a podcast about writing, work, and friendship
Judith Warner is the author of the new book, And Then They Stopped Talking to Me: Making Sense of Middle School. This book touches on the important role that this middle-grade period has in all our lives. When we invited her on the show, we were particularly interested in the way that we form friendships at that age and how that affects our life. We were also interested in talking about what writers of middle-grade books should know about that period.
We do talk about all of that, but we talk also about anxiety, perfectionism and OCD in the writing process, and we go personal on this. Meghan and I enjoyed the interview, and we found it really helpful to talk about these things with Judith.
If you’ve struggled with any of these things we discuss, please do get in touch with us – either through our website, on our Instagram or elsewhere.
Full show notes and episode are here.
Interviewing Yang Huang, a fiction writer and computer engineer, was a real delight. We had a chance to read her forthcoming novel, The Good Son, before this interview, and we loved the way her complex characters drove a surprising and satisfying story.
We definitely recommend it – it’s out May 27, 2021!
Yang has incredible advice about everything from characters to research. Check out the full episode here (or on your podcast app).
Episode 95 is up, and we’re talking about a fun new experiment (join us by signing up for our newsletter!) and what we’ve figured out over the last few years — as well as what we’re still working towards. Listen and check out the full show notes here, or in your favorite podcast app.
We are so excited to bring you this episode with Elizabeth Wetmore, author of the book Valentine, which was one of our favorite books of 2020. She has so much knowledge and wisdom on everything from getting diverse characters’ stories right to sticking with your project through many years and many drafts.
Check out the show notes here.
It’s too late for holiday gifts, but if you’re like us, you got bookstore gift cards or even cash this year that you’re definitely going to spend on books. Maybe you have January birthdays to buy for, or you celebrate Christmas on January 6 and it’s not too late after all!
Whatever your reason for buying books (hahaha as if you need a reason), we wanted to present this last-minute roundup of all our guests’ recent books, which we’ve read and loved and whole-heartedly recommend.
Beginning at the beginning:
We take episode 93 to catch up on our writing, living our best/worst pandemic lives, and do a little #firstnovelneverdies. You can listen here or in your favorite podcast player. And we’re curious — what’s up with you? Let us know.
Tiffany Yates Martin’s book on intuitive editing is a great place to start when you’ve reached the end of the first draft. We talk through her new book and also cover how to write better characters in Episode 92.
Listen and check out the full show notes here.
Episode 91 is up, and we’re talking to best friends, poet Shikha Malaviya and novelist Soniah Kamal. Listen and check out the full show notes here, or in your favorite podcast app.
