All the Missed Steps are Worth it. For it’s the Odyssey, not the Destination, We Should Be Living For!

July 21, 2012
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All the Missed Steps are Worth it. For it’s the Odyssey, not the Destination, We Should Be Living For!

The year was 1981, August… I had just finished High School and was looking forward to a life as an actor. I met the head of the drama department at at my local Community College. This person asked, “What do you really want to do?” I said, “I want to be a freelance actor,...

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1 Word, 2 Words, 3 Words… with Michelle Anderson Picarella

July 15, 2012
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Listen to internet radio with John Rakestraw Talks on Blog Talk Radio

Michelle Anderson Picarella

This week on THE PLATFORM LIVE!, we talked with Michelle Anderson-Picarella about jealousy among writers, and the biting personal attacks that sometimes come, as a result. It was a great show and a big announcement was made.

http://shellypicarella.wordpress.com/
http://www.picarellawrites.com/
http://www.7dsbook.com/

Benefits of Life Coaching

July 14, 2012
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Benefits of Life Coaching

How a Life Coach can be of Help: Living a successful and happy life Become energized Take action Positively experience change Be more confident Increase concentration and focus Live with purpose Manage time and stress Develop wealth and abundance Take risks Improve relationships Develop self-awareness Look towards your future with excitement Develop strength Create...

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Your Future Life Can Look Pretty Good…

July 12, 2012
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Your Future Life Can Look Pretty Good…

Book Platform Wizard Life is complex and we all have many roads that we can travel. Some will lead us to rich and rewarding experiences, and people who will enhance our travels. Other roads will go down dead ends, and missed turns. What we need is a road map. Picture your life as if...

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Get Your Book Done with Patti Larsen

July 9, 2012
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http://www.blogtalkradio.com/johnrakestraw/2012/07/08/get-your-book-done-with-patti-larsen

Listen to internet radio with John Rakestraw Talks on Blog Talk Radio

Patti Larsen

Patti's Blog Logo

Get Your Book Done with Patti Larsen

Patti Larsen – I’ve dreamed of being a writer since I was twelve years old, after spending a childhood immersed in fantasy and science fiction, thanks to my highly imaginative father and avid reader mother. I distinctly remember the day I decided the book I’d just finished seemed a simple thing to reproduce. My mom laughed when I told her I wanted to write my own novel, but my dad just smiled and bought me a typewriter.

Patti is a YA and Middle Grade novelist on the East Coast of Canada. Look for The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House, (Acorn Press); The Hunted series, plus many, many more as she fulfill her dream of world literary domination.

We talked to Patti about…

  • Writer want to publish their first draft as their finished book.
  • People don’t want to put the work in, they don’t want to do the rewrites, editing and adding finishing touches.
  • We don’t want to be the publishing police… we just want the best book you can write to be published.
  • How rewriting and reworking the story is the true craft of a author.
  • How to be smarter about being a writer?
  • Writing is a business and should be treated as such.

We then left the LIVE Broadcast and started the recorded part that the listeners have to go to the archives to hear. I liken this to the DVD extras for my shows.

A. T., Patti and I talked…

  • What is the one big thing that writers need to think about… is it the negativity that is thrown about out there on the internet about writing?
  • “What is the story?” That is what we readers truly want
  • Transcending beyond the writing and becoming that conduit of wonder.
  • We as teachers pass on the creative energy to others and they in turn do the same.

If we only had more time to talk… there’s always next week.

You can hear our show in archives here at:

BlogTalkRadio.com
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/johnrakestraw

iTunes
http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/platform-blog-talk-radio-feed/id371248995

or right here on this blog.

Writers Write and Readers Read… Now Connect!

July 2, 2012
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Listen to internet radio with John Rakestraw Talks on Blog Talk Radio

Liz BorinoA. T. RussellLynn Bohart

Your host John Rakestraw and his wonderful co-hosts, A. T. Russell, Liz Borino, and Lynn Bohart as we talked the magical craft of writing. In this world of writing there are those who can make you think, those that make you wonder and those that take you beyond their imagination into yours…

Join us as we talk…

Writers Write and Readers Read… Now Connect!

Here is what we had to say:

  • Does writing in one genre bring readers to your next genre?
  • Are more books, more on a menu helping writers?
  • Is developing a brand the answer?
  • Do we need a platform?
  • Are short stories selling?
  • Do we need to produce more products, aka books…. how do you find the time, the energy and still make them all good?
  • Are we selling ourselves short for more output?
  • Can we do it all well as a self publisher, or are we over working ourselves?
  • Are writers needing more training, more hand holding, to learn the craft?
  • The Grub Street Reads Endorsement helps readers separate the good self-published books from the bad and the ugly. This is a good thing for authors, readers and the self-publishing industry http://www.grubstreetreads.com/
  • Feedback is the best medicine for our writing.

We then left the LIVE Broadcast and started the recorded part that the listeners have to go to the archives to hear. I liken this to the DVD extras for my shows.

A. T., Liz, Lynn and I talked…

  • Is it important for the secondary characters to breath and develop over time?
  • We need to learn how to best further our brands and platforms.
  • HuffingtonPost Patch.com, Local Voices: Hyperlocal Blogging Comes to Patch: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/local-voices-hyperlocal-b_b_857782.html This could be a great way to market your book and get a readership.
  • It was a damn shame that I had to stop A. T. talking about how fantastic I am (didn’t even have to pay him off), but time was up… If we only had more time to talk, there’s always next week.

You can hear our show in archives here at:

BlogTalkRadio.com
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/johnrakestraw

iTunes
http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/platform-blog-talk-radio-feed/id371248995

or right here on this blog.