Write The Book: Conversations on Craft
248 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 22 ratingsA writing podcast for writers and curious readers, featuring interviews with authors, poets, agents and editors. Twice chosen as one of Writer’s Digest Magazine’s 101 Best Website for Writers. Vermont-grown.
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Episodes
Dana Walrath - Interview #646 (10/5/20)
October 06, 2020 15:04 - 36 minutes - 35.2 MBVermont writer, artist and anthropologist, Dana Walrath, who has contributed to the graphic medicine book, Menopause: A Comic Treatment (PSU Press). You can check out the book trailer here. Dana Walrath generously offered us a Write the Book Prompt for today’s show, which is related to the advice she offered for writers. Precede your writing session by spending some time drawing, even simply drawing the evocative and inspiring spiral, which is a great way to tap into your subconscious but ...
Dana Walrath (10/5/20)
October 06, 2020 15:04 - 36 minutes - 35.2 MBVermont writer, artist and anthropologist, Dana Walrath, who has contributed to the graphic medicine book, Menopause: A Comic Treatment (PSU Press). You can check out the book trailer here. Dana Walrath generously offered us a Write the Book Prompt for today’s show, which is related to the advice she offered for writers. Precede your writing session by spending some time drawing, even simply drawing the evocative and inspiring spiral, which is a great way to tap into your subconscious but ...
Laurel Neme - Interview #645 (10/5/20)
October 06, 2020 14:53 - 30 minutes - 31.8 MBWildlife Journalist and Vermont Author Laurel Neme, whose new children's book is The Elephant's New Shoe: A True Rescue Story (Orchard Books). Laurel was kind enough to suggest a Write the Book Prompt for us, based on an exercise that she learned by taking an intensive picture book workshop by Anastasia Suen. Keep a daily journal and creative record--writing for a set amount of time each day that you assign for yourself--but keep it on your computer and in a single file. This way, if month...
Laurel Neme (10/5/20)
October 06, 2020 14:53 - 30 minutes - 31.8 MBWildlife Journalist and Vermont Author Laurel Neme, whose new children's book is The Elephant's New Shoe: A True Rescue Story (Orchard Books). Laurel was kind enough to suggest a Write the Book Prompt for us, based on an exercise that she learned by taking an intensive picture book workshop by Anastasia Suen. Keep a daily journal and creative record--writing for a set amount of time each day that you assign for yourself--but keep it on your computer and in a single file. This way, if month...
Chris Tebbetts and Margot Harrision (9/28/20)
September 29, 2020 19:16 - 54 minutes - 74.9 MBAn interview with two Vermont Authors: Chris Tebbetts (1st Case, Little Brown) and Margot Harrison (The Glare, Little Brown). This week we have two Write the Book Prompts, thanks to the generosity of my guests. Margot suggests that if you have a character-- perhaps an antagonist or a supporting character you’re not doing justice to because you don’t understand what is motivating them--do some free writing from the point of view of that character and have them explain themselves: give thei...
Chris Tebbetts and Margot Harrision - Interview #644 (9/28/20)
September 29, 2020 19:16 - 54 minutes - 74.9 MBAn interview with two Vermont Authors: Chris Tebbetts (1st Case, Little Brown) and Margot Harrison (The Glare, Little Brown). This week we have two Write the Book Prompts, thanks to the generosity of my guests. Margot suggests that if you have a character-- perhaps an antagonist or a supporting character you’re not doing justice to because you don’t understand what is motivating them--do some free writing from the point of view of that character and have them explain themselves: give thei...
Ken Follett (9/21/20)
September 23, 2020 19:13 - 32 minutes - 44.5 MBBestselling Welsh Author Ken Follett, whose latest novel, The Evening and the Morning (Viking), is a prequel to his popular book The Pillars of the Earth. In our interview, Ken Follett mentioned that during the dark ages, the Anglo Saxons ignored the Romans’ brick houses and built wooden huts right next door. “It was a backward time." Also, and not the biggest news story of the month, but I just learned that Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin wanted to build a castle in his Santa Fe ...
Ken Follett - Interview #643 (9/21/20)
September 23, 2020 19:13 - 32 minutes - 44.5 MBBestselling Welsh Author Ken Follett, whose latest novel, The Evening and the Morning (Viking), is a prequel to his popular book The Pillars of the Earth. In our interview, Ken Follett mentioned that during the dark ages, the Anglo Saxons ignored the Romans’ brick houses and built wooden huts right next door. “It was a backward time." Also, and not the biggest news story of the month, but I just learned that Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin wanted to build a castle in his Santa Fe ...
Josh Hanagarne / Claire Benedict - Archive Episode #642 (9/14/20)
September 20, 2020 15:59 - 57 minutes - 79.1 MBEpisode from the archives with author and librarian Josh Hanagarne [The World's Strongest Librarian, Avery], as well as a short book chat with Bear Pond Books co-owner Claire Benedict. This week's Write the Book Prompt is to write about a tool or machine that is being used in a way other than was originally intended. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro
Josh Hanagarne / Claire Benedict - Archive Episode (9/14/20)
September 20, 2020 15:59 - 57 minutes - 79.1 MBEpisode from the archives with author and librarian Josh Hanagarne [The World's Strongest Librarian, Avery], as well as a short book chat with Bear Pond Books co-owner Claire Benedict. This week's Write the Book Prompt is to write about a tool or machine that is being used in a way other than was originally intended. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 642
Bobbie Ann Mason (9/7/20)
September 09, 2020 14:44 - 47 minutes - 64.7 MBAmerican Novelist Bobbie Ann Mason, whose new novel is Dear Ann (Harper). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Bobbie Ann Mason, who exchanges prompts with her “flash-fiction co-writer buddy Meg Pokrass.” They send each other lists of interesting words with a challenge to use at least some of them in a story. One of their lists was: leaky, clawfoot, waddle, bonk, ribs, peace, rapier, feather pillow, steam, sherry, geraniums, skimp, booth, rabbit’s foot,...
Bobbie Ann Mason - Interview #641 (9/7/20)
September 09, 2020 14:44 - 47 minutes - 64.7 MBAmerican Novelist Bobbie Ann Mason, whose new novel is Dear Ann (Harper). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Bobbie Ann Mason, who exchanges prompts with her “flash-fiction co-writer buddy Meg Pokrass.” They send each other lists of interesting words with a challenge to use at least some of them in a story. One of their lists was: leaky, clawfoot, waddle, bonk, ribs, peace, rapier, feather pillow, steam, sherry, geraniums, skimp, booth, rabbit’s foot,...
David Goodwillie - Interview #640 (8/31/20)
August 31, 2020 20:01 - 1 hour - 82.9 MBDavid Goodwillie, whose new novel is Kings County (Avid Reader Press). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by David Goodwillie. Have a character go for a walk in a city, along a country lane, or in really any place. How would that character see the world? Have the person see it in a different way than you, the author, would. David points out that all too often, we try to give characters our own traits, rather than wholly letting them be their own people. If you’re hav...
Stephen P. Kiernan - Interview #639 (8/24/20)
August 26, 2020 15:53 - 52 minutes - 71.8 MBVermont Author Stephen P. Kiernan, whose latest novel is Universe of Two (William Morrow). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by Stephen P. Kiernan. Conjure a very specific setting - not just location, but time of day, weather, and other factors that leave no doubt in any reader’s mind where that place is and what it is like. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro
Tiffany McDaniel - Interview #638 (8/17/20)
August 17, 2020 20:05 - 54 minutes - 75.4 MBTiffany McDaniel, whose new novel Betty (Knopf) is based on the life of her mother. In my interview with Tiffany, we talked about bringing deeper meaning to detail. In Tiffany’s case, she brings deeper meaning to the corn and corn silk, that show up throughout the book. Corn is in the characters' lives as food and as a crop. But also, corn is a part of Betty’s father’s Cherokee-inspired story about Betty and her sisters. As such, corn comes to represent more than it initially seems as the ...
Diane Cook - Interview #637 (8/10/20)
August 13, 2020 13:14 - 56 minutes - 77.1 MBDiane Cook, author of The New Wilderness (Harper), which has been long listed for the Booker Prize. As I mentioned early in today’s show, when I interviewed Diane Cook, her infant son could be heard in the early part of the hour. Then he went to be with his dad and his voice was no longer heard on the recording. But it got me thinking: children fill our world, but are sometimes absent from our settings. Why is that? Do they make too much noise? Would the chaos keep your scene from working ...
Monica Prince - Interview #636 (8/3/20)
August 04, 2020 17:24 - 51 minutes - 37 MB"Choreopoet" Monica Prince, as interviewed by guest host, Kim MacQueen. Among other works, they discuss Monica's choreopoem How to Exterminate the Black Woman. (PANK Books) This week’s Write the Book Prompts were suggested by Kim’s guest, Monica Prince. She says the first was inspired by Fear No Lit in Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Set a timer for 2 minutes. Write the word “WATER” at the top of your page. For the next two minutes, write down everything you can think of related to this word. (Do...
Lucie Britsch - Interview #635 (7/27/20)
July 28, 2020 12:54 - 33 minutes - 46.2 MBEnglish author Lucie Britsch, whose debut novel is Sad Janet (Riverhead Books). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was mentioned by my guest, Lucie Britsch, during our conversation. It’s always good to take a step back and remember why you are writing something. Take a day off, take a week even. When you come back, you’ll likely rediscover the energy that was part of why you began, the enthusiasm around what you’d set out to do. The break, and that rediscovery of intention, will help you mov...
Alex Grecian - Archive Interview #634 (7/20/20)
July 20, 2020 20:03 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBAn interview from the archives with the author Alex Grecian, who writes a fictional series about the Scotland Yard's Murder Squad, as well as stand-alones, like his 2018 The Saint of Wolves and Butchers (Putnam). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to wear a mask, for the sake of your community and your loved ones. And write about the joy of this horror show ending thanks to the united efforts of responsible citizens, which all of us are, deep deep down inside. Says me. Sorry, I got po...
Fiona McCrae - Interview #633 (7/13/20)
July 13, 2020 20:01 - 56 minutes - 77.6 MBFiona McCrae, Director and Publisher of the Minneapolis-based literary publisher, Graywolf Press. This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Fiona McCrae. Consider the Black Lives Matter movement and the murder of George Floyd, and write. Maybe write from the perspective of someone with different or more extreme opinions than your own. Or write from two distinct perspectives. Or perhaps write from the point of view of someone who has one opinion, but is somehow p...
Ann Dávila Cardinal - Interview #632 (7/6/20)
July 08, 2020 11:34 - 1 hour - 55.6 MBVermont Author Ann Dávila Cardinal, whose latest supernatural YA thriller is Category Five (Tor Teen). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Ann Dávila Cardinal. She says that it’s not a prompt, exactly, but an exercise in encouragement: Get three smallish pieces of paper. 1) On the first one, write down your short term writing goals, say for the next week. Even day by day. It can be to write 1,000 words, or finish a chapter of revision, or journal every...
Danielle Trussoni - Interview #631 (6/29/20)
June 29, 2020 20:00 - 1 hour - 57.5 MBAuthor and NY Times "Dark Matters" Columnist Danielle Trussoni, whose new novel is The Ancestor (William Morrow). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Danielle Trussoni, who also suggested it in a recent workshop. In a discussion of dialogue and character, Danielle suggested that her students have one of their characters, perhaps an elusive character who's hard to pin down, write an autobiographical letter of introduction to the student, to the author. Danie...
Robert and Martha Manning - Archive Interview #630 (6/22/20)
June 27, 2020 15:09 - 58 minutes - 79.7 MBUVM Professor Emeritus Robert Manning and Artist Martha Manning, authors of several books on long distance walking, including the subject of our 2013 conversation, Walking Distance: Extraordinary Hikes for Ordinary People (OSU Press). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write about a famous walk. This could mean Steven Newman’s famous solo walk around the world, or it could mean your own child’s first steps. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another ...
J. Chester Johnson - Interview #629 (6/15/20)
June 15, 2020 20:01 - 59 minutes - 82.3 MBAmerican Poet, Essayist and Translator J. Chester Johnson, whose new memoir is Damaged Heritage: The Elaine Race Massacre and A Story of Reconciliation (Pegasus). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider your own family’s leanings when it comes to filiopietism, that veneration, often excessive, of ancestors or tradition. Does this exist in your own circle of relatives? Do people excuse behaviors because it’s just how the family has always been? Do you have beliefs based largely on ...
Evan Fallenberg - Archive Interview #628 (6/8/20)
June 08, 2020 20:00 - 59 minutes - 82.3 MBEvan Fallenberg, author of The Parting Gift, which came out last week in paperback (Other Press). In a review of The Parting Gift, the Jerusalem Post called the book “Intoxicating…Fallenberg is a fearless writer; particularly on the vulnerability and rawness of desire. His crisp taut sentences compel us to keep reading.” This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write about vulnerability, either in your own life or in that of a character. Perhaps this has to do with exposure, the telling...
Huck Gutman - Interview #627 (6/1/20)
June 02, 2020 18:31 - 44 minutes - 30.2 MBAmerican academic and political advisor, Stanley "Huck" Gutman, who writes a newsletter about poetry which is distributed by email and through the UVM listserv, "Poetry." See below for links to pages featuring some of the works that Huck and I discuss during the interview. This week's Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Huck Gutman, who writes: The surprising subject of many, many poems of the past two hundred years has been the need to pay attention to wha...
Alka Joshi - Interview #626 (5/25/20)
May 25, 2020 20:01 - 39 minutes - 54 MBDebut Author Alka Joshi, whose novel The Henna Artist (MIRA) has been chosen by Reese Witherspoon as the next Hello Sunshine book selection. Alka Joshi generously offered us a Write the Book Prompt for today’s show. Think about a real person you know, and reinvent their life. What if their life had taken a very different turn? What if they’d done something completely different? What if they had married someone different, or lived in a different place, or escaped a certain set of circumst...
Jeffrey Deaver - Interview #625 (5/25/20)
May 25, 2020 18:51 - 33 minutes - 46.1 MBInternational bestselling mystery and crime writer Jeffrey Deaver, whose new novel is The Goodbye Man (Putnam). Jeffrey Deaver mentioned during our interview that, when the time comes to finish his research and begin putting words on the page, he likes to write in the dark. This week, as a Write the Book Prompt, try writing in the dark. See if the words come more easily to you this way, as they do for him. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and please tune in next week for anot...
Bruce Chalmer - Interview #624 (5/18/20)
May 19, 2020 16:31 - 54 minutes - 74.2 MBVermont Psychologist Bruce Chalmer whose new book is Reigniting the Spark: Why Stable Relationships Lose Intimacy, and How to Get It Back (TCK Publishing). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Dr. Bruce Chalmer. In writing about relationships, consider the scary moments as being, perhaps, the most useful to write about. Not necessarily moments when you and your partner are disagreeing, but perhaps moments when you are delighted by something and you aren’t ...
Julia Alvarez - Interview #623 (5/11/20)
May 11, 2020 20:00 - 46 minutes - 63.4 MBVermont Author Julia Alvarez on her new novel, Afterlife (Algonquin). This week I have two Write the Book Prompts to offer, both generously suggested by my guest, Julia Alvarez. First, a prompt she learned about when she was researching titles for her book. In considering the title Afterlife, she researched, as authors do, to be sure her book’s title was original and unique. As she did this work, she found out about another book titled Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, by the neurosci...
Rufi Thorpe - Interview #622 (4/27/20)
April 28, 2020 16:44 - 44 minutes - 61.6 MBA conversation with the author Rufi Thorpe, whose new novel is The Knockout Queen (Knopf). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Rufi Thorpe, who finds that it can be helpful to have one of your characters suddenly become “really psychic” about another character. If you are writing from a single point of view, but you’d like to get into someone else’s head, you can actually move around quite a bit in terms of summarizing and telling. For example, your PO...
Rufi Thorpe - Interview #622 (4/2720)
April 27, 2020 20:00 - 44 minutes - 61.6 MBA conversation with the author Rufi Thorpe, whose new novel is The Knockout Queen (Knopf). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Rufi Thorpe, who finds that it can be helpful to have one of your characters suddenly become “really psychic” about another character. If you are writing from a single point of view, but you’d like to get into someone else’s head, you can actually move around quite a bit in terms of summarizing and telling. For example, your POV ...
James Crews - Interview #621 (4/20/20)
April 22, 2020 18:56 - 25 minutes - 34.9 MBVermont Poet James Crews, whose new collection is Bluebird (Green Writers Press). As a Write the Book Prompt for this interview, let's consider Ted Kooser's advice for James Crews, mentioned during our conversation: Open a poem like a handshake. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and please tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro This is one of several shorter interviews Shelagh is conducting with Vermont authors whose new books have had...
Ginny Sassaman - Interview #620 (4/20/20)
April 22, 2020 17:20 - 26 minutes - 36.8 MBA conversation with Vermont author Ginny Sassaman, whose new book is Preaching Happiness: Creating a Just and Joyful World (Rootstock). For a Write the Book Prompt, write about what has made you happy in the past week. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and please tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro This is one of several shorter interviews Shelagh is conducting with Vermont authors whose new books have had their tours upended by Cor...
Alma Katsu - Interview #619 (4/20/20)
April 22, 2020 16:53 - 34 minutes - 46.9 MBAn interview with Alma Katsu, whose latest is The Deep (Putnam). For this episode's Write the Book Prompt, I'd like to reiterate Alma Katsu's advice about research. Narrow your focus before delving in too deeply. Keep it manageable, for you and your readers. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and please tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro
Rob Harrell - Interview #618 (4/20/20)
April 22, 2020 16:24 - 31 minutes - 42.9 MBRob Harrell, cartoonist and author - most recently - of Wink, a novel for middle graders (Dial). Rob Harrell generously offered a Write the Book Prompt for today’s show. He created this one for kids. Come up with an unlikely super hero, and come up with their origin story, their powers, and what their costume looks like. Try to make it an unlikely super hero, like a BatPig. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and please tune in each week for more prompts and great conversation...
Laurette Folk - Interview #617 (4/13/20)
April 15, 2020 21:01 - 33 minutes - 45.6 MBAn interview with Laurette Folk, author of the new novel The End of Aphrodite (Bordighera). Here, you can find The Compassion Anthology, the journal that Laurette edits. During our interview, Laurette Folk mentioned working after meditation as a way to engage her creativity. Specifically, after having a particularly vivid dream, she plays Tibetan bowl audio and meditates, in an effort to recapture the dream. Laurette says the bowl vibration is said to change how our consciousness works, d...
Phyllis Barber - Interview #616 (4/13/20)
April 15, 2020 20:53 - 28 minutes - 39.8 MBAn interview with the author Phyllis Barber, whose new novel is The Desert Between Us (University of Nevada Press). Phyllis Barber kindly suggested a Write the Book Prompt for us. Go to your writing desk first thing in the morning, when your mind is fresh and not bogged down with tasks and duties. Doing this, writing first thing, from the lip of your mind - writing fast and not editing yourself - can be so useful. Set down whatever idea comes without worrying if you’ll be able to use ...
Bill Torrey - Interview #615 (Special Show)
April 14, 2020 19:54 - 22 minutes - 30.9 MBSixth Generation Vermonter Bill Torrey, whose new memoir is Cutting Remarks: 40 Years in the Forest (Onion River Press). Prompt: Write about a recent walk in the woods. What was the weather like? What did you see and hear? How did your boots sound walking over the ground? Were there any animals about? Did the trees make sounds above you? Was there water running nearby? If you haven't been lately, perhaps go into the woods now. And then write. Good luck with your work in the coming wee...
Scudder Parker - Interview #614 (Special Show)
April 14, 2020 19:41 - 24 minutes - 33.4 MBVermont Poet Scudder Parker, whose new collection of poems is Safe as Lightning (Rootstock Press). Write the Book Prompt: Consider Scudder Parker’s advice about not being intimidated to write poetry. He says to turn to the singer songwriters you love and read their lyrics. Realize you’ve been experiencing poetry all your life, in the words of hymns, arias, folk songs, and pop music. All of that is poetry set to music. Poetry tries to create music. Don’t be intimidated by trying to write ...
Robert S. Foster - Interview #613 (Special Show)
April 14, 2020 19:28 - 24 minutes - 34.1 MBRobert S. Foster, whose new historical work is The Granville Hermit (Onion River) Write the Book Prompt: Have you ever known of a hermit? When you were a child, were there stories about reclusive people in your town? Or maybe you were related to someone who preferred a life of isolation and solitude. If so, write about that person this week. If not, consider what that life might be like. How would you get food? How would you manage problems, health care, simple loneliness? When you had t...
Janice Shade - Interview #612 (Special Show)
April 14, 2020 18:52 - 25 minutes - 34.3 MBLocal entrepreneur Janice Shade's new book is Moving Mountains: The Power of Main Street Americans to Change Our Economy (Onion River Press). Write the Book Prompt: Can you imagine "economic justice for all?" What would that look like? How would it different from our present system? Can you think of a few small, symbolic images that might represent achieving that vision? Does it bring to mind a person or group from your past? If so, maybe write about them today. Let the expression, taken ...
Sharon Cameron - Interview #611 (4/6/20)
April 06, 2020 21:02 - 50 minutes - 68.9 MBAn interview with Sharon Cameron, author most recently of The Light in Hidden Places (Scholastic Books). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Sharon Cameron, who finds the availability of online oral histories fascinating and invaluable as she works. She suggested, as an exercise, finding oral histories--immigrant stories, personal experiences from wars, and interviews--on youtube or in university collections, among other places. Listen and, if you’re luc...
Sharon Cameron - Interview #611 (3/6/20)
April 06, 2020 21:02 - 50 minutes - 68.9 MBAn interview with Sharon Cameron, author most recently of The Light in Hidden Places (Scholastic Books). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Sharon Cameron, who finds the availability of online oral histories fascinating and invaluable as she works. She suggested, as an exercise, finding oral histories--immigrant stories, personal experiences from wars, and interviews--on youtube or in university collections, among other places. Listen and, if you’re luc...
Judith Chalmer - Interview #610 (3/30/20)
April 03, 2020 11:54 - 20 minutes - 14.6 MBVermont Poet Judith Chalmer, whose new collection of poems is Minnow (Kelsay Press). This week's Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Judith Chalmer. Start observing using your hand. This can be a very rich approach to writing, Judith says, because what comes to hand can be physical and what comes to hand can be metaphysical. The hand itself is a landscape that can be a wonderful subject. But apart from that, the exercise offers a way of starting close in and moving...
Kerrin McCadden - Interview #609 (3/23/20)
March 24, 2020 13:29 - 54 minutes - 74.3 MBVermont Author Kerrin McCadden, whose new chapbook is Keep This to Yourself (Button Poetry). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Kerrin McCadden. Choose 12 words you like the sound of (mostly 1-2 syllable words). Include a place name, a weather element, a geological feature, some verbs, and a garment in your list. Set a timer for 7 minutes. Begin writing. Do not stop. Do not cross out anything you write. Use at least 10 out of 12 of the words on th...
Kathryn Guare - Archive Episode #608 (3/16/20)
March 17, 2020 17:51 - 53 minutes - 73 MBJust in time for Saint Patrick's Day! A conversation with the very Irish (American) Kathryn Guare, author of Deceptive Cadence, the first of the Conor McBride series of international suspense novels. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to think about where you’d most like to be quarantined, and write about what would meet your expectations as you spent time in that place, and what might defy them. Good luck with your work in the coming week, stay well, and tune in next week for another...
Megan Angelo - Interview #607 (3/9/20)
March 11, 2020 15:18 - 49 minutes - 68.6 MBAn interview with Megan Angelo, author of the debut novel Followers (Graydon House). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Megan Angelo. She thought of it in response to a feeling of regret around the lack of spontaneity in her life at a certain point. It has, in time, become a helpful writing tool for her. Go somewhere today, like the pharmacy or the DMV or a diner that does not play loud music. Do not look at your phone the entire time. And either see w...
Anne Lamott - Archive Interview #606 (3/2/20)
March 04, 2020 21:23 - 25 minutes - 35.4 MBAn interview from 2013 with the author Anne Lamott, who that year co-authored (with her son, Sam) Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son (Riverhead). This week's Write the Book Prompt is to consider: How would you spend your birthday if, as Anne was during our conversation, you were on a book tour? Write about it. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro
Amy Bonnaffons - Interview #605 (2/24/20)
February 24, 2020 16:29 - 47 minutes - 65.4 MBAuthor Amy Bonnaffons, whose debut novel is The Regrets (Little Brown). This week's Write the Book Prompt is to head over to the site Amy Bonnaffons co-founded, 7x7.la, and browse for inspiration. Offering "interdisciplinary collaboration, each 7×7 invites one visual artist and one writer to engage in a two-week creative conversation." Lots to enjoy, and surely lots of inspiration for new work there as well. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another p...