Keeping a Notebook

Nina LaCour
  • 5.0 (173)
  • BOOKS

A podcast on writing that explores the craft of fiction, answers listeners' questions, and provides strategies for a fulfilling writing practice and creative life, hosted by bestselling, award-winning novelist Nina LaCour.

  1. 12/30/2025

    Projects & Practice

    Read more and enroll in Projects & Practice. Read more and enroll in Winter Writing Nights: Exploring Voice and Language in Fiction. Subscribe to Nina's newsletter. ALSO! If you enroll in BOTH classes, you'll receive free access to Nina and Elana's The Business of Writing workshop. In this ninety-minute session, we will get deep into the business side of writing and publishing. We'll be transparent about rejections and successes, surprises and setbacks and risk-taking. Most of all, we'll turn our attention to what you want to know about the business of writing. You'll be able to pre-submit questions and/or ask them live. From querying agents to understanding advances, maintaining relationships with editors to making big pivots, setting expectations around publicity and sales to selling on proposal, we're so looking forward to sharing what we know with you. This workshop will be held on January 31st at 10am PST. It will be recorded and sent out in case you can't make it. If you'd like to join, sign up for both Projects & Practice and Winter Writing Nights. Nina will then send you a Zoom link and more info on The Business of Writing in mid-January. This episode of Keeping a Notebook references Anne-Laure Le Canff's Tiny Experiments and Oliver Burkeman's Four Thousand Weeks. I recommend both books! Happy New Year, everyone!

    13 min

  2. 09/23/2020

    Truth & Beauty

    Purchase Nina's new novel, Watch Over Me. Register for a morning of writing with Nina to benefit Diesel, A Bookstore. Enroll in Writing, Reading, Responding: The art of drafting and critiquing, in which Nina and Elana K. Arnold will discuss the making of Watch Over Me. (Remember to read the novel first!) Subscribe to "Letters from Nina" for behind-the-scenes looks at her process and projects, and to be the first to learn about class offerings.

    14 min

  3. 09/22/2020

    Gaslight

    You can rent Gaslight here. (Highly recommended!) Purchase Nina's new novel, Watch Over Me. Register for a morning of writing with Nina to benefit Diesel, A Bookstore. Enroll in Writing, Reading, Responding: The art of drafting and critiquing, in which Nina and Elana K. Arnold will discuss the making of Watch Over Me. (Remember to read the novel first!) Subscribe to "Letters from Nina" for behind-the-scenes looks at her process and projects, and to be the first to learn about class offerings.

    13 min

  4. 09/16/2020

    A Ghost Story

    Wednesday, September 16th with Tiffany D. Jackson 5 p.m. PST/ 7 p.m. CST/ 8 p.m. EST, hosted by YA @ Books Inc. Learn more and register here! Thursday, September 17th with Stephanie Perkins 3 p.m. PST/5 p.m. CST/6 p.m. EST, hosted by Books & Books Learn more here!   Subscribe to Letters from Nina for writing musings and exercises, class and event news, and more about Nina's books.

    11 min

  5. 09/15/2020

    Watch Over Me

    Join Nina in celebration of Watch Over Me's release! (If you order from a hosting bookstore, you'll receive a signed bookplate with your copy of Watch Over Me.) Tuesday, September 15th with Brandy Colbert 5 p.m. PST/7 p.m. CST/8 p.m. EST, hosted by Main St. Books Learn more and register here! Wednesday, September 16th with Tiffany D. Jackson 5 p.m. PST/ 7 p.m. CST/ 8 p.m. EST, hosted by YA @ Books Inc. Learn more and register here! Thursday, September 17th with Stephanie Perkins 3 p.m. PST/5 p.m. CST/6 p.m. EST, hosted by Books & Books Learn more here!   Subscribe to Letters from Nina for writing musings and exercises, class and event news, and more about Nina's books.

    12 min

  6. 05/18/2020

    Writing in Place: A Mess

    Announcement:The Slow Novel Lab is open for a special summer benefit session, with 50% of the profit going to Direct Relief! Nina examines messiness and her complicated feelings about it, both in herself and in others. She invites you to spend some time with a mess of your own--not to clean it up, but to see what it offers you in your work. If you’d like to share your mess, or what you wrote about it, or your experience of writing (or not writing) during this time, we'd love to hear from you! Use the hashtag #writinginplace on Twitter and Instagram. And you can see scenes from Nina's messy apartment, too. Follow along with the project on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/nina_lacour/ and  https://www.instagram.com/theslownovellab/ Subscribe to Letters from Nina for the full text of this season along more photographs of Nina's home. Enroll in The Slow Novel Lab for an transformative and interactive six weeks with Nina and fellow participants.

    7 min

  7. 05/11/2020

    Writing in Place: An Anchor

    Announcement:The Slow Novel Lab is open for a special summer benefit session, with 50% of the profit going to Direct Relief! Nina examines the anchors in her life: her work, her desk, the mug she drinks her morning coffee from. She offers a writing exercise to ease you into exploring your own anchors, and the anchors in your fiction. If you’d like to share your anchor, or what you wrote about it, or your experience of writing (or not writing) during this time, we'd love to hear from you! Use the hashtag #writinginplace on Twitter and Instagram. Follow along with the project on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/nina_lacour/ and  https://www.instagram.com/theslownovellab/ Subscribe to Letters from Nina for the full text of this season along more photographs of Nina's home. Enroll in The Slow Novel Lab for an transformative and interactive six weeks with Nina and fellow participants.

    7 min

  8. 05/04/2020

    Writing In Place: A Window

    Nina contemplates the windows in her new apartment, and what it's like to be on the inside when people outside pass by. She offers a two-part exercise for her listeners to be used first as a method of noticing and being in place, and then as an entryway to their fiction.  If you’d like to share your window, or what you wrote about it, or your experience of writing (or not writing) during this time, we'd love to hear from you! Use the hashtag #writinginplace on Twitter and Instagram. Follow along with the project on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/nina_lacour/ and  https://www.instagram.com/theslownovellab/ Subscribe to Letters from Nina for the full text of this season along more photographs of Nina's home.

    7 min
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Trailer

5
out of 5
173 Ratings

About

A podcast on writing that explores the craft of fiction, answers listeners' questions, and provides strategies for a fulfilling writing practice and creative life, hosted by bestselling, award-winning novelist Nina LaCour.

Information

  • Creator
    Nina LaCour
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2025
  • Episodes
    28
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Nina LaCour 2020
  • Show Website
    Keeping a Notebook

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