The ”ideal reader” is that one person in the world, whether real or imagined, who really GETS what we are trying to do and who LOVES our take on fiction. In this Refill episode, Art demonstrates how Q&A can help you define what your "ideal reader" looks like. Knowing this can help you stay focused on the kind of fiction you want to produce as well as refine the list of journals you want to submit to for publication.

Tim and Art are here to help, so email the show at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to get your conversation started.

Have you ever been less than satisfied with your work in progress? Your latest drafts have you rethinking fundamental decisions you've made as a writer? Then join us as Tim cousels Art through his crisis of conscience about the quality of his work in progress. What should Art do to get back to the "good stuff"?

In this episode, we reference a published story from Tim Goodwin called "Must Love Eating" which can be read here.

Tim and Art are here to help, so email the show at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to get your conversation started.

It can be worthwhile to journal about your flaws, whether real or imagined. This is one of the many obstacles we face on our journey to create art. Art demonstrates how to be introspective and critique your own work as a way to refocus and improve rather than giving in to negative thinking.

Tim and Art are here to help, so email the show at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to get your conversation started.

Tim and Art discuss their submission goals and lay out how to mentally bounce back from rejections and stay focused on your fiction.

Tim and Art are here to help, so email the show at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to get your conversation started.

Tim and Art discuss how to get back into the right frame of mind to revise your fiction. When we decide to go back, why does that first draft read so much worse than we remember? How can you begin again once you've lost the initial spark of creativity? What's the right way to resume work without messing up what you've already done?

Tim and Art are here to help, so email the show at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to get your conversation started.

Art discusses the process of "Active Reading" as a way to pan for gold in published stories. Reading authors with intentionality and purpose can help unlock elements of style or voice that you want to adopt. Art presents a method for getting the most writing benefit out of your reading experience.

Tim and Art are here to help, so email the show at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to get your conversation started.

Tim provides feedback on Art's story "Donut Fridays" from last week's Refill episode. This unscripted feedback session on Art's story is intended to demonstrate best practices of giving and receiving feedback with a trusted beta reader.

Tim asks open-ended questions about choices Art made in the story, resulting in a "to do" list of things for Art to think about before the next revision. The goal is to demonstrate how productive a session like this can be when ego, defensiveness, and competition are removed from the feedback process.

Tim and Art are here to help, so email the show at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to get your conversation started.

Art reads his 825-word short story "Donut Fridays" into the record in preparation for Tim's feedback during next week's episode.

Art is open to your feedback, so if you want to share your thoughts on this draft of the story, email the show at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to help Art make this story the best it can be.