The Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop Podcast

29/10/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : Gamifying your Writing Process

Tim and Art discuss how to use role-playing games and writing activities to gamify your creative process. They also tease an important takeaway from next week's interview episode with author Bethany Jarmul about the importance of having a "turn" in your story. Tim and Art are ready to help! Join the...

22/10/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : Diggin' in the Crates and a Novel Update

Tim makes a case for the value in revisiting old work, then gives an update on his novel progress. Tim and Art are here to help, so email the show at  to get your conversation started.

15/10/2024

Always excited to see a refill episode accepted for online publication!

Learn the difference between a hero and an antihero and how you can use them depending on the type of story you want to tell.

15/10/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : Learning Secrets from Your Older Work

Tim and Art discuss the value of revisiting older drafts to understand your writing journey. Whether it is to mine your past for story prompts, searching for promising unfinished work to revise, or just to plot your improvement over time, revisiting your past work can offer clues on how to better ap...

08/10/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : REFILL: Role-Playing to Practice Characterization

Is your creative battery drained or running low? Art describes how using role-playing can help free up your internal editor and create opportunities to explore new characterization. Art shares a story from his early role-playing days that demonstrates how a simple game can free you up to find unexpe...

01/10/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : Putting Your Characters Under Stress

Tim and Art return for Season 4 by revisiting the fundamentals. Is your story missing something? Does your main character glide through your story with very little at stake? Is the action happening "around" them rather than your character struggling through it? Tim and Art present four easy button c...

24/09/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : Prepping for the Next Draft of a Novel

With Season 4 just around the corner, Tim and Art offer a glimpse into their unscripted conversations about their own work. Up this week, Art responds to Tim's novel draft with encouragement and a path forward. Tim and Art are here to help, so email the show at to get your conversation started.

30/07/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : Season 3 Finale - Expanding Your Creativity

Tim and Art look back at Season 3 for lessons learned and cast their gaze forward at Season 4. Even during the hiatus, Tim and Art are here to help. Email the show at  to get the conversation started.

23/07/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : REFILL: Identifying Your Ideal Reader

The ”ideal reader” is that one person in the world, whether real or imagined, who really GETS what we are trying to do and who LOVES our take on fiction. In this Refill episode, Art demonstrates how Q&A can help you define what your "ideal reader" looks like. Knowing this can help you stay f...

16/07/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : Setting Higher Standards

Have you ever been less than satisfied with your work in progress? Your latest drafts have you rethinking fundamental decisions you've made as a writer? Then join us as Tim cousels Art through his crisis of conscience about the quality of his work in progress. What should Art do to get back to the "...

09/07/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : Critiquing Yourself

It can be worthwhile to journal about your flaws, whether real or imagined. This is one of the many obstacles we face on our journey to create art. Art demonstrates how to be introspective and critique your own work as a way to refocus and improve rather than giving in to negative thinking.  Ti...

02/07/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : Getting Motivated After Rejections

Tim and Art discuss their submission goals and lay out how to mentally bounce back from rejections and stay focused on your fiction.  Tim and Art are here to help, so email the show at  to get your conversation started.

25/06/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : Getting Inspired to Revise Your Fiction

Tim and Art discuss how to get back into the right frame of mind to revise your fiction. When we decide to go back, why does that first draft read so much worse than we remember? How can you begin again once you've lost the initial spark of creativity? What's the right way to resume work without mes...

18/06/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : REFILL: Active Reading Can Improve Your Writing

Art discusses the process of "Active Reading" as a way to pan for gold in published stories. Reading authors with intentionality and purpose can help unlock elements of style or voice that you want to adopt. Art presents a method for getting the most writing benefit out of your reading experience. T...

13/06/2024

Use your public libraries! I just checked out an audio book from my library to get some Ted Chiang stories on my 2-hour commute for work. He just won the PEN Faulkner and I want to get my fix. 😁

My library uses Libby (an app) to allow me to check out PDF copies of books and download audiobooks. I can also reserve hard copies for when they are available again. Love it!

11/06/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : Feedback Session for Art's Short Story

Tim provides feedback on Art's story "Donut Fridays" from last week's Refill episode. This unscripted feedback session on Art's story is intended to demonstrate best practices of giving and receiving feedback with a trusted beta reader. Tim asks open-ended questions about choices Art made in the sto...

04/06/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : REFILL: "Donut Fridays" by Arthur Franz IV

Art reads his 825-word short story "Donut Fridays" into the record in preparation for Tim's feedback during next week's episode.  Art is open to your feedback, so if you want to share your thoughts on this draft of the story,  email the show at to help Art make this story the best it can b...

28/05/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : On Confidence

Tim and Art discuss their experiences in gaining (and losing and regaining) confidence in their writing output. They discuss how they know when a piece is “done” and ready for submission. They also reveal how imperative it is to reject the arrogance that sustained them in their youth because ult...

21/05/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : REFILL: Recharging Your Creativity

Art presents four ways to recharge your creativity when your discipline is high but the quality or quantity of your writing output is just not cutting it. Tim and Art are here to help, so email the show at to get your conversation started.

14/05/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : Vignettes and Flashbacks

Tim and Art explore how vignettes, brief episodes within your larger narrative, and flashbacks, small stories from a character's past, can help illuminate character or create tension in the forward action. Tim and Art are here to help, so email the show at to get your conversation started.

14/05/2024

Tim and Art are designing a new workshop based on the Writer's Competency Map from Season 2. We plan to offer a trial run during the summer months to pilot the course. Session lengths and frequency are still being determined. Expect a full course description by the end of May.

If you are interested in participating, send us a message to get your name added to the list. We are currently weighing how early interest could result in an invitation to pilot the course free of charge. Be an early adopter to help us shape the new course for future writers!

12/05/2024

Interesting take on academic benefits of handwriting versus typing. I prefer typing when writing fiction because my handwriting is atrocious and I find my handwriting too slow to keep up with my thoughts. I am Team Typing!

Researchers are learning that handwriting engages the brain in ways typing can't match, raising questions about the costs of ditching this age-old practice, especially for kids.

12/05/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : BONUS: We're Here To Help

Tim and Art are here to help you with your fiction. Yes, yours! E-mail us at to inquire about our wrtiting coaching, proofing, copyediting, and workshop services.

07/05/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : REFILL: Where Can I Submit My Fiction?

Tim explores some best practices on how to choose where to submit your fiction for publication. Reach out to us with questions at to get the conversation started.

07/05/2024

Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) : Where Do I Submit?

Tim covers the online sites where you can go to submit your finished work. Feel free to contact the show at [email protected] to get your questions answered.