In this solo, podcast‑style YouTube episode, author Paige Finn Doherty—creator of the children’s book Seed to Harvest, which demystifies venture capital—shares the six books that have most profoundly influenced her writing voice and craft. She begins by introducing herself and the purpose of the episode, then walks through each title: 1. The Art and Business of Online Writing by Nicholas Cole – praised for its viral‑writing journey, client‑acquisition frameworks, and idea‑generation techniques. 2. On Writing Well by William Zinsser – a repeatedly‑read classic that taught her about clear nonfiction, writing about people and places, and treating nonfiction as literature. 3. Joan Didion’s essay “On Self‑Respect” from Marching Towards Bethlehem – highlighted for its sharp, critical observation and honest self‑reflection, which reshaped her narrative tone. 4. On Writing by Stephen King – noted for its self‑deprecating humor and reassurance that even top writers face difficulty, providing comfort and humility. 5. Am I There Yet? The Loop‑De‑Loop Zingzagging Journey to Adulthood by Marie Andrew – inspired her to incorporate doodles and visual storytelling into her work, influencing the playful style of Seed to Harvest. 6. Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami – offered candid reflections on a writer’s weaknesses, growth, and existential longing, reinforcing a thoughtful, honest approach to craft. Paige intersperses personal anecdotes, quotes, and reactions (including laughing at Didion’s passage) to illustrate each book’s impact. She concludes by thanking producer Riley Jennings and editor Tate Doherty, invites listeners to follow her on Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and to subscribe to the Seed to Harvest channel for weekly episodes, and encourages ratings and reviews. The episode serves both as a curated reading list for aspiring writers and a window into how diverse literary influences shape a modern author’s voice.
Chapters
I lost the conviction that lights would always turn green for me, the pleasant certainty that those rather passive virtues which had won me approval as a child automatically guaranteed me not only Phi Beta Kappa keys, but happiness, honor, and the love of a good man. Lost a certain touching faith in the totem power of good manners, clean hair, and proven competence on the Stanford-Binet scale. To such doubtful amulets had my self-respect been pinned, and I faced myself that day with a non-close Apprehension of someone who has come across a vampire and has no crucifix at hand. Hi, my name is Paige Doherty, and today I'm going to be sharing the 6 books that really impacted the way that I write. I am an author. I wrote this book called Seed to Harvest. It's a children's book about venture capital. Really passionate about basically sharing Why I think venture is so unique and interesting with folks who might not come from traditional backgrounds or have a misconception that venture is a bunch of like old dudes smoking cigars in mahogany library. So with that being said, let's get into it. Okay, the first one. This is a book written by my friend Nicholas Cole. It's called *The Art and Business of Online Writing: How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention*. Personally, I come from a more like traditional writing background. I really loved my like AP English, Lit, and Lang classes, and that's where I. take a lot of my inspiration from writing. But I will say that he does a fabulous job talking about his journey going viral online, how it brought him clients, like the specific frameworks that he uses. And he also has some really good frameworks for generating ideas. So I'll link all of these in the description below as well. Okay. And the next one, a classic on writing well by William Zissner. I Love this book so much. I must have reread it like 7 times. I don't know if you can see like how many pages are like bookmarked in here, but I think there's some really interesting thoughts on like writing about people, writing about places, nonfiction as literature, which speaking of nonfiction as literature, the queen, Joan Didion. Joan Didion shaped my writing style so much. She has this particular sharpness and clarity of observing people and places and writing with like a criticality that I hadn't seen before. I think I've read a lot of books that come from a very like positive place, and I think what made Joan Didion so special was really her commitment to keeping a level of like criticality and almost like objectivity over her life. So, Marching Towards Bethlehem is a collection of essays, and I think one of my favorites from her— oh, already have a bookmark there— is called On Self-Respect. And she talks about how she didn't get into this honor society, and she was— she— I'll read you a passage. She said, I lost the conviction that lights would always turn green for me, the pleasant certainty that those rather passive virtues which had won me approval as a child automatically guaranteed me not only by Beta Kappa keys, but happiness, honor, and the love of a good man. Lost to certain touching faith in the totem power of good manners, clean hair, and proven competence on the Stanford-Binet scale. To such doubtful amulets had my self-respect been pinned, and I faced myself that day with a non-close apprehension of someone who has come across a vampire and has no crucifix at hand. I think This, for me, I, I like, I think it's meant to be a serious passage, but I literally laughed out loud at it because she was so honest about how an experience in her life that had seemed like trivial at the moment really shifted her perspective. And I think a lot of her criticality honestly comes from her being like, okay, the lights aren't always gonna turn green for me. And like, Not everything is gonna go as anticipated. Okay, the next one, Stephen King on Writing. I have gotten recommended this book like 7 or 8 times before I actually sat down and read it, but I really enjoyed how Stephen King is like an absolutely prolific writer, amazing work, and the book was so self-deprecating to the point where I was laughing out loud at some of the points that he made. And I, I feel like it was just so comforting to be like, okay, here's someone like at the top of their craft and he's just like, you know what, this shit is hard sometimes. So that's my next one. This one, Am I There Yet? The Loop-De-Loop Zingzagging Journey to Adulthood by Marie Andrew. This book helped inspire me to write Seed to Harvest. I think before I hadn't really appreciated doodling as Like an actual thing. I was kind of just like, okay, like I love like childish doodles, whatever. But I think now, like seeing her writing, she very much like— I just, it's so nice to see something like this where she's just vibing and like doodling all of these things. This is like first day at a new job. She draws the clock. And oh, another bookmark. Ooh, this one's cool. It's from Barcelona. And I think that I really loved her approach to incorporating like doodles and drawings, um, into her work. As you can see, this is like a very well-loved book. It's like tearing at the edges. I've taken this like everywhere. Great beach read. The last one is by Haruki Murakami, Novelist as a Vocation. I read a lot of Um, Murakami's work. I think he was my introduction into Japanese literature, which, if you're not familiar, basically goes like you read a 150-page book and like the whole time you're like, I'm with it, I get it. And then you get to the last page and you're like, what is my life? Who am I as a person? Like existential crisis. And he writes so beautifully about longing. If you've read Norwegian Wood, I read Killing Commentaries actually on my bookshelf as well, but I think I think that his book on writing was really great. I feel like it's— you get to a certain point as a writer and you're like legally obligated to write a book on writing, and he had gotten to that point. So I, I liked like he admitted that there's like weakness in it. And, and so he talked about how like, so that's how I go about writing my novels. Some people really like them and others don't. It takes all kinds. I myself am far from satisfied with things I wrote in the past. I am keenly aware of how much better they could be if I, if only I wrote them today. That's why I pick them up only if I absolutely must. They contain so many weaknesses. At the same time, I am sure that they were the best I could do at that time. That's because I know the absolute effort that went into them. I spent as much time as I needed, and I exerted all the strength that I had. So I think this is a really powerful lesson to understand that when you're writing, you're gonna look back and be like, dang, that like was not my best. But you have to put it in the context of like who you were at the time. Like obviously you'll grow and develop as a writer. But yeah, these are some of my favorite books that inspired me as a writer. I know this is like a little bit different than the videos that I usually do, but let me know if you like it. Because I love talking about books. So yeah, okay, bye!
Special thank you to producer Riley Jennings and podcast editor Tate Doherty for your help on this episode. If you're listening and you'd like to connect with me, follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn, Paige Finn with 3 N's. Thanks again for listening, I really appreciate it. You can look out for new episodes every Monday at 5 PM PST. And if you'd like to learn more about the strategies and tactics of seasoned institutional investors and rising venture stars, check out our YouTube channel at Seed to Harvest. Also, my TikTok channel is Seed to Harvest, where I post a lot of behind the scenes. And if you like this episode, please rate and review this podcast wherever you get your podcasts. That's on Apple or Spotify. Anyways, thank you so much for listening. I hope you have an awesome rest of your day.
