Welcome to "In the Writer's Chair," where host Lana McAra sits down with USA Today, Amazon, and New York Times bestselling author Joanna Campbell Slan to tackle one of the toughest challenges of the writing life: handling criticism.

Joanna is a powerhouse in the publishing world, boasting over 80 published books across fiction and nonfiction, alongside contributions to the original Chicken Soup for the Soul and a college-level textbook on storytelling. As an Agatha Award finalist, Daphne du Maurier Award winner, and former motivational speaker who now writes from a nearly deserted island off the coast of Florida, Joanna brings decades of invaluable experience to the table.

In this episode, Lana and Joanna explore:

• The Fear of Criticism: Why writers subconsciously avoid feedback and struggle with the false belief that they must be perfect to be loved.
• Navigating Subjective Feedback: How to separate helpful insights from unqualified or cruel reviews, and why art's goal of evoking emotion makes it inherently subjective.
• Taking Back Your Power: Why you must never hand your future over to someone else to decide, a powerful lesson Joanna learned early in life.
• Turning Pain into Prose: How to use the emotional sting of harsh critiques and negative experiences as method-acting material to deepen your fictional characters.
• Community Kindness: The critical importance of graciousness at writing conferences, treating fellow authors and readers with respect, and avoiding unforced errors in professional relationships.

Joanna also reveals what is next on her writing desk, including a new Kiki mystery titled "Gingerbread Dead Man," a Golden Retriever and Great Dane crossover collaboration with Neil Plaquey called "Death Under the Dogwoods," and another Jane Eyre book.

Connect with Joanna Campbell Slan:

• Links: Explore her work at linktr.ee/jcslan.
• Books: Find her extensive catalog on Amazon or by searching her name on Google.