Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers
277 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago - ★★★★★ - 372 ratingsWrite-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers is currently in its fourth year. We are a weekly podcast for writers craving a unique blend of inspiration and real talk about the ups and downs of the writing life. Hosted by Brooke Warner of She Writes and Grant Faulkner, former Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and founder of 100 Word Story, each theme-focused episode of Write-minded features an interview with a writer, author, or publishing industry professional. This year we’re featuring a Book Trend at the end of each episode to keep listeners in the loop about what they need to know about the book industry. Brooke and Grant bring to this weekly podcast their shared spirit of community, collaboration, and a deeply held belief that everyone is a writer, and everyone’s story matters.
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Episodes
The State of the Book Review, featuring John McMurtrie
April 15, 2024 11:00 - 42 minutesThis week’s guest is John McMurtrie, the esteemed former editor of the San Francisco Chronicle’s book review section. Join us as we explore the transition of book reviews from traditional media like TV and radio to online outlets like Amazon and Goodreads. His is an interesting take about how things were and how things are, along with insight about what a book reviewer is looking for when considering what books to review. Join us as John shares valuable insights on breaking into book reviewin...
Social Responsibility in Fiction, featuring Naomi Kanakia
April 08, 2024 11:00 - 46 minutesWhat does it really mean to consider your own social responsibility as a fiction writer? Guest Naomi Kanakia confronted that very question as she considered her modeling as a trans author writing YA books for teens. What if hers was the first book a genderqueer or trans kid ever read? What did she owe her reader? These are some of the questions at the heart of this week’s episode, but we also look under the hood of the publishing industry a bit, too, from the perspective of an author who’s “i...
Getting Real About Book Publishing, featuring Kathleen Schmidt
April 01, 2024 11:00 - 46 minutesStrap on your seatbelts ’cause we’re going for a ride—into the wild world of book publishing. Guest Kathleen Schmidt is a leading voice in publishing. Her popular Substack, Publishing Confidential, is a go-to source for tell-it-like-it-is realities about the industry and what authors can and should expect. We talk shop this week, touching upon author platform, Barnes & Noble, and why advances make no sense. This is a not-to-be-missed episode for anyone who’s ever published or wants to be publ...
The Big Familia of Writing Inspiration, featuring Tomas Moniz
March 25, 2024 11:00 - 39 minutesAn episode about friendship, writing about friendship, and how friendship influences our writing lives. As a community-minded podcast, Write-minded has often touched upon the importance of a broader net of friendship on our writing. This week we get a bit more specific with guest Tomas Moniz, who’s written a new book about male friendship and whose entry into the writing world was shaped by his community of writer friends. This week we’re reminding you to reach out to a friend, thank a friend...
Other People’s Words, featuring Lissa Soep
March 18, 2024 11:00 - 46 minutesThis week’s Write-minded show examines the nuanced and deep exploration at the heart of guest Lissa Soep’s new book, Other People’s Words. A consideration of the ways others’ voices echo in our own, her book and this episode shows us a kaleidoscope of how we conjure and recycle and tap into the words of others. There’s much to unpack here, too, from how we inner monologue in a way that is really dialogue to honoring the collective legacies we carry and give voice to. It’s easy to get philosop...
Light-hearted Writing During Heavy-hearted Times, featuring Neely Tubati-Alexander
March 11, 2024 11:00 - 35 minutesReady for a reprieve? Join Brooke and Grant and this week’s guest, Neely Tubati-Alexander, for a conversation about whether romance and rom-com writers are having more fun. We dive into questions of the success of the genre, what publishers are looking for, and how a writer gets into romance writing in the first place. A light-hearted episode in celebration of escapism and reading as brain candy and Tubati-Alexander’s latest release, In a Not So Perfect World. Learn more about your ad choices...
Strategies for Writing About Childhood Trauma, featuring Javier Zamora
March 04, 2024 12:00 - 40 minutesThis week Write-minded wades into the important topic of writing about childhood trauma. Trauma is at the heart of many of our stories, whether you’re writing coming-of-age or only touching upon childhood stories in the context of specific memoir scenes (or raw material for fiction). Javier’s memoir, Solito, is a stunning book about his nine-week journey from El Salvador to the US as an unaccompanied minor when he was just nine years old. The original journey nearly killed him, and in this ge...
Recovering from the Stigma of a "Failed" First Novel, featuring Ethel Rohan
February 26, 2024 12:00 - 49 minutesIt's important to learn from the challenges of a failed book rather than allowing it to define your career. The publishing industry can be harsh and unforgiving to writers in this situation. Unforgiving as in agents abandoning the writer or publishers turning away future work, not because of its quality, but because of the one book that didn’t sell well. This week, we're joined by guest Ethel Rohan, whose story serves as a reminder that regardless of how brutal this industry can be, persevera...
Journeying into Writerly Aesthetic, featuring K-Ming Chang
February 19, 2024 12:00 - 45 minutesA fun episode about aesthetic, language, and paying attention to style and taste in writing. This week’s guest K-Ming Chang talks about disorientation as a style, language as something that lives in the body, and hating plot. This is a playful interview that focuses on the experiential and reminds us that we all have an existential position on our own writing. Chang’s meditation on language is expansive and inviting, and invites us to consider all the ways we are the stories we’re told. Learn...
Breaking Into Ghostwriting and Work-for-Hire Writing, featuring Aubre Andrus
February 12, 2024 12:00 - 35 minutesGhostwriting and work-for-hire are great ways to break into the publishing industry and to make a living as a writer. Guest Aubre Andrus shows us a side of the writing and publishing business that can seem a bit elusive. And more and more writers are taking on work for hire projects due to mass media layoffs and greater transparency by celebrities when it comes to writing collaborations. Also, this week’s book trend features Womb House Books, found online here. Learn more about your ad choice...
How Stories Get Carried Through the Generations and in Our Bones, featuring Ingrid Rojas Contreras
February 05, 2024 12:00 - 55 minutesThis week’s Write-minded floats into the magical and surreal world of Ingrid Rojas Contreras, who talks about her new memoir, The Man Who Could Move Clouds, about her curandera-storytelling mother and their shared history of amnesia, and about why to her magical realism is just realism. Grant and Brooke consider what gets passed down to us from our families and how our stories and histories are in our bones and lived experience, and how reading stories from writers whose lives are vastly diff...
Get Into Your Writing Using All the Senses, featuring Janet Fitch
January 29, 2024 12:00 - 57 minutesIn this gorgeous, sensualistic, tactile, provocative episode of Write-minded, we explore the senses with Janet Fitch of White Oleander fame. In this interview, Janet takes us on a tour through the senses, making the point that our language is impoverished and we can—and must—do more to become more sophisticated observers on the page. This is an episode you’ll carry with you into your next writing or reading session, keeping an eye out (and tastebuds at the ready and an ear attuned and the nos...
How to Be Self-Revealing in Memoir When You're Not In Real Life, featuring Dr. Brian H. Williams
January 22, 2024 12:00 - 43 minutesThis week's episode moves beyond inspiring and into the territory of important, essential, and recommended listening—and reading. Guest Dr. Brian H. Williams, author of the debut memoir, The Bodies Keep Coming, joins us to talk about his experience as a trauma surgeon, and what being on the hospital frontlines can teach us about racial inequities in America. On the writing side of things, Brooke and Grant talk about how hard it can be for memoirists to truly open up, especially if you’re not ...
Hidden Stories, featuring Vanessa Chan
January 15, 2024 12:00 - 37 minutesHidden stories are at the heart of many a novel and memoir, driving writers, often from very young ages, toward exploration, uncovering, and the desire to seek for and know truths. Vanessa Chan’s new novel, The Storm We Made, is one such story, spawned by the unlikeliest of spies—a discontent mother and wife in 1930s British Malaya who, in becoming a spy for the Japanese, unwittingly ushers in the most violent war her country has ever seen. Vanessa talks about her novel, its journey, and the ...
The Future of the Book, featuring Maja Thomas
January 08, 2024 12:00 - 49 minutesBooks were just books for hundreds of years, but in the past 20 years, we've experienced major shifts in how we read and write. Plus, we’re on the brink of another revolution with AI that will change what we know and think we know about book publishing. This week’s guest, Maja Thomas, is the Chief Innovation Officer at Hachette, and her job, essentially, is to figure out the future of the book. She’s the only Chief Innovation Officer in all of publishing, so it’s a treat to hear what she has ...
The New Year's Un-resolution Show
January 01, 2024 12:00 - 19 minutesHappy New Year! On this week’s Write-minded, Brooke and Grant take stock of last year’s resolutions and hold their own feet to the fire on what was cast out for resolutions, and what was accomplished (or not). We’re probing the resolution, therefore, as we head into 2024—assessing its pros and cons, musing about who we’d be without a goal, and considering whether all the resolution really needs is not to be bound by such a tight timeline. Tune in to probe, explore, turn over, and consider you...
The Subtle Art of Attunement and Its Bearing on Our Writing, featuring Baron Wormser
December 18, 2023 12:00 - 41 minutesThis week we’re slowing down, inviting listeners to contemplate another world both far and not far away from this one where there’s no electricity, no internet, no immediate access to all the information of the world at your fingertips. This was the world our guest Baron Wormser occupied for nearly twenty years, and the subject of his memoir, The Road Washes Out in Spring. We’re channeling a state of mind, beckoning listeners to attune to your surroundings, to what calls and what moves you. A...
Finding and Building the Community That’s Right for You, with Alexa Bigwarfe
December 11, 2023 12:00 - 43 minutesThis week on Write-minded we’re coming back to a well-loved topic: Community! Only we’re tackling it from some new angles, like the notion that not every community will be the right community for you, and the fact that there are shadow sides to community, and how we and others behave in community. Guest Alexa Bigwarfe talks about her experience in the community of writers and within the publishing community—what it was like to be new to this space, how she grew into her leadership role, and w...
The Higher Truth of Fiction, featuring Jamila Minnicks
December 04, 2023 12:00 - 40 minutesJoin Grant and Brooke this week for a conversation about truth—emotional truth, essential truth, truth as the core driver of all stories. Plus, they share how many words they wrote during November—not nearly as many as either had hoped. Guest Jamila Minnicks speaks about her new novel, Moonrise Over New Jessup, and its powerful protagonist, sense of place, and homage to her ancestors, all of which delivers on this show’s promise of weekly inspiration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m...
The Origin Story, featuring Deepa Anappara and Taymour Soomro
November 27, 2023 14:00 - 48 minutesThis week's guests are the coeditors (and contributors to) Letters to a Writer of Color. Listen in to hear the profound insights and inspirational origin story that led to Deepa Anappara and Taymour Soomro’s collaboration on their powerful anthology. Contributors to this collection include Kiese Laymon, Myriam Gurba, Madeleine Thien, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, and others. Our conversation this week circles how writers of color write and talk about and translate their experiences, the ways writer...
One Sentence Leads to a Second Sentence: Pushing Through the Muddy Middle of NaNoWriMo, featuring Grant Faulkner and Brooke Warner
November 13, 2023 12:00 - 26 minutesPep Talk alert! Whether you’re writing a ton or writing a-none, this week’s episode is geared toward writers who are feeling the strain of the Muddy Middle. Grant and Brooke talk about strategies for staying on track and offer up encouragement for ways to keep with it—including how to break the wall. Brooke’s references to Esther Perel’s podcast episode, “Breaking News Is Breaking Us,” can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Get Inspired to Write from One of the Most Prolific Women Writers in History, featuring Allison Gilbert
November 06, 2023 12:00 - 46 minutesThis week Brooke shares an interview she recorded with Allison Gilbert about her new book, Listen World!, a biography of the most famous woman writer you’ve never heard of. If you’re any writer, but particularly a woman writer, knowing about Elsie Robinson (1883-1956) will bring you needed inspiration during this NaNoWriMo season. She models how to believe in yourself, how to face rejection and keep going, and how perseverance is the most necessary skillset when it comes to getting our work o...
Gothic Stories’ Long History of Drawing from Everyday Monsters, featuring Isabel Cañas
October 30, 2023 11:00 - 43 minutesHappy Halloween Week and Happy Start of NaNoWriMo. This week’s episode is a twofer because we’re bringing you a little dose of horror through our exploration of gothic stories with this week’s guest Isabel Cañas, who also happens to be a ten-year veteran of NaNoWriMo. Watch magic happen as Write-minded intertwines these two cultural events—one spooky-scary and the other downright inspiring. We’re kicking you off with some great advice and a big high-five—and if you’re still on the fence about...
Playing with Narration in Memoir, with Maggie Smith
October 23, 2023 11:00 - 49 minutesWith her new memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, guest Maggie Smith provides an example of how to break conventional form to gorgeous results. This interview covers narration, structure, and Maggie’s process of constructing this memoir, as well as how her background as a poet informed her approach to the writing. Join us for a wide-ranging conversation mostly about narration, but we also touch upon writing about others and Maggie confesses she’s surprised by the gigantic success of t...
For the Love of Fanfiction, featuring Rainbow Rowell
October 16, 2023 11:00 - 41 minutesWhether you already love fanfiction or don’t really get it, you’ll want to tune into this episode for the sheer appreciation of its presence in the literary world. More than 100 million people worldwide are reading or writing fanfiction. We know that fanfiction writers have been wild over the years for Star Wars and Harry Potter and Twilight, but now fanfiction is increasingly likely to be a source of content for movies and TV shows—and community and friends! Learn more about your ad choices....
The Art of Coauthoring, featuring Helen Macdonald and Sin Blaché
October 09, 2023 11:00 - 48 minutesThis week’s co-authoring duo, Helen Macdonald and Sin Blaché, take us inside their relationship and share authentically and honestly about some of the considerations unique to writing your book with someone else. With tools available to authors that allow writing together over distance and time zones, many writers are keen to coauthor and explore new terrains with a creative collaborator. This week offers insight and permission, and a few tips from lessons learned on the journey. Learn more a...
The Best Way to Learn to Write a Novel? Write It!, featuring Kayvion Lewis
October 02, 2023 11:00 - 39 minutesOne month out from National Novel Writing Month, this episode hopes to inspire listeners around the truism that the very best way to write a novel is simply to try it. NaNoWriMo encourages that effort, outcome irrelevant. Take heed from guest Kayvion Lewis who suggests in this episode to write the thing that sets your heart on fire. Also, as promised in today’s Book Trend, we encourage you to check out Dave Chesson’s video on Amazon’s recent category changes which can be searched on YouTube: ...
Dreaming and Writing, featuring Tzivia Gover
September 25, 2023 11:00 - 39 minutesThis week’s episode considers the intersection between dreaming and writing and how to harness not dreaming per se, but the midnight mind. The midnight mind speaks to a kind of liminal state where we can be more open, more creative, less blocked—and Gover’s interview and new book are encouraging to writers and authors around writing for writing’s sake, and not only for publication and outcome. There’s much to unpack this week as we settle into the joy of writing, accessing more subconscious c...
What Short Stories Do That Novels Can’t, featuring Ghassan Zeineddine
September 18, 2023 11:00 - 39 minutesThis week’s episode is an exploration of form, and why some stories are better contained in short story form rather than a novel. Guest Ghassan Zeineddine shares the evolution of his short story collection, Dearborn, as well as some of his process, including research and spending serious time with subjects who sometimes play roles in stories years down the road. Dearborn is part-celebration, part-astute observation of the Arab-American community in Dearborn, Michigan. This episode also contai...
Unconventional Points of View, featuring Jimin Han
September 11, 2023 11:00 - 44 minutesThis week Write-minded explores point of view, especially those stories told with less conventional points of view. Uncommon points of view stick with you—and Brooke and Grant cover books they love that have ghost points of view, dog points of view, and the kind of point of view where the reader is part of the story. This week’s guest Jimin Han walks us through some of her narration choices for her new novel, The Apology, and shares insights into her writing process, her characters, her inspi...
Agent Insights, featuring Lisa Leshne
September 03, 2023 11:00 - 42 minutesWrite-minded is kicking off our sixth year this week with an episode focused on the skinny around what agents do, what they’re thinking about, and how to think about working with an agent—all through the lens of our guest, Lisa Leshne of The Leshne Agency. Lisa brings an honest and fresh perspective to the hard work of agenting, how authors want to think about being strategic partners with their would-be agents, and we touch upon some recent publishing news, like the future of AI and the Simo...
The Art of Memoir, featuring Rebecca Carroll and Jeannine Ouellette
August 28, 2023 11:00 - 54 minutesTwo of our favorite memoir episodes from last year revisited, with guests whose memoirs showcase exceptional craft—so much so that they’ll be teaching a fall memoir course with Brooke that starts next month. We’re revisiting these two authors whose memoirs have so much to teach writers about good writing, storytelling, and creating an experience that has real staying power. Tune in or relisten—and we’re back next week with fresh episodes and a brand-new season. Learn more about your ad choice...
Storytelling from Legacy Authors, featuring Gish Jen and Peggy Orenstein
August 21, 2023 11:00 - 44 minutesThis week we’re celebrating two of our more accomplished guests of last year. Grant and Brooke talk about the joy of interviewing authors we’ve long admired, and highlight these two fabulous shows with Gish Jen and Peggy Orenstein, two authors at the top of their game. These are great shows to revisit for their insights from writers who’ve been at their craft for a while, and have a thing or two to impart to writers at all stages of their career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...
The Business of Publishing, featuring Rachael Herron and Joe Biel
August 14, 2023 11:00 - 49 minutesThis week we’re revisiting our favorite two book biz episodes from last year. Both episodes got more listener feedback than any others—and if you missed the money episode, there’s so much here to be inspired by. For all writers and aspiring authors, there’s not enough we can say about being savvy about the business side of authorprenuership, which is why we’re spotlighting these two shows for our August round-up of our favorite shows of the past year. Happy Summer! Learn more about your ad ch...
High-Stakes Fiction, featuring Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and Ana Reyes
August 07, 2023 11:00 - 43 minutesThis is the first of our summer favorites series, featuring Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and Ana Reyes. We’re revisiting our favorite episodes of the past year during the month of August, so we invite you to tune in or relisten as we celebrate and honor high-stakes fiction with two writers whose books we felt pushed the limits of fiction and made us think more critically about complex topics that wiggle their way into readers' hearts and souls. Happy Summer! Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...
Parent-Adult Child Dynamics for Writers, featuring Gail Warner (Brooke’s mom)
July 31, 2023 11:00 - 54 minutesThis week’s show takes on an age-old topic—that of all the ways family’s feelings, impressions, and reactions play a role in our writing. No relationship is more complex and multilayered than that of the parent and adult child, which is why Brooke wanted to bring on her mom, Gail Warner, as a guest to discuss writing and how the act of self-expression is not an isolated experience. We have considerations, many of which involve our family—and this episode opens that conversation between one mo...
The Art of Writing Unlikeable Characters, featuring Ben Purkert
July 24, 2023 11:00 - 46 minutesThis week's guest Ben Purkert, author of the newly released novel, The Men Can’t Be Saved, gives us some insight into the art of writing complex characters, including the downright unlikeable ones. Atrocious acts and bad behavior are at the center of storytelling, and when constructed well, supposedly unlikeable characters are often more gripping and memorable than likable ones. We’re titillated and drawn forth by a character’s conflict, bad behavior, and perhaps even downfall. A good author ...
Community as Muse, featuring Kellye Garrett
July 17, 2023 11:00 - 52 minutesOn this community-minded podcast, we love to host a community-focused episode from time to time. Guest Kellye Garrett shares the many ways that community has been a boon and a boost in her writing life and writing career. She shares about communities she’s founded, communities she’s been a part of, and the ways that community has supported her and championed her along the way. Grant and Brooke touch upon how and why building community can be hard for people, recognizing the reality that findi...
Coming-of-Age Stories, featuring Yasmin Azad
July 10, 2023 11:00 - 38 minutesThis week’s episode spotlights one of the most popular types of stories we see in both memoir and fiction—the coming-of-age narrative. Guest Yasmin Azad, author of Stay, Daughter, shares her considerations for writing her coming-of-age memoir. An episode about craft, the timeline of coming-of-age, why coming-of-age stories endure the way they do, and Brooke and Grant share some of their favorite coming-of-age memoirs and novels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Graphic Novels, Literary Collage, and Poetry Comics, featuring Kelcey Ervick
June 26, 2023 11:00 - 39 minutesThis week Write-minded is expanding our literary horizons beyond the written word and into the myriad forms of visual creative expression that can accompany text. Guest Kelcey Ervick joins us to talk about her new book, The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Graphic Literature, Artists and Writers on Creating Graphic Narratives, Poetry Comics, and Literary Collage, a compilation of pieces from graphic and visual artists of all sorts. In the episode we touch upon how to approach this space if you...
Leveraging Your Why, featuring N.D. Jones
June 19, 2023 11:00 - 44 minutesThis week we’re talking about purpose and passion with guest N.D. Jones, a prolific author of fantasy stories and series who’s also a nonfiction author and publisher with a beautiful and creative online presence. This week’s show is inspired by Jones’s desire to articulate her “why,” and Brooke and Grant discuss how important purpose—the why—is for authors who might be feeling a little lost in the quest to get published. This week’s focus is platform, brand, spin-offs, content—all within the ...
Taking the Dare, featuring Krystal Marquis
June 12, 2023 12:00 - 29 minutesThis week Grant and Brooke return to a topic we love—taking the leap, saying yes to the dare, finding inspiration in the thrill of writing the book you want to read. Guest Krystal Marquis has a special personal story, too, about taking on the dare to write a book from her brother. If you’re a writer who’s trying to find a story to write, or someone looking for a little boost of creative inspiration in your life, this episode will surely light a little fire. And maybe help you set your sights ...
Stories That Must Be Told, featuring Nicole Chung
June 05, 2023 12:00 - 40 minutesThis is an onstage interview with Brooke Warner and this week’s guest Nicole Chung. Brooke interviewed Nicole at the Bay Area Book Festival in May. The conversation is wide-ranging and covers the topics and themes central to Nicole’s new memoir, A Living Remedy, as well as questions and considerations central to memoir and telling the stories that must be told. Don’t miss this thoughtful and relatable interview. If you’re writing your story, Nicole’s words will make you feel like you can and ...
Writing a Violent Story with Love, featuring Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
May 29, 2023 11:00 - 35 minutesWe bring you a powerful show stemming from a powerhouse of a guest this week. Write-minded examines the intersection of activism and writing and love with Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain Gang All Stars. This week’s episode also makes a case for why dystopian fiction needs to be rethought and reclassified, and provides insight in the form of the reminder that the best stories are those that must be told because they shine light on uncomfortable truths. Learn more about your ad choice...
Investigating Toward Deeper Truths, featuring Gretchen Cherington
May 22, 2023 11:00 - 41 minutesThis week’s episode covers the importance of investigation and research in works of family and personal histories and memoirs. Guest Gretchen Cherington shares the many ways she researched her latest family memoir, The Butcher, The Embezzler, and the Fall Guy, through first-person narratives, interviews, and countless documents and letters. Hers is a book that attempts not so much to solve a crime as to understand the powerful men at the center of a scandal, making for a rich interview about ...
The Mystery Is the Clarity, featuring Charif Shanahan
May 15, 2023 11:00 - 44 minutesIf you’re a longtime listener, you know Write-minded loves a good show on the mystery, on the magic, on the questions. And that’s because so much of the inspiration that propels us forward in our writing journeys is centered here, in the unexplainable that writers wrangle with, using language to make sense (and sometimes just mirror) the human experience. This conversation goes straight into the heart of the magic, stemming from guest Charif Shanahan’s assertion that the mystery is the clarit...
Pushing Boundaries in Book Publishing, featuring Joe Biel
May 08, 2023 11:00 - 37 minutesResist, push back, go your own way! These are themes of today’s show as we talk about book publishing with a publisher, Joe Biel, who’s doing things a lot differently from your average indie publisher. Biel shares why Microcosm Publishing stopped selling on Amazon and why that’s not as scary as it may sound. Microcosm was a few years ahead of its time, and now the world is catching up in time for Biel to revel in its well-earned success. For this episode, we invite listeners to check out Micr...
Writing with Raw Honesty about Family, featuring Rebecca Carroll
May 01, 2023 11:00 - 37 minutesWhen it comes to writing about family, in memoir or fiction, writers must consider the ramifications. To write honestly, writers must know what’s at stake, and be ready. This week’s guest, Rebecca Carroll, shares with Write-minded her own experience with family fallout, and subjects ranging from her readership, to her literary heroine Toni Morrison, to her thoughts on trans-racial adoption. There’s a lot to unpack this week, from a guest who sets the gold standard for radical honesty on the p...
Dollars and Cents—the Money Episode, featuring Rachael Herron
April 24, 2023 11:00 - 45 minutesIf you’ve been taught never to talk about money, or if the idea of sharing your earnings publicly makes you uncomfortable, this is a must-listen episode because we’re pulling back the curtain on author earnings and disclosing dollar amounts. Guest Rachael Herron walks us through why she started talking about how much she makes as an author—and tells how much she earned last year and from what streams of income. Grant and Brooke jump on the bandwagon, too, and share expenses (Brooke) and earni...
On Pioneering and Why It Matters, featuring Donna Hill
April 17, 2023 11:00 - 42 minutesThis episode honors a pioneer of a genre with guest Donna Hill, who pioneered a genre and hasn’t looked back. With more than 100 published books to her credit, Hill is a force. This episode covers the stamina it takes to publish so prolifically, a bit of history about what the publishing industry was like way back when in the early 90s, especially for a Black romance novelist who wasn’t seeing the books she was writing represented—anywhere, and much more. Hill is a generous guest who’s truly ...