Beautiful Writers Podcast Linda Sivertsen

Three #1 New York Times bestsellers. Nearly twenty million books sold. One of the most popular self-development blogs in the world. What more could Mark Manson take on? As of this week, movie stardom.

Suppose you're a fan of Mark'sThe Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (or his follow-up book, Everything's F*cked: A Book About Hope). In that case, I predict you'll LOVE how Universal Pictures depicts this beloved counterintuitive approach to living a good life from page to screen.

It was a blast for me to have Mark on the show finally. As you'll see, despite his success, he's still a humble guy. Quick to laugh and talk freely about the crap we creatives all experience. Including some extreme things few of us will face that he and I share. As a former ghostwriter (who co-authored a NYT bestseller with a man who experienced a tragic public fall), I've wanted to take Mark aside and ask him a few things confidentially. Why Mark? He was Will Smith's writer for Will, the 2021 memoir Oprah called the best memoir she'd ever read. You know, before the slap. 

I didn't intend to ask Mark anything about that on the record. Still, I'm glad I got the vibe to take the chance. Same for other topics, from the difficulty of recording our audiobooks to the weirdness of becoming well-known to keeping a marriage strong when one or both people are workaholics. Can I get an eff-yeah!

Happy New Year, friend. Thank you for another great year of shared book love. May 2023 bring us all a whole lot more magic than mayhem.

Linda xo (aka Book Mama) 

Marie Forleo is back on the show! HER show, actually. Say what? In a rare move for each of us, this is a replay of my recent appearance on MarieTV while touring for my latest book, Beautiful Writers. Since  Marie and I LOVE this episode and 80% of the population say they want to write a book, we're doubling up to help you beat those odds. You can also catch us on video on YouTube if you'd prefer to see and hear us.

Whether it's your first time listening to this episode or you're here for a refresh, let's dig into these mindset-changing concepts to get you in your writerly flow. Topics covered include:

— How to finish your manuscript like a pro.

— Marie’s “hackathon” method to write her book proposal in 48 hours.

— The #1 trick to writing faster and having more fun.

— What successful authors have in common.

— How to banish “writer’s block” for good.

— The secret to landing a huge book deal. (It’s not what you think!)

— A story on writing the hard stuff about others, with nearly unbelievable magical results.

And so much more. I'm excited to have you finish the year strong with us.
Write on! xo

PS. See you back here in a few weeks with Mark Manson, on tour for his new film, based on the #1 NYT bestseller, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, where amongst other things, we talk about the totally f*cked up impossibleness of recording our audiobooks (something I'm doing now). Fun and funny stuff! :)

It's finally here! Pub Day for Beautiful Writers: A Journey of Big Dreams & Messy Manuscripts—with Tricks of the Trade from Bestselling Authors. To celebrate this happy day, I invited a few of my fave writers to join me for a writer's roundup for good vibes as we talk about the things we did that WORKED. The details we want to remember to do next time. There’s always resistance, sure. But so much magic, too, and that's what I wanted to focus on today.

You'll hear on the show why I chose this group of brilliant humans and what they've each meant to me on my writing path.

For the quickie bios, we've got Martha Beck, NYT bestselling author of a bunch of books, the most recently, The Way of Integrity, a 2022 Oprah Book Club pick.

There's the legendary Steven Pressfield, author of a bible in our field, The War of Art, and other massive hits, including his new riveting read: Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be, and a few movies, too.

The incredible novelist, writing teacher, and ex-Hollywood marketing mind Aditi Khorana is here (and promises to blow your mind with her cutting-edge thoughts on time and the creative process).

And we're so blessed to have New York Times bestselling memoirist Elizabeth Lesser who co-founded the famed Omega Institute, where she's been supporting creatives and leaders like Oprah hands on in a big way for decades.

We had such a blast together. (I might have to schedule roundups more often!) I think you will find that whatever stage you're in with your writing, they will bring you ah-has and RELIEF. As often as I've had them on the show or read their work, they continue to surprise me.

THANK YOU for celebrating with me, with us. Thank you for being part of my cherished writing community. I have felt your love and cheerleading at every stage.

And thank you for buying my sweet book baby (and hopefully recommending it to your people). In so doing, you’ll be supporting sustainable paper choices, my greatest writerly dream. How cool is that? I hope that the information in the book will likewise make it easier to realize whatever dreams you are holding close. That would make my heart so happy.

Go to BeautifulWritersPodcast.com for all the links to this episode. And, of course, you’ll find all sorts of book buying links over on BookMama.com or BeautifulWritersPodcast.com.

LOVE you, beyond. Write on!

Lindagrateful x

New York's # 1 book influencer, author, DAILY podcaster, and publisher, Zibby Owens, is here! Joining her is Peruvian mountaineer, humanitarian, and social entrepreneur, Silvia Vasquez-Lavado, the first openly gay woman to climb Everest and all seven summits (who happens to be one of Zibby's favorite writers). Welcome to another literary love-fest!


Hello! With only seven days until pub day for my Beautiful Writers book, I couldn't help myself. I had to record a podcast with these fantastic authors and miraculous human beings. Why now? Because I couldn't get their missions or memoirs out of my mind. Zibby's Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature and Silvia's In the Shadow of the Mountain: A Memoir of Courage (Selena Gomez will soon play in the movie) stole my focus and my heart.


Sometimes the best thing to do when you're busy is dive into a great book—or TWO! I'm so excited to share this episode of the Beautiful Writers Podcast with you, where we get honest about the magic and mayhem of taking our work and manifestations to new heights. 


From overcoming extreme shyness, abuse, loss, and addiction and channeling our pain into healing words (and, in Silvia's case, trekking to help victims of sexual violence find a sense of peace and closure), you could say we're women on a mission. One of surpassing our limitations, living large, and changing the world—one step, one reader, one beautiful book at a time. 


We're so happy you're here. Write on! ✍️ xo

We’ve missed you, Danielle LaPorte & me! Our season of book delivery kicked our asses. (How to Be Loving for Danielle and Beautiful Writers for me, both available now for preorder.) But that’s what it takes, often, to create our best work. So, since we know we’re not alone in this endeavor to leave a legacy, we’re back together to dish, deal, and laugh about the absurdity. The hours! The focus! The OMG never-ending details! Now that we’re on the other side, mostly, we couldn’t wait to share the backstory with YOU!

Because, like us, you’ve been trying to write something valuable, right? Something that, dare I say, stands the test of time?! (That’s the hope, isn’t it?) We know you know. We raise our glasses to you for endeavoring to attain such a lofty goal:).

Thank you for listening, sharing, commenting, preordering, and helping us celebrate this milestone on the platform that started so much for us both. Dig deep with us as we cover: Networking chutzpa (naive much?). Wrangling celeb permissions & blurbs (when to push on; when to give up). When Oprah doesn’t call (or, rather DOES, but whoops… Lol).

DISTRACTIONS. REJECTIONS. DISTRACTIONS. REJECTIONS. The backstory of why this SuperSoul 100 Leader and author of a heap of bestsellers left the podcast—and how I nearly bailed myself but instead went ALL in. The reason we called each other sobbing over past books. And why Danielle opted out of the testimonial game for this new book. Plus, eleventh-hour miracles. And more.

We’re keepin’ it raw & real for you. Open books, as they say.

Write on!

L&D xo

Spooky smart. Miraculously mystical. Devilishly delightful. Listen in as two prolific bestselling thriller authors, Patricia Cornwell (over 100 million copies sold) and Tosca Lee (award-winning NYT bestseller), sweeten up our Halloween with this perfectly low-cal, high magic treat. And I'm not just throwing the M-word around. The true tales shared here are nothing short of supernatural and will help you BELIEVE in a universe that wants what you want. One that can't help but clear the path when you keep showing up.

I had full-body goosebumps several times during this conversation. With NO idea when I imagined matchmaking for this episode that Patricia and Tosca would have such outrageously mysterious stories BEHIND their stories or that they’d have shared such unbelievable synchronicities, I'm still in a bit of a daze.

Patricia joins us at the start of her tour for Autopsy, the 25th novel in her #1 bestselling Scarpetta series. Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta has returned to Virginia as the chief medical examiner to hunt an ingenious killer who's mastered cutting-edge science for the most nefarious ends. Patricia, who in real life has been described as a female James Bond—and you'll soon hear why—tells us how to use our fear as fuel, and I'm all ears. The woman who admits to being scared all the time has somehow made me feel twenty kinds of courage in our hour together.

I asked Tosca which of her novels (A Single Light, The Legend of Sheba, Iscariot, Demon, the Book of Mortal series...) would be a good fit with Autopsy. We decided onThe Progeny and its sequel, Firstborn, about the descendants of the real-life Blood Countess, Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary, the most prolific female serial killer in history—which may or may not have been a conspiracy.

We've got a lot to cover. Craft. Passion. Destiny. Rejection. Locations. Training. And ghosts, as in real ones who write through us. Does that make them ghostwriters? Hmmm.

Boo! I'm frightfully happy you're here. xo

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