Living The Writing Life Podcast with Nancy Christie

Just a few thoughts on why we need to take time just to breathe for creativity’s sake.   Did you enjoy this excerpt from my writing newsletter? Sign up for The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!   Follow me on social media: Goodreads  *  X/Twitter  *  Facebook  * TikTok * Instagram *  LinkedIn  *  Pinterest  *  Medium  Check out my YouTube channels:   Books by Nancy Christie on YouTube  *  Midlife Moxie Novel Series™ on YouTube  

Just a few thoughts on why we need to feed our creative confidence with positive memories. Did you enjoy this excerpt from my writing newsletter? Sign up for The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!   Follow me on social media: Goodreads  *  X/Twitter  *  Facebook  * TikTok * Instagram *  LinkedIn  *  Pinterest  *  Medium  Check out my YouTube channels:   Books by Nancy Christie on YouTube  *  Midlife Moxie Novel Series™ on YouTube  

Elisabeth Sharp McKetta is an award-winning author, teacher, and speaker who  teaches writing for Harvard and Oxford. She is the author of thirteen books, including the novels Ark and She Never Told Me About the Ocean, the memoir-in-essays Awake with Asashoryu, and the guidebook Edit Your Life—which was inspired by her 2019 TEDxBoise talk. She co-edited the anthology What Doesn’t Kill Her: Women’s Stories of Resilience, which Gloria Steinem described as stories that “will help each of us to trust and tell our own.” Elisabeth’s work with myth and memoir, the focus of her doctorate, has been spotlighted in Harvard Magazine. For more about Elisabeth, visit her website and follow her on Instagram. In today’s conversation, we’ll be talking about how to adapt myths and fairy tales to reclaim your own life story.

Just a few thoughts on why we need to find our writing tribe. Did you enjoy this excerpt from my writing newsletter? Sign up for The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!   Follow me on social media: Goodreads  *  X/Twitter  *  Facebook  * TikTok * Instagram *  LinkedIn  *  Pinterest  *  Medium  Check out my YouTube channels:   Books by Nancy Christie on YouTube  *  Midlife Moxie Novel Series™ on YouTube

  Jeanne Blasberg is an award-winning and bestselling author and essayist. Her first two novels, The Nine (released in 2019) and Eden (released in 2017), were both award winners, and the third in that trilogy, Daughter of a Promise, was just released this past April. A Smith College graduate, Jeanne was named a Southampton Writer’s Conference BookEnds Fellow in April 2021. She is both a teacher of writing and a lifetime learner and co-chairs the board of the Boston Book Festival and serves on the Executive Committee of GrubStreet, one of the country’s preeminent creative writing centers. Jeanne also reviews contemporary fiction for the New York Journal of Books. When not in New England, she splits her time between Park City, UT, and growing organic vegetables in Verona, WI. For more about Jeanne, visit her website and follow her on Facebook, Substack and Instagram. In today’s conversation, we’ll be talking about the intersection of her life stage and her occupation as a farmer with her life as a writer.

Just a few thoughts on how midlife can be our most creative stage—if we are open to it. Did you enjoy this excerpt from my writing newsletter? Sign up for The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!   Follow me on social media: Goodreads  *  X/Twitter  *  Facebook  * TikTok * Instagram *  LinkedIn  *  Pinterest  *  Medium  Check out my YouTube channels:   Books by Nancy Christie on YouTube  *  Midlife Moxie Novel Series™ on YouTube

Just a few thoughts on how I realized that I needed to "unpack" my brain from one book project before I started another. Did you enjoy this excerpt from my writing newsletter? Sign up for The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!   Follow me on social media: Goodreads  *  X/Twitter  *  Facebook  * TikTok * Instagram *  LinkedIn  *  Pinterest  *  Medium  Check out my YouTube channels:   Books by Nancy Christie on YouTube  *  Midlife Moxie Novel Series™ on YouTube    

 Delia Ephron is a bestselling author, screenwriter, essayist, and playwright. Her novels include the New York Times bestseller Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life that came out in 2022, Siracusa, and The Lion Is In, several essay collections, and books for children and young adults. Her movie credits include You've Got Mail, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, This is My Life, Michael, and Hanging Up. Her play, "Love, Loss, and What I Wore," written with her sister Nora Ephron (based on the book by Ilene Beckerman), ran for two years off Broadway and has been performed internationally. For more about Delia, visit her website and follow her on X and Instagram. In this conversation, we’ll discuss the intersection of life and the creative process: how one can affect, influence and impact the other. ----more---- Follow me on social media: Goodreads  *  X/Twitter  *  Facebook  * TikTok * Instagram *  LinkedIn  *  Pinterest  *  Medium  Check out my YouTube channels:   Books by Nancy Christie on YouTube  *  Midlife Moxie Novel Series™ on YouTube  

Just a few thoughts on why we shouldn’t confuse “I’ve never done it” with “I can’t do it.” Did you enjoy this excerpt from my writing newsletter? Sign up for The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!   Follow me on social media: Goodreads  *  X/Twitter  *  Facebook  * TikTok * Instagram *  LinkedIn  *  Pinterest  *  Medium  Check out my YouTube channels:   Books by Nancy Christie on YouTube  *  Midlife Moxie Novel Series™ on YouTube    

   Jonathan Lewis writes microfiction travelogues which he shares freely at his website. Each 500-word story follows an international traveler as he explores the world and tries to better understand his place in it. Now retired, Jonathan has had an eclectic career: California State Senate legislative staffer; art gallery owner; founder/CEO of a global social enterprise financing small businesses owned by low-income women; real estate developer; visiting professor at NYU and UC Berkeley. He has written one nonfiction book on social entrepreneurship. Jonathan is also an assemblage artist working with recycled materials. For more about Jonathan, visit his website or follow him on Threads and Instagram. In this conversation, we’ll discuss how travel can inspire creativity. ----more---- Follow me on social media: Goodreads  *  X/Twitter  *  Facebook  * TikTok * Instagram *  LinkedIn  *  Pinterest  *  Medium  Check out my YouTube channels:   Books by Nancy Christie on YouTube  *  Midlife Moxie Novel Series™ on YouTube

Just a few thoughts on why we shouldn’t confuse creative dormancy with creative death. Did you enjoy this excerpt from my writing newsletter? Sign up for The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!   Follow me on social media: Goodreads  *  X/Twitter  *  Facebook  * TikTok * Instagram *  LinkedIn  *  Pinterest  *  Medium  Check out my YouTube channels:   Books by Nancy Christie on YouTube  *  Midlife Moxie Novel Series™ on YouTube

A native Chicagoan, Charlene Wexler has been a teacher, wife, dental office manager, mother and grandmother. In retirement, her lifelong passion for writing has led her to create several essays and novels. Her books include Murder on Skid Row, Milk and Oranges, Lori and Elephants In The Room. Charlene’s newest book, Farewell To South Shore was released in 2024, and her next one, We Won't Go Back, is scheduled for 2025. For more about Charlene, visit her website and follow her on X/Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. In today’s conversation, we’ll be talking about creative transitions in the writing journey.

Just a few thoughts on why we can’t let our creativity be eclipsed by others or our own self-doubt. Did you enjoy this excerpt from my writing newsletter? Sign up for The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!   Follow me on social media: Goodreads  *  X/Twitter  *  Facebook  * TikTok * Instagram *  LinkedIn  *  Pinterest  *  Medium  Check out my YouTube channels:   Books by Nancy Christie on YouTube  *  Midlife Moxie Novel Series™ on YouTube

Stephani Halleen Atkins, who writes under the name of s.c.halleen, describes herself as a recovering nonprofit founder, current grant writer, and the aspiring creator of a new form of reading: the SummerSnow multimedia serial story, which reads like an ebook but interweaves audio, image and film throughout the narrative. In addition, she has written a novel, edited tv spec scripts, hosted a radio show, and presented a TEDx talk entitled “World in Uproar: How Stories, Not Facts, Will Save the Day.” For more about Stephanie, visit her website and follow her on Instagram and Threads In today’s conversation, we’ll be talking about taking your own advice and making time to write your own stories.

Just a few thoughts on why we have to believe that our creativity, like a garden bed, can produce results. Did you enjoy this excerpt from my writing newsletter? Sign up for The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!   Follow me on social media: Goodreads  *  X/Twitter  *  Facebook  * TikTok * Instagram *  LinkedIn  *  Pinterest  *  Medium  Check out my YouTube channels:   Books by Nancy Christie on YouTube  *  Midlife Moxie Novel Series™ on YouTube

Just a few thoughts on why we shouldn’t let milestone birthdays stop us in our creative tracks. Did you enjoy this excerpt from my writing newsletter? Sign up for The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!   Follow me on social media: Goodreads  *  X/Twitter  *  Facebook  * TikTok * Instagram *  LinkedIn  *  Pinterest  *  Medium  Check out my YouTube channels:   Books by Nancy Christie on YouTube  *  Midlife Moxie Novel Series™ on YouTube

As an amateur genealogist and family historian, Eric Walker was impelled to write his debut novel Lost Souls Recovered when he discovered the richness of family stories through research of historical documents and those stories told to him by relatives. As he read historical documents and talked to relatives, he envisioned a way to bring to life in fiction form many of his ancestors who lived a hardscrabble life and who worked to overcome hardship. Eric believes the written word can unlock doors as well as the imagination and unite our spirits through our visions. A lawyer who lives in Ohio, Eric is working on a second novel involving land loss in the early post-Reconstruction era. For more about Eric, visit his author page and follow him on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook at @Sennachietyme. In today’s conversation, we’ll be talking about the importance, and the value, of understanding the past—our own and that of others.

Just a few thoughts on why we need to do “different” to have “different.” Did you enjoy this excerpt from my writing newsletter? Sign up for The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!

Michael Bourne is the author of Blithedale Canyon (Regal House, 2022). He is a long-time contributing editor at Poets & Writers Magazine and he has written for the New York Times, the Globe & Mail, The Economist, Literary Hub, and Salon. His fiction has appeared in more than a dozen literary magazines including, most recently, december, The Southampton Review, and Tin House. Blithedale Canyon is his first novel. He grew up in Northern California and now lives in Vancouver, Canada, with his wife and son. For more about Michael, visit his website and follow him on Instagram (michaelrbourne) and Twitter/X (@bournewriter). In today’s conversation, we’ll be talking about the reality of transitioning from being a published short story writer to a published novelist—both the creative aspect and the business side of it.

Just a few thoughts on the importance of being willing to make revisions: in writing and in life. Did you enjoy this excerpt from my writing newsletter? Sign up for The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!