"To be a good writer means you need to know yourself... because you're coming from a place of personal authenticity."

- John DeDakis

You can learn more about John, his books, and his services on his website johndedakis.com

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Transcript of Interview with John DeDakis

Episode 3 of The Writing Biz Podcast

Air Date: April 21,2026

[00:00:00] Laura Williams: Welcome to the Writing Biz. Today I have John DeDakis as my guest. John spent 25 years at CNN serving as a senior copy editor for The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, where he gained a unique perspective on storytelling in the writing business. He's the author of the Lark Chadwick Mystery Suspense Series. Beyond writing his own books, he operates a coaching and editing business and teaches writing workshops. He's the host of his own podcast, One-to-One with John DeDakis. I'm really glad to have you here today. John, thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview. 

[00:00:37] John DeDakis: Thank you, Laura. 

[00:00:40] Laura Williams: Now, I do have some questions lined up, but one of the first ones I want to ask you about is: what about the experiences that you've had in your life? How have they influenced you, not just as an author, but in your own writing business and having a successful business? 

[00:01:00] John DeDakis: I think when we're talking about writing, to be a good writer means you need to know yourself. The better you know yourself, the better you'll be as a writer because you're coming from a place of personal authenticity. We all have plenty of experiences in our lives based on the conversations we've had, the experiences we've had, the books we've read, and the movies we've seen. All that stuff is bubbling under. When you write, it's like dipping a straw into your subconscious; you ask the "what if" questions and you start to listen to the voice that shows up. 

My experience is really accessible for anyone. In my experience, I've had grief and loss, and also plenty of success in journalism and in writing as well. It's a jumble. We draw from the good and the bad in our lives, and I think that's true for anyone. 

[00:02:19] Laura Williams: I think that's true for any field that we're in—the way that we communicate with people, the way we present ourselves, and also what we take out of experiences that change us fundamentally. Hopefully, it makes us better people. 

[00:02:35] John DeDakis: The choice is ours. 

[00:02:38] Laura Williams: Isn't it though? So, all this experience that you have... you're teaching now, which is just an amazing thing. I'm a big fan of teaching. That's why I do the podcast—I want people to learn how to run their businesses better. But what do you get out of teaching? As far as who you are, what does it bring to you as a person? And what do you feel you give to the students? 

[00:03:14] John DeDakis: I'm glad you asked the question that way, because what I get out of it is not a lot of money. There is a financial reward, but I think what's even more rewarding is the connection that I can have with other people. 

I especially like connecting with people who have a desire to write but don't feel they have the ability, or they feel they have the ability but they're just overwhelmed by the process and don't understand all the moving parts. What's gratifying is to be able to connect with people and help them see that what they desire to do is really accessible and possible. 

[00:03:59] Laura Williams: On that note, let's go back to editing for a little bit. If a novelist comes to you—they have worked really hard on this book and they need an editor—what are the first things you ask them, and how do you help them through the process? It can be difficult being edited. I've talked to so many editors and they have so many different processes that I'm always interested to find out how you work. 

[00:04:47] John DeDakis: The editor-writer relationship is a conversation. It's important for me to get a better sense of where the person is in the process. Do they understand the business? Do they understand storytelling? What are their goals? Do they want to get traditionally published, get an agent, or are they more interested in self-publishing or publishing with a hybrid company? 

No matter what their goals are, there are certain fundamentals involved in the writing process. A lot of people make rookie mistakes because they aren't necessarily familiar with a long-form project. Part of it is teaching—letting them know this is the way it has to be done or spelled. 

Part of it is subjective. A story can be told a gazillion different ways. The question is: what works? What works for me may not work for someone else. When I'm making suggestions on changes, they are suggestions, and I tell them why I think it should be changed. In the end, it's their choice because it's their story. 

It's a two-way street. It's not fun to be edited, especially if you've been working with a manuscript for months or years. The more deeply involved you are, the more connected you are emotionally. When someone says, "That's not working for me," it can be a stab in the heart. You have to say what you mean without being mean when you say it. I try to find ways to diplomatically and sometimes humorously do some guiding. But you can't please everybody. 

[00:07:11] Laura Williams: I'm sure it's a struggle sometimes as an editor when people bring you work initially. A lot of people have these ideas for stories in their heads, and it may be a wonderful idea, but they are not good at the mechanics of building that story. Then they go to an editor and the editor says, "The premise is there, but you need to go back and learn how to tell a story." That's a hard thing to say. 

[00:07:42] John DeDakis: It really is. A lot of times, the people who come to me have gone to writers' conferences and taken classes, so they really do have an understanding of the fundamentals. It's easier to edit them. I work with people at all levels—some are very advanced, some have come back multiple times and gotten better over time, and some are basically blank slates. 

There are different types of edits. If a person is not an experienced writer, my suggestion is not to hire me to do a deep-dive copyedit. That is time-consuming and expensive. My suggestion is to let me see what the story is and how it works. I can identify a lot of problems that way without getting into the weeds with semicolons. 

[00:08:44] Laura Williams: Like a developmental editor. I agree with that. I'm working on a five-book series, and I'm much happier with books two and three than I am with book one. I'm having to rewrite book one, which is a nightmare.  I'm really struggling with it; I have to sit down and just start from scratch completely. 

[00:09:10] John DeDakis: The thing that's significant is that you know it needs work. You've got more experience now, and you're being honest with yourself about how it holds up to what you consider to be the gold standard of writing. 

[00:09:27] Laura Williams: I learned a lot during that first book. I didn't repeat those mistakes so much in the second or third, but we'll see when I take it to a developmental editor. I have to get the first book right, or the others are going to be in its shadow. I'm not sure about traditional publishing yet. I would have to have a developmental editor go through it before my brain even starts on that kind of process. I've studied the benefits of both, but I have to be sure it has a chance that someone would look at it seriously first. 

[00:10:43] John DeDakis: If you want to get a book published in this day and age, that's not a problem. Getting traditionally published is more of a challenge because there are about 10,000 books being published every day. Agents are getting queries from about 150 people a day. But if you are serious about your craft, that will bring your writing to a professional level. 

[00:11:11] Laura Williams: I'm also in a saturated genre because I do romantic fantasy fiction. That's a complication with a traditional publisher as well. I'm trying not to think about it! Let me ask you some questions about your series. Tell me about when you started writing it. Has it been a long process, or something you put yourself through quickly? How did you face publishing your work? 

[00:12:03] John DeDakis: I started writing fiction when I was at CNN writing nonfiction. I needed a creative outlet because being an editor was tedious and I'd been a reporter. Back in 1994, I started teaching myself how to write fiction. It took 10 years to get the agent that I've got. The manuscript went through 14 major revisions, and my agent is the 39th agent that I queried. We're still together after 20 years and six novels, with a seventh on the way. 

It was a long process, but I felt that I could get published traditionally. The manuscript kept getting better and I kept being hopeful that it would land, and it did. I had self-publishing in my back pocket as a possibility, and this was 20 years ago when self-publishing wasn't nearly as ubiquitous as it is now. 

I write as a 20-something young woman. It's the same protagonist and helper character through all six novels. I'm not under the gun to write a novel every nine months; it usually takes me one every two years or so. I've got procrastination mastered; that's part of the process. 

They are mystery, suspense thrillers, and journalism is a backdrop of all of them because you write what you know. I was in journalism for 45 years, covered the White House when Reagan was president, and was at CNN for 25 years. Grief and loss are also subplots. In the very first book, Lark finds the body of the aunt who raised her, and it's based on my sister's suicide in 1980. Grief attaches itself to Lark as she goes forward in the series. 

[00:14:41] Laura Williams: I have a book that I started years ago and it's really good. But I'm stuck halfway through it because it is about a little girl who is murdered, and the middle part is her funeral. Being a mom and a grandma, it's just difficult emotionally. Every time I try to write around it, but I'm a linear person. 

[00:15:21] John DeDakis: Can I make a suggestion? This comes up a lot in my teaching. Our society tries to get people to anesthetize the pain. As writers and journalists, it's important to move toward the pain. It's painful, but that will make your writing more authentic. It will not only be a catharsis for you, but I think it'll also lance a boil emotionally for your reader as well. 

It's going to be hard. When I wrote Pull It in the Chamber, my fourth novel—which was influenced by my son's death in 2011 from a heroin overdose—I cried the whole time I wrote it. I still cry when I read parts of it. Crying is healthy; it's an emotional safety valve. I encourage you to go there. Be gentle with yourself and give yourself plenty of time. You don't have to rush the process, but my hunch is that it'll be a better story. 

[00:16:33] Laura Williams: I think you're right. I'll give that some thought. John, thank you so much. Everyone who has read the beginning part of that book says it's so good, so I have to do something with it. 

You said with teaching, you don't make lots of money. I encourage authors to have a variety of income streams so that you have a good living but are able to still do the things you love. How have you done that? 

[00:17:27] John DeDakis: That's an excellent question. I was a journalist for 45 years, which means there's no business involved as far as being a reporter is concerned. I never thought about it in terms of being a business, so I've been learning as I go. It's important to do what you're good at and what you love; when you do those things, the income will show up. 

To give you a couple of examples, I was still at CNN in Atlanta and one of my colleagues had a memoir she was working on and hired me to edit it. I was an editor, but not a book-length editor. She paid me—not a lot, and I didn't charge a lot because I didn't know if I knew what I was doing—but she was happy and brought the rewrite back to me. Gradually, I learned to be a manuscript editor. 

When my first novel came out, I would go to writers' conferences. Once you're traditionally published, you have some credibility. Someone asked me to give their 150,000-word tome a "quick read." With me, there's no such thing as a quick read, so that's when I started to monetize it and charge more. By trial and error, I became a better manuscript editor. 

Then my wife suggested I should do coaching. People can put me on a retainer and I respond to their questions on an as-needed basis. They pay for a certain amount of time and use it strategically, whether they need me to read a chapter or just give them a pep talk. 

I also put together writing classes that I teach online and, before COVID, in person at writing centers like The Writer's Center in Bethesda, The Loft in Minneapolis, and The Muse in Norfolk. The more experienced I got as a writer and editor, the more I became aware of other people trying to do the same thing. I expanded my reach and now I'm a writing coach, manuscript editor, and writing teacher. I have a podcast, and while I'm not trying to monetize that, it helps people get their books out there and gives me more visibility. 

Most recently, I realized that over 20 years and six novels dealing with grief and loss, I've learned how to help people use writing as a way to heal. Now I do keynote addresses to grief organizations and writing groups, and I teach manuscript writing geared toward healing from grief. It's a more specialized area that reaches a much wider audience. 

[00:22:19] Laura Williams: That's so interesting. Overall, it's just your love of writing and the written word that has led into this life. Since you're doing so many things in the same ballpark, it sounds like you're living the life you wanted to live. 

[00:22:35] John DeDakis: I really am. I'm living a life that I never knew existed. Before I became a journalist, I was going to be President of the United States. For the good of the country, I went in a different direction and chose journalism instead.  I wanted to cover the White House for CBS News; I ended up covering the White House, but not for CBS. Goals shift over time. 

It's not just the written word because we are connectors. Part of the stories we tell have to do with people in relationships with each other—whether those relationships are good or, in the case of mysteries and thrillers, not so good. Being a human being means being able to write, but also being able to communicate and interact on a personal level. That's where the coaching and teaching come in. I'm using all of the skill sets I've got, including being in relationship with other people through writing and talking. 

[00:24:12] Laura Williams: I had a major health crisis years ago that made me really stop and think. At the time, I still had kids at home, my grandson lived with me, and there were five people in my house who depended on me. I had to figure out what I was going to do going forward to reinvent myself. Now, I'm in a position to reap what I've sown and do what I truly love to do—talking to people like you, being involved with other writers and publishers, and constantly learning. 

[00:25:25] John DeDakis: I would imagine a lot of it was trial and error. Am I right? 

[00:25:29] Laura Williams: Oh yes. I have my own business now that has two pillars: I produce podcasts for other people, and I do web design. It took me a while to get there.  I tried several things; I did graphic design and wrote hundreds of articles for content writing. All those skills still come into play with everything I do. 

[00:26:09] John DeDakis: There is no wasted time on the way. Whether it's victorious or a failure, you're still learning. The people who truly find what they're supposed to be are open to learning. If you're not open to learning, you're just going to sit where you are. Fear can be a big impediment. 

[00:26:37] Laura Williams: It can. John, I've taken up enough of your time today. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming on. The advice you gave me is going to see me forward. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure. Maybe we'll do this again sometime. 

[00:27:01] John DeDakis: That will be good. Thanks very much for the opportunity. It was good to talk to you. 

[00:27:04] Laura Williams: You can learn more about John and his endeavors at joh.com, and I'll share his socials in the show notes. To learn more about the podcast, visit thewritingbiz.com. Sign up on the website to be the first to learn about new episodes and much more. Don't forget to hit like, share, and subscribe. Until next time, take what you've learned and put it to work in your own writing biz.

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