7th Feb 2025. Welcome to a new era of Writer's Routine!
Thanks for reading this first Substack newsletter... just an update on the WR world
Hello again!
Thanks for opening this random, unsolicited post that’s dropped into your inbox. I had to start somewhere, and as you’ve been kind enough to support the show, I thought perhaps you’d be kind enough to open this random note.
It’s Dan from the Writer’s Routine Podcast, and the plan is every week I’ll send out a short post keeping you updated with everything going on with the podcast - episodes coming out, guests I’m interviewing, books I’m reading etc. This way, it’s all in one place.
This week, we’ve got a chat with the fantastic Laurie L. Dove. Laurie and I have actually collaborated on another podcast I do (Fun Kids Science Weekly, if you have 9ish year olds interested in science, they’ll love it) where she has been good enough to answer questions sent in by listeners. Laurie is a do-er with a big appetite for knowledge and what else there is to do in life. She’s also a listener to this podcast!
Laurie came on the show to chat about her routine, and her new novel, ‘The Mask of the Deer Woman’. She was excellent fun, extremely thorough in the break-down of her day, and gave us fantastic tid-bits of advice that I’ve never heard before - things like ‘sneaking up on your story’ - what a unique way to describe an approach to writing.
It’s been a busy old time recording guests too. I’ve interviewed world-building fantasy authors, crime-thriller writers, TV comedy greats, and am about to interview A.F. Steadman, the brains behind the HUGELY bestselling ‘Skandar’ series, which is probably the biggest children’s series since Harry Potter.
Book recommendation - I’m currently reading the ace ‘Killing Thatcher’ series by Rory Carroll. It details the events leading up to the Brighton Hotel Bombing in 1984, in which the IRA tried to assassinate Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister. Rory does a BRILLIANT job of giving a non-bias account of the Troubles, it’s gripping narrative non-fiction, and it’s only 350 pages - which, for the detail and history it features, is some going.
If you’ve not checked out the podcast’s YouTube channel yet, do have a look. Sometimes I’m able to record interviews with video too, and I spend a good amount of time editing it all into a fully visualised show, which I think comes off quite well.
That’s pretty much all for this first jaunt. Thanks for reading, and fingers crossed I’ll do this again next week!
Hi Dan,
I see that today's podcast features Laurie L. Dove. I hope you will seriously consider interviewing Marcie Rendon (enrolled member of the White Earth Nation). She has written a remarkable series, the Cash Blackbear series, from an insider's point of view. There are now 4 amazing, addictive books to the series. https://www.marcierendon.com/books
"Marcie Rendon is writing an addictive and authentically Native crime series propelled by the irresistible Cash Blackbear - a warm, sad, sharp, funny and intuitive young Ojibwe woman. I want a shelf of Cash Blackbear novels! To my delight I have a feeling that Rendon is only getting started." Louise Erdrich, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Night Watchman
Book 1 in the series, Murder on the Red River, was published in 2021 and was the One Book, One Minnesota Selection for Summer 2021.
Marcie's bio:
Marcie R. Rendon is an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation, author, playwright, poet, and freelance writer. Also a community arts activist, Rendon supports other native artists / writers / creators to pursue their art, and is a speaker for colleges and community groups on Native issues, leadership, writing.
She is an award-winning author of a fresh new murder mystery series, and also has an extensive body of fiction and nonfiction works.
The creative mind behind Raving Native Theater, Rendon has also curated community created performances such as Art Is… Creative Native Resilience, featuring three Anishinaabe performance artists, which premiered on TPT (Twin Cities Public Television), June 2019.
Rendon was recognized as a 50 over 50 Change-maker by MN AARP and POLLEN in 2018. Rendon and Diego Vazquez received a 2017 Loft Spoken Word Immersion Fellowship for their work with women incarcerated in county jails.
Marcie Rendon is a Native American playwright, poet, author, and community arts activist based in Minneapolis. She is an enrolled member of the White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Rendon founded Raving Native Productions theater.
I think it is important to showcase different points of view and experiences that lead writers to write what and how they do. Please consider interviewing Marcie.
Thank you,
Kara Stewart (Sappony)
Hi Dan - very nice to have you in my inbox [coughs]. I've fallen off listening to the podcast regularly since our school drop-off routine changed, so having this prompt to keep an eye on it is useful and welcome. Like hearing from an old friend – which you kind-of are as we spent so many hours wandering the heath together.