Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers kicked off in September 2018 and airs every week. We are a 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 and Grant Faulkner, two friends and colleagues who bring a community-minded sensibility to the writing journey, each theme-focused episode of Write-minded features an interview with a writer, author, or publishing industry professional. Write-minded f ...
…
continue reading
The Nonfiction Authors Podcast is packed with actionable advice from expert guests that help you write, finish, market, publish, promote, and profit from your books. Brought to you by the Nonfiction Authors Association, a professional organization for nonfiction authors.
…
continue reading
1
Being a Voice for Causes That Matter, featuring Naomi Klein
1:01:59
1:01:59
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:01:59
This week’s episode airs Brooke in conversation with Naomi Klein at this year’s Bay Area Book Festival. While this interview does not hew to Write-minded’s effort to offer weekly doses of inspiration for writers, Brooke and Grant decided to make this available both because our listeners requested it and because we admire the work Naomi Klein is doi…
…
continue reading
1
How Secrets Fuel Memoir Writing, featuring Margaret Juhae Lee
40:03
40:03
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
40:03
Secrets come in all forms, big and small. We inherit secrets, carry the secrets of others, and struggle with the burden of all they hold and how they sometimes fester within us. This week’s episode with guest Margaret Juhae Lee explores the difference between people who want to keep the past buried and those who want to set it free. We explore inte…
…
continue reading
1
On the Awards We Receive and the Rewards We Make, featuring Jayne Anne Phillips
45:59
45:59
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
45:59
This week’s guest, Jayne Anne Phillips, is a Pulitzer prize-winning author for her latest book, Night Watch, which gives Write-minded an opportunity to muse about awards—why they matter, what we make of them and do with them, and where we might find awards from things we seek out in addition to those we receive. Join us for this wide-ranging litera…
…
continue reading
1
How Big Questions Inform Fiction, featuring Rachel Khong
43:42
43:42
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
43:42
This week’s Write-minded centers questions, and how questions guide writers, drive fiction, and unearth important stories. Guest Rachel Khong shares how the big and provocative question of who’s a “real American” informed her new novel and why she writes without an outline. We also talk about ambition and drive, why novelists have to grapple with p…
…
continue reading
1
Breaking New Ground in Memoir, featuring Shze-Hui Tjoa
44:24
44:24
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
44:24
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 c…
…
continue reading
1
The Big Novel, featuring Garth Risk Hallberg
48:53
48:53
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
48:53
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. pl…
…
continue reading
1
Remembering and Forgetting: The Refugee Journey, featuring Viet Thanh Nguyen
47:11
47:11
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
47:11
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 h…
…
continue reading
1
Behind the Scenes of Selling Books, featuring Josh Cook
48:08
48:08
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
48:08
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 wh…
…
continue reading
1
Be the Change You Want To See, featuring Dhonielle Clayton
47:53
47:53
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
47:53
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 packag…
…
continue reading
1
The Raw Truth About Exposure, featuring Susan Kiyo Ito
42:04
42:04
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:04
What will other people think? What will be the consequences of sharing my truth? These are among some of the questions that hold memoirists back, and their realities post-publication can cause “vulnerability hangovers.” Exposure, fear of fallout, concern for people we love—memoir doesn’t make it easy. With very recent experience informing her, this…
…
continue reading
1
Deep Memoir, featuring Jennifer Leigh Selig
37:40
37:40
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
37:40
We’re living through a golden age of memoir, and guest Jennifer Leigh Selig’s Deep Memoir is a new contribution to the “how-to” space for memoirists who want to explore the how and the why of memoir writing. This episode will help listeners consider their own “why” when it comes to that age-old question of why to keep at it, and also to celebrate a…
…
continue reading
1
Grief: The Hardest Emotion to Write, featuring Claire Jiménez
39:35
39:35
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
39:35
This week’s Write-minded takes on grief, and why, as our guest Claire Jiménez says, “it’s where language collapses.” Jiménez’s new book deals with loss and grief and what happens in a family in the aftermath of a disappearance of a child, and yet, she weaves in humor and the history of American colonization of Puerto Rico and so much more. Grant an…
…
continue reading
1
Creating New Forms—and Rearranging the Alphabet, featuring Elwin Cotman
36:38
36:38
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
36:38
This week Write-minded is interviewing an established writer whose star is on the rise. Elwin Cotman’s new story collection blew us away for how he played with form and takes readers on an expected journeys. His stories don’t fit into any box—including length, and we loved it! On this week’s show Grant also announces his departure from NaNoWriMo an…
…
continue reading
1
The Art of Intimacy, featuring Stacey D’Erasmo
49:41
49:41
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
49:41
This week Write-minded reaches broadly into the topic of intimacy to explore its many permutations—not just romantic, but innocuous, violent, collective, and more. Guest Stacey D’Erasmo invites us to consider intimacy in writing, how we do it, how we feel it as readers, and also to consider acts of intimacy, like an older actress showing her authen…
…
continue reading
1
The State of the Book Review, featuring John McMurtrie
42:00
42:00
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:00
This 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…
…
continue reading
1
Social Responsibility in Fiction, featuring Naomi Kanakia
46:41
46:41
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
46:41
What 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 …
…
continue reading
1
Getting Real About Book Publishing, featuring Kathleen Schmidt
46:49
46:49
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
46:49
Strap 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 auth…
…
continue reading
1
The Big Familia of Writing Inspiration, featuring Tomas Moniz
39:52
39:52
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
39:52
An 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…
…
continue reading
1
Other People’s Words, featuring Lissa Soep
46:23
46:23
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
46:23
This 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, fro…
…
continue reading
1
Light-hearted Writing During Heavy-hearted Times, featuring Neely Tubati-Alexander
35:14
35:14
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
35:14
Ready 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 ce…
…
continue reading
1
Strategies for Writing About Childhood Trauma, featuring Javier Zamora
40:23
40:23
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
40:23
This 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 j…
…
continue reading
1
Recovering from the Stigma of a "Failed" First Novel, featuring Ethel Rohan
49:06
49:06
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
49:06
It'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…
…
continue reading
1
Journeying into Writerly Aesthetic, featuring K-Ming Chang
45:24
45:24
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
45:24
A 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 …
…
continue reading
1
Breaking Into Ghostwriting and Work-for-Hire Writing, featuring Aubre Andrus
35:35
35:35
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
35:35
Ghostwriting 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 …
…
continue reading
1
How Stories Get Carried Through the Generations and in Our Bones, featuring Ingrid Rojas Contreras
55:30
55:30
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
55:30
This 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…
…
continue reading