Inspired Writer Collective Podcast

Episode 88: [Amanda Nelson & Lisa-Marie Potter] How Two Authors Write One Love Story

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In this episode, Stephanie Oswald chats with Amanda Nelson & Lisa-Marie Potter about their co-writing, pantser style approach to writing romance. 

You won’t want to miss listening to how they collaborate to bring their stories and characters to life.They’re fun.You’ll definitely find yourself connecting with what they have to share.There’s laughter. An example of another way to approach the writing process.Figuring out what works for you.Finding your way and what will bring your story to life.It’s so easy to get caught up in all of the noise online about how to write.When you listen to this episode, you’ll hear how much fun Amanda and Lisa-Marie are having with their process. They’re pantsers, meaning they essentially “fly by the seat of their pants”, when they write and you’ll learn how that works for them.You’ll find yourself caught up in a conversation that’s sure to inspire.

They offer suggestions for resources, such as the Manuscript Academy  

You’ll hear about how they navigated getting traditionally published. They’ve found a rhythm to their partnership that gives them the momentum to keep going and show up for the journey.You know showing up to the blank page can be the hardest part of the process. This interview highlights the value of finding your community as a writer. Encouraging you to find the person or people who help you build your dream.

Getting to know Amanda Nelson & Lisa-Marie Potter:

Amanda and Lisa-Marie are an award-winning, co-writing team of best friends who share imaginary worlds, including Men In Books Aren't Better (September 29, 2024), Just What the Doctor Hired (July 9, 2025), and a short story, Shivers, published in Moments Between (February 28, 2022). Lisa-Marie Potter (BIPOC) is a mom of four who grew up in Nottingham, England, and now resides in Alaska with her husband and golden retriever. Amanda Nelson grew up in Maryland and moved to Arizona, where she attended ASU and currently lives with her husband and four kids. Both women are hopeless romantics, but Lisa-Marie also enjoys suspense novels, while Amanda's second go-to genre is romancy. The duo review books on their socials, hike the Olym

 Welcome to the Inspired Writer Collective podcast. If you've ever felt the pull to write your truth, to shape the chaos of real life into something meaningful and to share your journey with the world, you're in the right place. We're your hosts, Elizabeth and Stephanie, writers, coaches, and entrepreneurs who believe in you and know how important it is to find a writing community to guide you on your path to self-publishing.

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Stephanie:

Welcome back, listener to the Inspired Writer Collective. I'm your co-host, Stephanie, and I'm here today with Amanda and Lisa Marie, and they have so much to offer us about their experience as co-writers and Pantsers and all of their writing journey experience. So I'm so excited that they're here with us today. So I'm gonna turn it over to them to introduce themselves.

Amanda Nelson:

Okay. Uh, my name's Amanda Nelson. Um, I am half of the co-writing team of Nelson Potter. let's see, we started this journey, what, like eight years ago? I know. Long time ago. Yeah, the writing journey like eight years ago. Um, I live in Arizona and I have a husband and four kids to write around. Try and squeeze that in. and we have, let's say two, two books. One is already out, it came out November 29th of last year, and uh, the second comes out July 9th of this year.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

And I'm Lisa Marie Potter. Um, I was originally born in Nottingham, England, and, uh, moved over to, uh. The states when I was in my thirties years, I met Amanda actually about 20 years ago when, um, oh, I've just dated myself a bit there. But I met Amanda about 20 years ago when I was living in Arizona, and we've been best friends ever since. And, uh, the past four years I've been living in Alaska and, uh, I have a husband and I have three amazing children and four beautiful grandkids.

Stephanie:

Wonderful. Well, welcome. Um, so I know in thinking of all the things that you wanna talk about, uh, let's start with how you got into writing to begin with.

Amanda Nelson:

Okay. so I started on my birthday, um, about

Lisa-Marie Potter:

We started just ate a little bit before that. There's a little backstory before that.

Amanda Nelson:

Okay, sorry. Back up. So it started with We are huge Twilight Book fans, not movie book fans. And I had read the first Twilight novel and I was convinced that at least Marie needed to read it. And I kept bugging her and kept bugging her, you need to read it, you need to read it. She, of course was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll get to it. I'll get to it. Um,

Lisa-Marie Potter:

It never did. Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

done with that. So I like took it over to her house. I took my copy over and I handed it to her. I'm like, you have got to read this. And finally she did. And um, she loved it so much. She needed to buy me a new one'cause she had kind of tore through it. And then New Moon came out and she went and got it right after she finished Twilight. I was like, just be patient, get through it. It'll be good in the end.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

went through it and it was right before Eclipse was gonna come out and a SU um, was holding an Eclipse prom for Stephanie Meyer and for the debut. And I didn't have any tickets, but I asked Lisa Marina Gate, crash it with me. And so she agreed.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Of of course.

Amanda Nelson:

So we went and we sat there for two hours and finally the ticket lady took pity on us, let us go in, and we absolutely loved it. Had a great time. But then by the time we finished Eclipse, we had this whole theory on how breaking Dawn was gonna be. when the book came out, it was nothing like we had envisioned. And so Lisa Marie had the idea like, well, we've. We've come up with our own, you know, ending to this. Why can't we come up with our own book, you know,

Stephanie:

Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

So she gave me, on my birthday, like eight years ago, she gave me a journal and said, okay, you write one page and I'll write one page and we'll go from there. And we actually completed a full manuscript that way. And after we did, we were kind of like, we just wrote a book.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

But then, uh, do you wanna take it from there? At least for me?

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Okay, well the book, we, um, ended up shelving that one temporarily just'cause we still had a lot to learn and we didn't know that yet. We thought it was a masterpiece, but it wasn't. And so we then started our journey going to conferences and, um, retreats and, um, learning online as well as, um, going to classes and, and joining different groups that we could, um. Kind of learn from and have them pull apart the work that we were doing, which they graciously did and broke our hearts many times. But, uh, you have to go through that process and it's made us, it's made us better writers. So we do want to revisit that manuscript, but we have written, you know, two more and working on a third at the moment.

Amanda Nelson:

And I have to give Lisa Marie credit where credit is due. She's the one who said, I think we should work on a romance. In the meantime, I think that'll be our good debut. And so credit is due, men and books aren't better. Was Lisa Marie's idea? So we, we wrote that one and it, it, it is our debut.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yes,

Stephanie:

Oh, wonderful. Well, what a, what a fun way. To get started into writing and just sounds like so much fun to go to a a Stephanie Meyer prom themed event.

Amanda Nelson:

It was great,

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yes, we were the oldest ones there, but we won't talk about that.

Stephanie:

Oh.

Amanda Nelson:

was a.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yes,

Stephanie:

Well, that's a, that's okay as long as, as long as you have fun. And it was an inspiring moment from there. Um, so how did you find that process of writing one page each and, you know, sending the notebook back and forth?

Amanda Nelson:

Um, yeah, at least. How did

Lisa-Marie Potter:

yes.

Amanda Nelson:

that out?

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Okay. Well, I, I dunno what I expected when I gave her the book. I thought, you know, we'll give it a go. But like most things you kind of wonder if it'll kind of peter out or something over a period of time. But we kept going and I started to, I fell in love with writing. I didn't know that I would love it like I did. And I was excited every time I got the book back to read the part that Amanda had written. And it's kind of become as. Signature style now because as we've progressed and and written other books, we tend to do'em in dual point of view where I'll take the female character and Amanda will take the male character and we, we just, every time, I mean like we'll write separately and Amanda will send me her chapter and that's the. First that I get to see of what's going on in her stage of the book. And it is really exciting because I feel like I'm having an adventure at the same time as I'm then continuing the story. And so that's a lot of fun. That's just, we found that that's the best way for us to work.

Amanda Nelson:

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's, it's definitely a, it makes the whole process, I think, more fun.'cause sometimes if I don't have an idea or something when she sends me a chapter, it can spark a whole bunch of new ideas right there. So it's, it's almost like a semi brainstorming as you're going

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Mm-hmm.

Amanda Nelson:

of method.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Stephanie:

That that's amazing to have that. Connection and be co-writers with each other.'cause it's so unique. I think, you know, there aren't very many authors out there who are, who are doing that. And so to have that, to have each other in the process just has to be so helpful.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yes,

Amanda Nelson:

Yes.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

it really is. Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

it's like having a beta reader, like in built in kind of thing. And we, everybody asks, you know, like, how do you do it? How do you get along? And I have to tell the story of when before the Twilight movies came out. of people were putting their like cast online. And so Lisa, me and I decided, okay, you go find your cast and I'll go find mine and then we'll compare. And ironically, we had the same Edward and it was, without even talking about it, we had the same Edward that we had pictured. And it was like, oh my gosh. And we had several other characters that were also the same. And so it was like. We see things very close to the same. So I think that's where we got the, this can work because we both see characters in situations very closely together. Like it's not wildly different. Like I

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

people are always worried about that, that they can't match up their visions, but Lisa and I are usually like

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Same page

Amanda Nelson:

on the same page for sure.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

except

Stephanie:

To find kind partnership.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

mm-hmm. I was just gonna add, except for when we are picturing locations, I tend to picture everything's on the left. Amanda pictures it on the right and we just coin for something like that. But as far as characters we're, yeah, we're very much on the same page.

Stephanie:

So how did you decide who does which point of view for your characters?

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Well that one, it ended up being pretty easy, to be honest.'cause apparently Amanda's got a lot more game than I do. And so, so she's very good at wooing and, you know, and, uh, and apparently I'm good at being seduced. I don't know, but I tend to end up being the woman I, I relate better and. Amanda just does a really great job of, of being the guy. So it's, it's, it's odd. It takes a little while to kind of get used to when you writing that you read something from your best friend and you're like, Ooh. You know? So, uh, that's a little strange. But, you know, you, you, you have to remind yourself she's talking through a character and, uh, and if that character affects you that way, hopefully it affects your readers that way too.

Amanda Nelson:

For sure. It's kind of weird to know. All my best friends' tells, but you know, it's fine.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Stephanie:

I guess that may

Amanda Nelson:

match her with someone with,

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Stephanie:

be a good matchmaker. That can be another, a little side gig. Um, but of course not necessary in,

Amanda Nelson:

yeah.

Stephanie:

current situation, of course. Um, with the co-writing. And when you're thinking of your characters, do you pick, do you, like you said you went online to pick your cast for the uh,

Lisa-Marie Potter:

The Twilight.

Stephanie:

for the twi Yeah, for the Twilight. Do you do that with your characters as well?

Amanda Nelson:

A hundred percent.

Stephanie:

I.

Amanda Nelson:

We, we both end up picking a guy that we both think is attractive then that's the one we definitely have to agree on.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yes, yes. We've got to love him.

Amanda Nelson:

Yeah.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

And then we'll go for the female main character, and then we individually pick the family members and, and, and we go away. We give them a whole backstory that may never end up in the book, but so that we know the personality of that person that we, we are writing our point of view, but also sharing some of their thoughts and feelings in it that we, uh, are, are that we're cohesive.

Stephanie:

And do you, do you have a list of questions that kind of prompt all the information you have of the backstory? Of your characters, or do you just kind of free write or keep a journal in their point of view? How do you create that backstory?'cause I, I, I mean, of course it doesn't end up in the novel and that's typical, but how do you build that?

Amanda Nelson:

Um, yeah, at least Marie has

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I have journals. We also have a sheet that we have online that we share within teams that we have got heights and ages, where they were born, what they like, what they don't like, you know, uh, physical descriptions and what kind of relationship they have with the main characters and, and so forth. What jobs everybody has. You know, if they've got kids and and stuff. And so we, you know, we do have all of these things that we've got written down and, uh, you know, and accessible that we are both able to, to use that. So.

Amanda Nelson:

Yeah, and once you have that, you can kind of glean, okay, well they, you know, even, even down to their clothes, like, we're writing our third book in our series and our mailman character Finn is a little eclectic. Like, so he, he'll wear like. stuff and everything, but pulls it off with confidence kind of thing. And so there'll be times where like, oh yeah, Finn would definitely do that. Like you, we have this whole persona like, oh, he would say this, or this is where he would go, and that kind of thing. And so once, once you kind of have all that down, you can kind of project what they're gonna be like in the book.

Stephanie:

Do you ever imagine when you're out that you could potentially like run into somebody who's like your character or does that ever happen where you meet someone or you see someone and you go, oh my gosh, that's just like my character.

Amanda Nelson:

Oh yeah, we've totally done that. Where we'll see someone and then we'll take a sneaky picture and text each other. Look, it's this person.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Oh, well there was one time we were together in Target, and we saw one guy down an aisle. Um, we. Oh my goodness. We were kinda like a pair of talk. It's like following him like, okay, so he does this and you know, and sort of thing because he was very, very much, uh, like our character and so yeah, sometimes we're weird and

Stephanie:

That's okay.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

into a bit of an extreme.

Amanda Nelson:

I know and the worst was he was younger, so we'd looked like a couple of cougars trying to find this

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

a poem and watches, mannerisms and

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

so, but you know, when you feel like your character's alive and walking in front of you, you get

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah. Yes.

Stephanie:

Well, it's all part of the research.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah,

Amanda Nelson:

totally.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

That's what we tell people. It's research.

Stephanie:

So I know as we've been talking about your character development, I know in your writing style, you've, you call yourself pantsers. So how does that look as your writing? Because I know a lot of people feel that they really need to have everything planned out and plotted and know where everything is going. What is the being a pants look like in your process?

Amanda Nelson:

It looks like we change our outline like every day.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah. Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

will, yeah. We literally discuss something like, okay, I see it going this way, and then one of us will write a chapter and then we're like, okay, actually it's, it's heading this way now. And so every day it's a new how many times at least we have, we gone over this

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Oh so many times. But it is, it's very, I mean, our first draft takes longer than, uh, people that plot. I'm sure it does. Uh, because we're. course all the time, but, um, it, it just, it works for us to kinda, as you start writing, let the characters start to unfold some of that story too.'cause you know, you might have plot, you might plot that you want to go down this way, but then when you get to a certain point, your character. It kind of comes alive and you start to feel like, eh, but would they do that? You know, would they, with everything I've said, and, you know, because I do find it frustrating even reading, if I'm reading a book and I've kind of in my head got an established view of what the character is like, and then they do something so character, for no reason, like what, you know. So it's, um, it's good to follow the characters lead really, once you've established them. But yeah, it is, it, it probably looks like nonsense to anyone else watching us when we start off. It probably does, but, but it makes sense to us and we work well with that, and the going back and forth really helps.

Amanda Nelson:

Yeah, we just redone, we sent our first two chapters of this last one.'cause we redid it after 40,000 words. We went back and we're like, Nope, we don't like the way this is going.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yep.

Amanda Nelson:

restarted again. And then we sent our first chapters to some writer friends and they came back with some, some suggestions and we worked on that. And now it's, it's totally different. Like if we sent it to them again, they'd be like, is this the same story? Like.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah,

Amanda Nelson:

It's,

Lisa-Marie Potter:

yeah,

Amanda Nelson:

different now, and that, that was just so, you know, things that they said sparked some stuff for each of us and we changed our, our direction again. So it takes a little while, but

Lisa-Marie Potter:

yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

ends up very well in the end.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yes, it does.

Stephanie:

Well that's good. Well, it's, it's very relatable to me.'cause with my own work in progress that I'm working on, I definitely have sort of a little bit of the plants or I'm a little bit plotting, but also definitely pants are, there's a lot that's changed over time, so I can definitely relate to that feeling of starting over again.

Amanda Nelson:

Yeah.

Stephanie:

seems like, and it seems like because it works for you that you actually enjoy that process, that it doesn't become frustrating.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Now and again, it does now and again. But the thing is that I think I would. I know I would struggle more with a plot because then I've gotta stick to something and and try and hit all those beats, and I don't think I'd be very good at that. I get frustrated at redoing. I do, you know, but. I, I'm one of those that will grumble about redoing. Amanda puts it with a lot, just so you know. But then when, when it is done, I'm like, that was brilliant. Thank goodness we went that way. And you think I'd learn with each book that that's how it goes. But I, I still grumble every time. And, you know, but I'm glad for the rewrite because it ends up being better than it would've had. We have stuck with the original, uh.

Stephanie:

Well, and I loved what you had to say about, uh, following the character's lead.'cause I know that that's something that I've discovered moving into fiction from nonfiction is how much the characters do really all of a sudden, like, speak through you.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

they come alive. That's actually how we got the character for our third book. He was, um, our main character in the first book. It was his, her cousin, and we didn't expect him to become this. Big character, but he just jumped off the page and he had so much personality that we were like, okay, he's the third book for sure. It's him.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

And so that's how we ended up with that one. And so yeah, they come alive and you'd grow to love them.

Stephanie:

That is, that is true. And did you know, starting out that you were gonna have, you know, your characters connected across a series of books or when you started, did you just have the one standalone?

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah, we just had the one.

Amanda Nelson:

Yeah, but our agent actually had said, she suggested, she goes, have you thought about making it a series? And so, um, our agent, Nicole Payne, she's a cops literary, she had suggested that. And so we went back. It was, it was like a day, it was one day that we went back and like changed the ending to let it be open. For a second book, and it really worked for us. And so then we had some ideas and we started on the second book while Nicole shopped the first book, you know, kind of thing. But yeah, originally it was a standalone and we weren't planning on doing another one, but thanks to her, she opened it up for a

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

and it's going

Lisa-Marie Potter:

yeah. She's awesome.

Stephanie:

And after you had finished the first manuscript, how did you go about finding your agent and publisher?

Amanda Nelson:

That was a long process. Um, so we started with, um, the manuscript academy there. They have classes on querying and stuff like that, and we had done a class on querying and there was a core group in there that kind of. Um, did an offshoot and kind of became a little chat group on our own. And those people were instrumental in getting us to where we were. They were our beta readers. They gave us feedback, like everything, and so they helped hone our query letter. Everybody shared in the journey and like as certain people started getting agents, you know, we were all cheering on each other and it took two years to get our agent and. We'd actually shopped our first manuscript that was shelved first, and then we pivoted and then got our agent with the, in books that we had, that we, it was our debut, but it was a long process. And then it was about a, about, let me say June. It was what, like eight months that chopped it and then we got the book deal.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yes. And so, but we did, just prior to getting our agent, we actually got a deal from, uh, another, um, kind of, uh, small press.

Amanda Nelson:

publisher. Yeah.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah. And, uh, you know, they accepted our book and we had to make a decision.'cause then we had an agent that wanted to have an interview with us and see if she wanted to accept us as a client. And, uh, anyways, you know, we, we ended up going with the agent, which is much the better way to have gone for us. I know it's, everyone's journey is different, but for us, that was hands down the better way because she's been able to pull out of us things that we didn't know were there. She's made suggestions that didn't. Come into our heads and, uh, she's always had her best interest at heart and it's really nice to have someone else go over your contracts and all the different things and they know what they're talking about. be signing in pretty much anything, so I'm really grateful for her. So

Amanda Nelson:

she's got her back so times we've had any problems or anything. She's been right there with us

Lisa-Marie Potter:

I

Amanda Nelson:

us.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

100%. And, know, and, and get me wrong, it, it was a hard slog getting, I mean, we sent out. So many, so many queries for agents. Yes. And so anyone that's listening to this, don't let it discourage you. I mean, you've gotta get thick skin in this business to be honest, because you don't just get rejections, you get criticisms and you know, your beta readers are gonna come back. And if they're good beta readers, they're gonna pull it apart. Uh,'cause that's what they need to do. And it's only through, um, the tiers. the frustration that I feel that we've really grown and, and when we got our agent, I felt that we were more informed and we picked the perfect one for us.'cause we hear so many different nightmare stories with different writers and you know, we've not had that experience, but

Amanda Nelson:

No.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

it's probably took us longer to get there. So

Amanda Nelson:

Very lucky.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

things, yeah. So we.

Stephanie:

It, it sounds like it was very much worth the wait to, to find the agent because I, I know I've heard horror stories as well, and not everybody, you know, meets the right agent right away, and so it sounds like it was worth, you know, going through all of that, even if it was, you know, pain and tears and the whole process that.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yes.

Amanda Nelson:

definitely worth it.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Stephanie:

Um, and what has been most helpful and successful in your writing writing journey? I know we've covered sort of little bits of it, but sort of summarizing it together. What have you found to be most helpful in your writing journey?

Amanda Nelson:

I would say our writing community.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yes.

Amanda Nelson:

we didn't have that little group of writers that we've literally talked through our queries and our, like first drafts, everything, if we hadn't had them and their feedback and their support, I don't know if we'd be where we are.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

No.

Amanda Nelson:

They

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Oh, we,

Amanda Nelson:

instrumental. Instrumental and we're still, we still have this little group and we still talk to them and they still, you know, they're the ones who read our first and second chapters of this last book and gave us some feedback and and. There's a whole, they're the whole spectrum. There are ones without agents and there's ones with big deals, you know, kind of thing in this group. So we have the whole range of everybody in there, and they've been amazing.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah, find, find your, your tribe. Definitely. It's really important because they'll cheer you on, they'll support you. They'll also pull your manuscript apart till you've got it just right and so that you can feel like you've got a good product to, to hand out to the world. So, and they've, they've helped us so much and developed us that we've been able to do beta reading for them and, and kind of return the favors too. So they, they've been fantastic. So.

Stephanie:

That's amazing. I, I love that you talk about community.'cause as you know on this podcast, that's a big thing that Elizabeth and I talk about all the time is the huge value in having a community around you to support you. So that in those moments when you're feeling like, I don't know if I can do this,

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Stephanie:

you have someone telling you that yes, in fact you can do it.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

It is a, it's hard, especially people who don't write, don't understand the process, don't know how long it takes for everything. You know, you say you're writing a book and someone's like, okay, why isn't it out today? You know? And they're like, well, there's a process. We have to write it. And then we have to reread it, and then we have to beta read it and then we have to edit it. And you know, there's this huge long process. It takes a while.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Mm-hmm.

Amanda Nelson:

everybody's as fast as, I'm just gonna say Brandon Sanderson.'cause he seems to crank out books like nobody's business, but not everybody's that fast. And so everybody's journey's different, but if they're not in the writing community, they don't necessarily understand. So having that support of people who know how the process goes is invaluable.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Well, not only that, one thing that I've found since the first book came out, um, I've had a few, uh, close friends say, you know, talk about my book as if you did that. You know, they're like, oh, wow, you thought I was gonna write a really bad book? Thanks for buying it, considering you didn't think I was capable, but, and they don't mean it in a horrible way, and I know that, I don't take it horrible, but, you know, it, it, it is been a surprise to some people because it's easy when you're writing and you've not got that six figure deal

Stephanie:

Mm-hmm.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

don't take you quite as serious as well. And, you know, they think, oh, you're just throwing something out there. And it's, it's not the case. Some very good riders out there without great big deals.

Stephanie:

Yes, that's that's definitely true.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Stephanie:

Um, so to kind of round out the conversation here, and it kind of goes along the thread we were just talking about, but specifically for someone who's at the very beginning of their journey, what would one piece of advice be that you would give them if they're listening and just, you know, they're not sure if they should start or they've started and they're stuck, what would one piece of advice be that you would give.

Amanda Nelson:

I, I think for us it was the Manuscript Academy is a really good website. It's got great resources. It's got articles, it's got blogs, it's got classes you can take. It's, it's pretty affordable too, and. They really helped launch us. We learned a ton in the classes that we took from them, and they can even help you find communities and barriers. Like I, I highly recommend going on there and finding out, and hopefully you will find, even if you take a class, you'll find a community.'cause that's how we found ours.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah,

Amanda Nelson:

right from there, I think it, it'll help. You'll get that push, you'll get that support, you'll get all that feedback that you need.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

and I, I would say take criticism like it's a badge of honor. Sorry, my dog just found his ball and he

Stephanie:

That's, that's okay.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

it, but, um, but yeah, wear it is a badge of honor because. know, it's easy to get discouraged by, by any kind of, you know, criticism or, uh, critiques and things like that. But they will make you so much better in the long run. So own them and be grateful that you've got people that will, you know, do that for you because, you know, there's a lot of people that all, you know, it was lovely. I loved it. You know, and you, you don't need your mom. You don't need your mom reading your first manuscript. You need somebody that's gonna just, you know, pick it up to pieces and, but yeah, wear that like a badge of honor because as I look back now, I'm so glad I developed a thick skin.

Amanda Nelson:

Yeah, and of course, don't take every piece of advice you're given. Take it with a grain of salt.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yeah.

Amanda Nelson:

suggestion should be incorporated.

Lisa-Marie Potter:

Yes. Because you know your character. Yeah. It's your baby and you know best.

Stephanie:

Well, wonderful. Well, it's been so wonderful having both of you on the podcast, and we'll put links to resources you mentioned in the comments below. So again, listener, happy writing.

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Elizabeth Wilson

Host
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Stephanie Oswald, Ph.D.

Host