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New Podcast Guest, Writing Sprints, and Our Current Reads
Send your writing questions in for our upcoming podcast guest– James Blatch.
Blake Reichenbach
April 14, 2025
If something inside of you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. Write straight into the emotional center of things.
Table of Contents
Meet Our Upcoming Podcast Guest, James Blatch
We will soon be recording an episode of the Inkwell Insights Podcast with author James Blatch.
If you’re unfamiliar with Blatch, here’s a snippet of his bio:
James Blatch is a former BBC Defence Reporter and a former BBFC Film Examiner. He reported for the BBC on the UK military from, among other places, HMS Invincible (Operation Desert Fox build up), Kuwait (Ali Al Salem allied air base), the Arctic Circle as well as covering the UK air offensive during the Kosovo Conflict in 1999.
During his time as a defence reporter he became the first civilian to twice fly in a BAe Harrier with 1 (Fighter) Squadron. He also enjoyed a trip in a Sepecat Jaguar with 41 Squadron to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the type’s introduction to RAF service.
Blatch works in publishing, teaching authors at learnselfpublishing.com and publishing writers at vinci-books.com. He is the cohost of the weekly podcast for authors indiewritersclub.com.
James’ background in journalism covering conflict zones infuses itself into his writing. We see the influence of his background in his books like The Final Flight, which is a Cold War era novel centered on veteran engineer Chris Milford, and the web of espionage, conflict, and politics he gets caught in.
For the interview with James, we’re going to devote a fair amount of time to the intersection of journalism and fiction and how the two styles of writing support each other… or how one makes the other difficult.
If you would like to ask a question about writing, James, or his work, reply to this newsletter or leave a comment on it on the web version.
Join Me for a Writing Sprint?
I’m going to be completely honest. My writing routine recently has been garbage. Absolute rubbish.
In the last two weeks, I think I’ve written a grand total of 150 words in my manuscript. I’ve been cranking out newsletter content, business emails, and scandalous text messages like a machine.
But my fiction? Neglected. Dejected. Lonely.
I’m currently working on a project that is centered on a fictionalized Appalachia and explores themes of childhood nostalgia, growing up queer in a rural community, and making peace with one’s roots.
Well, that, and… selling your soul to witches in the woods in exchange for magical powers, a shady mining operation that could end the world, and some major daddy issues.
Since it’s a story that I’m eager to finish a draft of, I’ve decided that I’m going to embark on a two-week writing sprint starting on the day this goes out. My goal is to add another 8,000 words to my manuscript. If I’m consistent, that’s about 570 words per day, which isn’t an insurmountable challenge by any means.
In my interview with Christina Lynch, the author of Pony Confidential (amazing book– check it out!), she talks a bit about having seasonality in her writing and how her obligations to her job outside of writing (and, you know, being a human adult with a million other responsibilities) sometimes means she has dry spells in her writing routine. Personally, I find a lot of comfort in being reminded that not all writers write every day, and that you can make progress and refine your craft even when your routine has an element of seasonality.
But, I also hope this writing sprint reenergizes me and helps me keep my fingers on the keyboard well past the two-week mark!
If you’d like to join me on this two-week creative sprint, please do. Let me know what you’re working on and what your goals are. It would be great for us to keep each other accountable.
One Fiction, One Nonfiction - Here Are a Few Book Recommendations from a Friend
Right now, I’m juggling two books. My poor nightstand is cluttered with books, pens, and adhesive flags. What can I say? I’m an engaged reader.
Both of the books I’m currently reading are wonderful in their own ways, and I wanted to share a bit about them.
First, I’m nearing the end of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. Demon Copperhead won a Pulitzer, and for good reason. If you’re unfamiliar with it, here’s a spoiler-free blurb.
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.
Southern Appalachia is my neck of the woods, and reading this book has been both charming and challenging. The protagonist’s life is rough (and that’s an intentional understatement) in a way that can be stomach-churning at times. The book isn’t overly graphic, but to think about children in the situations he finds himself in is heartbreaking for anyone with common decency. What has made it a challenging read for me is that the backdrop of Kingsolver’s novel isn’t far off from where I come from. I see childhood classmates and cousins represented in a novel that looks unflinchingly in the face of rural poverty and the opioid epidemic. It hits close to home.
While I’ve had to read it slowly and take breaks, Demon Copperhead is a beautiful novel that I do recommend picking up. I don’t say this often, but Demon Copperhead also feels like an important novel to read, especially for folks in the United States. It handles part of our shared cultural history that is often overlooked and neglected.
As for my current nonfiction read, I just started reading Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace by David Lipsky. Lipsky, an accomplished writer in his own right, spent the last leg of David Foster Wallace’s book tour for Infinite Jest with him and recorded virtually everything.
Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself recounts conversations between Lipsky and Wallace as the former tries to encapsulate a portrait of the looming literary figure for a feature in Rolling Stones magazine.
Confession: I haven’t yet read Infinite Jest. It’s one of those “important” books I’ve heard of but never actually read. Reading through Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself has awoken a keen interest within me to change that. I’ve now got Infinite Jest sat atop my bookshelf like a literary cinderblock, the current capstone of my TBR pile.
But, Lipsky’s diligent record of their time together isn’t actually about Infinite Jest. It’s about the man behind the book and the culture that drove it into the spotlight and canon of American literature. Throughout, David Foster Wallace shares glimpses into his creative process and the artistic upheaval that comes with suddenly being considered a major success.
It’s interspersed with little gems like,
What writers have is a license and also the freedom to sit—to sit, clench their fists, and make themselves be excruciatingly aware of the stuff that we’re mostly aware of only on a certain level. And that if the writer does his job right, what he basically does is remind the reader of how smart the reader is. Is to wake the reader up to stuff that the reader’s been aware of all the time. And it’s not a question of the writer having more capacity than the average person. It’s that the writer is willing I think to cut off, cut himself off from certain stuff, and develop…and just, and think really hard. Which not everybody has the luxury to do.
Wallace’s insights into the dynamics of being a writer are… interesting. I hesitate to say profound because that’s such an overused denotation these days, but perhaps there’s some profundity in there, too. I mostly approach it with curiosity, and I encourage you to do the same.
Let Me Hear From You
Before I sign off, I want to reiterate that I genuinely want to hear from you, dear subscribers. What are your thoughts on today’s newsletter? What are you currently reading? Want to join me for a writing sprint? You can reply to this newsletter to let me know!
Additionally, if you’re enjoying Inkwell Insights– the newsletter or the podcast– please share it with your friends, family, coworkers, nemises, cultish devotees, hairdresser, and whoever else you think may enjoy it. Growing our audience and connecting with more folks who appreciate art, literature, and culture would be a dream!
Have a lovely, nerdy week,
Blake Reichenbach
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