#AmWriting: Now with More Goodness
The #AmWriting Podcast: the second-longest-running writing podcast in the biz*
5/1/24: Lots going on around here!! This page is on my list of THINGS TO FIX to reflect new subscriber benefits and the evolution of our ALMOST 400 EPISODEs. The above video was created way back in … 2018, I think … when we first realized that we couldn’t sustain this podcast on love alone. I haven’t watched it in a while. I kinda think I might, at some point during it, produce a sock puppet.
So, coming soon, an explanation of who we are, what we do and why you should chip in to make it happen. Meanwhile, IYKYK and please check back or listen to an episode, available everywhere podcasts pod. But here’s the basic deal: we offer fun, relentlessly helpful, immediately actionable advice to help you get your work done—and then get it out to the readers you want to reach.
So subscribe, and trust me that you’ll be glad you did as subscriber benefits drop. (Coming this summer—the spectacular Blueprint for a Book program.)
Start with the basics, and get our an email every week with a podcast, links and shownotes or—once in a while—a delightful essay laying out exactly how to create a novel notebook, or pitch agents and editors, or struggle through a tough revision.
Want to toss a few bucks in the can to support the podcast you love? You’re a STICKER, then, my friend (IYKYK) and we would love it if you did. Support us and support what we do best: offering practical, useful, actionable steps to help you achieve your writing goals.
STICKERs get:
Access to weekly AMAs with hosts KJ, Jess, Sarina and Jennie starting 5/27/24
Access to our Blueprint for a Book program, run by Author Accelerator certified book coaches 2x a year starting 7/1 and 1/1.
Our Writer Goal Setting e-book and worksheet (revised and available 6/1/24)
Or be a Sparkly Star Sticker and get:
The monthly Booklab First Pages Review Podcast (TK 6/1/24) and LIVE PODCAST COACHING for the brave—just reach out as a reply to any set of shownotes with your detailed question and we’ll make that happen.
Those extra bonus podcasts drop straight into your podcast feed, but only for supporters, thanks to the magic of Substack.
You—our treasured supporter and subscriber—will never miss a thing. Every email goes straight to your inbox, every podcast episode straight to your podcast player just as it always did. Ready to join forces?
A little backstory
Once upon a time, there were Jess and KJ. (Sarina’s coming. Jennie too. Wait for it.) Think of them as Andy Rooney and Judy Garland. (Jess is Andy Rooney, totally. As in, SHE WILL NEVER READ THIS HAHAHA.)
And KJ said, hey Jess, let's put on a show! And while they do have a barn, the whole musical comedy thing seemed both a little outdated and too likely to lead to KJ singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," so they started a podcast instead.
This podcast. And it was just a little baby podcast, but it grew and grew, as babies do (here I'm thinking Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, to continue the theme) and hungrily gobbled up the small amounts of money and large amounts of time Jess and KJ put into creating it and paying for its production until one day, KJ reluctantly did the math and figured out that they'd spent $10,000, which back in the day would have bought ice cream sundaes for the cast and crew of every Judy and Andy musical ever and then some, but today buys you about 150 podcast episodes and that's if KJ and Jess work for love and the joy of one another's company, plus the not-to-be-sneezed-at bragging rights of having once told David Sedaris that he gives "the worst writing advice ever". (He does. Episode 109.)
Which brings us (give or take Richard Russo, Lisa Chron, co-hosts Sarina Bowen and Jennie Nash and a whole lot of episodes in which Jess and KJ give straight up advice and occasional bitching on the fine art of keeping your butt in the chair and your head in the game) to now. For our first 394 episodes (!!!) we had a sponsor (Hey Author Accelerator! [waves wildly]), but as of April, 2024 we’ve decided to go at this differently. We won't be trying to persuade you to buy two different brands of mattress over the course of a single podcast like some deranged princess trying to avoid a pea any time soon—no supplements, meal subscription discount codes or the like, although you may hear the occasional (worthy, vetted) ad for a book or writer-related services. (If you have a book or author service and you want to reach out and you’ve read this far, email us at amwritingpodcast AT substack.com and gold star to you for getting this far.
So now we've teamed up with Substack, and this is the result. We’d love your help, we hope we help you, and we plan to keep this thing going for the long haul.
Know someone else who needs more #AmWriting? Help them out here.
To find out more about the company that provides the tech for our podcast, our emails and our supporter upgrades, visit Substack.com.
Joanna Penn at The Creative Penn has us beat by about 200 episodes… but no one else has hung in quite so long or determinedly as we have. Am I wrong? Email me (amwritingpodcast AT substack.com) ( and I’ll give credit where credit is due!
