Overview Val has learned lessons about writing while she worked on her four books. One thing she's learned, that we discuss in this episodes, is that it helps to plot. She likes to writie thrillers, and one of her favorite thriller writers, Lee Child, gave some advice that has stuck with Val and she changed how she write because of it. Roland is also back to discuss the latest news in the author world. Her Book https://www.amazon.com/Where-Loyalties-Lie-addictive-psychological-ebook/dp/B09RQHBMJ2?crid=1IBY4NI5PJQTU&keywords=val+collins+where+loyalties+lie&qid=1673455395&sprefix=val+collins+where+loyalties+lie%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-1&linkCode=li2&tag=discoveredwordsmiths-20&linkId=d2c85a61a8cdad76b089d1ca80a9db04&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_il Roland Denzel http://indestructibleauthor.com/ author pen namesBrandon Sanderson helping authors at audibleA.I. audiobooks YouTube https://youtu.be/HU8iNp0CjQM Transcript Stephen: Okay, so let's do a little author talking. I gotta ask you about your why to Kindle Unlimited here in a minute. Let me ask you this though. You're on your fourth book. What have you learned that you're doing different now than what you did at the beginning? The Val: very first thing I learned was that no, you, if you, for me, it doesn't work for everybody. For me, I'll never write anything if I don't actually sit down and. Okay. So when I first thought maybe I'd write, I thought to myself, okay, what will I write about what, who I decide. I decided I'll gonna write a book, what will be about? And absolutely nothing came into my head. And this had been going around in my head for weeks. And then I heard May Binchy, do you know May Binchy? Yeah. I heard May Binchy interviewed and she said, I've never write anything if I didn't sit down on my desk and write from nine to five every. I've never done nine to five. My, my stamina isn't that strong. But then I sat down and I start, and I sat down and started writing, and I was amazed to discover that like words just came to me. . . Stephen: Yes. I And that I totally agree with you. So I know a lot of people talk about writer's block and you mentioned earlier about getting ideas. My, I love when people say where do you get your IDs? It's like, where don't I get my ideas? I'm driving down the road and I get three ideas. I'm sitting here writing this book and I get an idea for this other book. It just, once you start that creative juices going, it seems. Not stop. I'm working on a Christmas story for my kids and I've been doing that almost every year and it's, I was like, okay, it's gonna be like all the others. Oh, it's gonna be a short little story. And now we're up to 7,000 words , and it's still going . So I agree. It just kinda keeps going. No, I Val: don't get writer's block. I probably get the opposite. I write a lot of crap writer's Stephen: blog, then I , Val: maybe that's it. I write a whole load of stuff and then I go back and I think, nah, that's useless. I have to get rid of that. But I've often listened to Lee Child being interviewed and I heard Lee Child and he said he never deletes anything. He said, because I'm a writer, not a. And I tried that. Once he said it, I thought, yeah, I waste too much time writing stuff that I later throw away and don't use. I said, I'm going to do it this time. I'm going to have a plot. But I don't think, I think about a week later, I've written a page that was, as far as a God I just can't work that way. I just have to keep writing and see what happens. Stephen: Yeah. We're gonna talk about writing plot here in a couple minutes. More of a discussion. But yeah I, I know a. I've, everybody has to come to their own way of doing it. And sometimes you have to try and experiment other ways. And that's where I've gotten, this, like I said, this Christmas story I'm working on now. Without even realizing it. started off as a,