Podcast appearances and mentions of rachael herron

Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail talks with Rachael about bumping against history as you research, about when existing writing routines stop working, and about surviving and thriving when publishing (and the world) is a rather wild place to be. Don't miss this lovely episode! Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail is the award-winning author of eight books for children and adults, including Flying High on PEI, Children of the SS Atlantic, and Freddie the Flyer, which is part of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. Danielle has held fancypants titles like Historian Laureate, Writer in Residence, and Maverick of the Year for Chatelaine magazine, but she's an introverted nerd who loves watching romcoms and going for hikes. She makes her home by the sea in Nova Scotia with her family and pets. Story about Freddie the Flyer (with video)⏰ DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING SLOTS AVAILABLE (limited): http://rachaelherron.com/edit

Ann Garvin shares her commitment to the journey while remaining agnostic about the outcome. She talks about being kinder to the animal that is you, learning that she actually liked to write, and what getting a Modern Love article will do for your sales. Don't miss this gorgeous chat! Ann Garvin, Ph.D. is the USA Today Bestselling author of seven funny and sad novels about women who do too much in a world that asks too much from them. She worked as an RN and taught in the University of Wisconsin system for years. She currently teaches creative writing at Drexel University in their Masters of Fine Arts program. Ann has written for the New York Times, Newsweek, Writer's Digest, AARP and more, is the founder of the multiple award-winning Tall Poppy Writers and watches too much TV with her dog, Peanut. Tell Two Friends is her most recent release. Her Modern Love article: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/07/style/modern-love-he-wanted-to-date-younger-women.html⏰ DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING SLOTS AVAILABLE (limited): http://rachaelherron.com/edit

Melissa Fraterrigo talks about journaling as a judgement-free zone, about writing never being static, and how writing about ourselves can be the finest kind of self-care. Melissa Fraterrigo's memoir, The Perils of Girlhood was published by the University of Nebraska Press in Fall 2025, and named by Literary Hub as one of “100 Notable Small Press Books of 2025.” She is also the author of the novel Glory Days (University of Nebraska Press), which was named one of “The Best Fiction Books of 2017” by the Chicago Review of Books as well as the short story collection The Longest Pregnancy (Livingston Press). Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies from storySouth and Shenandoah to Notre Dame Review, Sou'wester and The Millions. She teaches creative writing at Purdue University, in the Butler University MFA in Creative Writing program, and is also the founder and executive director of the Lafayette Writers' Studio in Lafayette, Indiana, where she offers classes on the art and craft of writing. She lives with her husband and two daughters in West Lafayette, Indiana and can be found at melissafraterrigo.com. ⏰ DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING SLOTS AVAILABLE (limited): http://rachaelherron.com/edit

Sacha and Rachael are really having fun now! ⏰ DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING SLOTS AVAILABLE (limited): http://rachaelherron.com/edit

Hello Rebels and welcome to fireside chat number forty-seven between Rachael Herron and I.  To find out more about Rachael, you can listen to her show “How Do You Write” or visit her website. * If you like dark humor, learning through examples and want to create perfect prose, then you'll love my guide to crafting sensational sentences. Read The Anatomy of Prose today and start creating kick-ass stories.

Amy Pennza talks about the ways indie differs from traditional publishing, as well as dishing about her favorite hack for getting rid of echoes in our writing! Amy Pennza is a USA Today Bestselling Author of steamy fantasy romance. After becoming a lawyer because everyone insisted writing wasn't a “real job,” she stubbornly wrote anyway—and is delighted to have proved them wrong. She's grateful to spend her days crafting dirty, swoony books about magic, swords, and unforgettable characters. She lives in the Great Lakes region with her husband and five children. DHAMPIRA is her most recent release. ⏰ DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING SLOTS AVAILABLE (limited): http://rachaelherron.com/edit

Naima Coster talks about how to trust that future writer self, about crafting beginnings that hold the seeds of the book, and about leaving behind the pages that we don't need anymore. Naima Coster is a New York Times bestselling author and a recipient of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 honor. Her novel, What's Mine and Yours, was a Read with Jenna pick and named a best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews, Esquire, Marie Claire, and more. Her first novel, Halsey Street, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Elle, Time, and The Cut. She earned her MFA at Columbia University and has taught writing for over a decade. Naima lives in Brooklyn. Take What You Can is her most recent novel. The Cut article: https://www.thecut.com/article/learn-to-trust-writing-instincts.html⏰ DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING SLOTS AVAILABLE (limited): http://rachaelherron.com/edit

Dimitry Elias Léger is the author of God Loves Haiti, a finalist for the PEN Open Book Award. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Time, Fortune, Granta, The Miami Herald, Literary Hub, The Millions, and The Source. Beyond his writing, Léger studied geopolitics at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and served as an advisor to the United Nations for a decade. He lives between Brooklyn, Geneva, and Martinique. Death of the Soccer God is his most recent release. The Ishiguro article mentioned!

Jaclyn Moriarty talks about self-doubt, the difficulty of making decisions, and the fun of figuring out time travel in this delightful chat! Jaclyn Moriarty is the award-winning author of books for readers of all ages. One of the talented and popular Moriarty sisters (including Liane and Nicola), Jaclyn lives in Sydney, Australia, along with her teenage son. Time Travel for Beginners is her most recent release.

In which Sacha talks about her SOPs for writing, and Rachael marvels at how different the two of them are

Hello Rebels and welcome to fireside chat number forty-six between Rachael Herron and I. To find out more about Rachael, you can listen to her show “How Do You Write” or visit her website. * If you like dark humour, learning through examples and want to create the best villains you can, then you'll love Sacha Black's guide to crafting superbad villains. Read 13 Steps to Evil today and start creating kick-ass villains.

Tiffany Crum's first novel is a breakout success, but it wasn't a straight line getting there. How did she do it? She tells us here. Tiffany Crum grew up on a dairy farm just down the road from a maximum-security prison. A longtime Californian, she now lives in Atlanta with her husband, two sons, and dogs, and spends her free time trying to keep her vegetable garden alive. Her debut novel, This Story Might Save Your Life, is a New York Times bestseller, an Amazon Best Book of March, a Book of the Month selection, and a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick. It will be published in twenty-three languages and is under option for television.

If you're wanting to make your writing stronger (immediately), don't skip this one! Better, stronger verbs will change everything! Sarah L. Kaufman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, a writing teacher, and an award-winning author. Her newest book is VERB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: How to Master the Art of the Verb and Transform Your Writing. Sarah was the chief dance critic of The Washington Post, where she wrote about the arts, entertainment, and society for 27 years. She also writes for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Monocle magazine, among others. Her debut book, The Art of Grace, was a Washington Post Notable Book, and won the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, and a Spirituality & Practice Award. Sarah was a 2024 Penn State Foster-Foreman Distinguished Writer, and she has taught at Harvard, American University, and Princeton, where she was a McGraw Professor of Writing. She has received journalism fellowships from the Nieman Foundation and French-American Foundation, and she is currently working on her next book. ⚙️ The Artist's Way Club: https://rachaelherron.com/taw/

Meredith Doench talks about how to move forward with a first draft (even when you think you should stop) and why it might be the most important thing you do! Meredith is the queer crime writer of the Luce Hansen sapphic thriller series and the stand-alone novels, Never Say Die and Whereabouts Unknown. She is an avid armchair detective and amateur web sleuth who loves all things mystery. Doench's works of short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in literary journals such as Hayden's Ferry Review, Women's Studies Quarterly and The Tahoma Literary Review. She was one of the founding associate prose editors of the literary journal Camera Obscura: Journal of Literature and Photography and teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Never Say Die is her most recent release.

Ember Mae talks about how to create a compelling character, and also talks about how to run a successful Kickstarter! Ember Mae writes books where found family thrives, pets scheme, and laughter is always off-leash. She writes cozy mysteries and holiday romcoms, and one day plans to mix those two genres together. She writes cozy and romantic books that will have you laughing, swooning, and crying with characters that feel more like friends. She can be found at embpublishing.com Kickstarter 101 with Ember Mae: https://www.authornation.live/kickstart-together-101?lid=12152

Darby Bozeman's first book has just come out, and this is a wonderful celebration of writing on the more chaotic side! Darby Bozeman grew up in Portland, Oregon, but she's spent the better part of her adult life in the South. She has a master's in teaching from the University of Georgia and she taught middle school English for five years. When she's not reading or writing, she loves acting in community theater and discussing pop culture. She lives in Knoxville with her husband, Bryan, and their cat, Claude. Summer's Never Over is her debut novel. Rachael's Patreon link to the scam post.⚙️ Writing in the Junkyard: July 11 & 12 - click HERE!

In which Sacha admits a productive breakdown and Rachael talks about Italy!

Hello Rebels and welcome to fireside chat number forty-five between Rachael Herron and I. To find out more about Rachael, you can listen to her show “How Do You Write” or visit her website. * If you haven't read The Anatomy of a Best Seller, what are you waiting for? Grab my latest craft book and start deconstructing so you can write your own best seller today.

Join us for this lovely episode in which Emily Wood talks about the magic of using a different format (scriptwriting!) for unlocking stuckness, as well as sharing about the best launch day ever! Emily Wood was born and raised in rural Southern Ontario, Canada, where her days were spent as a stereotypical horse girl and her nights as the quintessential bookworm. The former journalist and newspaper editor now works in library services by day, and spends her evenings spinning stories that will make you blush, filled with heat, humour, and found family. Her superpowers include having full conversations in movie quotes and responding to any text message with the perfect meme, and when she's not writing she enjoys reading, hiking with her husband and golden mountain doodle, and being lakeside with a blank page and a cup of tea. Just My Luck is her debut novel. ⚙️ Writing in the Junkyard: July 11 & 12 - click HERE!

What do you get when you take a huge risk? Everything. Don't miss this delightful chat with Jessica Payne about risk, ideas, and split keyboards! Jessica Payne lives in Washington State with her daughter, husband, and an internet search history that would raise eyebrows. A firm believer in strong coffee and stronger women, she writes about mothers who know how to handle a sniper rifle and a carpool schedule with equal precision. When she's not writing, you'll find her trail running through the forests of the Pacific Northwest as she plots her next fictional murder. She has been featured on Cosmopolitan.com and People.com and Somebody Worth Killing is her most recent release.

Rebecca Hunter talks about how to keep the reader and author experience separate (don't search that hard for flow), about dictation walks, and about the difference between trad and indie routes! Don't miss this lovely chat! Rebecca Hunter is an award-winning author, reader, traveler, occasional college professor, full-time chocolate lover, and keeper of a very messy desk. Her books have won the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award (NERFA), the HOLT Medallion and the VIVIAN Award. She writes witty, passionate stories about complex characters and intriguing destinations for Harlequin's Presents line. Find her here.

In which Sacha and Rachael talk about Sacha's move, Rachael's upcoming trip, and intentionality! ✏️ 90 Days to Done and 90 Day Revision NOW OPEN!

PATREON: Thank you to my existing patrons for believing in my work offline and here in the podcast. If you are a patron, in either tier, you get all my content, always. You can support me and my dreams and my writing and my aligned author life for $11.11 USD, and I will be so so grateful. Truly. Heart to heart. Gratitude for your gifts. If you want coaching too (with TWO LIVE CALLS EACH MONTH, you can BACK me at $55.55/mo USD). You will NEVER find coaching sessions for less money than this. If you've ever wanted continued support for your writing and accountability for your projects, this is the way to do it.    Become a patron of the arts and of me at Patreon.com/valerieihsan.    And you can support my friend and colleague and Visiting Co-Host author Erick Mertz at Patreon.com/strangeairstories for short stories in the paranormal mystery genre.      Announcements/Author Updates: designing my next writing retreat in Costa Rica. My first international retreat (even though I live here) so there are a lot more moving pieces than I first imagined. Taking a four-month course to get me through all the legalities and best practices. If you are interested in the updates on the retreat, you can go to valerieihsan.com/retreat. request to bring back a regular patron gathering for all members (paid and unpaid) Mini writing retreat (cozy, candle; oracle card pull to set intention; check-in: 1 struggle, 1 win, what you are working on tonight; guided meditation; writing words; share word count (optional)); PLEASE send me a DM or a comment where you heard this podcast, or in the Patreon community. Let me know if this is something you crave. It's not just shared writing space. It's a retreat from regular life (dishes, dogs, kids, day job) and a safe and sacred space to connect and to write. talking with the architect, nailing down our must-haves, and waiting to approve the latest layout design, then there will be an initial payment and we'll then get a 3D rendering of the house. half to drive north to sign a document (complications with names and lawyers)   What are you reading? Just finished:  Soul Sourced Entrepreneur (Christine Kane) and Rain Delay (Erick Mertz - beta read) Creative Act (Rick Rubin)  Mosswood Apothecary (JP Rindfleisch IX) The Reliable Narrator (Grace Sammon)   (Main Topic):  Notes: Google Search and ChatGPT search for English-speaking writing groups, critique groups, organizations, retreats, workshops, and conferences. CR colleagues in the writing world, ask them how they stay connected and keep writing ask my personal community/neighbors if there are any writers check online to find a good fit (perhaps ones already peripherally a part of), and re-engage accountability buddy (check-in via text/email, meet in person, chat through video calls, write together via video call) paid accountability (Rachael Herron's Write With Me), (micro-writing retreats for my patrons), book coaching online conferences, online summits, online masterclasses and workshops writing organizations often have online components. in this globalized world we live in now, we are never alone.    And don't forget: Go to valerieihsan.com to schedule a free consultation to see if Aligned Author is right for you.   Find Us:   Valerie's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/valerieihsan  Erick's Linktree link: https://linktr.ee/erickmertzauthor

Hello Rebels and welcome to fireside chat number forty-four between Rachael Herron and I.  To find out more about Rachael, you can listen to her show “How Do You Write” or visit her website. * If you like dark humor, learning through examples and want to create perfect prose, then you'll love my guide to crafting sensational sentences. Read The Anatomy of Prose today and start creating kick-ass stories.

Don't miss this one, in which Laurie Frankel reveals the trick she uses while reading to aid her writing - it blew Rachael's mind! Laurie Frankel is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of the novels Family Family, One Two Three, Goodbye for Now, The Atlas of Love, and the Reese's Book Club Pick This Is How It Always Is. Frankel lives in Seattle with her husband, daughter, and border collie. Enormous Wings is her latest novel. Laurie's site: https://www.lauriefrankel.net/And Butt in Chair substack: https://lauriefrankel8.substack.com/✏️ 90 Days to Done and 90 Day Revision NOW OPEN!

Are you a controller or a perfectionist? What if you lowered the bar, and just let it all unfold as you go, as you support yourself in your writing? Meghan Cathlin is a writer, speaker, and founder of Considerate Ventures. For over 25 years, she has been a trusted advisor to authors, celebrities, CEOs, and dignitaries, in high-stakes environments and heart-centered missions. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her son Greyson and their two dogs, Lucy and Django. Leading with the Heart is her first book. ✏️ 90 Days to Done and 90 Day Revision NOW OPEN!

DON'T SKIP THIS ONE! Portia Elan has written Rachael's favorite book in recent years, and THIS is the story of how her debut novel has come to be released with such gorgeous (and deserved) fanfare! Portia Elan earned an MFA from the University of Victoria before returning home to California, where she has worked as a teacher and public librarian. She is a former Lambda Literary Fellow and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her wife and an abundance of cats. Homebound is her first novel.✏️ 90 Days to Done and 90 Day Revision NOW OPEN!

Hello Rebels and welcome to fireside chat number forty-three between Rachael Herron and I. To find out more about Rachael, you can listen to her show “How Do You Write” or visit her website. * If you like dark humour, learning through examples and want to create the best villains you can, then you'll love Sacha Black's guide to crafting superbad villains. Read 13 Steps to Evil today and start creating kick-ass villains.

In which Sacha is moving (and making moves!) and Rachael is in a bit of a panic!Links mentioned re: Claude:https://rebeccabultsma.substack.com/p/before-you-use-claude-code-buildand then:https://substack.com/home/post/p-186996234✏️ 90 Days to Done and 90 Day Revision NOW OPEN!

Moorea Corrigan is a master at lunch hour writing, getting her books written on her breaks at her the publishing house where she works. She talks about done being better than perfect, and gives Rachael a life-changing phrase she won't soon forget! Moorea Corrigan holds a bachelor's degree with honors in English literature from the University of Edinburgh, where she studied modern British history and the fall of the “manor house” after WWI, which served as inspiration for Thistlemarsh Hall. She also holds a master of publishing degree from Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. She currently works at Lynne Rienner Publishers, an academic press in Boulder, Colorado. When she is not writing, you can find her singing, spending time with her menagerie of pets, or attending Jane Austen conventions in full Regency regalia. Thistlemarsh is her debut novel.

Kelly Yang knows that if she lets the world get in the way of her writing, it will, so she is relentless about protecting her practice. Join us for this amazing conversation! Kelly Yang is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the YA Front Desk series. In addition to being a novelist, she has written screenplays and television pilots for Netflix, CBS Studios, and the CW. Kelly immigrated to the United States when she was six years old and grew up in Southern California. She went to college at the age of 13 and is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Harvard Law School, an experience that provides her a unique perspective on aging. The Take is her first adult novel.Storykind Podcast: HERE. ✏️ Writing in the Junkyard, April 18 & 19: http://rachaelherron.com/junkyard

Are you hard on yourself? Ever? You need to listen to this gorgeous chat about following the pleasure in your writing (and your life). Alicia Jo Rabins is a writer, musician, filmmaker, and feminist Torah teacher. The San Francisco Chronicle calls her writing “a poetry page-turner, both sexy and humble.” Rabins is the author of five books, most recently the spiritual memoir When We're Born We Forget Everything. As a singer-songwriter, Rabins tours internationally with Girls in Trouble, her indie-folk song cycle about Biblical women. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her family and too many houseplants.✏️ Writing in the Junkyard, April 18 & 19: http://rachaelherron.com/junkyard

What's the question that's most useful to Ashley Herring Blake as she sets up her characters? Who hurt you? And why? And how? Follow along! Ashley Herring Blake (she/they) is an award-winning author. She loves coffee, cats, melancholy songs, and happy books. She is the author of six novels for young adult and middle grade readers, as well as the Bright Falls adult romance novels, the holiday romance Make the Season Bright, and the Clover Lake adult romance novels. She lives on a very tiny island off the coast of Georgia with her family. Get Over It, April Evans is her most recent release. www.ashleyherringblake.com✏️ Writing in the Junkyard, April 18 & 19: http://rachaelherron.com/junkyard

In which we talk about being intentional!

Hello Rebels and welcome to fireside chat number forty-two between Rachael Herron and I. To find out more about Rachael, you can listen to her show “How Do You Write” or visit her website. * If you haven't read The Anatomy of a Best Seller, what are you waiting for? Grab my latest craft book and start deconstructing so you can write your own best seller today.

What do you do when your first book dies on sub? You write the most fun thing you can imagine, just for yourself. Maria J. Morillo tells us how! (And Rachael shares a hard story of recent publishing woes.) Maria J. Morillo is a born and raised Venezuelan ESL teacher, translator, and author of love stories featuring Venezuelan women getting absolutely everything they've always wanted. When she's not writing, you can find her leading the choir at her local church. She currently lives in Maturin, Venezuela, with her family. The Ex-Perimento is her debut release.

You'll adore this episode where the Pens to Paycheck Authors wax lyrically and hilariously about all things writing, business, and mindset! Samantha B. Cummings writes gripping young adult fantasy novels and atmospheric dark academia mysteries for teens.Matilda Swift writes culinary cozy mysteries that are quintessentially British. Her books offer more twists than a country road, pairing them with quirky characters who feel like old friends.The Pen to Paycheck Authors Podcastis hosted by Sam & Matilda, two indie authors with over a dozen books between them, but still working towards the ‘quit the day job' dream. They're documenting all the steps they're taking to reach success, and pulling back the curtain on indie publishing.

Lauren Novak wrote the book she needed to read, and in this episode we talk about how to uncover your next book (or how to wait for it!) as well as asking for help and dropping your reader into the middle of action! Lauren Novak is an award-winning Australian journalist whose work has been published in News Corp newspapers, magazines and websites for the past two decades. Lauren specialises in coverage of child safety, gender and family violence and is a three-time winner of the South Australian Press Club's journalist of the year award. She lives on Kaurna (Gar-nah) land, in Adelaide, with her partner and their two lively kids, born less than two years apart during a global pandemic. Meltdown: Why motherhood makes us angry and what to do about it is her first book, out now from HarperCollins Publishers.

Rachael and Sacha are planning for the new year! And Sacha's had her most stressful month ever. IMAGINE.

Hello Rebels and welcome to fireside chat number forty-one between Rachael Herron and I.  To find out more about Rachael, you can listen to her show “How Do You Write” or visit her website. * If you like dark humor, learning through examples and want to create perfect prose, then you'll love my guide to crafting sensational sentences. Read The Anatomy of Prose today and start creating kick-ass stories.

Sure, you can drive the whole way there in the beam of just the headlight, but what IS that headlight, anyway? Virginia knows! New York Times bestselling author Virginia Kantra is the author of almost thirty novels. She is married to her college sweetheart, a coffee shop owner who keeps her well supplied with caffeine and material. They make their home in North Carolina, where they raised three (mostly adult) children. She is a firm believer in the strength of family, the importance of storytelling, and the power of love. Anne of a Different Island is her most recent novel.

Jacque Gorelick looks at life like a pie chart — what's going to fit, and what won't? Don't miss this fabulous conversation on how to rely on yourself as a writer! Jacque Gorelick's essays about family, motherhood, estrangement, education, and health have appeared or are forthcoming in The New York Times, Salon, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Kenyon Review, Pithead Chapel, X-R-A-Y, Healthy Women, The Washington Post, HuffPost and more. Map of a Heart: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Finding the Way Home is her debut memoir. A California native, Jacque has lived all over the West Coast from Santa Barbara to Alaska. Now firmly rooted in the San Francisco Bay Area, she lives beside a creek under redwood trees with her husband, two boys, and a mélange of rescues. To find out more about Jacque and her work visit her website at www.jacquegorelick.com Cold Turkey Writer: https://getcoldturkey.com/writer/Map of a Heart: https://amzn.to/4arXT1bThe Byline Bible, Susan Shapiro https://amzn.to/4arXT1bNewsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/husband-newborn-hike-stopped-breathing-cpr-11514533

Don't look away - if you keep looking at those hard questions, the answers come. Listen as we chat about this today! Diana Hongcha is a Chinese American author whose debut thriller, If You Don't Go, earned a silver medal at the Global Book Awards and reached Amazon Bestseller status. Born and raised in China, Diana emigrated to the United States as a teenager. A frequent traveler to China and a self-appointed culture attaché, she aims to write compelling stories that bridge the gap between the China she knows and the one depicted in the headlines. Diana dreams of one day splitting her time between Chengdu and Bozeman, Montana. For now, she's happily immersed in family life and the next story waiting to be told. Find out more at www.dianahongcha.com

In which Sacha and Rachael share their words of 2026, and their thoughts about their wins and losses from 2025, and where 2026 is taking them! Hint: Sacha's world dominating, and Rachael's waking up from a nap.

Hello Rebels and welcome to fireside chat number forty between Rachael Herron and I. To find out more about Rachael, you can listen to her show “How Do You Write” or visit her website. * If you like dark humour, learning through examples and want to create the best villains you can, then you'll love Sacha Black's guide to crafting superbad villains. Read 13 Steps to Evil today and start creating kick-ass villains.

Times are hard, y'all. So here's a hopeful story. In this solo episode, Rachael shares about the time Madeleine L'Engle wrote to her. ✏️ 90 Days to Done NOW OPEN! http://rachaelherron.com/90daystodone✏️ 90 Day Revision NOW OPEN! http://rachaelherron.com/revision

Michelangelo said, "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free" - How do you do that in your own work? And how do you bring a place to life, even if you haven't ever been there? Traveler and archaeological-thriller writer Luke Richardson is our guide today! Luke Richardson is the author of international thrillers that blend history, mystery, and adventure in exotic locations. A former English teacher and lifelong traveller, he brings his real-life adventures to the page—and to podcasts—sharing insights on storytelling, creativity, and far-off places. ✏️ 90 Days to Done NOW OPEN! http://rachaelherron.com/90daystodone✏️ 90 Day Revision NOW OPEN! http://rachaelherron.com/revision

Money AND power? We're allowed to want those things? Heck, yes, we are. Don't miss this dynamic conversation about how to do it! Amy Suto is a freelance memoir ghostwriter, bestselling author, and the writer behind the top-ranked Substack, Make Writing Your Job. As a ghostwriter, Amy has written memoirs on behalf of Olympians, CEOs and NBA players. Her Substack, Make Writing Your Job, has more than 23,000 subscribers, providing a job board and practical tips for writers. In addition to her ghostwriting business and Substack, Amy published her debut romantasy novel, The Ash Trials, in 2025. Write for Money and Power is her most recent release. https://www.amysuto.com/write-for-money-and-power✏️ 90 Days to Done NOW OPEN! http://rachaelherron.com/90daystodone✏️ 90 Day Revision NOW OPEN! http://rachaelherron.com/revision

How can you build iconic characters that your readers want to keep coming back to? How can you be the kind of creator that readers trust, even without social media? With Claire Taylor In the intro, Dan Brown talks writing and publishing [Tetragrammaton]; Design Rules That Make or Break a Book [Self-Publishing Advice]; Amazon's DRM change [Kindlepreneur]; Show me the money [Rachael Herron]; AI bible translation [Wycliffe, Pope Leo tweet]. Plus, Business for Authors 24 Jan webinar, and Bones of the Deep. Today's show is sponsored by Bookfunnel, the essential tool for your author business. Whether it's delivering your reader magnet, sending out advanced copies of your book, handing out ebooks at a conference, or fulfilling your digital sales to readers, BookFunnel does it all. Check it out at bookfunnel.com/thecreativepenn This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Claire Taylor is a humour and mystery author, the owner of FFS Media, and a certified Enneagram coach. She teaches authors to write stronger stories and build sustainable careers at LiberatedWriter.com, and her book is Write Iconic Characters: Unlocking the Core Motivations that Fuel Unforgettable Stories. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights, and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Why Claire left social media and how she still markets her books and services What the Enneagram is and how core fears and desires shape character motivation Using Enneagram types (including Wednesday Addams as an example) to write iconic characters Creating rich conflict and relationships by pairing different Enneagram types on the page Coping with rapid change, AI, and fear in the author community in 2026 Building a trustworthy, human author brand through honesty, transparency, and vulnerability You can find Claire at LiberatedWriter.com, FFS.media, or on Substack as The Liberated Writer. Transcript of the interview with Claire Taylor Joanna: Claire Taylor is a humour and mystery author, the owner of FFS Media, and a certified Enneagram coach. She teaches authors to write stronger stories and build sustainable careers at LiberatedWriter.com, and her book is Write Iconic Characters: Unlocking the Core Motivations that Fuel Unforgettable Stories. So, welcome back to the show, Claire. Claire: Thank you so much for having me back. I'm excited to be here. Joanna: It's great to have you back on the show. It was March 2024 when you were last on, so almost two years now as this goes out. Give us a bit of an update. How has your writing craft and your author business changed in that time? Claire: One of the things I've been focusing on with my own fiction craft is deconstructing the rules of how a story “should” be. That's been a sort of hobby focus of mine. All the story structure books aren't law, right? That's why there are so many of them. They're all suggestions, frameworks. They're all trying to quantify humans' innate ability to understand a story. So I'm trying to remember more that I already know what a story is, deep down. My job as an author is to keep the reader's attention from start to finish and leave them feeling the way I hope they'll feel at the end. That's been my focus on the craft side. On the author business side, I've made some big shifts. I left social media earlier this year, and I've been looking more towards one-on-one coaching and networking. I did a craft-based Kickstarter, and I'd been focusing a lot on “career, career, career”—very business-minded—and now I'm creating more content again, especially around using the Enneagram for writing craft. So there's been a lot of transition since 2024 for me. Joanna: I think it's so important—and obviously we're going to get into your book in more detail—but I do think it's important for people to hear about our pivots and transitions. I haven't spoken to you for a while, but I actually started a master's degree a few months back. I'm doing a full-time master's alongside everything else I do. So I've kind of put down book writing for the moment, and I'm doing essay writing and academic writing instead. It's quite different, as you can imagine. It sounds like what you're doing is different too. One thing I know will have perked up people's ears is: “I left social media.” Tell us a bit more about that. Claire: This was a move that I could feel coming for a while. I didn't like what social media did to my attention. Even when I wasn't on it, there was almost a hangover from having been on it. My attention didn't feel as sharp and focused as it used to be, back before social media became what it is now. So I started asking myself some questions: What is lost if I leave? What is gained if I leave? And what is social media actually doing for me today? Because sometimes we hold on to what it used to do for us, and we keep trying to squeeze more and more of that out of it. But it has changed so much. There are almost no places with sufficient organic reach anymore. It's all pay-to-play, and the cost of pay-to-play keeps going up. I looked at the numbers for my business. My Kickstarter was a great place to analyse that because they track so many traffic sources so clearly. I could see exactly how much I was getting from social media when I advertised and promoted my projects there. Then I asked: can I let that go in order to get my attention back and make my life feel more settled? And I decided: yes, I can. That's worth more to me. Joanna: There are some things money can't buy. Sometimes it really isn't about the money. I like your question: what is lost and what is gained? You also said it's all pay-to-play and there's no organic reach. I do think there is some organic reach for some people who don't pay, but those people are very good at playing the game of whatever the platform wants. So, TikTok for example—you might not have to pay money yet, but you do have to play their game. You have to pay with your time instead of money. I agree with you. I don't think there's anywhere you can literally just post something and know it will reliably reach the people who follow you. Claire: Right. Exactly. TikTok currently, if you really play the game, will sometimes “pick” you, right? But that “pick me” energy is not really my jam. And we can see the trend—this “organic” thing doesn't last. It's organic for now. You can play the game for now, but TikTok would be crazy not to change things so they make more money. So eventually everything becomes pay-to-play. TikTok is fun, but for me it's addictive. I took it off my phone years ago because I would do the infinite scroll. There's so much candy there. Then I'd wake up the next morning and notice my mood just wasn't where I wanted it to be. My energy was low. I really saw a correlation between how much I scrolled and how flat I felt afterwards. So I realised: I'm not the person to pay-to-play or to play the game here. I'm not even convinced that the pay-to-play on certain social media networks is being tracked in a reliable, accountable way anymore. Who is holding them accountable for those numbers? You can sort of see correlation in your sales, but still, I just became more and more sceptical. In the end, it just wasn't for me. My life is so much better on a daily basis without it. That's definitely a decision I have not regretted for a second. Joanna: I'm sorry to keep on about this, but I think this is great because this is going out in January 2026, and there will be lots of people examining their relationship with social media. It's one of those things we all examine every year, pretty much. The other thing I'd add is that you are a very self-aware person. You spend a lot of time thinking about these things and noticing your own behaviour and energy. Stopping and thinking is such an important part of it. But let's tackle the big question: one of the reasons people don't want to come off social media is that they're afraid they don't know how else to market. How are you marketing if you're not using social media? Claire: I didn't leave social media overnight. Over time, I've been adjusting and transitioning, preparing my business and myself mentally and emotionally for probably about a year. I still market to my email list. That has always been important to my business. I've also started a Substack that fits how my brain works. Substack is interesting. Some people might consider it a form of social media—it has that new reading feed—but it feels much more like blogging to me. It's blogging where you can be discovered, which is lovely. I've been doing more long-form content there. You get access to all the emails of your subscribers, which is crucial to me. I don't want to build on something I can't take with me. So I've been doing more long-form content, and that seems to keep my core audience with me. I've got plenty of people subscribed; people continue to come back, work with me, and tell their friends. Word of mouth has always been the way my business markets best, because it's hard to describe the benefits of what I do in a quick, catchy way. It needs context. So I'm leaning even more on that. Then I'm also shifting my fiction book selling more local. Joanna: In person? Claire: Yes. In person and local. Networking and just telling more people that I'm an author. Connecting more deeply with my existing email lists and communities and selling that way. Joanna: I think at the end of the day it does come back to the email list. I think this is one of the benefits of selling direct to people through Shopify or Payhip or whatever, or locally, because you can build your email list. Every person you bring into your own ecosystem, you get their data and you can stay in touch. Whereas all the things we did for years to get people to go to Amazon, we didn't get their emails and details. It's so interesting where we are right now in the author business. Okay, we'll come back to some of these things, but let's get into the book and what you do. Obviously what underpins the book is the Enneagram. Just remind us what the Enneagram is, why you incorporate it into so much of your work, and why you find it resonates so much. Claire: The Enneagram is a framework that describes patterns of thoughts, feelings, and actions that tend to arise from nine different core motivations. Those core motivations are made up of a fear–desire pair. So, for instance, there's the fear of lacking worth and the desire to be worthy. That pair is the Type Three core motivation. If you're a Type Three, sometimes called “The Achiever,” that's your fundamental driver. What we fear and desire above all the other fears and desires determines where our attention goes. And attention is something authors benefit greatly from understanding. We have to keep people's attention, so we want to understand our own attention and how to cultivate it. The things our attention goes to build our understanding of ourselves and the world. Being intentional about that, and paying attention to what your characters pay attention to—and what your readers are paying attention to—is hugely beneficial. It can give you a real leg up. That's why I focus on the Enneagram. I find it very useful at that core level. You can build a lot of other things on top of it with your characters: their backstory, personal histories, little quirks—all of that can be built off the Enneagram foundation. Why I like the Enneagram more than other frameworks like MBTI or the Big Five is that it not only shows us how our fears are confining us—that's really what it's charting—but it also shows us a path towards liberation from those fears. That's where the Enneagram really shines: the growth path, the freedom from the confines of our own personality. It offers that to anyone who wants to study and discover it. A lot of the authors I work with say things like, “I'm just so sick of my own stuff.” And I get it. We all get sick of running into the same patterns over and over again. We can get sick of our personality! The Enneagram is a really good tool for figuring out what's going on and how to try something new, because often we can't even see that there are other options. We have this particular lens we're looking through. That's why I like to play with it, and why I find it so useful. Joanna: That's really interesting. It sounds like you have a lot of mature authors—and when I say “mature,” I mean authors with a lot of books under their belt, not necessarily age. There are different problems at different stages of the author career, and the problem you just described—“I'm getting sick of my stuff”—sounds like a mature author issue. What are some of the other issues you see in the community that are quite common amongst indie authors? Claire: One that comes up a lot, especially early on, is: “Am I doing this right?” That's a big question. People say, “I don't know if I'm doing this right. I'm going to mess it up. This person told me this was the way to do things, but I don't think I can do it this way. Am I doomed?” That's the fear. A lot of what I help people with is seeing that there isn't a single “right” way to do this. There's a way that's going to feel more aligned to you, and there are millions of ways to approach an author career because we're all constructing it as we go. You were there in the early days. We were all just making this up as we went along. Joanna: Exactly. There was a time when ebooks were PDFs, there wasn't even a Kindle, and there was no iPhone. We were literally just making it up. Claire: Right. Exactly. That spirit of “we're all making it up” is important. Some of us have come up with frameworks that work for us, and then we tell other people about them—“Here's a process; try this process”—but that doesn't mean it's the process. Understanding what motivates you—those core motivations—helps you see where you're going to bump into advice that's not right for you, and how to start making decisions that fit your attention, your life, your desires in this author role. Early on we do a lot of that work. Then there are the authors who started a while ago and have a bunch of books. They hit a point where they say, “I've changed so much since I started writing. I need to figure out how to adjust my career.” Joanna: Tell us more about that, because I think that's you and me. How do we deal with that? Claire: Well, crying helps. Joanna: That is true! There's always a bit of crying involved in reinvention. From my perspective, my brand has always been built around me. People are still here—I know some people listening who have been with the podcast since I started it in 2009—and I've always been me. Even though I've done loads of different things and changed along the way, at heart I'm still me. I'm really glad I built a personal brand around who I am, rather than around one genre or a single topic. How about you? How do you see it? Claire: I'm the same. I just can't stick with something that doesn't feel right for me anymore. I'll start to rebel against it. There's also that “good girl” part of me that wants to do things the way they're supposed to be done and keep everybody happy. I have to keep an eye on her, because she'll default to “this is the way it should be done,” and then I end up constricted. As we advance through our careers, positioning around what motivates us and what we love, and allowing ourselves to understand that it's okay to change—even though it's painful—is crucial. It's actually destructive not to change over time. We end up forfeiting so many things that make life worth living if we don't allow ourselves to grow and change. We end up in this tiny box. People sometimes say the Enneagram is very restrictive. “It's only nine types, you're putting me in a box.” It's like: no. These are the boxes we've put ourselves in. Then we use the Enneagram to figure out how to get out of the box. As we start to see the box we've put ourselves in with our personality—“that's me, that's not me”—we realise how much movement we actually have, how many options we have, while still being ourselves. Joanna: So many options. This kind of brings us into your book, because part of the personal brand thing is being real and having different facets. Your book is Write Iconic Characters, and presumably these are characters that people want to read more about. It uses the Enneagram to construct these better characters. So first up— What's your definition of an iconic character, as opposed to any old character? And how can we use the Enneagram to construct one? Claire: An iconic character, in my imagination, is one that really sticks with us after we've finished the story. They become a reference point. We'll say, “This person is kind of like that character,” or “This situation feels like that character would handle it this way.” It could be our friends, our enemies, someone we meet on the bus—whoever it is might remind us of this character. So they really get lodged in our psyche. An iconic character feels true to some fundamental part of the human condition, even if they're not strictly human. So, all the alien romance people listening, don't worry—you're still in! These characters take on a life of their own. With an iconic character, we may hear them talking to us after the book is done, because we've tapped into that essential part of them. They can become almost archetypal—something we go back to over and over again in our minds, both as writers and as readers. Joanna: How can we use the Enneagram to construct an iconic character? I'm asking this as a discovery writer who struggles to construct anything beforehand. It's more that I write stuff and then something emerges. But I have definitely not had a hit series with an iconic character, so I'm willing to give your approach a try. Claire: It works with whatever your process is. If you're a discovery writer, start with that spark of a character in your head. If there's a character who's just a glimmer—maybe you know a few things about them—just keep writing. At some point you'll probably recognise, “Okay, it's time to go deeper in understanding this character and create a cohesive thread to pull all of this together.” That's where the Enneagram becomes useful. You can put on your armchair psychologist hat and ask: which of the nine core fears seems like it might be driving the parts of their personality that are emerging? Thankfully, we intuitively recognise the nine types. When we start gathering bits for a new character, we tend to pull from essentially the same constellation of personality, even if we don't realise it. For instance, you might say, “This character is bold and adventurous,” and that's all you know. You're probably not going to also add, “and they're incredibly shy,” because “bold and adventurous” plus “incredibly shy” doesn't really fit our intuitive understanding of people. We know that instinctively. So, you've got “bold and adventurous.” You write that to a certain point, and then you get to a place where you think, “I don't really know them deeply.” That's when you can go back to the nine core fears and start ruling some out quite quickly. In the book, I have descriptions for each of them. You can read the character descriptions, read about the motivations, and start to say, “It's definitely not these five types. I can rule those out.” If they're bold and adventurous, maybe the core fear is being trapped in deprivation and pain, or being harmed and controlled. Those correspond to Type Seven (“The Enthusiast”) and Type Eight (“The Challenger”), respectively. So you might say, “Okay, maybe they're a Seven or an Eight.” From there, if you can pin down a type, you can read more about it and get ideas. You can understand the next big decision point. If they're a Type Seven, what's going to motivate them? They'll do whatever keeps them from being trapped in pain and deprivation, and they'll be seeking satisfaction or new experiences in some way, because that's the core desire that goes with that fear. So now, you're asking: “How do I get them to get on the spaceship and leave Earth?” Well, you could offer them some adventure, because they're bold and adventurous. I have a character who's a Seven, and she gets on a spaceship and takes off because her boyfriend just proposed—and the idea of being trapped in marriage feels like: “Nope. Whatever is on this spaceship, I'm out of here.” You can play with that once you identify a type. You can go as deep with that type as you want, or you can just work with the core fear and the basic desire. There's no “better or worse”—it's whatever you feel comfortable with and whatever you need for the story. Joanna: In the book, you go into all the Enneagram types in detail, but you also have a specific example: Wednesday Addams. She's one of my favourites. People listening have either seen the current series or they have something in mind from the old-school Addams Family. Can you talk about [Wednesday Addams] as an example? Claire: Doing those deep dives was some of the most fun research for this book. I told my husband, John, “Don't bother me. I need to sit and binge-watch Wednesday again—with my notebook this time.” Online, people were guessing: “Oh, she's maybe this type, maybe that type.” As soon as I started watching properly with the Enneagram in mind, I thought: “Oh, this is a Type Eight, this is the Challenger.” One of the first things we hear from her is that she considers emotions to be weakness. Immediately, you can cross out a bunch of types from that. When we're looking at weak/strong language—that lens of “strength” versus “weakness”—we tend to look towards Eights, because they often sort the world in those terms. They're concerned about being harmed or controlled, so they feel they need to be strong and powerful. That gave me a strong hint in that direction. If we look at the inciting incident—which is a great place to identify what really triggers a character, because it has to be powerful enough to launch the story—Wednesday finds her little brother Pugsley stuffed in a locker. She says, “Who did this?” because she believes she's the only one who gets to bully him. That's a very stereotypical Type Eight thing. The unhealthy Eight can dip into being a bit of a bully because they're focused on power and power dynamics. But the Eight also says, “These are my people. I protect them. If you're one of my people, you're under my protection.” So there's that protection/control paradox. Then she goes and—spoiler—throws a bag of piranhas into the pool to attack the boys who hurt him. That's like: okay, this is probably an Eight. Then she has control wrested from her when she's sent to the new school. That's a big trigger for an Eight: to not have autonomy, to not have control. She acts out pretty much immediately, tries to push people away, and establishes dominance. One of the first things she does is challenge the popular girl to a fencing match. That's very Eight behaviour: “I'm going to go in, figure out where I sit in this power structure, and try to get into a position of power straight away.” That's how the story starts, and in the book I go into a lot more analysis. At one point she's attacked by this mysterious thing and is narrowly saved from a monster. Her reaction afterwards is: “I would have rather saved myself.” That's another strong Eight moment. The Eight does not like to be saved by anyone else. It's: “No, I wanted to be strong enough to do that.” Her story arc is also very Eight-flavoured: she starts off walled-off, “I can do it myself,” which can sometimes look like the self-sufficiency of the Five, but for her it's about always being in a power position and in control of herself. She has to learn to rely more on other people if she wants to protect the people she cares about. Protecting the innocent and protecting “her people” is a big priority for the Eight. Joanna: Let's say we've identified our main character and protagonist. One of the important things in any book, especially in a series, is conflict—both internal and external. Can we use the Enneagram to work out what would be the best other character, or characters, to give us more conflict? Claire: The character dynamics are complex, and all types are going to have both commonalities and conflict between them. That works really well for fiction. But depending on how much conflict you need, there are certain type pairings that are especially good for it. If you have a protagonist who's an Eight, they're going to generate conflict everywhere because it doesn't really bother them. They're okay wading into conflict. If you ask an Eight, “Do you like conflict?” they'll often say, “Well, sometimes it's not great,” but to everyone else it looks like they come in like a wrecking ball. The Eight tends to go for what they want. They don't see the point in waiting. They think, “I want it, I'm going to go and get it.” That makes them feel strong and powerful. So it's easy to create external and internal conflict with an Eight and other types. But the nature of the conflict is going to be different depending on who you pair them with. Let's say you have this Eight and you pair them with a Type One, “The Reformer,” whose core fear is being bad or corrupt, and who wants to be good and have integrity. The Reformer wants morality. They can get a little preachy; they can become a bit of a zealot when they're more unhealthy. A One and an Eight will have a very particular kind of conflict because the One says, “Let's do what's right,” and the Eight says, “Let's do what gets me what I want and puts me in the power position.” They may absolutely get along if they're taking on injustice. Ones and Eights will team up if they both see the same thing as unjust. They'll both take it on together. But then they may reach a point in the story where the choice is between doing the thing that is “right”—maybe self-sacrificing or moral—versus doing the thing that will exact retribution or secure a power-up. That's where the conflict between a One and an Eight shows up. You can grab any two types and they'll have unique conflict. I'm actually working on a project on Kickstarter that's all about character dynamics and relationships—Write Iconic Relationships is the next project—and I go deeper into this there. Joanna: I was wondering about that, because I did a day-thing recently with colour palettes and interior design—which is not usually my thing—so I was really challenging myself. We did this colour wheel, and they were talking about how the opposite colour on the wheel is the one that goes with it in an interesting way. I thought— Maybe there's something in the Enneagram where it's like a wheel, and the type opposite is the one that clashes or fits in a certain way. Is that a thing? Claire: There is a lot of that kind of contrast. The Enneagram is usually depicted in a circle, one through nine, and there are strong contrasts between types that are right next to each other, as well as interesting lines that connect them. For example, we've been talking about the Eight, and right next to Eight is Nine, “The Peacemaker.” Eights and Nines can look like opposites in certain ways. The Nine is conflict-avoidant, and the Eight tends to think you get what you want by pushing into conflict if necessary. Then you've got Four, “The Individualist,” which is very emotional, artistic, heart-centred, and Five, “The Investigator,” which you're familiar with—very head-centred and analytical, thinking-based. The Four and the Five can clash a bit: the head and the heart. So, yes, there are interesting contrasts right next to each other on the wheel. Each type also has its own conflict style. We're going into the weeds a bit here, but it's fascinating to play with. There's one conflict style—the avoidant conflict style, sometimes called the “positive outlook” group—and it's actually hard to get those types into an enemies-to-lovers romance because they don't really want to be enemies. That's Types Two, Seven, and Nine. So depending on the trope you're writing, some type pairings are more frictional than others. There are all these different dynamics you can explore, and I can't wait to dig into them more for everyone in the relationships book. Joanna: The Enneagram is just one of many tools people can use to figure out themselves as well as their characters. Maybe that's something people want to look at this year. You've got this book, you've got other resources that go into it, and there's also a lot of information out there if people want to explore it more deeply. Let's pull back out to the bigger picture, because as this goes out in January 2026, I think there is a real fear of change in the community right now. Is that something you've seen? What are your thoughts for authors on how they can navigate the year ahead? Claire: Yes, there has been a lot of fear. The rate of change of things online has felt very rapid. The rate of change in the broader world—politically, socially—has also felt scary to a lot of people. It can be really helpful to look at your own personal life and anchor yourself in what hasn't changed and what feels universal. From there you can start to say, “Okay, I can do this. I'm safe enough to be creative. I can find creative ways to work within this new environment.” You can choose to engage with AI. You can choose to opt out. It's totally your choice, and there is no inherent virtue in either one. I think that's important to say. Sometimes people who are anti-AI—not just uninterested but actively antagonistic—go after people who like it. And sometimes people who like AI can be antagonistic towards people who don't want to use it. But actually, you get to choose what you're comfortable with. One of the things I see emerging for authors in 2026, regardless of what tools you're using or how you feel about them, is this question of trustworthiness. I think there's a big need for that. With the increased number of images and videos that are AI-generated—which a lot of people who've been on the internet for a while can still recognise as AI and say, “Yeah, that's AI”—but that may not be obvious for long. Right now some of us can tell, but a lot of people can't, and that's only going to get murkier. There's a rising mistrust of our own senses online lately. We're starting to wonder, “Can I believe what I'm seeing and hearing?” And I think that sense of mistrust will increase. As an author in that environment, it's really worth focusing on: how do I build trust with my readers? That doesn't mean you never use AI. It might simply mean you disclose, to whatever extent feels right for you, how you use it. There are things like authenticity, honesty, vulnerability, humility, integrity, transparency, reliability—all of those are ingredients in this recipe of trustworthiness that we need to look at for ourselves. If there's one piece of hard inner work authors can do for 2026, I think it's asking: “Where have I not been trustworthy to my readers?” Then taking that hard, sometimes painful look at what comes up, and asking how you can adjust. What do you need to change? What new practices do you need to create that will increase trustworthiness? I really think that's the thing that's starting to erode online. If you can work on it now, you can hold onto your readers through whatever comes next. Joanna: What's one concrete thing people could do in that direction [to increase trustworthiness]? Claire: I would say disclosing if you use AI is a really good start—or at least disclosing how you use it specifically. I know that can lead to drama when you do it because people have strong opinions, but trustworthiness comes at the cost of courage and honesty. Transparency is another ingredient we could all use more of. If transparency around AI is a hard “absolutely not” for you—if you're thinking, “Nope, Claire, you can get lost with that”—then authenticity is another route. Let your messy self be visible, because people still want some human in the mix. Being authentically messy and vulnerable with your audience helps. If you can't be reliable and put the book out on time, at least share what's going on in your life. Staying connected in that way builds trust. Readers will think, “Okay, I see why you didn't hit that deadline.” But if you're always promising books—“It's going to be out on this day,” and then, “Oh, I had to push it back,” and that happens again and again—that does erode the trustworthiness of your brand. So, looking at those things and asking, “How am I cultivating trust, and how am I breaking it?” is hard work. There are definitely ways I look at my own business and think, “That's not a very trustworthy thing I'm doing.” Then I need to sit down, get real with myself, and see how I can improve that. Joanna: Always improving is good. Coming back to the personal brand piece, and to being vulnerable and putting ourselves out there: you and I have both got used to that over years of doing it and practising. There are people listening who have never put their photo online, or their voice online, or done a video. They might not use their photo on the back of their book or on their website. They might use an avatar. They might use a pen name. They might be afraid of having anything about themselves online. That's where I think there is a concern, because as much as I love a lot of the AI stuff, I don't love the idea of everything being hidden behind anonymous pen names and faceless brands. As you said, being vulnerable in some way and being recognisably human really matters. I'd say: double down on being human. I think that's really important. Do you have any words of courage for people who feel, “I just can't. I don't want to put myself out there”? Claire: There are definitely legitimate reasons some people wouldn't want to be visible. There are safety reasons, cultural reasons, family reasons—all sorts of factors. There are also a lot of authors who simply haven't practised the muscle of vulnerability. You build that muscle a little bit at a time. It does open you up to criticism, and some people are just not at a phase of life where they can cope with that. That's okay. If fear is the main reason—if you're hiding because you're scared of being judged—I do encourage you to step out, gently. This may be my personal soapbox, but I don't think life is meant to be spent hiding. Things may happen. Not everyone will like you. That's part of being alive. When you invite in hiding, it doesn't just stay in one corner. That constricted feeling tends to spread into other areas of your life. A lot of the time, people I work with don't want to disclose their pen names because they're worried their parents won't approve, and then we have to unpack that. You don't have to do what your parents want you to do. You're an adult now, right? If the issue is, “They'll cut me out of the will,” we can talk about that too. That's a deeper, more practical conversation. But if it's just that they won't approve, you have more freedom than you think. You also don't have to plaster your picture everywhere. Even if you're not comfortable showing your face, you can still communicate who you are and what matters to you in other ways—through your stories, through your email list, through how you talk to readers. Let your authentic self be expressed in some way. It's scary, but the reward is freedom. Joanna: Absolutely. Lots to explore in 2026. Tell people where they can find you and your books and everything you do online. Claire: LiberatedWriter.com is where all of my stuff lives, except my fiction, which I don't think people here are necessarily as interested in. If you do want to find my fiction, FFS Media is where that lives. Then I'm on Substack as well. I write long pieces there. If you want to subscribe, it's The Liberated Writer on Substack. Joanna: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, Claire. That was great. Claire: Thanks so much for having me.The post Leaving Social Media, Writing Iconic Characters, and Building Trust With Claire Taylor first appeared on The Creative Penn.