BETH KEMPTON

In today’s episode we are talking all about writing books. This is going to be a rich and juicy session, and you might want to take notes. This includes:

– What I really want you to know about writing books (five books and more than 45 book deals in, I have a few thoughts!)

– Top tips for pitching your idea to a publisher.

– The four questions you need to answer in your book proposal

Even if you don’t have any clue about what kind of book you might want to write, if you have even the tiniest whisper that you might want to write a book, be sure to tune in – this is gold. Grab yourself a cuppa and settle in for a lovely writerly chat. With inspiration from Rachel Boast and Xavier Rudd.

I hope this podcast will help you write fearlessly, and with joy, and build a writing practice that nourishes you for the rest of your life. I’d love to see what writing it inspires – feel free to share by tagging me @bethkempton #fearlesswriterpodcast

BethXx

PS Please note there is a chunk of silence in this podcast. It is supposed to be there for the weekly writing exercise!

Click here to download the transcript

The theme music for The Fearless Writer Podcast is The River sung by Danni Nicholls, co-written by Danni Nicholls and me, Beth Kempton. Listen on iTunes / Spotify / Youtube and feel free to add it to your Instagram reels! See here for the lyrics and full credits.

***Did you know the audiobook version of The Way of the Fearless Writer includes a full meditation album to help get the words flowing? You can get it here.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Way of the Fearless Writer by Beth Kempton (Piatkus) / US edition here (St. Martin’s Essentials)

• Shattered in Void Studies by Rachel Boast (Picador Poetry) p.45

• Follow the Sun by Xavier Rudd – find it here on Spotify / iTunes

Resources for getting published

• The Book Proposal Masterclass (taught by Beth Kempton)

• The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook /  Writer’s Market / Poet’s Market

• thecreativepenn.com (for self-publishing)

• CurtisBrownCreative.com /  thenovelry.com

• My agent: Hardman & Swainson

More at bethkempton.com / dowhatyouloveforlife.com / Instagram

In today’s episode we explore why it is important that as writers we are learning, always learning. I hope this gives you the confidence to allow yourself to be a beginner over and over, whilst recognising and honouring all that you do know and have learnt along the way. This episode includes:

–       Thoughts on how a writing life is built

–       What to do when you don’t know what to write about

–       A peek into my journal so you can see exactly how my thought process unfolds and I get to something juicy

In each episode, I will talk for about fifteen to twenty minutes, and then offer you a timed writing exercise at the end to try, for another ten minutes. Grab yourself a cuppa and settle in for a lovely writerly chat. With inspiration from Shunryu Suzuki and Kobayashi Issa

I hope this podcast will help you write fearlessly, and with joy, and build a writing practice that nourishes you for the rest of your life. I’d love to see what writing it inspires – feel free to share by tagging me @bethkempton #fearlesswriterpodcast

BethXx

PS Please note there is a chunk of silence in this podcast. It is supposed to be there for the weekly writing exercise!

Click here to download the transcript

The theme music for The Fearless Writer Podcast is The River sung by Danni Nicholls, co-written by Danni Nicholls and me, Beth Kempton. Listen on iTunes / Spotify / Youtube and feel free to add it to your Instagram reels! See here for the lyrics and full credits.

***Did you know the audiobook version of The Way of the Fearless Writer includes a full meditation album to help get the words flowing? You can get it here.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Way of the Fearless Writer by Beth Kempton (Piatkus) / US edition here (St. Martin’s Essentials)
• Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki (Shambhala)
• The Spring of My Life by Kobayashi Issa, translated by Sam Hamill (Shambhala)  p.144

More at bethkempton.com / dowhatyouloveforlife.com / Instagram @bethkempton

In today’s episode we explore how to cultivate the courage to share your words with other people. This episode includes:

–       Reasons for sharing (and not sharing) your work with others

–       Reasons why rejection can be a good thing

–       How to keep going when it’s hard

In each episode, I will talk for about fifteen to twenty minutes, and then offer you a timed writing exercise at the end to try, for another ten minutes. Grab yourself a cuppa and settle in for a lovely writerly chat. With inspiration from Beth Kephart and Pablo Neruda.

I hope this podcast will help you write fearlessly, and with joy, and build a writing practice that nourishes you for the rest of your life. I’d love to see what writing it inspires – feel free to share by tagging me @bethkempton #fearlesswriterpodcast

BethXx

PS Please note there is a chunk of silence in this podcast. It is supposed to be there for the weekly writing exercise!

Click here to download the transcript

The theme music for The Fearless Writer Podcast is The River sung by Danni Nicholls, co-written by Danni Nicholls and me, Beth Kempton. Listen on iTunes / Spotify / Youtube and feel free to add it to your Instagram reels! See here for the lyrics and full credits.

***Did you know the audiobook version of The Way of the Fearless Writer includes a full meditation album to help get the words flowing? You can get it here.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

·      The Way of the Fearless Writer by Beth Kempton (Piatkus) / US edition here (St. Martin’s Essentials)

·      litrejections.com

·      Handling the Truth by Beth Kephart (Gotham)

·      I Will Return by Pablo Neruda in Finding The Way Home, edited by Dennis Maloney (White Pine Press)

More at bethkempton.com / dowhatyouloveforlife.com / Instagram @bethkempton

In today’s episode we explore how to go from vague idea, or a spilt page of words, to a polished, shaped piece of writing, how to develop the discipline of editing your own work, and to learn to trust your own opinion, and knowing when it’s time to get support from elsewhere. The episode includes:

–       How to know when a piece of writing is ‘done enough’

–       The main thing you need to know about editing

–       How I turn an idea for a book into the actual book (spoiler: I don’t write a ‘first draft’ until very late in the process) – and how this information might help you and your work

With inspiration from John McPhee, Robert M Pirsig and Julie Cadwallader.

I hope this podcast will help you write fearlessly, and with joy, and build a writing practice that nourishes you for the rest of your life. I’d love to see what writing it inspires – feel free to share by tagging me @bethkempton #fearlesswriterpodcast

BethXx

PS Please note there is a chunk of silence in this podcast. It is supposed to be there for the weekly writing exercise!

Click here to download the transcript

The theme music for The Fearless Writer Podcast is The River sung by Danni Nicholls, co-written by Danni Nicholls and me, Beth Kempton. Listen on iTunes / Spotify / Youtube and feel free to add it to your Instagram reels! See here for the lyrics and full credits.

***Did you know the audiobook version of The Way of the Fearless Writer includes a full meditation album to help get the words flowing? You can get it here. / US edition here (St. Martin’s Essentials)

Resources mentioned in this episode:

•      From Draft No.4 by John McPhee (Farrar, Straus & Giroux p.180

•      On Quality: An inquiry into excellence by Robert M Pirsig (Mariner)

•      Blackbirds by Julie Cadwallader Staub in Poetry of Presence by Phyllis Cole-Dai & Ruby R Wilson (Eds.) (pub. Grayson Books) p.50

My recommendations for books that will help you shape your writing: On Writing Well by William Zinssner / Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr & E.B. White / New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (Oxford) / The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick

More at bethkempton.com / dowhatyouloveforlife.com / Instagram @bethkempton

In this episode we explore the bliss of deep writing, and how to ease ourselves into this experience, where beauty, truth and insight seems to bubble up naturally from the depths of us. The episode includes:

–       The wild truth about writing

–       How the Prologue of The Way of the Fearless Writer appeared to me

–       How access a state of deep writing

–       PLUS a powerful visualisation to help you listen deeply and invite inspiration

In each episode, I will talk for about fifteen to twenty minutes, and then offer you a timed writing exercise at the end to try, for another ten minutes. Grab yourself a cuppa and settle in for a lovely writerly chat. With inspiration from Antonio Machado, Jane Hirshfield and Haruki Murakami.

I hope this podcast will help you write fearlessly, and with joy, and build a writing practice that nourishes you for the rest of your life. I’d love to see what writing it inspires – feel free to share by tagging me @bethkempton #fearlesswriterpodcast

BethXx

PS Please note there is a chunk of silence in this podcast. It is supposed to be there for the weekly writing exercise!

Click here to download the transcript

The theme music for The Fearless Writer Podcast is The River sung by Danni Nicholls, co-written by Danni Nicholls and me, Beth Kempton. Listen on iTunes / Spotify / Youtube and feel free to add it to your Instagram reels! See here for the lyrics and full credits.

***Did you know the audiobook version of The Way of the Fearless Writer includes a full meditation album to help get the words flowing? You can get it here.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

•      The Way of the Fearless Writer by Beth Kempton (Piatkus) / US edition here (St. Martin’s Essentials)

•      Untitled poem by Antonio Machado, translated by Robert Bly in The Enlightened Heart, edited by Stephen Mitchell

•      Nine Gates by Jane Hirshfield

•     Haruki Murakami interview in the New Yorker 

More at bethkempton.com / dowhatyouloveforlife.com / Instagram @bethkempton

In this episode we explore the joy of journaling, looking at how it can support our writing practice, what we might like to journal about, and what fun approaches can keep us interested throughout our lives. The episode includes:

–       What I discovered when I surveyed over 1000 writers

–       Why journaling is so valuable for your writing practice and for your wellbeing

–       Why ONLY journaling (and not exploring other kinds of writing) can be limiting, and what to do instead

In each episode, I will talk for about fifteen to twenty minutes, and then offer you a timed writing exercise at the end to try, for another ten minutes. Grab yourself a cuppa and settle in for a lovely writerly chat. With inspiration from Morgan Harper Nichols and Nikita Gill.

I hope this podcast will help you write fearlessly, and with joy, and build a writing practice that nourishes you for the rest of your life. I’d love to see what writing it inspires – feel free to share by tagging me @bethkempton #fearlesswriterpodcast

BethXx

PS Please note there is a chunk of silence in this podcast. It is supposed to be there for the weekly writing exercise!

Click here to download the transcript.

The theme music for The Fearless Writer Podcast is The River sung by Danni Nicholls, co-written by Danni Nicholls and me, Beth Kempton. Listen on iTunes / Spotify / Youtube and feel free to add it to your Instagram reels! See here for the lyrics and full credits.

***Did you know the audiobook version of The Way of the Fearless Writer includes a full meditation album to help get the words flowing? You can get it here.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

·      The Way of the Fearless Writer by Beth Kempton (Piatkus) / US edition here (St. Martin’s Essentials)

·      Untitled poem by Morgan Harper Nichols in All Along You Were Blooming: Thoughts for boundless living (Zondervan) p.143

·      The Forest by Nikita Gill in Where Hope Lives: Poems of resilience, healing and light by Nikita Gill (Trapeze), p.131

More at bethkempton.com / dowhatyouloveforlife.com / Instagram @bethkempton

In today’s episode we explore what it means to choose the writing path, to seek out confirmation that the path is the right one for us, and to take the next step along it with confidence and hope. This episode includes:

–       A special message for you

–       Insight into what happens as soon as you commit to the writing path

–       Assurance that you do not need any particular qualifications to walk this path, and it is never too late to begin (and I share my own story as proof)

In each episode, I will talk for about fifteen to twenty minutes, and then offer you a timed writing exercise at the end to try, for another ten minutes. Grab yourself a cuppa and settle in for a lovely writerly chat. With inspiration from Remi Graves, Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley.

I hope this podcast will help you write fearlessly, and with joy, and build a writing practice that nourishes you for the rest of your life. I’d love to see what writing it inspires – feel free to share by tagging me @bethkempton #fearlesswriterpodcast

BethXx

PS Please note there is a chunk of silence in this podcast. It is supposed to be there for the weekly writing exercise!

Click here to download the transcript

The theme music for The Fearless Writer Podcast is The River sung by Danni Nicholls, co-written by Danni Nicholls and me, Beth Kempton. Listen on iTunes / Spotify / Youtube and feel free to add it to your Instagram reels! See here for the lyrics and full credits.

***Did you know the audiobook version of The Way of the Fearless Writer includes a full meditation album to help get the words flowing? You can get it here.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

•      The Way of the Fearless Writer by Beth Kempton (Piatkus) / US edition here (St. Martin’s Essentials)

•      How Poetry can Change Your Heart by Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley (Chronicle Books) p. 123 

•      It Is Everywhere by Remi Graves in She is Fierce edited by Ana Sampson (Pan Macmillan) p.121

More at bethkempton.com / dowhatyouloveforlife.com / Instagram @bethkempton

In today’s episode we explore how to shift blocks and let go, so we can let the words flow. This episode includes:

–       One essential thing we need to know in order to release the words we carry inside

–       How to solve almost any writing problem

–       How breathwork and meditation can help us write

In each episode, I will talk for about fifteen to twenty minutes, and then offer you a timed writing exercise at the end to try, for another ten minutes. This particular episode includes a lovely autumnal visualisation for you, to help you release any burdens you are carrying. Grab yourself a cuppa and settle in for a lovely writerly chat. With inspiration from Mary Reynolds Thompson and Kate Tempest.

I hope this podcast will help you write fearlessly, and with joy, and build a writing practice that nourishes you for the rest of your life. I’d love to see what writing it inspires – feel free to share by tagging me @bethkempton #fearlesswriterpodcast

BethXx

PS Please note there is a chunk of silence in this podcast. It is supposed to be there for the weekly writing exercise!

Click here to download the transcript

The theme music for The Fearless Writer Podcast is The River sung by Danni Nicholls, co-written by Danni Nicholls and me, Beth Kempton. Listen on iTunes / Spotify / Youtube and feel free to add it to your Instagram reels! See here for the lyrics and full credits.

***Did you know the audiobook version of The Way of the Fearless Writer includes a full meditation album to help get the words flowing? You can get it here.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

•      The Way of the Fearless Writer by Beth Kempton (Piatkus) / US edition here (St. Martin’s Essentials)

•      Reclaiming the Wild Soul by Mary Reynolds Thompson (Wild Roots Press)

•      The Point by Kate Tempest in Poems for a world gone to sh*t (pub. Quercus and edited by Auriol Bishop) p.67

More at bethkempton.com / dowhatyouloveforlife.com / Instagram @bethkempton