In Episode 108, we talk to writer Kateřina Tučková about out her book, The Last Goddess, which uses form innovations to . Listen and check out the full show notes here, or in your favorite podcast app.

Episode 107 is up, and we’re talking to writer Meghan Nesmith about writing, work, motherhood, and what is it all for? Listen and check out the full show notes here, or in your favorite podcast app.

Episode 106 is up, and we’re talking to bookseller Nicole Brinkley about building community, vocational awe, and knowing when to quit. Listen and check out the full show notes here, or in your favorite podcast app.

In the episode out today, we talk to Jane Campbell, the author of the short story collection Cat Brushing (published in the UK by Hachette and US by Grove/Atlantic). Her short story, “Cat Brushing,” was published in 2017 in the London Review of Books. Interpretations of Love is the name of her next novel, which is scheduled for Spring 2024.

We loved talking to her about writing the kind of novel you would like to read, existential angst, portrayals of the elderly, and not waking up at 5 a.m. It’s an episode with a fantastic reading list, and this general vibe:

“One of the good things about getting older is you really don’t ask permission.”

Jane Campbell

Check out the full show notes here.

This is a partial copy of our newsletter, which you can sign up for here.

Hi fellow margin-writers!

Show & Tell

Now for all the things you’ve done this year. Y’all are amazing!
 Poet Abigail Welhouse‘s publications for 2022 are the first five items here: https://welhouse.nyc/news. Also her excellent newsletter, Secret Poems, and her podcast episode from a million years ago, where we chat about everything from poetry prompts to LiveJournal.

Alicia de los Reyes writes:
I have been in a real life local-ish writing group with three other amazing women writers! It’s fantastic. We have met quarterly for over a year now and it is the best thing for my writing. We do a workshop and the styles we all write in are very different, but we really all get something great from it (I definitely do). In addition to the helpful feedback, I feel like a writer for 6-8 hours every 3 months :)I have also finished a draft of a novel and am 2/3 of the way through revising it. What a beast novel-writing is!I did a bunch of giveaways through my newsletter and kept it up monthly this year. Woo!
You can catch Alicia’s episodes here and here.2-time PNWA contest finalist Amy Dressler has started a newsletter, here. You can also catch her and a few other members of the Marginally writing collective in this episode.

Our friend E writes that she’s written more than 100,000 words of (very excellent, I might add) fanfiction this year, after writing almost no fiction for years. All Bridgerton: a couple of regency-era pieces, a modern AU set in Silicon Valley, and a Christmas Carol mashup that involved going through the Dickens line-by-line. If you’re new to the world of fanfiction, trust me — E’s is great stuff.

Writing collective member Nicole Roth has an excellent quarterly newsletter, and had a story published in East on Central this year (print only). Congrats, Nicole!

Another collective member Peter Amos not only published several pieces this year, he formed the jazz guitar duo The M.A.d. guitar, and you can catch them all over the Newport News, VA area.

Sarah Hawkins, whose Instagram/TikTok (@itssarahhawkins everywhere) we’ve mentioned here before and who’s our final collective member, also offers editing services and has a great series on revision up on her writing blog, and loads of great grammar and editing tips on her editing site. You can also sign up for her newsletter there.

Get to work!

Meghan & Olivia

We talk about how to let yourself take a break (whether for the holidays or for any other reason – you can come back to this anytime you need permission to take a step back).

There are lots of reasons to do this, and we talk about some of them. Check it out here.

We recorded today’s episode all the way back in January, and the life took over. Which is pretty perfect for an episode about all the different ways perfectionism can show up and not look like perfectionism. Like when you avoid starting something because it won’t be perfect or you don’t know how it will turn out.

Full show notes and episode here.

Episode 101 is up, and we in it we discuss what’s new in our lives. You can listen and check out the full show notes here,or in your favorite podcast app.

We loved talking to Janelle Hardy about story and about how we can work with our bodies to get deeper into creativity, and to heal trauma. We learned so much from Janelle, who is so kind and generous and thoughtful, but also gives practical advice for anyone stuck in an overthinking loop (or any other anxious trauma response).

We talk about how to approach projects that may touch on trauma, as well as how to start healing.

You can find our full show notes here.