#85: Student Spotlight: How She Overcame Her Fear of the Blank Page (and Indie Published Her Novel) with Jennifer Lauer

In today's episode, I’m sitting down with Jennifer Lauer to talk through how she overcame her fear of the blank page and indie published her debut novel. Here’s a preview of what’s included: 

[03:00] An introduction to Jennifer Lauer and her story, The Girl in the Zoo

[09:30] What the beginning of the writing process looked like for Jennifer—and when she finally realized that her fear of the blank page was preventing her from writing

[14:45] What happened when Jennifer finished the first draft of her book (and changed her genre from love to action)

[26:00] Jennifer’s experience entering a Twitter pitch contest—and how it gave her the courage to submit her pages for a critique on TSNOTYAW podcast

[30:35] Why Jennifer ultimately decided to indie publish her novel (even after getting a positive response from a few industry professionals)

[43:35] The 3 biggest lessons Jennifer learned from this experience (and the advice she’d give to her past self when embarking on this writing journey)

[47:00] Final words of wisdom and advice from Jennifer

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Links mentioned in this episode:

• Visit Jennifer’s website or follow her on Instagram @jenniferleelauer
• Jennifer’s debut novel, The Girl in the Zoo on Amazon
• Jennifer’s fiction podcast The Strange Chronicles 
• The Spun Yarn Beta Reader Service
• The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Podcast
• Dyna Kau (cover designer) and Barbie at Monocle Editing
• Joanna Penn’s website
• Jane Friedman’s website
• Want to learn more about my Notes to Novel course? Click here to sign up for my FREE TRAINING: The 5 Little-Known Mistakes Most Writers Make (& What to Do Instead)

👉 Click here to get access to the FREE limited-episode podcast series "Write Your Book In 2025." Learn the 3 things you need to write your book in 2025, how to silence your inner critic so you can write confidently, practical strategies for finding time to write (even when life's busy), and my clear roadmap from idea to finished draft.

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