NBC series Chicago PD.

Laura and John discuss the do's and don'ts of dialogue in writing, from proper punctuation to sounding natural. They also talk about tense and point-of-view, head-hopping, and the upcoming AWP22 writer's conference in Philadelphia.

Laura talks to her good friend Elizabeth Prinvault about her work as a journalist in Paris and as an author/adaptor translating American TV and movies into French.

With Laura on travel in Paris, we talk about creativity derived by where you are (like Paris), writing during global events, how to process new ideas that come at unexpected times, how we handle, and how different people have different versions of their home cities.