Tim and Art discuss trends in feedback Art has received from his beta readers on his recent stories "V-Hold" and "Donut Fridays." Together they make sense of how different people can read the same work and have wildly different reactions and, more importantly, what decisions can come out of that.

Art offers a method of providing feedback to other authors in three buckets - What I Liked, What Didn't Land For Me, and My Recommendations - as a methodology to provide direct, respectful feedback instead of to being too harsh or too nice.

We reference Tim's story "Jake Paul Beats Mike Tyson" in the episode.

This episoide is our last of the season as we transition into calendar breaks rather than episode counts. Going forward, we will take every February and March to refocus on our work and recharge the battery. Join us again in April 2025 as we kick off Season 5!

In the meantime, feel free to reach out to us at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to inquire about our professional reading services or just to say hi!

Building off the discussion from the previous episode, Art explores how to ethically use AI to enhance your writing. Art performs a "science experiment" using three tools within the ToolBaz AI engine: AI Writer, Character Generator, and Story Prompt Generator.

Remember, Tim and Art plan to pilot Tiffin Inn Writing Workshops online in 2025! Workshops will be low cost, high impact, 1-hour sessions with instruction and guided practice. E-mail us at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to add your name to the wait list.

Tim and Art discuss how to decode constructive feedback when beta readers react differently to the same text. Feedback helps identify "cracks in the sidewalk" of your story where readers can trip up. Tim and Art discuss how to use this seemingly opposing feedback to uncover the real problem areas of your story.

Then Tim and Art take hard right turn into the ethics of using AI to assist your own writing (spoiler alert: hard no), diving into the "why" of how using AI to enhance your own writing (even as a starting point) is ethically dubious.

Remember, Tim and Art plan to pilot Tiffin Inn Writing Workshops online in 2025! Workshops will be low cost, high impact, 1-hour sessions with instruction and guided practice. E-mail us at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to add your name to the wait list.

Art explores the difference between beta readers and editors, specifically in how improving communication up front can boost the quality of the feedback on your story.

Remember, Tim and Art plan to pilot Tiffin Inn Writing Workshops online in 2025! Workshops will be low cost, high impact, 1-hour sessions with instruction and guided practice. E-mail us at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to add your name to the wait list.

Tim and Art close out 2024 with a look back on lessons learned this past year and new goals for 2025.

Art discusses his goal to finish the first draft of his Sci-Fi novel and outlines what lessons learned have emboldened him to attempt it, while Tim discusses his desire to attempt higher word count stories in 2025 with an eye toward giving his characters more opportunity to strut their stuff.

Remember, Tim and Art plan to pilot Tiffin Inn Writing Workshops online in 2025! Workshops will be low cost, high impact, 1-hour sessions with instruction and guided practice. E-mail us at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to add your name to the wait list.

Tim and Art welcome author E.B. Hauk to the corner booth to gain insights into her process of publishing her comic novel Heck McTyre, Neuromanfluencer. Join the discussion for tips on software she uses to help develop and promote the book, including Bookfunnel, BookBarbarian, BookRoar, and many others.

Tim and Art welcome author Jeff Giles to the corner booth to talk about his process of publishing his first novel Langley Powell and the Society for the Defense of the Mundane.

Tim and Art plan to pilot Tiffin Inn Writing Workshops online in 2025! Workshops will be low cost, high impact, 1-hour sessions with instruction and guided practice. E-mail us at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to add your name to the wait list.

Art introduces a two-part series of interviews coming in the next two weeks that focuses on the ins and outs of self-publishing. Tim and Art are inviting two new authors into the corner booth to discuss their experiences with hybrid publishers and with full-blown self-publishing strategies. The conversation should be enlightening for any who want to explore what's out there in the vast, often intimidating landscape of self-publishing strategies.

Even though Tim and Art are firmly on the record as not wanting to self-publish our own work, we see this as a service for you, the listener, should you wish to consider it. Art has actually self-published before several "how to" books on coaching flag football.

Remember, Tim and Art plan to pilot Tiffin Inn Writing Workshops online in 2025! Workshops will be low cost, high impact, 1-hour sessions with instruction and guided practice. E-mail us at TiffinInnWritingWorkshop@gmail.com to add your name to the wait list.