The Creative Life Karen Andrews

Annabel Smith (www.annabelsmith.com) is the author of the digital interactive novel The Ark, US bestseller Whisky Charlie Foxtrot, and A New Map of the Universe, which was shortlisted for the WA Premier’s Book Awards. She was an inaugural Australia Council Creative Australia Fellow and holds a PhD in Creative Writing. She is also a contributor to Trust the Process: 101 Tips on Writing and Creativity.

Topics Discussed: the 'Who, What, Why' of the plotting triangle,
why she chose the epistolary structure for her novel The Ark, how they can be difficult novels to write (and read) and how she found balance, how the remarkable book website - thearkbook.com - came to life through an Australia Council grant and her collaborative relationship with those who worked on it, her advice on applying for grants, what she learned about the experimental, pioneering part of the digital publishing world, her thoughts on self-publishing and the differences between commercial and creative success, the running series on her website about the working life/reality of how writers earn money, her thoughts on writing groups - her tip in Trust the Process - and how to best deliver constructive criticism.

Patreon: patreon.com/KarenAndrews
Twitter + IG: @KarenAndrewsAU
Facebook: /KarenAndrewsAuthor

www.karenandrews.com.au/shop
Amazon US: bit.ly/TTP101
Amazon AU: amzn.to/2yk7IOH
Music: Luke Garfield

This episode's guest is Kate Mildenhall. Her debut novel, Skylarking, is based on the true story of Kate and Harriet, best friends growing up on a remote Australian cape in the 1880s, and the tragic event that befalls them. She is the co-host of The First Time podcast, a podcast about the first time you publish a book.

We discuss a variety of subjects including finding ourselves in that tricky stage that is mid-book-project, her article 'Finding Home' in the recent edition of The Victorian Writer about self-doubt and how to come back to some kind of positive, calm mindset, how to manage expectations, keeping a journal about the writing process, how hard it is not to think about some of the logistical things about publishing such as the market, potential audience etc while we write. And much more.

Patreon: patreon.com/KarenAndrews
Twitter + IG: @KarenAndrewsAU
Facebook: /KarenAndrewsAuthor

www.karenandrews.com.au/shop
Amazon US: bit.ly/TTP101
Amazon AU: amzn.to/2yk7IOH
Music: Luke Garfield

Patreon (www.patreon.com)is an ongoing crowdfunding platform. It helps fans and supporters support their creative favourites while offering those artists a stable and user-friendly platform on which to facilitate this model of earning money while engaging with a fan base. A lot of artists are doing very well on it and there are other people – such as myself – who might have gone through the initial setup stage and then go ‘okay, now what?’ If the patrons aren’t coming like you’d hoped, you might be asking yourself, ‘Have I done something wrong?’ ‘Do I need to make some messaging tweaks?’ ‘Am I not offering the right rewards?’ ‘Am I not promoting the fact that I’m here enough?’ and many other questions like that. I decided to ask other artists to give some advice and insight as to their experience and I think there is a terrific amount to be learned here!

This Episode's Featured Guests:
Claire Connelly - https://www.patreon.com/claireconnelly
Ginger Gorman - https://www.patreon.com/gingergorman
Eloise Grills - https://www.patreon.com/grillzoid
Jemimah Halbert from Underground Writers - https://www.patreon.com/UndergroundWriters
Sharmini Kumar from 24 Carrot Productions - https://www.patreon.com/24carrotproductions
Louise Omer - https://www.patreon.com/HolyWoman

And I'm here: https://www.patreon.com/KarenAndrews

Twitter + IG: @ KarenAndrewsAU
Facebook: /KarenAndrewsAuthor

www.karenandrews.com.au/shop
Amazon US: bit.ly/TTP101
Amazon AU: amzn.to/2yk7IOH
Music: Luke Garfield

This informal, candid mini-episode was inspired by the fact that this week marks the one-year anniversary of my poetry collection On The Many Shapes Bodies Will Take. Where did that time go?! I ask should I have hired a book publicist? What are certain authorial expectations post-book release, post-euphoria? There can be a lot of feelings and emotions! My biggest tip for managing these expectations? Get back to work!

Patreon: patreon.com/KarenAndrews
Twitter + IG: @KarenAndrewsAU
Facebook: /KarenAndrewsAuthor

www.karenandrews.com.au/shop
Amazon US: bit.ly/TTP101
Amazon AU: amzn.to/2yk7IOH
Music: Luke Garfield