The Nuts and Bolts of Writing Fortunus Games

Imelda Wei Ding Lo (a.k.a. Fortunus Games), the host of The Nuts and Bolts of Writing podcast, interviews two very special guests: authors and educators Elizabeth and Nancy Jorgensen, a writing and publishing mother-and-daughter duo.

Noting a lack of middle-grade and young adult books featuring female sports heroes, they collaborated with their Olympian sister and daughter to inspire the next generation. As a result, they co-authored Gwen Jorgensen: USA’s First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete and Go, Gwen, Go: A Family's Journey to Olympic Gold.

As a brief introduction, Elizabeth Jorgensen is an award-winning high school language arts teacher and the author of Hacking Student Learning Habits (Times 10 Publications). Nancy Jorgensen is a retired choral music teacher and the author of two music education books.

Today, we’ll be talking about how Elizabeth and Nancy publish as a team. I asked them the following questions:


Why do you think there is a lack of books on female athletes, and how did you feel about this as the family of a triathlon champion? 


Why do you think it is important to tell Gwen's story? How will her story impact the younger generations?


How did the collaboration between you work? What was the writing process like and how did you divide the workload?


How did you publish your book? How did you find your publisher? Did you find them online or in-person? How was the editing process like once you signed a contract with the publisher? How much freedom did you get to edit the book?


You’ve also written a book about Korean poetry, Sijo: Korea’s Poetry Form. 



What inspired you to write about sijo?


How was the writing and publishing process compared to the writing process for Gwen Jorgensen: USA’s First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete? 




Get the Jorgensens’ books on Amazon:


Go: Gwen, Go: A Family's Journey to Olympic Gold


Gwen Jorgensen: USA's First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete


Sijo: Korea's Poetry Form (Parkyoung)


Nancy’s choral education book: Things They Never Taught You in Choral Methods



Purchased signed copies of Gwen Jorgensen: USA’s First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete: https://www.booksco.com/signed-copy-gwen-jorgensen

Free educator guide for Gwen Jorgensen: USA’s First Olympic Gold Medal Triathlete: https://download.m-m-sports.com/extras/GwenJorgensen/Teacher_Guide.pdf 

 The Jorgensens’ websites:


Elizabeth’s website: https://lizjorgensen.weebly.com/


Nancy’s website: https://nancyjorgensen.weebly.com/ 


Gwen’s website: https://www.gwenjorgensen.com/ 



For author visits, email nancy.l.jorgensen@gmail.com or elizabeth.jorgensen@gmail.com  

Websites: lizjorgensen.weebly.com and nancyjorgensen.weebly.com

On Twitter: @LyzaJo and @NancyJorgensen








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Today, R. N. Roveleh, one of the co-hosts of The Nuts and Bolts of Writing and co-editor of the literary magazine The Unconventional Courier, interviews writer Laura Cooney. 

Her short-story “Musically Challenged. Challenged Musically” was published in our December Issue of The Unconventional Courier. It is a powerful and touching story of someone who is in love with music, but is tone deaf. You can read it here.

Laura is a writer from Edinburgh with publications for both children and adults online and in print anthologies. Her recent side projects include attending spoken word events and collaboratively creating a children's poetry zine.

When she's not doing lots of writing you'll find her with her children as close to the sea as possible, there will be ice-cream! 

You can find Laura Cooney’s blog at  www.lozzawriting.com and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @lozzawriting. 



R.N. Roveleh asks Laura the following questions:

1. Your story, “Musically Challenged”, speaks about the protagonist’s relationship to music, how music seeps into every aspect of their life and being. Let me start by asking you this: what was your inspiration for the story?

3. What inspires you to write, in general?

4. Have you got any favourite themes, types of characters, styles that you prefer to insert into your stories?

5. How would you say that your job as teacher plays into your vocation as a writer?

6. You published a zine with a team of writers and artists. I’m really curious to learn more, please tell us more about it. Do you think you’ll collaborate together again for similar projects in the future?

7. What projects are you currently working on?

8. I know your life is busy on all fronts. How do you make room to immerse yourself in writing? Have you got a writing schedule, any "writing rituals", or is it more an impulsive act for you?






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Today, host Imelda Wei Ding Lo (a.k.a. Fortunus Games, IG/Twitter @fortunusgames) will be interviewing author and podcaster Kyler Bingham, who hosts the podcast, “Salt Lake Dirt,” where he interviews many different creatives, including authors, movie directors, and actors. 

Me and Tete DePunk, a co-host of this podcast, have been interviewed on his podcast, specifically on episode 97, where we talked about how we met, our creative works, Tete’s Christian fundamentalist homeschooling experiences, and more. If you want to check out the episode, I’ve provided a link in the description.

So, on to the focus of our podcast: Kyler Bingham.

Kyler Bingham is an educator, writer and the host of Salt Lake Dirt, a podcast where he interviews writers, filmmakers, and musicians. He lives in Salt Lake City with his three dogs Rooney, Cosmo, and Mabel.

You can follow Kyler’s podcast on Instagram and TikTok @saltlakedirt and on his website at www.saltlakedirt.com.

I, Imelda Wei Ding Lo (Fortunus Games), asked Kyler the following questions:


When I was on your podcast with Tete, you mentioned you were writing a book. What kind of book are you writing? What genre is it?


Where did you get the idea for this book? 


How have you been writing it? Do you write it whenever you’re inspired, or do you have a set schedule?


What is the target audience of this book? How will you market it?


How do you find talking about the specifics of a project? 



Links:


Kyler’s social media: Instagram and TikTok @saltlakedirt and on his website at www.saltlakedirt.com.
Listen to Episode 97 of “Salt Lake Dirt,” where Kyler interviewed me and Tete DePunk: https://saltlakedirt.com/podcast/f/fortunus-games-tete-depunk 
Noah Hawley: Before the Fall: https://www.amazon.com/Before-Fall-Noah-Hawley/dp/1455561797
Nic Pizzolato: Galveston: https://www.amazon.com/Galveston-Nic-Pizzolatto/dp/0751557056/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=galveston&qid=1680028783&s=books&sprefix=galve%2Cstripbooks%2C259&sr=1-5
Jonathan Ames: You Were Never Really Here: https://www.amazon.com/You-Were-Never-Really-Here/dp/1782275258/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=you+were+never+really+here&qid=1680028835&s=books&sprefix=you+were+never+really%2Cstripbooks%2C158&sr=1-1
Jerry Stahl: Permanent Midnight; I, Fatty: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jerry-Stahl/author/B000APM6XY?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
Bruce Wagner: https://www.brucewagner.la/books
Tony DuShane: Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk: https://www.tonydushane.com/






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Today, Tete DePunk, one of the co-hosts of The Nuts and Bolts of Writing, will be interviewing the electrifying poet and author Indranil, who submitted his collection of respective poems to Issues 2, 3, and 5 of our literary zine, “The Unconventional Courier.”

His collection of evocative and striking works is often inspired by arresting modern artistic masterpieces by 20th-century greats such as Rene Magritte and Edvard Munch. Check out his works using the links at the bottom.

Indranil Ghosh is a Ph.D. student in applied mathematics from India, currently living in New Zealand.

Highly inspired by Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, and Robert Frost, whenever he is not working, one may find him either reading classic poems or listening to music from the 70s and 80s.

His poems appear in the Aphelion webzine, The Unconventional Courier, Roi Faineant Literary Press, etc.

You can follow Indranil Ghosh on Twitter and Instagram:  @indraghosh314.

Tete asks Indranil the following questions:


What first inspired you to write poetry?
How did you draw inspiration from art to create your striking poems?
How do the images from these artworks inspire the poem? Do you form the idea of a concept or emotion/theme when you first see an artwork?
Who are some of the poets and artists that inspire you?
You mentioned musical artists also inspire you- how does their work inspire you? Is there a difference between how musical artists inspire you vs. visual artists inspire you?
How do you put the emotions and thoughts of the figures in your poem into words?

Indranil’s works for TUC:

Are We There Yet? : https://tetedepunk.wixsite.com/theunconcourier/post/are-we-there-yet

3 Poems: https://tetedepunk.wixsite.com/theunconcourier/post/3-poem-by-indranil-ghosh

Four Poems: https://tetedepunk.wixsite.com/theunconcourier/post/four-poems-2


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In this episode, R. N. Roveleh, one of the co-hosts of The Nuts and Bolts of Writing and co-editor of the literary magazine The Unconventional Courier, interviews writer Gershom Gerneth Mabaquiao.

He is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. His works touch on the darker recesses of the human psyche and Philippine folklore. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

Gershom's short story, A Heaven so True for Saint Peter, appeared in The Unconventional Courier in October 2022. His prose is deep and hard-hitting, an incursion into the dark side of human nature that isn't afraid to dive into heavy themes, analyze them and make them come alive with a touch of magical realism.

You can find Gershom Mabaquiao on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gershom.gerneth/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gershom.gerneth/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gershomgerneth

R.N. Roveleh asks Gershom the following questions:

1. What are some themes that you like exploring in your prose?

2. Censorship is something that writers who tackle such taboo topics always have at the back of their mind. Especially in today’s world of Trigger Warnings. I’m not only talking about being censored by the book industry or by a more sensitive readership, but also about the writing process - about censoring yourself, about choosing how far you want to go when describing such topics. Can you tell us more about this?

3. Writing is very often not about what you write, but about how you write it. How do you approach writing a difficult topic? And how do you balance saying what you want to say with directing your reader’s emotions throughout the story?

4. What kind of fiction do you like and find inspiring?

5. How would you define magical realism, and how does it appear in your prose?

6. Are there any literary projects that you’re working on at the moment? Can you share with us some of your literary plans for the future?


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In this episode, co-hosts of “The Nuts and Bolts of Writing,” Tete DePunk and R.N. Roveleh (a.k.a. Helevorn) analyze a movie that Fortunus Games and Tete previously discussed on this podcast: Zack Snyder’s “The Man of Steel” (2013).

Tete DePunk and R.N. Roveleh talk about their impressions of the movies, why their perspectives are different, and how the movie meets (or doesn’t meet) their standards and expectations.

Tete Depunk's social media:


@tete.depunk on Instagram
@punk_tete on Twitter

R.N. Roveleh's social media:


@helevorn_bor on Instagram
@NRoveleh on Twitter


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