Advertise on podcast: StoryADay presents: I, WRITER - A Writing Podcast about Building a Successful Writing Practice

What if the thing standing between you and writing success is your unwillingness to risk looking a little foolish? Can you allow yourself to write something bad? To drop the ball? To make up your own rules? To try something that might not work? To fail in public---or at least in front of yourself? In this episode I make the case for embracing your inner fool. And, since I take metaphors seriously, I donned the greasepaint and grabbed my juggling balls, to illustrate the point! (check out the YouTube video here) (You're welcome.) Underneath all the silliness, there's a serious point: writing challenges like StoryADay aren't valuable because they prove you can be disciplined, perfect or wildly productive for a month. They're valuable because they give you a relative safe space, and limited timeframe in which to practice writing bad first drafts, figuring out how to make writing fit into your life, how to finish imperfect stories...how to drop a ball and pick it back up again. In a challenge like this you get data: about your writing habits, your perfectionism, your favorite kinds of stories, the conditions that help you write. So if you've been thinking about joining a writing challenge like StoryADay, but have been worried about making a fool of yourself...excellent! This may be exactly the experiment you need. Sign up for the challenge: https://storyaday.org/signup TIMESTAMPS 00:00 What if you make a fool of yourself? 01:28 🤡 Foolish Reason #1: Let It Be Bad 04:30 Why messy first drafts matter 07:00 Stop looking backwards while you draft 09:00 Tricks for keeping yourself moving 12:24 🤹 Foolish Reason #2: Make Your Own Rules 15:00 You don't have to write every single day 18:00 Make promises to yourself you can actually keep 20:14 🤹‍♀️ Foolish Reason #3: Practice, Not Perfection 22:00 Put an ending on it — even a bad one 24:00 Leave breadcrumbs for Future You 26:05 🎪 Foolish Reason #4: More Reasons Than I Can Juggle 28:00 Experiment with genres, voices and strange ideas 31:00 Remember how it feels to be a writer who writes 33:30 Get off social media and make something 36:00 The value of deep creative work 38:30 You don't have infinite time 41:45 🃏 Foolish Reason #5: What If You Don't Even Try? 44:00 Failure is data 47:00 Treat your writing life as an experiment 49:00 Join me in the creativity lab WATCH NEXT All right, fool. You've listened to enough writing advice for now. Go drop some balls.  ➡️ Put on one of my Write With Me sessions and spend the next block of time actually writing.

Introducing The Gold Standard for Hosting Any Event with Brilliant Style Guru Colin Cowie from The Oprah Podcast. Follow the show: The Oprah Podcast BUY THE BOOK! The Gold Standard by Colin Cowie https://amzn.to/4hSLdEd Event planner extraordinaire Colin Cowie is here to discuss his book "The Gold Standard: Giving Customers What They Didn’t Know They Wanted." Oprah and Colin have a fun going down memory lane to discuss the countless parties they’ve thrown together including one of their all-time favorites, Oprah Winfrey’s Legends Ball. They look back on the year-long planning of the historic event that honored the lives of the Black women who paved the way for Oprah’s life and millions of others. They also reminisce about what it was like throwing parties for Oprah’s friends like Sidney Poitier, Quincy Jones and Gayle King. Gayle joins the conversation to talk about her 50th and 70th birthday parties planned by Colin Cowie. Oprah and Colin Cowie both believe when having any type of celebration “love is in the details” which is why his book The Gold Standard is perfect for anyone looking for advice or tips on hosting a party your guests will never forget. 00:00:00 - Welcome Colin Cowie, author of “The Gold Standard” 00:03:15 - Love is in the details 00:04:50 - How do you want people to feel 00:07:30 - The most extravagant thing Oprah has ever done 00:12:20 - Oprah’s never thrown a party for herself 00:13:28 - Gayle King joins 00:14:30 - Post party depression 00:17:20 - Planning the Legend’s who paved the way party 00:19:50 - Gayle’s surprise 70th 00:24:40 - Advice for hosting your own event 00:29:45 - What Oprah’s learned from Colin 00:31:00 - What a well-lived life looks like Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: https://www.instagram.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.instagram.com/oprah/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/ DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to [email protected].

There's a lot going on in the world today. AI, publishing worries, the world…the feeling that writing is somehow not as 'important' as any of that.  Bah! In this episode I make the case that it's absolutely the time you should be writing — not because I can guarantee you publishing deals, awards, cash, or screaming fans, but because the act of creation matters. And then, because it's October, I'm giving you pointers on how to write a spooky story (and no, you don't have to like horror, for, or long, dark staircases.) I'll show you how to take an extremely ordinary premise and make it deeply unsettling, by changing just a few details. In This Episode 00:00 Why "a good idea" can stop you before you start 00:17 October, spooky stories — and why I want you writing 01:03 Why writing still matters when the world feels noisy 03:30 Why external success won't sustain your writing life 07:10 Writing as an antidote to cynicism 10:09 Why finishing stories matters 10:09 StoryADay November is coming 11:30 The trap of waiting for a good idea 13:30 How to turn an ordinary idea into a spooky story 15:30 Use setting, isolation and sensory details 17:00 Make one thing feel slightly wrong 18:00 Repetition, unease and psychological spookiness 19:00 What has your character done to deserve this? 20:00 Your spooky story challenge If you're inspired to write, don't go and try to learn anything else. Instead do this: Put on one of my WRITE WITH ME videos and write: https://youtu.be/2DZ_tFC0nQk?si=RLChBSS292hqA-K9 No teaching, no scrolling, just quiet company while you get your words down. Also mentioned: StoryADay November (sign up here: https://storyaday.org/signup) The Short Story Framework https://storyaday.org/framework StoryADay Writing Prompts

What if the thing you think is supporting your writing is actually stealing your writing time? Online writing communities can be encouraging, funny, useful, and genuinely connecting. They can also become a very convincing substitute for writing. In this episode, I'm talking about why StoryADay has never had the kind of always-on free community that so many writing sites now offer, what I mean by the power of inconvenience, and the question I think every writer should ask about the spaces they spend time in: Does this community send me back to my writing — or keep me scrolling?

If you're the kind of writer who has trouble staying motivated or completing things, the upheaval and uncertainty in the world (around AI and politics and climate change and economic instability) probably aren't helping. Here's my answer to whether you should bother (spoiler: yes) and the fundamental step you can't skip if you want to stay motivated and keep going on the greatest adventure you could choose: life as a writer. LINKS Watch the video edition: https://youtu.be/RAvJexG1i4I StoryADay Challenge archive: https://storyaday.org/writing-prompt-archive/ SWAGr monthly accountability posts: https://storyaday.org/category/swagr/ 'Define Success' article: https://storyaday.org/how-to-become-a-highly-successful-writer/ The Dream of being a Writer, article: https://storyaday.org/the-dream/ Permission to Write article (and certificate): https://storyaday.org/write-more-permission-to-write/ The I, WRITER Framework for a Successful Productive Writing Life, article: https://storyaday.org/i-writer-framework/ Planning & Tracking Worksheets Bundle: https://storyaday.kit.com/products/story-a-day-planning-tracking-worksheets StoryADay Superstars group: https://storyaday.org/superstars Book a 1:1 Writing Strategy Session with Julie: https://members.storyaday.org/creative-coaching       SWAGr monthly accountability posts

A four-week momentum/rescue plan to help keep your writing life progressing outside the bounds of a challenge like StoryADay May.

How can you be successful as a writer if you don't define success? But how do you define success? In this episode I suggest a definition of seven different writing 'modes' you can build into your success framework.

A reminder to mark the end of the StoryADay May challenge, and not to simply keep sprinting.

What does success really look like for a writer? In this episode, I share a surprisingly encouraging reminder from a 1951 editorial in Galaxy Science Fiction: even at the highest magazine rates of the day, it took "a stupendous amount of writing" to support a writer. That may not sound comforting at first — but it is. Because it means writing was never easy. False starts, abandoned drafts, stories that don't quite work, and the sheer volume of practice required are not signs that you're doing it wrong. They are part of the work. A gentle but honest episode about ambition, effort, StoryADay May, avoiding burnout, and building a writing life that makes room for a stupendous amount of writing. This Week's Question What will you write this week? How many times will you show up for your writing? Don't go from zero to sixty. Increase your commitment a little. Give yourself the chance to discover what happens when writing becomes something you return to, again and again. LINKS:  StoryADay Handbook 2026 StoryADay Handbook 2024 (the one that's really a writing course disguised as a challenge): Prompts from Week 3 of the StoryADay May 2026 challenge:  Day 17 - A Critical Day, from Mary Robinette Kowal Day 18 - Expanded Idioms, from Julie Duffy Day 19 - Inspired by Artemis II, from Julie Duffy Day 20 - Making a Grocery List, from Brenda Rech Day 21 - The Nitty Gritty, from Ruby G. Dubois Day 22 - The Hero of their Own Story, from Julie Duffy Day 23 - Beyond Sound and Vision, from Elizabeth Twist

StoryADay 2026 Handbook: https://stada.me/2026handbook Inspiration Corner Here are some prompts that you might have missed, this month, to get your creative wheels turning. Days 1-9 Day 10 - Darkness to Light, from Renan Bernardo Day 11 - Inhumanity, from Julie Duffy Day 12 - The Visitor, from Debbie Ohi Ridpath Day 13 - Here's a Quarter…, from Michele Reisinger Day 14 - Mine your Emotions, from Jluie Duffy Day 15 - Anarchic Archetype, from Julie Duffy Day 16 - I Think I Can, from Somto Ihueze Keep writing, Julie

In the light of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America organization's statement on AI and eligibility for the Nebula Awards, I recorded this bonus episode of the podcast to give you my perspective on where we are and where we're headed, regarding AI and the creative arts and, well, civilization as a whole. For more like this, subscribe and follow along at StoryADay.org And please share this with a friend.

A story got accepted… and another came back not accepted — and I'm weirdly thrilled. Here's why embracing rejection can strengthen your consistent writing habits, PLUS: a holiday writing prompt to keep you writing in December. Links: StoryADay Podcast episode 109: https://storyaday.org/episode109 The 3-Day Challenge: https://storyaday.org/3dc

Hi writers! This week I'm sharing a surprising example of how writing (and writers) can help people in the real world, inspired by a project announced by Brandon Sanderson. It leads to one clear lesson about what it actually takes to build a sustainable writing life — especially if you want to write consistently, keep your momentum, and grow beyond the "solitary writer" myth. Plus: a quick writing prompt about conflict you can use right away.

A short meditation on why sustainable writing comes from small, repeatable choices. We touch on Coetzee, Tom Stoppard, and the quiet ways stories ripple outward—then land on the core: build the habit, revise bravely, and let the work be enough.

We all have that voice that whispers, "Who are you to think you can write?" In this gentle, thoughtful episode, Julie Duffy shares why those inner critics feel so convincing—and how to move past them. From celebrating small wins to journaling the negative voices into submission, she offers calm, practical ways to rebuild confidence and keep writing. A soothing reflection on self-doubt, creative courage, and what it really takes to keep showing up for your stories.