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Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

By: Mark Leslie Lefebvre
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 Perspectives and reflections on the writing and publishing life. Mark Leslie Lefebvre, a writer, bookseller, digital publishing advocate, professional speaker, and publishing consultant explores inclusive and collaborative opportunities for writers and book publishing professionals via interviews, discussions, and reflections about the industry. (Mark's personal website is www.markleslie.ca)Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Public License Art Literary History & Criticism
Episodes
  • EP 461 - The Power of Stories to Instill Empathy, Resilience, Joy, and Hope with Ka-Yee Essoe

    EP 461 - The Power of Stories to Instill Empathy, Resilience, Joy, and Hope with Ka-Yee Essoe
    Feb 13 2026
    In this episode Mark interviews Ka-Yee Essoe about the power of stories to instil empathy, resilience, joy, and hope, based on her experiences in the academic world, in research, in teaching, and in writing an epic fantasy novel. Prior to the interview Mark shares a brief personal update and word from this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by Toronto Indie Author Conference, taking place in Toronto, ON in April 2026. In the interview, Mark and Ka-Yee talk about: Mark and Ka-Yee's connection to Joshua EssoeKa-Yee's background with two different careers in academiaStudying how to help people learn therapeutic techniques betterStarting her creative writing journey in 2021How this story (that became the first of a trilogy she is writing) started to unfold in her head as dialogue128,000 words of the first draft coming out in about 2 months of writingKa-Yee's move into an academic teaching role, which is something she's always wanted to doOne of the classes that Ka-Yee co-teaches for writersHEXACO - the six-dimension personality testSome of the opposite-character writing exercises that derive from this testDebunking Myers-Briggs because it's not as science-basedKa-Yee's desire to help writers to write who has some sort of disabilityHelping students understand what therapy looks like and how to depict that relationshipTechniques on how to learn memory enhancementHow to evaluate routines and your process as a writerThe problem with getting into a habit of doing things a certain way and missing out on how to make it betterKa-Yee not realizing she had ADHD until she was an adultThe side-effect of suffering from long CovidThe concept of deliberate restApplying the scientific principle to writing an epic fantasy novelHow people tend to have two different careers in their lifeThe Kickstarter that Ka-Yee is running for her new book SHAZZWICK OF LAND VOL1: Time Becomes RelevantAaron Fors as the talented narrator for the audiobook versionWhat Ka-Yee's book is aboutHow she sees the world differently now that she has written this novel After the interview Mark shares a few reflections inspired by the interview. Notes from Ka-Yee as mentioned in the interview: Guidance I provided students to create their own weekly evaluation on their writing process Before you begin, I encourage you to take stalk of your current process. What's your goal, what's your why, what works/doesn't, how often do you write, what resources do you need -- not what you WANT it to be, but what it is now.Then create a survey using the guideline below. Answer the questions now as your baseline, then check in every week (ideally on the same day), revise the questions as you go. There is no wrong way to do this. These can be any format as you see fit, or a combination of. You can make the questions open-ended, some form of rating scales (e.g., rate from 0 to 10, or 1 = Completely Disagree to 5 = Complete Agree), multiple choice, or fill in the blanks. Just don't get too attached, you should be adjusting these as your process evolves or as life encroaches. Ask yourself 6-10 (ish) questions 1-3 questions on what you did in the past week: e.g., did you change/stick with your process? did try something new? how did it go? were you able to stick to it?2-3 questions on how "productive" or "successful" you are--but remember, every one's measure of success is different. E.g., how much did you write? how good were the writing? how brave were you in sharing your work with others? how zen you were about taking feedback.2-3 questions on how you are flourishing vs languishing: e.g., do I have mental space to do OTHER things I love? Did I spend time with people who matter to me? Did I feel my life has purpose, joy, satisfaction, and meaning?Last question: ask yourself something that gets to the "why" of your creative endeavour. WHY did you write this week? Did you remember to keep your eyes on that which drives you and keeps you up at night when you forget it. That which makes your writing something that you must do.(okay, then the last last question: do I need to revise these questions for next week?) The most important thing is: again, update these questions as you go. This needs to be a living document, otherwise you aren't giving yourself room to grow and learn. Links of Interest: Snow Quill PressThe Novel: Shazzwick of Land, Vol. 1: Time Becomes RelevantKickstarter for Shazzwick of Land Vol 1HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised (by Drs. Lee and Ashton (2009, 2018)) HEXACO is a 6-factor personality test that measures personality across six dimensions: Honesty-humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness. There's also a bonus trait, Altruism, that pools from subscales within the 6 larger traits. The Big Five Personality Inventory (by Goldberg (1992)) The Big Five is probably the most widely used personality test in psychology. It measures personality across five dimensions, often ...
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    47 mins
  • EP 460 - Rambling Reflections From The Road: You Are Loved

    EP 460 - Rambling Reflections From The Road: You Are Loved
    Feb 7 2026
    In this short solo episode Mark shares a "Rambling Reflection From The Road" while at Superstars Writing Seminars talking about the important signals that seemed to come at the right time: Your feelings are validYour opinions matterYou are irreplaceableYour best is enoughIt's okay to take a breakYou are loved Links of Interest: EP 459 - Creating Experiences in Art and Story with Tanya HalesSuperstars Writing SeminarsJames A. - Everything is SignalStark Reflections on Pushing for Better (Team Landing Page)CMHA (Canadian Mental Health Association) Mental Health MeterWhat's Your Stress Index? Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)Buy Mark a CoffeePatreon for Stark ReflectionsMark's YouTube channelElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and LibrariesThe Relaxed Author Buy eBook DirectBuy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for AuthorsAn Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & BookstoresWide for the WinMark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story)A Canadian Werewolf in New YorkStowe Away (Novella)Fear and Longing in Los AngelesFright Nights, Big CityLover's MoonHex and the CityOnly Monsters in the BuildingOnce Bitten (Novella) The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and AutomobilesYippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die HardMerry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas VacationI Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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    15 mins
  • EP 459 - Creating Experiences in Art and Story with Tanya Hales

    EP 459 - Creating Experiences in Art and Story with Tanya Hales
    Jan 30 2026
    In this episode Mark interviews author and artist Tanya Hales. Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update, comments from recent episodes, and a word about this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by an affiliate link to Manuscript Report. Use code MARK10 at checkout and save 10% off your own personalized report. In the interview Mark and Tanya talk about: When Tanya and Mark first met: at Superstars Writing SeminarsThe sketch that Tanya made of Mark at SSWS when he was speaking thereIdentifying herself as equal parts author and illustratorThe value of CREATING EXPERIENCES with peopleHow long Tanya has been creating art and how her mother was instrumental in getting her into artThe "nature-based" element and love of animals that are recurring in Tanya's artWriting novels in spiral-ring notebooks by the time of Fifth GradeThe first time Tanya put her art out into the world at the age of sixteenHandy and helpful resources available to Tanya in her high schoolThe "Doodle Dudes" that Tanya had created back thenDoing a lot more digital art lately for logistical parental reasonsHow one of Tanya's skills is being able to adapt to new things relatively easilyBeing in different modes, such as writing, editing, artVarious Kickstarter projects Tanya has done and is currently doingThe Animal Magica Coloring Books Tanya has createdWhy Tanya thinks that it's evitable that she creates the way she doesThe first full-length novel in the Animal Magica universeThe first cozy fantasy novel that Tanya recently released After the interview Mark reflections on passion and creating experiences. Links of Interest: Tanya Hales WebsiteTanya's Substack Article: "It Was Inevitable"Tanya's "Go, Writer, Go" - Humorous Parody Book for Writers KickstarterManuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)Buy Mark a CoffeePatreon for Stark ReflectionsMark's YouTube channelElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and LibrariesThe Relaxed Author Buy eBook DirectBuy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for AuthorsAn Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & BookstoresWide for the WinMark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story)A Canadian Werewolf in New YorkStowe Away (Novella)Fear and Longing in Los AngelesFright Nights, Big CityLover's MoonHex and the CityOnly Monsters in the BuildingOnce Bitten (Novella) The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and AutomobilesYippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die HardMerry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas VacationI Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises When Tanya Hales was a baby, she enjoyed books by chewing them to pieces before eventually moving on to the higher art of reading. Tanya splits her time between her work as a writer, an illustrator, and a mother, all of which she loves intensely. She now lives in Utah with her husband and four children, illustrating coloring books, writing YA fantasy, making cute stickers, and daydreaming constantly about imaginary worlds. Tanya is the creator of YA epic fantasy as well as the Animal Magica fantasy coloring book series, books made in collaboration with dozens of other authors who contributed beautiful short stores to pair with the art. The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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    1 hr and 3 mins
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