🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast where creativity meets courage, stories are shaped long before they're written, and finishing a book starts with believing.

This week, host Sara Santillan sits down with writing coach Rachel Giffin, whose blend of mindset work, emotional intelligence, structure, and tough love has helped countless writers finally finish the book they’ve been dreaming of. Rachel brings an authenticity and clarity to the writing process that is rare — one that cuts through fear, perfectionism, and overwhelm to get to the truth: you can do this, even when it feels impossible.

Rachel shares her path from film school to writing to coaching, how she discovered her gift for guiding writers through resistance, and why she believes emotional regulation is just as important as craft. We unpack what really stops writers from completing their books, the questions she uses to break through mental blocks, and how to show up for your writing even when motivation disappears.

🔥 What happens when you stop waiting to “feel ready”?
📝 Why the stories we write are often the ones we’re scared to face
💪 And how a writing coach can help you build not just a book but a writing identity

Whether you’re drafting your first novel or revisiting a project you’ve abandoned 10 times, this conversation will leave you feeling seen, strengthened, and ready to return to the page.

✨ How Rachel became a writing coach and why confidence, not talent, is often the missing piece
✨ The mindset patterns she sees most often in writers and how to break them
✨ Why open-mindedness matters more than experience when working with a coach
✨ The real role of a writing coach vs. what people think coaches do
✨ Why perfectionism, fear, and emotional overwhelm stop writers more than craft issues
✨ Rachel’s signature question-based coaching method and how it rewires resistance
✨ How to build a writing habit even on days when motivation evaporates
✨ The importance of separating facts from feelings
✨ Her favorite client success stories — and the moment she knew she was meant to do this work

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
👤 Guest: Rachel Giffin – @rachel_giffin_writes

✨ If this episode gave you the push you needed to return to your book, leave us a rating & review — it helps more writers find their way to The Mythic Mic.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast — where fantasy blends craft and culture, heroines rise from discipline and conviction, and every story has a fire at its core.

In this episode, hosts Bethany Amanda and Sara Santillan sit down with debut author Sarah Mughal Rana, whose upcoming fantasy novel Dawn of the Firebird is already one of the most anticipated releases of the year. Rooted in Sarah’s lifelong martial arts practice, her cultural heritage, and years of deep historical and philosophical study, this book delivers the kind of character-first, world-rich epic fantasy we can’t stop thinking about.

Sarah takes us behind the curtain of her writing journey — from drafting the earliest version of this book in high school, to joining Pitch Wars, to working with an agent who encouraged her to strip away the very cultural heart that made her story whole. She talks openly about walking away, finding an agent who championed the book as it truly is, and the long road from deal announcement to publication date.

We also dive into the intense physicality of her heroine, the discipline and spirituality embedded in the world, and the way Sarah’s love of anime, history, and myth wove themselves together to shape an epic that feels as intimate as it is cinematic.

🔥 What does it take to write a heroine forged in discipline rather than destiny?
🕊️ How does a story evolve when an author refuses to compromise what matters?
⚔️ And how do martial arts, culture, and philosophy become the backbone of an entire fantasy trilogy?

This is a powerful conversation about resilience, creativity, and honoring the story only you can tell.

✨ How real martial arts training shaped Khamilla's movement, mindset, and emotional arc.
✨ The cultural influences behind the Firebird and why the book draws on ancient mythology without replicating Western fantasy traditions.
✨ The role of discipline, faith, and philosophy in building a world and a heroine.
✨ Sarah’s Pitch Wars experience and what she learned about standing firm in her creative identity.
✨ Navigating agents, bad advice, and finding the right advocate for your work.
✨ The long acquisition-to-publication timeline and how it changed her writing.
✨ Why anime became a structural and emotional influence for the trilogy.
✨ What Sarah is working on next, including a chess-inspired fantasy.

💫 CONNECT WITH US
📖 Follow Sarah Mughal Rana – IG: @sarahmughal769
🎙️ Bethany Amanda – IG: @BethanyinFantasyland
🎙️Sara Santillan – IG: @The_Magical_Quill
🎧 Follow The Mythic Mic Podcast – IG: @MythicMic

✨ Don’t forget to rate & review! If you loved this episode, please leave us a review — it helps more listeners find their way to The Mythic Mic.

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where myths intertwine with reality, legends come to life, and fantasy is more than just a story!

In this episode, hosts Bethany Amanda and Sara Santillan sit down with debut author Elise Helliwell, whose dazzling time-travel romance Within the Space of a Second will leave you questioning fate, time, and the meaning of love itself.

Set against a backdrop of mystery and magic, this novel follows an introverted academic and a charismatic time traveler whose destinies collide across years and realities. It’s emotional, intricate, and breathtakingly romantic — the perfect blend of Divine Rivals, The Seven Year Slip, and A Discovery of Witches.

🕰️ What if you could go back in time to uncover the truth about your past?
💫 What if every difference you thought made you strange was the key to your destiny?
🔥 And what if the love of your life had already met you in another timeline?

Elise joins us from Queensland, Australia, to talk about her unconventional path from radiographer to author, the early mornings spent writing before sunrise, and the power of believing in your story even when no one else knows it exists.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT…

📚 How Within the Space of a Second was born — finished just one day before Elise gave birth to her first child
⏰ Writing between 4 and 5:30 a.m. (and why discipline beats “free time” every time)
🏆 How Elise landed her publishing deal with Atria (Simon & Schuster) through a live pitch competition
💔 The emotional heart of her story — that our differences make us extraordinary
💋 The “forbidden touch” first kiss scene that placed second in the Romance Writers of Australia’s First Kiss Competition
🕯️ Time travel, hidden identities, found family, and the soul-deep ache of a he falls first love story
📖 What aspiring authors can learn from Elise’s writing process and her top advice on edits, pitching, and perseverance
🪶 Sneak peek: Book two in The Mark of the Time Traveler series — and a contemporary rom-com she describes as Bridget Jones’s Diary meets The Love Hypothesis

💫 CONNECT WITH US

📖 Follow Elise Helliwell – IG: @elisehelliwellauthor
🎙️ Bethany Amanda – IG: @BethanyinFantasyland
🎙️Sara Santillan – IG: @The_Magical_Quill
🎧 Follow The Mythic Mic Podcast – IG: @MythicMicPod (temporarily @MythicMic)

🛒 Within the Space of a Second releases November 25 (Kindle Unlimited) and May (US hardcover) through Atria/Simon & Schuster — add it to your TBR now!

✨ Don’t forget to rate & review! If this episode made you believe in love across time, second chances, or early-morning writing miracles, leave us a review — it helps more listeners find their way to The Mythic Mic.