So you want to write that mystery?

Awesome! I love when people own their creative dreams. But it’s not as simple as just sitting down and waiting for the muse to strike with her fairy wand full of creativity.

Instead, we’ve gotta do some things to set ourselves up for success.

I’ve been writing mysteries for the past two decades, and one thing I learned is the importance of understanding exactly what kind of book you’re writing BEFORE you get started.

On today’s episode of the Get Writing Podcast, I’m talking about the major decisions you need to make before you start writing your mystery.

You might have an idea for a mystery. Or you just know you want to write one and that’s enough to get you started. And this episode is going to help you make the big decisions that will get you writing your masterpiece.

This episode will help you:

• Set yourself up for success before you write a word

• Nail down exactly what kind of story you want to write, so you can understand reader expectations

• Get clear on where and when your book should take place

• Understand who your characters are and which one should be telling the story

And so much more.

If you want to get clear about what you’re writing so you can sit at your desk with confidence, you don’t want to miss this episode.

And I’ve got a FREE guide to go along with this episode that walks you through each of the decisions - grab it below.

Resources:

The Five Key Decisions You Need to Get Started Writing Your Mystery - grab it here!

Get on the waitlist for The Mindful Mystery Writer’s Masterclass - opening soon!

I’m on IG @lizmugavero - follow for info on the latest episodes

How do you actually set yourself up for writing success?

I don’t mean the nuts and bolts of learning how to write or practicing your craft. Yes, that’s important—but that’s not everything.

I’m talking about the mental prep work you have to do to get your mindset, your confidence and your motivation high enough to write.

There’s a lot of inner work we need to do to lay the groundwork for success and perseverance, no matter what’s going on externally. And then there are the external systems that keep us on track.

I put up an Instagram post a while back about systems and why writers need them and you told me that it was a topic you wanted to hear more about. So here we go!

I’ve become a systems queen. I don’t know how it happened, because I’ve always struggled with process and project management. But between working full time and writing multiple books a year FOR YEARS, I finally needed to figure out a better way. Which meant I needed a system to get myself writing every day, or most days at least, make enough progress to feel good about myself, and make writing a priority in my life - even if it wasn’t the thing I could spend the most amount of time on.

In this episode, I’m talking about what it means to create systems that will get you writing and keep you writing so you can fulfill the creative promises you made to yourself.

I’m covering:

• Why it’s so important to understand yourself and your own brain

• What I learned over the years about me that impacted the way I wrote—and even the outcomes

• The systems I have in place to ensure ease and productivity in my writing

• How to create systems that work for you so you can get to your best writing life

If you’ve been struggling with getting your writing started and keeping it on track, this episode will change your whole approach.

I can’t wait to see what you create!

Resources:

Episode 2: How to project manage your writing with Christine Carron

Episode 33: The most important tool in a writer’s toolbox

Monday Hour One - Brooke Castillo

I’m on IG @lizmugavero - follow for info on the latest episodes!

Friends, I’ve got a treat for you this week! If you love Halloween and coffee as much as I do, get excited for this episode.

I have fellow cozy author Emmeline Duncan joining me on the show today. Emmeline’s books are so much fun. She’s the author of the Ground Rules Mysteries about barista Sage Caplin and her coffee cart in Portland, Oregon. She’s also the author of a new series about a year- round Halloween-themed town in Oregon. The first book, Chaos At The Lazy Bones Bookshop is out this summer and it’s delightful.

Emmeline is a girl after my own heart—clearly, she’s obsessed with coffee and Halloween—and also animals and books, so as you can imagine we have a lot to talk about.

We cover:

• Our joint obsession with coffee and how it turned into a series for her

• The northwest vibe and how it plays well into mystery writing

• How there really is a Halloween-themed town in Oregon, and how she used that as a

basis for her new series

• Her journey from writing YA to becoming a mystery author

• How to create a cozy setting in a big city

And so much more.

You can find out more about Emmeline at https://emmelineduncan.com/

And make sure you’re following me on IG @lizmugavero for the latest episodes!

Twists, turns, suspense, unlikeable characters you can’t quite stop rooting for—you’re going to find it all in a Peter Swanson novel. And since I’ve told you before that I have a dark little heart that loves these kinds of books, I’m so excited to dive into the creation of them with Peter on the show today.

Peter is a fellow New England author who recently launched his 11th book, A Talent for Murder, and it’s SO GOOD. I knew I had to have him on the show to talk about his work, his process, all of it.

Like every writer I talk to on this show, he’s had his own unique experience getting into the business and getting to where he is today. We have a great conversation about:

• Navigating the publishing industry. We get real about what to expect!

• His writing process—because if there’s one thing you should take away from all these conversations, it’s that every writer’s process is different

• How characters are born and how they evolve—and sometimes demand their own spotlight

• The role setting plays in books

• The notion of “no killing of animals in books” thing that I always manage to get in!

And so much more.

My favorite part of the conversation was when we talked about plotting vs. pantsing and Peter’s approach. I’ve been really thinking about how to make plotting work for me without putting myself through the paces of feeling like a failure if I don’t know everything about a book before I start writing it. Hearing different perspectives is super helpful for me and I hope for you too, if this is something you’re struggling with.

If you’re looking to write suspense that gets noticed, you don’t want to miss this episode!

You can find out more about Peter at https://www.peter-swanson.com/

And make sure you’re following me on IG @lizmugavero for the latest episodes!

You might think I’m being dramatic when I say this, but I’m saying it anyway. Because I believe it with my entire heart. Writing can literally save your life. It saved mine, in so many different ways. And as I continue to evolve, it’s still saving me.

I think we all can have this experience if we’re open to it. If we allow ourselves to put our pen to paper, write in our journals, spill our deepest secrets. Write our books and our memoirs and share them with the world.

That’s how writing can save you - and point you in the direction of the right life at the same time.

My guest today knows this firsthand. Karen Coccioli is an author, a trauma survivor, and quite simply, a force in the world. She is passionate about language, writing, and most importantly, helping individuals embrace and live their authentic selves regardless of their age or past history.

Her memoir, Paradise, is also the foundation for the life lessons she’s learned over the years - including learning to love herself. And how she used writing to FIND herself in the first place - we talk a lot about what that looked like for her.

Karen is a published author and holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature, within the context of women’s meditations regarding gender identity, sexuality, and the gendered body.

We cover a lot of topics including:

• Writing your way into gender identity and sexuality

• The importance of representation for LGBTQ+ individuals in the literary world

• How writing can help in trauma recovery

• How the “worst” experiences can be our largest creative blessings

And so much more.

Karen is so inspiring - I can’t wait for you to listen.

You can find out more about Karen and her work here: https://www.karenannecoccioli.com/

And make sure you’re following me on IG @lizmugavero for the latest episodes!

Do you spend too much time in your head?

That might sound funny to ask as a writer who uses her brain every day, but I promise it’s a serious question. Sometimes when I sit down to start a new book, my mind has already jumped MONTHS ahead to the deadline. Or a year ahead to the marketing and launch. And I haven’t even written a sentence yet.

And even though these are all things we need to be thinking about at some point, they could quite possibly be getting in the way of your creativity and the biggest job of all - getting the actual writing done.

My guest this week, Jacqueline Fisch, is the author of two non-fiction books for writers - Unfussy Life and Intuitive Writing. She is also a communications consultant, and the founder of The Intuitive Writing School. She helps creatives move past writer’s block and perfectionism so they can finish their important work, and she supports business owners in finding their authentic voice so they can make an impact on the world.

She’s an expert on turning off the brain and turning on the heart to bring your most authentic self to the page, whether you’re writing a book, copy for a website, a blog or any other writing endeavor.

We cover all kinds of fun things like:

• How to write using the energy of the moon cycles

• How to write through blocks like fear, procrastination and busyness

• The different energies you need for different parts of the writing process

• How to use empathy and authenticity in all your writing, even “boring” writing

And so much more.

We had such a great conversation and there are so many nuggets in here that I KNOW will help you on your writing journey.

You can find out more about Jacq here: https://jacquelinefisch.com/ and here: https://theintuitivewritingschool.com/

Find her on social:

https://www.instagram.com/theintuitivewritingschool/

https://www.facebook.com/theintuitivewritingschool

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-fisch-writer

And make sure you’re following me on IG @lizmugavero for the latest episodes!

Are you feeling overwhelmed with the thought of finding an agent or a publisher when you finally finish writing your book? Or maybe you’re looking for a new agent, or a new home for your work?

If you’re anything like me, you can get caught up sometimes in thinking one path is the right path, or the only path. Or that things happen in sequence, or that they take a long time, or multiple other stories we have that may or may not be true.

I talk a lot on this show about how there is more than one path to publication. Actually, today there are so many ways to get your work published that it’s incredible - and the industry is in a state of fluctuation right now. And while that may feel overwhelming, I believe it’s a good thing- because sometimes systems need to be shaken up to perform better.

My guest on the show today is someone who found her way to a book deal where she least expected it - through a tweet. (Or an X? What are we actually saying now??)

Anyway - Angela Crook is a thriller author who I met at Left Coast Crime, where she was celebrating her debut, Hurt Mountain. She has SUCH A GREAT STORY. I mean, it’s wild. So for those of you who are stuck in a story about how getting your first publishing deal has to go, this one is for you - because Angela is proof that whatever you’re thinking has to happen can go a completely different way.

This episode is about celebrating a new voice to watch, certainly - and a very cool person - but also it’s about the magic of opening yourself up to possibilities, to jump on opportunities if they present themselves, and to never assume that something wild can’t happen - and that this can’t be the day when your whole life changes.

We talk about:

• How responding to a tweet got her in front of a big name publisher

• How she worked backwards from a book deal to get an agent

• What the debut process is like

• The inspiration for her thriller

And so much more!

I can’t wait for you to meet her.

You can find out more about Angela here: https://angelacrook.wordpress.com/

And make sure you’re following me on IG @lizmugavero for the latest episodes!

Ok, friends. I need to ask you. Are you having trouble holding yourself accountable to your writing? Are you struggling because you don’t have a lot of support or community around you?

I get you. 100 percent. I struggled with this too, until I found my people. Now my mission is to create that space for others to find THEIR people.

And when I talk about this stuff, it’s only natural that I’m attracting likeminded people into my world. I really believe that. When I met Leigh Shulman, it because super obvious that we had the same goals. She is a writer who also teaches people how to create the writing lives they want. Which is SO MY JAM.

We have a great conversation on what this means today, from figuring out your own writing process to what accountability means and how to find accountability partners that work for us, to how to actually enjoy writing. Which means fitting it into your life fitting your life into writing.

But I’m getting ahead of myself - I want you to listen to the conversation.

Here’s a bit about Leigh:

She’s an author and writing mentor and she founded The Inspired Writer Community, a women writers network for writers at any stage in their writing lives. Her bestselling book "The Writer's Roadmap: Paving the Way To Your Ideal Writing Life" helps thousands find their way in the writing world. She also writes for publications including the Washington Post, Wired, and Insider. And she’s living her best life with her family in the mountains of Argentina.

We talked about everything from:

• How the right writing community can help you find your voice

• Why you need to figure out your own writing process instead of expecting someone

else’s to work for you

• What your main writing goal should be - regardless of the project

• The internal work you have to do so you can write through every block

And so much more!

Tune in for some serious inspiration.

You can find out more about Leigh at https://leighshulman.com/

And make sure you’re following me on IG @lizmugavero for the latest episodes!