My Imaginary Friends with L. Penelope

New Year, New Challenges

Watch on YouTube [https://youtube.com/live/4NGFZo-NCh0] Mentioned: * Ink & Magic Writing Retreat Applications open until Jan 16, 2026 - https://inkandmagicretreat.com/ [https://inkandmagicretreat.com/] * EVENT: Me and Nicole Glover - January 15, 2026 - 7pm ET online + in-store at East City Bookshop in DC - Register [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hybrid-event-the-starseekers-nicole-glover-tickets-1976920604746?aff=ECBwebsite] * Read The Starseekers by Nicole Glover [https://www.eastcitybookshop.com/item/Vus7kAU5V3U8M9PJdF-XKA] * Margie Lawson - https://www.margielawson.com/lawson-writers-academy/ [https://www.margielawson.com/lawson-writers-academy/] * Ray Bradbury Challenge * Writer Kaia Alderson - https://www.kaiaalderson.com/ [https://www.kaiaalderson.com/] * The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton - https://bookshop.org/a/582/9781934414903 [https://bookshop.org/a/582/9781934414903] * Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson - https://amzn.to/452HDSC [https://amzn.to/452HDSC] * A Black Women's History of the United States - https://bookshop.org/a/582/9780807001998 [https://bookshop.org/a/582/9780807001998] * Story Engine deck - https://storyenginedeck.com/ [https://storyenginedeck.com/] * Plur1bus TV * Better Call Saul * Playing Big by Tara Mohr - https://bookshop.org/a/582/9781592409600 [https://bookshop.org/a/582/9781592409600] * Freedom app - https://freedom.to/ [https://freedom.to/] * Erykah Badu New Year's Invocation [https://www.instagram.com/reel/DS9cMm7jvHT/]   The My Imaginary Friends podcast is a behind the scenes look at the journey of a working author navigating traditional and self-publishing. Join fantasy and paranormal romance author L. Penelope as she shares insights on the writing life, creativity, inspiration, and this week's best thing. Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast [https://lpenelope.com/podcast] | Get the Footnotes newsletter & become an Imaginary Best Friend: https://myimaginaryfriends.net [https://myimaginaryfriends.net] Support the show: Website [https://www.lpenelope.com] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/leslyepenelope] | Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/authorlpenelope] Music credit: Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud [https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud] Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/] Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM [https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM] Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com [http://Amazon.com].

Writing is Hard, Y'all

Watch on YouTube [https://youtube.com/live/jhMzmIQ4xmg?feature=share] Mentioned: * Ink & Magic Writing Retreat - https://inkandmagicretreat.com/ [https://inkandmagicretreat.com/] * The Better Writer Podcast [https://rss.com/podcasts/the-better-writer-podcast/] with Olivia Bedford [https://www.oliviahelpswriters.com/] * Preorder my next book: The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass  [https://lpenelope.com/book/the-inevitable-undoing-of-zahara-douglass/]   The My Imaginary Friends podcast is a behind the scenes look at the journey of a working author navigating traditional and self-publishing. Join fantasy and paranormal romance author L. Penelope as she shares insights on the writing life, creativity, inspiration, and this week's best thing. Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast [https://lpenelope.com/podcast] | Get the Footnotes newsletter & become an Imaginary Best Friend: https://myimaginaryfriends.net [https://myimaginaryfriends.net] Support the show: Website [https://www.lpenelope.com] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/leslyepenelope] | Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/authorlpenelope] Music credit: Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud [https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud] Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/] Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM [https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM] Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com [http://Amazon.com].

Novel November: How it Went

Watch on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/live/Uik_WII8wjY] Mentioned: * My reader newsletter: http://lpenelope.com/newsletter [http://lpenelope.com/newsletter] * Black Friday 2025 Writer Bundle Deal - https://lpen.co/vault25 [https://lpen.co/vault25] * MYSTERY: FICTION'S FAVORITE FORCE by Junot Diaz - https://junot.substack.com/p/mystery [https://junot.substack.com/p/mystery] * AI scams for writers at Writer Beware [https://writerbeware.blog/2025/10/20/army-of-bots-deeper-into-the-vortex-of-nigerian-marketing-scams/] * Update on those Flattering AI Book Marketing Scams [https://annerallen.com/2025/11/update-on-ai-book-marketing-scams/] from Anne R. Allen * The Case of the Disappearing Author and Why You Probably Don’t Want a Six or Seven Figure Deal  [https://pitchyournovel.substack.com/p/the-case-of-the-disappearing-author] The My Imaginary Friends podcast is a behind the scenes look at the journey of a working author navigating traditional and self-publishing. Join fantasy and paranormal romance author L. Penelope as she shares insights on the writing life, creativity, inspiration, and this week's best thing. Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast [https://lpenelope.com/podcast] | Get the Footnotes newsletter & become an Imaginary Best Friend: https://myimaginaryfriends.net [https://myimaginaryfriends.net] Support the show: Website [https://www.lpenelope.com] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/leslyepenelope] | Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/authorlpenelope] Music credit: Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud [https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud] Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/] Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM [https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM] Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com [http://Amazon.com].

Writing My Novel's First Draft as a Script

Mentioned: * ProWriting Aid [https://lpen.co/prowritingaid] * Novel November [https://lpen.co/novnov] * My brother's short film [https://pauljames.info/] * Writer Duet [https://writerduet.com] * Ines Johnson [https://ineswrites.com/] * Ink & Magic podcast [https://inkandmagic.net/] * How to Write a Movie in 21 Days by Viki King [https://bookshop.org/a/582/9780062995834] The My Imaginary Friends podcast is a behind the scenes look at the journey of a working author navigating traditional and self-publishing. Join fantasy and paranormal romance author L. Penelope as she shares insights on the writing life, creativity, inspiration, and this week's best thing. Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast [https://lpenelope.com/podcast] | Get the Footnotes newsletter & become an Imaginary Best Friend: https://myimaginaryfriends.net [https://myimaginaryfriends.net] Support the show: Website [https://www.lpenelope.com] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/leslyepenelope] | Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/authorlpenelope] Music credit: Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud [https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud] Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/] Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM [https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM] Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com [http://Amazon.com].

When Inspiration Strikes

Watch on Youtube [https://youtube.com/live/yOcB2_0oxrc] Mentioned: - The Bliss Wars Special Edition Omnibus [https://lpen.co/blissomnibus] - The Obsidian Curse [https://lpenelope.com/book/the-obsidian-curse/]- releases June 12!  - Author Website Audit [https://theauthor.digital/author-website-audit/] - A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience [https://books2read.com/undeadinconvenience] by Stephanie Burgis  The My Imaginary Friends podcast is a behind the scenes look at the journey of a working author navigating traditional and self-publishing. Join fantasy and paranormal romance author L. Penelope as she shares insights on the writing life, creativity, inspiration, and this week's best thing. Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast [https://lpenelope.com/podcast] | Get the Footnotes newsletter & become an Imaginary Best Friend: https://myimaginaryfriends.net [https://myimaginaryfriends.net] Support the show: Website [https://www.lpenelope.com] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/leslyepenelope] | Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/authorlpenelope] Music credit: Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud [https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud] Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/] Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM [https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM] Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com [http://Amazon.com].