Interview

Episode 143 – Unstoppable Goals with HB Lyne

Mark Leslie

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In this episode Mark interviews urban fantasy author and podcaster HB Lyne about her fiction, her forthcoming title GOAL SETTING FOR WRITERS, and more.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update and a word from this episode’s sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Findaway Voices.

You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

In the interview Holly and Mark talk about:

  • When and how Holly got into writing in the first place – writing since she could hold a pen
  • Making up stories that her young friend would illustrate
  • Writing screenplays and theatre when when was a teenager, and going off to University with a goal to write and direct movies
  • Writing her first book and how she wanted to share it straight away, and didn’t want to wait and go through all the hoops, bells, and whistles of traditional publishing
  • Holly’s first series, with four books, and why had to plan on rebranding, despite having had paid for beautiful covers for the first set, as well as brilliantly conceived titles
  • The rebranding of the series name, the titles, and the covers and what Holly’s plan is (rapid release of the three books, then the new fourth book in the fall of 2020)
  • Holly’s first non-fiction book, Goal Setting for Writers, which is coming on July 31, 2020
  • The mind-set shift required to move from writing fiction to non-fiction
  • How Holly does all of her planning doing the bullet journal system
  • How, when we write by hand, we retain much more than when we are typing
  • The challenge of imposter syndrome
  • The Unstoppable Authors Podcast that Holly co-hosts with Angeline Trevena
  • And more . . .

After the interview Mark shares a reflection on Holly’s rebranding as well as his own recent decision to rebrand a series in the same genre.

He also shares a chance for listeners to win a copy of Holly’s book on goal setting for writers by leaving a comment on this episode by EOD July 31, 2020.

Patrons are also automatically entered for their own chance to win another copy of the book.

Links of Interest:

H.B. Lyne lives in Yorkshire, UK, with her husband, two children and cat. When not juggling family commitments, she writes dark urban fantasy novels, purging her imagination of its demons. Inspired by the King of Horror himself, Holly aspires to be at least half as prolific and successful and promises to limit herself to only one tome of The Stand-like proportions in her career. Holly is a proud geek, podcaster and bullet journal enthusiast with a knack for organization and getting stuff done.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Published by Mark Leslie

Writer, editor and bookseller who haunts Southern Ontario. Craft beer enthusiast. Author of thrillers and horror novels such as A CANADIAN WEREWOLF IN NEW YORK, EVASION and I, DEATH. Also writes a series of stand-alone non-fiction titles exploring ghosts and the paranormal which include HAUNTED HAMILTON, SPOOKY SUDBURY, CREEPY CAPITAL, TOMES OF TERROR, HAUNTED HOSPITALS, and MACABRE MONTREAL. Editor of the anthologies CAMPUS CHILLS, TESSERACTS SIXTEEN, FICTION RIVER: EDITOR'S CHOICE and FICTION RIVER: FEEL THE FEAR.

9 thoughts on “Episode 143 – Unstoppable Goals with HB Lyne”

  1. (a part of me wants to comment how awesome it is that you can just get a COVID test. I’m in Texas and a lot of people are still having a hard time getting them. I had friends that are essential workers and were told that since they don’t have a fever that they couldn’t get a test, even thought they had a cough and other symptoms… *sigh* Disappointment doesn’t even begin to express how I feel about how the US government is not handling it. )

    yaa goal setting. I’m a big goal setter too. Love that there’s more books out there on goal setting for people to read.

    one of my goals remaining for 2020 is to finish my newest newsletter book. It’s a gay yakuza Romance books that’s a one-night stand to something more and deals with pachinko parlors.

    Reply

    1. Congratulations, Amy – via random selection, you’re the winner of a free copy of Holly’s book on Goal Setting for Writers – email me details on preferred format and if a hard copy of the book, if there’s a preferred bookstore you’d like me to order it from to ship to you.

      Reply

  2. I was thinking the same as Amy regarding just walking in and getting the COVID test though that is more spread out here in California if you are exhibiting symptoms. Glad it was just a scare and not the actual virus.

    I like how HB realized her series was targeted wrong and took a step back to re market it to the right audience. Knowing that the series is good and is just off target is a good perception to stop one from throwing good money after bad in terms of marketing.

    When I started writing more seriously I read Chris Fox’s book 5000 words an hour. The title says it all. Though he suggest with 5 min sprints to start. That is where I start and whenever I lose my way and realize it has been a week since I have written I reset with that goal. I schedule out 5 min sprints to get me going again. Sometimes that is where I stay for a month while chaos is happening, but I build back up as I go.

    Reply
  3. Pingback: Episode 144 – 10 Tips for Winning with Wide Publishing – Stark Reflections

  4. Hi, Mark. I have finally caught up on all your podcasts since you dropped off my iTunes list some time in the Summer of 2019. It was weird to be listening to so many episodes from before the pandemic hit – ahh, such innocent times, where we were all just trundling along blissfully unaware of what was coming.

    Anyway, I do need to get more focussed with my goal setting so this episode was great to listen to. I’m hoping to get the first drafts of two books completed by the end of the year and the only way I will do that is by being considerably more goal orientated.

    Thanks for all your great work as always and I am so pleased to be finally caught up! G

    Reply

    1. Hi Georgia. Welcome back!

      Yeah, that was a strange thing that happened with my podcast. Still not sure WHAT happened, but it was related to a change Apple made to the iTunes categories. Whatever I had done to abide by the new classifications seems to have broken the regular stream. Really frustrating because there was no way for me to communicate to existing subscribers to let those subscribers know – because from all other perspectives, it seems to be the same listing (ie, all the reviews from the old feed are still posted there).

      In any case, glad you found the feed and caught up. Yeah, I can only imagine how some of those things my guests and I were talking about might sound post-Feb 2020.

      I’m also so pleased that listening to Holly talk about goal setting was inspiring to you! 🙂

      Reply

  5. Thanks for this episode, Mark. I found it very helpful. I’m always looking for more tricks on how to set up a goals system that works for me.

    Reply
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