Welcome to the Creative Pen podcast. I'm Joanna Penn, thriller author and creative entrepreneur,

bringing you interviews, inspiration and information on writing, publishing options and marketing ideas for your book.

You can find the episode show notes, your free author blueprint and lots more information at

TheCreativepen.com. And that's Penn with a double N. And here's the show.

Hello, creatives. I'm Joanna Penn. And this is episode 600. Yes, we're here. It's very exciting. 600 of the podcast. And it is Friday

the 28th of January 22 as I record this. So I'm doing a solo show today, skipping the usual

segments and I'll be answering some questions that I've kind of collated and put together

from my recent podcast surveys. So I'll be answering some questions that I've kind of collated and put together from my recent

podcast surveys. So I'll be covering how do you balance the artist side with the pragmatic

business side? How do you improve your writing craft as a beginner and also as a later stage

writer? What services and tools do you use right now for writing and publishing?

What are you doing for marketing fiction and nonfiction right now? And how has that changed over

time? One on mindset, it feels like an impossible job to stand out in such a crowded marketplace

with millions of other books and entertainment options.

How do you deal with the mindset of feeling like it's all pointless?

And finally, what are the different streams of income that you have right now,

and how would you like to change that over the next few years?

So that is coming up, but first of all, a little roundup on how far this show has come since I started it.

From episode one to episode 600.

So I recorded episode one in March 2009 when I lived in Ipswich, just outside Brisbane, Australia.

I phoned up a best-selling author on a landline.

Back in those days, we haven't had a landline for years now.

...