Subject: World Building with Women Warriors+Weekly News/Resources 🌎 ❤️

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🚀 Specializing in supporting science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction writers. 🐉

World Building with Women Warriors + Weekly News/Resources 🌎 ❤️

Podcast + news, resources, events!

Weekly Podcast

This week's How To Write The Future podcast episode (inspired by a client question):

🎧 Ep. 154: World Building with Women Warriors, Interview with Pamela D. Toler
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2025/05/26/world-building-with-women-warriors-interview-with-pamela-d-toler/

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Coming events

Write a Cozy Novella workshop: Create a complete holiday cozy mystery novella this summer for the holiday season! Sign up now to join the class that starts Sunday, June 1st.
For all writers of character-driven stories: The HEA Sessions: Summer 2025 - 3 fab hands-on live workshops, including mine on creating immersive settings

Resources

Writer's Fun Zone blog: Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to get the weekly round-up of posts. Or just jump to the blog here!
Learn from the self-publishing pros: Report: 11 Self-Published Writers on Writing; Why they self-publish; How they write; marketing tips; Their best advice for writers; my tips are included!
Do you teach writers or want to teach writers? Then check out this upcoming event I'll be speaking at in a few weeks. Sign up here for free or get advance tickets here!

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This email may be long, so you may need to click to open the full email or read online.

Friday, May 30, 2025

Hi Friend,

My message that you may not want to hear; creativity is messy.

The creative process is messy.

The creative process looks different for each person.

Creativity is a journey of discovery. That's why it feels hard. No one gets to walk that path but you.

The good news!

There are lots and lots of people walking the solitary path alongside you that you get to connect with, commiserate with, and learn from.

And yep, here's an invitation for you!

If you want to learn how to take your creative writing skills into a business, then guess what, we're offering an upcoming apprenticeship program for creative writing professionals that opens in the fall.

Sign up to be notified when we open registration later this summer -- limited seat available as we want you to have lots of support:

https://bethbarany.com/apprenticeship/

I'm hosting this 12-week program alongside my apprentice, Gala Russ, author of 8 romance/women's fiction novels to-date, and teacher and coach.

And I'm an award-winning novelist of science fiction and fantasy, in business for nearly 19 years, as a creativity coach, teacher, and editor.

❤️

On to the newsy parts of this week's Creativity Sparks newsletter....

On to the weekly podcast...

World Building with Women Warriors, Interview with Pamela D. Toler

“There’s been a long tradition of saying that women who ruled were exceptions, that women who fought were exceptions. That, you know, it’s Joan of Arc, it’s not GI Joan. And that trap gets us over and over again, not just with women warriors.” — Pamela D. Toler

In this episode of How To Write the Future podcast, I interview author, speaker, and historian Pamela D. Toler.

Together, we dive into the importance of women in history and discuss the significant challenges in documenting Women’s History and how this history can be used in your stories.

We also discuss Pamela’s book, Women Warriors: An Unexpected History.

Enjoy!

To listen or read this episode's transcript, go here (Writer's Fun Zone):

Or listen on YouTube

Apple Podcast

Spotify

The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace.

Enjoy!

🤩 Sneak peek

In the next episode, Ep. 155, I answer a reader's question about turning one novel into a trilogy, plus share tips to help writers overcome impostor syndrome and world building.

⭐️ 🎧🎙️ All previous episodes of How To Write The Future podcast listed here.

❤️ Like/Subscribe/Share/Review

Wherever you listen to your podcast, if you're so moved, please Like, Subscribe, or Share the How To Write The Future podcast.

🎬 YouTube!

And now How To Write The Future podcast is on YouTube here!

Please subscribe. We now have 391 subscribers. Wow! Yippee!

Thank you! Help us get to 400!! Only 9 more! We're almost there! Share with your friends and ask them to subscribe.

Thanks! And since we have an international listenership: Merci , Muchas Gracias, Obrigada, Prego, Arigatō

❤️

Cozy Mystery Novella Workshop with Natasha C. Sass

Starts Sunday, June 1st!

Join Natasha C Sass’ Cozy Mystery Novella Workshop this June and draft your holiday cozy in just 4 weeks!

You'll get:

Weekly recorded video sessions where you tackle plotting, character development, and those special festive touches that make Christmas cozies irresistible
A proven framework specifically designed for novellas (Natasha has a Scrivener Template available so you can start right away)
Step-by-step guidance to ensure you won’t get "stuck" with our weekly LIVE office hours
A supportive community of fellow mystery writers who have been in your shoes
Bonus: Free access to the Halloween Novella Workshop

I am an affiliate for this workshop.

Ready to start?

Happy writing!

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The HEA Sessions: Join us for the Summer 2025 Live Workshop Series

with Sue Brown-Moore, Danika Bloom, and Beth Barany

** For experienced authors of character-driven fiction stories

Starting June 7th!

I am so excited to be participating in this trio of hands-on writing workshops.

❤️ Sue is running this series and really cares about creating hands-on intimate workshops. So there will be workbooks and an opportunity for an additional Q&A and lots of support with the teachers.

🧡 Danika's down-to-earth teaching style and wealth of experience is so wonderful and enriching.

💚 I love creating hands-on group learning experiences for writers and combine that enthusiasm with my track record as an award-winning author of 12 well-reviewed science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal romance novels.

🐱 Sue has limited the upgraded cohort section to small group (max 20 writers) for three weeks of dedicated story (& personal!) development.

⭐️ She's running some specials right now!

☕️ You can get all three live workshops plus the replays plus the workshops plus a three-week follow up intensive cohort all for $697.

😄 Or if you just want the workshops without the three week class that follows each workshop, that's $297, but act now if you wanna jump on this amazing learning series.

Here's that link:

https://bethbarany.com/hea2025tt

Yes, I am both a teacher in this series and an affiliate.

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Upcoming Student Event! Writing Sprint!

📚 🖊️ 💝 Fellowship of the Pen Writing Sprints

2nd and 4th Sundays

Make time/take time for your writing and use group accountability to focus and get 'er done.

Sunday, June 8, 10am PT/1pm ET

Gather on Zoom to check in and write for two (2) 20-minute sprints.

-- I email you the Zoom link day-of and I post it in Fellowship of the Pen Facebook group, too.

Click to join Fellowship of the Pen group, if you haven't already.

Be sure to answer the 3 questions! Thanks!

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Happy Writing!

Best,

Beth

PS. Loving this music "Star Trek: into The Darkness."

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For when you're ready to work together, here's some more ways we can do that:

😁 Essential Character Traits Workbook

📚 Start (or Finish!) Your Novel 1-1 Mentorship Program

❤️ 12-month small group mastermind program for Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers!

🌟 If you find my resources helpful, please forward them to a friend who may need them too. Thanks!

Beth Barany
Creativity Coach for Writers

Teacher, Speaker, Workshop Facilitator

Creativity is the answer.

bethbarany.com

I not only teach and coach novelists, I am one too!

Author of *Magical Tales of Romance, Mystery, and Adventure*
author.bethbarany.com

Award-winning science fiction & fantasy novelist.

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Writer's Fun zone blog by and for creative writers, published by Beth Barany

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Beth Barany is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy novelist, and certified creativity coach for writers.

She specializes in helping writers experience clarity, so they can write, revise, and proudly publish their novels to the delight of their readers.

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The Solar System. → Carina–Sagittarius Arm in the Milky Way galaxy. Milky Way subgroup → Local Group → Local Sheet → Virgo Supercluster → Laniakea Supercluster → Local Hole → Observable universe → Universe.

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