I’m so delighted that I have the headspace to continue my podcast. Now that my Kickstarter is done (phew!), I can return to my normal cadence of writing. I finally picked up this short story again, and it’s going in a different direction. I find this delightful. (My nonfiction gets sharper when it goes in […]
My Effective Public Speaking Kickstarter ends Tuesday, January 27, 2026, at noon Eastern. If you’re on the fence, get off the fence and back it. It’s time.
Public Speaking Myth Nine: I Have Nothing to Say If you focus your writing or consulting, you might not think you have anything to say to “everyone.” You might even feel some imposter syndrome. That’s a myth, because the most effective public speakers choose one aspect of their expertise to highlight. Just one. Use your
Public Speaking Myth Eight: Speakers Should Copy Someone Else Many less-practiced speakers think they need to copy someone else’s speaking style. But audiences can see right through that lack of authenticity. Instead, show your enthusiasm by being more of you. I am not saying bring your “whole self” to the stage. I swear a lot—I
Several of my fiction writer friends say they write fiction for one of two reasons: They want to read this kind of book. And/or They want to live in a world like the one they wrote about. These dear writers think that means they have nothing to say to other people. Hello? At the very
This week’s podcast is from a carnival short story. Enjoy! And in my never-ending experimentation, I embedded the video itself into this blog post. Before, I had just used the link to the video. We will see how that goes. The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
If you follow me, you know I’m running a Kickstarter for the Effective Public Speaking book. Once they fund, many Kickstarters offer stretch rewards. I wasn’t worried about offering a stretch reward. Instead, I worried that the Kickstarter audience would not back a nonfiction book. This entire endeavor is an experiment in product development, product
This week’s podcast is from a short romance story. This part is the meet-cute. The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for January 9, 2026, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is part of a summer romance short
I’m running a Kickstarter for the Effective Public Speaking book. It funded on the first day thanks to all my backers! I am thrilled. Now, I get to think about stretch goals, and finishing the audiobooks, the bookplate stickers, and all that finishing work. Why a Kickstarter? Several reasons: Experiment with new forms of marketing. Invite
I’ve been diligently working on my Kickstarter for Effective Public Speaking. I have learned a ton about graphics, creating an inviting Kickstarter, and organizing rewards. Yes, I am acting as a product manager for my book. (All you product managers—no one respects you enough. No one. Launching anything is quite the challenge.) Here is the