Writing Stories

Lucas Mann tells the story of Attachments: Essays on fatherhood and other performances. Along the way he covers: Writing when you have a newbornTrying for a balance between personal essay and cultural criticismFalse dichotomy of smart writing and embodied writing The perception that books about fatherhood don't sellWhen your publisher doesn't respond to the manuscript you

In this episode, Michelle Tea tells the story of SLUTS, from Dopamine Press. Along the way, she covers: Starting Dopamine PressAnthologies as fundraisersStarting and ending anthologiesPerceptions of 'sluttery' and our culture's relationship to pleasure An iconic '90s San Francisco sexual experienceAssimilationist and anti-assimilationist queernessBeth PickensCle

Hannah Sward tells the story of Strip. Along the way, she covers: - A publishing journey full of false summits- Publishing without an agent- Querying agents- Why not to be a writer - That you should not be afraid to write the shittiest shit - Natalie Goldberg and Writing Down the Bones- Jill Schary Robinson - Family responses to memoir - Publishing with a small indie Tortoise Press

Crystal Hana Kim tells the story of The Stone Home. Along the way she covers: - Focus when drafting - When she shares her work with her agent- What questions she is interested in exploring in her work - The best book publication/baby making timeline ever - Strategies for creating a propulsive narrative- Reasons for not translating or transliterating particular words in a text - Lea

In this episode, Stephanie Clare Smith tells the story of Everywhere the Undrowned. Along the way, she covers: Bellevue's Nonfiction ContestGreat Circle Books (whose series editor Marie Mutsuki Mockett is the author of The Tree Doctor and an upcoming guest on this podcast!) University PressesDismantling the fantasy parent in our heads and going back to care for our child selve

In this episode, Estelle talks about her book, Writing That Gets Noticed. Along the way she covers: Beauty editor road trips Selling a book with an 'exclusive' A ballsy move to try if one editor accepts your pitch for a short piece and another rejects ASJA 'backlist' vs. 'frontlist' what if you aren't satisfied with your book covera 'book-mit

In this episode, Annell López tells the story of I'll Give You A Reason. Along the way, she covers:Full-time high school teaching while full-time MFAAffordances of short story collectionsGenerating ideas by asking what if the opposite happens Feminist Press and the Louise Meriwether First Book PrizeDrown by Junot Diaz More of This World or Maybe Another by Barb Johnson Interp

In this episode, Clare Beams tells the story of The Garden. Along the way we cover: Managing the 'type A' part of your brain Selling a partial Doing what you don't know you can do Letting go of a manuscript that didn't sell (that you worked on for 8 years) NEA grant How to know when something is done Getting writing time when you have small children and a global

Nicole Haroutunian tells the story of Choose This Now. Along the way, we cover...- Her first book Speed Dreaming- Agent troubles- Rewriting a novella as a chapter- Creating a novel from stories- Having a book die on submission- When you lose your job and your agent at the same time your city goes into COVID lockdown- Pre-publication anxiety - An awesome editing move by John Darcy a

In this episode, Sarah Rose Etter tells the story of RIPE, Along the way we cover: Writing around a full-time job 75,000 words in a monthThe importance of having a good team behind you Difficulties and benefits of being editedThe horrors of being on submission Kent Wolf, Carmen Maria Machado, Two Dollar Radio, and Scribner Careerism and the unreliability of Hollywood Getting a NYT