Episode 137B - Joanna Vander Vlugt - Perseverance

Overview Joanna is back, and this time we discuss perseverance for writers. She discusses ideas she has used to help market her books and what it takes to keep writing through highs and lows. Her Book https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09DCF49Z8?storeType=ebooks&qid=1672775288&sr=8-2&linkCode=li2&tag=discoveredwordsmiths-20&linkId=3c81edd393db2055ed3512b5753885bb&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_il YouTube https://youtu.be/lrxSP3-Difc Transcript We are going to move on and talk to some about some other stuff. So our topic is going to be perseverance. Yes. But let's talk a few other things first. So what type of software or services do you like to use writing your book, publishing and all that? Joanna: Gosh, that's a good question. Gosh, I can't believe it. I'm just like stunned here. One thing I do differently, because I know a little bit about book design, is I actually start typing my story in the book format in Design, which is a book design program that's a pretty Stephen: hefty one. Joanna: Yeah. And the reason, and I actually have word and book design. I've just started doing this where I will copy everything I've written in book design, paste it into the Word document, so I also have a backup. Okay? So if Heaven for Bed technology fails, I have a backup, right? So what I find with book design, by having the story in that layout, so you see the two pages is it's. it's a trigger for me to be really extra picky when it comes to the rewrites, cuz I see it as a book. So I'm very critical compared to if I read it in a manuscript like I, I have, I don't know, that's just something that works for me to be really critical. I have to see it in a book and then it's like my little inside edit editor turns on and I'm just like, and I'll. . I'll rip my writing apart to make it better. Yeah. Stephen: Okay. Yeah. Alright, that is a little different procedure. Yeah. So that's cool. Alright, so you've written several books. What are you doing different than what you did from the start? Joanna: Oh, gosh, that's another good question. The backing it up is different, but I tend, and thank God for my editor, I tend to complicate, like I'll get multiple because I don't, I'm not a plotter. Okay, there you go. I'm not a plotter, but come book three and book four, I am plotting. Okay. Okay. I'm just, I just, and I think I'm going to, I'm going to convert and no longer be a Panther and plot more, and I had, oh God, Freddy Cruz, he, mm-hmm. from the greater Houston area. Stephen: Yeah. He was just on my podcast couple weeks ago. Joanna: He gave the best advice where he said he will plot like the first half of his novel. and then stop and just let the creativity take over. And I thought that was the best advice ever. So that's what I'm going to do more of. And yeah and it's weird because with the first draft of Book four, because it takes place in Holland I've already started keeping it. with two story lines because I think I'm concerned about getting all the details right with the location. So I'm telling myself, okay, take what you're doing in book four and apply it to book three as you work through the edits. Yeah. Stephen: Okay. Nice. All right. And what are you doing to market your book? Oh, gosh. Joanna: I'm thankful. I'm so thankful for coming on this podcast. Yeah. I'll do I'll be a part of different giveaways, it, it, for example, my, I have a sister and she's a sewist and she has her business called La Laroche Handmade, so she will do a yearly, Contest with SOIs, and so she'll ask for donations. So I'll donate a book, right? I have no troubles donating a book. Okay? Yeah. So if someone needs a book, okay, , you know it, it's if you're in the US in Canada, if you need a book as a prize, I have no troubles doing that. I will, like I say, appear on podcasts. I have a newsletter and I'll talk about my books again, the newsletter you can access through the website,