Gracewriters Podcast Belinda Pollard - Author, Editor, Gracewriter

In this episode, Belinda Pollard and Donita Bundy interview romance novelist (and podcast co-host) Alison Joy. Alison writes romance novels set in Australia and the South Pacific. She shares a variety of research techniques she has developed to help her create fictional locations, events and characters that ring true.
Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.
Episode summary:
How Alison got an idea for a novel series from an exercise class. Creating small town communities on the page using a combination of research and personal experience. Different ways to use recurring characters in a series. Using actual locations, buildings, sites, facilities to inspire authentic fictional ones. How Alison produced an actual country song for book promotion. Different research techniques used by Belinda and Donita – interviews, travel, experiences, googling, historical research. The benefits and pitfalls of research – how it enriches your writing and your life, but you can end up down rabbit holes! Coping with the uncertainty of whether we should be writing, especially when we don’t write “Christian” books.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy interview Billie Jauss, author of the books MAKING ROOM and DISTRACTION DETOX. Billie speaks across America and hosts the Family Room Podcast. She shares what she’s learned about finding God’s purpose in our writing – even when it’s surprising – and finding real solutions to toxic busyness, self-doubt, shame and distraction.
Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.
Episode summary:
Being “dragged kicking and screaming” into writing. How Jesus opened unexpected doors and provided support. How 10 years of writing devotionals for a baseball website evolved into authoring a book. The secret blog Billie began when she became an empty nester. Adapting the devotional structure and content to create chapters of a book. Learning new writing skills through reading books and blogs, and observing what she liked and didn’t like about other people’s writing. Tackling imposter syndrome after the too-fast publication of her first book, and how it stopped her writing with purpose. Writing a list of negative thoughts that arose, realising she was her own worst bully as she would never say those things to someone else. Challenging each negative thought with the truth of scripture. Being too busy, and how to learn to say no so that there is time for God to speak into our lives. How we get in the way of someone else’s calling if we do the thing they are supposed to be doing. Finding moments of pause and listening to God. Listening to the Bible while exercising or driving. Changing popular culture by loving our neighbour.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy interview Jodie McCarthy, who writes quiet, contemplative words in the midst of a noisy and painful world. Her books of poetry and prayers are transparent expressions of grief and loss, but also hope and healing. Jodie is also honest about the times when creative writing needs to take a back seat for a season. 
Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.
Episode summary:
Journaling as a way of processing life, and how that led into blogging. How poetry helped Jodie process the emotions of infertility, miscarriage and grief. Becoming an “accidental author” when people shared her first book of poetry, and later an “accidental self-publisher”. Talking about hard things gives people permission to talk to you about their own hard things. Learning to hold other people’s heavy stories lightly helps you avoid overwhelm. How the content influenced Jodie’s production decisions, such as hardcover over paperback for a sense of solidity. Software (Scrivener) that helps with the process of organising a book and overcoming writer’s block. Also using old-school techniques and moving around handwritten or printed pages. Writing more poems than needed to allow choosing the best. The poetry market that is emerging on Instagram. Taking time from creative writing to work on analytical writing during a study program in Spirituality. A season of input rather than a season of output. The blessing of writing gracenotes in a time when the news is so heavy and everyone is feeling heavy. Jodie’s beautiful “prayer for creatives”.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard and Alison Joy interview our co-host, urban fantasy author, writing teacher, and preacher, Donita Bundy. Donita writes the Armour of Light series of spiritual warfare stories set in near-future versions of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of Revelation. She has useful tips for those writing on ‘Last Days’ themes, and encouragement for all of us who Gracewrite in an increasingly hostile and difficult world.  
Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.
Episode summary:
What End Times, End of Days and Last Days mean, and why these themes are so attractive to storytellers, both Christian and secular. How physical illness ‘accidentally’ led into Donita writing on these topics, and how her own health challenges have influenced the way she writes her characters. How Donita draws plot inspiration from Scripture and also from historical events and situations from the ancient world. The role of Bible study and prayer in apocalyptic writing, and in fact, all Gracewriting. The fear of getting it wrong, and how to persevere in spite of that. Encouraging readers as they feel seen and heard by what’s happening in the story. Writing with openness and honesty about genuine human struggles. Helping readers to feel less alone in their own battles. Encouraging readers to pay attention, and not become complacent in a world that is changing rapidly. Inspiring them to ‘choose God’ even when it’s hard. Entertaining readers with a good story. Thinking about what message your reader is going to go away with, no matter what genre or topic you are writing. How to open a fissure for the Holy Spirit to flow into someone’s heart through story. Giving readers (and us) the courage to stand in the challenges to come. Whether to make writing a priority in stressful times. Why our voice is needed. How the content of our writing might change in the Last Days. How our writing might be set apart from the world’s writing.

In this episode, Belinda Pollard, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy interview book publicist Jason Jones, who works with authors and publishers around the world, producers and editors at some of America’s major news outlets and hundreds of faith-based media outlets. Host of the Book Publicist podcast, he has led campaigns for 11 New York Times best-sellers. He shares insights on the changing face of book promotion, including the rise of social media and podcasts.
Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.
Topics in this episode:
Jason’s unexpected career progression into book publicity.
How book publicity has changed in recent years – the rising importance of social media over traditional media and news outlets.
Start very early with book promotion.
Be prepared to do the work yourself and don’t expect your publisher to do all the marketing.
Start small, start local.
How the publicity cycle has changed in recent years – not all of it has to be at launch time.
Promoting non-fiction vs fiction.
Seasonal promotion at Christmas, and Christmas-themed books.
The rising possibilities of being interviewed on podcasts.
The value of perserverance.

In this episode, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy interview Belinda Pollard, author of crime novels, light memoir, devotionals and non-fiction. She is also founder of Gracewriters. Belinda shares what she learned from revising and republishing both a devotional book, MEET THE REAL JESUS, and her first crime novel, POISON BAY.
Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast! And go to gracewriters.com for show notes, transcript, useful links and factsheets, and to connect with our online community.