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Explore every episode of the podcast Memoir Nation

Dive into the complete episode list for Memoir Nation. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

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TitlePub. DateDuration
Structure and Form, featuring Jane Alison02 Sep 202400:41:06
We kick off a new season with the brilliant Jane Alison and a wide-ranging conversation about form and structure in fiction and memoir. Brooke and Grant were so inspired by Meander, Spiral, Explode, Jane’s her book about craft and the theory of writing, that this episode is dedicated to the ideas around structure and form that are at the heart of that book. This is a nerdy, writerly deep dive to welcome listeners to a new season. Also of note is a new feature, Substackin’, which will be rounding out each episode this season. This week’s Substackin’ is inspired by Brooke’s post. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
New Ways of Thinking About Memoir, featuring Maggie Smith and Shze-Hui Tjoa26 Aug 202400:54:28
For our final summer round up of our favorite shows, Write-minded chose Maggie Smith and Shze-Hui Tjoa, highlighting two bright lights in the Memoirsphere who are elevating the genre and showcasing new ways of thinking about memoir. It’s an exciting time to be a memoirist and a memoir reader, and if you missed these two interviews the first time around—or even if you didn’t—make sure to catch the insights and inspiration of these two groundbreaking writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Breaking New Ground in Memoir, featuring Shze-Hui Tjoa24 Jun 202400:42:24
Write-minded is celebrating memoir as an evolving form this week, tackling the difference between imaginative writing in memoir and writing in memoir that might not be true. Memoir is increasingly embodying its rightful spot in the realm of creative nonfiction, in that there’s allowance for writers to explore ideas and truths within the realms of creative devices, imagined conversations, different points of view, and more—and yet how do we keep that within the container of Truth? Listen in to this episode to find out more, and to hear from a rising talent, guest Shze-Hui Tjoa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On Writing and Selling Trauma, featuring Stephanie Foo05 Sep 202200:40:02
In her profound and moving new memoir, What My Bones Know, guest Stephanie Foo writes about trauma, and about a diagnosis of Complex PTSD that is lacking first-person narratives. In this week’s episode, the first of Write-minded’s fifth year, co-hosts Brooke and Grant talk about why trauma is a slippery subject to sell to publishers, and why Stephanie’s book is a breakthrough kind of memoir that paves the way for more of these kinds of narratives in the future. Stephanie is an insightful guest, offering valuable tips for how to write trauma and sharing how this was a book she had to write, and some of the considerations and fears she faced on the memoir journey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How to Follow Your Passions When the Creative Expression Feels Elusive, featuring Charlie Jane Anders and Azar Nafisi29 Aug 202200:33:11
In our final summer episode, we bring you two voices of advocacy in an episode that will both stoke your passions and remind you to be gentle with yourself at the same time. Guests Charlie Jane Anders and Azar Nafisi both speak to why we must write our truths, pay attention, bear witness, and remember the power of one person’s voice and words to save and change lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Emotional Expression Is as Scary and Important as You Think It Is, featuring Erica Jong and Lilly Dancyger22 Aug 202200:35:35
This week Write-minded revisits two powerful interviews in which guests Erica Jong and Lilly Dancyger shared with us about the power of emotion on the page. Erica Jong’s work has often centered fear and desire while Lilly Dancyger’s work has circled anger. Both women share the power of unlocking emotion on the page, and touch upon the ways in which women are expected to be more confined in their emotional expression. This is exactly why it’s so important to feel those emotions and express them on the page, and these two authors give the absolute permission to do so, and model how in their wonderful works of fiction and nonfiction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Using Subtext and Omission to Achieve More by Writing Less, featuring EJ Koh and Charmaine Wilkerson15 Aug 202200:39:24
This week’s episode is chock-full of craft tips and ideas for thinking about the subtle art of subtext and omission, featuring two of our favorite craft episodes from the past year. E.J. Koh and Charmaine Wilkerson will help you think about what to leave out, how to help your readers read between the lines, and why these craft techniques are an exercise in building trust with your readers. Two excellent writers on two important craft points that create more depth and sophistication when it comes to storytelling and scene-writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For the Love of Fantasy, featuring Kwame Mbalia and Namina Forna08 Aug 202200:40:04
In this week’s remembrances of some of the best episodes of the past year, we’re highlighting fantasy’s importance as a genre with guests Kwame Mbalia and Namina Forna. There’s so much goodness packed in here—about process, about why we write, about inspirations, and some fabulous tips for staying the course even when you feel like you don’t have the time. This isn’t so much an episode about fantasy as it is about writing intentionally and infusing meaning into genre writing just as you would any writing you do.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Writing Intimate Truths, featuring Ashley C. Ford and Melissa Febos01 Aug 202200:38:52
All August we’re celebrating with our favorite guests of the past year—but with a fresh take on the topic at hand and a new book trend. This week’s episode basks in the smart, intimate, and insightful energy of Ashley C. Ford and Melissa Febos, two wonderful memoirists who share about writing intimate truths. Brooke gives her take on why memoir is a force that’s changing the culture, and we celebrate Grant’s latest side gig, the Reality TV project “America’s Next Great Author”—which we’re excited to share about on this week’s show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Collaborative Force of Anthologies, featuring Stephanie Raffelock25 Jul 202200:40:24
Anthologies date all the way back to the Renaissance and earlier, when important works of various authors were collected and bound. This week, Brooke and Grant discuss the modern anthology—what kinds of works lend themselves to collections and what publishers are looking for. Guest Stephanie Raffelock joins the show to discuss her latest book, Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis, a joint project with She Writes Press that collects the work of 80+ She Writes Press authors and which emerged from the premise Stephanie posed in her call for submissions—that art can and will carry us, even save us, during turbulent times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Straddling Lusciousness and Social Consciousness in Romance, featuring Angelina Lopez18 Jul 202200:37:15
Romance often gets the short-shrift for being not a serious genre, or for being a guilty pleasure—and yet, it’s the best-selling genre there is. Which is why Grant and Brooke chose to explore with Angelina Lopez, touching upon the sexiness of romance, yes, but also the fact that it’s so much more than that. Romance can be socially conscious, and importantly—there’s romance out there for every kind of reader. Listen in to open your horizons to new reading experiences, or if you’re already a big romance lover, to be nodding your head, knowing you’ve been on the money all along. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Executing Funny in Memoir with One of the Most Celebrated Cartoonists of Our Time, featuring David Sipress11 Jul 202200:30:30
Do you have to be a comedian or a humorist to execute funny in memoir? We don’t think so—and this episode tackles how humor shows up in the everyday, in universal experiences, and through the journey of looking inward. Guest David Sipress, whose New Yorker cartoons are recognizable worldwide, talks about his own insecurities in approaching memoir and how he worked through them, how he mines for funny, and shares with us some insight about his cartoonist brain. You’re in for a treat—and Grant is holding out for a cartoon portrait to arrive in his mail any day now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Genre-Blending and Bending, featuring Barbara Graham04 Jul 202200:35:33
We’re having fun this holiday week talking about genre-blending and bending, and why it’s fun and freeing, but also often problematic from an industry standpoint when stories are not easily categorized. Join Brooke and Grant this week in their conversation with Barbara Graham, a long-time nonfiction writer who breaks the mold with her debut novel, and shares about how intuitive her process was, and how and why she was compelled to write the story that became her book, What Jonah Knew. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Big Novel, featuring Garth Risk Hallberg17 Jun 202400:46:53
This week we take on The Big Novel and unpack our thoughts on novel length, the very concept of The Great American Novel, advances, and more. Guest Garth Risk Hallberg joins us to talk about his own long works of fiction, as well as his writing process that involves seeing where his characters want to take him. We touch upon characterization vs. plot, the nature of long stories, and finding what motivates your characters in fiction. There's a lot to take away from this episode, so tune in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Making and Finding Meaning, featuring Kathryn Schulz27 Jun 202200:37:34
This week’s episode brings to the fore why meaning in all its outward, bigger-than-a-single-individual forms is so profound in writing. The notion that your story is broader than your limited experience is something memoirists know, but too often fail to fully execute on the page. Kathryn Schulz is a master of this form. Tune in to hear about what Brooke calls “litle-T takeaway” and the conversation that ensues with Kathryn, whose recent book, Lost & Found, offers up so much for discussion and emulation.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Power of Omission, featuring Charmaine Wilkerson20 Jun 202200:38:41
Omission—it’s something writers understand as meaningful to story, but don’t often execute well on the page. In this week’s episode, guest Charmaine Wilkerson offers solid pointers on how to think about omission and why it will make your writing more meaningful. Join Grant and Brooke for this week’s craft-based conversation on the power of omission as we consider some of the best books we’ve read lately that do omission well. We’ll also explore human behavior—like lying, secret-keeping, betrayal, cheating, protecting, and more—that lends itself to exploring omission more deeply. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Changing Your Life Story, featuring Linda Holmes13 Jun 202200:35:13
Write-minded is celebrating Episode #200 and a move to be part of the Lit Hub Radio family this week with guest Linda Holmes, host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, who joins Grant and Brooke to talk about her recent novel, imposter syndrome, and following the path life offers up. This episode is a celebration of shape-shifting and getting bitten by the novel bug—with a fun guest who knows a thing or two about writing, podcasting, and changing your life story—all while going with the flow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Writing from Inside Your Industry, featuring Zakiya Dalila Harris06 Jun 202200:43:38
Write-minded is honored to be celebrating a few milestones this week—with guest Zakiya Dalila Harris’s paperback release and our announcement that starting next week, we are joining the Lit Hub Radio family! It’s a perfect episode to talk about publishing, since Zakiya’s novel, The Other Black Girl, points a finger at the industry—and because there’s so much else to say. Also, since this week’s book trend spotlights DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), we draw your attention in the show to the Independent Book Publishers Association’s DEI Resource Center: https://www.ibpa-online.org/page/dei-resource-center Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Reading Dangerously, featuring Azar Nafisi30 May 202200:38:52
This week’s episode inspires and challenges and encourages all of us to embrace the magic of subversive reading. This conversation with Azar Nafisi, the best-selling author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, about her new book, Read Dangerously, is a reminder of what’s at stake for us right now in the US, why we need to engage and not check out, or worse, employ the same tactics as extremists in the fight for democracy. Tune in for an episode that’s political and urgent and necessary—and if you’re not reading dangerously, make the next book on your reading list a subversive one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Imagining and Reconstructing in Memoir, featuring Julie Metz23 May 202200:37:24
This week we’re focusing on how to step into the point of view of another character in memoir. Increasingly memoirists are wanting to take risks with memoir, to fill holes in their knowledge but not be relegated to writing fiction. Guest Julie Metz provides a beautiful template for how to do this with her new memoir, Eva and Eve, which reconstructs her family’s 1940 escape from Vienna when Hitler was annexing Austria and ridding it of its Jewish population. Beyond a harrowing and beautifully rendered tale of family, Eva and Eve is a story of how history repeats itself and the legacies we carry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Skinny on Book Coaching, featuring Jennie Nash16 May 202200:37:42
This week we’re looking at book coaching—who might need one, why you might want one, or maybe you even want to become one. Guest Jennie Nash has resources and answers for anyone in this space because she trains book coaches through her Author Accelerator program, and has an incredible stable of coaches that authors can work with. So much good food for thought this week! Also, in today’s book trend on hybrid publishing, we mentioned Jane Friedman’s recent article, “IMHO: A Nuanced Look at Hybrid Publishers,” which you can find here: https://hotsheetpub.com/2022/05/imho-a-nuanced-look-at-hybrid-publishers/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Writing with Sensuality, featuring Leesa Cross-Smith09 May 202200:32:27
Sensual details, it’s said, make scenes come alive on the page. Today’s guest Leesa Cross-Smith is a master of the sensual, and you’ll see why when you listen to her interview. A listmaker, a word handler, a Janeite who owns 25 copies of Pride and Prejudice, Cross-Smith helps us think about the sensual and how to bring it to your awareness and to your writing. We touch upon form, too, short and long, and why sensual detail matters so much, no matter what you’re writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Writing What Terrifies You, featuring Ashley Woodfolk02 May 202200:33:33
Imagining the life you might have had. Assessing mistakes you undoubtedly made. Voicing the truth about your true feelings and desires. All terrifying, and all fodder for good storytelling. This week’s episode goes right to the heart of all that with guest Ashley Woodfolk, whose most recent book, Nothing Burns As Bright As You, is an exploration in verse of what might have been had she realized at an earlier age that she was gay. An interesting thought experiment for any writer to consider—whatever your what-if, Sliding Doors (you can catch it on Netflix) moment might have been. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Helping Books Remain a Vital Part of Our Culture, featuring Andy Hunter25 Apr 202200:36:49
If you’ve been listening to Write-minded for a while, you might know we have indie fever, and we hope our show is catching that way because “indie” is key to a thriving book ecosystem—which is exactly at the center of this week’s show. We’re joined by Bookshop.org founder and CEO Andy Hunter to talk about book culture, what “literary” means, and why we can’t trust Amazon when it comes to books—and what we as individuals can do to ensure books remain a vital part of our culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Remembering and Forgetting: The Refugee Journey, featuring Viet Thanh Nguyen10 Jun 202400:45:11
It’s Write-minded’s 300th episode! And we’re celebrating by bringing listeners the esteemed Viet Thanh Nguyen, whose novel, The Sympathizer, was adapted for HBO Max and started streaming in April. In this interview, Nguyen addresses didacticism as a craft choice, the mindset of writers who, like him, find themselves between two languages, and how his desire to capture the Vietnamese perspective on the Vietnam War (and more) made him a writer. Nguyen’s generosity and enthusiasm for his work and his craft shine through in every answer, and Write-minded is grateful to cap this milestone with such a beloved author and guest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Moral Ambiguity in Fiction, featuring Quentin Lee18 Apr 202200:27:07
In this week’s episode, Grant and Brooke probe at questions of moral ambiguity with guest Quentin Lee, whose new book, The Secret Diary of Edward Ng, is a sexual coming of age story set in the 1990s. Centering queerness and the Asian and Asian American experience, this work of short fiction is a meditation on otherness, and raises lots of good conversation about auto-fiction, what and how we explore with our fiction, and why staying true to the stories you want to tell is always better than writing to the market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
All About Book Festivals, featuring Cherilyn Parsons11 Apr 202200:32:16
This week’s show is a love letter to book festivals—and a conversation about why they matter, how authors can pitch themselves and get involved in local festivals, and what the considerations entail for those people who are behind the scenes organizing such festivals. This week’s guest, Cherilyn Parsons, is the founder and executive director of the Bay Area Book Festival based in Berkeley, California, and she’s interviewed by Brooke while Grant is away, who’s been a longtime board member and is the current Chairperson of the festival. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Setting Stories Free, featuring Caits Meissner and T Kira Madden04 Apr 202200:47:04
This week’s episode features the editor and a contributor to the new anthology, The Sentences That Create Us: Crafting A Writer’s Life in Prison. This book is at the heart of today’s interview as we explore the power of writing—and how it can set us free, literally and metaphorically. Editor Caits Meissner shares with us PEN America’s mission and vision, and why there’s a Prison and Justice Writing program there in the first place, while T Kira Mahealani Madden shares about how her life has been shaped by prison and what kinds of advocacy work is out there and why it matters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Probing the Line Between Insanity and Art, featuring Lee Kravetz28 Mar 202200:41:56
The idea that creativity and "madness" are connected has been around since humanity’s earliest days. As such, this notion of "suffering artists" often gets idealized, even romanticized. Psychotherapist and author Lee Kravetz shares his take on the correlation between mental illness and creativity in this week’s episode, in the context of his new book, The Last Confessions of Sylvia P., that explores the life of Sylvia Plath. Listen in to hear about the inspiration behind the novel, how he thought about mental illness in the book given the strides we've made since the 1950s in this arena, and much more. Also, today’s book trends include some upcoming PitchFests to check out online: APR 01 #CookiePitch; APR 14 #LGBTNPit; MAY 05 #APIPit; MAY #PitDark; JUN 23 #PitchDis; AUG #DVpit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tough-Love Marketing, featuring M.J. Rose21 Mar 202200:42:13
No author or aspiring author will want to miss this week’s episode with marketing guru M.J. Rose, who doles out some tough love about the realities of publicity and marketing. Though she calls herself the Voice of Doom, her message is surprisingly inspiring and reassuring, because the realities of this industry are twofold: it’s hard to sell books, and writing books is one of the most rewarding experiences there is. Rose is a wealth of information and advice, so you’ll want to bookmark this one and listen to it again and again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How We Think about Anger on the Page, featuring Lilly Dancyger14 Mar 202200:37:40
Rarely are writers encouraged to be angry on the page, and this is especially true for women writers of personal narratives. In this week’s episode, we’re exploring anger’s purpose in writing with guest Lilly Dancyger, who gives permission to lean into anger, and whose memoir, Negative Space, has, by Lilly’s own estimation, an angry central protagonist (her younger self) and an angry narrator (her older self). An important conversation for anyone who’s been told they’re too angry, or not to be angry, in their writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Can Writing Be Taught? featuring Lisa Stringfellow07 Mar 202200:36:08
In this week’s episode, Grant and Brooke tackle the question of whether writing can be taught—and why this is even a question that’s up for debate in the first place. Guest Lisa Stringfellow has a lot of great insights about the intersection of writing and teaching, what she’s learned about writing through her teaching, and the rewards of writing to an audience in the form of her students. We cover why reading is the most important portal we have to becoming better writers, the value of mentor texts, and the power of community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How We Think and Write about Intimate Experiences, featuring Melissa Febos28 Feb 202200:44:27
This week’s episode champions personal narrative, which is one of guest Melissa Febos’s primary goals in her new book, Body Work. We talk about why memoir needs badasses this week, and if ever there was one, it’s Melissa. An enlightening conversation that touches upon diary-writing, confession, secret-keeping, tell-alls, the essay, and memoir craft, any writer who thinks about writing (all of you!) should take in this interview—and be fortified by it. Check out the video we share in the Book Trend, a rad rap protesting banning books: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CZSjRmdj2Lp/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Art of Writing Forgiveness, featuring Ashley C. Ford21 Feb 202200:41:50
This week’s powerful episode features Ashley C. Ford, sharing about writing influences, forgiveness, and how superheroes influence her writing, among other topics. Ford has written one of the most powerful memoir scenes we’ve read in a long while, and she speaks to the process and evolution of that story and what she learned in the telling of it. Lots of inspiration in this interview, and we want to let you know that you can be with Ashley for The Heart of Memoir, April 5-May 10, where she’ll will be guest teaching about “the protagonist,” which in memoir is YOU. See more details at: https://magicofmemoir.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Writing to Make the World a Better Place, featuring Parker J. Palmer14 Feb 202200:47:19
In celebration of Valentine’s Day week, this week’s podcast honors heart-centeredness, and writing from the heart and with openness, and the inherent and implicit ways that makes the world a better place. Join Brooke and Grant to bask in the wisdom of Parker J. Palmer’s words on everything from welcoming the stranger, to what he loves about speaking, to the legacy of his friend and colleague, the great bell hooks. Please also check out Parker Palmer’s March 20 webinar, which is pay what you can and can be found at: https://couragerenewal.org/wpccr/events/divided-no-more-rejoining-our-inner-and-outer-lives-a-webinar-with-parker-j-palmer/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Behind the Scenes of Selling Books, featuring Josh Cook03 Jun 202400:46:08
This week’s episode is one for book lovers, book collectors, aspiring authors, and every kind of writer. It’s always helpful to know what booksellers know—because bookstores do so much more than just provide a place for browsing and buying books. Join us to talk with Josh Cook of  Porter Square Books about his new book, The Art of Libromancy, and why bookselling is political, what authors should think about when speaking to booksellers, and what you need to know about Amazon and Bookshop and the landscape of buying books. Plus, Grant and Brooke swap stories about their time working in bookstores, and Brooke promised to share in the show notes a link to her essay about her months spent working (and bunking) at Shakespeare & Co. in Paris in 1999. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Drama of Friendships, featuring Jean Chen Ho07 Feb 202200:40:31
Friendship is often the backdrop of story, but rarely is it centered. In this week’s episode Grant and Brooke name some of their favorite books where friendship is centerstage, as is the case with guest Jean Chen Ho’s new novel, Fiona and Jane. Friendship, like love affairs, offer such rich territory to explore interpersonal dynamics, how friends show up (and don’t) in our lives over time, and how we invariably feel mixed emotions toward our friends. An important episode for considering the rendering of friendships on the page—centerstage or not. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Research Is Not Just for Facts, featuring Margaret Verble31 Jan 202200:36:04
In this week’s episode we’re exploring the idea of experiential research, of soul research, of the kind of writing that involves the body, the heart, and the soul as much as the mind. Guest Margaret Verble shares with us how writing fiction is a way for her to keep the dead alive, to have conversations with those who have passed on. Her easy connection to the past and her family line is inviting in that she suggests what you “know” doesn’t necessarily involve research—and it’s all a continuum anyway. We were inspired to think about what lives in our cells, and serendipity of certain stories and how they show up, and what it looks like to write the stories that land in your lap, or show up calling your name. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Out in the Open about Erotica, featuring Rachel Kramer Bussel24 Jan 202200:38:39
Sex sells—and sex writing shows up in countless genres beyond just erotica. So while we’re focusing on erotica this week with guest Rachel Kramer Bussel, who’s edited more than 70 erotica anthologies, we’re also talking about sex writing more generally—the history of erotic literature, why erotica collections tend to be anthologies rather than single-author books, and some tips to think about if and when you come to the page to write your own sex scenes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Risk It Like You Mean It, featuring Angela Engel17 Jan 202200:43:26
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Borrowing from Mythic Structures, with Michelle Ruiz Keil10 Jan 202200:34:02
This week’s episode starts by addressing some of the burnout lots of us are feeling with yet another phase of the pandemic among other crises. And yet, because Write-Minded is committed to bringing you doses of inspiration each week, this week we’re talking with Michelle Ruiz Keil about changing up your routine, borrowing (in this case from mythic structures), and even rethinking or reworking your existing content with fresh ideas. Also, we’re wishing for our listeners all the REs: revitalization, re-emergence, resets, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Gift of Multitudes of Perspectives, featuring Farah Ali03 Jan 202200:34:20
This week’s episode with Farah Ali dives into perspectives, and how short stories open up so many portals for writers and readers alike—and yet, short story writers will always be pressured to write a novel next. Ali is one of those writers who knew she wanted to be a writer since she was very young—and though she was encouraged, she also faced the obstacle of where her stories are set, in Pakistan, and people’s assumptions about her culture. Lucky for readers, her new collection, People Want to Live, challenges those assumptions, as does Farah herself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ringing in the New Year with Book-to-Film Recs!27 Dec 202100:12:36
Happy New Year to all—and get ready for some film recommendations from Brooke and Grant this week. Why? Because after putting out a call for favorite memoirs-turned-movies, 100 responses flowed in, offering up some exciting options for kicking back this holiday season with your Netflix subscription and a mug of hot chocolate. Today’s book trend references the Netflix Book Club, and you can find the URL mentioned here: https://www.julesbuono.com/netflix-book-club. Thank you and goodbye, 2021! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Conviction—When You Know Your Story Resonates, featuring Alka Joshi13 Dec 202100:39:47
This week we’re talking about conviction—and why it’s something writers generally start their writing journeys with, but which tends to get a bit eroded along the path to publication. This week’s guest, Alka Joshi, reinvented herself after sixty with her debut novel, The Henna Artist—a book that started with plenty of conviction, and also needed passion and perseverance on Alka’s part to get to the finish line. And what an extraordinary result. This fun and upbeat interview is inspiring and hopeful—and reminds us of a truth that how we write is how we live our lives, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Fear and Desire, featuring Erica Jong06 Dec 202100:29:50
This week’s guest, Erica Jong, burst onto the cultural and literary scene in 1973 with her debut novel, Fear of Flying. In the nearly five decades since, her work has circled the themes of fear and desire—subjects that anchor this week’s show. What a treat to hear from one of our foremost feminist legends about what drove her to the page in the early ’70s, about the legacy of her own body of work, and how important it is for women to write their desires. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Migration as an Essential Shared Story, featuring Shanthi Sekaran29 Nov 202100:33:39
This week we ask you to consider the places in your own life where you’ve experienced migrations—whether you’re an immigrant or your family has been in the same place for generations. We all experience migrations throughout our lives, in the form of life events, identities, and movements across time and place—and this week’s guest, Shanthi Sekaran, has much to say on this all-important topic and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Be the Change You Want To See, featuring Dhonielle Clayton27 May 202400:45:53
In this week’s extra-inspiring show, guest Dhonielle Clayton treats us to a generous conversation about effecting change in the industry and how that inevitable comes with backlash. We talk about representation in publishing, Penguin Random House’s recent firing of two high-profile publishers, and book bans—among other important topics, like packaging and IP and how kids seeing characters that look like them in fiction opens up unimagined possibilities for their futures. We also encourage you to check out the work being done at We Need Diverse Books as supplemental to this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Challenging Your Perspective on the Journey to Getting Published, featuring Bella Mahaya Carter22 Nov 202100:33:50
This week’s episode is for anyone seeking that elusive thing called peace of mind when it comes to the writing, publishing, or promotion part of getting a book out into the world. Inspirational and straight-talking, guest Bella Mahaya Carter shares how she learned to let go of what she thought she wanted from traditional publishing to spread her wings as an author who’s writing and publishing on her own terms, and with peace of mind. A perfect episode to conclude the final days of NaNoWriMo, and as we face the pressures of the holidays and ambitions for 2022. Just breathe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why Retelling Stories Is Always an Act of Creation, featuring Kwame Mbalia15 Nov 202100:35:55
Retelling stories—family tales, myths, fairytales, and stories of all sorts—is always an act of creation because of what you, the author, bring to the telling. In this week’s fun interview, guest Kwame Mbalia speaks to inspiration, living with your characters, who he’s inspired by, and why he’s doing NaNoWriMo for the fifth year in a row. Don’t miss it—and we’re cheering you along if you’re writing every day this November. You got this! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Owning Your Authority as an Author, featuring J. Allen Cross08 Nov 202100:34:52
This week’s witchy, crafty, spell-binding episode gets into authors’ authority to write the books they write, the responsibilities authors must content with when writing about a group they’re a part of, and especially about groups they’re not a part of. And because today’s guest, J. Allen Cross, is a practicing witch, there’s an extra dose of magic, along with a dash of folklore and sprinkle of the occult—a perfect recipe for a fun and inspiring episode of Write-minded. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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