20 Comments

Great interview. I read In Five Years a few months ago. I don't usually go to fiction, but the plot summary was something I could not refuse -- take note aspiring writers. I did enjoy the book. Read it in one sitting. :)

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Yes it’s so good!!! The ending made me bawl

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It was a good ending. That’s why I had to keep reading. I had to know how the author was going to pull it off.

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Yay! A fellow multi-passionate creative, juggling writing fiction, essays, songs, (and former actor, do you make art, too?) Big Authentic Love! 💗

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yes yay!!! so grateful to be connected Christine!

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Yes, please and thank you! (Plus you’ve interviewed some of my faves here on authenticity) yum 😋

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Oh yay!! Yes I saw we have some mutual. Happy listening!

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Great to later see what explore discovers.

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Another great BTS interview. Love hearing I’m not the only one writing in real time. 😉

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Thank you so much! Yes definitely not alone in that :)

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You're welcome. I was thinking you could possibly incorporate the East Coast versus West Coast comparison and or the marine layer or the Santa Ana conditions as a thematic layer that push your plot forward in your novel. It's good to perhaps have your Substack research fit in with your novel research. But it all depends on how it works out for you. The cool thing about your post is that it fundamentally deals with tuning up one's writing engine so it delivers the most power to the writer drive train to reach writing excellence which gets you more and more readers must more easily.

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Love that - lots to explore here

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Thank you so much for having me Jana!!

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You're welcome! And thank you! It was great to get to do it 😊

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Alexa's realization that 'vulnerability and honesty are [her] biggest assets' is a powerful insight. It's refreshing to hear someone embrace the power of raw, authentic expression in a world that often encourages us to present a polished facade. It makes me think about the masks we wear and the freedom that comes from taking them off. Thank you for sharing!

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It’s refreshing, indeed! So important to stay true to yourself. Thank you for sharing, Alex

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Thank you so much!!

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I like how you ponder how best to steer one's creative thinking into writing well. That is an excellent truth about not being able to control the weather or creative inspiration but feeling sure that whatever you need will occur in it's own time if you are patient. The transformation from moving from New York to San Diego is an excellent topic for a post or for a later nonfiction book. People have thought about the contrast between back East and the West coast of California but delving into it could be very interesting for different people in different ways. In terms of thematic fiction description the early morning marine layer fog where there is not sunshine until 11:30 or 2:00 in the afternoon and the mood it brings. As opposed to the hot dry Santa Ana with high winds blowing the opposite of the usual direction so looking forward to subscribing to that post.

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So thoughtful, Larry. Thank you for visiting the Coffee break

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Thank you so much for this thoughtful comment Larry, especially the part about east vs. west coast and that marine fog layer! So interesting to ponder

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