The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers

The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers


Creativity, Productivity, Fear And Writing. An Interview With Joanna Penn

October 12, 2015

Today I'm interviewed by Sarah Painter from WorriedWriter.com about definition of success, creativity, productivity and facing fear as a writer.

In the intro I mention that I am away in Paris as this goes out, as well as an update on Risen Gods and how I am using 99Designs to get a custom map done for the front of the book. Plus, I have an upcoming webinar with Mark Dawson on Facebook Ads for Authors on Sun 25 Oct. Click here to register.

The corporate sponsorship for this show pays for hosting and transcription. This podcast episode is sponsored by 99 Designs, where you can get all kinds of designs for your author business including book covers, merchandising, branding and business cards, illustrations and artwork and much more. You can get a Powerpack upgrade which gives your project more chance of getting noticed by going to: 99Designs.com/joanna

Here's the notes for today's interview. You can find the original show here on WorriedWriter.com. The full transcript is further below.

In the interview, we discuss:

* On Joanna's fiction titles and her origins as a writer.

* Why it's important for every writer to decide what their own definition of success is.

* The shift from writing non-fiction to fiction and the classes and practices that helped Joanna do that.

* Why writing more and finishing projects helps us to be better writers.

* Why setting deadlines and putting constraints around writing what you want to achieve actually boost creativity and ability to produce. I also mention Kristine Rusch's book, The Pursuit of Perfection and how it harms writers. Highly recommended. 

* On the possibilities in the global market and why writers should exploit rights they own in those global areas.

* How Joanna balances the two sides of her professional life. Here's the post that includes Plato's chariot.

* On continually collecting ideas for the creative pipeline and the tools that support that.

* The struggles that Joanna and other successful authors encounter, including self-doubt, and the ways to cope with that.

* Why writers need to realize that our friends and family are not necessarily our readers or our market.

* Why this era is a renaissance for creative people.

You can find Sarah and more episodes of the podcast at WorriedWriter.com

Transcription of interview with Joanna Penn
Sarah: You're listening to The Worried Writer. Helping you to overcome fear, self-doubt, and procrastination to get the work done.

I'm your host, Sarah Painter and I'm a novelist and self-confessed worried writer. For show notes, resources and much more, please head to WorriedWriter.com. And now, on with the show.

I'm very excited to welcome Joanna Penn on the podcast today. Joanna writes thrillers under the name J.F. Penn, as well as running The Creative Penn, which gives advice to authors on the business side of things. I love Joanna's podcast, and listening to her energy and enthusiasm was one of the catalysts for starting my own.