The Novel Writing Podcast

Colleen Mitchell built The Novel Writing Podcast around a simple idea: writing a novel is hard enough without all the mental baggage that comes with it. With over 200 episodes under her belt, she splits her time between solo pep talks and interviews with publishing pros, editors, and working authors. The solo episodes are short and punchy, sometimes just five or six minutes of straight encouragement when you need someone to tell you your draft is not garbage. Then the interview episodes go long, pulling real talk out of guests like Dave Chesson on author marketing tools or deep-dives into what copyeditors and proofreaders actually do behind the scenes. What makes this show stick is her focus on the mindset side of writing. She does not just hand you a three-act structure template and send you off. She talks about procrastination, self-doubt, comparison spirals, and all the ways writers sabotage themselves before they even hit chapter three. It is practical psychology mixed with actual craft advice. The format keeps things digestible too. You can knock out a few episodes during a lunch break or sit with a longer interview on a weekend writing day. The show leans toward indie and self-publishing authors, so if you are querying agents you might find some episodes less relevant. But the craft and motivation content applies no matter your publishing path. Updated weekly and still going strong into 2026, it is a reliable companion for anyone grinding through a manuscript.