by admin | April 9, 2014 · 3:48 am
When you have house guests, you make sure you show them a good time. When you have house guests who happen to be writers, you get them on the mic which is exactly what Pip and Tee did when writer and podcaster Lauren “Scribe” Harris came up for a visit, enjoyed a visit to the Madison Tea Room, and quality time with the Boom. Today on this episode of The Shared Desk, these three multitaskers sit down and talk about what they do to stay organized.
00:00 — Introduction
- Wow, get a guest in the studio and she comes out of the box swinging!
- Welcome for the first time in-studio our special guest (and recent house guest) Lauren “Scribe” Harris!
- Last time we heard from Scribe, she was with us at the Smoky Writers Retreat!
- What have all we been working on since the last show?
10:21 — Getting a Writer’s Life Organized
- So many plates spinning for all three of us…
- Tee attempts to rattle off all the ideas we have working right now…
- Pip reveals her new idea concerning Hollywood and accent gods and demons.
- Tee is torn between where to focus his own attention between writing projects and contracting.
- Most writers are terrible at organizing their projects. True or false?
- Lauren gets scared of über-organized people
- …but she herself is wicked-organized!
- Lauren: “That’s called worldbuilding.”
- Scribe shows what a bad influence she is.
- Pip completely derails the show with a drop-in request…and then it delves into wacky fan fiction…
- Back on the project organization…
- Lauren does the longhand approach.
- Pip can’t read her own handwriting, but she still grabs random scraps of paper to get notes down.
- Tee prefers the digital approach to notes.
- Lauren uses checklists to keep on track with her day.
- Tee and Pip meltdown in front of PJ Schnyder, not in a nasty way, but just in a self-imploding sort of way.
- PJ was thinking [cue Archer drop-in]
- We were terrified by what we were facing on our To Do List.
- Tee remembers the first thing erased off the list.
- Colored “thumbtack” magnets help prioritize ideas and things to do.
- Scribe gets bored with the conversation and starts playing with Tee’s magnets.
- Pip wonders how having two writers in the same house affects our productivity.
- Before you get organized, find where your “hub space” is and hang your white board there.
- Scribe reveals the Covey Quadrant…and Tee gets an ice cream headache.
- And Tee uses that Archer drop-in again for the social media addicted ladies in studio.
- Downtime/Self-time for yourself needs to be a priority.
33:56 — Writing Advice from Crazy Uncle Charlie
- Scribe and Crazy Uncle Charlie are reunited…and it feels so good.
- Scribe has a fangirl moment. We’re not sure why.
- Pip doesn’t want to admit it…but she has missed Crazy Uncle Charlie.
- Charlie gives his own approach to organizing projects…which resembles something of a jumbles mess.
37:46 — The Wrap-Up
- And once again, the studio smells of cheese.
- Got some organization tips? A question for Crazy Uncle Charlie?
- 703.791.1701
- pip (at) pjballantine (dot) com
- tee (at) teemorris (dot) com
- Later on in April…
- DemiCon 25, May 1-5
- Balticon, May 22-26
- Lauren describes Balticon for anyone who may be coming to the con.
- Pip, even with her power as the Dark Goddess, can’t get fast service at the Hunt Valley bar…
- The Podcaster Cookout. It’s coming!
- And…..
- The Ministry of Peculiar Pajamas: The Pajama Initiative
- How did this idea come around?
- People want this to be a thing.
- Maybe Sunday night, starting early.
- This is an idea in progress. Bear with us.
- Pip’s glad March is done, but April is coming in hard…
- Lauren’s got another mini-writing/mini-podcasting stretch coming soon!
- The power of a Phil Rossi drop-in.
- Go out and get Dawn’s Early Light! NOW!!!
51:22 — The Outtake
Featured People in this podcast:
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Find us on Twitter at either
Tee’s or
Pip’s account,
leave us a voicemail or question for the show at
703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.
Enjoy the ride
and we’ll catch you later.
Filed under Episodes
Tagged as Alex White, Audible.com, Balticon, Dawn's Early Light, DemiCon, Gail Carriger, K.T. Bryski, Lauren "Scribe" Harris, Life, Ministry Protocol, organization, pajama party, podcaster cookout, productivity, RavenCon, Smoky Mountain Writers' Retreat, Thomas Willeford, Tiffany Trent, work
by admin | February 26, 2014 · 2:51 am
Our intern from the Great White North, ForeWord-nominated author, Katie Bryski, has reached the end of her February internship. The mics are hot and we ask our intern the tough questions
00:00 — Introduction
- Show #30 — we have been good this year with our regular posting, and Tee’s got some new drop-in’s!!!
- This is the end of February, and Katie Bryski is hanging in there with her internship at Casa de Morris!
- Foreshadowing what’s coming up with this episode…
- Pip channels her inner-Chole and goes into what she’s been working on…
- Weather Child — the layout continues with the recent proof
- Immortal Progeny — After checking with the Book of George (R.R. Martin), the novel is taking shape.
- We’re looking overseas with our indie books and our agent of awesome.
- What Katie has been up to since the last show…
- Apply a few gold medals and Canuck gets cocky!
- Notes are back from her Stonecoast Mentor.
- “Research” for her day job…which means she’s drinking beer.
- Apparently, when it comes to giving us a bit of feedback on how hard Tee & Pip work her, silence is golden.
- What has Tee been up to?
- Reworking Wolf in the Fold
- The Billibub Kickstarter is starting to make some headway after one week. 31%. Not bad.
- The blog machine rolls on with the Endless Possibilities Blog Tour and on TeeMorris.com!
- Tee’s drinking beer with Katie. Good times!!!
- And the job hunt rolls on, but Tee’s considering options…
10:15 — What’s a Writer’s Internship?
- How did this whole idea of Katie becoming our intern actually happen?
- What does an intern for a writer do?
- There’s a fine line between intern and stalker.
- Pip takes a guess as to what you’re supposed to do during an internship?
- What Katie wanted to learn right off the bat: Survival Techniques for Indie Authors
- Working with Adobe Photoshop
- It’s all about the image.
- Mac Boy Vs. PC Girl
- Getting our digital hands dirty with layers.
- DepositPhoto.com — Pip’s new friend. And now, Katie’s
- Working with InDesign
- Katie LOVES this program…and templates are her friend!
- There’s still some terms she needs to get familiar with.
- Giving books personality with InDesign.
- Pip and Katie share the story behind Weather Child and how Katie went on a journey with the podcast…and now she’s laying out the book in print.
- K.T. Bryski, editor
- Taking the red pen in hand.
- It’s a big step in editing another person’s work, but Stonecoast’s lessons were applied.
- Katie was learning stuff from how Pip and Tee were dealing with writers in everyday life. (Yikes!)
- Pip has a pupil in her School of Love and & Despair.
- But Mighty Mur comes to save the day! (Love ya, Mur!!!)
- How our intern helped us out
- Networking us with other podcasts and blogs like 3 Geeks in a Pod
- Katie drops her contact info — contact (at) ministry of peculiar occurrences (dot) com
- Katie wants to come back for eBook layout classes
- A constantly changing technology
- Barnes & Noble Nook #FAIL
- Other stuff we did with Katie
- Katie is leaving….but she’s not leaving.
- What did the Intern teach the Mentors?
- Katie is an impressive student, picking up new tools in audio and video.
- We learned that our Intern is very possessive.
- Writers don’t have set hours.
- Just having assistance in setting up the calendar — awesome!
- The Intern’s First Assignment when she gets home: The Most Canadian Steampunk EVAR!
- Jack Mangan, the gauntlet has been thrown!
36:21 — Writers Off the Clock: Talking True Detective
- #DropInFAIL with both of the girls talking over the bumper…
- Setting the tone for this segment with “Far From Any Road” from The Handsome Family…
- THE. BEST. TELEVISION. SHOW. EVAR. True Detective, on HBO.
- What is it about True Detective and the appeal of Southern Gothic to geeks?
- Some critics thought the show was slow, but that’s because they were watching it on Thursday…
- You have to pay attention with this show.
- Matthew McConaughey is stepping up as an actor.
- The characters of this show is like Louisiana — broken.
- True Detective from a film buff’s perspective.
- Katie’s perspective from a show “she would never watch.”
- The gothic science fiction touches throughout True Detective
- The good news for Katie: She found a source for the last two episodes!
- Talking about the writing of Nic Pizzolatto, the Executive Producer, Writer, and Creator of True Detective
- The relationship between Chole and Hart….played seamlessly by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson
- A comparison between True Detective and Homicide: Life on the Street
53:47 — The Wrap-Up
- Pip Ballantine just ignores the music cue. Shocker that.
- The rise of the anthology? Is it happening?
- Katie learned stuff with us…but we still have stuff to be teaching her!
- Pip and Tee turn to the Intern one last time for what’s coming up…
- Where to contact everybody…
- Podcasters, bloggers, and media folks, if you want to book Tee & Pip, send a line to contact (at) ministryofpeculiaroccurrences (dot) com
- Drop Tee and Pip a voicemail at 703.791.1701, or drop us a comment here or in email.
- SHOW #35 ANNOUNCED AS OUR NEXT VOICEMAIL SHOW!!!
- How do you say goodbye? Giant freaking robots beating up monsters!
- Drop-in by request…
- …and Katie breaks out in to spontaneous song.
- Tee stumbles though the Creative Commons tag on account of teh feelz.
1:01:07 — The Outtake
cover art by J.R. Blackwell
[display_podcast]
Find us on Twitter at either
Tee’s or
Pip’s account,
leave us a voicemail or question for the show at
703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.
Enjoy the ride
and we’ll catch you later.
Filed under Episodes
Tagged as 3 Geeks in a Pod, Agecroft Hall, Bad Wolf Brewing Company, beer, Billibub Baddings, blogging, Dawn's Early Light, DepositPhoto, eBook, editing, Far from Any Road, Final Cut Pro, hockey, Immortal Progeny, InDesign, internship, Jack Mangan, John Mireau, K.T. Bryski, Katie Bryski, Kickstarter, Lost Rhino Brewery, Matthew McConaughey, Mount Vernon, Mur Lafferty, Nic Pizzolatto, Philippa Ballantine, Photoshop, Pip Ballantine, Proper Pie Company, Serving Worlds, Soundtrack Pro, Stonecoast, Tales from the Archives, Tee Morris, The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, The Writing Show, True Detective, Weather Child, Wolf in the Fold, Woody Harrelson
by admin | June 27, 2013 · 3:52 am
So following the hangover that is a Kickstarter and edits for Ace Books, Pip and Tee wanted to take a break…but after a fun week with houseguest and ForeWord-nominated author, Katie Bryski, the microphones were dusted off, Soundtrack Pro was fired up, and Tee, Pip, and Katie put together a truly international experience with this edition of The Shared Desk.
00:00 — Introduction
- Yeah. It’s been a while…
- G’day, eh? We have a guest in the studio! Throw on the back bacon — it’s Katie Bryski!
- What the heck have we been up to?
- A successful Kickstarter
- Edits for Dawn’s Early Light
- Exclusive short stories for Ace and Pyr
- Katie’s even been up to a lot of stuff!
- Tee & Pip have been working the book events.
- If you’re waiting for us to promise that The Shared Desk is back on track…no, we’re not…
7:18 — Stepping Out of Comfort Zones
- Giving a shout-out to Trinity Manassas. Episcopalians RE-RAH-SENT!
- An epic day out in Virginia…
- Tee and Katie share an EPIC COFFEE EXPERIENCE.
- From the owner of Vino 124, the two questions God will ask you…
- Were you afraid?
- If you were afraid, did you brave it out?
- No seriously, this was REALLY GOOD COFFEE!
- Katie Bryski talks about her own big steps out of a comfort zone.
- Podcasting a novel. Seemed like a good plan.
- Submitting a novel to Dragon Moon Press
- Tee’s new project: Writing tie-in’s for Valiant Comics and Kindle’s Shared Worlds
- Who knew our resident Canadian had a nemesis?!
- This new project Tee has nicknamed TeeMoNaNoWriMo. 50,000 words between now and July 31st.
- Who is the first person you call to get guidance with comic books: Jared F-ing Axelrod!!!
- Going off on a comic book tangent…
- My modest comic book collection
- Calling Pip to task about my tangents and going off on the film M
- My collection against the ManCave of Jared Axelrod!
- Returning to comics…
- Prequels — what’s the point?
- How you grow from stepping free of a comfort zone?
32:30 — Eagle Vs. Kiwi
- Tee feels uncomfortable with the whole “Beaver” reference in this segment…
- Pip and Katie put Tee to task on why marshmellows are an acceptable addition to sweet potatoes.
- Tee pulls out the Paula Dean card…and it goes downhill from there…
- Why does everything have to be so sweet in the South?
- And all roads lead back again to Vino 124 and THAT INCREDIBLE COFFEE!
- From wild beaver attacks to another Paula Dean rant!
- Where is Katie headed after this wild ride?
- Well, back home to Canada…
- Katie has a “job” where she teaches about Canadian history through beer. (No, they’re not hiring.)
- …and she’ll be back at Dragon*Con in 2013
- Where we are headed next…
- ConTemporal, this weekend — June 28-30
- Talking about steampunk in July in Yorktown, VA
- Authors After Dark in Savanna, GA
- Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA
- Pip’s got books and stuff coming out this summer…
- Wow, everybody, we just did a show!
RELATED LINKS
[display_podcast]
Find us on Twitter at either
Tee’s or
Pip’s account,
leave us a voicemail or question for the show at
703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.
Enjoy the ride
and we’ll catch you later.
Filed under Episodes
Tagged as Canada, comfort zones, Dawn's Early Light, Dragon Moon Press, edits, Hapax, Katie Bryski, Key & Peele, Kickstarter, prequels, short stories, taking risks, Trinity Manassas, updates, Vino 124
