In their 50th episode, Eva and Katryn talk publishing highs and lows, from the pain of yearly royalty statements when you don’t earn out and “best of” list FOMO, to being your own cheerleader to get yourself into book cons. Come for Eva singing Bon Jovi and crafting her way to distraction, and stay for Katryn comparing her estrogen to Joe Goldberg.

Sources

• Come to Katryn’s launch for We Are Not Alone and see Katryn and Eva in person!
• The Worf “Milkshake” meme
• Barney’s Get Psyched Mix
• Listen to Storybeast podcast!
• Could Marshawn Lynch run for mayor of Oakland? Consider this our official endorsement if rumors are true!
• Watch English Teacher! Also, revisit that traumatizing Marnie T. mug moment from Write Where it Hurts season 1Apparently what Katryn calls “Candy corn: oops, all pumpkins!” is actually mellowcreme pumpkins. No, thank you.

This week, Eva and Katryn talk about reframing their creativity and concept of success (and failure). Come for Eva’s “fuck it era” and stay for Katryn describing her impossible funerial demands in the post-credits stinger.

Sources:

• RSVP for Katryn and Eva LIVE in person for the first time at the launch for WE ARE NOT ALONE at Books Inc Alameda (10/29)!
• In this episode, Katryn does a live unboxing! Check out her amazing cover artist, Alisha Monnin - and wonderful blurb authors, Michael Leali, Jennifer Chambliss Bertman, A.J. Sass, and Ali Standish
• Enter the Goodreads giveaway for WE ARE NOT ALONE - and please read it so Katryn knows this book is a thing 🥺
• Watch our mentioned shows, The Summer I Turned Pretty, The Legend of Vox Machina, and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
• Buy Dungeons and Dragons stamps!
• Look at the Lord of the Rings meme that acted as an extended release anti-depressant for Katryn’s publishing woes
• Yes, Bay Area fog is named Karl
• Katryn discussed ADHD “justice sensitivity” in this episode

In a return from Season 3’s hiatus, Eva and Katryn discuss the hardest challenges they’ve faced as authors this year, along with the long-term market concerns many authors are fretting about. Eva talks live recording her husband’s reaction to the second Twilight movie, and Katryn reveals the reason for her new Swiftie status.

*Content warnings: Conversations about depression, self-doubt, and intrusive thoughts

• SourcesCome to see Katryn and Eva LIVE at Books Inc. Alamedafor the launch of We Are Not Alone!
• Subscribe to Eva’s newsletter
• Watch Nobody Wants This!

This week, Eva and Katryn dive deeper into plotters and pantsers, discussing what tools and tricks to best to tame your arcs, plot, and more during the drafting process. Eva regales us all with tales of her launch, and Katryn breaks down all of her drafts in the style of romance tropes.

Note: Katryn was having trouble with her mic (mostly, speaking into it properly) and some segments are unusually quiet. This should be fixed by episode 7!

Sources

• Check out the Masterclass on finding out which kind of writer you are!

• Jane Friedman has a great article on plotters and pantsers!

• Pacific northwesters, come see Eva at her final tour stop for a while in Seattle with Rachel Griffin!

• Subscribe to Wiser Than Me, Julie Louis-Dreyfus’s wonderful podcast

Watch Maxton Hall on Amazon Prime!

It’s a Write Where it Hurts Super Special! This week, Eva and Katryn discuss debut anxiety-- everything from the wounds it opens, to self-imposed stress, to developing early expectations around the “nebulous cloud that is publishing.” Eva discusses cutting herself off from reading reviews, and Katryn acts out a whole scene from Harry and the Hendersons and it somehow works as a metaphor.

NOTE: We are taking a break for Eva's debut (out on 5/21)! We'll be back in June!

*Content warnings: This week, we talk a lot about mental addictions. These are real and toxic to our mental health, but we mention them in no way to compare or dismiss physical and substance addiction--only to speak to our experiences with this kind of psychological addiction.

Sources

• Bookseller survey finds that over half of authors reported that debut authors said the experience negatively impacted their mental health
• What is a Super Special, you ask? THIS
• Listen to our Seducing the Creative Spirit playlist!
• Watch this Harry & the Hendersons clip and WEEP
• Pre-order I Wish You Would (Eva) and We Are Not Alone (Katryn)

This week, the topic on Write Where it Hurts is ‘writing flawed characters,’ and the craft talk gets real. Eva deftly connects The Tortured Poet’s Department to the theme, and talks giving all of her characters the full enneagram-meyers-briggs workup, while Katryn gets very salty about manic pixie dream girls (but not in the way you think). NOTE: If the audio sounds a bit choppy and Katryn’s voice sounds like sad, parched smacking, this is because our heroic Eva was forced to edit out roughly 79,000 coughs. Thanks, Spring!

Sources:

• Give your character a free enneagram test!
• I sued Masterclass’s site as a baseline in framing some of my own questions and thoughts!
• Pre-Order I Wish You Would and keep an eye on Eva’s IG or subscribe to her newsletter for upcoming tour info!
• Request Katryn’s next book, We Are Not Alone, on NetGalley and Edelweiss!

This week, Eva and Katryn delve into managing your time in writing groups - from getting in (yay!) to knowing when to back off. Eva talks disappearing Homer-style into a bush when overwhelmed, and Katryn discusses getting back into the IRL social fold.

Sources:

• Lots of people out there talking about how Slack and apps like it can cause stress, anxiety and a lack of work life balance
• Pre-Order I Wish You Would and keep an eye on Eva’s IG or subscribe to her newsletter for upcoming tour info!
• Request Katryn’s next book, We Are Not Alone, on NetGalley and Edelweiss!

To kick off season 3 of Write Where it Hurts, Eva and Katryn discuss writing on contract--from the reality of deadlines after you’ve sold a book, to the creative process around pitching books after the book deal. Kate and Eva can’t stop/won’t stop talking about minotaur erotica.

Sources

• Pre-order I Wish You Would now!

• Also, for Bay Area folks, please come out to Eva’s launch in conversation with the great YA Author Kristin Dwyer at Mrs. Dalloway’s Books

• Check out the gorgeous cover of Katryn’s upcoming book, We Are Not Alone, if you missed the reveal!

• Stop everything you’re doing right now and read the summary (and some of the reviews!) for Morning Glory Milking Farm