Podcasts about Sentence

Charlie is playing Dungeons and Dragons. JLR has stolen on of Daffy Duck's lines. B2 says that Rover starts every sentence with the words "I need." Kids are playing Five Nights at Epstein's Island. 67-year-old Bobby Parker Hall claims people think she is 20 years-old ever since she started microdosing Ozempic. Microdosing mushrooms. Gas X. Rover is impressed with how good Lori Laughlin looks. The next season of The Bachelorette has been cancelled after a disturbing video of Taylor Frankie Paul has surfaced. Worst argument you have ever been in with your partner. Krystle's daughter wanted to punch her in the face. Neighbor caught pleasuring himself on a Ring camera. Duji leaves early. Piers Morgan gets into a heated argument with HSTikkyTokky that leads him to storm off his own show. DraftKings bets.

Charlie is playing Dungeons and Dragons. JLR has stolen on of Daffy Duck's lines. B2 says that Rover starts every sentence with the words "I need." Kids are playing Five Nights at Epstein's Island. 67-year-old Bobby Parker Hall claims people think she is 20 years-old ever since she started microdosing Ozempic. Microdosing mushrooms. Gas X. Rover is impressed with how good Lori Laughlin looks. The next season of The Bachelorette has been cancelled after a disturbing video of Taylor Frankie Paul has surfaced. Worst argument you have ever been in with your partner. Krystle's daughter wanted to punch her in the face. Neighbor caught pleasuring himself on a Ring camera. Duji leaves early. Piers Morgan gets into a heated argument with HSTikkyTokky that leads him to storm off his own show. DraftKings bets.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Description:Today's bonus episode is a joy from start to finish. We're sitting down with treasured friend Anne Lamott—beloved writer, teacher, and spiritual guide—whose voice has shaped how so many of us think about faith, truth, writing, and what it means to be human on the page. Anne returns to For the Love to talk about her upcoming book, Good Writing, co-written with her husband, journalist and editor Neal Allen. While Neal couldn't join us today, this conversation is very much about the shared work they created together—a book that isn't chasing polish or perfection, but clarity, honesty, and respect for the reader. Good Writing is part craft guide, part philosophy of living. Written in alternating voices, it blends Anne's signature warmth, humor, and spiritual insight with Neal's journalistic precision and discipline. Together, they explore what makes sentences work, how voice is formed, why ego gets in the way, and why clarity is not just a stylistic choice—but an act of generosity. In this intimate and often funny conversation, Jen and Amy talk with Anne about what it was like to co-write a book so closely, what collaboration revealed about trust and restraint, and how writing—at its best—is a relationship. They dig into voice and ego, bad sentences and letting go, rhythm and revision, and why removing what doesn't serve the sentence can feel like both grief and grace. But as always with Anne, the conversation goes deeper than craft. This episode explores writing as a way of being in the world—how attention, humility, and courage shape not only our sentences, but our lives.  If you've ever loved Bird by Bird, wrestled with your inner critic, or longed to tell the truth with a little more care—this conversation is for you. Thought-provoking Quotes: “I only have to do today, today.” – Anne Lamott “We write because we try to tell the truth. We try to share our experience, strength and hope.” – Anne Lamott “Say what you mean. Mean what you say. And don't say it mean.” – Anne Lamott Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott - https://amzn.to/4qLZRQR Anne Lamott on Faith, Writing, and Radical Self-Love - https://jenhatmaker.com/podcasts/bonus/anne-lamott-on-faith-writing-and-radical-self-love-2/ Neal Allen - https://www.shapesoftruth.com/ Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences by Neal Allen and Anne Lamott - https://amzn.to/3NMoKNP Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott - https://amzn.to/4t7FteL Somehow: Thoughts on Love by Anne Lamott - https://amzn.to/3Z4Nd3r Stanley Tucci on the For the Love podcast - https://jenhatmaker.com/podcasts/series-64/stanley-tucci-food-memories-and-emotions/ Amy's Full of Microplastics and Existential Dread Sweatshirt - https://www.threadless.com/shop/@dinomike/design/full-of-microplastics/womens/sweatshirt Awake: A Memoir by Jen Hatmaker - https://amzn.to/4rlv3Gz Jessica Mitford - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Mitford Tyler Merritt - https://thetylermerrittproject.com/ I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America by Tyler Merritt - https://amzn.to/49N1ms8 Better Days: Tame Your Inner Critic by Neal Allen - https://amzn.to/3LTEVs9 A Writing Room - https://awritingroom.com/ Guest's Links: Website - https://awritingroom.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/annelamott/ Twitter - https://x.com/ANNELAMOTT?lang=en Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AnneLamott/ Substack - https://annelamott.substack.com/ Connect with Jen!Jen's Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen's Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen's Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen's Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen's YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, I reveal the one sentence you may be telling yourself every morning that is quietly sabotaging your weight loss by triggering cortisol, raising blood sugar, and keeping your body in fat storage mode. As a PhD in sports nutrition and metabolic health, I break down the science behind stress hormones, belly fat, insulin, and leptin resistance, and show you how shifting your self-talk can lower stress, stabilize hormones, and finally unlock sustainable fat loss.I just released another video that walks you through exactly how to lose weight rapidly without wrecking your hormones or crashing your energy.Watch it here: ⁠⁠⁠https://youtu.be/IRLOzby5FBQ⁠⁠⁠ GET A CUSTOMIZED WEIGHT LOSS PLAN: Have a free 1-on-1 call with our Expert Nutritionists

What makes a character so compelling that readers will forgive almost anything about the plot? How do you move beyond vague flaws and generic descriptions to create people who feel pulled from real life? In this solo episode, I share 15 actionable tips for writing deep characters, curated from past interviews on the podcast. In the intro, thoughts from London Book Fair [Instagram reel @jfpennauthor; Publishing Perspectives; Audible; Spotify]; Insights from a 7-figure author business [BookBub]. This show is supported by my Patrons. Join my Community and get articles, discounts, and extra audio and video tutorials on writing craft, author business, and AI tools, at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn This episode has been created from previous episodes of The Creative Penn Podcast, curated by Joanna Penn, as well as chapters from How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book. Links to the individual episodes are included in the transcript below. In this episode: Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' trifecta, how to hook readers on the very first page Define the Dramatic Question: Who is your character when the chips are down? Absolute specificity. Why “she's controlling” isn't good enough Understand the Heroine's Journey, strength through connection, not solo action Use ‘Metaphor Families' to anchor dialogue and give every character a distinctive voice Find the Diagnostic Detail, the moments that prove a character is real Writing pain onto the page without writing memoir Write diverse characters as real people, not stereotypes or plot devices Give your protagonist a morally neutral ‘hero' status. Compelling beats likeable. Build vibrant side characters for series longevity and spin-off potential Use voice as a rhythmic tool Link character and plot until they're inseparable Why discovery writers can write out of order and still build deep character Find the sensory details that make characters live and breathe More help with how to write fiction here, or in my book, How to Write a Novel. Writing Characters: 15 Tips for Writing Deep Character in Your Fiction In today's episode, I'm sharing fifteen tips for writing deep characters, synthesised from some of the most insightful interviews on The Creative Penn Podcast over the past few years, combined with what I've learned across more than forty books of my own. I'll be referencing episodes with Matt Bird, Will Storr, Gail Carriger, Barbara Nickless, and Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer. I'll also draw on my own book, How to Write a Novel, which covers these fundamentals in detail. Whether you're writing your first novel or your fiftieth, whether you're a plotter or a discovery writer like me, these tips will help you create characters that readers believe in, care about, and invest in—and keep coming back for more. Let's get into it. 1. Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' Trifecta When I spoke with Matt Bird on episode 624, he laid out the three things you need to achieve on the very first page of your book or in the first ten minutes of a film. He calls it “Believe, Care, and Invest.” First, the reader must believe the character is a real person, somehow proving they are not a cardboard imitation of a human being, not just a generic type walking through a generic plot. Second, the reader must care about the character's circumstances. And third, the reader must invest in the character's ability to solve the story's central problem. Matt used The Hunger Games as his primary example, and it's brilliant. On the very first page, we believe Katniss's voice. Suzanne Collins writes in first person with a staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short declarative sentences—that immediately grounds us in a survivalist mentality. We care because Katniss is starving. She's protecting her little sister. And we invest because she is out there bow hunting, which Matt pointed out is one of the most badass things a character can do. She even kills a lynx two pages in and sells the pelt. We invest in her resourcefulness and grit before the plot has even begun. Matt was very clear that this has nothing to do with the character being “likable.” He said his subtitle, Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love, doesn't mean the character has to be a good person. He described “hero” as both gender-neutral and morally neutral. A hero can be totally evil or totally good. What matters is that we believe, care, and invest. He demonstrated this beautifully by breaking down the first ten minutes of WeCrashed, where the characters of Adam and Rebekah Neumann are absolutely not likable, but we are completely hooked. Adam steals his neighbour's Chinese food through a carefully orchestrated con involving an imaginary beer. It's not admirable behaviour, but the tradecraft involved, as Matt put it—using a term from spy movies—makes us invest in him. We see a character trying to solve the big problem of his life, which is that he's poor and wants to be rich, and we want to see if he can pull it off. Actionable step: Go to the first page of your current work in progress. Does it achieve all three? Does the reader believe this is a real person with a distinctive voice? Do they care about the character's circumstances? And do they invest in the character's ability to handle what's coming? If even one of those three is missing, that's your revision priority. 2. Define the Dramatic Question: Who Are They Really? Will Storr, author of The Science of Storytelling, came on episode 490 and gave one of the most powerful frameworks I've ever heard for character-driven fiction. He explained that the human brain evolved language primarily to swap social information—in other words, to gossip. We are wired to monitor other people, to ask the question: who is this person when the chips are down? That's what Will calls the Dramatic Question, and it's what he believes lies at the heart of all compelling storytelling. It's not a question about plot. It's a question about the character's soul. And every scene in your novel should force the character to answer it. His example of Lawrence of Arabia is unforgettable. The Dramatic Question for the entire film is: who are you, Lawrence? Are you ordinary or are you extraordinary? At the beginning, Lawrence is a cocky, rebellious young soldier who believes his rebelliousness makes him superior. Every iconic scene in that three-hour film tests that belief. Sometimes Lawrence acts as though he truly is extraordinary—leading the Arabs into battle, being hailed as a god—and sometimes the world strips him bare and he sees himself as ordinary. Because it's a tragedy, he never overcomes his flaw. He doubles down on his belief that he's extraordinary until he becomes monstrous, culminating in that iconic scene where he lifts a bloody dagger and sees his own reflection with horror. Will also used Jaws to demonstrate how this works in a pure action thriller. Brody's dramatic question is simple: are you going to be old Brody who is terrified of the water, or new Brody who can overcome that fear? Every scene where the shark appears is really asking that question. And the last moment of the film isn't the shark blowing up. It's Brody swimming back through the water, saying he used to be scared of the water and he can't imagine why. Actionable step: Write down the Dramatic Question for your protagonist in a single sentence. Is it “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you brave enough to love again?” or “Will you sacrifice your principles for survival?” If you can't answer this with specificity, your character might still be a sketch rather than a person. 3. Get rid of Vague Flaws, and use Absolute Specificity This was one of Will Storr's most important points. He said that vague thinking about characters is really the enemy. When he teaches workshops and asks writers to describe their character's flaw, most of them say something like “they're very controlling.” And Will's response is: that's not good enough. Everyone is controlling. How are they controlling? What's the specific mechanism? He gave the example of a profile he read of Theresa May during the UK's Brexit chaos. Someone who knew her said that Theresa May's problem was that she always thinks she's the only adult in every room she goes into. Will said that stopped him in his tracks because it's so precise. If you define a character with that level of specificity, you can take them and put them in any genre, any situation—a spaceship, a Victorian drawing room, a school playground—and you will know exactly how they're going to behave. The same applies to Arthur Miller's Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, as Will described it: a man who believes absolutely in capitalistic success and the idea that when you die, you're going to be weighed on a scale, just as God weighs you for sin, but now you're weighed for success. That's not a vague flaw. That's a worldview you can drop into any story and watch it combust. Will made another counterintuitive point that I found really valuable: writers often think that piling on multiple traits will create a complex character, but the opposite is true. Starting with one highly specific flaw and running it through the demands of a relentless plot is what generates complexity. You end up with a far more nuanced, original character than if you'd started with a laundry list of vague attributes. Actionable step: Take your protagonist's flaw and pressure-test it. Is it specific enough that you could place this character in any situation and predict their behaviour? If you're stuck at “she's stubborn” or “he's insecure,” keep pushing. What kind of stubborn? What kind of insecure? Find the diagnostic sentence—the Theresa May level of precision. 4. Understand the Heroine's Journey: Strength Through Connection Gail Carriger came on episode 550 to discuss her nonfiction book, The Heroine's Journey, and it completely reframed how I think about some of my own fiction. Gail explained that the core difference between the Hero's Journey and the Heroine's Journey comes down to how strength and victory are defined. The Hero's Journey is about strength through solo action. The hero must be continually isolated to get stronger. He goes out of civilisation, faces strife alone, and achieves victory through physical prowess and self-actualisation. The Heroine's Journey is the opposite. The heroine achieves her goals by activating a network. She's a delegator, a general. She identifies where she can't do something alone, finds the people who can help, and portions out the work for mutual gain. Gail put it simply: the heroine is very good at asking for help, which our culture tends to devalue but which is actually a powerful form of strength. Crucially, Gail stressed that gender is irrelevant to which journey you're writing. Her go-to examples are striking: the recent Wonder Woman film is practically a beat-for-beat hero's journey—Gilgamesh on screen, as Gail described it. Meanwhile, Harry Potter, both the first book and the series as a whole, is a classic heroine's journey. Harry's power comes from his network—Dumbledore's Army, the Order of the Phoenix, his friendships with Ron and Hermione. He doesn't defeat Voldemort alone. He defeats Voldemort because of love and connection. This distinction has real practical consequences for writers. If you're writing a hero's journey and you hit writer's block, Gail said, the solution is usually to isolate your hero further and pile on more strife. But if you're writing a heroine's journey, the solution is probably to throw a new character into the scene—someone who has advice to offer or a skill the heroine lacks. The actual solutions to writer's block are different depending on which narrative you're writing. As I reflected on my own work, I realised that my ARKANE thriller protagonist, Morgan Sierra, follows a hero's journey—she's a solo operative, a lone wolf like Jack Reacher or James Bond. But my Mapwalker fantasy series follows a heroine's journey, with Sienna and her group of friends working together. I hadn't consciously chosen those paths; the stories led me there. But understanding the framework helps me write more intentionally now. Actionable step: Identify which journey your protagonist is on. Does your character gain strength by being alone (hero) or by building connections (heroine)? This will inform every plot decision you make, from how they face obstacles to how your story ends. 5. Use ‘Metaphor Families' to Anchor Dialogue and Voice One of the most practical techniques Matt Bird shared on episode 624 is the idea of assigning each character a “metaphor family”—a specific well of language that they draw from. This gives each character a distinctive voice that goes beyond accent or dialect. Matt explained how in The Wire, one of the most beloved TV shows of all time, every character has a different metaphor family. What struck him was that Omar, this iconic character, never utters a single curse word in the entire series. His metaphor family is pirate. He talks about parlays, uses language that feels like it belongs in Pirates of the Caribbean, and it creates this incredible ironic counterpoint against his urban setting. It tells us immediately that this is a character who sees himself in a tradition of people that doesn't match his immediate surroundings. Matt also referenced the UK version of The Office, where Gareth works at a paper company but aspires to the military. So all of his language is drawn from a military metaphor family. He doesn't talk about filing and photocopying; he talks about tactics and discipline and being on the front line. This tells us that the character has a life and dreams beyond the immediate scene—and it's the gap between aspiration and reality that makes him both funny and believable. He pointed out that a metaphor family sometimes comes from a character's background, but it's often more interesting when it comes from their aspirations. What does your character want to be? What world do they fantasise about inhabiting? That's where their language should come from. In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a spiritual hermit, but his metaphor family is military. He uses the language of generals and commanders, and that ironic counterpoint is part of what makes him feel so rich. Actionable step: Assign each of your main characters a metaphor family. It could be based on their job, their background, or—more interestingly—their secret aspirations. Then go through your dialogue and make sure each character is consistently drawing from that well of language. If two characters sound the same when you strip away the dialogue tags, this is the fix. 6. Find the Diagnostic Detail: The Diagonal Toast Avoid clichéd character tags—the random scar, the eye patch, the mysterious limp—unless they serve a deep narrative purpose. Matt Bird on episode 624 was very funny about this: he pointed out that Nick Fury, Odin, and eventually Thor all have eye patches in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Eye patches are done, he said. You cannot do eye patches anymore. Instead, look for what I'm calling the “diagonal toast” detail, after a scene Matt described from Captain Marvel. In the film, Captain Marvel is trying to determine whether Nick Fury is who he says he is. She asks him to prove he isn't a shapeshifting alien. Fury shares biographical details—his history, his mother—but then she pushes further and says, name one more thing you couldn't possibly have made up about yourself. And Fury says: if toast is cut diagonally, I can't eat it. Matt said that detail is gold for a writer because it feels pulled from a real life. You can pull it from your own life and gift it to your characters, and the reader can tell it's not manufactured. He gave another example from The Sopranos: Tony Soprano's mother won't answer the phone after dark. The show's creator, David Chase, confirmed on the DVD commentary that this came from his own mother, who genuinely would not answer the phone after dark and couldn't explain why. Matt's practical advice was to keep a journal. Write down the strange, specific things that people do or say. Mine your own life for those hyper-specific details. You just need one per book. In my own writing, I've used this approach. In my ARKANE thrillers, my character Morgan Sierra has always been Angelina Jolie in my mind—specifically Jolie in Lara Croft or Mr and Mrs Smith. And Blake Daniel in my crime thriller series was based on Jesse Williams from Grey's Anatomy. I paste pictures of actors into my Scrivener projects. It helps with visuals, but also with the sense of the character, their energy and physicality. But visual details only take you so far. It's the behavioural quirks—the diagonal toast moments—that make a character feel genuinely alive. That said, physical character tags can work brilliantly when they serve the story. As I discuss in How to Write a Novel, Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike is an amputee, and his pain and the physical challenges of his prosthesis are a key part of every story—it's not a cosmetic detail, it's woven into the action and the character's psychology. My character Blake Daniel always wears gloves to cover the scars on his hands, which provides an angle into his wounded past as well as a visual cue for the reader. And of course, Harry Potter's lightning-shaped scar isn't just a mark—it's a direct connection to his nemesis and the mythology of the entire series. The rule of thumb is: if the tag tells us something about the character's interior life or connects to the plot, it's earning its place. If it's just there to make the character visually distinctive, it's probably a crutch. Game of Thrones takes character tags further with the family houses, each with their own mottos and sigils. The Starks say “Winter is coming” and their sigil is a dire wolf. Those aren't just labels—they're worldview made visible. Actionable step: Start a “diagonal toast” notebook. Every time you notice something strange and specific about someone's behaviour—something that feels too real to be made up—write it down. Then gift it to a character who needs more texture. 7. Displace Your Own Trauma into the Work Barbara Nickless shared something deeply personal on episode 732 that fundamentally changed how I think about putting pain onto the page. While starting At First Light, the first book in her Dr. Evan Wilding series, she lost her son to epilepsy—something called SUDEP, Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy. One day he was there, and the next day he was gone. Barbara said that writing helped her cope with the trauma, that doing a deep dive into Old English literature and the Viking Age for the book's research became a lifeline. But here's what's important: she didn't give Dr. Evan Wilding her exact trauma. Evan Wilding is four feet five inches, and Barbara described how he has to walk through a world that won't adjust to him. That's its own form of learning to cope when circumstances are beyond your control. She displaced her genuine grief into the character's different but parallel struggle. When I asked her about the difference between writing for therapy and writing for an audience, she drew on her experience teaching creative writing to veterans through a collaboration between the US Department of Defense and the National Endowment for the Arts. She said she's found that she can pour her heartache into her characters and process it through them, even when writing professionally, and that the genuine emotion is what touches readers. We've all been through our own losses and griefs, so seeing how a character copes can be deeply meaningful. I've always found that putting my own pain onto the page is the most direct way to connect with a reader's soul. My character Morgan Sierra's musings on religion and the supernatural are often my own. Her restlessness, her fascination with the darker edges of faith—those come from me. But her Krav Maga fighting skills and her ability to kill the bad guys are definitely her own. That gap between what's mine and what's hers is where the fiction lives. Barbara also said something on that episode that I wrote down and stuck on my wall. She said the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul. I've been thinking about that ever since. On my own wall, I have “Measure your life by what you create.” Different words, same truth. Actionable step: If you're carrying something heavy—grief, anger, fear, regret—consider how you might displace it into a character's different but emotionally parallel struggle. Don't copy your exact situation; transform it. The emotion will be genuine, and the reader will feel it. 8. Write Diverse Characters as Real People When I spoke with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673—Sarah is Choctaw and a historical fiction author honoured by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian—she offered a perspective that every fiction writer needs to hear. The key message was to move away from stereotypes. Don't write your American Indian character as the “Wise Guide” who exists solely to dispense mystic wisdom to the white protagonist. Don't limit diverse characters to historical settings, as though they only exist in the past. Place them in normal, contemporary roles. Your spaceship captain, your forensic scientist, your small-town baker—any of them can be American Indian, or Nigerian, or Japanese, and their heritage should be a lived-in part of their identity, not the sole reason they exist in the story. I write international thrillers and dark fantasy, and my fiction is populated with characters from all over the world. I have a multi-cultural family and I've lived in many places and travelled widely, so I've met, worked with, and had relationships with people from different cultures. I find story ideas through travel, and if I set my books in a certain place, then the story is naturally populated with the people who live there. As I discuss in my book, How to Write a Novel, the world is a diverse place, so your fiction needs to be populated with all kinds of people. If I only populated my fiction with characters like me, they would be boring novels. There are many dimensions of difference—race, nationality, sex, age, body type, ability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, class, culture, education level—and even then, don't assume that similar types of people think the same way. Some authors worry they will make mistakes. We live in a time of outrage, and some authors have been criticised for writing outside their own experience. So is it too dangerous to try? Of course not. The media amplifies outliers, and most authors include diverse characters in every book without causing offence because they work hard to get it right. It's about awareness, research, and intent. Actionable step: Audit the cast of your current work in progress. Have you written a mono-cultural perspective for all of them? If so, consider who could bring a different background, perspective, or set of cultural specifics to the story. Not as a token addition, but as a real person with a real life. 9. Respect Tribal and Cultural Specificity Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673 was emphatic about one thing: never treat diverse groups as monolithic. If you're writing a Native American character, you must research the specific nation. Choctaw is not Navajo, just as British is not French. Sarah described the distinct cultural markers of the Choctaw people—the diamond pattern you'll see on traditional shirts and dresses, which represents the diamondback rattlesnake. They have distinct dances and songs. She said that if she saw someone in traditional dress at a distance, she would know whether they were Choctaw based on what they were wearing. She encouraged writers who want to write specifically about a nation to get to know those people. Go to events, go to a powwow, learn about the individual culture. She noted that a big misconception is that American Indians exist only in the past—she stressed that they are still here, still living their cultures, and fiction should reflect that present reality. I took a similar approach when writing Destroyer of Worlds, which is set mostly in India. I read books about Hindu myth, watched documentaries about the sadhus, and had one of my Indian readers from Mumbai check my cultural references. For Risen Gods, set in New Zealand with a young Maori protagonist, I studied books about Maori mythology and fiction by Maori authors, and had a male Maori reader check for cultural issues. Research is simply an act of empathy. The practical takeaway is this: if you're going to include a character from a specific cultural background, do the work. Use specific cultural details rather than generic signifiers. Sarah talked about how even she fell into stereotypes when she was first writing, until her mother pointed them out. If someone from within a culture can fall into those traps, the rest of us certainly can. Do the research, try your best, ask for help, and apologise if you need to. Actionable step: If you're writing a character from a specific culture, identify three to five sensory or behavioural details that are particular to that culture—not the generic version, but the real, researched, lived-in version. Consider hiring a sensitivity reader from that community to check your work. 10. Give Your Protagonist a Morally Neutral ‘Hero' Status Matt Bird was clear about this on episode 624: the word “hero” simply means the protagonist, the person we follow through the story. It's a functional role, not a moral label. We don't have to like them. We don't even have to root for their goals in a moral sense. We just have to find them compelling enough to invest our attention in their problem-solving. Think of Succession, where every member of the Roy family is varying degrees of awful, and yet the show was utterly compelling. Or WeCrashed, where Adam Neumann is a narcissistic con artist, but we can't look away because he's trying to solve the enormous problem of building an empire from nothing, and the tradecraft he employs is fascinating. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, readers must want to spend time with your characters. They don't have to be lovable or even likable—that will depend on your genre and story choices—but they have to be captivating enough that we want to spend time with them. A character who is trying to solve a massive problem will naturally draw investment from the audience, even if we wouldn't want to have tea with them. Will Storr extended this idea by pointing out that the audience will actually root for a character to solve their problem even if the audience doesn't actually want the character's goal to be achieved in the real world. We don't really want more billionaires, but we invested in Adam Neumann's rise because that was the problem the story posed, and our brains are wired to invest in problem-solving. This connects to something deeper: what does your character want, and why? As I explore in How to Write a Novel, desire operates on multiple levels. Take a character like Phil, who joins the military during wartime. On the surface, she wants to serve her country. But she also wants to escape her dead-end town and learn new skills. Deeper still, her father and grandfather served, and by joining up, she hopes to finally earn their respect. And perhaps deepest of all, her father died on a mission under mysterious circumstances, and she wants to find out what happened from the inside. That layering of motivation is what turns a flat character into a three-dimensional one. The audience doesn't need to be told all of this explicitly. It can emerge through action, dialogue, and the choices the character makes under pressure. But you, the writer, need to know it. You need to know what your character really wants deep down, because that desire—more than any external plot device—is what drives the story forward. And your antagonist needs the same depth. They also want something, often diametrically opposed to your protagonist, and they need a reason that makes sense to them. In my ARKANE thriller Tree of Life, my antagonist is the heiress of a Brazilian mining empire who wants to restore the Earth to its original state to atone for the destruction caused by her father's company. She's part of a radical ecological group who believe the only way to restore Nature is to end all human life. It's extreme, but in an era of climate change, it's a motivation readers can understand—even if they disagree with the solution. Actionable step: If you're struggling to make a morally grey character work, make sure their problem is big enough and their methods are specific and interesting enough that we invest in the how, even if we're ambivalent about the what. 11. Build Vibrant Side Characters Gail Carriger made a point on episode 550 that was equal parts craft advice and business strategy. In a Heroine's Journey model, side characters aren't just fodder to be killed off to motivate the hero. They form a network. And because you don't have to kill them—unlike in a hero's journey, where allies are often betrayed or removed so the hero can be further isolated—you can pick up those side characters and give them their own books. Gail said this creates a really voracious reader base. You write one series with vivid side characters, and then readers fall in love with those side characters and want their stories. So you write spin-offs. The romance genre does this brilliantly—think of the Bridgerton books, where each sibling gets their own novel. The side character in one book becomes the protagonist in the next. Barbara Nickless experienced this firsthand with her Dr. Evan Wilding series. She has River Wilding, Evan's adventurous brother, and Diana, the axe-throwing research assistant, and her editor has already expressed interest in a spin-off series with those characters. Barbara described creating characters she wants to spend time with, or characters who give her nightmares but also intrigue her. That's the dual test: are they interesting enough for you to write, and interesting enough for readers to demand more? As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, characters that span series can deepen the reader's relationship with them as you expand their backstory into new plots. Readers will remember the character more than the plot or the book title, and look forward to the next instalment because they want more time with those people. British crime author Angela Marsons described it as readers feeling like returning to her characters is like putting on a pair of old slippers. Actionable step: Look at your supporting cast. Is there a side character who is vivid enough to carry their own story? If not, what could you add—a specific hobby, a distinct voice, a compelling backstory—that would make readers want more of them? 12. Use Voice as a Rhythmic Tool Voice is one of the most important elements of novel writing, and Matt Bird helped me think about it in a technical, mechanical way that I found really useful. He pointed out that the ratio of periods to commas defines a character's internal reality. A staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short sentences—suggests a character who is certain, grounded, or perhaps survivalist and traumatised. Katniss in The Hunger Games has a period-heavy voice. She's in survival mode. She doesn't have time for complexity or qualification. A flowing, comma-heavy style suggests someone more academic, more nuanced, or possibly more scattered and manipulative. The character who qualifies everything, who adds sub-clauses and digressions, is a different kind of person from the character who speaks in declarations. This is something you can actually measure. Pull up a passage of your character's dialogue or internal monologue and count the periods versus the commas. If the rhythm doesn't match who the character is supposed to be, you've found a mismatch you can fix. Sentence length is the heartbeat of your character's persona. And voice extends beyond rhythm to the words themselves. As I discussed in the metaphor families tip, each character should draw from a distinctive well of language. But voice also encompasses their relationship to silence. Some characters talk around the thing they mean; others say it straight. Some are self-deprecating; others are blunt to the point of rudeness. All of these choices are character choices, not just style choices. I find it useful to read my dialogue aloud—and not just to check for naturalness, but to hear whether each character sounds distinct. If you could swap dialogue lines between two characters and nobody would notice, you have a voice problem. One practical test: cover the dialogue tags and see if you can tell who's speaking from the words alone. Actionable step: Choose a key passage from your protagonist's point of view and read it aloud. Does the rhythm match the character? A soldier under fire should not sound like a philosophy professor at a wine tasting. Adjust the ratio of periods to commas until the voice feels right. 13. Link Character and Plot Until They're Inseparable Will Storr made the case on episode 490 that the number one problem he sees in the writing he encounters—in workshops, in submissions, even in published books—is that the characters and the plots are unconnected. There's a story happening, and there are people in it, but the story isn't a product of who those people are. He said a story should be like life. In our lives, the plots are intimately connected to who we are as characters. The goals we pursue, the obstacles we face, the same problems that keep recurring—these are products of our personalities, our flaws, our specific ways of being in the world. His framework is that your plot should be designed specifically to plot against your character. You've got a character with a particular flaw; the plot exists to test that flaw over and over until the character either transforms or doubles down and explodes. Jaws is the perfect example. Brody is afraid of water. A shark shows up in the coastal town he's responsible for protecting. The entire plot is engineered to force him to confront the one thing he cannot face. Will pointed out that the whole plot of Jaws is structured around Brody's flaw. It begins with the shark arriving, the midpoint is when Brody finally gets the courage to go into the water, and the very final scene isn't the shark blowing up—it's Brody swimming back through the water. Even a film that's ninety-eight percent action is, at its core, structured around a character with a character flaw. This is the standard I aspire to in my own work, even in my action-heavy thrillers. The external plot should be a mirror of the internal struggle. When those two are aligned, the story becomes irresistible. Will also made an important point about series fiction, which is where most commercial authors live. I asked him how this works when your character can't be transformed at the end of every book because there has to be a next book. His answer was elegant: you don't cure them. Episodic TV characters like Fleabag or David Brent or Basil Fawlty never truly change—and the fact that they don't change is actually the source of the comedy. But every episode throws a new story event at them that tests and exposes their flaw. You just keep throwing story events at them again and again. That's a soap opera, a sitcom, and a book series. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, character flaws are aspects of personality that affect the person so much that facing and overcoming them becomes central to the plot. In Jaws, the protagonist Brody is afraid of the water, but he has to overcome that flaw to destroy the killer shark and save the town. But remember, your characters should feel like real people, so never define them purely by their flaws. The character addicted to painkillers might also be a brilliant and successful female lawyer who gets up at four in the morning to work out at the gym, likes eighties music, and volunteers at the local dog shelter at weekends. Character wounds are different from flaws. They're formed from life experience and are part of your character's backstory—traumatic events that happened before the events of your novel but shape the character's reactions in the present. In my ARKANE thrillers, Morgan Sierra's husband Elian died in her arms during a military operation. This happened before the series begins, but her memories of it recur when she faces a firefight, and she struggles to find happiness again for fear of losing someone she loves once more. And then there's the perennial advice: show, don't tell. Most writers have heard this so many times that it's easy to nod and then promptly write scenes that tell rather than show. Basically, you need to reveal your character through action and dialogue, rather than explanation. In my thriller Day of the Vikings, Morgan Sierra fights a Neo-Viking in the halls of the British Museum and brings him down with Krav Maga. That fight scene isn't just about showing action. It opens up questions about her backstory, demonstrates character, and moves the plot forward. Telling would be something like: “Morgan was an expert in Krav Maga.” Showing is the reader discovering it through the scene itself. Actionable step: Look at the main plot events of your novel. For each major turning point, ask: does this scene specifically test my protagonist's flaw? If not, can you redesign the scene so that it does? The tighter the connection between character and plot, the more powerful the story. 14. The ‘Maestra' Approach: Write Out of Order If you're a discovery writer like me, you may feel like the deep character work I've been describing sounds more suited to plotters. But Barbara Nickless gave me a beautiful metaphor on episode 732 that reframes it entirely. Barbara described her evolving writing process as being like a maestra standing in front of an orchestra. Sometimes you bring in the horns—a certain theme—and sometimes you bring in the strings—a certain character—and sometimes you turn to the soloist. It's a more organic and jumping-around process than linear writing, and Barbara said she's only recently given herself permission to work this way. When I told her that I use Scrivener to write in scenes out of order and then drag and drop them into a structure later, she was genuinely intrigued. And this is how I've always worked. I'll see the story in my mind like a movie trailer—flashes of the big emotional scenes, the pivotal confrontations, the moments of revelation—and I write those first. I don't know how they hang together until quite late in the process. Then I'll move scenes around, print the whole thing out, and figure out the connective tissue. The point is that discovery writers can absolutely build deep characters. Sometimes writing the big emotional scenes first is how you discover who the character is before you fill in the rest. You don't need a twenty-page character worksheet or a 200-page outline like Jeffery Deaver. You need to be willing to follow the character into the unknown and trust that the structure will emerge. As Barbara said, she writes to know what she's thinking. That's the discovery writer's credo. And I would add: I write to know who my characters are. Actionable step: If you're stuck on your current chapter, skip it. Write the scene that's burning in your imagination, even if it's from the middle or the end. That scene might be the key to unlocking who your character really is. 15. Use Research to Help with Empathy Research shouldn't just be about factual accuracy—it's a tool for finding the sensory details that create empathy. Barbara Nickless described research as almost an excuse to explore things that fascinate her, and I feel exactly the same way. I would go so far as to say that writing is an excuse for me to explore the things that interest me. Barbara and I both travel for our stories. For her Dr. Evan Wilding books, she did deep research into Old English literature and the Viking Age. For my thriller End of Days, I transcribed hours of video from Appalachian snake-handling churches on YouTube to understand the worldview of the worshippers, because my antagonist was brought up in that tradition. I couldn't just make that up. I had to hear their language, feel their conviction, understand why they would hold venomous serpents as an act of faith. Barbara also mentioned getting to Israel and the West Bank for research, and I've been to both places too. Finding that one specific sensory detail—the smell of a particular location, the specific way an expert handles a tool, the sound of a particular kind of music—makes the character's life feel lived-in. It's the difference between a character who is described as living in a place and a character who inhabits it. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, don't write what you know. Write what you want to learn about. I love research. It's part of why I'm an author in the first place. I take any excuse to dive into a world different from my own. Research using books, films, podcasts, and travel, and focus particularly on sources produced by people from the worldview you want to understand. Actionable step: For your next piece of character research, go beyond reading. Watch a documentary, visit a location, talk to someone who lives the experience. Find one sensory detail—a smell, a sound, a texture—that you couldn't have invented. That detail will make your character feel real. Bonus: Measure Your Life by What You Create In an age of AI and a tsunami of content, your ultimate brand protection is the quality of your human creation. Barbara Nickless said that the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul, and I believe that with every fibre of my being. Don't be afraid to take that step back, like I did with my deadlifting. Take the time to master these deeper craft skills. It might feel like you're slowing down or going backwards by not chasing the latest marketing trend, but it's the only way to step forward into a sustainable, high-quality career. Your characters are your signature. No AI can replicate the specificity of your lived experience, the emotional truth of your displaced trauma, or the sensory details you've gathered from a life of curiosity and travel. Those are yours. Pour them into your characters, and they will resonate for years to come. Actionable Takeaway: Identify the Dramatic Question for your current protagonist. Can you state it in a single sentence with the kind of specificity Will Storr described? Is it as clear as “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you the only adult in the room?” If you can't answer it with that kind of precision, your character might still be a sketch. Give them a diagonal toast moment today. Find the one hyper-specific detail that proves they are not an imitation of life. And then ask yourself: does your plot test your character's flaw in every major scene? If you can align those two things—a precisely defined character and a plot that exists to test them—you will have a story that readers cannot put down. References and Deep Dives The episodes I've referenced today are all available with full transcripts at TheCreativePenn.com: Episode 732 — Facing Fears, and Writing Unique Characters with Barbara Nickless Episode 673 — Writing Choctaw Characters and Diversity in Fiction with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer Episode 624 — Writing Characters with Matt Bird Episode 550 — The Heroine's Journey with Gail Carriger Episode 490 — How Character Flaws Shape Story with Will Storr Books mentioned: The Secrets of Character: Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love by Matt Bird The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr The Heroine's Journey by Gail Carriger How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book by Joanna Penn You can find all my books for authors at CreativePennBooks.com and my fiction and memoir at JFPennBooks.com Happy writing! How was this episode created? This episode was initiated created by NotebookLM based on YouTube videos of the episodes linked above from YouTube/TheCreativePenn, plus my text chapters on character from How to Write a Novel. NotebookLM created a blog post from the material and then I expanded it and fact checked it with Claude.ai 4.6 Opus, and then I used my voice clone at ElevenLabs to narrate it. The post Writing Characters: 15 Actionable Tips For Writing Deep Character first appeared on The Creative Penn.

#40Do your students sometimes struggle to get their ideas down in writing because they aren't sure how to start or how to say exactly what they mean? Writing can feel overwhelming without the right support—but it doesn't have to be that way. In this episode, we'll explore how sentence frames and scaffolds can give students the structure they need to write confidently and accurately, while still expressing their own ideas. Whether you teach novices or more advanced learners, you'll get practical strategies you can use right away.  So, Let's jump in.Topics in this Episode: Writing is an effective and useful way for students to show what they know, who they are, and what they can communicate in the target language.But writing is also one of the most intimidating skills for learners. Why? Because writing asks students to juggle Vocabulary, Grammar, Word Order, Agreement, Spelling and Organization.That's where sentence frames and scaffolds come in. They provide just enough support to help students express meaningful ideas without feeling stuck or overwhelmed.Sentence frames and scaffolds are not about giving answers. They are about Reducing cognitive overload, Highlighting patterns, Modeling structure, Making expectations visibleSentence frames and scaffolds are like training wheels. We don't put training wheels on a bike because we expect students to use them forever. We use them so learners can experience success early and build balance gradually.Ready For Tomorrow Quick Win PD Course: Support Writing with Frames & ScaffoldsA Few Ways We Can Work Together:Ready For Tomorrow Quick Win PD for Individual TeachersOn-Site or Virtual Workshops for Language DepartmentsSelf-Paced Program for For Language DepartmentsConnect With Me & The World Language Classroom Community:Website: wlclassrom.comInstagram:  @wlclassroomFacebook Group: World Language ClassroomFacebook:  /wlclassroomLinkedIn: Joshua CabralBluesky: /wlclassroom.bsky.sociaX (Twitter):  @wlclassroomThreads: @wlclassroomSend me a text and let me know your thoughts on this episode or the podcast.

The world is reeling from the New Supreme Leader's first official message, but the mainstream media is completely missing the terrifying subtext hidden in his words. Today, we're decoding the exact English phrases he used to reveal the shocking truth behind this historic address.

Patrick Mahomes Reacts To His Dad's Insane Sentence

On episode 122 of Native Land Pod, hosts Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers are joined by guest co-host, Jemele Hill. Jemele Hill is a renowned sports journalist known for fusing politics and sports. She’s worked for major outlets like ESPN and The Atlantic, and now hosts her own podcast, S’politics, on our very own Reasoned Choice Media network. Financial Disclosures from the Trump Administration Bam Adebayo Scores 83 Points, Breaks Kobe Bryant’s RecordFox News Covers for Trump, Runs Old Dover-Dignified-Transfer FootageGovernor Kay Ivy commutates the Sentence of Charles “Sonny” BurtonGeorgia Special Election to Fill Majorie Taylor Greene’s SeatVoter Suppression: Redistricting Efforts in Various States You have to check out this CRAZY Jim Crow mailer that Republicans are sending out in Virginia to try to stop Democrats redistricting efforts. Democrats in Virginia are trying to counter Republican gerrymandering in states like Texas, Ohio, and North Carolina. Plus, Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement is apparently never ending, and now has the weight of the federal government behind it. NLP covers the latest in the Trump administration’s efforts to investigate the 2020 election. Last year the Muscogee Creek Nation Supreme Court ruled that the Treaty of 1866 guarantees citizenship rights to Creek people of African descent and ordered that citizenship cards be issued. Sign the petition and follow the case: JusticeForBlackCreeks.com Respectfully ask Muscogee Creek Nation Principal Chief David Hill to honor the Court’s ruling: (918) 732-7601 If you’d like to submit a question, check out our tutorial video: http://www.instagram.com/reel/C5j_oBXLIg0/ and send to @nativelandpod. We are 236 days away from the midterm elections. Welcome home y’all! —--------- We want to hear from you! Send us a video @nativelandpod and we may feature you on the podcast. Instagram X/Twitter Facebook NativeLandPod.com Watch full episodes of Native Land Pod here on YouTube. Native Land Pod is brought to you by Reasoned Choice Media. Thank you to the Native Land Pod team: Angela Rye as host, executive producer, and cofounder of Reasoned Choice Media; Andrew Gillum as host and producer, Bakari Sellers as host and producer, and Lauren Hansen as executive producer; LoLo Mychael is our research producer, and Nikolas Harter is our editor and producer. Special thanks to Chris Morrow and Lenard McKelvey, co-founders of Reasoned Choice Media. Theme music created by Daniel Laurent.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the Freestyle Anime Podcast, the guys break down the recent Jujutsu Kaisen episode featuring the intense clash between Yuji Itadori and Hiromi Higuruma. The crew dives into the strategy behind the fight, Yuji's mentality, and what this moment means for his character moving forward.Next, the conversation shifts to the continuing lore of Sentence to Be a Hero, where Ty surprises everyone by predicting the outcome of the episode before it even happens.Then things get heated when Rico reveals his list of anime characters who suffered the most. The debate quickly turns chaotic as the crew argues over who truly belongs at the top — and Maal ends up dying on a hill defending his take.

Chiefs Super Bowl Shooter’s Light Sentence, Oil Prices Back Down and Kansas Financial Issues | 3-10-26See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is what we're yapping about in this 183rd episode.Not our weeks this time cause we all in (Pause) on Resident Evil: Requiem with our review. (01:20)Time to get angry at folks licking sugar art and Sentence to be a hero in CALL IT OUT! (19:02)A nursing home staff conducted a fight club for their senior living. (31:00)Quick bits! Where we talk real news real fast! (42:47)Anime Fanime review on the current happenings of Hells Paradise. (53:50)GP's comix corner of Time Sensitive #1 from Strangland comics. (1:07:15)Positive Chakra. (1:15:30)Yell outs before we head out. (1:18:00)#Rate #Comment #Like #SubscribeFor all things about the show, check out the linktree https://linktr.ee/Callitlikeidontseeit?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=51d82213-71ad-4e81-8ecd-2eba455f809e

We talk about what is really in a name.

Sermon in a Sentence: "We proclaim not religion, but resurrection power."Application: 1) This week, identify who is “the Marcus” in your life? 2) What does “the Marcus” in your life need to hear?

Sermon in a Sentence: "We proclaim not religion, but resurrection power."Application: 1) This week, identify who is “the Marcus” in your life? 2) What does “the Marcus” in your life need to hear?

Genesis 5:1-32 More_Than_Ink_290_20260307_KUTR_10AM

Dan dives into the latest developments in Iran, discussing President Trump's statement on unconditional surrender and the implications of a potential war. He also touches on the Tina Peters case, Governor Jared Polis continues to suggest clemency as an off-ramp for her prison sentence, citing inconsistencies in her sentencing. Additionally, Dan shares his thoughts on President Trump's immigration policies and the recent United Airlines policy change.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jason DeRusha joins the show for an argument with Chad about the right punishment for the man who keyed six Teslas last year.

03-03-26See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1164. This week, we look at the origin of the octothorpe — also known as the pound sign or hashtag — and why it has so many different names. Then, we look at sentence fragments and the secret of "Sir Fragalot" to help you avoid common writing mistakes. A video of the man who invented snurfing. Free writing course on LinkedIn Learning. (Happy National Grammar Day!) The octothorpe segment was written by Karen Lunde.

In this CA, Jesse covers two major Virginia murder cases: first, the sentencing of the Banfield au pair, who received the maximum 10 years for her role in the staged home invasion that killed Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan, and then a disturbing new case out of Norfolk, where Lina Maria Guerra was found dead in her apartment freezer after her Navy reservist husband allegedly fled to Hong Kong and fabricated a story about her imprisonment, triggering an international manhunt with potential extradition and national security complications.Current Affairs is Love Murder's shorter show about the cases of love gone fatally wrong that are in the news right now.Sources:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Christine_Banfield_and_Joseph_Ryanhttps://abc7chicago.com/post/lina-guerra-case-us-navy-husband-david-varela-flew-hong-kong-missing-wife-was-found-kitchen-freezer-norfolk-virginia/18616404/https://www.fox5dc.com/news/navy-reservist-accused-murdering-wife-believed-have-fled-hong-konghttps://www.wtkr.com/investigations/international-manhunt-underway-for-norfolk-man-accused-of-killing-wife-hiding-body-in-freezerhttps://gtvnewshd.com/world/2026/02/18/virginia-woman-lina-guerra-found-dead-in-freezer-husband-david-varela-flees-to-hong-kong/Find LOVE MURDER online:Website: lovemurder.loveInstagram: @lovemurderpodTwitter: @lovemurderpodFacebook: LoveMrdrPodTikTok: @LoveMurderPodPatreon: /LoveMurderPodCredits: Love Murder is hosted by Jessie Pray and Andie Cassette, researched by Sarah Lynn Robinson and researched and written by Jessie Pray, produced by Nathaniel Whittemore and edited by Kyle Barbour-HoffmanSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Becky, Holly, Jakob, and Austin talk about books of the 2020s, trends in reading and publishing, our hopes for the future, and a couple of predictions for the next big thing. This reading data: https://www.arts.gov/stories/blog/2024/federal-data-reading-pleasure-all-signs-show-slump Books mentioned include: Spillover by David Quammen, The Great Influenza by John M. Barry, The Plague by Albert Camus, The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez,  These Precious Days and Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez, The Sentence by Louise Erdrich, There is a Door in This Darkness by Kristin Cash ore, All Fours by Miranda July, Book Lovers by Emily Henry, Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, What Were We Thinking by Carlos Lozada, Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen, Just Us by Claudia Rankine, The Trees by Percival Everett, Agatha of Little Neon by Claire Luchette, Intimacies and A Separation by Katie Kitamura, Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe, Ducks by Kate Beaton, The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty, The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, The Most by Jessica Anthony, The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, Autocracy Inc by Anne Applebaum, Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal, Doppleganger by Naomi Klein, Detransition, Baby by Torry Peters, Woodworking by Emily St. James, Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan, Diary of a Misfit by Casey Parks, Jesus Wept by Philip Shenon, Romney by McKay Coppins, Motherland by Julia Ioffe, The Gales of November by John U. Bacon, Murderland by Caroline Fraser, King of Kings by Scott Anderson, All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilberty, Challenger by Adam Higginbotham, More Everything Forever by Adam Becker, Red White and Whole by Rajani LaRocca, The Midnight Children by Dan Gemeinhart, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, Wanderhome by Jay Dragon, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, The House in the Cerulean sea by TJ Klune, Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, The Women by Kristin Hannah, Dog Man series by Dav Pilkey,  The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, Alchemised by SenLinYu, Convent Wisdom by Ana Garriga and Carment Urbita, The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo, We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom, Berry Song by Michaela Goade, Legendary Frybread Drive-In edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith, Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley, The Tragedy of True Crime by John J. Lennon, The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne,  We Tell Ourselves Stories by Alissa Wilkinson, Didion and Babitz by Lili Anolik, Enshittification by Cory Doctorow, The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, Back After This by Linda Holmes, The Caretaker by Ron Rash And authors Patricia Lockwood,  Claire Keegan, Rachel Kushner, Timothy Snyder, Helen Garner, Casey Plett, Mr Beast/James Patterson, Stephen Graham Jones, Silvia Moreno Garcia, and more!

Tonight on Sessions, Radulich in Broadcasting Network steps away from film analysis and into confession. “Living Is the Sentence” was born from our deep dive into moral accountability and consequence — not as abstract theory, but as lived reality. Inspired by our review discussion of BoJack Horseman, this stripped-down recording explores what happens when self-awareness doesn't equal change, when survival isn't mercy, and when redemption never arrives. Performed in a late-era American folk style — sparse, intimate, and unflinching — this session leans into gravity over spectacle. No satire. No irony. Just testimony. This is Sessions: one voice, one guitar, and the weight of living long enough to answer for it.Disclaimer: The following may contain offensive language, adult humor, and/or content that some viewers may find offensive – The views and opinions expressed by any one speaker does not explicitly or necessarily reflect or represent those of Mark Radulich or W2M Network.Mark Radulich and his wacky podcast on all the things:https://linktr.ee/markkind76alsohttps://www.teepublic.com/user/radulich-in-broadcasting-networkFB Messenger: Mark Radulich LCSWTiktok: @markradulichtwitter: @MarkRadulichInstagram: markkind76RIBN Album Playlist: https://suno.com/playlist/91d704c9-d1ea-45a0-9ffe-5069497bad59 

The Father of Roxanne, Anthony Csizmadia, called into KDKA Radio's Marty Griffin to express his outrage, saying Glowatski got away with murder.

1162. This week, we look at why some names just "feel right" while others don't and how vowels like "ee" create associations with smallness and sweetness while back vowels like "ah" sound bigger and more serious. Then, we look at dependent clauses and when it's OK to start a sentence with "because."The baby names segment was written by Valerie Fridland. 

Should Christians still tithe? And why do people lose their minds when a pastor wears a nice watch?In this episode, PF, Kenneth, and Esther tackle one of the most divisive topics in church culture — money, tithing, and what pastors actually deserve to earn.PF gets vulnerable about his own lifestyle, reveals he works 80 hours a week on 5 hours of sleep, and explains why he'll never apologize for owning a Rolex. The conversation digs into the theology behind tithing — Old Covenant law versus New Covenant freewill giving — and why so many Christians are confused about what the Bible actually teaches on the subject.PF breaks down why tithing was originally about food (not money), why Malachi 3:10 is the most misquoted verse in church, and what giving should actually look like for believers today.But this isn't just theology. The crew gets real about church operations — from a $50,000 emergency HVAC replacement to why pastors are among the most underpaid professionals in America. PF shares why pastoral suicide rates are alarming, and makes the case that the laborer is worthy of his wages.In this episode:• Why tithing as we know it isn't actually a New Testament command• PF's honest take on pastor compensation and lifestyle scrutiny• The $50K HVAC story: what it really costs to run a church• "Serving God is not a sentence of poverty" — why PF won't apologize• Old Covenant vs. New Covenant: what the Bible actually says about giving• Why pastors are underpaid, underloved, and burning outTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Cold Open: The Pastor's Tattoo Controversy02:00 - Introduction: Kenneth, Esther & PF04:00 - Should Christians Judge Their Pastors?07:00 - "Teachers Will Be Judged More Strictly" — James 3:110:00 - The Tithing Question: Old Covenant vs. New Covenant14:00 - Malachi 3:10: The Most Misquoted Verse in Church?18:00 - Tithing Was About Food, Not Money22:00 - New Testament Giving: Freewill, Not Mandatory26:00 - Why Do People Get Mad at What Pastors Own?30:00 - PF's Rolex: "I Work 80 Hours a Week on 5 Hours of Sleep"34:00 - "Serving God Is Not a Sentence of Poverty"37:00 - The $50,000 HVAC Story: What Running a Church Actually Costs40:00 - Why Pastors Commit Suicide: Underpaid and Underloved44:00 - The Laborer Is Worthy of His Wages47:00 - Prosperity Gospel vs. Honest Compensation50:00 - How Should Christians Give Today?53:00 - Closing Thoughts: Give Cheerfully, Not Under Compulsion

To support this ministry and help us continue to transform lives around the world, please visit: http://bit.ly/2RHdunnYou're listening to Apostle Dr. Billy Lubansu aka "Super Papa Billy, guest preacher at Harvest Intercontinental Church-Olney, MD. Learn more about Harvesters Olney at www.harvestersolney.org

Drift turns great fathers into weekend visitors, and it rarely happens in a courtroom. It happens quietly, in the decision gap—when pressure, fear of conflict, and “nice guy” habits push dads to give ground they never meant to lose. We unpack a clear, actionable roadmap for divorced dads to shed codependency, reclaim boundaries, and lead with grounded integrity that protects your time, your sanity, and your bond with your kids.We start by naming the pattern: conflict avoidance, overgiving for approval, and the resentment that follows. From there, we move through ten practical steps that change outcomes fast. You'll learn how to recognize your inherent worth, establish and communicate firm boundaries, and practice calm assertiveness without tipping into aggression. We dig into self-care as a non-negotiable performance edge, the daily work of challenging negative beliefs, and how small, consistent wins rebuild self-respect. Vulnerability takes center stage as a strength—opening the door to authentic connection with your kids, co-parent, and community.We also explore ownership of happiness: building a life that is not fueled by external validation, but by purpose, faith, and disciplined habits. Support matters, so we talk about finding the right circle—therapy, men's groups, or 12-step communities—that reflect your growth when you cannot see it. Finally, we ground the journey in authenticity and values. When your choices match what you stand for, you stop performing “nice” and start living kind, clear, and steady. That is the posture your children can trust and follow.If this resonates, share it with a dad who needs backup. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us the first boundary you'll set this week—your kids are counting on you. Being unprepared is how great fathers become weekend visitors. Most ground is lost quietly through "drift" and decisions made under pressure. Stop the drift today at TheDivorcedDadvocate.com.Access your tactical tools:Risk Assessment: Identify your "quiet loss" exposure in 10 minutes.Protection Session: Book a private triage to ensure mistakes don't become permanent.Your kids are counting on you. Support the show

An Ohio mother is sentenced to prison after her infant daughter was left with permanent injuries, as the child’s family confronts her in court. Florida schedules another execution after the governor signs a death warrant for a man who killed a police officer during a traffic stop. A Minnesota man who killed a neighbor and kidnapped a pregnant woman and four children during a Halloween-night rampage learns he will spend decades behind bars. Drew Nelson reports.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Week's Topics: Apple announces March 4th event Low-cost MacBook, 2 Studio Displays coming? Sentence for Apple Music in iOS 26.4 beta Episode's chat: https://britishtechnetwork.com/chat/view.php?dt=2026-02-20 Guests: Ewen Rankin, Dave Ginsburg, Chuck Joiner, Patrice Brend'amour, Marty Jencius #podcast #apple #technology

This Week's Topics: Apple announces March 4th event Low-cost MacBook, 2 Studio Displays coming? Sentence for Apple Music in iOS 26.4 beta Episode's chat: https://britishtechnetwork.com/chat/view.php?dt=2026-02-20 Guests: Ewen Rankin, Dave Ginsburg, Chuck Joiner, Patrice Brend'amour, Marty Jencius #podcast #apple #technology

A Willcox man will spend the next 13 years in federal prison for robbing a Safford bank, while his alleged accomplice prepares to stand trial next month.Support the show: https://www.myheraldreview.com/site/forms/subscription_services/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We've spent years strengthening decoding instruction—but what if the next literacy shift begins at the sentence level? If we want true comprehension, we have to look beyond words and into syntax.In this episode, we discuss:Why syntax is the missing link in reading comprehensionHow Cascade Reading uses linguistically-driven text formatting to support understandingFor decades, reading research and classroom instruction have focused heavily on decoding. But comprehension doesn't happen after we finish reading a sentence—it happens word by word, as the brain processes syntax in real time. Dr. Julie Van Dyke explains why sentence structure plays a critical role in comprehension, how language networks in the brain differ from cognitive knowledge systems like background knowledge, and why strong decoding skills alone are not enough.We also explore how Cascade Reading makes syntactic structure visible using artificial intelligence, helping students better understand phrasing, fluency, and meaning. Julie shares research findings, practical classroom implications, and why teachers should feel empowered—not intimidated—when bringing syntax into instruction. This conversation challenges us to rethink what comprehension truly requires and how we can better support all readers, especially those with language-based learning differences.Guest: Dr. Julie Van Dyke, cognitive scientist, linguist, former senior scientist at Haskins Laboratories, and co-developer of Cascade ReadingResources mentioned:Cascade Reading – https://www.cascadereading.comInternational Dyslexia Association Perspectives (Syntax Comes First series) – https://dyslexiaida.orghttps://www.onlinedigeditions.com/publication/?i=843724&p=1&view=issueViewerhttps://www.onlinedigeditions.com/publication/?i=847535&p=1&view=issueViewerSyntax: Knowledge to Practice by Nancy Eberhardt & Margie Gillis – https://literacyhow.orgSpeech to Print by Louisa Moats – https://products.brookespublishing.com/Speech-to-Print-P1167.aspx

It's a fun one! We're talking with Jessamyn about the public domain, new and old technology, blogging at the DNC, and lots of inside baseball. Media mentioned https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessamyn_West_(librarian) https://www.librarian.net/stax/5566/the-mining-of-the-public-domain/ https://jessamyn.com/tweets/  https://tararobertson.ca/2016/oob/  Request to Verify Eligibility for Free Ebooks for the Print Disabled https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScSBbT17HSQywTm-fQawOK7G4dN-QPbDWNstdfvysoKTXCjKA/viewform  Veii's music: https://veii.bandcamp.com/ Who Owns this Sentence?: A History of Copyrights and Wrongs https://fit.princeton.edu/publications/who-owns-sentence-history-copyrights-and-wrongs  Free Whistles https://linktr.ee/3Dwhistles My Justice of the Peace tumblr https://vermontjp.tumblr.com/ Logan Airport chapel https://discovermass.com/church/our-lady-of-the-airways-east-boston-ma/ Soul of a New Machine https://www.tracykidder.com/the-soul-of-a-new-machine.html Matteo Lane https://matteolanecomedy.com/ My DNC blog https://www.librarian.net/dnc/ Librarian at Burning Man https://www.jessamyn.com/journal/02/burnlib.html Flickr Commons Explorer https://commons.flickr.org/Without a Net, Librarians Bridging the Digital Divide https://www.librarian.net/digitaldivide/ Marrakesh Treaty https://www.wipo.int/en/web/treaties/ip/marrakesh/index Flickypedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Flickypedia That's My Grandma Flickr Gallery https://flickr.com/photos/flickrfoundation/galleries/72157722979767596/ Murkutu https://mukurtu.org/ Barnard Zine Library https://zines.barnard.edu/ Cleaning out mom's house https://www.flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/albums/72157719713137030 Transcript: https://pastecode.io/s/684xqjj9  Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/qWPTurTnkT

durée : 00:20:00 - Lectures du soir - "Je suis calme maintenant. Tout est fini, bien fini. Je suis sorti de l'horrible anxiété où m'avait jeté la visite du directeur. Car, je l'avoue, j'espérais encore. – Maintenant, Dieu merci, je n'espère plus."

Hong Kong Watch's Ben Rogers explains why Jimmy Lai's 20-year prison sentence is tragically predictable.

Morri Creech is the winner of the 2025 Rattle Poetry Prize. He is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently The Sentence. His book Field Knowledge (Waywiser, 2006) received the Anthony Hecht Poetry prize and was nominated for both the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the Poet's Prize. The Sleep of Reason was a 2014 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A recipient of NEA and Ruth Lilly Fellowships, as well as grants from the North Carolina and Louisiana Arts councils, he is the Writer in Residence at Queens University of Charlotte, where he teaches courses in both the undergraduate creative writing program and in the low residency M.F.A. program. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife and two children. Find more at his website: https://www.morricreech.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week's Prompt: Quick! Write a poem that moves fast. Include as many unique verbs as possible. Next Week's Prompt: Write a poem that examines a surprising aspect of a job you otherwise generally love to do. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Y'all are not ready for today's conversation with Megan Fate Marshman—in the best way. Megan is a speaker, author, boy mom of two, and recently widowed—and her joy is the kind that stops you in your tracks. She's in awe of God—what He's done, what He's doing, and how He's moving in her life, in Sadie's life, and all around her. Her journey to becoming a speaker? You won't see it coming. It's powerful, unexpected, and the kind of story that leaves you in tears, whispering, “Only God.” Sadie also opens up about a recent insecurity she felt after walking off the stage at Passion 2026 — because even after the big, mountaintop moments, doubt can creep in. She shares how she worked through it within herself and with the Lord. Megan challenges us to rethink anxiety and insecurity in a way that's both freeing and deeply convicting — and we're still thinking about it. And wait ... what does Megan think heaven will actually be like? Also, why is truly listening to someone so rare and so hard in a world that's constantly talking? This conversation is raw, deep, unexpectedly funny, and full of truth that will sit with you long after it ends. You're not ready—but in the best way. This Episode is Sponsored By: https://gominno.com — Get your first month FREE when you use code WHOA at sign up. Take advantage of this web-only exclusive offer today! Get $35 off your first box of wild-caught, sustainable seafood—delivered right to your door. Go to: https://www.wildalaskan.com/WHOA. https://nutrafol.com — Get $10 off your first month's subscription and free shipping when you use promo code WHOA at checkout! - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Riger and Rico are joined by Corbin for an "In Football Today".

Walter Isaacson joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how one sentence in the Declaration of Independence set out a promise of America. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Rachel spoke with Kathleen Funchion, MEP for Sinn Fein.

" His plan for us is to eventually just be back with Him. It doesn't matter what it looks like as long as we end up choosing Him. And that's what I've come to learn...His plan was for me to be in a covenant keeping life and I am here now. He just helped me to get back."00:00 A Violent Encounter02:30 Brayden's Early Life09:31 Double Life and Gang Involvement16:17 A Wake-Up Call32:12 A New Purpose40:43 Life in Prison45:29 Solitary Confinement52:00 Post-Prison Life and ReflectionsMemor Jewelry code COMEBACK for 10% offhttps://memorjewelry.com/Serve Clothing code COMEBACK for 15% offhttps://serveclothing.com/If you have a story to share please fill out the form: https://form.jotform.com/233109071625046For inquiries contact info.comebackpodcast@gmail.com

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Hour 1 for 2/12/26 Drew covers the falling crime rate with Dr. Chuck Nemeth and analyzes if the numbers add up (4:41). Topics: deterrence (13:22) and immigration (42:23). Then Claire Lai, the daughter of Hong Kong democracy advocate Jimmy Lai discusses her father's sentencing, faith (31:06), and international support (42:23). Link: https://spp.franciscan.edu/faculty/nemeth-dr-charles/

If you've ever caught yourself saying “I know I need to do that… I'll get to it later,” this episode is your wake-up call.Because “later” isn't neutral.It isn't harmless.And it definitely isn't free.In this episode, I break down the hidden cost of delay. The opportunities you don't see, the income you never calculate, and the momentum that quietly slips away when you keep pushing important installs down the road.This isn't about motivation.This isn't about hype.This is about installation.I'm pulling back the curtain on why most entrepreneurs don't struggle from lack of knowledge… they struggle from lack of execution and how a simple shift from busy to installed changes everything.If you've been feeling behind, stuck, or like you should be further along by now… this conversation is for you.

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“Uncle” Jimmy Rollins is in the house with a message of peace that when you feel in the middle of a miracle, between a prayer and a promise, God can use your pain for a greater purpose.

“Uncle” Jimmy Rollins is in the house with a message of peace that when you feel in the middle of a miracle, between a prayer and a promise, God can use your pain for a greater purpose.