Welcome to the Summer Writing Challenge which continues all through June, July, and August for 13 episodes.

Join us for quick writing tips, writers talking about challenges, and goal check-ins. [The final check-in will occur the first Wednesday in September, in the 1st episode of the Fall into Poetry series.]

In today’s episode, host M.A. Lee talks tech tools (only one with a cost) that create this series as well as the nuts and bolts for the writing challenge. 65,000 total words. 5,000 words per week. Counting all the words that go through the fingers.

Share your own challenge goals in the comments … and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode of The Write Focus. And whatever occurs, Write on!

Host M.A. Lee has published over 60 book-length titles of fiction and nonfiction under her three pen names. The Write Focus, started in 2020, offers information and guidance on productivity, process, craft, and tools, all for writers.

TIMINGS

• 00:40 Welcome / Intro to the Summer Writing Challenge
• 01:48 Quick Tip #1 How to Start Writing
• 04:52 “Interview” with M.A. Lee on Tech Tools
• 10:15 Check-In How-Tos for the SWC
• 11:34 Closing

Total Run Time = 12:34

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Summer Writing Challenge, 13 episodes every Wednesday in June, July, and August, to achieve 65,000 words or 5K a week. We’ll have a quick tip on writing, interviews from writers on challenges, and check-ins. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7KE2gUjunhC7MgkXmsLiQap

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

• You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters
• Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Writing in her car at midday is all Teresa Inge needs to create stories with strong protagonists. With 18 years of publishing experience, she keeps writing simple with laptop and trusty battery.

Once she has a theme placed in her Outer Banks setting, she gives her sleuth a business so they can encounter and investigate murder.

Teresa Inge is an award-winning mystery author in over a dozen anthologies and novellas. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, the Virginia Writer’s Club, and Hampton Roads Writers. By day, Teresa is an administrative assistant, notary administrator, and corporate reporter for a global financial firm. When not writing, she can be found on the classic car show circuit with her Torch Red 1955 Thunderbird.

This episode concludes our Writers on Writing series. Coming Next is the Summer Writing Challenge. M.A. Lee is setting the goal of 500 words daily, persistent and consistent—which can be very hard with all the distractions and disruptions of summer. The episode opens with a couple of minutes on the Challenge. The first SWC episode is June 4. Join in.

TIMINGS

• 00:40 Wrapping Up this Series / Unwrapping the Next Series
• 2:20 Welcome / Introduction to Teresa Inge
• 4:50 Writing Anywhere
• 8:00 Her Writing Process
• 15:35 Writing Humor / Researching
• 22:22 Marketing & Promotions / Her Upcoming Releases
• 24:40 Considering Indie
• 28:15 Books at the Banks Festival, October 18, 2025
• 30:10 Closing

Total Run Time = 31:15

LINKS

Teresa’s Website: http://www.teresainge.com

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/05/621-writers-on-writing-teresa-inge-next.html

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

• You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters
• Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)

Linda Kay Hardie may appear as the classic cat lady, but a conversation quickly revealed the deadly mind for dastardly deeds that she applies to her fiction.

Hardie is vice president of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and is an award-winning author who has appeared in many anthologies, four in 2024 and three in 2023.

She writes crime, horror, and fantasy stories but no romance. She tried once, and everyone ended up dead. Tragic. When not writing adult short stories, she writes stories and books for children, ages 2 to 12.

Linda writes recipes and is the reigning Spam champion for Nevada (yes, the tasty treat canned mystery meat) for her blue-ribbon recipe. Her first writing award was in fifth grade, when she won a first place trophy for an essay on fire safety. In 2022, she was honored with the Sierra Arts Foundation Literary Arts Award for fiction.

Linda is a member of Short Mystery Fiction Writers, Horror Writers Association, Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, and Cat Writers’ Association. She has a master’s in English from the University of Nevada, Reno, where she makes a living as a freelance writer and as staff working for Abyssinian cats.

TIMINGS

• 00:40 Welcome / Introduction
• 3:00 A Knack for Dastardly Deeds
• 7:15 Tech from the Early Days
• 11:35 Word Perfect and Open Office
• 15:25 Tech Refined but not New
• 21:00 Writing Stories, Short vs. Long
• 27:50 Brainstorming / the Subconscious
• 30:30 Charity Anthologies
• 35:30 Independent Bookstores
• 38:40 Closing

Total Run Time = 39:41

LINKS

Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/05/620-writers-on-writing-linda-kay-hardie.html

Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.

Our current focus is Writers on Writing, a series of interviews with active writers on technology, social media, process and productivity, and much more. Here’s a link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXi3M_aM-d7Kctg7OayipF1tU2xl6TKjy

Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr

• You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters
• Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.

For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .

Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com.

If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)